it's the top of the hour. i'm brianna keilar. lock down the country and start over again. that is the written plea for more than 150 doctors, scientists, nurses, urging political leaders to institute new stay-at-home orders as the pandemic continues to dominate the u.s. six months after the country's first-known case. they're reporting more than 1,000 covid deaths in the last 24 hours. this is the fourth day in a row we've seen this. at this hour, u.s. cases exceed 4 million. deaths are beyond 144,000 and

new daily cases are soaring at cases of 156,000 and higher. white house response coordinator, deborah burke, says she's seeing cases plateau in hot spots like arizona, t tx and florida. and dr. fauci says states can get their outbreaks under control. he's confident about finding a vaccine but adds distribution nationwide will take more time. >> i think, as we get into 2021, several months in that you would have vaccine that would be widely available to people in the united states. >> cnn's nick watt is in los angeles following everything here. so, nick, once again, the nation is seeing the daunting case increases but there are positive trends. >> yeah. that's right. signs of hope. but listen, this is obviously a

huge country and it's a mixed bag. we'll get to those details in a second. in the meantime, chipotle and mcda mcdonald's will require customers to wear them when they enter. and the schools' debate rolls on. houston and county just said everything has got to be distance learning until september 8th. earliest. but the deputy secretary of education is saying that default needs to be fully open in the fall. the president, backed by new cdc guidelines, pushing hard for schools to reopen. brick and mortar. >> being at the school, being on the campus is very important. >> reporter: but is it safe? >> the cdc says scientific studies suggest covid-19 transmission among children in schools may be low. emphasis on suggest and may.

>> we certainly know from other studies that children under ten do get infected. it's just unclear how rapidly they spread the virus. >> i find the cdc guidance disappointing. vague, and likely to lead to confusion. and possibly to increase the epidemic in areas already hard hit. >> reporter: in hot spots, schools should figure out a plan with local health officials, says the cdc. >> i don't think it looks good for day one opening right now. >> reporter: florida will likely overtake new york in total case count. over 400,000. >> although i do think south florida is definitely stabilized and miami is showing signs of improvement as well. >> reporter: he's right new case rates are leveling off butted leveling off very high and average daily deaths are at an all-time high and in miami-dade, icus are operating at 132%. capacity. >> we're drowning.

we're absolutely drowning here. it's just overwhelming number of cases. 527 individuals in the icus. >> reporter: over half of states, average case counts are average or falling. that's good. but californians are be dying and being infected at all-time rates. star county texas ordered everyone to stay at home. and more than 1,000 deaths are being reported nationwide, first time since late may. one major model predicts around another 75,000 more americans might die before november. so, now we should hit the reset button, say 150 prominent medical experts who signed an open letter to our leaders. shut it down now and start over. >> i don't personally think that's necessary. i think if we do the commonsense

things of maintaining social distance and wearing a mask outside, i think we can get this under control as other countries have gotten it under control. >> reporter: now t is going to take us a while to figure out exactly the long-term effects on the body of covid-19. but this is interesting from the cdc. they say the impact on even young people can be prolonged . they did a study and about 26% of 18 to 34-year-olds who tested positive said two or three weeks after that test, they were still not back to normal. still maybe suffering fatigue, cough, shortness of bregts. breath. so, young people, take note. brianna. >> hopefully they do. nick watt, thank you so much from l.a. for us. while the president may still be pushing for schools to reopen in the fall, i want you to hear from someone on the ground. katy o'connor is a fifth grade teacher in colorado springs. she returned to the classroom recently to try to prepare for

socially-distanced learning. >> i'm on the mission of social distancing my classroom. my district is going back full time, we'll be back in about two and a half week pmzs so, i have to remove all personal items from my classroom and set up desks so they're all three feet apart. so, these pods circle up nicely. they're not three feet apart yet. so, we still have to figure out how to get these to be three peat apart. as you can see it's really close. like, this is -- they're really close. front table, her document table. and then she has stuff to take out, a teacher desk and she's allowed those two things. we're all struggling because in what world is this an elementary school classroom?

we have to be walking around wearing our masks. for eight hours. these are a bunch of 10 year olds. they have to work individually. there's no group work. honestly, probably not even going to do anything on paper because you can't collect it. kids can't get out of their seats. i don't think people know the true reality of what it's going to look like. you expect a bunch of 10 year olds to sit in their chair all day, eat lunch in their chair. these kids aren't leaving the classroom. at all, the whole day. they're sitting at a desk. i, as an educator, i know that's not how kids learn. kids need to move. most of them learn by moving. and asking these 10 year olds to sit at their desks all day on a computer wearing a mask three feet apart from their peers, no group work, no one on a ones,

just -- they can't stick their arms out, you can't touch. i don't see how this is -- i don't see how this is better. e-learning wasn't great either. but at least home they can be comfortable. this is not how i want to go back. and i want to go back so bad. because i love teaching. i miss my classroom, i miss my kids. but i can't show them love that way. i really truly feel this is something people need to see, especially parents, so you can make an informed decision. if you want to keep your kids home. >> katy o'connor is joining us now to talk more. katy, that was an incredible look at what you're going through right now as you prepare to open school in full. what's the response been like to that video? >> it has been so overwhelming

the amount of messages i'm getting and comments i'm getting from parents and educators alike, who are just thanking me for sharing it. so many teachers are in the same boat as me and it's so hard to process what's happening. and that's all i was doing, i was processing this strange new reality i'm in. >> and you said you're grieving the loss of normal. >> when you think of an elementary classroom, kids working together, there's a lot of interactions with each other. and i'm not saying we're not going to still have that. kids are still going to talk. we're going to find ways for them to collaborate, it's just going to look different, so different than what we're used to and it's a change. sometimes change is hard. >> i think change is almost always hard. i do want to ask it's interesting you said you're

going to find new ways to collaborate. i want to talk about the desks. you're saying she had them and that's because you've taken over another classroom. you just moved from nothimichig? you're new school or classroom? >> no, this is my second year in the classroom. one of my teammates, who had finished her classroom. mine wasn't done yet. >> three feet apart -- how do you fit all of your kids in the class? >> it's just a giant game of tetris, getting it all to fit where you can. we're doing the best we can. it's as much of three feet as we can get. >> you're trying to brain storm and i'm sure you and your colleagues are talking about this. how do they collaborate? how do they not go stir crazy? have you been able to think of any answers to those questions

and are you getting any guidance on how to answer those questions? >> yeah. there is a team at my school who has been working tirelessly to get creative and come up with these new routines and procedures that will help everyone stay safe but make school fun and enjoyable for kids. and they've dedicated a lot of outdoor space for us so we can take kids outside. i'm excited about. to have class outside and have movement breaks. there will be mask breaks. we're going to make sure they're not just sedentary at their seats because it's really hard to learn that way and it's not what's best. >> do you and your colleagues feel safe going back to school? what concerns do you have? >> yeah, like i said there's a ton of new procedures, especially for cleaning, that they're putting in places for us. so, we'll find ways to incorporate cleaning multiple

times a day, everyone is wearing masks. but we're working hard to make sure this is safe for everyone. >> all right, katy, thank you so much. every school district, every county seems to be approaching this differently depending on what parents think and the situation is. we're going to track you to see how you go through this because everyone is watching their neighbor as they try to muddle their way through this. thank you for coming on. >> yeah. thanks for having me. >> of course. and just in mcdonald's and chipotle requiring customers to wear masks. christina, tell us about this. >> this is another retailer joining a list of national retailers across the country that are essentially making their own national mask pallalcies and making a situation where americans now, when they step out, either to go to a starbucks or mcdonald's or

chipotle, who also announced a national mandate today, they're going to have to wear a mask. so, it's getting to the point where corporate america is taking the lead because they have to protect their employees, themselves against liabilities being sued and they're going ahead and essentially constructing a national mask mandate. for everybody in the u.s. so, when you walk in to a mcdonald's now, you're going to have to wear a mask and if you don't comply, the company says it's developing a training mechanism for employee whose are going to ask you to stand aside and wait in a designated area for your order. but the hardest part, as we've been reporting these last couple of weeks, is enforcement. just before going live with you, i was speaking with a ceo of a national retailer, who was telling me his biggest worry is a customer getting violent and one of his employees having to

address that. of course a majority of people are, in fact, what i'm hearing, complying with these mandates. but it's the 1% or so of very vocal opponents that are creating a problem. and this has been a politicized issue unnecessarily as we kpnow the president is holding off on getting behind masks unnecessarily. so, that's been a complicating issue here. >> thank you so much for sharing that with us. health experts are urging congress to accept that mail-in voting is an acceptable option. plus, a chilling situation developing in texas. coronavirus patients are being sent home to die. if they're too sick. and dr. sanjay gupta takes us to ground zero inside the place cameras are not allowed to go, the hospital. okay, give it a try. between wisdom and curiosity, there's a bridge.

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there was discussion and the president had been pushing back on this idea of banning confederate flags. but the defense secretary issued this order anyway. and year told by several sources the president erupted over that order and he was fuming at his defense secretary after this memo from the pentagon went out to the military bases. so, what it is a bigger development of, a bigger picture of, is not only this push to stand by the confederate flag and say people have a right to fly it proudly, as he's done. but the tension between the president and his defense secretary. mark esper has been walking this political tight rope for several weeks now. this is probably one of those difficult times in his tenure as far as it comes to his relationship with the president, because you already saw him break with the president after the walk through lafayette park

for the photo op in front of the church, apologizing for doingo so. and now making a stand saying these cannot be flown at military installations. and the president was not happy with the decision. it does appear, for now, his job should be safe but hard to say, really. >> abbey, what do you make of all this? >> reporter: this is a shift for president trump in the sort of medium term because just a couple of years ago he was in favor of removing the confederate flag, for example, from the south carolina state houses in the midst of the debate, saying perhaps it should go into a museum. as a political figure himself and as president, he recognizes the confederate flag has a lot of support. among people who are his base. his supporters fly the confederate flag atcome pain rallies. he understands this is part of the cultural yoitd of people

most allied behind him. also part of the conversation around the naming of military bases after confederate generals, which the president has also resisted that renaming. i do think there is some evidence to support the president's view in that i think his campaign is looking at is the polling that suggest asthma jort of americans a slim majority but a majority nonetheless, support keeping the names as they are. i think they think this is a politically smart move for them. this is largely driven by republicans who overwhelmingly supported keeping confederate symbols and names where they are. and the president is thinking about holding on to his base. as you know, that has always been the most important thing to him. so, it should not come as a surprise he's not trying to move where i think the cultural winds

seem to be shifting in the broader country at large. >> and we're hearing about a new warning from health experts, this time about the safety of the election. tell us more about this. >> we've been talking a lot about mail-in voting, president trump has been talking about mail-in voting. now they're weighing in saying it's not an acceptable rivsk, especially for the most high-risk individuals to go out and vote in person where they cannot properly socially distance and protect themselves. they say mail-in voting ought to be an option for anyone we had wants it because there's a good likelihood that come the fall we could see a resurgence of the coronavirus. this is something you've been hearing from votinged a vl advo for a long time. but to hear it from doctors and medical experts puts a finer point on it. it's arquestion of what kind of risk should people be taking? and they say pretty clearly people are at high risk, elderly, people with preexisting

conditions, they need to be given another option. because voting in person is simply not safe enough and we can't count on the coronavirus going away in the fall or that it might have under control. i think they are also pointeding out come the fall, with resurgence of the seasonal flu and colder weather, you can count on the situation being such that it's not safe to go out in person and cast a ballot that way. >> abbey, thank you, katelyn, thank you as well. patients in one texas county being sent home to die if they're too sick. plus, it seems that parents in one town are having a change of heart about a potential cluster that broke out after teens had a house party. and what the president neglected to bring up in his chat with vladimir putin.

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president trump and russian president, vladimir putin spoke on the phone. and we're told they discussed coronavirus, arms control and trade. but noticeably absent from their conversation, any mention of the flagrant efforts to undermine the united states. a reminder of what we've learned over the last few weeks. reports they offered bounties to

kill american soldiers. allegations matte moscow attempted to hack covid vaccine research. and just then cnn kaitlan collins discussed the reported bounties and she refused to answer. and secretary of defense and i wonder sir. thank you so much for lending your expertise. so, either they didn't discuss this or they did but the white house won't say they did. so, let's start with the possibility this wasn't discussed. how much of a problem would that be? >> i think it would be a very serious problem. if president of the united states did not raise this issue

with vladimir putin. when we have intelligence that the russians were putting bounties on the heads of our men and women in uniform, and that indeed we could have lost four marines as a revlt of the bounties being put in place. i think it is extremely important for the president of the united states to make clear to vladimir putin that this is not behavior that will be tolerated by the united states. we are not going to stand by and allow the russians to put a price on the heads of our forces. that should have been the message. i have a feeling that wasn't the message that president trump gave vladimir putin. >> and why is that? >> because he's had nine calls, almost nine since february and this intelligence first appeared

actually in the presidential daily brief in february. so, we've heard about it from the national security council actually put together a session to put together options that the president could take to make clear to the russians that this is not acceptable behavior. so, it's been a long time. and yet has never mentioned it to putin. it's unbelievable to me that, here's our men and women who put their lives on the line to begin with in order to protect this country, and here's an adversary who puts a price on the head of those that are fighting for this country, and the president of the united states is not going to mention that to the head of russia? i think that's a disgrace. >> earlier today the nation's top counterintelligence official

says russia is one of three countries, along with china and iran, working to interfere with the 2020s election, quote, using a range of efforts including intern internet trolls and other proxies, designed to undermine our democratic process. could we see another 2016? could we see something worse? >> look, there's no question that russia is continuing to interfere in our election process, along with china, and along with others. we know that. our intelligence agencies have made clear that remains a continuing problem. look, russia -- anybody who's dealt with russia, and i had the opportunity to deal with russia, as cia director and secretary of defense. you know that russia's primary

goal is to undermine the united states of america too, weaken our country. to undermine the institutions that make our democracy what it is. that's their goal. and if we know that they are conducting themselves in a way to try to undermine our country, i think it might help to have a president of the united states at least say directly to the russians don't do it. don't interfere in our elections. don't put bountiesen the heads of our men and women in uniform. and if you do, we will get back at you. that's a clear message. and that should have been sent to the russians. >> we just heard that the president erupted at the defense secretary. so, you're familiar, maybe not with being in this exact position but what this would mean. so, he erupted at the defense secretary for what was a ban on

unofficial flags but in effect ban the confederate flag, along with other ones. this bans the confederate flag, this decision. what is your reaction to the president erupting at him over that? >> well, it's not unexpected with this president. it's unfortunate because very frankly i think secretary esper, general milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs, i think all of our military leadership, i thank the armed services committee on the hill in the defense authorization bill, and the house and the senate, who have voted on those defense bills, have all made clear that we have to move beyond the confederate flag. the president is probably the only one whootz who's not getting the message from the country. >> secretary panetta, thank you

for joining us. >> thank you. hospital in one texas county are sending those too sick from coronavirus home to die as they're dealing with a surge of new cases in the county. plus after a house party in one new jersey town left people infected, parents are now finally cooperatoriing with authorities.

a heartbreaking situation in a texas county. doctors are deciding who they treat and who they send home to die. this is awful. tell us about this. >> reporter: well, this is happening in star county, which is in south texas, one of the most critical hot spots in the state right now. county officials there say they are in the process of creating ethics and triage committees

that will help doctors determine who can be kept at star county memorial hospital to be treated and who, essentially, is not healthy enough and will have to be sent home to die, essentially. so, these are the absolutely gut wrenching and dramatic decisions they have to make because they're in a desperate situations because of their hospital bed space. and to give you a sense sof how quickly things have changed, a month ago county officials say they had no one in their county hospital that was a covid patient. they now have 17 -- or had 1700 different covid cases, 40 just yesterday alone. so, those numbers dramatically changing. and because of this, county officials now in the process of creating what they're describing as an ethics and triage committee to determine who can be treated at the hospital and who will be sent home to die. >> reporter: and thank you so much.

shocked, dispointed, frustrated. that is how people in middle town, new jersey are describing a house party thrown two weeks ago, that triggered a new outbreakf coronavirus in their kmuntd. at least 20 teenagers have tested positive for the virus. initially parents were not cooperating with contact tracers. it appears, though, they have had a change of heart. tell us what's going on here, jason? >> well, the governor says, it's about personal responsibility. new jersey's governor basically urging anyone who attended the partedy, now linked to a covid-19 cluster to come forward and speak to health officials. this after they say contact tracers, initially, were met with resistance from a group of teenagers and their families connected to the outbreak. a group of teenagers tested positive after attending the

party around july 11th. health officials are still trying to identify everyone who went to the party. they now say parents have been more responsive in terms of cooperating. new jersey's governor wants to make sure that cooperation continues. >> the most distressing aspect is learning they've had multiple people refuse to cooperate with them, although i'm told that has gotten smautd better. again, this is not a witch hunt to root out anyone who was drinking underage, although we do not condone underage drinking and remember, it's illegal. this is a race against the clock to insure everyone who may have been exposed to coronavirus is identified before they infect anyone else. >> and brianna, the governor says all of those teens connected to the party, that they've been able to contact, are at this point, self quarantining. frrms he went on to say when it

comes to contact tracing, he says it's key to making sure these small outbreaks do not turn into what he called full-blown covid fires. brianna. >> certainly. thank you so much for that. as the number of covid cases in the u.s. surpasses 4 million, doctors across the country say they're surprised protective gear could start to run out. year going to see what it looks like on the frontline thocs.

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a sobering look at the front lines battle against coronavirus. chief medical correspondent

sanjay gupta talked about his hospital where there are not enough covid tests and reusing personal protective equipment. >> yeah, if i could paint a pike for a second. we still don't have enough testing. people fundamentally get that. i think by this point. but the trickle effect is quite extraordinary. so if you don't have an testing, even within hospitals, you may have to, as i did, i have to operate on patients who have not been tested. you haven't been able to get a test result. you have to take them to the operating room. so that means everybody, we wear mask an gowns and now have to wear n-95 masks on top of that which are hard to get. people say in places around the country, we have plenty of ppe. i don't know if that is the case or we just moved the goalposts. in our hospital you could only have one n-95 mask and use it until it is essentially ruined. le me show you a quick video.

>> a special video diary from the hospital today. doing brain operations and spine operations today. got to tell you, one of the hardest things has been wearing one of these n-95 masks because you see it really digs into your face quite a bit. and they are really hard to get. we're basically told to reuse the same mask as long as we can until it becomes too soiled. if you take good care of it, so what i do, in addition to the mask, they put another mask on top of it and i basically have this above and that is basically what i'll do to operate. that is the covid world inside of the hospital. >> reporter: so the mask, not that this matters, during a five, six hour operation, if you're wearing it properly, it digs into your face and it hurts

offer -- hurts after a while. and i wear another mask on top of it to prevent it from being contaminated. do we have enough masks? if we treat them like this we do. when we're doing operations or interacted with those are respiratory diseases, we doan have any more. those are under lock and key now. >> thank you for that. just in, new revelations about the long-term impact of the coronavirus and what happened to people, two, three weeks after the positive test. plus mcdonald's and chipotle following other companies in requiring customers to wear masks. unlike other sleep aids, our extended release melatonin helps you sleep longer. and longer. zzzquil pure zzzs all night. fall asleep. stay asleep.

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digital and television column where we try to bridge the military civilian divide, we look a plan for getting military uniforms for free. it is called rent the camo and included in the ndaa which the house recently passed. i'm joined by two lawmakers who introduced this bipartisan bill. congresswoman deb holland of new mexico, and michael waltz of florida. they're both on the armed services committee. and this is bipartisan as i said. we don't see that all of the time these days. but congresswoman holland, tell us what about what need this would meet for expectant moms in the military. >> absolutely. so first of all, i'll say that the house armed services committee, we're all of us, a bipartisan effort, to make sure that women have long and successful careers in the military. and this is just one way that we can help ensure that.

rent the camo is based off of a familiar organization rent the runway that helps military women to not have to have the expense of all kinds of uniforms, to help them through all of the terms of their pregnancy. and we just felt that that was a good way for us to help them have those long and successful careers. >> and congressman waltz, part of this is that it sends a real message, as you heard the congresswoman say, to women. because you have a situation where you, in the military, and you know this, you're a decorated green beret, when you have women getting to the age where they're having kids, there is a huge amount of attrition in the armed services that many experts will argue is to the detriment of the armed services. how does this go to that? >> well, bri, the number one

duty of congress in our view is to take care of our military. that is men and women. and this program, as representative holland said, would essentially have our services, army, navy, air force, marines, provide the uniforms in a rent fashion rather than having to service women buying them through the pregnancy, it saves them money, it saves the services money. this is really broad forward to me by an air force major i have on my staff. she's a mom of five kids. and to your point, it took tremendous expense but when she's an air force cyber lawyer and we need her to continue to service and as they're trying to have a family, deal with deployment, they shouldn't have to deal with this and i'm proud to work with congresswoman holland, despite what they say in the news, we could come

together particularly in supporting our mimt. >> and you have a personal connection to this. about your mom who was in the military but ended up giving that up because she was having children. >> absolutely, yes. she was in the navy. my dad was in the marines, she was in the navy. they met on treasure island in san francisco. got married. and when she got pregnant, was forced out of the navy. that was back in the '50s. we've come a long way. and now let's go one more step to make sure that we can support women in the military. i had folks coming to me talking about women pilots who can fly until their 28 weeks pregnant, having to cut their flight suits to add fabric to accommodate their pregnancies. we shouldn't be doing that. we absolutely have an obligation to support our military, to make sure they have everything they need to be successful.

because their first duty is to protect our country. >> sends a very, very strong message. i wonder, congressman, tell us how this is received. i imagine pretty well? >> well i could certainly tell you that the air force major on my staff is very happy about it. she's on forums with other female service members where they were kind of bartering and trading these things, these uniforms and importantly they also had certain chemicals in there that may not be healthy for the fetus that will be removed from this program and she's telling me the response is overwhelming. and again, this is a retention issue. we need to keep the women that the country has invested so much into their training, whether they're pilots or cyber warriors, we just had the first green beret training and we need to keep them in the service all the way through so they could

have families and become senior leaders. it shouldn't be an either/or and i think this is an important step in the process. >> thank you both for coming on. congresswoman deb holland and michael waltz. thank you. have a great weekend. and to you at home, if you have story ideas or questions email us at home front at cnn.com. we do check those emails. find my column at cnn.com/homefront to see the issues we're working on. our special coverage continues now with brooke baldwin. thank you. hi there, i'm brooke baldwin. you're watching cnn, thank you for being with me on this friday. how about this. shut down the united states and tart over. that is the plea for more than 150 experts in an open letter to president trump and other officials warning if tough action isn't taken now as cases