Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live 20200626

You to continue to do just that. At home and at work and in your community. But for those in the areas most affected we just want to encourage you to listen to and respect the guidance of your state and local authorities. This is different than two months ago both in our ability to respond and in the nature of those that are being infected and that younger americans have a particular responsibility to make sure that theyre not carrying the coronavirus into settings where they would expose the most vulnerable. And lastly, as i prepare to bring dr. Birx to the podium i just encourage every american to continue to pray. Pray for all the families that have lost loved ones, pray for our Health Care Workers on the front lines and just continue to pray. By gods grace every single day each of us do our part to heal our land. With that ill introduce the coordinator of the white house effort on the coronavirus, dr. Deborah birx. Thank you, mr. Vice president. Thank you for that great introduction. Just to remind everybody where we have come from in the last four months we have a great deal of understanding now about the differential disease, differential infections, no. We believe everybody is susceptible to infection, but we know infection leads to a spectrum of disease, and we have much better details about who is vulnerable and why they are vulnerable. And as the Vice President said at one time we were diagnosing people in the icu after they came into the emergency room, and thank tuesday the millennials who have been heeding our guidance they have been coming forward and getting testing. So as whereas before we told them to stay home now we are telling them to be tested, and this is a great change for us because it allows us now to find the asymptomatic and mild diseases we couldnt find before. As dr. Redfield talked about yesterday from the serology test we have a great understanding what was happening in march, and the number of asymptomatic and mild conditions that led to individuals to have antibody but never come forward with significant disease. We now know whos at risk for significant disease. And we now know its particularly the elderly individuals over 80 and individuals with comorbidities, and remember those comorbidities span the entire age group. We do know we have people in the younger age groups with significant type 1 diabetes and may also have individuals with significant obeatstsity. We know those are risk factors and so risk factors go with your comorbidity, not necessarily your age. As we call on individuals to protect one another, bypassing someone on the street you dont know what comorbidities they have. We also know whos at risk for the highest mortality and because of that weve been able to the Clinical Care has dramatically improved, and i want to thank nih whos been working constantly to update guidelines. Soclinations have the most updated information about how to actually improve disease courses of those in the hospital. We of course have improved treatment in the hospital that we didnt have in march and april with improved methods of oxygenation which is really quite important, acute treatment of respiratory distress, thats individuals on the ventilator and we know now they respond quite well to steroids and research that is ongoing in what we call an acute cytokine storm. Thats being researched and the work being done on clotting research by the nih. We also have new therapeutics that have been used as both compassionate use like convalescent plasma, and now remdesivir we just reallocated and ensured it was available to those states facing increased hospitalization as well as the monthly alkalgs we have been sending out. If we can go to the first slide please and start where the Vice President left off i really this disease is tackled community by community, testing at the Community Level and working with Community Groups to understand the spread in those communities. So we spend the time to really map this epidemic and new positives down to the level of communities to understand where spread is occurring so that we can match our prevention interventions to those areas. Next slide, please. As we discussed and its difficult for you to see on this graphic because the top line is new york, and we should remember where we were in that slope, that early slope that you can see in the case of the new york cases, that rapid acceleration. On the same slide you can see california, that is the blue line that is just passing the orange line. And also on the slide is texas in green, florida in orange and arizona at the bottom. As dramatic as these slopes are they are not equivalent to the original acceleration that we saw in new york. That doesnt mean we arent absolutely focused on working with the governors in those communities to stop the spread of the virus in those four states. Next slide please. This shows you through the entire country that were tracking state by state, and obviously this axis is vastly different than the one on the prior slide because that slide included all of the cases in new york city, but you can see on this slide weve been tracking very closely, North Carolina. A team has been in North Carolina working with the state and local Public Health authorities to really respond to the changes there as well as South Carolina at the bottom. Next slide. Ill just go quickly through these so you can see oklahoma is at the bottom of this slide, and next slide. You can see on this slide idaho and oregon. Those are the ones in the light blue and the dark green where you see an inflection in their slopes. These inflection points and understanding when they occur and why they occur are critical for understanding how to prevent the spread. Next slide. And what the Vice President talked about is we created an alert system that brings together what we just talked about, rising cases with an understanding of test positivity. And so this chart which is difficult for you to see those states on that far side that have the highest test positive that you can see at the higher level of the graph, those are the states that we have concerns about because the rising number of cases and the rising test positive. This explains the extent of Community Spread. In states that have increasing cases but falling test positives it tells us they are getting into the communities to find the asymptomatic cases. And so these are the things we put together to understand the full picture. Next slide, please. So this really puts on one slide the states that we have that weve been talking about across the south where we have our greatest concerns. The two top states with the largest increase in test positives are texas and arizona followed by florida, mississippi, South Carolina, alabama, georgia, louisiana, nevada and utah. Those last few states are under still 10 , but were tracking them closely as we look at that individually. Finally, next slide. You can see on this slide we are tracking and this is when you hear about we have a certain 2 or 3 of counties under specific alerts. It doesnt matter the size of the county. Were tracking the increase and rate of increase of new cases at the county level. We currently have about 130 counties of the 3,100 in the United States in that category. It shows you the case positivity by the metros and the number of tests that have been done, next slide. And then this shows you specifically the change over time of test positivity in the largest metros where we have concerns, and this is austin, phoenix, houston, dallas, san antonio, tampa, orlando, miami, riverside, california and atlanta at the bottom. And so this is how we continue to integrate data on cases, data on testing and data on hospitalizations so that we can work with the states for a comprehensive integrated response. Next slide. I know many of you would be interested in seeing how high the test Positivity Rate became in april and well, march and april, so that top line is new york city metro, and you can see it reached over 50 on a series of days for almost two weeks. 50 of the tests were positive for covid19. Underneath that you see new jersey, minnesota and a whole series of individuals. Detroit is the second large mountain. Next slide. So quickly to show you how we look at this at the state level and work with the governors and the local health authorities. So this is florida. We track testing. Its done the number of test positives in the blue line, the total number of cases seen in the black bar, and what we call the syndromic presentations of early respiratory diseases and pneumonias. Next slide. This then we look at the county level to look for changes in the slope of the number of new cases. So you can see that top county that has the largest increase in slope in cases is miami, miamidade followed by broward and palm beach. All the other counties are much lower in their daily case increases. This allows us to focus resources and testing along with the state into these specific sites. Next slide. That all comes together to create this graphic so that individuals can understand and we can understand precisely where the rate of growth is and where the rate of growth is occurring by the shading of the boxes. Im going to quickly take you through texas because its the same story. Next slide. So this shows you the exact same graphics now shown for texas showing a continued rise in the daily tests performed but also a rise in the test positivity, the blue line. You can see throughout may after opening the test positivity continued to decline as their testing increased. It was in the last 2 1 2 weeks that we saw this inflection of rising test positivity along with rising testing. But it was the increase in test positivity that alerted us along with the increased cases that this was becoming an alert. You could see in the red boxes everything is heat mapped, so at a glance you can tell those two boxes that are in the middle that are red, thats the heat map showing this has rising cases and rising test positivity. Next slide. But even in texas next slide please and this gives you a map of texas. It shows where the cases are and where theyre rising the most rapidly. And finally im just going to go through arizona very quickly along with california. So next slide. Same situation that were showing here with arizona, rising number of tests being performed but also rising test positivity, rising cases. Next slide. Arizona is unique in they have essentially one county that is primarily represented by the depth of the new cases, and this is in the phoenix area. Next slide. Then next slide. So this is california. And so you can see california over the last week has had that increase in test positivity. You can see that dramatic increase at the end of that bar in the blue line along with still increasing test positive testing that has been done, and we just want to thank all of the governors and all of the work in the laboratories that has allowed us along with hhs and brett guy rar to see you can see these lines have gone up over the last four weeks. And like new mexico the primary infections right now in california at the highest level are in the l. A. Area, but because l. A. Is a large metropolitan area next slide you really need this kind of more specific and local graphic to really show its also increasing in the central valley, and this gives us the ability to focus resources among agriculture workers and testing for those who become positive. So i just wanted to take you through how weve been looking at data, how we consolidate that data and then monday report it out to the governors. We hope over the next week to be able really have this Data Available in realtime on the white house website so that everybody across the country can see where the cases are because in the end we really want to call to action when we started talking about what can be done we said the most important thing that would change the spread, and im going to turn that over because i know tony is going to talk about, is really individual behavior and our respect for one another through social distancing, wearing a mask and ensuring that were protecting the most vulnerable that may be in multigenerational households. And i just want to end by thanking again the millennials who have come forward. And know during the protests we asked a lots of them to go get testing and weve seen the testing rates really improving in the under 40 age group. That is important to continue to accelerate testing in the under 40 age group because thats the age group to have most likely asymptomatic spread and be spreading the virus unbeknownst to them. No one is intentionally spreading the virus but they dont know theyre positive, they dont have symptom and need to be tested in order to have that awareness. So we really want to thank them, again, for coming forward and really enriching the amount of testing that has been done in the under 40yearold age group. And to our older population you know if you have comorbidity, you know if youre over 80 we ask you if youre in these hot spots in the states having an expansion in cases to continue to shelter as much as you can and use your grandchildren to go and do your shopping. Thank you very much, dr. Birx. And thank you, mr. Vice president. So i want to extend just for a couple of minutes some of the comments made both by the Vice President and by dr. Birx, and it has to do with the situation we find ourselves facing right now. Its very clear from the maps that you saw that there are certain areas of the country, states, towns, cities, regions that are doing very well that have followed the guidelines and are opening up in a prudent way thats been effective. However, as you can see we are facing a serious problem in certain areas. Now, when you look at the map its very interesting because you see some dark parts of the map and some light parts of the m map. We have a very heterogenous country. But it doesnt mean were not interconnected with each other, so it goes on in one area of the country and ultimately could have an effect on other areas of the country. So lets take a look at this problem that were facing now, this resurgence of cases. I dont think theres time enough now all day to try and analyze and figure out the multifaceted elements that went into that. You know, everything from maybe opening a little bit too early on some to opening at the right time but not actually following the steps in an orderly fashion to actually trying to follow the steps in an orderly fashion, but the citizenry did not feel they wanted to do that for a number of reasons. Likely because everyone feels the common feeling of being pentup for such a long period of time. So were not going to say blame, not going to try to analyze it, but there is something very important about it that id like to get a message to the country in general. When you have an outbreak of an Infectious Disease its a dynamic process that is global. So remember what happened in china affected us. What happened in europe affected us. Whats happening here is affecting others. We cant get away from that. Its interconnected. So therefore, if we are an interconnected society weve got to look at the fact of what our role is in trying to put an end to this. Everybody wants to end it, everybody wants to get back to normal, and everybody wants the economy to recover. I think we all are pretty common in that. Thats a given. So what can we do . What i think upon talking to a lot of people and reflecting on it we have such an unusual ation because in all of the decades that ive been involved in chasing Infectious Diseases ive never seen anything that is so protoiant in its ability to make people sick or not. Theres no other infectious that goes from 40 of people having no symptoms, to some having mild symptoms, some having severe, some requiring staying at home for weeks, some going to the hospital, some getting intensive care, some getting intubated, some getting ventilated and some dying. So depending on where you are in that spectrum you have a different attitude the this particular thing. But anyone who gets infected or is at risk of getting infect today a greater or lesser degree is part of the dynamic process of the outbreak. And i know because i can understand when i was at a stage in my life when i said, well, im invulnerable, so im going to take a risk. I think what were missing in this is something that weve never faced before, is that a risk for you is not just isolated to you. Because if you get infected you are part innocently or inadvertently of propagating the dynamic process of a pandemic because the chances are that if you get infected that youre going to infect someone else. And although you may feel well, and because we know if you look at the numbers that youll probably hear later on, the overwhelming majority now of people getting infected are young people. Likely the people that you see in the clips and in the paper who are out in crowds enjoying themselves understandably, no blame there. Understandably. But the thing that you really need to realize that when you do that you are part of the process. So if you get infected you will infect someone else who clearly will infect someone else. We know that happens because the reproduction element of the virus is not less than one. So people are infecting other people. And then ultimately you will infect someone whos vulnerable. Now, that may be somebodys grandmother, grandfather, uncle whos on chemotherapy and whos on radiational chemotherapy or a child who has leukemia. And again, i want to bring this out without making it seem that anybodys at fault. You have an individual responsibility to yourself, but you have a societal responsibility. Because if we want to end this outbreak, really end it and then hopefully when a vaccine comes and puts the nail in the coffin weve got to realize that we are part of the process. So when the Vice President went back pullic back a couple of months ago, when we showed about the guidelines to safely reopen the country weve got to make sure we drop back a few yards and think about that. That this is part of a process that we can be either part of the solution or part of the problem. So i just want to make a plea with people when they understand the stress that theyre understand as we try to tackle not only those states but the light colored part of the country even though theyve done well, they may have gotten hit badly like new york and then came down or they may not have gotten hit badly at all. They are vulnerable. If we dont extinguish the outbreak sooner or later even ones that are doing well are going to be vulnerable to the spread. So we need to take that into account because we are all in it together, and the only way were going to end it is by ending it together. Thank you. Well, first, thank you all for joining us here at hhs to update the American People. I want to begin by thanking everyone around the country working to defeat this virus. All of the Health Care Providers on the front lines, those working to reopen our economy safely, the American People who have sacrificed so much in this fight, and the incredible members of our hhs team who have working tirelessly to protect the health of all human beings and americans. I want to mention the first major milestone yesterday. The end of the second largest Ebola Outbreak in history in the eastern democratic republic of the congo. We congratulate the congolese government. Under President Trump the United States was proud to play a bigger role in this major Public Health victory than any other single nation. And now thank tuesday the president and the Vice President s leadership and the hard work of our team america has never been readier to combat covid19. We builtup our readiness to save lives and in time defeat the virus. Were in a much stronger position to support states, hospitals and individuals as they fight back. Theres six parts to the strategy. Surveillance, testing, containment, health care capacity, therapeutics and vaccines. First, wave been strengthen surveillance so that we can be aware of and respond to surges. That means, for instance, being able to track more cases among younger americans that we never would have caught earlier in the pandemic. Second, we have the worlds greatest testing capabilities enabling us to confirm the presence of the virus when it crops up, and were confident that capacity will continue to rise in the coming months. Third, states are building the capacity to track and contain outbreaks of the virus. With federal help many states have substantially expanded their own capabilities and were deploying knowledgeable, experienced cdc and hhs Public Health teams with the areas now seeing increasewises with a focn Community Testing and Community Based systems. Weve dramatically expanded manufacturing of ppe and the fda has authorized new technologies to sterilize equipment for reuse. Weve spoken with hospitals and states that are building up their own ppe reserves, many of them getting up to 60 or 90 days of supplies. Through the Strategic National stockpile we have far more visibility into the supply needs across the country including centralized coordination capabilities that we lacked just a few short months ago. Visiting Health Care Providers around the country ive seen how theyre adapting to bring patients back while taking appropriate precautions. Americas hospitals are ready to get back to business while maintaining their readiness for covid19. The fifth and sixth elements of this strategy are thanks to the president s operation warp speed. We now have promising therapeutics that are benefitting tens of thousands of american patients, and in all likelihood have already saved thousands of lives. Weve identified two very promising pharmaceutical treatments, remdesivir and dexamathosone. Weve allocated 120,000 courses to 50 states. Weve added a very low cost steroid to our treatment guidelines and we believe its reasonable to assume other co cortico steroids would have similar effects. Convalescent plasma has been used to treat 25,000 americans in nearly 3,000 sites across the country. There are no certainties in science but with more than 140 Clinical Trials in the u. S. Its a good bet more therapeuticerize are on the way and on the way soon. These candidates are now in human Clinical Trials some with the potential to start delivering safe and effective doses before the end of the year and well be adding support for several more candidates. Were expanding manufacturing capacity and already making the vials, needles and syringes we may need. Our capability has grown exponentially. We have a much better grasp of the virus as dr. Birx said and more better data of which to model it. We can have some very concerning hot spots, and we can track when other hot spots emerge as we expect they may. Were focused on the states and counties within those states. Just 3 of counties that represent hot spots. Its important for the American People to be aware of this variability and variation across the country. Americans need to understand their local trends because we want to help people make the right decisions for themselves. Making decisions for yourself has to be based on three axes of risk as our Surgeon General toss us in march. You want to assess where you are, who you are and who you live with and what activity youre thinking about doing. There are gradeiations of risk in each of these axes. Going to a restaurant in montana is a great deal different from a crowded bar in houston. When you interact with people in an activity, when you interact with them in a shorter period of time your risk is reduced and individuals can balance these kinds of factors. What ive laid out today is remarkable progress by the president S Administration and a particular dreacredit to the te here at hhs. Weve got a lot of work ahead of us but americans can be confident weve got a Rock Solid Foundation to help us get back to work school, worship and back to health care where we tackle surges of the virus where they occur. Weve got the capabilities, the knowledge and the strategy to protect americans lives and their livelihoods at the same time, and every american should feel proud of that. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Vice president. I wanted to add some comments. Once again i want to stress and thank all americans to embrace the importance of social distancing recommendations to slow the spread of covid. As ive said before were not defenseless. These are, in fact, very powerful weapons, and its our collective responsibility to recommit ourselves to put them into routine practice. Again, to stay 6 feet apart from each other as much as possible, to wear face coverings when were in public and to practice vigorous hand hygiene. And to commit to do so as weve heard today to do our part to protect the vulnerable. I also want to appeal to the millennials and those that are under 40. Its really important that this group really commit themselves to these practices to protect those at risk. And its not just the elderly at risk. Many of us may have friends and colleagues that are younger that may not advertise their underlying comorbidities as the case would be with, say, type 1 diabetes or an underlying immune deficiency. So, again, asking this team of millennials and younger people in this country to come and commit themselves. I agree with ambassador birx, were very thankful that the group is coming forward to get tested, but i also want this group to put into vigilant practice the importance of our social distancing. The one thing i wanted to stress, though, is that there are differences in what were experiencing today than what we experienced in march, april and may. And one of the things i want us to focus on the cases but the consequences, the impact of those cases. It wasnt long ago, probably two months ago its hard to believe i dont think many people realize that 27 of all deaths that occurred in the United States actually died of a pneumonia. That was a pneumonia, could have been influenza, could have been covid. 27 , 1 in 4 of all the deaths in the United States just two months ago was caused by pneumonia. Im happy to say today the deaths due to pneumonia in this nation is back to baseline, its about 7 . Its a big difference. A lot of those pneumonias dying were actually covid infected individuals that were the elderly, Nursing Homes and individuals with comorbidities. We are seeing despite these increased cases we have seen a progressive decline in deaths over the last say, twoweek average deaths in the United States now is around 650. And as you heard the Vice President it wasnt long ago that sadly we were losing 25,000 individuals a day. So i think its critical that we continue to focus on on that, the consequences. And as part of that why its important we continue also to look forward to how we deal with and contain and control the covid infection, but as we also change the consequences of the impact its had on education in this country or in our economy or business. So, again, as i close i just want to re, reemphasize how important for now for individuals to really think seriously as tony said about the responsibility to others that we have because this infection pathogen really does have the capacity to cause quite serious illness in individuals at high risk, and embrace our nations recommendations that the Vice President put up, again, for all phases for reopening america. Again, i also want to thank the younger groups for stepping forward in getting tested. Clearly what were seeing now is this age group is much more likely to be asymptomatic and again to make that commitment to do their part to protect those of us that whether were young or old have a comorbidity and will be more vulnerable to serious illness from this virus. Thank you very much. Thank you, dr. Redfield. Questions . Yes, please. All the exparts of the task force are stressing the importance of social distancing and also the threat of crowds. Yet your campaign has held two massive rallies, no social distancing, no masks. Can you tell me can you tell me why you continue to do this . Well, the freedom of speech, the right to peaceably assembly is enshrined in the constitution of the United States, and we have an election coming up this fall, and President Trump and i believe that taking proper steps as we created screening at repeat events and giving people the very best council that we have. We still want to give people the freedom to participate in the political process, and we respect that. I was pleased to see that now the better part of a week since we were in oklahoma i think their Positivity Rate has declined today, and thats great testament to the fact that people are using common sense. Theyre being responsible. They know and understand whats happening in the community in which they live. And our emphasis today is really to say that we think its most helpful if the American People understand that what were seeing across the south today is really outbreaks. Theyre outbreaks that are in specific counties. In some cases theyre outbreaks that are in specific communities, and weve surged cdc personnel, hhs personnel. I didnt mention before but three weeks ago when we were seeing similar activity at North Carolina and alabama we sent personnel into those states, and weve actually seen declining numbers beginning in both of those states. So the important thing is not one size fits all. The overall guidance to every american to practice good hygiene, to practice the measures that we recommended at home and at work stand. But our focus today is to make sure that in those areas of the country where were seeing a significant not only increase in cases but an increase in positivity level that the American People know just how important it is to listen to what their state and local Health Officials are directing them to do. Mr. Vice president , i was curious it seems like the wearing of masks is going to become a political statement or i guess the decision not to wear a mask. Are you concerned about that, and is there a message that you would like to send to people about the importance of Wearing Masks . Well, we think that were the first principle is people ought to listen to their state and local authorities. I have to tell you President Trump and i couldnt be more grateful for the partnership weve forged with governors around the country. I spoke to the governor of florida, of arizona, of texas just within the last 12 hours. And i told them that from this podium today we would remind their citizens to heed the guidance and the direction of state and local officials. In some cases theres statewide guidance with regard to facial coverings and with regard to events and gatherings. In other cases theres specific county wide or citywide directives, and we just believe that whats most important here is that people listen to the leadership in their state and leadership in their local community and adhere to that guidance whether that has to do with facial coverings, whether it has to do with the size of gatherings and well continue to reinforce that message. Please . What is the correlation between the spike in cases that were seeing in states like texas and florida and the way those states handled their reopening . Was it too much too soon . And secondly, i wanted to ask dr. Fauci, you said in an interview that, quote, something is not working. What isnt working, and did you all in your meeting today come up with a plan to fix whatever isnt working . Well, let me respond first and then ill let dr. Fauci address it as well. And dr. Birx may as well. I think there will be a temptation for people to look at these sun belt states that have been reopening and putting people back to work and suggest that the reopening has to do with what were seeing in the last week or so. But frankly in the case of each of these states they reopened in some cases almost two months ago. And their test cases, their new cases from testing was low and steady. Their Positivity Rate was low. What were observing today, and im heard this from florida, ive heard this from texas and some other states along the sun belt is that were seeing more and more young people under the age of 35 who are testing positive. In many cases they have no symptoms, but theyre coming forward and confirming that they have contracted the coronavirus. Were working with the states, and you speak about our plan weve got cdc personnel embedded in every state in the union. In these states and counties in particular that they are a big part of the numbers that we are seeing in new cases, and while there may not be a significant threat of a Serious Health outcome to them i know of no young person, and ive got three 20 somethings in my immediate family. No young person would ever want to inadvertently expose a mom, a dad, grandmother or grandfather or someone whos vulnerable to a serious result. And so alerting them that theres been spread in that age group, urging them to take Counter Measures and heed with their governors and local officials are directing will be our continued strategy. So what i meant by what is not working, and this is not anybodys fault or any institutions fault, what were dealing with right now is Community Spread in the context of a substantial proportion of the people who are getting infected do not know theyre infected. Theyre not symptomatic. Theyre asymptomatic individuals. The classic paradigm of identification, isolation and Contact Tracing to actually contain that is very difficult to make that work under those circumstances. You super impose upon that the fact that even with identification, isolation and Contact Tracing often the dots are not connected. If you get on the phone and talk to people who are in some of these communities you find that a lot of it done by phone. And when its done by phone maybe half of the people maybe dont even want to talk to one who they think is government representative. If you live in a community that is mostly brown or black youre in a different situation that maybe 70 of them dont really want to talk to you. You can identify a contact but you dont isolate them because you dont have the facility to isolate them. That is whats not working. So what were going to do and we are doing, and youre going to be hearing about this, you know, flooding the area of a community to get a feel for whats out there particularly among the asymptomatics. So in other words its a paradigm shift because were dealing with young people, people who are going to be asymptomatic and people going to get infected in a community setting, nout in an outbreak setting where you know who to identify, isolate and contact trace. Thats what i meant. I just want to finish expand his thought for just a second. About three months ago we talked about how important it was to have community at the center, and i think when you talk about whats going to be different and part of the reason why the president and Vice President have asked me to go out to texas, new mexico, and arizona is to not only meet with the state and local Health Officials but to meet with the Community Groups so the Community Groups can help us support community specific messaging. Public Health Messaging when you just keep saying the same thing over and over again and the people get tonedeaf to it its because its not tailored to their specific circumstances and they dont see that message resonating in their lives. Weve had to do this across the world. Ive done this over and over again for hiv, tbm and malaria. At the center of this has to be the community, and the community will help us identify who needs to be tested, help us identify which households have the most vulnerability in them, and how we can really go into those communities and support that response at a very local and ground level. When we started this we were very much facilitybased. And we know facilities carry us a long way, but if we want to change the transmission rates in these metros, in specific communities and in specific parts of those metros weve got to walk side by side with our Community Leaders and our Community Groups that know how to translate our scientific dogma and information down to a level where people will understand it, hear it and act on it. I know when they hear it and understand it they will act on it, and so when you ask whats going to be different that has already started and its already going to be different. Just let me answer that. Thats exactly what we did with hiv 30 years ago, we got the Community Involved in helping us to outreach, and i think thats very important to underscore what dr. Birx said, and thats being planned to do to get people who know the community, who live in the community that the communities trusts. Right here. Do you expect the death rate to go up in the next three or four weeks just like were seeing the rate of infection go up now . Well, our hope and our prayer is its not the case. Weve seen as you noted weve seen a precipitous decline in fatalities. And, again, one is too many. We grieve the loss of every american life. But the fact that two months ago we had lost 2,500 americans in a single day and two days this week we lost less than 300 americans is a testament to our Health Care Workers, to all of the medicines that secretary azar just described being available in all 50 states. Its a testament to the efforts of the American People, and we hope as we continue to engage that well continue to see those numbers decline. The other reason were encouraged is because at this point when we look at our losses roughly 2. 5 of all of our losses took place in people under the age of 25. Younger americans, and in each case or at least 90 of it cases they were people with with preexisting conditions, underlying conditions that contributed. As weve seen in florida and texas theyve reported to us that half or even more than half of the new cases that are showing up every day are people under the age of 35 or younger americans, in most cases asymptomatic. Our hope is that those younger, healthy americans like most have already will continue to go through the coronavirus, will recover. But our message today as weve spent so much energy in the last if you months protecting the most vulnerable, and mean weve deployed testing resources, weve supported states efforts. States across the country in the last month have answered our call to test all the residents of their Nursing Homes, to setup a plan to test all of the staff on a regular basis. We need to protect the most vulnerable, and we want a message going out to younger americans particularly those along the sun belt in these counties where we see new cases on the rise, positivity on the rise to know that we need them to do their part to make sure and protect the most vulnerable so that we can so that we dont see those losses rise. But its in the hands of the American People and particularly young people in this country. Right there. On the campaign it really does sound, though, youre saying do as we say, not as we do. Youre saying to people to listen to local officials but in tulsa dozens of secret service agents, dozens of Campaign Staffers are now quarantined after positive tests, and in arizona one of the hardest hit states you packed a church with young people who werent Wearing Masks. So how can you say that the campaign is not part of the problem that dr. Fauci laid out . Well, i want to remind you, again, that the freedom of speech and right to peacefully assemble is enshrined in the constitution of the United States. And even in a Health Crisis the people dont forfeit our constitutional rights. Working with state officials as we did in oklahoma and as we did in arizona were creating settings where people can choose to participate in the political process. And well continue to do that. I think its really important that we recognize how important how important freedom and personal responsibility are to this entire equation. But allowing younger americans allowing younger americans to understand particularly in the counties that are most impacted the unique challenges that were facing but look. Its so important that we recognize that as we issued guidance to reopen america, now two months ago, and now as all 50 states are opening up our country again, people are going back to work, american everyday life is being restored kind of one step, one day at a time. I think its important that we remind ourselves, this is not a choice between health of the American People and a strong economy. There are profound Health Implications to the lockdowns through which we just passed. I heard a statistic not long ago at a Task Force Briefing that in one jurisdiction, there had been a 50 increase in the number of people presenting at Emergency Rooms having attempted suicide. I mean, profound Mental Health issues. There are profound economic issues. People needing to be back to work. And so our objective here today is just to make sure the American People know in 34 states, the cases are largely stable and theres no combination of rising cases and rising Positivity Rates. Thats a tribute to the American People. In the 16 states were focused on today, we simply want to equip particularly young people with the knowledge of the part that they can play in stemming the rising tide of new cases. Not because the coronavirus represents a significant threat to them. In most cases it doesnt if youre a younger american, but because we dont no Young American would ever want to spread the coronavirus to someone who would have a serious outcome. Im grateful for the time today. We hope this has been helpful. And well be back with more information as time goes on. Thank you. Well, good morning out west. Good afternoon in the east. I am chuck todd. And you have been just the Coronavirus Task force, members just wrapped up their first briefing in nearly two months. Took a handful of questions. Clearly not satisfying the press corps in there. A lot more arms and hands and shouts went up there. They did only take a few questions. Vice president pence, who led the briefing, attempted to downplay the new surge multiple times. And he dodged a question about whether people should wear masks. I spoke to the governor of florida, of arizona, of texas just within the last 12 hours. And i told them that from this podium today, we would remind their citizens to heed the guidance and the direction of state and local officials. We just believe that whats most important here is that people listen to the leadership in their state and the leadership in their local community and adhere to that guidance, whether that have to do with facial coverings, whether it have to do with the size of gatherings. Any way to avoid that m word, masks. Briefings were largely suspended about two months ago. Nbc news reports the task force has been pushing to resume briefings but faced pushback from the white house. Todays briefing comes as the stock market plunges in the faces of a new spike in covid19 cases. Driving the numbers back to where they were at the peak of this crisis, and forcing texas and florida to begin pulling back and shutting down again. That seemed to trigger the market when texas announced its bar closure. For more on the case numbers, my coanchor for the next hour and seven minutes now, katy tur. Katy. A good afternoon to you. And chuck, the United States, lets get into some of the numbers, now has over 2. 4 million cases of covid19. More than 125,000 people have died. Florida, once again, set a record high number of new cases with nearly 9,000 reported. The state has seen an increase of over 33,000 cases in the past week. And now, florida is suspending Drinking Alcohol at bars. Today, Texas Governor greg abbott announced his plan to halt his states reopening process as a result of the new spike. Effective this hour, bars will be closing and restaurants will be capped at half capacity. Chuck, i know we just heard a lot of a rosy picture of whats happening. Thats the nicest way to put this, in this country right now, talking about how not all of the states are doing badly, its only some pockets. But the reality is, houston, and you can ask the reporters on the ground, houstons Hospital System is at capacity. There was a doctor on at 12 00 today saying that he has to tell family members of patients in the hospital suffering from covid19 that he doesnt have a bed for them. That they have to wait in the e. R. And then get transferred to another hospital. He says families cant understand what is going on there. Theyre seeing what happened here in new york, and i know at the beginning of this, we kept saying over and over again, new york is your future. This is what is going to happen to your city and your state just wait. Take the advice that were giving you. Look at whats happening here and make sure it doesnt happen in your state or your city and were not seeing that in places like houston. Were not seeing that in places like florida. Were seeing Hospital Capacity go down. Were seeing the rate of cases spike. And what we just had there from the Coronavirus Task force, besides fauci, was a lot of Wishful Thinking on how good things are right now. Talking about Contact Tracing, planning for it. We still dont have Contact Tracing. Talking about taking precautions. Vice president pence not saying the word mask once. I had a conversation with an hhs official while this was happening, why wont the Vice President say the word mask . And they gave me every answer but an answer that gave me any explanation. I asked if the president would get mad if he said mask, after all, he wasnt wearing a mask. And this person just said, i dont know. Lets go to the white house. President trump was not at todays Task Force Briefing, and nbc news has learned the president canceled his planned trip to new jersey this weekend. Lets brin in monica alba at the white house. Monica, why was the president not at this briefing . Its a great question, katy. I think the location as much of the content is notable here. You had this first briefing in nearly two months from this group at the health and Human Services department, and that was by design. You remember at the beginning of these briefings, they didnt normally include the president. You had Vice President pence and other members briefing the public, and then only a couple of weeks into the pandemic, the president decided he wanted to be in these briefings, and he wanted to be the one speaking and taking questions. And it became rapidly apparent that on medical issues and health advice, the president wasnt the best person to take on those questions. So the task force then decided to stop the once near dally briefings and decided to pivot to a different strategy. Since then, you really havent had the president as much getting into these situations where sometimes hes confronted with questions he frankly either doesnt have the data to answer the question to or doesnt know how to answer. So you saw today Vice President mike pence, though, really echoing some things we have heard from the president. And that includes what you point out on face masks. You had people asking the Vice President directly, why not encourage americans to wear one . He literally went through all of the other cdc guidelines, he wants people to be enforcing, but did not include the very important one about face coverings. I thought it was notable that both he and doctors birx, fauci, and secretary azar did walk out with face masks on. The Vice President removed him to speak but then did not put it back on. Thats because we havent seen the president wear one in public. He only wore one once briefly behind the scenes. Something else that stood out here, you had reporters pressing the Vice President on why the Trump Campaign continues to hold these largescale political events like you had in tulsa with no social distancing and limited face coverings, and he said it was simply because of freedom of speech and freedom to peacefully assemble, and said you can expect more of those indoor gatherings to come in the future. Not to decline, that really stood out to me, katy. He was saying follow the guidelines from your local and state officials, and he was asked, well, why are you not following the guidelines from those areas, like in tulsa or arizona . And he said freedom of speech and the right to peacefully congregate is enshrined in the constitution. Monica alba at the white house, thank you very much. After a oneminute very quick break, were going to talk about that situation in texas, with former congressman beto orourke. Also, were going to have dr. Erwin redlehner with us. Dont go anywhere. Nt go anywhew the gum line. Crest gum detoxify, voted product of the year. It works below the gum line to neutralize harmful plaque bacteria and help reverse early gum damage. Gum detoxify, from crest. You say that customers maklets talk data. S. Only Xfinity Mobile lets you switch up your wireless data whenever. I accept 5g everybodys talking about it. How do i get it . Everyone gets 5g with our new data options at no extra cost. Thats good. Next item corner offices for everyone. Just have to make more corners in this building. Chad . Your wireless your rules. Only with Xfinity Mobile. Now thats simple easy awesome. Switch and save up to 400 a year on your wireless bill. Plus get 200 off a new Samsung Galaxy s20 ultra. West, 2 00 p. M. Right here in washington. Apologies for my little technical difficulty here, but here are the facts as we know them this hour. This afternoon, the white house Coronavirus Task force held its first briefing in months without the president of the United States, and the nations top doctors warned about the surge of coronavirus cases across the country. The nationwide surge is being led by spikes across the south and west, where states are breaking records for new infections and hospitalizations. Well hear from Florida Governor ron desantis any minute now, just weeks after he moved his state to rapidly reopen and sort of trolls the media about it. They have since broken records consistently including another single day record today. And earlier, the governor of texas abruptly ordered bars to close. Also announced other targeted measures to decrease the infections growing by the thousands there every day. Theres concern Harris County which encompasses houston is going to become the nations hot spot. A similar story brewing in arizona. One doctor told nbc news the hospitals are filling up and could exceed their capacity. People are indeed exhausted and here in arizona were very concerned about whats coming. I feel lucky to be able to work with the people i work with, but it is getting more difficult in the hospitals. Admissions are really getting backed up in the emergency department. Well, katy tur, apologies for my technical difficulty. Nothing like leaving you hanging and wondering why isnt he speaking back to me . My apologies there. It happens. Yeah. We have technical difficulties. Were all trying to make this work. Dont worry about that. As of today, the u. S. Has more than 2. 4 million confirmed cases of covid19. The death toll in this country is now at 125,000. That is more infections and deaths than any other country in the world. And just a moment ago, Vice President mike pence or in just a moment, hes going to hold a closed door meeting with the ceos of major u. S. Airlines on their agenda. Is air travel during the pandemic, lots of people wondering if its safe to get on a plane. American Airlines Announced it would begin full capacity flights, oh, wow, on july 1st. In california, cases are always on the rise. I hear you, chuck. The state has also seen several recordbreaking days of new hospitalizations. New cases, excuse me. Hospitalizations are up 30 . And more tests are coming back positive. Over 5 of all tests in the last two weeks have been positive for covid19. So joining us now from california is nbc news correspondent gadi schwartz. What is happening in california, because they were very quick to react to this. They were very quick to lock down. They started to reopen, why are they seeing the case load rise there in a way that we are not seeing here in new york . Well, i think whats happening right now is there are a lot of people that are looking at the real possibility that california could go back into shutdown because of some of those indicators you were just talking about. The main indicator that were focusing on today to is hospitalizations. Tests are on the rise here in california. But hospitalizations are also on the rise. In fact, theyre up about 32 . Thats what were seeing here at Huntington Hospital in pasadena as well. Theyre seeing an influx of patients. The only real difference theyre seeing is instead of a lot of elderly patients, theyre seeing a lot more young people. Young people getting covid19 here in california is overindexing for their size of the population. Right now, 18 to 49yearolds make up only about 43 of the population, and they are testing positive at about 56 . So in terms of hospitalizations, 32 increase, and that means that a lot of those young people are ending up in hospitals like this on ventilators, staying here for quite some time. We were talking to a doctor a little while ago. They said that they had a 29yearold that was in the hospital for weeks, and when theyre trying to predict the future, they say that they have to look at the past. They have to look at where we were about two weeks ago, 14 days is the incubation period for the coronavirus. And two weeks ago, we were seeing massive civil unrest. We were seeing large protests. We were also seeing the relaxation of a lot of the restrictions. So there was this perfect storm of people thinking that maybe this coronavirus wasnt as bad and covid19 wasnt as much of a threat. So there could be a relaxing of those regulations that led to people thinking that the all clear was here. That is clearly not the case. Doctors here are bracing for another surge of patients. They say what were seeing right now is just the beginning and could only get worse from here. Back to you. Gauld gadi schwartz, thank yy much. Chuck, over to you. Well, lets turn back to washington. Moments ago, at the White House Coronavirus Task Force Briefing, Vice President mike pence held the briefing from the department of health and Human Services. And he attempted to downplay the scope of this crisis. All 50 states and territories across this country are opening up safely and responsibly. As we reported early on, 34 states across the country, though, are experiencing a measure of stability that is a credit to all of the people of those states. We want the American People to understand its almost inarguable that more testing is generating more cases. To one extent or another, the volume of new cases coming in is a reflection of a Great Success in expanding testing. That phrase, measure of stability, lets just say the word stability is doing a lot of work there, if youre trying to count those 34 states. Joining us now is the director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at columbia university. Dr. Redlener. Dr. Redlener, there wasnt a lot of new or useful information out of that briefing as far as because in some ways it was confirming what a lot of whats been reported over the last week. But i thought the most consequential thing i took away from it, both dr. Birx and dr. Fauci did zero in on our failure, and it was on Contact Tracing and basically were not doing it. Now i heard dr. Birx say were going to come up with a new way of doing it. You heard dr. Fauci say the phone isnt enough. It was to me the closest we got to at least some admittance somewhere, yeah, we dropped the ball on that. Yeah, chuck. So this was an extraordinary demonstration of government dishonesty and misrepresentation in a way we havent seen before. George orwell could have called his book 2020 as opposed to 1984. It was a stunning example of misrepresenting reality in a way we havent seen in a long time. We have been used to just a gross amount of incompetence, of misstatements, of dishonesty and ignorance throughout this entire process coming out of the white house, but we entered a new phase now where we have really politicized what needs to be done about the coronavirus and whats happening about it. The example of the tulsi rally and the hypocrisy was so whoe r overwhelmingly apparent here that the president is actually encouraging people to follow the exact opposite of what the Public Health experts are recommending. I dont know how dr. Fauci is able to keep taking this, but im glad hes there to offer some modicum of rationality to what is coming out of the white house. Its stunning, chuck. The last question on masks in tulsa, i think it really almost undermined the entire whatever they hoped to get out of this briefing, the white house. That answer, that inability to say the word mask, to talk about that, he tells you to listen to local officials and then said unless its the Trump Campaign. On that front, so i think youre right there. I want to get back to this issue of what dr. Birx i guess was hinting at, but again, this briefing was very confusing because the Vice President in many ways spent more time talking, but she talked about changing the Contact Tracing, trying to go to Community Based Contact Tracing, which is like, i thought that was the plan all along. Is this are we going to see a national Contact Tracing program or not . I wouldnt count on it, and the whole point of the Contact Tracing is to deal with the potential of Community Spread of people who have tested positive. And the countrys absolutely not ready for such a thing, for taking this on as a nation, and a lot of it has been pushed down to the level of the states and the cities, and many of them are completely ill prepared to deal with this, especially when were seeing the new hot spots across the sun belt. So i think we have a lot of miscommunication, lets put it that way, of what the Vice President was saying and what reality actually is. We need it, the Contact Tracing. We dont have it. And its not really in the immediate future here, and this is extremely worrisome. If you add that to the fact that in spite of what they were saying, were still not doing enough testing by a long shot, we have a very, very serious problem with no immediate solution in sight, chuck. Dr. Redlener, i want to play a moment from the briefing where dr. Fauci is talking about the new spikes. Lets listen. This resurgence of cases, i dont think theres time enough now all day to try to analyze and figure out the multifaceted elements that went into that. You know, everything from maybe opening a little too early on some to opening at the right time but not actually following the steps in an orderly fashion, to actually trying to follow the steps in an orderly fashion, but the citizenry did not feel that they wanted to do that for a number of reasons, likely because everyone feels the common feeling of being pent up. Dr. Redlener, what is he doing there in saying you cant trace why this second or why these new spikes started . You know, i have no idea really what he was trying to say. I guess he was trying to sort of dance around the basic question of why are we where we are, and he wont say what everyone knows to be true, which is that the president of the United States and the Vice President have been promoting messages about keeping the spread down, and people arent paying attention to the president and Vice President. If we needed more proof than we already assume, if we look back at that rally in tulsa, half full, by the way, but the fact that we saw everybody crowded together, hardly anybody wearing a mask. And that wearing a mask has now become, you know, a point of derision from the trump supporters. So hes completely mac lly mana politicize this entire issue. Yeah, we have a lot of factors, like dr. Fauci said, but the reality is if we dont have leadership from the top that walks the walk and talks the talk, well continue to have a problem where the American People, and especially young people, they hear the words, we are reopening, and they take that to mean were back to normal. And somebody has to refute that very strongly. Were not back to normal. We have a terrible challenge on our hands all across the south and the sun belt. And people need to hear from the president and the Vice President a very simple utterance that comes from his experts, you have got to wear a mask, and you have got to keep socially distant. Theres no two ways about it. All the dancing around by the Vice President today and even some of the health people, was very disheartening to say the least, katy. Dr. Irwin redlener, thank you very much for joining us and lending your expertise. And were also following breaking news out of texas, where the governor is now limiting certain businesses and has ordered all bars to shut down. The move is an effort to contain the recent spike of coronavirus cases across texas since it began reopening. The state saw 32,000 new confirmed cases last week alone, nearly 6,000 yesterday alone. And joining us now from el paso is former democratic president ial candidate and former texas congressman, beto orourke. Thanks for joining us. From your perspective, your experience, whats happening in texas right now . Something really bad that was totally preventable, and when the governor chose not to listen to the science and the facts and the best Public Health advice, totally predictable. As you mentioned, we had 5,996 cases reported yesterday in texas, which is a new record, beating the record previously set on wednesday of this week. You had 14 days in a row of record hospitalizations, each day more hospitalized than the day before. And each one of them a record. And i think i heard you say this earlier in your program, that Texas Medical Center in houston, which is one of, if not the largest, medical centers in the world, just yesterday reached 100 capacity of its base icu beds. They now have surge beds deployed, surge icu beds, but on this current trajectory, they will run out on july 6th, and i watched your interview with dr. Hotez from houston, texas, who is one of the most respected Infectious Disease specialists in texas and the country and hes predicting houston will be the worst affected city in the United States of america. It is on a trajectory to hit brazillevel cases, deaths, infections, and hospitalizations. This is really bad. And if the governor had not prematurely reopened the state, if he had listened to cdc guidance or Public Health guidance, we could have saved lives. The step hes taking today still fall short of what we need here in texas. You know, beto, you traveled the entire state, you went to every county in your senate campaign. Im curious, who is the voter that greg abbott is worried about . I have been watching him for the last two weeks. You can see the conflict in him. You could hear it in his voice. Hes begging people to stay at home but he wont issue the order. So you can feel he is feeling this political pressure from somewhere. Can you explain, is this a group of folks that is very large, that he should be afraid of, or is he overfearing a small group of focal conservatives . Greg abbotts fear goes by the name of dan patrick. He is Lieutenant Governor in the state of texas, and hes someone, and you may have seen him say this on fox news, who told us there are more important things than living and we should go ahead and reopen the state. Now, mind you, when he says there are more important things than living, who hes talking about doing the dying is largely black and Latino Texans who are dying in disproportionate numbers to their share of the population. Minimum wage workers in a state that has a 7. 25 an hour minimum wage. And hes just far enough to the right of greg abbott and poses enough of a challenge in a potential primary in 2022 that greg abbott has no idea what to do. You may remember in april, he issued stayathome orders, but after issuing them, said they are not in fact stayathome order and had to clarify. He then closed beauty salons and when one white texas woman defied his order to close the beauty salon, and was arrested, he made sure that she was freed from jail. You then had white men with ar15s and ak47s, weapons of war, posting up outside of businesses that illegally reopened without the governor lifting a finger. You then had him just this week in the case of unprecedented rise in hospitalizations saying theres no problem with hospitalization capacity. We are okay. We dont need to change course. Then today, abruptly changing course, but not changing course far enough. Hes created a very confusing, chaotic, and again, very deadly situation, nearly 2300 of my fellow texans have died so far. And we know that deaths are a lagging indicator, and given the exponential rise in cases were sure to see more of them very soon. Has this, beto, you mentioned that obviously this has hit the black and brown communities in texas harder than the white communities. Is this making racial polarization, is this leadership at the top made the racial polarization worse in the state right now . It has. And its connecting the dots for everyone, including white men such as myself, who understand its not simply a problem of criminal justice or police brutality. It is access to health care. Its access to living wage jobs in the state. Its access to education. Its access to housing. Its access to equal treatment under the law. And this, chuck, by the way, is further exacerbated because as you probably know, our governor, Lieutenant Governor, and attorney general are all fighting voting by mail in a state that has a primary runoff on july 14th, early voting is about to start. And they are promising to vigorously prosecute anyone who defies the order to vote in person should you want to vote, and we know that when they have vigorously prosecuted in the past, it again, has been disproportionately against black and brown texans. We are the lowest voter turnout state in the union. Not by accident but by design. More than a century of voter suppression, ever since the end of reconstruction, and you have greg abbott just continuing that trend right now. So yes, people understand what is going on. But i have to tell you, we have been making hundreds of thousands of Voter Registration and voter contact calls all across the state of texas. Its not just those of us here in el paso or democrats even. Independents, republicans, as well, know that we have to have a change, and you saw the polling from fox news yesterday. Joe biden up one point over donald trump in the great state of texas, so this is possible. We just have to make the most of this opportunity. Change those who are in these positions of public trust and have abused the trust, to put in new leadership. Beto, lets talk about what could happen in your state in order to flatten the curve there. The virus isnt political. It doesnt have a political affiliation. Do you need the president to get involved and to say hey, listen, you have to take this seriously, you have to stay home, you have to wear a mask, in order to get enough texans to take this seriously enough to get these cases to go back down . Absolutely. Its the power of the bully pulpit. Its the idea espoused by truman that the buck stops with the president. His actions, his lack of action, his rhetoric, inflammatory, divisive, polarizinpolarizing, made what was a bad situation that much worse. Were seeing the same from leadership at the highest levels in texas state government. But heres one thing we can do. In the absence, in the vacuum of leadership from washington, d. C. Or austin, texas, allow local leaders like the county judge of Harris County that has 4. 5 million constituents, allow her to lead. She wants to issue stayathome orders, but is barred by the governor from being able to do so. She wants to require every houstonian, every one of her constituents in Harris County to wear a mask. Shes precluded by the governor to do so. If hes too scared to do the right thing because hes more concerned about polls and the next election, than the Public Health of his constituents, then allow the county judge to do the right thing, because they will. So theres really an opportunity still at the local level. We just need those in leadership in austin and d. C. To get out of the way at this point. Beto orourke, former democratic congressman from the el paso area, good to have you on. Good to see you. Thanks for coming on to share your views with us. Thank you very much. All right. Stay safe out there. Katy, over to you. My thanks to beto as well, and breaking news from capitol hill. Where after decades of fighting for statehood, the house is voting now on whether to make washington, d. C. Our 51st state. Were going to get the latest from washington coming up. And we are on the ground in seattle, where crews moved into the citys occupied protest zone, the chop zone, but there was pushback from protesters. Stay with us. Youre watching msnbc. Five. Fivedollar, five dollar fivedollar footlong. Its freshly made with veggies. Its back. Fivedollar footlongs are back when you buy two. For a limited time. When you buy two. Youre having one more bite no one more bite kraft. For the win win. Than a century, the democrat, controlled house is voting to make d. C. The 51st state. Its a move that would afford the capitals citizens the ability to fully participate in the democracy, while it is expected to pass along party lines. Its unlikely to moake it out o the senate. Even if it did, the president ed he would veto the legislation. Elnor norer elnor norton homes has initiated this debate, hr51, and she join us now. Its good to see you. First, give our viewers an explanation of the what it takes to get there. Is it a two thirds vote in both the house and senate ultimately that is going to be needed . Actually, here in the house, all you need is a majority vote. And were going to have a majority vote because we had enough cosponsors. Well, we have lost that connection there. We should take a few minutes. Well see if we can get her back. Were going to sneak in a quick break. We have breaking news out of seattle as well. Well get that to you. Demonstrators are facing off against heavy equipment. All right, we have our technical difficulty fixed before we went to break. So congresswoman holmes norton, ill let you start that sentence again. You said you only need that is a change. It used to be i thought you had to have a twothirds vote in both houses of congress to become a state. To become a state, in the house, you need a majority vote. What youre thinking of, chuck, i think is to get almost any bill passed in the senate, it has to be vetoproof about two thirds of the senate just to get it passed there. Because of the difficulty of getting any bill through the senate. So go ahead, katy. Congresswoman, if this doesnt get anywhere in the senate, are you going to take it up again if the senate happens to change hands come the next election . Well, were going to get somewhere in the senate in 2021, i think, because polls show that democrats have a very good chance of taking control of the senate. And the president s numbers are so bad that it looks like there could be a democrat in the white house as well. And just curious, can you explain d. C. Does not have statehood. Theres nearly 700,000 residents in d. C. Can you explain to the wider public what it means for those 700,000 people not to have representation in congress. Well, imagine paying the highest taxes per capita, federal taxes, that is, and not having a vote in congress. This is a remnant of 219 years ago, when the District First became the nations capital. There was a protest that people had lost a vote, they had, remember, the district was created out of maryland and virginia, and all those people had the vote when they became the district of columbia, it was up to congress to preserve that vote. They did not, and thats what we have been trying to get back. Voting representation in the house and in the senate for 219 years, and were pretty close now. Were going to make it in the house. And it looks like were on a roll for the senate, which can change hands next year. Congresswoman, im curious, you know, over 30 years i have lived here, and this debate has been, you know, sometimes it gets heated. It picks up steam, and sometimes it fades into the background. And sometimes you hear the conversation of, well, maybe it should d. C. Should be back with maryland. What is the downside in your opinion of that as the compromise . Well, the downside is that when you have been a jurisdiction for almost 220 years, you have formed your own territory. It would be very hard to go back. The other issue there is that maryland ceded the land in perpetuity. It would be impossible to go back there, even if maryland desired that to be the case, the fact is that when you consider maryland, it has only one big city. Its baltimore, im not sure that that state wants another big city to dominate. I know a lot of baltimore democrats that agree with you on that one. Theyre petrified. Theyre petrified of d. C. And its influence over maryland politics. Youre right about that. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes norton, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it. And coming up next, there is breaking news in seattle. Demonstrators are facing off against heavy equipment as the city makes a move into seattles occupied zone. Were going to go there live next, but first, as cases of coronavirus spike in arizona, here is the account of a doctor on the front lines of that states fight. The cases are surging in arizona right now, that means the actual hospitalizations wont surge for a couple weeks. So this is basically, i would say this is tinder waiting to explode, but im thinking that some of that has already been lit. And that is concerning. I think its going to be really bad. So were hope trg the best. Please keep me and all of us in your prayers. Try crest pro active defense. It neutralizes bacteria for a healthier mouth than even the leading multibenefit toothpaste. Crest. Wayfair has way more ways to renovate your home, from inspiration to installation. Like way more vanities perfect for you. Nice. Way more unique fixtures and tiles. Pairing. Nice. Way more top brands in sinks and faucets. Way more ways to rule your renovation. Nice on any budget, with free shipping. Wayfair. Way more than furniture. 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Go to dealdash. Com right now and see how much you can save. Well, as we were telling you about breaking news out of seattle this afternoon, crews began moving into the citys capitol hill occupied protest zone, the chop zone, as it was called. Today, to dismantle barriers put up in recent weeks. The workers were met with protesters who put a halt to some of the work, including several who laid down in front of heavy machinery. Joining us is our own nbc news correspondent, steve patterson. Are things moving along or are there more delays . You know, for some place thats been labeled an autonomous zone, you dont consider it a place thats been a hotbed of political activity, but thats essentially whats happening. Its happening right now over my left shoulder. You can see a group of guys standing there. There just appeared to be a resident who tore out one of the barriers that was in place on this street, yelling at the chop organizers, angry about the fact they remain here. Earlier, the city was here. I want to show you what happened. This is chop. This is the east precinct back there. Thats where protesters are set up. This barrier is brandnew. Including the concrete blocks. That has been put in either overnight or in the last few hours or so. The city had trucks that were moving in, including essentially a bulldozer or backhoe that was trying to clear areas like this out, where these new erections of new barriers had sprung up. Just in a sense of trying to get either to get into the zone or to clear out areas that they havent established with protesters in sort of a gentlemens agreement that were going to exist. They were coming in to do that. As we mentioned, there was a big confrontation when they rolled in pretty heavy, and protesters lined up, essentially saying no, youre not going to do this. Some of them, if you saw the images, even laying in the middle of the street in front of those bulldozers to say if youre going to tear down our establishment, youre going to run over us. So thats where were at now. That presence has moved out. I can still see sdot is here, i can see the city presence on the outskirts. Whether or not theyll move in today, that remains to be seen, but theyre in negotiations with the protesters as we speak about whats going to happen in the next few days. The city has signaled over and over again that they want this to end soon. How long thats going to take and what exactly kind of force theyre going to use to do that, that remains to be seen, chuck. Back to you. Yeah, they clearly want to do this as gently as possible, if everybody cooperates. Steve patterson in seattle for us, thank you, steve. And katy, over to you. And chuck, now for several new developments in the pandemic, and here are the facts as we know them this hour. The United Nations Childrens Fund is warning that millions of kids could face starvation in yemen, as coronavirus spreads, there has been a major loss of humanitarian funding there. And the countrys Health Care System is already struggling after five years of war. Here in the United States, as cases of coronavirus spike across the south, the governors of texas and florida are cracking down on bars. Texas shut them down entirely. Florida has suspended inperson consumption of alcohol. This comes as florida set another record for a single day increase in cases. The state reported more than 8900 new infections. Lets bring in ann rumoin, professor of epidemiology at the ucla school of Public Health. Also director of the center for global and immigrant health. Doctor, thank you very much for joining us today. We just had that coronavirus Task Force Briefing. There are a number of states that have hot spots that are very worrying. Where do you see this going, specifically in florida and arizona, where both of the governors are saying, listen, the bars are the problem . You know, reopening society has made everything a problem. People need to be Wearing Masks. They need to be social distancing. Its not just the bars. Its everything that is happening. People need to be doing the best they can and using the blunt social measures we see. This is exactly the problem we just saw in this press conference. People didnt want to use the mword, the mask words. They didnt want to discuss the importance of these blunt Public Health measures. And so, you know, you can point to one thing here, one thing there. Its the whole package that is the problem. We are seeing a rise in cases, a dramatic rise in cases, an alarming rise in cases, and people are not doing what they need to do. We need to be really doubling down and making sure that people understand the importance of this. And the politicization of Wearing Masks, of social distancing, is the problem. Its not just bars. I said arizona before, i meant texas and florida. I want to ask you also about what the cdc announced yesterday, there could be ten times more cases than we have currently reported. What does that mean for the death count, what does it mean for the infection rate . What do you glean from that . I think it was very interesting statement. And of course, it would be very great to be able to see the data and to understand everything that is driving this statement here. You know, we do know there are going to be many more cases than we are picking up. Were very interested in doing these kinds of serology studies, understanding how much of the population has been impacted, but again, we really dont know what having antibodies means. Does it mean you are fully protected . Does it mean youre partially protected . Can you get reinfected . What does it mean . We dont really know. But if its true that were seeing this many cases, you know, the virus has been spreading a lot more efficiently than we previously thought. But that said, 20 million cases, there are 330 Million People in this country. The virus still has a long way to go before we have any kind of herd immunity here. And thats very important to consider. You know, we know in terms of fatality rates whats much more important than just like a blanket case fatality rate is understanding who is most vulnerable. And so if you are vulnerable, if you are elderly, if you have any underlying conditions, these are the things that make you most vulnerable for a significant or a serious outcome here. And so anybody that is infected is not as we heard on this press briefing but as we always say, its not just about a Single Person being infected and whether or not they have impact or have a possibility of a poor outcome. Everybody knows somebody that shouldnt be infected because they really risk having a severe outcome, and possibly dying. Yeah, and even if you dont know somebody directly, you could infect somebody who infects somebody else who then puts a grandparent in danger or as dr. Fauci was saying, a child with leukemia in danger. Its not just about you. Its about personal responsibility and societal responsibility as well. Doctor, thanks so much for being here today. Thank you, katy. Coming up, new battleground polls show donald trump is trailing, and now the poor numbers appear to be trickling down ballot. Could the senate be in play . Steve kornacki is at the big board with all the numbers right after the break. The break. And is to make sleep. Feel. Cool. So, no more night sweats. No more nocturnal baking, or polar ice cap airconditioner mode. Because the tempurpedic breeze delivers superior cooling from cover to core. Helping you sleep cool, all night long. 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Before taking ibrance, tell your doctor if you have fever, chills, or other signs of infection, liver or kidney problems, are pregnant, breastfeeding, or plan to become pregnant. Common side effects include low red blood cell and low platelet counts, infections, tiredness, nausea, sore mouth, abnormalities in liver blood tests, diarrhea, hair thinning or loss, vomiting, rash, and loss of appetite. Be in your moment. Ask your doctor about ibrance. No uh uh, no way come on, no no nnnnono only discover has no annual fee on any card. Appeals has ruled President Trump cannot use military funds to build his border wall. The president drew the ire of democrats last year when he circumvented congress to divert 2. 5 billion appropriated to the military to fulfill his Campaign Promise of a wall along the southern border. Chuck, i know this is the ninth circuit. It will probably get appealed again, but this is a setback in the fight to use this cash. It is. And this is something that, look, the separation of powers, Congress Power to appropriate, i will be surprised if the administration ever wins this one. This one, i have always thought that congress with its power of the purse always had the constitutional upper hand on this one, but we shall see. During his stop in the battleground state of wisconsin, the president taped a town hall with fox news. He was asked about his priorities for a second term. This is a layup question. 30 years ago, we would have called it the roger mudd question. Take a listen at the president s answer. Whats at stake in this election as you compare and contrast and what are your top priority items for a second term . Well, one of the things that will be really great, you know, the word experience is still good. I say talent is more important than experience. I have always said that. But the word experience is a very important word. Its an important meaning. I never did this before. I never slept over in washington. I was in washington i think 17 times. All of a sudden, im president of the United States. You know the story. So that was his answer. We didnt cut it short. We didnt cut out the stuff about this long agenda for the second term. Not the first time he has been asked about this and doesnt have one. Thats something the campaign has complained about. Thats a stunning answer, two generations ago, there was a question to ted kennedy once by a reporter, why do you want to be president . He couldnt answer the question, and it went from there. Now for the latest polls where it appears the trend toward the ballot is seeping down ballot to races as well. Joining us is National Political correspondent Steve Kornacki. Look, we knew the senate was in play, but the number of seats coming in to play is what is increasing all of a sudden. Yeah, thats the thing, chuck. Basically start at this level here. This is just the National Polling average. And it is biden right now on average is ten points ahead of donald trump nationally. You know, you have to go back the most lopsided president ial election in the last generation, 1996, clinton beat dole by eight. This is running by ten, at least for now. But when you start getting up into that range, it brings a lot of things into play. First, look at it at the president ial level. All these states, some we have known as swing states. Pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin, but what about georgia, what about ohio, texas . All states trump won in 2016. All states where this week polls have come out, good quality polls have come out, showing joe biden leading donald trump. The margins vary there, but again, every single one of the states was won by trump in 16. Hes down ten points nationally. He trails in polls in soall of those states this week. You mention the senate races. You start to see stuff like this. Georgia, we were talking about it, a fox news poll from georgia, one of the two seats up there, the democrat not leading but in the game, only three points behind, jon ossoff, the incumbent, david perdue. Arizona, big problem. Martha mcsally down nearly double digits. North carolina, a ton of undecided, but the democrat leading the incumbent, again in this poll. You look at the senate map here. Democrats need, if biden wins the presidency, democrats need a net gain of plus three. You look at it this way, alabama is a tough one for them to hang on to, if they dont get alabama, they need four. We have been saying arizona, colorado, maine, are likely targets. If you have georgia in play, if you have carolina, iowa, montana, you just need one more. Yeah. And dont forget kansas. Depending on how that primary turns out as well. And we havent mentioned other way off the radar right now South Carolina and kentucky as well. So the senate map is Getting Better for the democrats, whether its enough for them to win the senate, well see. Steve kornacki, thank you. Katy, over to you. Chuck, i was talking to someone in the campaign. They said they do not have high hopes for mcsally or for tillis. Coming up, though, days after their primaries, races in new york and kentucky remain undecided. Are we getting a preview of what the general election could look like . How long it might take to count those ballots. Kentuckys secretary of state joins us next. Nt. Ex looks like they picked the wrong getaway driver. Theyre going to be paying for this for a long time. They will, but with accident forgiveness allstate wont raise your rates just because of an accident, even if its your fault. Cut sonny. Was that good . Line the desert never lies. Isnt that what i said . No you were talking about allstate and insurance. I just. When i. Lets try again. Everybody back to one. Accident forgiveness from allstate. 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An herbal stress reliever ashwagandha, learn about Financial Assistance at nucala. Com. That helps you turn the stressed life. Into your best life. Stress less and live more. With stressballs. Bad news for Steve Kornacki or good news. The Great American pastime of staying up on Election Night might not happen this year. The lack of results in new york and kentucky this week could be an indicator of what could happen. Days after the polls closed who will assume the oval office next year. More americans plan to vote by mail more than ever before because of the pandemic. Eat state has its own rules and deadlines, making it difficult to deliver timely results. Top Election Officials are encouraging the campaigns and the public to brace themselves for a cliffhanger on november 3rd. Lot of folks out there who say its okay to have some patience, wait and see who wins, as long as every single vote gets counted and as long as more people are able to participate in the process. Yeah, im nervous, though, about the role exit polls might play and candidates, you know, because the counting could be uneven. Candidates take advantage thats the concern, right, that gap where youll have polling data in conflict with raw data and so this will create extra confusion. Lets move to a specific state here, could kentuckys handling of its primary election serve as model . The news that kentuckys inperson polling locations significantly reduced went viral. Lot of people were concerned about this. It was the result of a compromi. As the votes come in 85 were absentee ballots. Mr. Secretary of state, i have to say its so jarring to me, kentucky, you guys are just a fastcounting state, we usually, you know, one of the things that we can count on, well get the early call from kentucky, everything moves quickly, obviously this is different. Explain the difficulty here youre having in tabulating the results . Well, what were facing is with every state that has voted since the pandemic has faced. Kentucky unfortunately is near the bottom in so many categories in our country and this is something that were number one in, we have at least, this year id say during this pandemic the best elections and were a model for other states. Were taking a week to count all these ballots. Same thing in iowa, wisconsin, but i think that people have confidence in our system and theyve been very patient in waiting. The attorney general and the president both say mailin ballots are ripe for fraud, is that the experience you had there in kentucky . Well, as a matter of fact, we do have a history of Election Fraud in kentucky, i cited 22 specific cases that were recent in the last 15 years or so, as part why i aim came from 15 points down to win, 107 out of 120 counties, but theres a different by vote by mail on the west coast, im not criticizing them, it doesnt work here in kentucky. Our model is different. We got very strain gent protocols on our mailin ballots. Identity verification and signature matching. We had transparency not just for public firms and Law Enforcement but also for the voter. They could track a ballot of their own the way they could track a u. P. S. Package. Mr. Secretary of state, do you think its reasonable to start counting absentee or mailin ballots if you get them before election day, at what point on election day, im talking november 3rd, should the counting begin and when does the counting begin as far as youre concerned for these mailin ballots and these absentee ballot. Reporter what we did in kentucky, what we did here, we allowed our counties to begin processing, tabulating and processing absentee ballots as early as june 1st, three weeks before the election. If we didnt did that, we might have had a count after the election. One county had 4,000 votes in person on election day and 90,000 absentee ballots issued. Jefferson county, we had 15,000 people vote in person on election day and well over 200,000 absentee ballots. The county has opened up a second shift, theyre going 24 hours a day, theyve been going 24 hours a day before now to get the ballots now and theyre doing that to count the ballot and kentucky secretary of state, michael adams, well find out when all is said and done. But it looks like so far so good. Thank you for coming on and sharing your views. Katy, thank you. Over to you. That will do it for us today. Thank you for joining us. Remember to wear mask if you go outside. In the meantime, Chris Jansing picks things up after a very quick break. Among my patients i often see them have teeth sensitivity as well as gum issues. Does it worry me . Absolutely. New sensodyne sensitivity gum gives us the dual action effect that really takes care of both our teeth sensitivity as well as our gum issues. Theres no question its something that i would recommend. Good afternoon, everybody. We begin with headlines on the coronavirus pandemic and the facts as we know them at this hour. For the first time in two months the white house Coronavirus Task force held a briefing in washington this afternoon. It comes as were seeing a huge increase in cases in the southern and western u. S. , particularly among younger adults. But heres how Vice President mike pence sees it. The reality is, were in a much better place. With the with the efforts President Trump mobilized at the federal level, with the efforts of this team, this whole of government approach. The effort of governors across the country. Our incredible healthcare workers and the cooperation of the American People. Were in a much stronger place. The truth is, we did slow the spread. We flattened the curve, we were able to stand up the resources and the capacities in our Healthcare System to be able to meet this coronavirus. Here are the facts, the briefing comes as the number of confirmed cases in the United States has reached 2. 5 million. Cdc director Robert Redfield says the actual number of infections could ten times higher. And the u. S. Recorded more than 40,000 new cases on thursday. One day after reporting a record high of more than 45,000 new cases. Right now, about 30 states are seeing increasing numbers with some states reporting new records on a neardaily basis. Florida has now ordered bars to close after the state reported a record high 8900 cases on thursday alone. Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed an order scaling back dining and closing bars after the state reported its own record, nearly 6,000 cases yesterday. It also requires local governments to approve outdoor gatherings of 100 people or more. The World Health Organization is warning of a significant resurgence of cases in a dozen of European Countries including sweden and ukraine. The Trump Administration is urging the u. S. Supreme court to strike down the Affordable Care act. The administration filed the latenight brief arguing that the laws mandate to buy Health Insurance is unconstitutional, after congress scrapped the penalty for noncompliance. They also argue the entire law is invalid. In 2012, the Supreme Court upheld the mandate saying it was legal under congresss power to levy taxes. The justices are expected to hear arguments on this in the fall. Lets get the latest from joe fryer, from the Arizona State fairgrounds in phoenix. Whats happening there . Reporter well, chris, once again today, arizona reporting more than 3,000 new cases in a day. Thats becoming a trend, 3,000plus cases, but so far, unlike texas and florida the governor here in arizona is not adding any new restrictions to try to slow the spread. The governor held a News Conference yesterday to talk about coronavirus, he said the numbers are bad, he didnt want to sugar coat it and the numbers are only going to get worst, he pleaded with people, saying, please, please try to stay at home as much as possible, try to social distance, but he did not put any new restrictions in place. Still no statewide mask mandate in the state, either. He wants to see an increase in testing throughout the state. Testing is a huge problem. Here, testing center. Typically, the cars line up here after they get an appointment, theyre registered, they go inside the agriculture center, they go inside, they get the nasal swab and then they get the results a good time later. One of the big concerns of course is getting a test, they do about 1,000 tests a day here right now. Take a listen of what the people here say about the demand. We get a lot of calls every single day. Weve seen really high volumes on all of our calls. People have people want to get in for testing. They have concerns, theyre either experiencing symptoms or theyve been exposed. Reporter how quickly do appointments fill up . Very quickly. Within a couple of hours in the morning. We got them filled up. Even if you do get a test, getting results co s could take time. The labs are overwhelmed. Some people have learned after they get a test it will take a week or more to get the results. Chris . Joe fryer, thank you very much. Joining us now to continue this conversation, weve got a couple of great guests, dr. Kavita patel, played a key role in developing the Affordable Care act. Los angeles Time White House reporter eli stokols joins us as well. Dr. Patel, overall, so many people with so many questions, as these numbers continuing to rise, disturb ingly high records, did you get a lot of solid information out of this briefing . Unfortunately, nothing new. There was certainly, you know, you saw a number of power points and the Vice President made some statements and i would say, we already knew that there were a growing problem. And the plea is to try to do to stay safe. One reporter asked, the briefing, do as we say not as we do. So, nothing new other than the fact that it meant something to say that this task force, came out on stage and showed you that we should be concerned while also trying to temper that message by reassuring people that your local authorities are who you really need to listen to and the reporting has already indicated those local authorities are not necessarily taking the steps to keep their own people safe. We just heard that from joe in arizona. Vice president mike pence actually was asked specifically if people should wear masks and he would not say yes. Heres how he responded. Im curious, wearing a mask has become a political statement, or not to wear mask, are you concerned about that is there a message youd like to send to people about the importance of wearing a mask. I think the first principle, people should listen to their state and local authorities. I have to tell you, President Trump and i could not have been more grateful for the partnerships we forged around the country. I spoke to the governor of florida, asrizona and texas. I told them from this podium today, we would remind their citizens to heed the guidance and the direction of state and local officials. I mean, people did in many states follow the guidance of their state officials and now, the virus has spun out of control, i wonder what you make of that answer, doctor . Its well, what i make out of that answer frankly is still demonstration by the administration they dont want to lead and in fact, they would goes as far as saying this is misinformation to pass it to local authorities, there would have been nothing wrong with the Vice President making a very clear statement, as some of his Task Force Members tried to do today, very clear statement that masks are effective, we know even half of the people in your community wear masks we can dramatically decrease the risk of infection. Stating facts and then telling people that this is the way were going to safely reopen would be the right message and unfortunately, he did none of the above and i think thats going to lead to more confusion, more misinformation and honestly, it concerns me as a Public Health official that this is just going to continue, these new cases that were seeing day by day. Eli, theres an aversion to the word masks in thiS Administration. So you have pence whos on the things are Getting Better because of the leadership of the president track. Yet, dr. Fauci tried to inject reality talking about things being seriously, only he would go so far. Give me your take on this briefing. You know, what we saw from pence is what we have seen throughout theed administration no willingness to contradict or undermine where the president is, the president has consistently refused to wear mask and refused to tell people to wear mask and encouraged the public in some ways as see maskwearing as a political act and thats obviously not the case. The sad irony here is for a president whos so impatient with this pandemic, wants things to go back to normal the best thing he can do is to encourage everybody to socially distance and wear masks, because that would do a lot to stop the spread. He hasnt done that. Hes frustrated now. He wants to sweep it under the rug. He had a foreign leader at the white house on wednesday. The first time i had a visit like this after covid, like its over. But we saw record oneday spike in the number of cases reported that day. So theres just this inclination toward magical thinking that the president and Vice President perpetuate, were starting to see republican officials at the state level and some senators start to abandon that as this virus is spreading to their own states. Prioritizing Public Health and avoiding politicalization but thats not happening at the white house. You look at the polls and you see how nervous people are. Dr. Patel, before todays briefing, dr. Fauci told the Washington Post about a new approach to testing. Quote, something is not working. I mean, you can do all the diagramming you want but something is not working. He was asked about that during the briefing, about what did he mean. Youll be hearing about this, you know flooding the area of a community to get a feel for whats out there particularly among the asymptomatic, in other words, its a paradigm shift because were dealing with young people, people who are going to be asymptomatic and people who are getting infected in a community setting, not an outbreak setting as you know who to isolate. Thats what i meant. How much of a help do you think this could be . I think it could. Early on in the pandemic, much of the outbreak, the cases that went to the hospital were coming from Nursing Homes and higherrisk communities and that began a narrative and then a flood of testing and opportunities to decrease infections in those settings was the priority. We are learning, were doing more testing and were realizing this term youre hearing Community Spread, it means young, Healthy People in the 25yearold, to 45yearold age range are part of this asymptomatic range could be spreading it. What dr. Fauci is talking about doing is taking hundreds, maybe even thousands of people and getting groups of them to get the nasal swab, the oral swab and then batch testing, testing that entire set of 20, 50, 100 people in a lab together so that you can screen quickly without waiting days for an individual result, screen to look for positives or ideally see if you have a whole group of people thats negative. Thats shifting our country into understanding why we have such intense Community Spread. The key message for all viewers or listeners, you can be young and healthy and have a positive coronavirus test, feel fine, never go to the hospital but you could potentially infect several other people and land all of them into the hospital and thats the worst Case Scenario and why were very concerned and the testing does make sense as a strategy to stop that. Yeah, and thats exactly what dr. Fauci said. One person, then it goes to the next person. Eli, people when they called this after two months, they called this briefing, some people well maybe, this is a sign theyre actually somebody at the white house who recognizes the seriousness of this and the white house has to address it, but i dont know, do we have any idea come from, well see the people from task force getting together again. What are you hearing if. I hear this task force has continued to meet periodically. Vice president pence said theyve met 17 times since the last televised briefing. They have continued to meet. Pence also said that the president was the one who directed them to hold this press conference today, perhaps its a simple as the president understanding that this is an issue, hes seeing this coverage on television, he wants these questions answered by the administration, he just apparently didnt want to have any role in doing that, sending pence out to do this and out of the white house and over to hhs, which also pretty illustrative of the president in his own role, hes so eager to turn the page and separate himself from the government response and perhaps that makes sense as the curve starts to rise again and more questions the president doesnt want to be blamed, so hes sending the Vice President out to take the heat. Eli stokols. Dr. Kavita patel, thank you. When we return the politics of President Trumps move to ask the Supreme Court to inval invalidate Affordable Care act. Moves like that are moving the President Trumps poll numbers down. Scr. And later, the troubling rise in covid cases among young people. Well talk to an expert about that and be back after this. Surging in arizona, basically, id say this is tinder waiting to explode but im thinking some of that has already been lit and thats concerning as good as i feel today, if im being realistic, both based on experiences and the shifts over the last couple of weeks and based on the data for the next few weeks i think it ree its going to be really bad. Please keep me and all of us in your prayers and lets hope we get to the other side safely. No nnnnono only discover has no annual fee on any card. That selling carsarvana, 100 online wouldnt work. Nnnnono but we went to work. Building an experience that lets you shop over 17,000 cars from home. Creating a coast to Coast Network to deliver your car as soon as tomorrow. Recruiting an army of customer advocates to make your experience incredible. And putting you in control of the whole thing with powerful technology. Thats why weve become the nations Fastest Growing retailer. Because our customers love it. See for yourself, at carvana. Com. For spending a perfectly reasonable amount of time on the couch with tacos from grubhub . Grubhubs gonna reward you for that with a 5 off perk. doorbell rings [crowd] grubhub fireworks exploding this virus is testing all of us. And its testing the people on the front lines of this fight most of all. So abbott is getting new tests into their hands, delivering the critical results they need. And until this fight is over, we. Will. Never. Quit. Because they never quit. Just a few hours before his scheduled departure from the white house, President Trump cancelled his weekend trip to his bedminster club, denying it has anything to do with governor murphys 14day quarantine which would have covered President Trump because he was in a hotspot. He was around thousands of people who were not Wearing Masks, as he was not wearing a mask. Another move from the administration came late last night, a filing at the Supreme Court just an hour before the deadline to try and get rid of obamacare. Just for the record, obamacare hit its highest point of favorability this past february. According to a poll, more than half of people joined the Affordable Care act favorably. Joining me is basel smikel and nick confessore. Weve got stuff to talk about, guys. Lets look at this for a minute. Try to cancel obamacare when, on that same day, nick, half a Million People who had lost their jobs because of the pandemic applied for it. Something that we didnt mention was that the Appeals Court has just ruled that funding for trumps border wall construction is unlawful and as the wall street journal points out the president , quote, still doesnt have any secondterm message other than his own grievances and couldnt come up with his plan for a second term. So talk to me about the reelect strategy. Im sure what the strategy is to run the same playbook the cost the republicans the house in 2018, hes going to send troops to the border and run on getting rid of the rest of obamacare or remains of it. For the president , the most popular part of obamacare, people like the preexisting conditions. The overall popular a lot more popular than the president. The administrations taking aim at a revision thats wildly popular. This is a portrait of a president whose presidency really about grievances and theaters. The immigration and the border. So some stunning new polls are out, after six battleground states had biden well ahead of trump, fox news new polls show him with a ninepoint lead in his home state now of florida, biden also has a slight edge in georgia, North Carolina and texas, all states that contributed to the president s 2016 electoral victory and as biden has barely campaigned at all other than roundtables. What explain these numbers . Let me add this other point, texas was the lead state as the complaint in the Supreme Court case to get rid of obamacare, that same state is seeing a resurgence in covid cases, by the way. This is without context, the president is taking these measures is extraordinary. An attempt to poke his base, reenergize them. Were seeing in the numbers, in the polling numbers that you just raised that joe biden has presented clear, sort of message about his Leadership Strategy going forward. Its clear, its concise, its stable. Which is incredibly important. And hes demonstrated that hes willing to work with folks on the other side of the aisle to get things done. Lot of republicans from the former from trump and the former Bush Administration formed a pac now talking about supporting him, that says to me and it says to voters across the country, even if you had supported trump, even if you wanted to engage in that experiment, that experiment is clearly over, and when you see what hes doing in terms of turning his back on voters that benefit from the Affordable Care act, its sort of raw, naked ambition thats being exposed. We keep hearing, nick, about a level of frustration that the president is feeling, certainly after his tulsa rally when he didnt even fill half of that venue, we know that he has been frustrated overall with having to say in the white house, he wants to get out, he wants things to get back to the way they were, ill let you characterize the moment at the town hall last night with fox news. Heres the president. I mean, the man cant speak. And hes going to be your president , because some people dont love me, maybe, and you know all im doing is doing my job. Hes going to be president because some people dont love me, slip of the tongue, nick, anything to indicate that the president who often rejects polls that he doesnt like recognizes that hes in hes not a stupid person, he can see the polls. I think he knows that hes under water. Look, lets look at fundamentals here. The cabinet was out there, dont worry, this crisis will pass, everything will be okay. Dont listen to the media. Look where we are now. Were not having a second wave but a resurgence of the first wave, it could easily have been set back a little bit, the president had used his talent for theater and promotion to tell people to put on a freakings mask. The best thing he can do for reelection prospect to get more of the country to wear mask and stop seeing it as a political issue. I hate wearing my mask in the summer. Its hot. Too bad. Wear the mask. Its the easiest possible thing you can do. It could be the president s message. That could be his message. We got a very period of time left, let me shift over to joe biden, surprising poll numbers in some states, it seemed for a while trump was trying to bait to come out of his basement. It seems to be working awfully well and do you think if it aint broke dont fix it . Yeah, theres some of that for the time being absolutely. But hes, you know, as i was saying before, joe biden is Building Support and gaining strength from constituencies that were previously behind donald trump. Suburban households. We saw that strategy work in 2018, which is what helped us get the house back. To be honest as a strategy going forward, i think whats important to note is that if you look at the folks who have been managing this crisis, getting high marks for it, its been democrats, mayors, governors, what joe biden has done is taken those stories, added his own and pushed this narrative of the Democratic Party is that superior party in term of gov n governing of america. Its great to have you both of you on a friday afternoon. You know, if you get a chance, put your mask on, enjoy the beautiful weather. From the pandemic to the other big story in the country right now, new questions about two cases of young men of color who died in police custody. Just as Congress Stalls out on police reform. Kelcee loves how essential oils help her chill. And now she has those same scents. In the laundry room. Ahh. New gain with essential oils detergent. And my side super soft . 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