Spike, the country could see widespread suffering and death. That is a direct quote. Hospitalizations now at their second highest levels ever with eight states reporting record numbers of patients and for the Third Straight day, thursday, virus deaths topped 1,000. In a series of interviews today, dr. Fauci said that while he doesnt think a second nationwide shutdown is necessary right now, it is time, he said, for the hard hit Southern States to rethink their policies. My advice would be timeout and maybe go back to a prior checkpoint and from that point try to proceed in a very measured, prudent way, according to the guidelines. If we do that, i think we can control the surging that were seeing in those states. For the other states, i would say please take a look at the example of what happens when you open in a way that might be too quickly. Now, amidst all of this, the cdc is issuing new guidelines that push for American Children back into the classroom. Dr. Robert redfield saying it is critically important that schools reopen this fall. Echoing comments made by President Trump who called previous guidance tough and expensive and demanded a change. So lets stay on the new cdc guidelines for reopening schools and with me now dr. Jorge rodriguez, a specialist. So, dr. Rodriguez, welcome back. Do you agree with the cdc. Should the kids go back to school in the fall . That is a tough one. And i think were embarking on a great experiment with the children of the country because nobody knows what will happen. If i had children of school age i would not let them go to school. I would wait and see. So right now i think that we need to take each state by itself. For example, i dont think florida and texas should open. I think they should wait a couple of manies and do telehealth. We all need to be around people. Parents need to go back to work. But at what price. So i disagree with this sort of just opening up all schools and letting kids go and see what happens. I hear you. Piecemeal depending on which state is hit the hardest, dont have the kids go back in the classroom. President trump clearly wants schools to reopen and dr. Birx admitted this morning it is still unclear how kids under ten years of age spread the virus. Here she is. What i cant tell you for sure, despite the south korea study, is whether children under ten in the United States dont spread the virus the same as children over ten. I think that is still an open question that needs to be studied in the United States. We certainly know from other studies that children under 10 do get infected. It is just unclear how rapidly they spread the virus. So since it is so unclear, dr. Rodriguez, what is a parent to think. On the one hand you have the cdc saying it is safe, schools should reopen and then you have deborah birx saying we dont know that much about kids and covid. That is the bottom line. We dont know that much about kids and covid. And under ten, dont spread it. That doesnt mean they dont get it. And then the kids between 10 and 18, they do spread it the same as everyone else. So it isnt just about the children. Even though that is a paramount importance but it is how theyre affecting the rest of their society, the rest of their area. Were embarking on an experiment where our children, to use a term, are the guinea pigs. So each parent has to decide, how much is your kid worth . It is a horrible thing to say. But it boils down to that. And then just adding to some of the confusion, this is what i led with, a group of more than 150 medical officials have signed this leer encouraging political leaders to totally shut down the country and basically go back to ground zero in order to really contain covid. Do you think shutting down is the answer . And if so, how long. In the best of all possible worlds that would be the answer. But it is like having a broken leg and deciding i want to take up jogging. It is a little late. Ain think were lacking in four areas to do that. And one is we dont have clear inspirational leadership in the national level. If we did, we could explain to people, we could motivate people to sacrifice some. We dont have the Scientific Infrastructure of testing that is currently necessary. We dont have the Financial Planning so that people could be without work for two months and it saddens many me to say, i dont think we have the national resolve to do that. Too Many Americans feel inconvenient, were not europe or asia and people have suffered and they know that sacrifice leads to improvement. Weve been a little bit spoiled. So in the best of all possible worlds, yeah, i would love to shut it down for two months but the reality is there are a lot of things that need to fall into place before that could happen and were not there, unfortunately. Dr. Jorge rodriguez, thank you, sir. Thank you. Just in, for a second day in row, california is reporting the highest number of covid deaths in a single day. More than 8,000 people in california have now been killed by the coronavirus. New infections are also surging. Leading some people in the state to call for new restrictions there. Cnns Stephanie Elum is live in los angeles. And stephanie, again, any a new day. Horrible numbers. What are you hearing from folks. Reporter this is what weve been told. Youll see the cases rise first and then start to see the deaths start to mount and that is what were seeing here in california. Today new numbers from the state, 159 deaths reported today. That is two more than yesterday. Which was also a record. So two days in a row of a record. Not the way we want things to go here. Cases, that number did come down from yesterday. That number today 9,718. Yesterday we were above 12,000 and that is our second highest. So seeing a drop here in the cases. The positivity, it is been pretty stable at about 7. 5 for the 14day run there, looking at that pretty much staying in the same area there. But obviously this is what we were told could happen after we saw those cases rise. Overall in l. A. Countriy, i cou tell you that numbers there are 49 deaths were last reported by the county and they are saying hospitalizations are above 2,200 and putting it at the fifth day in a row weve seen that number in that range. Also, looking at our positivity in l. A. County it is at 7 and it is stabilized in the range for the last few days so it stabilized at a higher level. Still needs to come down. And also a new move from the health department. Theyre going to now start making sure that businesses are complying with what they need to do as far as making sure that the infection is not spreading. That will include fines when they find that people are not in line with the guidelines and that would be have 100 for the first fine and 500 and maybe losing your license for 30 days if youre a multiple offender of this, brooke. Some may say that is severe but if you want to decrease the numbers, desperate times. Thank you so much in los angeles. Lets talk about florida. The punishing rate of infections is still on the rise there. The state reported more than 12,000 new cases today. And just yesterday set a record for t for the most coronavirus deaths in a day. 173 deaths. Rosa flores is live in miami. And rosa, on top of that, i understand you have information on the spike in hospitalizations across florida. So tell me what you know. Reporter youre absolutely right. Brooke, we obtained this information through an information request. This was not public and it involves statewide hospitalizations. We learned from this data that was released to the state to us on july 4th, the first day that this data was compiled by the state, there were 5,022 pashs in the state of florida and today it is 9,215, that is an 83. 5 increase. Process that for just a moment. Here in miamidade county, this accounts for 25 of the more than 400,000 cases in the state of florida. According to the county, the positive rate is 19. 5 . If you look at number of hospitalizations, they are in creased in the past two weeks by 27 . Icu beds up by 37 . And ventilators up by 71 . Now with all of this said there is an ongoing battle here in the state of florida over the reopening of schools. With Governor Ron Desantis pushing for in Person Instruction but saying that parents have a choice. Teachers on the other hand suing the governor to stop the reopening. The u. S. Surgeon general was here in miami yesterday, i had a brief interview with him and in the sidelines, asked him about the reopening of schools here in the state of florida and he said that it is possible to reopen schools safely in a month, but he said that everyone would have to do their part. Take a listen. People of florida, please hear me. When i say this to you, this Face Covering is a really small gesture, it may seem like a inconvenience to you. We all need to take the small measures that we can now to avoid big inconveniences down the road. And this is the simplest thing that we can do that will have such a big impact. Reporter despite the surge in cases here in the state of florida, Governor Ron Desantis, brooke, departing to the white house today where hes expected to talk to President Donald Trump about covid19 and also other matters. Rosa, thank you in miami. Coming up here on cnn, President Trump making big reversals and striking a slightly different tone on the pandemic. Could is t have anything to do with the tail spin in the polls. Lets talk about that. And this family in michigan devastating after the coronavirus has taken the parents of three children and one of the kids will join me live. Youre watching cnn, im brooke baldwin. burke at farmers, we know how nice it is to save on your auto policy. But its even nicer knowing that if this happens. Or this. Or even this. Weve seen and covered it. So, get a quote today. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum were back on this friday afternoon. Youre watching cnn, im brooke baldwin. Listen, if one thing has been consistent during this pandemic it is the inconsistent messages from the president of the United States. Look at past week. Weve seen another sears of mixed messages. Yesterday he canceled the Republican NationalConvention Activities in jacksonville, florida. Here he was. To have a big convention, it is not the right time. Its really something that for me i have to protect the american people. That is what ive always done, that is what i always will do, that is what im about. It is not the right time for a convention. Ba cording to the president , it is the right time to put the nations children back into the classroom, back in close quarters while the pandemic is still out of control. And then this past tuesday, President Trump finally urged the public to wear face masks. To wear a mask, get a mask, whether you like the mask or not, they have an impact. Theyll have an effect and we need everything we can get. But after that, this is what we saw. Take a look. On the left, you see him just yesterday hosting little leaguers at the white house. Do you see any masks . Hmm. No social distancing. And then on the right, a Campaign Event held that same day where he urged americans to wear masks, again, there he is with the red tie on the right not wearing a mask, not social distancing. Abby phillip is our correspondent in washington. Abby, there is a lot of talk about the socalled new tone from the president from this week. But, i mean, i held a white house event for children, they werent wearing masks, hes still not walking the walk. Jnk and his actions show that he still wants his world to be just the way that it was before this pandemic even though for the rest of the country they have to live in a world in which masks are increasingly becoming required in all public spaces. You see at the white house, because the president is being tested so regularly, and because people around him are being tested regularly, the president s aides and supporters say well he doesnt need to social distance or wear a mask in the same way that others do. But what that shows to the public is that do as i say not as i do. There is a part of the job of the presidency that is demonstrating the kinds of actions that he wants the American Public to follow and clearly that is not what is happening at the white house in recent days. Will you see how the American Public has viewed President Trump in this whole covid19 response. You juxtapose the poll numbers of the president versus joe biden and biden is clearly pulling away. There are examples of how, i was talking to dana this week and she described how the president is on an island, im not wearing a mask and social distancing, well now he realized maybe i need to Say Something different. But im just wondering, three months until the election, i get that anything could happen, but what more does he need to do, covid wise . I think he needs to demonstrate control over the situation. The fact that americans doan think hes handling the pandemic well is at the core of his low approv Approval Rating and it is not just whether hes wearing a mask or talking about it, it is also the fact that he still talks about not really liking testing. He said hell allow more testing but he doesnt think that testing is necessary. He still is giving the public mixed messages. People in this country understand that there needs to be more testing, partly because when they try to go for a test, maybe they cant get one or waiting a week and a half for results and they believe that is a problem. So it is an overall competency issue for the president , not just one offs, not just the vid briefings and until hes able to change that perception, it is very hard for him to recover against joe biden nationally and in all of the battleground state polls coming out in recent days showing him doubledigits behind joe biden. Meanwhile, obamabiden team, getting together releasing a teaser of a sitdown conversation that they had recently. Here is just a clip. Can you imagine standing up when you were president and saying it is not my responsibility, i take no responsibility. I mean literally. Those words didnt come out of our mouths while we were in office. I dont understand his inability to get a sense of what people are going through. He just cant relate in any way. Abby, clearly joe biden is seizing on this covid moment. But again, three months until the election and anything could happen. Do you think this is a safe bet going all in on this for team biden . Do you think that biden thinks it is a safe bet. They want to stay on the course theyre on. Theyve been criticized by allies that hes not out front and they like the basement joe biden theyve seen over the last few months. This is more of what people want to see, the polished videos bringing in obama in for democrats, a universally liked political figure. And i figure about how President Trump calls joe biden sleepy joe biden. I think the Biden Campaign wants biden to be thought of as normal joe biden. They want to present the image of this is what you could go back to. They want to project competence and bring up how the Obama Administration was sort of known as the no drama obama. That is what they want to remind people of. And i think that is what theyre trying to do in that video. It is a nostalgia video aimed not just at democrats but other americans who they want to recall that era in which things didnt seem so chaotic as they do now. And hoping voters will vote that way come november. I do want to get you on this because we have just heard, the president just did an interview with barstool sports and made a rare admission saying that he sometimes regrets his tweets. Roll the sound. You know, it used to be in the old days before this, you write a letter and say it is bad and you put it on your desk and you go back tomorrow and say, oh, im glad i didnt send it. But we dont do that with twitter, right. We we put it out instantaneously and feel braet and then you start getting phone calls, did you really say this. And i say what is wrong with that and you find a lot of things. I find it is not the tweets, it is the retweets that get you in trouble. What do you think of that . So interesting. Well, brooke, i mean, listen to what he said at the end there. He said two things. It is the retweets but people will call him and ask him about what he tweeted. When he tweeted that video of the villages in florida with the man screaming white power, it stayed up because his aides could not get ahold of him to ask him to take it down. He was on the golf course. So it does seem that is one of the things hes referring to, a retweet of that controversial video that he didnt look into, he said later that some things you dont investigate but you retweet them and you get in trouble. Well, yeah, that was a clear example. He maybe didnt investigate even though it was said in the first few seconds of the video that got him in trouble, you dont hear the president expressing regret and he didnt apologize and i think you see there a recognition that, yeah, there are lines that he thinks are too controversial to cross. Does he apologize for them . No. But clearly he understands that they are not helpful to him or even perhaps to his political standing. Retweeting white supremacist tweets, not a good idea, mr. President. My last question, because he made news, the president in this interview said that he loves being president but that he said his life was great before running for president. What do you think of that . Yeah, this is something that actually has come up for President Trump many times in the past. He talks often about the great life that he used to have and souch he sacrificed to be president of the United States. To be fair, he was a very wealthy man, a private business man and perhaps did not need to run for president. He did. But it is interesting to hear someone say that as president , usually you have people saying how great it is to be president and how much they love their jobs. But clearly this is all weighing on the president. H