From covid19. In fact, for the past two weeks, the nation has been averaging a thousand deaths a day. A thousand deaths a day. Just think about that loss of life. Meantime College Football may be on the brink as reports indicate that the power five conferences may postpone or cancel the upcoming season. Also today a study from the countrys pediatricians found nearly 100,000 School Children tested positive in the last two weeks of july. And leaders of the w. H. O. Called the coronavirus brutal and cruel. This virus is proving exceptionally difficult to stop. This virus has demonstrated no seasonal pattern as such, so far. But it is clearly demonstrated that you take the pressure off the virus, the virus bounces back. That is the reality, that is the fact. It is brutal in its simplicity, it is brutal in his cruelty and but it doesnt have a brain. We have the brains. And i think we could outline how we could outsmart something without a brain but were not doing such a great job right now. Not doing such a great job right now. Well amid this confusion from the president about how his administration will help the millions and millions of families in financial distress from this pandemic. He is now offering to pay more Unemployment Benefits even if the state doesnt contribute. That is a reversal of what he said the day before. Want to take you to georgia, the Georgia High School at the center of that viral photo here that showed the pack hallway with very few visible masks is now closed for two days. Six students and three faculty members at North Paulding High School have tested positive for coronavirus and listen to what one aunt of two infected students said to the georgia atlanta constitution. Is he shed the boys did not grasp the gravity of the virus and werent encouraged to wear masks by the school. And they say masks are a personal choice, the person who posted this photo is now getting threats. Used us as guinea pigs to see what would happen. I feel like a lot of teachers have my back because they know how dangerous it is going to school but a lot of kids that i go to school with have gotten backlash. I have gotten threats but i know im doing the right thing. Natasha chen, this is one school reworking plans because of all this coronavirus. Reporter they are consulting with the Public Health department to tell families from that high school by tomorrow night what their next steps will be in terms of how to continue class, whether it will continue virtually or if their coming back to the school. And of course, theyre not alone in this. Were hearing from Cherokee County that theyve got 19 students testing positive. In gwinnett, you have the Largest School system in georgia, they havent started class and already with the teachers required to be in the buildings, 260 employees have tested positive or are quarantined. Today i asked the Governor Brian Kemp about why he doesnt have a mask mandate in the schools. He pushed that off on to local districts to make that decision. Here is what he said to me about what were seeing in the schools right now. There is definitely going to be issues when you oepen anything. We saw that when we opened businesses and well see that when we open schools. Weve given them guidance and worked with them to really give them tools they need to open the classroom. And i think quite honestly this week went real well other than a couple of virtual photos, but the attitude from what theyre telling me was good. Reporter and the u. S. Surgeon general was with him at the surge testing site. It was identified by hhs as one of the hot spots. So the u. S. Surgeon general piped in on the subject of schools and masks and said hes not against mask mandates but more concerned about education and engagement. He wishes that celebrities like le ludicrous and tyler perry would wear masks so the kids would follow suit, brooke. Well it would be nice to see the governor and folks at the tip top all do the same. Thank you. Lets get expert analysis on all of this. Dr. Lena nguyen is a cnn medical analyst. Great to have you back. I want to talk about young people in this country. Because we just saw this number, a little bit more than 97,000 children tested positive for covid19 in the last half of july. When you hear that number, what is your reaction to that and then to natashas point about schools, how should this inform decisions about School Reopenings . My reaction, brooke, is imagine if these 97,000 children were all in school. Imagine how many outbreaks there could be. And also these are the infections that we know of. We know that we dont have nearly enough testing so were testing the people who have symptoms but not doing surveillance testing. So there could well be more than 97,000 students who are infectious and able to transmit it to others and the lesson to take away here is that you cannot keep a school safe from coronavirus if the community is a hotbed of infection. There is just no way. The most important thing that we could do is to suppress the level of infection in the community. And while we also take every step that we can in the schools, which includes reducing the density and absolutely Wearing Masks. That is a simple intervention that we could all do to improve and safeguard our health and safety. Of course. But what about that high school in georgia, North Paulding High School, where that viral packed hallway, photo was taken. Theyre closing for two days after nine people at the high school tested positive. Is that the right response . What more should be done . Well, the closure was predictable. And im just glad that they have enough testing that they could detect these cases before it wasnt just where the numbers could be much larger where there could be dozens or hundreds that could have gotten infected. But they need to do something more as basic as preventing that type of crowded hallway from happening. You could Stagger School opening times. You could dedensefy classrooms and in districts all over the country are taking these steps. These are the guidelines recommended by the cdc and this school and all others should be able to follow it too. To your point, also, just about wearing a mask, the School Superintendent said wearing a mask is a personal choice. When you think about schools, they require at some cases hall passes to go to the bathroom or bringing a certain number of pencils to class or shorts only so many inches above the knee. How is it possible that schools cannot require masks . They can and they should. And i think there is a way to make this not sound punitive, as in well now we all have to wear masks. I think we could make it about shared values. That masks show respect for one another, that this is about collectively doing our part to make a difference to fight this virus. And i think this cannot just come from the teachers and it also has to come from the parents and from our elected officials and Everybody Needs to have this same clear, Public Health messaging and that is what is going to really make a difference for not only the students but their families and teachers and staff, too. What about, dr. Nguyen, bigger picture, it took two weeks to go from 3 million too 4 million cases and 17 days to go from 4 million to 5 million. Do you see anything promising that shows the u. S. Is maybe slowing down the rate of infection . Well, what i see is promising, is that we have done this before. That weve seen parts of our country really suppress the level of infection. Weve seen other countries being successful at it. They dont have something that we dont. They have the same measures when it comes to social distancing, Wearing Masks, washing our hands, restricting indoor gatherings and all of the things that we could do now and that is the tragedy of it all. It doesnt have to be this way. It shouldnt be so hard for us to reopen schools. It shouldnt be that were having a Million People die offer a Million People get infected and hundreds of thousands of people on the way to becoming dead in the u. S. Ment it doesnt need to be this way but we have to take prompt amount right now and we could do this. Dr. Lena nguyen, thank you very much as always. Lets go to the white house. The president s executive actions over the weekend have left many asking can he even do that. The move is intended to provide much needed relief to millions of americans desperately hurt by the pandemic but instead it is sparking con and uncertainty. It comes after stimulus talks broke down on capitol hill. But the problem is, not only does congress have the power of the purse, but the president is demanding states help foot the bill to which many governors are saying, they dont have the money. Jeremy diamond is joining me now. Is there any real help here behind the president s promise. Reporter well there could potentially be but it is not as far reaching as the president has described. These four executive actions that he took on saturday, for now there is a lot of confusion and uncertainty around this specifically on the question of the supposlemental signed on saturday. Unlike the president who said it will connell very quickly, they are shifting blame to the states. Listen. So we hope to see it quickly. And close to immediately. I dont have any exact readout on time but a lot of this will depend on states and them applying because it is 75 federal government covering and 25 the states and they could use cares funding or existing unemployment funds for that 100. That will require an application process. Reporter and brooke, Kayleigh Mcenany blames democrats for any potential delays in the program that the president signed by executive action arguing if the democrats had reached an agreement and the president wouldnt have to do this Via Executive action. Beyond the question of whether the states could implement it and how long it will take, there is a question of whether americans will get any of this 400 per week. States would actually have to opt into the program and agree to pay 100 of the 400 per week per unemployed american for any unemployed person in the state that receive the benefits and they have to agree to administer the program. It is one of several questions still lingering after the president signed this. And very quickly, the president signed an executive action deferring payroll taxes. The president is sugging that if he is reelected he would waive any repayments on the payroll taxes but we should note that is not something the president could do unilaterally. He would need congress to step in so that is another false promise the president is plaguing as hes trying to get reelected. Jeremy diamond, thank you for the context. Still ahead, President Trump calls for College Sports to return. As they debate whether or not to cancel the entire College Football season. And the president is denying a new report that indicates that the white house asked if his face could be added to mt. Rushmore. But he says that it is a good idea. Were going to talk about that. And violence and looting break out in chicago after an officerinvolved shooting. 13 officers hurt, 100 people arrested. Well talk about that as well. Youre watching cnn, im brooke baldwin. vo weve got your back, road warriors. Because we know you want to get back to going your speed. Steering life at 10 and 2. Youre prepared for this. And so are we. Soon youll get back to skipping the counter without missing a beat. Back to choosing any car in the aisle. Back to being the boss of you. Go national. Go like a pro. Sir. Youre talking about a first [runnigeneration americanren] from the streets of the Imperial Valley who rose to beat the odds. She worked nights and weekends till she earned herself a masters degree. She was running in a marathon when a man behind her collapsed from cardiac arrest. And using her experience saved this mans life. So why do i think there should be more people like carmen bravo in this world . Because that man. Was me. They get that no two people are alike and customize your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. What do you think . I dont see it. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Were back. Youre watching cnn im brooke baldwin. A monumental request from the white house. The New York Times is reporting that the president s aides reached out to the south dakota governor about the process of adding additional president s, in this case trump, to mt. Rushmore. Yes, the mt. Rushmore. The president denied that he ever made that request. But hes not opposed to it either. In fact the president made sure to mention it is quote unquote a good idea. And then he went on to tweet out this photo, just to give us an idea of what it would look like. But hes totally denying he ever even asked. Here with me now to discuss is editoratlarge Chris Cillizza and toll use rinippa. And so chris, ill start with you. This isnt the first time that trump has mused over vanity projects. But is the president just trolling here or what . No, i think he genuinely would like to be on mt. Rushmore or some other similar mountain that has carving space, which mt. Rushmore didnt. And think about who he is. Hes a real estate guy. And he said washington made a mistake but not putting his name on mt. Vernon and he believes to be up there with lincoln in who has gotten so much done in the first term. Remember he said hes joking about many things that hes not joking about to buy himself some level of plausible deniability. I wish, tolluse, i wish this was most bizarre thing weve seen from this administration in a while. But, you sir, were actually at the Bedminster Golf Club on saturday where he held the News Conference and here is a clip of him flipping out on you for asking why the supporters in the room were not Wearing Masks. In this room you have dozens of people not following the guidelines in new jersey which say you should not dish no, it is youre wrong. Because it is a political activity. They have exceptions and a peaceful protest. So when you have and as you know [ applause ] so i want you to give us a little bit of the context for people that werent watching, dont know what the clapping or who the audience was and the u. S. Has now surpassed 5 million coronavirus cases and this is how the president is behaving. What is with all of the mixed messages on masks still . Yeah, this was an unexpected fuse conference that the president called at his private golf club in bedminster, new jersey. And when we, the press pool got there, we were surprised to see members of his club sort of having their happy hour in the back of this News Conference. People bringing wine glasses in there, sort of friday afternoon outfits after a day at the golf club. Not social distancing, not Wearing Masks and participating in this News Conference by booing the press, cheering the president , jeering at reporters who mentioned that this gathering was not in line with new jersey guidelines which say you should not have dozens of people in a room indoors, not social distancing and wearing a mask and the president said that the coronavirus pandemic was disappearing and going to disappear. I said why are you saying this is disappearing when thousands of people are dying every week and and in your own club as a Business Owner youre not following the guidelines of the state of your own Public Health officials who say if were going to get control of this pandemic, we have to have everyone on board, social distancing, Wearing Masks and not having gatherings for nonessential reasons and the president said that it was essential, it was a peaceful protest and that his gathering was a political gathering and for that reason, he could have as many people as he waned. It was quite a bizarre night and another example of president offering mixed messages, trying to lead the country but not leading by example. But quote unquote peaceful protest based on the cheers in the room and the president s stand on mask is energizing his base. It is no doubt, it is become political. But why is this being used as some sort of rallying cry . Well, because hes in a really bad place politically. Coronavirus has his handling has tracked with a major decline in the polling numbers. You have a large majority of people in virtually every poll they dont approve in the way hes handled the coronavirus pandemic. It has changed since march and it has gone downhill, correspondenting with his poll numbers and hes behind joe biden between eight and ten points and when you are backed into a corner you do what you know best. Which is appeal to your base and politicize everything. I feel like i say this on television and ill say den t again, the mask wearing should not be any sort of political statement. It is a Public Health decision for yourself, and for other people whether you are vulnerable in a Vulnerable Community or someone you know is or someone you dont know might be. That is it. In a world in which everything is political, this seems to be the kind of thing that we should just agree isnt. Donald trump has latched onto it because it is all he has. He thinks it is a life raft in terms of the political chances, i personally dont think that is accurate. I want to pivot and talk joe biden. We could learn why would joe biden has chosen as a running mate. So far we know it is a woman. And now congresswoman Maxine Waters is confederaident it wila black woman. Biden will make a decision sometime this week. I think really you have handf