another day, another incredible surge in coronavirus cases across the united states. a report from the new epicenter coming up. also we're learning more

about the president's rush to reopen. find out when the white house knew they'd made a terrible mistake. and this -- >> we know that if we go back into the buildings full time and at full or mostly full capacity some of us are going to die. >> back to school fears from one of the hardest hit states. hear from the people who know classrooms best -- the teachers. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. i'm michael holmes. appreciate your company. the coronavirus picking up its pace as it continues its relentless spread. the world health organization reporting more than a quarter of a million new infections globally in the last 24 hours,

most ervin a single day. the total number of cases now beyond 14 million according to johns hopkins with more than 600,000 people dead. the virus on it rise in more than 30 states and falling in only one. it's been skyrocketing in florida. one mayor there says the pandemic is out of control and needs a coordinated response. >> right now we do not have a handle on this at all. it has a handle on us, really. when we talk about opening things the governor and the president are all for it. they sent us mandates about opening up schools. but when it comes to closing things which is the tough medicine we're asking people to follow and making sacrifices by wearing masks it's like their voices are nonexistent. >> cnn's paul vercammen is at a covid testing site in california. first though let's go to rosa flores in florida where cases are surging and hospitals

bursting at the seams. >> reporter: the state of florida reporting more than 10,000 new cases on saturday. here in miami-dade county where i am this is the epicenter of the crisis here in this state accounting for about 24% of the now nearly 340,000 cases. icu capacity right now in miami-dade county is at 122%. this is according to county data. the goal is not to exceed 70%. for the past few days the county had exceeded 100%. here are the numbers for saturday. there are 484 covid-19 patients and 396 beds. now, the good news is that the county says they have more than 400 beds that they can convert into icu beds. when it comes to ventilator use in the past two weeks it has increased by 64%. i wish i could give you a full report on the positivity rate in

this county, but today when we went to go look for the data it was not presented by the county. we asked the county about this and they sent us this statement saying, county officials are meeting with state d.o.h. or department of health statisticians on monday to go over discrepancies in the way the state and county collect and report testing data. once all agree on the appropriate parameters miami-dade county will be updating the daily dashboard to ensure as much of an accurate measure as is statistically possible. now, the state of florida has had some issues with transparency, and now apparently also with the quality of the data that is being presented here. what i can tell you about the positivity rate here in miami-dade county is that yesterday it was at 27%, and the goal for the county is not to exceed 10%. for the past 14 days it has been exceeding 22%. with all that said governor ron desantis had a press conference

on saturday. and if you would have listened to the entire press conference you would have walked away thinking that florida has it all under control. rosa flores, cnn, miami. >> los angeles city leaders say a way to stop the tide of bad covid-19 numbers is through testing and then contact tracing and finding out just who does or doesn't have covid-19. testing here at the crenshaw kristen center in this neighborhood predominantly black and latino, the council president here said he would be in favor of even more shutdowns in los angeles and los angeles county to get after this rising problem. he also said that he wants to see more leadership out of the white house. >> now this is not a time where government shrinks. this is when government rises. this is when government does what the people hired us to do, take care of them, make sure

they're safe. >> also critical of california's governor. he said part of the problem now is he believes governor newsom reopened california way too soon. reporting from los angeles i'm paul vercammen. now back to you. >> and the u.s. president, he started to hold tele rallies instead of appearing in person. mr. trump speaking by phone to an audience in wisconsin on friday. the trump campaign says they are not ruling out in-person rallies, but the decision to go remote comes weeks after that rally in oklahoma you remember brought out disappointing crowds and experts say led to a surge in virus cases. and we are learning more about how the white house's early steps in this pandemic led to an even deeper crisis. jeremy diamond with that. >> reporter: well, amid this rise in coronavirus cases across the united states we're learning more about some of the decisions

made right here at the white house that led to where we are today. and that is specifically the decision in mid-april for the white house to begin focusing on reopening the economy and shifting responsibility for the future of this pandemic over to the states. and what we're learning and according to this new "the new york times" report that goes really in-depth into some of this decision making is that dr. deborah birx, the white house coronavirus task force coordinator was actually central to some of those decisions being made. in particular because it appears she was overly optimistic about some of these models that was showing the united states was getting the

what? we now have to pay the price. >> remember it's not the states doing things differently but the mayors of different cities and.

>> masks of course a big issue. and we've seen a lot of companies instituting mask rules as opposed to a government mandate. the crazy thing in georgia where you and i are is the governor is suing the mayor over her order for masks to be worn. what sort of message does that send? i'm not just not requiring masks but ordering local authorities not to? >> it sends a very confusing message, michael. ultimately we need to always look at the science. if you wear a mask and other people wear a mask and we do it all together we're going to cut down the transmission of the virus by get this, michael, five fold or maybe even higher. we know for sure the science behind the mask. it protects me, it protects you. and by really sending out a

confusing message and findighti the mayor who's trying to do the right thing and mayors of other cities in georgia we're confusing people exactly what needs to happen to save lives and keep businesses open. >> testing still a major issue, of course, people waiting hour tuesday be tested and then waiting 8, 10, 12 days for results which most experts say makes a test almost pointless. i think there are 700,000 tests or so a day when there needs to be according to experts more than 2 million. this is meant to be the world's richest nation and so on and so forth. how is it it cannot do testing right? >> you know, michael, if you look at the rest of the world excluding china they have tested 110 million. we have tested between 30 and 40 million and we have over 330 million people living in the u.s. we did not aggressively test in the beginning and now we're falling behind.

listen, if you dent get a test back in three days you'll miss that entire window to do contact tracing. remember contact tracing is not only isolating the person that's infected, it's contacting the people that that person has infected. if you're walking around with an infection and you don't get a test back for 10 or 12 days like in atlanta you could infect easily 59,000 people, one person can eventually infect that many people in a short amount of time. >> what good news do you see out there? i mean there are vaccine trials under way. are there signs of immunity? what are you hearing about that? >> yeah, there are some good, you know, news when you look at the way we're treating patients right now, michael. you know, we are now turning

patients over into a prone position. they're not laying on their back. we found that definitely helps with lung infections. secondly we are using a steroid and remdesivir which is really cutting down the number of days patients are in the icu. and i definitely think, michael, that the reason we are not seeing as high of a death rate. i mean, we are going to see many more deaths. a thousand people are dying every day in the u.s., but i definitely think we have cut down on the deaths because of these anti-viral steroids. and the vaccines are showing some promise as well. >> all right, doctor, always a pleasure. great to have you on. >> thank you, michael. now, many people continue to mourn the loss of a civil rights legend. john lewis died friday following his battle with pancreatic cancer, but his remarkable lives work leaves a lasting impression. we will discuss that after the break.

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congressman john lewis. he died friday after battling pancreatic cancer. he was 80 years old. now for much of his life lewis worked to make sure that every american enjoyed the rights and freedoms promised in the constitution. cnn's wolf blitzer spoke with senator cory booker about lewis' impact on the nation. >> since he was a teenager he was on the front lines of the fight for justice in america. the youngest person to march on washington, leading the major protest from freedom rides to pivotal marches like we saw on bloody sunday on the edmund pettus bridge. even in his senior years he was there at the center in the well of the house of representatives fighting for just about every major issue from immigration reform to the rights of lgbtq americans. he's got an extraordinary career, and he did it in a way in a society that can often be too materialistic, too much

about possessions and position. he showed you that in this country you have true power which comes from your capacity to love, your dignity, your race and your unrelenting commitment to make true the virtues of this country put down on our founding documents but yet to be achieved in a reality for all. >> and joining me now to talk more about the impact of representative lewis is cnn political commentator and former obama administration official van jones. good to have you on. sad reason for it but good to have your thoughts. and what are your thoughts about the life and legacy of john lewis, the public figure, the activist but also the character of the man? >> he was a conscience of a nation. he would stand up for any underdog, anybody who's being mistreated in this country. he would go to the well of the house. he would go on the picket line,

and he would bring out the best in both parties. he had universal respect in an age where you have a lot of division. he was as close to universally respected as exists in american life. i'll never forget the 50th anniversary of the march over that bridge where he was beaten within an inch of his life, which really, you know, took the whole struggle for voting rights to a different level. he went back there 50 years later with barack obama as the president of the united states, and i saw something i've never seen before and i don't think i'll ever see again. ordinarily in a procession when you're filling up the speaker stage the last person to walk up onto that stage is the president of the united states. i'm standing there covering this for cnn, and i'm watching first lady michelle obama and president obama come onto the stage. and then after they're there john lewis walked onto the

stage. i've never seen that happen. the protocols in our country that's almost unheard of that anybody would step onto a stage after the president of the united states. and yet that was the level of respect that president obama and the whole country had for john lewis, that it would have been inconceivable for even the president of united states to follow him, that he should be the last person to come onto that stage. a remarkable moment. he fought, of course, for the right to vote. what did he think of efforts to disenfranchise voters in recent years, making it more difficult for people of color to vote, suppression if you like? having seen the voting rights act come into play in the '60s but then seeing it guttered in recent years. how troubling must that have been for him? >> it was quite troubling and he was outspoken about it. especially in georgia where he was representing people there,

that last big fight where stacey abrams was trying to become the governor, the first african-american female governor in the deep south. he was very, very passionate about the right to vote in that state and was very concerned the outcome may not have been entirely fair. but the most important thing i can say about john lewis, look at instagram. how many thousands and thousands of people have personal photos with a living legend. you know, it's -- it's unbelievable how many ordinary people are posting up photographs of themselves with him because he was that accessible. he was that present. he would talk to anybody. i peen, it's unbelievable to watch this guy and a civil rights legend and icon and any human being who walked up to him and talked to him is going to get a full hearing. >> that is so true. i was scrolling through instagram today and it was

remarkable. the same thing occurred to me just how universal this was. but speaking of lots of photos with young people as well, what would he make of the movement as it is now and quite frankly the challenges it faces? and are young people following his lead? >> you know, some are and some aren't, but he had just a tremendous optimism about the capacity of young people to make a change. don't forget the student nonviolent coordinating committees was just a bunch of ragtag students pulled together by ella joe baker, who had been an naacp organizer, and he became a leader in that movement. he was the youngest person on stage at the march on washington. and he just never lost that faith in young people and their ability to change the country for the better.

so, listen, youth movements are always messy. they're chaotic. people go in this direction, that direction, but they are essential to progress. and even though he was one of the elder statesmen of american life of politics you always saw him with young people and encouraging them. >> i did want to finish up though by asking you because john lewis obviously the icon, a man with a massive legacy. but on the same day he died -- pass passed away and his legacy shouldn't be forgotten either. >> yes. c.t. vivian was actually a little bit older than john lewis and helped to train a bunch of young people. he changed my life. in 1990, february 1, 1990 in celebration of the lunch counterprotest he came to nashville, tennessee. i was a student and he gave a speech i could almost give you

word for word the speech. he said you got to fight -- you don't fight for what you want, you deserve what you get. he said stay nonviolent. he said anything your opponent does to you to destroy you will only develop you as long as you stay nonviolent. i can give you his whole speech. this is 30 years after, you know, this lunch counterprotest. this guy, c.t. vivian, was one of the great unsung heroes and titans. to lose both c.t. vivian and john lewis on the same day heaven is trying to get our attention about the need for us to step up and do the things they did. >> really well put. appreciate your time. thanks. well, florida is considered the new epicenter of the coronavirus in the u.s. and the start of the school year, well, that's looming, isn't it? find out how parents and teachers feel about back to school plans when we come back. and also sumo back in japan,

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welcome back to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. i'm michael holmes. you're watching "cnn newsroom." there may be a positive development in the battle against coronavirus. for the first time u.s. regulators are giving the green light to pool testing. samples from four people, for instance, could be tested at one time. that speeds up the process. meanwhile the u.s. centers for

disease control is issuing new guidance for those who have tested positive. people without symptoms will only have to isolate for ten days or fewer if back-to-back tests taken more than 24 hours apart come up negative. people with symptoms can also come out of isolation in ten days if they have two negative tests or if they haven't had a fever in 24 hours. now, the virus has infected upwards of 14 million people worldwide, killed more than 600,000. the state of florida becoming the new epicenter of the pandemic in the u.s. i want you to just have a look at these numbers here. at least two florida counties under curfew on saturday night. that's a lot of red on that map there. this is all happening at the start of the school year that's looming now. here's what the 2020 national teacher of the year had to say about the prospect of schools reopening. >> right now with what we know about the virus which is still

very little it is a young virus. i personally do not think it is safe for us to go back to traditional schooling. i think there's no way to social distance in our already crowded classrooms. there is not enough money to provide for the extra staff we would need and the extra ppe that we would need. there is some relief coming to us for those costs. but right now i don't think that it's worth the risk. >> cnn's martin savidge has more now on the debate in the sunshine state over whether students should be going back to classrooms. >> reporter: angry parents and anxious teachers protest with a motor march outside duval county public schools headquarters. driving home the message with coronavirus cases skyrocketing it's no time to put kids back in the classroom. >> i'm a teacher. i've been with duval county for 23 years. i have a mother at home that is sick.

and if i'm to get the coronavirus i don't want to bring it back to her. >> reporter: duval county teachers are supposed to report to work august 3rd. students are due back a week later. >> my staurt doesn't want to go back to school. she wants to keep the family safe. >> reporter: when duval county shutdown in clas learning last month for its 120,000 students the county had just five cases of coronavirus. now as schools prepare to reopen the county has nearly 14,000 and climbing. do you think it's a safe to return? >> no. >> reporter: the only way her daughter is going back to school is online. so you think it's politic snz. >> i absolutely 100% think it's politics. >> reporter: last week the education commissioner issued an executive order requiring to reopen brick and mortar schools. on the same day president trump tweeted schools must open in the fall. jacksonville and duval county is also hosting the republican national convention, and the

state's republican governor has echoed trump's message likening going back to school to reopening a store. >> if you can do home depot, if you can do wal-mart, if you can do these things we absolutely can do the schools. >> reporter: critics contend shopping's optional, education isn't especially for teachers. something made painfully clear by this teacher speaking to a virtual st. johns county florida school board meeting. >> we know if we go back into the buildings full time and at full or mostly full capacity some of us are going to die. >> reporter: do you believe that teachers will die? >> do i believe that teachers will die? i don't -- my goodness, i hope not. i certainly would never take an action that i believe would cause teachers to die. >> reporter: the st. johns county district is spending $1.6 million on personal protection equipment for its staff and 44,000 students including everything from plexiglass dividers to hand

sanitizer to face shields for pre-k students. >> sometimes i will get that from a parent is i want it to be 100% -- i want you to guarantee me there's not risk. i can't guarantee there's not risk. >> reporter: but the superintendent can guarantee he'll do everything possible to keep everyone as safe as possible including his own 5-year-old daughter who will also be walking into a classroom. >> i have confidence in the decisions that i've made for it to be the right place for her to be and that that is a safe environment and the learning that's going to happen is going to enrich her a great deal. >> reporter: a little bit of trepidation? >> oh, absolutely. yeah, it would be foolish not to say there's not a little bit of concern. >> martin savidge reporting there for us. now, two more u.s. military personnel in okinawa, japan, have tested positive for

coronavirus. and that brings the total number of cases on u.s. military bases in japan to 143. the japanese defense minister asking the u.s. military to test all personnel arriving in the country. meanwhile the numbers in japan have been rising including in the capital, tokyo. that's where thousands of fans are going to be attending a sumo tournament over the next few weeks. let's get more on all of this from our journalist live for us in tokyo. kind of a surprise this is happening at all. tell us about the atmosphere and what's going to happen. >> reporter: well, michael, fans are excited to be here at the grand sumo tournament because it's the first time in more than six months they're lowed to watch a national sport like sumo, but there's a lot of nervousness as well because there are a record number of cases in tokyo over the last week or so. and the number of coronavirus cases is spreading. we talked to a couple of fans going into the stadium today to watch this bout.

take a listen. >> translator: if i'm going to watch we need to be very careful. i do feel that it's worth taking a little risk. >> translator: letting fans in is good for japan and good for wrestlers. so long as we take every precaution. i just think the timing is a little bad. >> reporter: michael, i can tell you there are a lot of precautions here in place right now. the masks and the temperature checks it's almost everywhere you go these days so this is not unusual. but they're limiting the number of spectators to 25% capacity. >> we have lost her audio there in tokyo, but we get the idea. it's going to be pretty

interesting. there's a lot of rituals in sumo. not sure how they're going to handle all of those. coronavirus numbers climbing higher in brazil. more than 900 deaths reported there on saturday. the president bolsanaro greeting supporters outside his residence for the first time since he tested positive for the virus last week. he did wear a mask and kept his distance from the crowd, which was on the other side of a small canal that is there outside the palace. he called for the country's economy to reopen saying unemployment, hunger and misery kills more than the virus does. crisis in portland as the city's attorney general demands an investigation of video showing masked and camouflaged federal agents detaining protesters. we'll show you how it is all unfolding next. we'll be right back. whether you need dinner for two. or a room with a view.

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welcome back. now melissa bell reports his death is forcing a national conversation in france about police use of force. this report does contain graphic images. >> reporter: there is no shortage of video of his january 3rd encounter with police. a simple police check near the eiffel tower that led to an argument and then to him being pinned down and allegedly held in a choke hold. footage captured by witnesses shows the police trying to resuscitate the 42-year-old delivery man who went into cardiac arrest and died in hospital two days later. for months his family and lawyers have campaigned for justice. >> translator: we're not in the united states but we are getting more like the united states by the persistence of police brutality and by the denial that goes with them. >> reporter: but more than six

months on three of the four policemen involved have been placed under formal investigation after transcripts of audio that had been recorded on his phone during the encounter were leaked to the press. those revealed he had said seven times he was suffocating. all four policemen deny any wrongdoing. >> translator: of course they didn't hear the words i'm suffocating. they were spoken into a microphone that was up against his mouth, and they were struggling to hand cuff him. they didn't hear that. >> reporter: the case has also led to calls in france for the choke hold technique allegedly used in the incident to be banned. facing pressure and protest from police the interior minister delayed plans to ban it. leaving his father to appeal directly to emmanuel macron. >> translator: mr. macron, you must stop the use of the choke hold because you're a murderer if you allow it to happen. the choke hold is murder.

>> reporter: his family say it's only luck so much footage of the incident exists, but beyond the investigation itself the question is how much it is likely to change things in france. >> but see the difference in terms of awareness. in the united states george floyd is a game changer. in france it's still not a game changer, so we still have a long way to do but we're going to do it. >> reporter: recent protests inspired by events overseas that focus on very local cases suggest that here, too, an important conversation has at least begun. melissa bell, cnn, paris. and shocking new details about the breonna taylor case. taylor was shot eight times inside her home in louisville, kentucky, during a police raid back in march. a lawsuit now claims she was alives for 5 to 6 minutes after being shot. that's on top of claims from taylor's boyfriend who said she was coughing after being shot

and that police did not rush in to try to help her. the coan roner is denying this saying, quote, taylor likely died within a minute of being shot and could not have been saved. you're watching "cnn newsroom." we'll be right back. opolis known to nourish and repair as a whole blend, it helps heal damage to the ends blended makes us better whole blends by garnier, naturally walk to end alzheimer's alzheis everywhere.tion all of us are raising funds for one goal: a world without alzheimer's and all other dementia. because this disease isn't waiting, neither are you. go to alz dot org slash walk.

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there's been outrage in portland, oregon after video of a controversial arrest was posted online. demonstrators have been protesting racial inequality and police brutality there for the last 50 nights, sometimes clashing with police. but there are claims that federal agents are unlawfully detaining and arresting some of those demonstrators and throwing them in the back of unmarked rental cars. now this video we're going to show you gives weight to that. officers in generic camouflage gear who did not identify themselves. you can see on the uniforms just one sign saying "police", nothing else. nothing about the unit or where they're from. and they snatch up their protester. oregon's attorney general suing the department of homeland security for allegedly violating

protesters rights. they said they had information that the person in the video was suspected of assault against federal agents or destruction of property. they claim the agents were wearing cbp markings. a reporter for the "mercury" joins me live. this image of men in camouflage driving around in rented mini vans, grabbing people off the street without identifying themselves, critics are calling them "snatch squads." what's the level of concern about the precedent set by this sort of thing? >> there's a remarkable high level of concern especially after the story came out. i know this happened on july 15th. but folks didn't know the extent of it until this story came out from our local public radio station two days ago. and last night i was out covering these protests, and it was a big area of discussion for

a lot of folks. people concerned about losing the group and being on their own on a side street and being picked up. a lot of people pointing out different vans and feeling afraid that they maybe contained federal officers. so the concern is there. >> yeah, i can imagine. and in that video, customs and border patrol have said the target was suspected of either assaults against federal agents or destruction of federal property, quite apart from the question of which is it? because they're very different accusations. it was also claimed the man was snatched the way he was because of the proximity of a large and violent mob. when we play the video, and let's play it again. when you watch it, in all directions, the streets are essentially deserted. what do you make of that narrative? >> it's tricky. it's hard, because it's kind of a black box of information coming from the federal government right now. so actual having evidence to what they're basing this probable cause on for arrest is

hard. i mean, they're denying that this arrest even happened. but i do think, and like the protesters themselves kind of assumed just their involvement in these demonstrations has placed them, made them a target. the way that law enforcement and even public officials here have been talking about these protests is really in a sweeping, all-encompassing way, saying this whole crowd of people are committing a riot or committing a crime as opposed to a number of them. so i think that's the way federal police are operating. they see anyone involved in these protests as someone who is involved in that. >> we've only got a minute literally. we're seeing action by the state, legal action. is there an acce sense that tha going to get anywhere? >> it seems that the attorney general has very high concerns and the repercussions of federal

officers plucking folks off the streets without any probable cause. so the scene of the state attorney general getting involved, i think that is a sign that folks are taking it seriously. certainly, local federal officials don't have control over the local police, they have control over their own police. but the accountability tools are very different. >> certainly a lot of concern among many people about seeing that sort of snatching people off the street going on. that "portland mercury" editor, alex zelinsky, thanks so much. >> thanks for having me. >> thank you for spending this hour of "cnn newsroom" with us. we're leaving you now with some of the sentiments of the people who knew and loved the civil rights legend, john lewis.

>> the country lost a hero last night. >> he was the gandhi of america. people have been calling him the conscience of congress, but he was much more than that. >> this man has been pivotal in bringing equality and justice for all. >> his only motive was to stand up for what was right. >> he was just "that guy." >> through the streets of danville, through the streets of cambridge, through the streets of birmingham! >> continuously speaking out, even as he's dying. >> i'm not tired. i'm not weary. i'm not prepared to sit down and give up. i am ready to fight and continue to fight. >> the essence of the american story is john lewis. >> i thought i was going to die on this bridge. but somehow and some way, god almighty helped me. >> parents teach their children

what is meant by current, the story of john lewis will come to mind. >> he also had a very charming sort of personality. >> john had an indomitable spirit. it was infectious. >> he had so much love in his heart. he's just been such a powerful voice for what is right, what is just. what is truth. >> my philosophy is very simple. when you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, say something! do something! get in trouble, good trouble, necessary trouble. >> i don't think anybody has spent 80 more truthful years on earth than john lewis.

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this is cnn breaking news. >> welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer in washington. this is a special edition of the situation room. we begin with alarming new numbers from the coronavirus pandemic coming out of the state of florida. right now, the latest from the state health officials staitoda more than 10,300 new infections and 90 deaths. that's just a one-day set of numbers in florida. texas meanwhile also reporting shocking numbers. more than 10,000 people tested