Had. The worst fall this countrys ever had. Thats a remarkable warning. Wednesday alone, this country saw nearly 1,500 deaths thats the most since may. And you can see the graph rising again there. 56,000 new cases in a single day as well. Wow. Fears over reopening schools in person, this comes amid a growing pandemic. Those fears are becoming a reality as schools are reopening. One School District outside of atlanta which fully opened last week has more than 1,100 students and staff in quarantine. Still, the administration overnight they did release pretty broad recommendations and if you lead them thoroughly, they encourage the use of masks. Lets begin with our colleague nick valencia in georgia. You have three high schools near atlanta with shutdowns because of the positive cases there. And poppy, realistically we could only expect there to be even more closures. You had two high schools close in as many days in Cherokee County, North Paulding High School where we saw that viral photo of students Standing Shoulder to shoulder in a packed hallway, theyre going to the hybrid program next week. But a little north of paulding you have 1,100 students and teachers in quarantine just after eight days of classes. Part of that may have to do with the attitudes of some of the parents. Late last night, i took a call from a mother who sent her children to school defending that decision even though her 6yearold is currently in quarantine seeing its her business to send her child to school and her business what to do about her childs health. That may be part of the problem, according to mitchell mccaul. He says that parents in the district are only caring about themselves and ignoring the realities. I think nows the wrong time to bury your head in the sand and just plod on forward as if everything is fine because its not. I think, you know, some humility would go a long way because we all want to see the schools to stay open. I want my son to play football. I know you love your high school football, we all do. But lets do things the right way. The superintendent of Cherokee County continually defending his decision to reopen the schools saying a majority of parents elected to send their kids back to school. Mitchell mccaul said thats just spin. He says that the superintendent is putting politics before science. Pandering to a deeply red part of the state. Antimaskers and people who believe that the coronavirus is a hoax. Jim, poppy . Its amazing this many months in thats still a thing. Nick valencia, thanks very much. Lets go down to florida and rosa flores, what happens with the school and what are others learning from that . Yeah, you know, jim, this school is trying to figure out how many children are impacted. Heres what we know. So one day after Martin County schools reopened for inperson instruction, there was a student who displayed symptoms of covid19 and so one classroom and one bus route was quarantined and now in remote learning. So the obvious question is, well, how many students are impacted . Now according to the Public Information officer at least nine students from the classroom, but theyre still trying to figure out how many student were actually on the bus because remember its the first week of school and just like every other school year its a little bit chaotic. Theyre trying to figure out how many students were on the bus. I have been going back and forth with the Public Information officer this morning to try to figure that out. Now, Martin County is one of 13 districts that have opened this week for inperson instruction. The florida education commissioner made that announcement from the white house yesterday where President Donald Trump praised florida saying that florida is doing a great job. This after corcoran announced from the white house yesterday that by august 31st, 70 to 80 of all florida students will be having inperson facetoface instruction. Now, that is assuming that the Teachers Union here in florida are going to lose the ongoing legal battle because theres an ongoing legal battle over the reopening of schools in this state. There is actually a hearing going on right now in tallahassee and jim and poppy, this lawsuit was filed on july 20th. And this just shows you how long it has been taking. These teachers are arguing that it is unsafe for children to go back to school and therefore its unconstitutional. Well, that lawsuit started here in miamidade where i am. The first judge recused himself. The second judge allowed for a change of venue, so now the case is actually in tallahassee. Were trying to figure out whats going to happen today in court. This is a status hearing, its unclear if the needle is actually going to move in this case. But were going to keep an eye on it and let you know if theres any movement. Jim and poppy . Wow. I cant believe its going through all of that, slowing down in the courts to get an answer. Rosa, we appreciate your reporting as always always. What about sports . Right now the ncaa is holding a meeting and theyre going over the covid19 guidance for student athletes and fans. So theres a split among the conferences. Some of the colleges biggest conferences, theyre opting out. Some are opting in. What does that all mean . How are they making their decisions . Joining us now cnn Sports Correspondent andy scholes. The doctor for the cdc said in april when we were talking about opening up again, that was presuming the cases were on a downward trend which is you know, as the facts show not the case. How does that affect the debate . Yeah, thats right, jim. So, jim and poppy, the Infectious Disease society for america, they basically put all of the facts on the table for the conferences and then its up to the individual conferences to assess the risk with their own medical experts and one of the doctors laid it out perfectly when it comes to the risk. He said its like youre crossing the street and you saw a car coming. Do you run across the street and hope everything goes all right or do you wait for that car to go by . Theres two ways of thinking when it comes to that. And thats exactly how the conferences are approaching it. Another doctor on the panel said she believes that the right call is not to play sports right now. I do predict because we have been seeing it and those that are very diligent there will be transmission and theyll have to stop their games. And so theres just two different ways to approach it. Basically. And our can you say that the doctors are looking at different data, no, but theyre trying different things. I do i do appreciate the idea to just hold and to not do these conferences because that keeps the safety of the athletes at the number one priority. Yeah, so right now you basically have big 12, s. E. C. And acc trying to run across the street and hope nothing goes wrong. You have the big ten and pac12 waiting for the car to go by and the big 12 made the decision yesterday. This is whos playing, not playing. Big 12 commissioner said that the medical experts told them it wasnt safe, they would stop immediately and he explained the reasoning for moving forward. Reasonable people can disagree on it, but and, you know, the pac 12 and the big ten are seeing much of the same information that were seeing. But our board believes in our scientists and has come to a conclusion thats different. And so have the leadership of the s. E. C. And the acc. All right. The nfl and the Players Association meanwhile agreeing to extend the daily covid19 testing for players and coaches through at least september 5th. Five days before the season opener. Originally the testing was set to take place the first two weeks of training camp. According to the unions website, 56 players so far have tested positive for the coronavirus since camps opened back in late july. Back to College Football. I want you guys to just think of the state of iowa. You have got the hawkeyes in the big ten who wont be playing fall College Football. Two hours down the road, youve got iowa state in the big 12 who will be playing College Football and fall sports. What sense does that make . Yeah. Not a lot. But its a great state, so theres that. Thanks, andy. Appreciate it. Lets talk about all this. Dr. Leana wen is here Emergency Room Physician and former Baltimore City health commissioner. Lets start on sports. What would you do if it were up to you . Yeah, so this is a similar conversation, poppy, to what were discussing with schools and jobs and i mean, its really difficult to reopen anything when you have high levels of virus across the community. We know that we are one country and so even though there are parts of the country that are doing well, there are many parts that are actively undergoing surges with increasing number of infections. Out of an abundance of caution, knowing that wed have to shut down the sports this they were to come back, i think i would hold off for the time being. Recognizing that the key to controlling the or the key to reopening and allowing sports to come back is controlling the levels of infection across the country. To your point then, if you live and work and your kids go to school in a community where the outbreak is under control, i mean, look at the state like new york where the governor had said, given their low Positivity Rates, et cetera, that schools can make the choice to reopen, is that really the decider here . Should that be the decider . If its under control by certain metrics that the cdc has put out, safe to do with it restrictions and if its not its not. Should it be as simple as that . Yes. I do think that there are theres a big gray zone in the middle. So if you have areas that are actively undergoing a surge that have high test Positivity Rates, texas, 25 test positivity you cant open schools safely in the environment. On the other hand, you have low rates, massachusetts, parts of new york. That can potentially reopen as long as they have the guidelines as recommended by the cdc. Most of the country is in the gray zone and thats when the decisions get extremely complex. I think thats why we have to follow the guidelines very carefully and what to know what to do if outbreaks happen. I know you have two little kids, not totally school age. Your oldest is 3, is that right . Thats right. Im sure you read dr. Sanjay guptas on ed about why hes not sending his children to school but thats georgia where the Positivity Rate is over 11 . If youre in a state like new york with the Positivity Rate so much lower than i believe below 1 right now, what would you do and should masks in schools be mandated . Because the government overnight is just encouraging it, not mandating it. Well, the last one or the later question is easy. Absolutely masks should be mandated. If its something that basic, that we can all do to get our kids back, then we should be doing it. I think its evidence based, science based we should be doing it. Number one, is the area that you live in, does it have relatively low levels of community spread, less than 5 , the cases are going down. Do you have somebody in your family who is immunocompromised that might determine if your send your kids back. What do you do if your kids have been to out on quarantine at the last minute, do you have day care or plan in advance and assume theres Virtual Learning and what is the school doing . Are they implementing the recommendations by the cdc . Thank you, dr. Wen. As the Pandemic Forces people to file for first time unemployment last week, the president wants changes made to wait for it, shower heads. Also, Scientists Say its looking promising for a coronavirus vaccine. Thats great. But heres a question. What if too many people refuse to take it . Antivaccine groups have been working hard, spreading lies about the potential vaccine. We have the facts ahead. New unemployment claims out today fell below 1 million last week for the First Time Since march still higher than any single week during the 2008, 2009 financial crisis. Christine romans is here. Can you put that in context for us . Are the continuing claims going down too . Going down a little bit. But the direction of the numbers and just the devastating size of the numbers. I never in my career would have thought that 963,000 first time Unemployment Benefits would be an improvement but it is. Two weeks in a row of lower numbers. You can see theyre going in the right direction but from huge, huge levels. The continuing claims are about 15. 5 Million People. 15. 5 Million People are getting they have filed for Unemployment Benefits for at least two weeks. When you put in all of the programs, the different state and federal programs for jobless benefits its about 28 Million People are collecting some sort of government check to make up for lost wages. 28 million. Thats an improvement, but every one of the numbers is a family trying to figure out how to balance their budget for the week and so we have got to keep it in perspective. Going in the right direction from just devastating levels. Okay. The president says he would eliminate the payroll tax permanently if reelected. Can you remind people what it is used for . It funds Social Security and medicare. We have deferred this tax before, the Treasury Department does have the authority to make a deferral and we have done that so that people can get a little more money in the paycheck in a crisis. They did it in 2011, for example. Then the money was replenished from general funds, but the president s gone further, guys. He is talking about terminating thats his words, terminating the payroll tax. That is a big change and that signals an attempt to fundamentally change how we do Social Security in this country. Theres already an attack ad from the Biden Campaign or the democrats in florida on this, because this is something that seniors care about. The president is grabbing ahold of the third rail of politics, Social Security. He has said it very clearly, he wants to he wants to end how we pay this way of using taxes to pay for Social Security. And heres why. He wants to put money into peoples pockets headed into the election, so the near term benefit of deferring the taxes and deferring them permanently, but that raises questions about how youll fund Social Security and how youll preserve it. Yeah, it does. He said the opposite, by the way, when he was running on the campaign trail, on the debate stage, im not going to touch these entitlements. So theres that. Romans, thanks. As americans face dire health consequences, dire economic predicaments, the administration is focused on cutting water efficiency standards for other things. Wow. Shower heads . The Energy Department proposed a roll back of regulations set in the 90s and joe johns is at the white house. Clearly a pressing issue at this moment. Its a little bit bizarre and you have got to ask, why are we talking about this right now . But the president s fixation on the issue of the water flow of household fixtures has been very well documented. Hes talked about toilets and the water flow there. Hes talked about the water flow of dishwashing machines. And now were down on the issue of shower heads. Why are we talking about it now . Well, it turns out the department of energy has taken it upon itself to propose a new rule that would essentially increase the maximum flow of shower heads and this comes after the president just last week complained about this issue during a tour of the whirlpool manufacturing plant in ohio. Listen to this. You go into the new home, you turn on the faucet, no water comes out. You turn on the shower, if youre like me you cant wash your beautiful hair properly. You waste 20 minutes longer. Please come out, the water, it drips, right you know what im talking about. They put restrictors on. I got rid of it. I signed it out. Now, the president claims this is about Consumer Choice in Home Appliances but if you talk to the experts they say this is a solution in search of a problem because maybe back in the 1990s when this rule was first put in place there was a problem with shower heads and some of these other appliances. But since, that problem has been resolved. And even the macro view though is that the thing that a lot of people have to look at in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic why in the world are we talking about shower heads when the president and the administration have a lot more to do than that . Back to you. So there is about saving water, right . Just like the light bulbs, its about saving electricity, they work just as well. Beyond explanation. Thanks very much. Election amid a pandemic, joe biden and Kamala Harris say they can lead america through it better than President Trump. That appears to be a key part of the campaign message. How they plan to address the crisis, what are they proposing specifically . Next. We are moments away from the opening bell on wall street. Well see how investors react to the new jobless claims we just talked about and were getting new insight on oils impact on the global recovery. The International Energy agency cut the forecast for Global Oil