No Silver Bullet at the moment and there might never be one. Meantime, on capitol hill, relief bill talks picking up back after no deal was reached over the weekend. The white house chief of staff now saying that he is not optimistic we will see one, quote, in the very near term. Well have a new word on another strategy the white house is considering. Morgan chesky is in dallas where the death toll is on the rise as the state remains open for business. Steve patterson out west in california and beaumont, where officials are grappling with a two fold crisis as they respond to a virus and a wildfire. Morgan, let me begin with you, where do experts say the crisis in texas is heading if officials actually dont roll out any new closures or restrictions . Reporter ayman, good morning. Doctors are saying it will get worse before it gets better if action is not taken. And what is particularly disconcerting is the fact that texas is now eclipsed 7,000 deaths as a result of covid19. And that more people died in this state during the month of july than any other state in the country. But aside from that number, when it comes to the total number of cases that texas now has, more than 430,000 state wide, that number could actually be an undercount. The Houston Chronicle did a study of how the state is monitoring and measuring the number of tests that continue to come in. What they found is a discrepancy on what is being counted as a confirmed case of covid19. If you go to a drive through lab and get that nasal schwwab and comes back positive, it is going into the count. If you go to a Rapid Testing option, where they can give you the test and in 15 to 30 minutes later lets you know whether it is a positive or a negative, that is in some cases only being counted as a probable case of covid19. And thats because in some instances these rapid tests arent believed to be as reliable as ones that go to a lab for actual lab work. And thats where were seeing some issues start to come up. Some counties are reporting them to the state, some counties are not reporting those rapid result tests to the state. And even though they may not be as accurate as that last would be, which is already backed up in texas, Health Experts believe they could still shine a valuable light into where texas stands in the fight against covid19. So you have those numbers that sit across the state of texas continuing to go up, ayman, however we are starting to see at least hospitalizations stabilize and drop and daily new cases start to drop. The big question is how many other cases are out there, that we dont even know about. Ayman . Morgan stay with me, lets head out west to beaumont, california. Steve patterson, were talking about the duality of the challenges theyre facing there. You got the wildfires and you got the pandemic, what is the situation in california there this morning . Reporter you know, it is a lot to deal with, ayman, overall in the state. The case count still astronomic astronomical. You mentioned california crossing that 500,000 threshold. They reported the single highest daily death toll now on five separate days, five separate occasions and the majority of those in the last two weeks. But if you look overall, you look at where the highest hot spots have been, l. A. County, orange county, hospitalization rate, icu bed use, both slowing in those places, the problem is it is a game of whacamole. You look at the central valley, here in riverside county, now the second worst county for the case count, you see that it is difficult for officials to get a real handle on it. And, oh, by the way, here in riverside, there is a massive wildfire. It is burning up on the cliff side off in the distance. Firefighters have been working on this thing, day and night, 24 hours a day. It has grown to 20,000 acres. Yet it is only about 5 contained at this point. So how does covid affect the operation . How does it impact the fire fight . Youre talking about getting supplies and crews up there, not much. They still do basically the traditional firefighting techniques that they continue to use. The problem is when youre talking about evacuations, 8,000 people as they have done in this area, it has to be done in the distance way, the shelters have to test people as they come in. And you look at the operation on the ground here, this has to be distanced. Everybody has to be wearing masks. They have to keep people separated and cycling people to get rest is harder when you have to stick to the guidelines. It is a tough situation here in the active fire fight from riverside county. Ayman . Our best going out to the crews trying to fight that fire. Thank you for starting us off this hour. With us now is the mayor of jackson, mississippi, where new infections i understand mr. Mayor and hospitalizations and deaths, theyre all reaching new levels. Give us a quick update if you can, sir, on what the situation is in jackson, mississippi, this morning. The situation is dire. This is the exact circumstance that we feared when we saw the decision from the governor to open up the state. I thought that decision was not based on the data. It was based on political pressure. And now the very thing that we fear is taking place. The city of jackson had been doing a relatively successful job of maintaining a low infection rate for cities of comparable size. The city itself had a very aggressive stance toward this virus, not only standing up 12,000 tests, providing convalescence homes, creating a symptom tracker, and making certain that we do did everything we could to meet people where they were, in terms of where this virus is most prevalent. And now that the state is opening up and communities being as interconnected as they are, were seeing the numbers skyrocket. The icu beds and hospitalization rates are their very capacity. Mr. Mayor, one of the numbers that a lot of people track in this country is the positivity rate. It is an larming o inalarming o city. The average is at 21 . Thats currently just behind alabama for the worst in the nation. What kind of response should that be drawing from state officials when they see that Staggering Number . We have to have increased testing and that testing has to lead to a response that is according. We know for instance that the demographic that has the highest rate of infection, 18 to 29yearolds, and when we have this semblance of an open economy, then peoples behavior responds according to that. And so, you know, i always felt that there was a bad decision for us to begin to open our economy. We need more icu beds. Im stepping in roles that i never imagined as mayor, trying to work with county supervisors, and our coroner to find more room for bodies, now that the morgues are over their capacity. We need right now the state to make a decision as it pertains to students. We have a 180 day rule of conflict li curriculum, for the school to receive accreditation for the year it has to have 180 days. We need the governor to make a decision to roll that back. By rolling that back, we can have a better plan in hand, a more proactive plan in hand so were not sending students into a dire situation. Right now, the plan is to go virtual. But it is not equitable. You have students who dont have computers as the entire nation is trying to fight for computers. The city, for instance, is trying to create our own wireless Municipal Wireless Network to help provide relief to them. So while were stepping up. We need the state to meet us, we need the federal government to meet us. Let me get your thoughts sir on the death rate there, there is new reporting that it is soaring, the daily beast writing that morgues are overflowing as deaths explode with the death count potentially a massive undercount. Are you seeing any evidence that the death count is being underreported in the city of jackson . Well, first, let me respond to that by expressing my, you know, my regret and my condolences to those families that have lost loved ones unnecessarily to this virus. But in terms of those numbers, to be completely honest with you, i dont believe im getting the complete picture in any regard. We have been struggling to try to get a data sharing agreement with the state that has been held up through a legal process. And so all of that information is important. By that information we can get a census track level of where this virus is most affecting us most detrimentally and respond accordingly. So i wouldnt be able in good conscience to answer that question with you to you without better information being provided to me. All right, mr. Mayor, thank you, i appreciate your time, jackson, mississippi mayor mr. Chokwe lumumba, thank you. Both sighs nowhere near an agreement on not just what and how much the relieve package should include, but whether it should be done in one bill or through a piecemeal approach. And this morning, of course, the Washington Post reporting the white house is looking into its own options for unilateral action if no deal on capitol hill is reached. Nbcs Garrett Haake is on capitol hill for us. What is your sense of the strategies on both sides here as they head into another day of negotiations with very little progre progress . Reporter yeah, ayman, the negotiations are a week old. Were seeing versions of the same discussions happening again and again. What you have here are democrats who have been united around a plan that they support here, in this case, the heroes act, that they passed back in may. And republicans coming at them essentially trying to peel off smaller and smaller pieces of what they can agree upon amongst themselves and try to strike the smaller agreements with democrats who have thus far refused to break off any pieces of this. And are trying to hold the line. Here is how both sides were discussing this over the weekend. We continue to see really a stone walling of any piecemeal type of legislation that happens on capitol hill. Hopefully that will change in the coming days. Were saying three things, support our state and local and our heroes, strategic big plan to end the virus, and, third, put money in the pockets of americas working families. Reporter these negotiator did not meet on sunday, but they did on saturday for a marathon session, the longest so far and both sides describing it as most productive. Thats a low bar because both sides are still trillions of dollars apart, thousands of billions of dollars apart on the priorities here. Particularly those expanded unemployment benefits, state and local funding has been a Sticking Point in these negotiations, going back to the last relief bill, continues to be one here. There are still a lot of smiles to go before i think we see real action on this. I got ask you about a president ial tweet that came out this morning, in part it reads so crazy, nancy pelosi and horrible things. I said horrible things, excuse me about dr. Deborah birx, going after her because she was too positive on the very good job were doing on combatting the china virus, including vaccines and therapeutics. In order to counter nancy, deborah took the bait and hit us, pathetic. Ive seen the president being criticized before by other member of the Coronavirus Task force, but it seems this tweet had a slightly different tone in it. What do you make of it . Reporter he seems to be criticizing dr. Birx for her appearance on one of the sunday shows over the weekend, this is another example of the white house doing its hr work on television. No comment yet from pelosi on this, though this seems much more directed at a member of the president s own administration than his opposition up here on capitol hill. All right, well be waiting for that reaction. Garrett haake, thank you so much, i appreciate that update. Coming up, tracking that Tropical Storm targeting covid hot spots, more than 100 million americans in its path. But, first joe biden says hell pick his running mate this week. Is the short list getting shorter and who is still on it. Well ask the Campaign Senior adviser in a moment. K the campa adviser in a moment. Insurance, so you only pay for what you need. I wish i could shake your hand. Granted. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Walk to end alzheimers alzheis everywhere. 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Mr. Vice president , i want to talk a little bit about your vp pick, were narrowing in on the time frame that you had identified as when you would make your announcement. Are you still targeting early august . Im going to have a choice in the first week in august. All right, as we officially enter the first week of august, the countdown for joe biden to pick a running mate is on. The Presumptive Democratic nominee has said he will make that major decision sometime this week. But when he will announce it, though, that is another question. This weekend some of the top contenders are making their final public appeals, while staying tight lipped about the process itself. I defer all questions about vetting to the Biden Campaign. What i can say is im proud to be working with Vice President bidens team on lifting up his plans for america. Ill refer you to the Biden Campaign for any questions about that, but what i can say, this is the most important election in our lifetime. I do believe that President Biden will be a healer in chief and we certainly need that now. And i have believed ive played that role too. All right, lucky for us, we have a member of the Biden Campaign that we can pose that question to and a few others. With me now is Senior Adviser to the former Vice President and his campaign, careen jean pierre. Great to see you as always. Let me begin where we just left off there with that well begin with where we left off with that timeline. Is an announcement still coming this week or is the campaign delaying it until next week . What can you tell us about where we are on that timeline . I will say this, ayman, the announcement is coming whenever the Vice President is ready to make the announcement. And i can say this as well for certain, we will be ready to roll out the running mate whenever he is ready and support her in any way possible. And that is for sure, ayman. Why the delay, if i may . I understand youre saying when the Vice President is ready, but give us the sense of what is the inner working here and the process that has led us to go from, and i quote the Vice President , saying the decision would be made by august 1st, then said it would be the first week of august, and now as we have been hearing, it looks like well at least see the announcement or signaling that the announcement might be coming in the second week of august . Look this is, as you can imagine, ayman, so many out there who are watching, is an incredibly important decision. Joe biden has a list of incredibly talented women to choose from and he will pick someone that he can govern with on day one, like we have to remember his title is Vice President , former Vice President of the United States. So there is really no other person who is best at making this choice than joe biden. And i trust that he will do and we should all trust that he will make the best choice possible. So, look, this is a process. It will happen when he is ready. And i promise you that. It will it is coming. And when the Vice President is ready, we will be ready to roll. And like i said, we will support her in every way, in every way possible to make sure that she is successful, and our ticket is successful. Let me ask you about some of the comments floating around and this is a leader of Vice President s former vetting team, telling donors that Kamala Harris had no remorse for her attacks on biden on the debate stage, meanwhile, one donor implied that harris has too much, quote, ambition and former pennsylvania governor ed rendell, long time biden friend told people harris can rub people the wrong way, do you think those comments are sexist . Ill take this the only person who will make this decision is Vice President joe biden. This is his decision to make and he will make the best choice. We all trust that. I trust that. And thats what is going to happen in the near future. Look, im going to lift up a tweet that my friend and the Campaign Manager put out recently, just a couple of days ago, and it starts off where she says, ambitious women change the world, ambitious women make history, ambitious women win. And this campaign is full of ambitious women who are leaning in every day to make sure that joe biden wins in november. I am proud to be an ambitious woman, many of us are proud to be ambitious women and i will leave it there, ayman. Let me ask you this, though, has the Vice President spoken to chris dodd or governor rendell about those comments . Theyre obviously i cant reveal private conversations, ayman, unfortunately. I appreciate that. I understand that. I was wondering, hes part of this election process, i wanted to know if those positions are shared throughout the campaign. Let me get your final