said and we wish you a very happy fourth. i'm jim sciutto. "newsroom" with kate balduan starts right now. hello, everyone. i'm kate balduan. thanks so much for joining us. fireworks and face masks. the country is facing a fourth of july like we've never seen before with the country setting a new record for the number of new coronavirus infections in a day breaking the previous record which was just set the day before. 52,000 new code of cases yesterday. combine that with wednesday's number, more than 100,000 new infections in two days. dr. anthony fauci is warning earlier this week that the country could soon see that in one day. now, unfortunately, it really doesn't seem too far off. here is what dr. fauci is saying now. >> i think it's pretty obvious, howard, that we're not going in the right direction.

right now in you look at the number of cases it's quite disturbing it, and we're setting records practically every day in new cases of the number that's reported. that's clearly not the right direction. and here is what that looks like, cases were leveling off and in some cases trending down until the last big holiday, memorial day. now 36 states are trending in the wrong direction. only two states are in the green meaning that they are seeing a decrease in new cases. the rate in 12 other states is holding steady right now which i guess at this point almost seems like a victory. let's check in on the states seeing the worst of it now, because, remember, they should serve as a review for the rest of the country if things don't change quickly. in texas, they are seeing around 7,000 new cases a day. the governor is now mandating face conversation in public throughout the state. cnn's lucy kafanov is joining us now from houston. lucy, what are you hearing? >> well, it's an interesting

reversal for governor abbott, kate, because he's previously barred local officials from penalizing folks from not wearing masks in public, each as health officials continue to say that masks are one of the best ways in curbing the spread of this disease. now it's the law here in the state. if you live in a county that has 20 or more cases, you are now required to wear a mask in public. that applies to about 95% of texans. he's also empowering local officials to restrict gatherings to just so people and encouraging more people to practice social distancing, six feet or more if they are going to be getting together. all of this, of course, as the trends continue to go in the wrong direction here in texas. more than nearly 8,000, pardon me, new cases yesterday. hospitalizations soaring. more than 7,300 people in hospitals across texas putting a strain on facilities here.

houston so overwhelmed that patients have begun being transferred out. the mask mandate is an excellent idea but should have come sooner. >> unfortunately, i think that, you know, the cow is out of the barn. i think that we are a little too late. this is something that could have been instituted months ago. we are now being what new york was a couple of months and now we're telling people to go ahead and wear your masks and things like that, and yet, you know, we're allowing people to go and participate in mass gatherings. >> reporter: officials in houston is taking this a top further, a positivity rate of it a% here, one in four who are tested come out positive. the mayor will slash capacity from 50% to 25%, houses of worship, trying to do virtual services and encouraging people

to stay at home when they can as we head into the fourth of july weekend. kate? >> thank you. in florida we find out that the state now leads the country in the average number of new daily coronavirus cases, so this is the new epicenter in the nation. cnn's boris sanchez is on clear water beach. boris, there's new numbers in from the state. what are you seeing and hearing there? >> yeah. kate. we just got new numbers from the state of florida, and though there is a slight dip from the record breaking, more than 10,000 single cases that we saw yesterday. it still shows a surge in the sunshine state. close to 9,500 cases recorded yesterday in the state of florida. that's about the third biggest day they have had in new drives cased and the big question is what these numbers are going to look like after the fourth of july weekend. there will almost undoubtedly be a surge, the kind that we saw

after memorial day and it may be an uneven one. keep in mind, governor ran desantis has allowed local officials to effectively determine what the restrictions are in their municipalities, in the southeastern part of the state, broward, palm beach and miami day county meaning beaches will be closed this weekend, but there are strict curfews in place for restaurants and bars and here facing the gulf of mexico on clearwater beach, no real restrictions on beach access. take a look behind me. families have been pouring in from early this morning. a lot of folks playing football, enjoying drinks on water. there are signs pointing to beach rules. they are asking people who do not live together to stay six feet apart and not congregate in groups. groups of ten people or more are now allowed and the big ge, kate, is how that's going to be enforce. we haven't really seen a police presence or a health organization presence out here keeping those rules in order. the governor, again, ron

desantis essentially saying he's not going to return to a statewide stay-at-home order. he's also not leaning towards putting statewide, nearly statewide mask mandate in place, the kind that we're seeing widespread throughout texas. the question ultimately will be what the fourth of july weekend is going to do to those numbers, likely to be a surge even further forward. kate. >> mark this weekend and then look forward two weeks. thank you. on the same day that florida hit a new record of 10,000 infections which was yesterday, vice president mike pens was there, and he had this to say. >> i also want the people of florida to know that we're in a much better place thanks to the leadership of president trump. >> joining me right now is the mayor of tampa, florida, jane castor. mayor, thank you for coming back on. >> good morning, kate.

>> when you heard vice president mike pence in your city saying florida is in a much better place to fight this outbreak now, he was going on specifically to talk about more levels of ppe and levels of testing. do you agree? >> we have dramatically increased the number of tests that we have had and we have more availability of the ppe, but, you know, there's a big difference or distance between words and actions and so i put a face mask order in place in the city of tampa two weeks ago yesterday. the county followed suit a week ago and so we are very hopeful that our numbers are going to start decreasing dramatically in the city of tampa. we've had increased the wearing of face masks and provided more

reusable face masks in the city providing more than 400,000. >> a doctor at jacksonville memorial in miami described the reality that he's seeing in florida and i want to play that for you. listen to this. >> it won't be controlled until everybody is wearing a mask, until we seat percentage of new positive cases going down and more tests and positive cases going down and less hospitalizations so it's absolutely not controlled. >> you know, it's different in different parts of the state but it all works together. do you agree that the situation is still out of control? >> yes. i agree with exactly what that doctor said and i have been calling for mask order since april, and we have an emergency policy group here in the county. i do believe that masks are -- mandatory mask wearing is the only thing that will reduce the number of positive cases

dramatically. opening up of the bars i believe was mistake. that's where we've seen the surge is basically the 21-34-year-old age group and while they are young and healthy and haven't seen a dramatic increase in the deaths, my fear is that those younger people are going to pass that on to theirs in the households that can least afford to have this. >> do you think -- do you think the governor should -- do you want the governor to put in place a statewide mandate for face conversation? >> well, leaving it up to the mayors and the county administrators, county commissioners frankly i believe is the best bet. that's the way we've been doing this from the beginning and florida like many other states is very diverse. you're going to urban to highly populated. >> right, but-makers i mean, county health officials have been calling for masks, mask wearing since the very beginning. i mean, health experts have been saying this from the very

beginning. i mean, do you think there is any good argument to not call for a statewide for a statewide mandate for face conversation right now. >> absolutely not. there's no good argument anywhere in our nation against mask wearing. there's no good argument. the science is there, if we had done it earlier we wouldn't be in the position we're in now but we have to deal with what's going on day-to-day here and the only way we're going to reduce those cases is by individuals wearing a mask. >> you know, you mentioned the age of people you're seeing that are getting infected right now. the governor said that the median average of new cases in your county is about 34 years old. younger people becoming infected is why the governor says that he ordered bars to close. miami and palm beach have gone further. they are -- they are ordering curfews now. are you considering that? >> i don't know that we'll need that curfew. one of the issues, you know,

data has to be timely and accurate, and so the timeliness of it is -- is very difficult because we are doing -- we've incredibly increased the number of tests that we're providing, but we're still around a seven-day average on getting that information back, so the data that we're dealing with is seven days, but we should see a dramatic decrease in the number of cases here in the city of tampa and in hillsboro county, and if we don't in the coming days then we need to -- we need to take additional steps. >> you know, as we've pointed out before but just to remind folks you were i believe the first in the state to order a shut dw shutdown in your city. would you do that again, mayor? >> honestly i hope it does not come to that. we just got back up on our feet economically here in the city of tampa, and the last thing we can afford is to be knocked backwards, and that's why i've

encouraged everyone to wear a mask and i have seen -- i've seen our -- our community respond very, very positively. so i -- i, again, am hopeful that this mask wearing will stop the spread of covid-19 and we won't have to take the individual steps of shutting down businesses. we need to go forward and not backwards. >> the extreme measures might already be called for as the horn is already out of the barn. >> have a great weekend, kate. appreciate it. >> coming up for us, no social distancing measures in place, no masks required but big crowds expected. president trump heads to mt. rushmore for a fourth of july fireworks show. and a new study shows the virus has mutated and it's spreading quicker.

what does that mean for the fight then to slowed spread? rtiy presentation of a capitol fourth! with your hosts john stamos and vanessa williams and performances from coast to coast. featuring: patti labelle, john fogerty, the temptations, andy grammer yolanda adams, renée fleming, trace adkins brian stokes mitchell, chrissy metz, mandy gonzalez, and a tribute to our frontline workers. it's the fortieth anniversary of a capitol fourth. saturday july fourth, eight- seven central. only on pbs.

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soon. president trump will be leaving the white house heading to south dakota for the fourth of july celebration at mt. rush more that he's promoted and pushed so hard for despite the fact that the state is one of the 36 states that's seeing new coronavirus cases jumping. the president and the first lady head out this afternoon for what's going to be a fireworks show and a flyover at the monument. 7,500 people are expected to attend. the governor there says face conversation and social distancing will not be required or enforced. cnn's joe johns is at the monument and is joining us now.

joe, set the scene for what's going to be happening tonight. gate, you know, any large gathering the president attends will be controversial but controversy here goes back years and years, even generation. it's a made-for-tv election photo-op to kick off the fourth of july weekend. it's going to be a fireworks display like few people have steen. standing in the shadow of for you presidents at mt. rushmore with military fireworks and the first fireworks display at the monument in a decade, all amid a global pandemic. critics say the event is risking drives event among the 7,500 spectators as cases continue to spike across the country. there's nearly 7,000 confirmed

cases in south dakota and 97 deaths. there will be no social distancing, but masks will be provided. >> we won't be social distancing, we're asking them to come and be ready to celebrate and to enjoy the freedoms and liberties that we have in this country. >> reporter: it's not clear how many of those 7,500 visitors will come from other places experiencing rising cases. we are concerned about the coronavirus. we want our visitors to be safe and healthy. we're very confident that we have been quite careful in analyzing the situation on how to have a safe and responsible event. >> reporter: the president once suggested to south dakota's governor that he'd like to be the fifth face on the mountain and here in trump country people actually buy into it. >> one day donnell j. trump will be on that monument, i firmly believe. >> reporter: but at a time of racial in's when protesters are tearing down statues of slaveholders and calling for the names of confederate generals to be removed from army bases, the

rushmore event is a reminder that trump is fighting to preserve these relics of heritage and history that some see as symbols of oppression and mt. mush more is one of those symbols. my ancestors fought and died and gave their lives to protect the sacred land, and to blow up a mountain and put the faces of four white men who were colonizers, who committed genocide against indigenous people, the fact that we don't as america think of that as an absolute outrage is ridiculous. >> dispute over mt. rushmore has gone on for decades. carved out of south dakota's black hills on land sacred to native americans who have never gotten over the fact that the government took over this location and turned it into a tourist attraction.

native american activists say the government should give back the land to the original owners. they are planning protests and local tribal councils have denounced the trump visit. >> all of a sudden what indigenous people have been saying for generations, there's an appetite to have a conversation about symbols of white supremacy, structural racism. >> reporter: historian tom griffith says getting rid of the monuments is not the answer. >> we can easily erase all of the symbols of our past, but we can't ignore the history. it will remain, no matter what sculptures are torn down around the country, and that continues today. >> reporter: to some mt. rushmore, the creation, is almost as controversial today as its creator. the sculptor was an ardent supporter of the ku klux klan

but never took the oath. >> more practically he was affiliated with the klan to raise money. >> reporter: about the fireworks, there is concern that there could be a forest fire as a result of that, but the park service says they have got it under control, and a footnote on coronavirus. a law enforcement source tells cnn that eight united states secret service agents tested positive for coronavirus before the vice president was supposed to go to arizona earlier this week. that trip had to be delayed for a day. kate, back to you. >> joe, thank you so much. so much to get out there. really appreciate it. joining me right now is randy siler, the chairman of the south dakota democratic party. mr. chairman, thanks for coming in. what do you think this event tonight is going to mean for your state? >> well, good morning, kate. you know, we're coming to you

from beautiful ft. pierce, south dakota. you know, south dakota, like most americans, celebrates independence day and we're proud of the fact that the president is coming to south dakota to help us celebrate the fourth of july and our independence day but terms and circumstances under which he's appearing basically are turning out to be a dud. there are a lot of concerns among south dakotans about his visit to ms rushmore. >> the governor disregarding guidelines is somehow patriotic and in the same interview we're telling folks who have concerns, and this is, in regards to covid to stay home. what is your message to anything thinking about attending?

>> you know, it's an increasing concern, and the concerns i've heard are fourfold. the susceptibility of that area around mt. rushmore of wildfires. it's highly flammable according to the national park service so that's an ongoing concern. two are the kind of ecological and environmental concerns regarding groundwater and the increase of toxic chemicals after the fireworks display. our third concern centers around $350,000 of south dakota taxpayer money that was supposed to be utilized for economic development and, fourth, of course, the issues with respect to covid and the pandemic. there will be no social distancing. our governor talks a lot about personal responsibility and personal choices with respect to attendance at mt. rushmore, but, you know, it's larger than that.

park service employees don't have a personal choice with respect to whether they want to be there. the volunteers, the concession workers, the visitors, the residents of the gateway communities, law enforcement, they are all at increased risk because of the lack of guidelines with respect to cdc and the pandemic, not requiring social distancing and making face masks optional is a recipe for a disaster. >> and you don't have to look any further than what we've been reporting about secret service members traveling with vice president mike pence who also don't have an option, right, to do their jobs. a big group of them coming down with coronavirus as well. randy, thank you very much. good luck. >> go ahead, i'm sorry. >> i was going to say the other aspect of this, of course, our governor talks a lot about personal responsibility and personal freedoms but when it

comes to our nine sovereign nations, indian tribes in south dakota who have implemented checkpoints, that's a different story from her perspective. she's contacted the president in an effort to get our nine independent sovereign nations to take down their checkpoints, and they are doing it because of concern for their residents, for their members. they are along way from critical care facilities, and our tribe should be allowed to take whatever steps are guess to ensure that their members good forward are safe and healthy and if that includes checkpoints that's appropriate. >> randy, thank you for your time. >> thank you. coming up for tus, a new study detailing how the coronavirus is changing and spreading even faster. is it more dangerous now? one of the authors of a new study joins us. ple you meet wear dentures. yeah. that many! but right now, is not the time to talk about it.

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but isn't making people sicker. in the journal "cell" this is a dominate version of covid being spread around the globe. what does this mean for all of us? what can be learned from this? joining me is the professor and a author at the la jolla institute for technology. thanks for being here. help explain to the non-scientists among us what can what you found, a new mutation of the virus. >> so this is a collaborative study. la jolla and los alamos and sheffield university in the united kingdom and together we looked 525,000 virus sequences and what we see is a mutation emerged in the coronavirus at the end of february, and by one month later it had become globally dominant. that mutant virus is now the virus that has taken over the planet. what we found is that is -- it

is fitter. it is more fit. it replicates two to nine times better in the laboratory and also better in patients. it grows a higher yield. >> do that mean it's stronger, that is spreads faster? does that mean it's more dangerous? >> yeah. exactly. those are the right questions. we don't know about spread. that's the different kind of spread where we look at transmission from one place to another. we do know that there's something fitter about it where it can rely kate better. the other question is it worse? we have looked at the antibodies in the flood of of san diegans and we found that they could neutralize the knew virus just as well as the old virus so for those people their human immune system was up to the job. when we looked at 1,000 patients in the hospital in the united kingdom.

there wasn't a difference between whether they were treated in the icu or inpatient or outpatient. their age and sex and underlying conditions is what determined the severity of their disease. there's a lot of things we don't know. we don't know if the change in the virus could change someone from being asymptomatic to symptomatic because if they were asymptomatic they didn't come to the hospital for being positive. it's possible that it can catch hold in your cells better if it's more fit, it's possible it could make more people sick that were previously asymptomatic. those are studies we need to do now. >> regardless, you need this information to get to any of that which is so fascinating it, and i hope that this is not a dump question but if the virus is mutated, can it mutate again? do your findings -- does it mean it's more or less likely to mutate again? >> every time a virus replicates

it's a roll of the dice whether it will pick up a mutation. most mutations are bad. we like those, the ones that kills the virus but sometimes it finds ones that's better. the ability of the virus to pick up this mutation and for that mutation to sort of take over the globe wan month is alarming. it could very well happen again. now, this kind of virus has some proofreading capacity to fix errors in its genome. hiv doesn't. hepatitis "c" doesn't but this virus does and mutates more slowly than other viruses we know, but with 10 million cumulative cases around the world that's a lot of rolls of the disease and we're concerned that mutations could occur and we're all as scientists keeping an eye on it. >> one thing that we've come to at least think we know about this horrible virus is the 14-day incubation period. if you think you've been around someone with involved you need to watch yourself for 14 days. does this nowtation, does that

say anything about a change in the incubation period? good question. we don't know yet and there's a lot of variability in that incubation period. could be one week and two weeks and three weeks is sort of a ballpark estimate. be safe. monitor your temperature and whether or not you've lost your sense of smell and try to stay away from other people. >> no kidding. what could this mean -- what could this mean for vaccines trials in process because as i was reading into it and now i'm learning more about spiked proteins without getting into it, the mutation comes in the spiked protein. the spiked protein is also what the vaccines are targeting. do your findings impact these vaccine trials? >> that's exactly the right question. probably not, and the reason i say probably not is this is one small change of more than a thousand different amino acids

in the sequence. it's small. your immune response has multiple facets to it. it has antibodies and has t-cells. you make millions of antibodies. that mutation might knock out one or two, but the rest will remain. data we just got yesterday suggests that animals that received the vaccine containing the original form can still neutralize the new form so that's good news. what we want to keep an eye on are there more knewtations. cumulative mini rotations is one reason we don't have an hiv vaccine yet. we want to make sure with seasonal cycling or drift it doesn't pick up more mutations. the other thing we want to keep an eye on are antibody therapeutics ahead of an effort to find antibodies to use as medicine, as drugs. we want to make sure that single mutations that the virus pop up with don't take out some of the ant bodies in our virus.

>> i have to tell you, erika. this is fascinating. thank you. you are a genius obviously in being able to explain this in a way that i actually begin to try to understand. thank you. really appreciate it. >> thank you for your interest. coming up next, the u.s. has reported just over 100,000 new coronavirus cases in the past couple of days. that's as much as the entire country of canada has reported since the beginning of the pandemic. what did canada do right, and had a can the united states learn? gel.roglide and proglide five blades and a pivoting flexball designed to get virtually every hair on the first stroke, while washing away dirt and oil. so you're ready for the day with a clean shave and a clean face. throughout our history any time something bad has happened to us ...we've recovered. every time. we fall, we rise.

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over the last four months canadians have come together to help each other and kept each other safe. it's taken a lot of hard work and many sacrifices, but it's starting to pay off. we're controlling the spread of the virus. >> that was canadian prime minister justin trudeau. just moments ago, america's neighbor to the north facing a much starker reality. canada confirming 100,000 total coronavirus cases, about the number of infections the united states has seen in the last two days. how has this happened? cnn's paula newton is joining me now with more on this.

paula, what are you seeing that went on in canada? what could the united states learn? >> reporter: kate, the first thing we have to do is point out that, look, canada's response here was not perfect, and to suggest otherwise does a disservice to the thousands that lost their life because the death rate in canada was actually quite high. here's the thing, in five months of tracking the virus in canada talking to dozens of doctors and public health experts around the country, what i noticed was a very healthy respect for the damage this virus could do and a willingness to do anything it took to bring it under control. take a listen. for canada it's been a hallmark of the pandemic, empty hospitals. the feared wave of covid patients never happened. canada started out much like the united states but as the covid curve climbed, canada crushed it. now seeing on average just a few hundred new positive cases a day. that means right now the u.s. is

reporting more than ten times more positive cases per capita than cases, and yet no one here is declaring mission accomplished. >> what the situation we're seeing in the united states and elsewhere highlights for us is that even as our economy is reopening, we need to make sure we're continuing to remain vigilant, individually and collectively. >> reporter: vigilance has been the watchword, early and widespread testing, a free health care system still building surge capacity. longer shutdowns, slower reopenings, social distancing, and there is no controversy over wearing masks. most see it as their duty. >> i wear it for myself and others. it the protects them from me and me from them. just it's -- it's respectable, to like being respectful to other people. >> from the top down they're leading by example for their use of masks. >> reporter: british columbia's top doctor acted at the country's early warning system,

if a sizing the early outbreaks and proving it could be done. >> a lot comes down to cohesiveness, being able to provide the information that people needed to do what we needed them to do, and that has held up as we've gone into opening up things again. people still are adhering to the basics to try and ensure that we still keep each other safe. >> reporter: dr. henry points to something else that was critical, keeping politics out of the response. here's a conservative leader praising the liberal deputy prime minister. >> chrystia freeland, what can i say? she's an absolutely champion. >> reporter: it would be like a democratic governor calling vice president mike peps thence thei. >> we were all coming together, had had the same basic information for people, and the politicians made the right decisions based on the advice and that helped us. >> reporter: also critically important the u.s.-canada border remains closed to all but

essential travel and anyone entering canada right now must quarantine for 14 days, and the eu has deemed canadians safe for entry, unlike americans, and yet here, too, missteps have had tragic consequences. more than 8,500 people have died, the vast majority of the deaths linked to crowded and poorly staffed seniors homes. >> seen a lot of bad stuff happen, but i don't remember anything with this level of sadness. >> reporter: prime ministers trudeau admits it's been a national shame, and in that contrition canadians see a willingness to recalibrate the country's response to the virus based on an unwavering deference to science. and make no mistake, kate, many canadians have been to hell and back with this virus and they saw a problem in the nursing homes and brought in the military. canada is in a much better place, think about it. only a few hundred cases which means they can contact trace

each and every outbreak. it makes managing this pandemic completely different and you and i both know there are americans right now who are very close to that canadian border thinking why not here? >> no kidding. great perspective, paula. thank you. a quick programming note, everybody. dana bash, is don lemon will be hosting cnn's "fourth of july in america." an all-star musical lineup starting tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. eastern. coming up for us, why is one u.s. senator calling out american airlines over its coronavirus response? we'll be back. enough, crohn's. for adults with moderate to severe crohn's or ulcerative colitis, stelara® can provide relief, and is the only approved medication to reduce inflammation on and below the surface of the intestine in uc. you, getting on that flight? back off, uc. stelara® may increase your risk of infections, some serious, and cancer. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, sores, new skin growths,

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special fortieth anniversary presentation of a capitoly fourthfourth!s for a with your hosts john stamos and vanessa williams and performances from coast to coast. featuring: patti labelle, john fogerty, the temptations, andy grammer yolanda adams, renée fleming, trace adkins brian stokes mitchell, chrissy metz, mandy gonzalez, and a tribute to our frontline workers. it's the fortieth anniversary of a capitol fourth. saturday july fourth, eight- seven central. only on pbs.

first it was director of cdc calling out american airlines for booking flights to full capacity and now democratic senator merkley. the senator of oregon taking to twitter yesterday with this scathing rebuke. he wrote, american airlines, how many americans will die because you fill middle seats with your customers shoulder to shoulder hour after hour? he says this is incredibly irresponsible. people eat and drink on planes and must take off masks to do so. no way you aren't facilitating spread of covid infections. the airline had previously defended its decision to start booking middle seats saying in part this, we have multiple layers of protection in place for those that fly with us including face coverings and cleaning procedures and symptom checklist. pete, i don't know, where does everybody land on this? what are you hearing about this

back and forth? >> reporter: it's so interesting, kate, because passengers are well aware of the policy and i have been talking to them leaving the concourse here. telling they were expecting completely full flights and they're finding flights less than full. american airlines says in june flights on average were about 63% full but yesterday was american's busiest day of the pandemic since march 17th. listen to passengers who said they knew about the policy and the rationale of flying in the middle of a pandemic. >> i don't think that's wise. i think that you should give more time and block the seat because what they're doing is eliminating the number of flights that they have and they're just trying to get the people spread across like eight flights a day to two flights a day and i don't think that was wise. >> i thought it would be worse in terms of number of people traveling. there's actually a decent amount

of people. >> reporter: american airlines has joined united airlines which is selling middle seats all along during this pandemic. all of this, the bottom line is that you have a higher chance of being on a completely full flight which is really interesting an admission by united which said that in the middle of this pandemic that more of blocking middle seats was primarily a public relations move rather than a public health move and we will have to see on what is typically a busy travel weekend whether or not travelers agree. kate? >> pete, thank you. still ahead, there's growing concern that big fourth of july holiday events could be super spreaders for the virus, spread more this weekend than we have seen. updates from florida and california next. ♪when you have nausea, heartburn, indigestion,♪

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the top of the hour, everyone. thanks for sticking with us. i sound like a broken record. you have heard this before as in yesterday and the day before that. you have heard it because it is the reality unfortunately right now that the country is facing and it is a matter of life and death. as we have learned over the past many months, the country is once again hitting a new high of daily new infections of the coronavirus. more than 52,000 new cases yesterday. and heading into this holiday weekend, public health officials and doctors on the front lines are scared of what next week and the week after could then bring. states like arizona now reporting a record number of icu beds in use and a small number of remaining for future cases. here you can see the hospitalization numbers. in texas, the governor there is no