the park with his grandson and teaching him to play sports. marion snider of pennsylvania was 91. they were married for 63 years before dying within three days of each other. may they rest in peace and may their memories be a blessing. erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. next, breaking news. military deploying military personnel to texas as cases surge. two top doctors say the u.s. is in free fall. 137 students with coronavirus and classes haven't even started yet. i'll talk to the president of a major university about the outbreak on her campus. can it be contained? and the president ment bracs the confederate flag. what is trump's reelection strategy and will it work? let's go out front. good evening, i'm erin burnett. breaking news, the u.s. military

just announcing it will send medical personnel to texas as the pandemic pushes the state to the brink. it's another sign hospitals and first responders in texas are becoming overwhelmed by the surge and it's not just texas. 32 states are seeing a spike in cases. 130,000 americans have now died from coronavirus dr. fauci warning that the problem is getting worse. >> we're surging back up. it's a serious situation that we have to address immediately. >> two top doctors in the country with these ominous words. >> we're in free falls. >> the president is in complete denial. the white house claiming the u.s. is, quote, a leader in the fight against coronavirus. >> i think the world is looking at us as a leader and covid-19.

>> wow, is this what she means? that the united states has 4% of the world's population but 25% of the coronavirus deaths. maybe thot. maybe the green line at the top of the chart. it shows u.s. cases in march. roughly the same spot as italy, germany and france. the green line is surging. it's in a league of its own as other countries plunged close to the flatline. that's leadership. not the one that anyone wants to trump. the white house is defending the false claim that 99% of coronavirus cases are, quote, totally harmless. here's his press secretary both earlier today. >> the president was noting the fact that the vast majority of americans who contract coronavirus will come out on the other side of this. >> when you look at the facts, when you look at what we're dealing with, a lot of these cases are asymptomatic. >> that's not what president trump said.

>> we have tested 40 million people. by so doing, we showcases. 99% of which are totally harmless. >> totally harmless. first of all, let's start here with person number one, as he likes to do. why does he have anyone take a coronavirus test that goes close to him? the reason is because it's not harmless. and by the way, that's because a person age 74 with underlying conditions like donald trump has an estimated 17% chance of hospitalization if he gets coronavirus according to the imperial college london. so on its face saying the president's assertion that coronavirus is 99% harmless is false should be an easy thing to say that that was wrong. but it isn't easy in the trump white house. >> i'm not going to get into who

is right and wrost wrong. >> we do get in the business of who's right and who's wrong when it comes to fact and fiction. the number of coronavirus cases that wind up needing oxygen or being hospital looiized. and when you come out on the other side, how are you? for a lot of people, not the same. listen to some of these survivors who told me about how serious and long lasting their side effects still are. >> you lose so much weight and lose so much muscle that you're just going to feel horrible for awhile. >> my lung capacity is completely shot. i was playing soccer before this. now i'm winded kicking the ball against the wall. >> i never would have imagined in a million years i would have got this virus the way i did. it turned into a an attack where i couldn't take a breath without fearing for my life. >> none of them are even in the

age bracket of the president or just the statistics. death is a real risk. those young americans it's not harmless either. the virus is surging, but the white house is not acknowledging this tonight. >> no, they are not. as we are seeing cases of the virus surging across the country, it's clear at this point that the president has decide d to pass up on an opportunity to lead the country, to encourage americans to take this virus more seriously. instead he and the white house are focused on spinning the current situation that's happening in the country in a much more positive light. we heard the chief of staff and press secretary trying to backup the president's claim that 99% of these cases are totally harmless. with know that's a baseless claim, but the president was not only not down playing the situation with the virus, but tried to point to statistics like the mortality rate to try to backup what the president was saying. not only does it not back it up as you just showed your viewers,

but we also know mortality rate is one of those lagging indicators. many are predicting it's going to go occupy in the weeks to come. in talking with white house officials, i can tell you the message from the white house this week is not to focus on encouraging americans to take this more seriously. we are in a different place than with the first surge that the infrastructure is in place thanks to the work of this administration. all we have to focus on is what the public health experts are saying. like we heard today, this is a serious situation and americans need to do more to try to bend that curve. >> he couldn't have been more clear. i want to go to medical adviser to president bush, the cdc under president obama, i appreciate both your time. the united states 4% of the world population about 25% of all coronavirus deaths and there were other examples i gave, but

when you just look at that on its face, is the united states a leader in the fight against coronavirus? >> yeah, leading from behind. the american response to this has been really woeful. we were delayed in testing. it took almost 50 days to test the first 20,000 people after the first american tested positive on january 20th. it took a long time to get the word out to the public to where face masks. and still, that's debated by our leadership. so we are truly leading from behind. we have, as you said, 4% of the world's population, over 25% of the mortality with this virus. we have learned a lot, but i think the president gaslighting this, the president's statement that basically for 99% of people, this is basically harmless, really dishonors the

130,000 people who have died. that's twice the number of deaths that we had in vietnam. 130,000 families mourning, all to create this fiction that there's nothing to see here. but it's more toxic than that. when you tell the public that 99% of people have no harmful effects from this, then people are willing to go out and not social distance, not wear a mask and that's how you sabotage recovery from this. not how you promote recovery from the pandemic. so it's really toxic. for someone who really wants to move to the other side of this, i can't imagine the president really wants that effect. >> it's shocking in the sense if he wants the economy back, the ways are clear. he's not pursuing them. dr. beser, last week when the eu put out a list of who can come to the eu, the united states, you can't go because of coronavirus. because they are worried the americans will bring coronavirus over there.

it's a leader in doing things the wrong way. i mean, it almost seems as if we're becoming an outlier. >> when you look at the graphs from europe, when you look at asian countries, south korea, vietnam, you see it is possible to turn this around and drive numbers down to a level where public health can do their job and track and provide isolation and quarantine. what we're seeing in the united states are numbers going in the opposite direction. it's frightening. when you hear every public health leader in the nation calling on people to do the right thing, to wear masks, to social distance torks wash their hands, and then you hear political leaders giving mixed messages, some saying yes, follow public health, but others saying no, there's nothing to worry about, it's a recipe for disaster. that's what we're seeing across our country. >> the white house defended the

president's claim of 99% of cases being harmless, which as we point out is not true. and he has said this before. he said 15 people in a couple days that's going to go to zero in terms of u.s. cases. that was in february. in march he it's going to go away by the end of the month. this is again and again and again. and i did point out the irony of he himself making this comment when his age group would be a 20% chance of hospitalization. and a very significant chance of death. how troubling is it he is saying things that aren't true president bush that you can't trust him right now on this topic. >> almost everything the president says about the coronavirus pandemic has been wrong. and either the president lacks the cognitive ability to absorb the data and to understand the science or he's lying. there's no middle ground. but when the president says something like he said today about 99% of people are left

harmless by this virus, you really wonder about it. the truth is about 20% of people will need hospitalization. about 20% of those people will need critical care. and it you end up on a ventilator, 80% of those folks will die. even in young people, as you mentioned, young people, people this their 20s, are often left with very debilitating illnesses. this is nothing to be trifle with. and the president's statements are absolutely corrosive. >> you also have this issue globally the w.h.o. has made plenty of mistakes here and raised a lot of questions about its credibility. and they have changed course on guidance. part of that is because information changes, but now they are being accuse d of ignoring the risk of coronavirus traveling as an aerosol in the air. just by talking, it hangs out

there and someone else can walk through it and get it, which is scary. but if true, as they are now understanding that is true, why would the w.h.o. not admit it. why would they not put it out there? >> i think it's absolutely essential that the united states participates as part of the global community. the efforts of the u.s. to withdraw from w.h.o. do nothing to help the w.h.o. be successful. i find, though, that some of this conversation about aerosol versus respiratory droplets is a distraction because if the science comes down that, yes, aerosol is an important means of transmitting, it's not going to call on us to do less. it would call on us to do more. the fact that in america people aren't doing what it takes to prevent transmission of respiratory droplets, wearing masks, staying home if they are

sick, washing hands, we see those nmeasures working around the globe at containing this. so if we focus on what works and what's worked in many other countries, we can be successful in america and part of it is this getting away from this being such a partisan divide and transferring this to be the american way that we're all looking out for each other. >> thank you both so much. i appreciate it. >> thank you. the next breaking news, the mayor of atlanta announcing she tested positive for coronavirus. what she's saying tonight. plus trump embracing the confederate flag. why won't the president denounce the confederate flag? new cases just announced a at the university of washington. 137 students now have coronavirus with a number growing tonight. i'm going to speak to the university's president. thinking about your financial plan...

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♪ yeah, it's time for grilled cheese. ♪ ♪ after we make grilled cheese, ♪ ♪ then we're eating grilled cheese. ♪ ♪ because it's time. ♪ yeah. ♪ time for grilled cheese. atlanta's mayor announcing she tested positive for coronavirus. it's hit home. i have no symptoms and have tested positive. this is states as across the country grapple with a new number of cases. nick watt is out front. >> reporter: on independence day, florida suffered more new cases than any state has.

still the governor sees sanguine. >> there's no need to really be fearful about it. >> reporter: but some mayors are. >> what happened is what's happening across the country. which is when we opened, people began to socialize as if the coronavirus didn't exist. >> reporter: miami-dade just closed dine-in restaurants again. >> starting to roll the carpet back up. it's pretty clear we have this real problem. >> reporter: because a staggering 26% of all covid-19 tests in the county came back positive. >> i fear that we're spiraling out of control. >> reporter: in texas the number of patients in the hospital is hitting a new record high every day. >> if the pace continues, we're a week away from running out of hospital beds and icu capacity. >> reporter: remember those memorial day crowds back in may? three weeks later, new case counts climbed nationally. and 32 states are now going in the wrong direction. did we learn a lesson?

this was back in the ozarks memorial day weekend. and july 4th. almost indistinguishable. there were crowds across the country this past weekend. too many drawn to water. and a house party in l.a. and a beach party on fire island. so many celebrating shaking off the grits, but not this virus. not even close. >> we're right back where we were at the peak of the epidemic during the new york outbreak. >> reporter: and remember what new york looked like in april. crowded hospitals, morgue trucks outside, today though, a different story. >> the numbers have actually declined since we started reopening. >> reporter: they took it slow, mandated masks early. and harsh words frr the president for not acknowledging the danger. >> he's facilitating the virus. he's enable lginging the virus. how did this become a political

statement? this is common sense. >> reporter: meanwhile here in california, like many other places in the country, we're playing a horrible waiting game. cases have been climbing for a few weeks. hospitalizations now at an all-time high. will the death toll also rise. the governor here says he is modestly optimistic it won't, because a lot of the people being infected are younger so less susceptible, but we just don't know yet. >> nick, thank you. i want to bring in the icu medical director at miami's jackson health system, the largest health system in florida. i appreciate your time. i know that you are in the middle of caring for patients here as we speak, so i it thank you for tell taking the time. we have seen hospitalizations in miami-dade nearly double. icu beds have more than doubled.

ventilators up more than that. i know you're in the icu now. what did you see today? >> thank you for having me. we have seen there's an impressive amount of new cases in the last week or so. so as you reported, we have more admissions and we have also more admissions to the icu. so we have seen a lot of patients right now. >> and what is their condition in terms of when you go in, how do you feel seeing these people now? >> this time, it's longer than last time. we're talking about 35 to 45. so no major health problems. so caring for young patients, it's sometimes scary. you want to do your best to keep these patients safe. you keep seeing patients come into your units. so we have enough beds for now, but you see them come in and come in every day. so it's hard to keep up.

>> so you said they are younger and that can be scary. obviously, the governor of your state said that the median age in march of cases was 65. now it's 36, which is sort of what you're saying too. the reality is you and i both know younger people think they won't get sick so this doesn't impact them. it's not an issue for them. what do you say to people who have that feeling? >> that's a great point. sometimes young people believe they will not get sick. and they believe like most disease is for older patients. but covid-19 is anybody can get sick from younger to oldest. i think that's what we're seeing now. so as you point out, we have seen everybody from 34 to 45 dying in the icu. so the message to young people is they can also get sick and should take care of themselves.

>> so today when the governor addressed the surge in cases, here's part of what he said. let me play it for you. >> so if you are at 5% positivity and you test 50,000, then you test 100,000 the positivity stays the same, you'll have twice as many tests come back positive. but it's not evidence that it's more prevalent. >> would you agree with that if the percent positivity rate stays the same and you test more people, it's not evident that it's more prevalent. >> the point is that if you are testing more, you will see more cases positive. if you don't test, you won't see those cases. i want to add that we also see an increase in admissions in the hospitals. we're seeing more patients, butter we are we have also seen patients in the hospital. so i agree one thing to check

for prevalence so the number of cases in the community that's why we get in with the testing. but what is concerning to me is the increases cases also made it to the hospital. so that's two important points to make. >> doctor, i really appreciate your time. i know that you literally came to us just from taking care of a patient. so our thoughts are with you and thank you. >> thank you very much. again, sorry i was kind of late. >> that's okay. we're glad to hear from you and i appreciate your time. atlanta mayor bottoms will be joining chris cuomo tonight at 9:00. she just said she tested positive. you'll see that at 9:00. and next, president trump embracing the confederate flag and the press secretary cannot give a definitive answer on what is a pretty simple question. >> does he think it was a mistake for nascar to ban it? >> the president said he wasn't making a judgment one way or the other. and 137 students at the university of washington infected with coronavirus.

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tonight the white house refusing to denounce the confederate flag after president trump's criticized nascar's ban saying it's caused lowest ratings ever. >> does he believe nascar should fly the confederate flag? >> the whole point of the tweet was to note the incident, the alleged hate crime that was not a hate crime. the ban on the flag was mentioned and the broader context of the fact that he rejects this notion that somehow nascar men and women who go to these sporting events are racist. >> does he think it was a mistake for nascar to ban it? >> the president said he wasn't making a judgment one way or the other. >> okay. if that's not making a judgment one way or the other, "outfront," ben jealous, and former governor of ohio john kasich. governor, let me ask this question point-blank.

why else would you tweet out flag decision as in the decision to remove it has caused lowest ratings ever, all caps. why? why is he doing this? >> he's flailing, erin. he's in a meltdown. he look thes a his polls and doesn't know who to blame. he blames his advisers and even blaming fox news now. he's flailing. he doesn't know how to stop things. so i think he's just throwing everything out over the period of the last three days hoping he's going to strike a chord. what he doesn't realize is that base he has, the edges of that base are beginning to fray. that base is getting smaller and small er. because he's a republican, he's causing a brand problem for republicans. and mark my words. there's going to be a point in time where these folks are going to leave. then many of them will say i was never a part of this. i never supported him. in the meantime, because they had gone along, they have enabled him to do these kinds of

just totally outrageous things. >> you have the press secretary of the president saying he was not making a judgment one way or the other. he's clearly making a judgment. bring back the confederate flag and you'll get your ratings back because racism works. what's the point? is there any other way to interpret it? >> trump is like a one-hit wonder. when he loses his crowd, he goes back to the one-hit song. the hit song for his entire career in politics has been one of racism and hatred and division. what he's not realizing is he's losing people because of it. the entire gop must be begging him at this point to learn how to sing a new song. that's his song. he's sticking with it. and let's pray that it keeps driving voters to look somewhere else. we can't have four more years of this. >> governor kasich, the president gave two speeches over the holiday weekend. let me play a byte from each to give you a sense of what he did.

this is very much him versus them. here it is. >> we are now in the process of defeating the radical left. the anarchists, the agitators, the looters. our children are taught in school to hate their own country. and to believe that the men and women who built it were not heroes but were villains. >> "the wall street journal" gave the speech a rave review. president trump delivered one of his best speeches friday night at mount rushmore. he's try iing to rally the country. obviously, the papers come out against him before. he must be thrilled for this analysis. what do you say? >> well, i'm out here in the middle of america. i don't know any angry mobs that

are trying to teach our kids to hate the country. i'm sure there's some professor out there doing something or somebody is going to call me and say, you don't understand what's going on. but i do understand what's going on. and i just rejected it. it's like the main course is division and anger and why? because he's in freefall. he's trying to figure out to stoke up the base, but it's not going to grow things. these things that have been happening, the elections, the midterms have dealt division a big major blow. and so i think there's a way for us to look at this as americans and say, you know, that's not going to cut it. that's not going to work. it's the fourth of july. the fourth of a july is a time when rae began or george h.w bush would rally people to what america is about, which is unity and together and lifting and equal opportunity for everyone. not division and anger and talk about angry -- i don't know what

he's talking about. the protesters, he lumps them in. these protesters are marching. because for too long, there's not been enough justice in this system to make sure that people of all colors are treated equally. >> ben, you see gun violence across the country. you have a state of emergency in georgia new york state, 44 shootings and 63 victims. these are horrible things that are happening. more and more protests separately from that in your hometown of baltimore. the governor of maryland said everybody should be against how that was handle d. are you concerned images like that play into the president's hands? >> protesters always need to have discipline. and to be clear, their own accesses will be used against

them and their cause. with that said, let's be very clear. what we're seeing is a response that includes not just a response to what happens in our streets, but the way in which the president impacts that. for four years, the people of this country have heard him make calls on the fop to make calls on the border patrol to be as violent as possible. when the president goes in fraternal order of police and encourages violent tactics, the country reaps that whirl wind. we need somebody at the top who is a uniter. john is right. this president is the low water mark for presidential leadership we have ever seen. there's no republican nor democrat would who ever do what this president has done. it includes the way that he's spoken to the police of this country repeatedly at their conventions and on television and on twitter urging them to be as violent as possible.

>> i appreciate that. >> one thing i want to say is when you look at the terrible loss of life in chicago, driven primarily by gangs, that's a separate issue from the issue of proing. secondly, americans, by and large, support the police, but it's getting rid of the one who is are not qualified who shouldn't be there. that's the issue. so let's just make sure they don't connect those things together. >> i appreciate it. i thank you for making that point. thank you both. next, classes haven't even started at the university of washington, but tonight 137 students have tested positive for coronavirus. is the school rethinking plans to reopen in just weeks? the university president is my guest and the u.s. and bra dil le civil leading the world in coronavirus cases and deaths. be we're is on the ground. for over 25 years, home instead has helped seniors stay home. now, staying home isn't just staying in the place they love.

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breaking news, 137 students testing positive for coronavirus at the university of washington. the numbers just updated. they are up from 121 rlier today. "outfront" the president of the

university of washington. i really appreciate your time. i know most of these cases are students living in fraternity houses. they are there now. june 30th, students in frat houses tested positive. by july 3rd, 117. now 137. do you have any sense of how big this will be and whether there will be more cases? >> first of all, thank you very much for giving me a chance to talk to you today. i'm talking to you. first to make the decision to take our entire university online so we have prooump we put students first and i'm a clinical psychologist that studied risk behavior amongsted aly dense. there's no question about it. we may get more trickling in. and we will see. but i think that what's important is first of all, we have never closed. people like to think are you going to open or close, we have

never closed. we have been working with over 2,000 students that have been on campus the entire time. and we have been working with them to ensure that they follow public health guidance. clearly, there shave been issue in those students living off campus. in this case in the greek neighborhood and it points where they need to work with our entire campus population. even though we're still fully online. >> and i know some of the problem is across the country, people are coming back to school or they are saying come back even if it's online learning, because there will be more control over them there. you could have 45,000 students back to school this fall. some in dorms, but many on campus. fraternity row, privately owned and operated. how can you control what happens there since it will come on to the actual campus? >> well, i think it's not a question of how do we control it. it's how do we work in partnership with our students to make sure that they control it. first, we need to change the

narrative. we need to keep in mind that these students have been hearing from public health officials, from high government officials, in some cases from other university presidents that there are they are a low risk group. what they need to do is worry about protecting. and we need to change the narrative and make it very clear to students that they are not just transmitters. that the fact that they are staying away isn't enough. that they are every bit as susceptible to getting the virus as the elderly. although they may not die, less than 1% of students under 30, people under 30 die, they need to protect themselves. we're learning more and more about how asymptomatic people may end up having very serious health effects in the future. and we need to get that message clear to students. we also need to work with them and begin to shift as we have gone from stay at home to being out some of the time. we need to shift from an ab stet

dense to an area the university of washington has been a national leader. we have had lots of success with this approach. there's a reason why we wear seat belts. why friends don't let friends drive drunk. why most youth no longer smoke and teen pregnancy is at an all-time low. we need to help students take control themselves over their environment and to practice harm reduction, risk reduction behaviors. i had a lot of confidence that students can do that. >> so let me ask you, when you look at this, you made the point you were the first to go online, but you have 45,000 students. most of whom, many of whom want to come back. is this changing any of your plans for reopening when you look at these close to 140 cases suddenly happening in the greek community? >> like i say, it's a wakeup call. it make it is clear that we're going to have to not only work

with students on campus, but with students in the entire neighborhood. >> we are going to have to make sure that these outbreak was first detected in a city testing site that was stood up as a result of a partnership between the city, county and uw medicine. we are so lucky we have a world class medical center that we can rely on. the are helping us sdop the kinds of testing strategies that will allow us to do disease surveillance so we can catch these things right away. >> i appreciate your time. thank you. >> thank you. next, the u.s. and brazil leading the world in both cases and deaths. the leaders using a similar playbook in handling the pandemic. we have a special report on the ground. and a beloved actor being mourned. 41 years old after his death from coronavirus.

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tonight the u.s. death toll 132,000 and climbing leading the world in deaths from this devastating virus. brazil is in second place. both using a similar playbook. bill we'ier is on the ground. >> reporter: in the age of covid-19, presidents trump and bo bo are two of a kind. both are openly at odds with the nation's top doctors. >> it's good. >> reporter: and rely on the support of fans as they dismiss the pandemic as a little flu and a lot of hype. so you don't believe covid-19 exists at all? it's a hoax? it could exist this youtuber tells me but if it exists, it's weak. he sounds just like his

president who when asked about his nation passing china in fatalities said so what, i mourn but what do you want me to do? i can't work miracles. the pot and pan protests that now ring out every time he goes on tv are one sign of a nation at odds with itself. testing is still hard to come by and as they dig mass graves, some experts believe the official 1.6 million infections reported could be 12 to 16 times higher. and yet, the big cities are opening up. just as bolsonaro uses veto power that would make mask wearing mandatory in churches, schools, shops and prisons. >> it's crazy. it's crazy. science is being ignored and this government as it has never been before. >> reporter: natalia is a micro biologist who lobbies for more

science and among many horrified when bolsonaro fired the health minister for advancing quarantin quarantines. a loyal general with in health care experience is running the nation's pandemic response. >> are we going to be able to care for these people? i mean, will there be hospitals for everyone? will there be ventilators for everyone? we never reach the situation they reach in italy where the doctor is forced to choose the person that gets the ventilator. i hope we never come to that but i'm afraid we might. >> reporter: and a huge development from here in brazil just a few hours ago. president bolsonaro appeared in front of the palace wearing a mask and said to stay back and revealed he went in for a lung scan and got at least his fourth covid-19 test. he had three more back in mid march when they visited the white house, erin, the trip in which his entourage infected the mayor of miami that since

recovered but it will be fascinating to see if he develops any symptoms, the spokesman for the presidents would not confirm whether or not he has a fever. >> all right. thank you very much. of usuallyou obviously, that will get everyone focused in. next, his wife documented the battle with coronavirus. it included resuscitation and amputated leg and he fought for 90 days. we'll bring you the broadway star's story next. zon knows how to build unlimited right. start with america's most awarded network. give people more plans to mix and match at a price built for everyone. with $700 off our best phones when you switch. because everyone deserves the best. this is unlimited built right.

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to help the military community iredefined the wordng th'school' this year. it's why, at xfinity, we're committed to helping kids keep learning through the summer. and help college students studying at home stay connected through our university program. we're providing affordable internet access to low income families through our internet essentials program. and this summer, xfinity is creating a virtual summer camp for kids at home- all on xfinity x1. we're committed to helping all families stay connected. learn more at xfinity.com/education. . tonight a devastating loss broadway actor nick cordero battled coronavirus for 9 five days before the disease took his life at age 41. his wife chronicled his fight on social 3450ed ya. people around the world followed. jeanne moos is "outfront".

broadway star nick cordero spent three months in the icu in a coma. >> he is awake. >> more down than up. >> i'm asking again for all the prayers, mega prayers. >> his ordeal documented by his wife amanda from "bullets over broadway." to "law and order "his career was going great. >> ♪ this one could be one of the great ones ♪ >> until it was cut short by covid-19. god has another angel in heaven now posted his wife. nick had been young and healthy as alec baldwin noted. >> 41 years old. my god. >> last june, nick was looking at his newborn son elvis in the icu. this june, nick was in the icu himself. and through it all, amanda shared the experience.

>> he told me four times that he won't survive. >> he was put on a ventilator. >> his pulse gone for two minutes and they had to resuscitate his heart. >> they had to amputate a leg. >> it was a situation of life or leg. >> he communicated with his eyes. >> by looking up or down to yes or no questions. >> amanda recruited an army to say prayers created a #wakeupnick that inspired people to sing and dance. >> wake up, nick. wake up, nick. >> wake up, nick. >> fans sent in artwork, a go fund me page for medical expenses, zoom past $850,000 and rising. just a few days before his death, his wife spoke with cbs. >> so i grab his hand, and i'm waiting for the day that he holds my hand back. >> that day apparently never came. he missed seeing his son's first steps. >> come on. come on. >> nick cordero was out lived by

his 1-year-old who will grow up hearing stories of how much he was loved. >> oh, yeah. >> jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> thanks for joining us. anderson starts now. and good evening. thanks for being with us. if divisive inflamed torely racist words could kill the coronavirus and the president of the united states would be headed stockholm. instead, tonight he's safe inside his biological bunker surrounded by people wearing masks getting tested and encouraging the rest of us not to follow the best scientific advice. he's trying to persuade the country that the virus is simply vanishing or if that won't work he's trying to divert people's attention elsewhere to smearing a black nascar driver supporting the confederate flag and statutes