Good morning. It is saturday, july 18th. Im lindsey reiser. We begin with john lewis. He was probably best known for leading hundreds in the 1965 march across the Edmund Pettus bridge in selma, alabama, in what became known as bloody sunday. Nbc White House Correspondent john Geoff Bennett takes a look back. He was a moral leader who commanded respect seen as one of the last forces. Lewis was one of ten children born to sharecroppers in rural alabama in 1940. He grew up on his familys farm and attended segregated public schools. Lewis said he was inspired as a young boy by the activism surrounding the bus boycott and sermons of dr. Martin king luther jr. , which he heard on the radio. If the spirit moves to, we have a right to march at night any time we want to march. Reporter all of it spurring him to become part of the Civil Rights Movement. Organizing sitin movements at lunch counters in nashville, tennessee, in 1961, joining freedom rallies. I was not concerned about making history. I just wanted to change things. Reporter while still in his 20s, john lewis became a nationally recognized leader. I grew in the movement to accept love, the way of peace, to not have violence, the way of forgiveness. Reporter by 1963, he was dubbed one of the big six leaders. He was an architect of and keynote speaker at the historic march on washington. I have a dream. Reporter but it was in 1965 when lewis helped spearhead one of the most seminal moments of the Civil Rights Movement. He lead 600 Peaceful Protesters across the bridge in selma, alabama, the group brutally beaten by Alabama State troopers in what became known as bloody sunday. I lost consciousness. 50 years later, i dont recall how i made it back across that bridge to the Little Church that we had left from. Reporter news broadcasts and photographs of the cruelty helping to hasten the Voting Rights passage of 1965. We were taught never to become bitter, never to hate. Reporter john lewiss activism continued in congress. We have lost hundreds and thousands of innocent people to gun violence. Reporter after a mass shooting at an orlando nightclub killed 49 people, he announced a sitin. He spoke of the good trouble he caused in the 1960s and in the political fights since, invoking the moral courage that fueled his lifelong fielt for civil rights. When you see something that is not right, not just, not fair, you have a moral obligation to say something, to do something. Reporter Geoff Bennett, nbc news, washington. Our thanks to geoff right there. The statement came out just before midnight eastern time from his family. We knew that he had been sick and he had been in hospice care. Just about seven months ago is, in fact, when he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, stage 4, so his passing coming very quickly. He said he would keep fighting. Back in march when he stood there at the Edmund Pettus bridge, such a striking moment so many years later as he was in a new fight for his life, leaving such a mark on this country. Lots of tributes pouring in this morning for the civil rights leader, also people reacting to the sad news. Nbc Josh Letterman joining us from the white house. The president was tweeting about a number of Different Things or retweeting about a number of Different Things. Was john lewis one of them . John lewis was not. We have not yet heard from the current president about the death of john lewis. But we are hearing from another president , barack obama, who, of course, presented the president ial medal of freedom. He said overnight john lewis loved the country so much he risked his life and his blood so it might live up to its promise and through the decades obama said john lewis not only gave all of his cause to the freedom and justice, but he wanted everyone to live up to his example. Were hearing from members of congress this morning including nancy pelosi, who, of course, served in congress for decades with john lewis. Pelosi said john lewis was a titan of the Civil Rights Movements who goodness, faithfulness, and bravery transformed our nation. Every day of his life was dedicated to bringing freedom and justice to all. Hakeem jeffries of new york wrote, we have lost a legendary leader, civility rights icon, and change agent extraordinaire. He left america in a much better place. May he rest forever rest. John lewis saying in an interview not long before his death that he was heartened to see this fresh activism from americas youth and adding theres no turning back. Kend kendis . Id be curious to see, josh, once the white house reacts how long it will take. It took them quite some time to do it for Elijah Cummings last year. Thank you. Joining us is the host of Rashad Richie show in atlanta. Thanks for joining us this morning. You met the congressman in the past. We have a photo of the two of you from a few years back. You talk a lot about him on your program and understandably so. We knew, as i said, that this was coming, but hearing the news in the overnight hours, your gut reaction to it. Im heartbroken. As a matter of fact, when this initially happened, i got word of it, myself and other leaders in atlanta we started to immediately share stories with each other. Weve been talking and texting. We have not slept a wink. Were just getting over the death of c. T. Vivian, another civil rights leader. I want to add john lewis led from a place of morality. While others tried to put him in a political biased box, he was not. He was was transformational. I do find it ironic that the same ideology that congressman john lewis fought against, the president of the United States fights for, and thats a distinction that i believe will be highlighted when we contrast the leadership style of john lewis compared to the current leadership of this president. His death comes as the nation is grappling with another movement right now. Congressman lewis has since spoken about the demonstrations weve seen following George Floyds death, how they look and feel different. How did he view this moment nearly 57 years after the march on washington, which he participated in in. Congressman lewis said something very powerful about this movement. He said hes never seen anything like it and its Something Different about this movement. He also connected to the spirit of the black lives Matter Movement while there were some civil rights leaders who thought the movement, the new movement needed a jesting. Congressman lewis believed they simply needed encouragement, so he definitely connected to that space. And for him being as insightful as he was, to say there is Something Different, is telling. And also he said that there is no turning back now. And i believe him when he said those words. Rashad, the congressman was often described as the protesters protester, and, of course, recently, of course, in the last seven weeks since George Floyds death, weve had plenty of protesters out there. What do you think those modernday akty vibts can learn from him . He was a congressman of reform. When congress led from a moral outrage, it was not simply to bring attention to a matter, it was to transform it, challennge make it better. He was in the business of transforming social contracts, and thats one of the major lessons that all of us can learn, taking protests to policy because policy is the social contract that will continue to bless our lives and those that come after us. His life and legacy affecting the whole country, but also, congressman lewis has been representing your home state georgia, the Fifth District there, since 1987. How would you describe his impact on the state over the last 33 years . Words cannot describe it. The man was a rock starks a legend. Even though he was one of the most accessible figures we had in georgia, any time you were around him, you realized you were in the presence of greatness. He never met a stranger. He would always talk to you as if you had known him for 20 years, and he was sensible. He was diplomatic. And the legacy that he will lead in georgia is a legacy of love, and thats what he stood for, and we will continue to honor that legacy in georgia, regardless of the politics. This man stood above it all. Theres been a massive effort where on the ed monday pettus bridge he said he nearly died 55some years ago. Theres been an effort to try to change the name of that bridge. You do get a sense following his death that that will get a little bit more momentum . I hope it does. As a matter of fact, four years ago i said on my radio show i said we need to change the name of that bridge to onlewis bridge because right now its named after a well known documented racist. Become famous for something else, but its named after someone we should not hold in high regard whatsoever. I support that. Ive supported it for years. Unfortunately it takes tragedies like this before things happen in a way thats progressive or positive, but i would absolutely continue to support that effort. Rashad richie, we certainly hope so. We want to thank you for your time this morning after a sleepness night of remembering the one and only john lewis. Thank you. Were also hearing from the family of john lewis this morning. Heres their statement. The statement says it is with inconsolable grief and enduring sadness that we announce the passing of u. S. Representative john lewis. He was honored and respected as the conscience of the u. S. Congress and an icon of american history, but we knew him as a loving father and brother. He was a stall wartime hero champion in the ongoing struggle to demand respect and dignity for the worth of every human being. They go on to say he dedicated his entire life to nonviolent activism and was an outspoken advocate in the struggle for equal justice in america. Wi he will be deeply missed. This is interesting. One of his final public appearances came a few weeks ago right there in washington, d. C. , the place now called black lives matter plaza. Seeing those huge 35foot bold yellow letters that read black lives matter, sort of a full circle moment for a man who fought that hard to make that message matter. Very moving, very moving, very impressive. I think the people in d. C. And around the nation have sent a mighty powerful and strong message to the rest of the world, that we would get there. Hey, can i. Safe drivers save 40 guys guys safe drivers save 40 safe drivers save 40 safe drivers save 40 thats safe drivers save 40 . It is, thats safe drivers save 40 . Hes right there. Its him safe drivers do save 40 . Click or call for a quote today. Safe which is why we keep taking care of ourselves, like screening for colon cancer. Because when caught in early stages, its more treatable. Cologuard is noninvasive and detects altered dna in your stool. To find 92 of colon cancers. Even in early stages. Its for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. False positive and negative results may occur. So, dont wait to screen. Ask your prescriber or an online prescriber if cologuard is right for you. For bathroom odors that linger try febreze small spaces. Just press firmly and it continuously eliminates odors in the air and on soft surfaces. For 45 days. Reinventing. Its what with comcast business, your Small Business can work faster, with powerful internet from the nations largest gigspeed network. Work safer, with all your connected devices automatically protected by securityedge. And work anywhere, with comcast business at home, our new businessgrade Internet Solution for remote workers. Whatever your business needs, comcast business has the solutions to help you not just bounce back, but bounce forward. Call or go online to find out more. Some Companies Still have hr stuck between employeesentering data. A. Changing data. More and more sensitive, personal data. And it doesnt just drag hr down. It drags the entire business down with inefficiency, errors and waste. Its ridiculous. So ridiculous. With paycom, employees enter and manage their own data in a single, easy to use software. Visit paycom. Com, and schedule your demo today. Now to the latest facts in the coronavirus pandemic. Another grim milestone. The u. S. Once again marking a record singleday increase in cases, adding more than 75,000 yesterday. Both texas and ohio already reported their highest statewide daily cases. Dr. Anthony fauci is doubling down on the importance of mask. He said everyone should wear a Face Covering to slow the spread of the virus and urged leaders to make sure that happens. I would say to every state public official should urge every state, cities and stotown to be as forceful as possible to get your citizenry to wear masks. In florida, the beaches are under an 8 00 p. M. Curfew. Restaurants can only deliver after curfew and cannot offer pickup. There is good news this morning. New york is set to open phase 4 on monday. Tv and Film Production carree assume and outdoor venues like zoos and Botanical Gardens can also reopen with limited capacity. Gyms, malls, and movie theaters wont be reopening. Texas has hit a milestone. Its joined places like new york, california, and florida, with more than 300,000 cases of coronavirus cases. The Lone Star State also reached a new milestone. Yeah, with the number of deaths. Singleday record, the number of deaths, 174. Its a different concern, but one of increasing urgency for so many people there. Nbcs Priscilla Thompson is in houston. Specifically, priscilla, were talking about so many people. Now its spreading to the houston area. Reporter well, kendis, lindsey, good morning. Thats exactly right. Houston is the largest food bank in the country. They began to see the demand tick up during the spring as this outbreak picked up, but the demand has not let up. The food bank is still delivering up to 1 Million Pounds of food per day, but the problem is those volunteers, many of those National Guardsmen and volunteers who came in in midapril to help with this increased demand are actually on their way out beginning today, and so that is putting a huge strain on the food bank. Theyre calling for volunteers here, but that is a very difficult thing to do when were seeing the types of spikes in cases were seeing here in texas which you all spoke about a little bit. You know, we saw a Record Number of deaths on friday. Thats breaking the previous record that was set just the day before. Hospitalizations here are at an alltime high arc tjd Positivity Rate as well as an alltime high at 17. 4 . And so the food bank which can usually accommodate about 1,000 volunteers per shift obviously spread out across the city in smaller groups in various locations is now working with about 150 vole tears per shift, and so it is a very tough time for them as theyre hoping to get volunteers to venture out while a pandemic is ongoing and really spiking here in texas. Kendis, lindsey . It really is spiking with the number of deaths increasing and hospitalizations. That 17. 4 is a shocking rate. Places like new york city, less than 1 right now. Priscilla thompson joining us from hardhit houston. Thank you. We want to get to our yahoo news medical contributor. Good morning to you. Weve been talking about increasing numbers, states like north carolina, florida. Things have only been getting worse. Doctor, whats happening right now or maybe not happening that maybe needs to be right now . Whats not happening is probably a lockdown. It takes a while for masks to start working. Were probably not going to see any improvement in the numbers for quite a while. We need there not tonal be positive reopenings but a lockdown. These numbers are only going to get increasingly worse. In the meantime, encouraging, we have a number of states that are mandates that people actually wear masks. A report from yahoo news writes that its too late, though, for masks alone to turn the tide on covid19, whoo the u. S. Needs to lock down hot spots right away as you suggested. The question is what does the rest of that solution look like and the answer is probably more like europes. What do you make of that, doctor . Thats a great point. We know masks are only one part of the full strategy. The other measures are physical distancing and staying home. We saw how that worked well here in new york city, and we also know that we need to get Positivity Rates down to below 2 before you even reconsider reopening, and many states had Positivity Rates above that and still reopened. Thats why we need masks and physical distancing plus lockdowns to see any change in the numbers. It took new york city to see a significant slow to the spread. You mentioned that theres kind of a lag in seeing a slowdown with masks, so when do you think we could actually maybe see some better results, some of these cases finally starting go down . I think for masks, we would have a better idea in a few weeks, but i will say that the caseloads are so high at this point that we probably want to be more aggressive and implement other strategies like a lockdown because were going to lose too many lives in the meantime. Doctor, im curious about this. Can you actually get the virus twice . For example, take a look at this. You had one ohio nurse who tested positive in march, tested negative twice in april and then ended up with a positive test in may. What do we know about the antibodies and how likely is a situation like that . Okay. So there are several situations where sometimes you do have remnants of the dead virus thats still left in a persons body, and so they may go and in test positive months later. There are also opportunities where there can be a false negative test. Wh