Million confirmed cases with more than 141,000 deaths. But there is a small sign of a bit of encouragement as of today. New cases are now steadier falling in as many states as they are rising. Still, lets not forget hundreds of americans are still dying every single day. Lets get the latest on the pandemic. Our National Correspondent athena jones is joining us right now. First of all, athena, were getting some very troubling new numbers coming out of california. Reporter hi, wolf. As you mentioned youre absolutely right. There are some positive signs, more States Holding steady than in recent days. But there are a lot of reasons for concern depending on where you look. Mississippi reporting a Record Number of cases for the second day in a row. Arkansas setting a new record for hospitalizations. And california now on track to surpass new york in total number of covid cases, just in the next matter of days. Encouraging signs, the tally of new daily coronavirus cases nationwide falling below 60,000 for the first time in about a week and the Positivity Rate dipping under 8 for the First Time Since july 5th. And new cases now steady in 20 states and falling in five. Still, trouble spots abound in the south, the midwest, and the west with nine states in puerto rico seeing their highest sevenday average for new daily cases. And hospitalizations continuing to climb. This is why its so important to get the message out. Were still at the beginning of this pandemic. Reporter this as a new cdc analysis reveals the actual number of covid cases is likely much higher than the official tally. The number of people infected was sometimes six to 24 times the number of reported cases. More than 50 icus in florida have reached capacity and 39 hospitals have asked the state for additional medical staff. Dozens of nurses have tested positive for the virus. Were running out of, you know, beds and nurses and caregivers. And the trend is in the wrong direction. Were barely, id say, dancing on the head of a pin right now. Reporter in south texas, hidalgo cigator trucks were brot in to hold excess bodies, a judge is issuing a shelterinp incredibly hard. Reporter so overwhelmed that officials in the neighboring county say the death tolls and cases are much higher than reported. The surge in cases in many states supercharging the backtoschool debate. And most the important thing with what we do outside of schools before we reopen to lower the transmission rate. Reporter missouris governor downplaying the risk to children who catch the virus in a recent radio interview. They are not going to have to sit in doctors offices. They are going to go home and theyre going to get over it. Reporter others arguing one childs hospitalization or death is one too many. I like the state of this governor. It is frankly misleading. It is also irresponsible. It is not fair. Children deserve better than this. The startling statistic that you all need to know is that we have 23,000 children that have been tested, positive for covid19 here in the state of florida. Reporter floridas Teachers Union now suing to block Governor Ron Desantis order to open schools. We simply cant open schools. Thats not fair. In fact just this morning, summer camps will be closed after at least three children tested positive for the virus. And one more thing in light of the resistance, the ongoing resistance among some to Wearing Masks and keeping their distance from others, a new study out of the netherlands finds that if 90 of people did those two simple things in addition to frequent handwashing, large outbreaks of covid could be presented. Its just another reminder that we have the tools to halt the spread of this virus even without a vaccine. Start with simply wearing a mask. Its not that hard. Athena jones in new york for us, thank you. Lets go to the white house right now. Our chief White House Correspondent jim acosta is with us. Its been three months since the last formal Coronavirus Briefing over there at the white house. At that time there were almost 55,000 americans dead, nearly 1 million cases. Today its more than 141,000 dead americans, and almost 4 million cases. Its gotten progressively worse. Thats right, wolf. President trump is about to hold this News Conference, but it looks like there will be one big difference this time around as it appears. Some of the main experts from those briefings from earlier this year wont be joining the president. Dr. Anthony fauci will not join the president for this evenings briefing. Fauci had expected to be invited when the News Conference was announced yesterday. But thats not the case anymore. The president is betting on this plan for more press conferences as a cure for his ailing poll numbers with one white house official saying there is a recognition that mr. Trump is not viewed as leading on the virus. Been allowed to get out reporter hours before the president s first coronavirus News Conference in months, white house officials were already struggling to get their stories stat straight, insisting there have not been any inconsistencies. The president s always been consistent on this that masks according to the cdc are recommended but not required. He said that he would wear one in the case he couldnt appropriately socially distance. He wore one and put up the picture on twitter. Reporter but thats not true. For months the president has waffled on using a mask, even once conceding to reporters he might change his mind on the issue. I just dont want to be doing, i dont know, somehow sitting in the oval Office Behind that beautiful resolute desk, the Great Resolute desk. I think wearing a face mask as a great president , prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens, i dont know, somehow i dont see it for myself. I just dont. Maybe ill change my mind. Reporter dr. Anthony fauci said the president s sudden about face makes the white house more consistent on the practice. I was very pleased to see the president wearing a mask and tweeting about masks. The Vice President does that consistently. So i think weve turned the corner. Were on the road of a consistent message. Reporter aides say the president hasnt always worn masks because hes tested regularly, even multiple times a day. Hes tested often. Im not going to read out exactly how many times hes tested today. But sometimes it is more than one time a day. Reporter a tricky stand for the white house as mr. Trump has suggested the u. S. Should pull back on testing. So i said to my people slow the testing down, please. Reporter the president is still touting his response to the virus as a success tweeting, by comparison to most other countries who are suffering greatly, we are doing very well. But, hold on, one trump ally, senator Lindsey Graham told reporters we have to up our game in testing. This is a worldwide problem. So the more hands on, the better. Other Senate Republicans are pushing back on more Pandemic Response spending. I just came from a Republican Caucus meeting that could be sort of the bernie bros progressive caucus. Im alarmed that were talking about spending another trillion dollars we dont have. Reporter it was graham and other republican advisers who urged the president to return to the Briefing Room and take questions on the virus. As polls show the public is rejecting mr. Trumps handling of covid19. But the white house wont commit to including Administration Health experts like fauci. Do we expect to see members of the Coronavirus Task force while dr. Fauci, will dr. Birx be there . Youll have to tune in to see. Reporter the president doesnt seem thrilled to share the stage with the doctor. Hes a little bit of an alarmist. Reporter fauci sees his approach differently. I consider myself a realist as opposed to an alarmist. Reporter now, white house official says its better to think of this evenings availability with the president as more of a News Conference than a Task Force Briefing like we saw earlier this year. Expect the president to talk about immigration and his opposition to renaming military bases, something that has mr. Trump threatened to veto a defense spending bill. But with the polls against the president , one Campaign Adviser described the decision to hold more evening News Conferences saying its a gamble adding that the president , quote, better feel the pressure because the pressure is on, wolf. Jim acosta, youre absolutely right. Thank you very, very much. Lets get some more on all of this. Joining us now our chief medical correspondent dr. Sanjay gupta. Sanjay, let me get your thoughts first of all on the return of this Coronavirus Task force Media Briefing that were supposedly going to be hearing from the president shortly. Dr. Fauci just told jake tapper he wasnt invited to attend this briefing. Can these briefings really be informative without the presence of medical expert, dr. Birx, dr. Redfield, dr. Fauci . I think we absolutely need to hear from these folks, wolf. I dont think im just saying that as a medical person. I think there is a Major Public Health crisis going on, the biggest that weve seen in our lifetimes. This is the Biggest Issue really in the world right now. And some of the people that youve just named, wolf, they are people who the world turns to. Other countries like to solicit their advice and how could it be that dr. Fauci hasnt even briefed the president today before this type of meeting . I think we absolutely need to hear from them. I also think that they would be talking about a path forward, wolf, right . We need to figure out how to best get through this. And also sadly, wolf, they are necessary to correct and factcheck some of the things the president has said, which have been wrong and sometimes dangerous. So, yes, they should absolutely be there. It would show a united front between the white house and these scientists. Whats interesting, sanjay as you can see on this National Trend map. The nationwide surge in new coronavirus cases seems to have stabilized a little bit compared to recent weeks. Albeit, a very, very high level. Are we still seeing seeing some of these new restrictions, mask mandates in certain places, for example, beginning to help, what, 56,000, almost 57,000 new cases just yesterday here in the u. S. . Id like to believe that, wolf. I think its too early to tell. Thats one of the challenges with this overall is that there is this lag time. You implement a measure and then it takes some time to see the impact of that. You could just have these changes in testing and little variables that affect things day to day. You really got to follow this out over weeks and months. So, i think its a little bit early to say. We sort of got lulled into this before, right, wolf, where we thought, okay, look, its plateauing, things start to open up as a result. Were heading in the right direction. We saw what happened there. So we got to have definitive proof that the numbers are coming down 14 days in a row in all these areas before they start to move to the next phase. Let me play something for you, san yjay. I want you to listen to dr. Faucis answer to jake about Vaccine Development and whether everyone should get the vaccine if there is a good, new approved vaccine, even if the first one released isnt necessarily lets say 100 effective. I would not wait to see if one was better than another. Because the very fact that it gets approved by the fda means that its good enough to protect you. The relative percentage of how good its going to be, you may get one vaccine thats a bit better than the other. But i would say that some protection by a vaccine is certainly better than no protections. Do you agree with dr. Faucis assessment . Yeah. I mean, i think people tend to think of this like an iphone or something. Im going to wait for the next model, let them work out the kinks in the first model, maybe thats whats sort of driving the question or the concern. We need a vaccine. I mean, were in the middle of a pandemic. So, there are several different platform vaccines that are coming out. And you may start to get a couple of options sort of arriving around the same time, wolf. So i think in that case people may have an option or there may be one that works better for other people versus another one. So, there may be some decision points. But i think right now wed like to think that we got to that point that were going to have multiple opportunities. I think the vaccine that comes out that is approved, shown to be safe and effective, is the one that we should sort of at least start to implement and distribute around the world. All right, sanjay, i want you to stand by. We have more to discuss. Up next, the First White House Coronavirus Briefing in almost three months as the pandemic ravages parts of the United States, and that includes california, which is about to surpass new york in the total number of cases. We have lost the report. Well be right back. My agerelated Macular Degeneration could lead to vision loss. So today i made a plan with my doctor, which includes preservision. Because he said a multi vitamin alone may not be enough. And its my vision, my morning walk, my sunday drive, my grandsons beautiful face. 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Com for a doctor discussion guide to prep for your next appointment in person, over the phone, or online. We were so relieved to learn there are treatments for td. Were watching all the latebreaking developments in the coronavirus pandemic. I want to bring in our chief political analyst Gloria Borger and dr. Leana wen, the former City Health Commissioner of baltimore. Gloriaa, give us your thoughts on the return of this Task Force Briefing in light of the president s apparent decision to not include actual task force members, medical experts like dr. Fauci, dr. Birx or dr. Redfield. Well, this is a president who wants this to be his show, doesnt want anyone else on the stage with him. And i think that what we know from the president being alone is that this is largely about his poll numbers and about his reelection. That there are people inside the white house and ive spoken with two republican sources about this who believe that the president s falling poll numbers are because he isnt seen to be in charge of handling the pandemic. So, as a result, they want to put him out there, they want him to seem like he is the one leading the charge against the coronavirus. However, you know, this could also turn the other way for him. The other briefings, which we saw for days and days after the president briefed on the virus, his poll numbers started heading south. So this is risky for them. But there are those who feel that they have no other choice but to put the president out there talking about the pandemic because that is what the election is going to be about, wolf. Its the Biggest Issue facing the country right now. Dr. Wen, you wrote an oped back in april about ways the white house could actually improve the Coronavirus Briefings. Now that the briefings have returned with the president , what would you like to see . Well, first of all, i would like to see, wolf, public Health Experts leading the briefing. Because this is a Public Health crisis. And their voices should be at the forefront. Then i want to hear the science. I want to hear real numbers about what is the state of the outbreak. Trusted messengers would tell us whats happening, not try to paint a rosy picture for what they wish was happening but whats actually happening. Where are the surges . What are we the most concerned about . Then i want to hear them also explain the science. These are the top scientists and Public Health leaders in the world. I want them to tell us about whats happening with vaccine trials, whats happening with treatment. How did they come up with these guidelines around School Reopening . Whats the Science Behind that . Thats top of mind for so many people. And then finally, and i actually think most importantly, i want to hear an acknowledgment of what are the problems that actually local officials, state officials, hospitals are facing . For example, the shortage of ppe. The fact that tests are taken 10 to 14 days, which is absurd, to combat. I want him to acknowledge the problems and say heres how we and the federal government are going to lead on a national strategy. Im not sure that thats whats going to happen in the Briefing Room today, but thats what the American People need. Youre absolutely right. We certainly do need that kind of national leadership, not delegating everything to cities, counties, or states. Gloria, you mentioned polls that thats a motivating factor for the president. His poll numbers are not good. Biden is ahead by double digits over the president. The president s job approval numbers were in the high 30s. Not very encouraging. Do you think that this is whats driving the president primarily the failing poll numbers right now . Yeah. I think they finally convinced him that those are real. If you look at his disapproval numbers on the handling of the virus, which, as i said before, is the key issue, the disapproval number has increased about a dozen points over the last three months. And so if youre running for reelection, you have to figure out a way to get ahead of this. And the problem is, wolf, and ive been told by sources close to the white house about this is that the president doesnt seem to want to be briefed any more than hes already being briefed. Hes spending a lot of time in front of the television set, learns a lot of information there. And so the president hasnt been attending the Coronavirus Task force meetings. And so when you go out in front of the public and you want to answer the questions that dr. Wen is talking about, the real questions that doctors have and that the American Public has about testing, for example, you have to be able to be informed enough to give the answers to those questions. And so if i were donald trump, and im not, i would want to have those scientists and those doctors surrounding me so they could give the American Public the information that they crave and give the public the sense that donald trump is actually working with the doctors and not opposed to the doctors. And were told he really hasnt been attending many of those Task Force Meetings in the situation room, the Vice President is usually in charge of those meetings. Dr. Wen, the last time the president joined a Task Force Media briefing was april 27th. At that time there were nearly 1 million confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States. Nearly 55,000 americans had died from the virus. Today only three months later there are nearly 4 million confirmed cases and more than 141,000 americans have died. So, what are your thoughts as we look at these grim comparisons, especially when the president tweeted today we are doing very well . On what measure are we doing very well . Were seeing escalating numbers and infections. Now were seeing hospitals, icus becoming overwhelmed once again. We thought we went through that once in new york and now were going through that all over the country. Now were seeing mortality rates beginning to increase. Were seeing many more preventible deaths. We are seeing also so many other countries that have cases around the same time that we did. They were able to not only flatten the curve. They crushed the curve. They got their cases essentially to zero. Then they were able to reopen their economies. They were able to get their kids back to school safely. Theyre able to resume ways and lives in ways we have not. I really dont know what the president is talking about. I want to be optimistic. Hold on a second. The president s answering some questions now. I want to listen. Horrible disease that shouldve never been allowed to escape china, but it did, and it infected the world, and the world is suffering. But were going to get it taken care of and were helping lots of other countries. John . Mr. President , first i just wanted to get clarification. Your press secretary said today that you sometimes take more than one test a day. Why is that . And how often . Well, i dont know about more than one. I do take probably on average a test every two days, three days. And i dont know if any time ive taken two tests in one day. But i could see that happening. So republicans and democrats on capitol hill both have said they want to see more money for testing. They want to send billions of dollars to the state so they can do more testing. And you probably saw Mick Mulvaney the other day, he said it took him a week to get test results back. This is simply inexcusable. Do you think we have a problem with testing in this country right now . And are you in favor of more money . We have done far more testing than other countries. Some tests are 5 15 tests and those are frankly the ones that i prefer. And the we ares are coming down. And as we go as an example there are thousands and thousands of kits being made right now, which give you a 15minute and a fiveminute test. So well be able to get those numbers down. Those numbers are similar in other places. Theyre also doing massive numbers, numbers like nobody thought possible. But those numbers will be coming down. I think its a good thing if we can do. Are you in favor of more money for testing . Theyre going to make a presentation in front of me tonight or tomorrow on that. Were going to be over 50 million tests. Second country is india with 12 million. Then you have 7 million, 6 million, and 4 million. I think that we are doing tremendous amount of testing. But if the doctors and the professionals feel that even though were at a level that nobody ever dreamt possible that they would like to do more, im okay with it. Why are your doctors not with you here today . Dr. Birx is right outside. Yes, please. Thank you, mr. President. Number one, i just wanted to know in november do you want the American People to judge you on that . Can you speak up, please . Do you want the American People to judge you on the ballot in november by how you handled this pandemic so far . This, among other things. I think the American People will judge us on this. But theyll judge us on the economy that i created and that already were creating. Were setting record job numbers, as you know. I think were going to have a very strong year next year. I think were going to have a very strong third quarter, a very good fourth quarter. But i think next year is going to be a record year. I think theyre going to judge me on the tax cutting and the regulation cutting, which nobodys ever done to the extent that weve been able to do it on rebuilding the military, on how weve handled the v. A. We got veterans choice. Nobody thought that would be possible. Thats been many decades. Theyve been trying to get veterans choice. Its called choice where they can go get a doctor if they have to wait in line for two weeks or five weeks or two days. And, frankly, thats been a great thing. Veterans accountability, i think theyll judge me on that. Theyll judge me on all of the things weve done. And i think we can say this in its never been challenged in three and a half years, the first three and a half years, the first years of a presidency, i dont think any president has accomplished so much as weve accomplished from energy to health to so many other things. And then this came in and the plague i call it the plague, the plague came in, terrible thing, shouldve been stopped, wasnt stopped. It came in, we had to shut things down to save potentially millions of lives. We did that. And now we started them up, and i think weve really started it up very successfully. Thank you, mr. President. Youve been saying for months the virus would simply disappear. And now youre saying that its likely to get worse before it gets better. If it does keep getting worse, americans keep dying, are you responsible for that . The virus will disappear. I think that i always like to say, either way when you look at it, the governors are working with me, im working with the governor. Were working hand in hand. I think were all responsible. I view it as a team. Very good relationships with the governors. Very, very good relationships. I could say im fully responsible, but one day we had a virus come in, and i closed the borders, did a lot of things that were very good. Dr. Fauci said we saved tens of thousands of lives when i closed the border. Nobody wanted to do it. I wanted to do it. We closed the border to china. We put on the ban. We didnt want people coming in from heavily infected china. Fairly shortly thereafter i closed the borders from europe. Those were tremendous moves. If its one person, its too much. But were, say, 140,000. We could have double, triple, quadruple that number if we didnt. So we did a lot of things right, including with equipment. Its a shame that it happened. It shouldnt have happened. China shouldve stopped it. Yes, go ahead, please. If i cakwikd, two questions. My first question is we have a very quick testing platform here at the white house. Its great. You know very quickly. Do you think that it would be easier to reopen and restart businesses if we could produce more of those were trying to do that. Were trying very much to do that. Rather than sending your tests in and it goes through the mail one day, comes back another day, no matter how they send them, its a day and a day. So thats two days already wasted. And then if it spends by the time you get it back, its three or four days if they do an efficient job. Were trying to get the testing on site. And my second question is a little bit different topic but its one that a lot of people are talking about. Jillane maxwell is in prison. A lot of people want to know if shes going to turn in powerful, Prince Andrew and you criticized bill clintons behavior. Do you feel that shes going to turn in powerful men . How do you see that working out . I dont know. I havent really been following it too much. I just wish her well, frankly. Ive met her numerous times over the years, especially since i lived in palm beach. I guess they lived in palm beach. But i wish her well, whatever it is. I dont know the situation with Prince Andrew. Just dont know, not aware of it. Mr. President , on unemployment insurance. How much below 600 are you willing to go . And you said that the economy is about to bounce. The economy is getting stronger and i think we have a chance to have a very strong economy, especially if some of the things that i just spoke about were. We want to have people go back and want to go back to work as opposed to be sort of forced into a position where they are making more money than they expected to make. And the employees are having a hard time getting them back to work. So, that was a decision that was made. I was against that original decision. But they did that. It still worked out well because it gave people a life line, a real life line. Now were doing it again. They are thinking about doing 70 . The amount would be the same, but doing it in a little bit smaller initial amounts so that people are going to want to go back to work as opposed to making so much money that they really dont have to. But we were very generous with them. I think its been a tremendously successful program. The whole thing has been successful. Were in a pandemic and yet were producing tremendous number of jobs. That was something that nobody thought possible. Mr. President , thank you very much. Yesterday you said that wearing a mask was an act of patriotism. If that is the case, why dont you do it more frequently . Well, i do actually do it when i need. I carry the mask. I went into Walter Reed Hospital the other day. I have the mask right here and i will use it gladly, no problem with it. And i say if you can use the mask when you can use the mask. If youre close to each other, if youre in a group, i would put it on in im in a group. If im in an elevator and there are other people with me including security people, its not their fault they have to be in the elevator. I want to protect them also. I put on a mask. I have no problem with the masks. I view it this way. Anything that potentially can help, and that certainly can potentially help is a good thing. I have no problem. I carry it. I wear it. You saw me wearing it a number of times. And ill continue, please. Mr. President , are you sending this message . Yesterday you tweeted out an image wearing a mask. And last evening we saw you not wearing a mask at your hotel. Well, i dont know the hotel. I was pretty far away from people. But i would say this. I explained it i think very well. If youre close together, i would put on the mask. And if youre not, i would say that if for instance, like here, youve been all tested. Ive been tested. Often times ill be with people that are fully tested. Ive been tested. In theory you dont need the mask. Im getting used to the mask. And the reason is think about patriotism. It helps. Now, we have experts that have said in the recent past that masks arent necessarily good to wear. You know that. But now theyve changed their mind. If they change their mind, thats good enough for me. So i wear it when appropriate. Please . Quick question. Thank you, sir. A lot of americans are surprised at your change of tone over all of this, a more perhaps realistic tone. The sudden embrace of masks, social distancing, the ive always agreed with that. Ive never fought either one. But certainly social distancing. I want to thats common sense. Six feet for me is common sense. Id like to say maybe make it a little bit further. The idea is that things will get worse perhaps before they get better here. And perhaps the realization that this resurgence, if you will, is for real when you used to talk about it in terms of little fires being put out here and there. We have embers and fires and we have big fires. And unfortunately now florida is in a little tough or in a big tough position. You have a great governor there. You have a great governor in texas. You have people that are very skilled people. And i think theyre going to ham it very well. Their hospital capacities are holding up. But texas is a big state and its very well run and so is florida. And i think theyll do a very good job. I want to ask you about the issue of vaccines, which you already mentioned. Yesterday a study by a Chinese Company showed some promising results for its Coronavirus Vaccine candidate. If china were first in developing a vaccine or even if it werent, would the administration be willing to work with china to bring a successful chinese vaccine to the u. S. . Were willing to work with anybody thats going to get us a good result. Were very close to the vaccine. I think were going to have some very good results. Were already in testing. Nobody thought that would be possible. Under the old system it would be a year to two years before you could even think about using the word testing. So i think weve had a lot of and the reason were testing, theyve had good results and now we have to see in the testing also for safety because they have to make sure its safe. And i think youre going to see something over the next fairly short period of time. Maybe very short period of time having to do with therapeutics and vaccines. So well be doing these quite often. Were going to keep you abreast of this. Well also talk about some of the other topics like our economy, which is doing well. The stock market had another good day. I think they have a good day because they see a lot of positive things happening on this front too. Thank you very much. Mr. President all right. The president wrapping up a relatively short q a with reporters over there at the white house Briefing Room. A couple of important points he made. He said unfortunately he said things are going to get worse before they get better. Thats a different tone than clearly hes been suggesting for quite a while. And the exact quote, it will probably unfortunately get worse before it gets better. He was also very determined to make the point that he wants people to wear masks and to engage in social distancing. He insisted that was his position all along. But we know it hasnt been his position all along. For months he was even at times ridiculing wearing a mask. And as far as social distancing is concerned, we all remember a few weeks ago that Trump Campaign rally in tulsa, oklahoma, where there were several thousand people who were not engaging in social distancing and certainly werent Wearing Masks. Jim acosta, youve been listening very closely to what the president says. I assume you heard a different tone coming from the president today, probably in part because of his low poll numbers in all of these national polls. To some extent, yes. He doesnt have the band back together. This was more of a solo performance. But the song i think basically remains the same. The president was downplaying the severity of the resurgence that were seeing right now. And hes painting a rosy picture, wolf, of his own administrations response to the coronavirus saying that weve done much better in the u. S. Than other countries around the world. Thats not really the case. Perhaps better than some countries. But as we are seeing in europe and parts of asia where those countries are flattening the curve, the United States is just simply not. I think there were other inconsistencies throughout this press briefing, wolf. At one point the president was talking about how hes okay with masks and uses them from time to time when he needs to. But when he was at the trump hotel here in d. C. Last night for a fundraiser, he was caught on camera not wearing a mask. When he had a rally in tulsa earlier this year, there were thousands and thousands of people there not Wearing Masks. And speaking of that, at one point during this briefing, the president seemed to be reading off of notes throughout this press conference. But at one point he said he wants people to stay away from crowded bars, and so on. Well, what about crowded rallies that he would like to have all around the country . So, it was just one inconsistency after another, wolf. And speaking of inconsistency, there was a glaring one during this press conference when the president was asked how many times hes tested a day for the coronavirus. Earlier in the day the White House Press secretary Kayleigh Mcenany tried to downplay the importance of the president Wearing Masks saying hes tested all the time and said at one point that hes tested multiple times a day. And then the president was asked about that during this press briefing. And the president says that hes tested maybe once a day, not more times than once a day. And so i think that calls into question some of the information that were getting from the press secretary. She should know whether or not the president is tested multiple times a day. Maybe the president misspoke there. But he seemed to say that the press secretary was not correct when she made that statement earlier today, wolf. He said he gets tested every two or three days as opposed to multiple times a day, which his press secretary suggested earlier in the day. He did say were imploring Young Americans to avoid packed bars and other crowded indoor gatherings. Be safe and be smart. Thats the first time ive heard the president say that. Have you heard him Say Something like that before . No. I do think that there were moments, and, again, wolf, this was sort of like teleprompter trump. He was reading from the notes quite a bit during this press conference. He was obviously given these notes by people like dr. Deborah birx who was waiting in the wings outside the Briefing Room. So he was saying the right thing at times telling people not to go to bars, telling people to wear masks. How many meetings, City Council Meetings and how many altercations have we seen around the country now where people are just exploding with anger about not wanting to wear masks and now all of a sudden towards the end of july when the president s in hot water with his poll numbers hes now telling the American People to wear masks . The toothpaste may just be out of the tube on that one. But from time to time, wolf, the president was trying to say some of the right things it seemed listening to his performance in there. But at the same time, wolf, the overall tone, i think, was a president still not dealing with the reality of how serious the situation is in this country. He was talking about embers and fires and maybe some big fires when, you know, i think you would call a raging inferno in some states like south florida and other states. This is a situation that is spiraling out of control for Health Care Workers who are dealing with this on the front lines. He was asked at one point wheres dr. Birx, wheres dr. Fauci, and he said, well, dr. Birx is waiting in the other room. Well, why doesnt the president want to have people like dr. Birx and dr. Fauci in there when they can pass on the reliable information that can help people get through this crisis . The president obviously wants the stage to himself. I briefly want you to explain the president was asked about jillane maxwell, the confidant, the friend Jeffrey Epstein. Shes under arrest in new york city right now and he a couple times wished her well. Has the president been wishing her well before . I dont believe so, wolf. I know he has been asked about this Jeffrey Epstein case in the past. And he has tried to distance himself from Jeffrey Epstein. But i have to imagine, wolf, that there are white house officials behind the scenes who are just tearing their hair out, you know, when they heard the president say that. Here is a situation where there are only a few months left in this campaign. Hes asked about Ghislaine Maxwell who is an accused sex trafficker at this point, an associate of Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced, you know, financier who obviously is no longer alive, committed suicide. And the president is wishing maxwell well. That is going to just set the hair on fire of the white house officials. They definitely dont want to hear the president asked about those sorts of things. And those are the distractions that white house officials are worried about when he goes out there and holds these sorts of News Conferences. That particular sound bite is going to play over and over again. He shouldve taken the News Conference back on track. Its going to stick out. He said he knew her well i guess from palm beach. He spent a lot of time with epstein and maxwell over the years. And i was sort of surprised to hear wish her well a couple of times. Lets get back to the coronavirus pandemic. Dr. Sanjay gupta is with us as well. You were listening very closely, sanjay, to what the president had to say. What jumped out at you . Yeah. I think it was, as you mentioned, wolf, a more serious tone, certainly from the president. And more well prepared. He had no notes. He was talking about some of these medications like remdesivir and the steroid medication. I think the things that did not get addressed that really need to be addressed right now, the big one testing. We heard a lot about his own personal testing, as you mentioned, getting tested a couple three times a week, whatever it might be. But there is still a huge problem with testing in this country. And its worth pointing out for a second, wolf, why for a month by the month of february, maybe into march we really werent testing for this. We really didnt have eyes on this. And the virus continued to spread pretty wildly. So when he says we have more testing than any other country, thats true. But thats in part because we need more testing and were still probably missing theres probably ten times as many infections out there as we are actually finding. So, wolf, thats a huge concern. That means a lot of people out there dont know they have it. They are continuing to spread it and the problem continues to get worse. I really wish some of the scientists couldve been there to talk about schools. What is the scientific sort of thesis on this . How are they sort of approaching these decisions about schools . Frankly, wolf, i think its what every Community Wants to know right now thats coming up. We need to have some real evidence behind whats going to happen next. And he did say at one point, and im looking at my notes. He keeps saying this virus will eventually disappear. He said months ago its going to disappear very quickly. Now he says it will disappear. The virus will disappear. He says that after he says it will get worse before it gets better and disappear. Its going to disappear at some point. But that could be years from now, right . Thats right, wolf. First of all, there are viruses that dont disappear. We have hepatitis, things like that. We think about some viruses. Then there are other viruses like sars, which in 2003 i believe, you know, it was a significant problem. And then because it wasnt as contagious, it did start to wither away and disappear. To get to, you know, worldwide herd immunity is going to take a long time. And at that point, wolf, you just think about it. Its harder for the virus to jump from person to person because youre more likely to have an immune person around. So eventually the virus will stop spreading as quickly and then go to low levels. It may never completely disappear. May always be sort of present in communities and potentially even infect unvaccinated or unprotected people. But youre right, wolf. Thats a long ways away. We all hope eventually it will disappear. But this is going to presumably get worse, a lot worse before it gets better, unless theres a vaccine, unless theres some major therapeutics. He did say, sanjay, the vaccines are coming a lot sooner than anyone thought. And then he said by years. All of us hope, and dr. Fauci says hes cautiously optimistic maybe by the end of this year, early next year there will be a vaccine but theres no guarantee. Theres no guarantee, wolf. We got to see the results of these final trials. I will say this wolf. Just as someone whos covered this pretty intensely for the last several months and i talked to people who are working in that area just about every day, wolf. I think there does remain a significant amount of optimism around certainly the speed at which the research is happening around vaccines but also the likelihood that there will be a vaccine, how effective it will be, how long it will last. We dont know the answers to that yet. But i talk to people both within private sector. I talk to people at the nih. I talk to sources around the well. Were further along in five or six months now than typically is done in three or four years. So, its forever medical innovations pace will have been accelerated by this. But its still got to lead to a safe and effective vaccine and we still dont have the answer to that question. Dana bash is with us as well. Our chief political correspondent. Anxious to hear your thoughts. What stood out to you . Reporter well, what stood out mostly to me is what we didnt hear. And sanjay just touched a bit on this when he talked about testing. Here we are many months into this pandemic. And we have seen kind of twisting and turning from the white house and more broadly the federal government and what their response should and shouldnt be. But here we are with the president actually saying it in a very somber way. Its going to get worse before it gets better. Okay. So whats your plan . How are you going to address this in a holistic, broad way . And we didnt hear that. Testing obviously is number one. That is preventing places even like where we are in d. C. The numbers are relative to other places where there are hot spots, relatively manageable and low. And yet just before we came on Montgomery County schools outside of d. C. Announced that they were going to go fully online, same with fairfax county. And why is that . Because they dont have the tools to go ahead and send their kids to school, primarily because of the lack of testing. They dont know who has it and who doesnt. That is such a huge, huge problem. And so we didnt hear that. We didnt hear what the federal government is going to do led by the president of the United States. Yeah. Montgomery county, outside of washington, d. C. , Remote Learning for the fall semester. Fairfax, virginia, outside of washington, d. C our cnn reporter and fact checker is with us. Did you hear anything that required Fact Checking . As always, i did. The president repeated some of the false claims when he was doing these back in april and may. He said he inherited empty cupboards. He inherited about 19,000 ventilators from the obama administration. He claimed he is the one that got the Veterans Choice Health Care passed and that was signed into law by barack obama in 2014. Scripted trump versus teleprompter trump and just off the cuff. There is a concerning rise in the sunbelt. Previously he dismissed that. In the q and a he said it would disappear. Asked about testing, he said we are doing more than other countries and have lower mortality. The u. S. Is doing worse than its peer countries, not better. I want to bring in the mayor of miami, francis suarez. What did you think, mayor . The president said the pandemic will get worse before it gets better. Is that what you are seeing in your beautiful city of miami . I do think it will get worse before better. Even if the statistics start improving. Yesterday we had 2400 versus 3200 the day before. Icu is the most lagging indicator. Even if cases improve, we are going to see issues related to hospitalizations and deaths in the coming days. Governor desantis said he thinks your state is on the right course. His words. Take a look at trend line in miamidade county. Does that look like the right course . Unfortunately, i cant see your screen but i do know what the trend line of new cases is. It has been an ascending trendline. We hit a peak of like 110 to 125 new cases a day. As of monday it is 60 so there should be a slight reduction of the choif curve. Yesterday we had 2500 cases so that will probably flatten a little more by the numbers from toms statistician. We went from 533 cases which was our high point to 3500 new cases which is a 7 times multiplier and the state had a 10times multiplier. I think they hit 15,000 at one point. You have already mandated mask wearing in miami and stepped up enforcement. As we have heard at the white house, the president is finally embracing masks. Do you think more people in your city will comply with your order now that the president is finally on board saying the right thing . I sincerely hope so. I have been asking him to do this for days. I am glad his advisers have gotten to him and he understands the importance of emphasizing this. We took away the warning. We used to have a warning in place. We took that away and now are only fining people, 150, 500 dollars. We want to get that curve not only to flatten but start going in the opposite direction as quickly as possible so we can get the lagging indicators like hospitalizations and icus down as quickly as we can. Schools in miami, when will they reopen and will there be inclass teaching . They are sell to open august 18. I dont know if there will be inclass teaching. The superintendent didnt indicate if it would be inclass teaching. We just shut down some summer camps because some kids got sick. We may have to wait. Mayor suarez, thank you and good luck to everyone in miami. Breaking news. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is standing by live. Big news for veteran homeowners. Your va benefits can help you save 3000 a year by refinancing now at newday usa. With their va streamline refi, theres no appraisal, no income verification, and no out of pocket costs. Not one dollar. Record low rates have dropped again. One call can save you 3000 a year. Save big. Call now. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. We are following breaking news on president trumps first Coronavirus Briefing since april. Largely scripted that ended with questions and answers. He warned the pandemic will probably get worse before it gets better even though he has been down playing it for months. He said masks are effective in stopping it although he wasnt wearing a mask. The nation is nearing 4 million confirmed cases with more than 141,000 deaths. The spread and scope of the pandemic is alarming. There is an encouraging sign tonight. The rate of new cases are Holding Steady or falling in
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