it's time. . hello, everyone. i'm kate balduan. thanks so much for joining us this hour. here's something to consider today. testing, the key to identifying, containing and eventually getting past this virus is down in 29 states. more than half the country -- more than half the states in the country seeing a decrease in testing compared to last week. why is that when we're no way, in no way out of the woods at this point. the u.s. death toll now exceeds 160,000 people and over just the last couple of weeks a majority of days ended with more than 1,000 coronavirus deaths. yesterday, at least 1,250 too many died from covid.

now an influential model used by the white house is out with a startling new projection forecasting nearly 300,000 people could die by december 21st. that's almost doubling the number of deaths recorded so far in four months. that's how quickly it would increase, but a glimmer of hope, that is just a projection. ing that not a guarantee and those same research remembers saying if essentially everyone in the country would consistently wear face conversation, it could save almost 70,000 lives, 70,000. i'm sitting here thinking, and i hope you are, too, why wouldn't everyone want to just try it and why wouldn't every state and the federal government want to require it? joining me right now a professor of epidemiokaygy at ucla and associate professor of clinical pathology at usc. thank you both for being here. let's start and stick on testing i think today which is

important. and this that fewer people have been getting tested this past week in more than half the states in the country, and if you look at it, it's really in every region of the country that's seeing this. how big of a problem is it? >> well, you know, testing is a cornerstone to be able to control this pandemic, and so the question is are are the number -- why are those numbers going down? are people frustrated with long lines? is it because some of the test results are not coming back in time? what we really need to be looking at is the positivity rates and what's happening with those. we've seen cases of positivity rates increasing in many, many states, and so that tells you that the outbreak is still spreading. we also still need to look at things like hospitalizations and death, but the bottom line here is that testing needs to be expanding, not contracting, and we really need to keep our eye on positivity rates. >> no matter what it is. the if it has to do with the

slowdown because of the tropical storm, whether it has to do with people think that the testing lag time is too long so they think it's not worth it. it doesn't matter it. it's a huge problem. if you can not test you can't figure out how to get your arms the virus and the situation with the ohio governor mike dewine yesterday where he got a -- got an initial false-positive test from a rapid test. before then testing negative, this really is highlighting an issue that has been talked about but i think deserves much more focus which is test accuracy right now. i mean, you have an interesting argument on this that i actually would like you to expand on. you see a need for more faster testing even if we all acknowledge and accept that it is less accurate. the why? >> well, just really the system is broken right now and just with respect to the first point. another big reason we may be seeing a drop in testing because

everything is short. demand as far as supplies. there's insufficient tips. there's insufficient reagents so we have to think about a different model so with respect to the governor of ohio, not all rapid testing is the same, and it's very important to point out that the false positive test he had was with the rapid antigen test whereas most of the testing so far has been with the nucleic acid test which looks for the viral nucleic acid and that's the predominant test whatever a person is testing, that's the predominant test at play so with respect to the decentralization in the new model what, we have to acknowledge is that country has a diagnostic desert, if you will. there are areas of the country where poem are entirely dependant on tests that are having to go to major reference labs and that's what leading to delays of a week to two weeks to each more, not because the labs aren't, working hard but because they are overworked. there's more tests coming in than they could possibly do, so the idea that's been proposed, not by myself but by others, is

if you decentralize that process and have rapid testing available for all and we test more frequently, we can account for some of the issues with lack of sensitivity, but false positives are a bigger deal for antigen tests than they are for nucleic acid tests. >> sort of on its face, i'm wondering if we're really now to a place because of -- and you tell me if you disagree, but this -- the way susan is describing it, this is just a systemic failure with regard to this key part of any public health response on testing nationwide. with the long delays in let's call it the more accurate testing, are we to a place where your choice is now a fast test or an accurate one, and if that is the case, how is that acceptable? it is. >> well, it's not acceptable. testing has to be widely acceptable. we have to have confidence in

those results, around we have to be able to get those results quickly, and the we have not in the united states been able to really push on testing in a way that allows us to really understand what's going on in realtime. susan is absolutely right. we also have problems with access to tips, with reagents, just the -- just the physical ability of the labs to be able to keep up with the demand for testing is definitely a problem, and so we continue to be in a situation where we do not have enough testing. it is not widely available to everybody, and our alternative right now are rapid tests that are not yet well enough developed to really be able to provide confidence in understanding whether or not you have -- you have it or you don't. you know, right now with the nucleic acid test, we still have an, issue, depending upon when you get the test and just in general with false positives, a lot of people getting false

positives but that's very, very true, that if we start to move towards rapid tests there's going to be other problems. no perfect tests are available to us, and we really need to be seeing a revolution in testing very soon if we want to be able to meet the demand, demand that's going to be so critical with colleges coming back online, with schools potentially coming back online and businesses coming back online in many instances. our ability to open up and to move forward is really going to be largely dependant on how well we can provide testing on a wide scale, widespread and easily available to everyone with rapid results. >> and you lay out the demand is only going to get greater but not less. susan, white house has been using a rapid test for months now, and there's been a lot of report begun that particular test, kind of questionable accuracy level, this abbott test

that they have been using. do they think he should be using that setting, one of the issues when you're testing around the president, accuracy or speed? >> i do think it's both. do i want to correct one thing is that the pcrs have less concern for the fols positives and then there's others with problems in level accuracy. everyone can't think we have a test and go back to normal and go on with our daily lives. the as much as people want to think that we can just take a test and it's negative and that means i don't have covid today and i can go to the pub with my mates and do whatever i fancy, that, unfortunately, is not the

case, so obviously in a setting like that where people are coming to see the president, you need speed and accuracy, and the problem is if you have to test somebody a day before you don't know that they have an infectious virus present when they are meeting the president. so to me it made sense they are using that place firm but with any testifies people need to understand the negatives, many tests can have falls postives and maybe we can get less sensitive tests, we're catching more people than if we're depending people to go through the process where it's just a logjam. >> such an interesting and important conversation. thank you both. appreciate it. there's also a new trend coming with this virus. the world health organization is reporting a major shift in who is getting the virus. the pandemic is skewing more and more younger. more andior young people are getting sick. cnn's elizabeth cohen joins me now and is looking into this. what are you hearing about this

shift? >> reporter: you and i from the beginning have been talking about this is a virus that really seems to affect the elderly the most. we've emphasized that the most since the beginning but theseums in end kate an interesting and sick shift. according to the numbers from the w.h.o., 1.2% of the cases are in babies and young children, ages 0 to 4. 2.5% 5 to 14 and 9.6% teens and young adults. the remember that number, 9.6%, 67% people ages 25 to 646 and 19.4, adults ages 65 to 84 and 3.4% 85 and up. when you look at that 9.6 and that 64% number, that's a huge chunk, right? that's almost 75% right there, and that's people under the age of 65. now part of this might be that doctors are getting better at detecting infection in these younger people since it does

tend to be milder, but it also might be that younger people are just not being as careful as older people and so we're seeing those results. >> mm-hmm, absolutely. there's also new guidance from the cdc about what kinds of mafbs and face conversation people should or shouldn't wear. what can you tell us. >> i don't know if you've seen them. off on the right-hand side i see all these signs for masks and they have little vents on them and they look great, right. they look like, wow, if it's got a vent may be better, maybe will keep me cool because interest can get hot and the cdc is saying don't use them. the reap they are cooler is because they are letting air in. it's a two-way street. if it's letting air in to cool you off, it's letting them out. if you have covid it could be letting the germs out. the cdc says don't use them. delta airlines says we won't let

will you on a plane if you have that kind of mask. you have to be wearing one without a vent. >> elizabeth, thank you. coming up for us, the talks over another round of covid relief funds are on the brink of collapse. the white house and democrats unsurprisingly blaming each other. where does that though leave the millions of americans who are looking for help? new one a day natural fruit bites multivitamins are made with farm grown apples as the first ingredient. and key nutrients you want. so you can have a daily multivitamin free of stuff you don't want. one a day natural fruit bites. a new way to multivitamin.

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at all, and they all pretty much disagree on everything else still. this is bigger than just politics though. it's about survival for millions of americans. a new study out today shows 40 million people are at risk of eviction, losing their homes, this year without additional help, and millions of families, of course, are now struggling to put food on the table as this crisis goes on and on. here's what the democratic house majority leader steny hoyer told me yesterday when hi asked him if they, democrats, are letting the perfect be the enemy of the good here and just getting in the way of a deal. >> we're letting the absolutely essential be the goal, not the good, not the great, not the best, the absolutely essential in terms of confronting the virus, in terms of having state and local governments have the resources to help respond to the virus and prop up the economy. >> cnn's senior congressional

correspondent manu raju is joining me now from the hill. manu, is this all over? where are we now? >> reporter: we don't know if they are going to meet today. nancy pelosi, the house speaker, said just moments ago that there is no meeting on the books at the moment after last night's meeting broke down in acrimony after more than three hours in the speaker's office. the administration officials, the white house chief of staff, mark meadows and treasury secretary steven mnuchin came out, and they had a very pessimistic outlook. meadows criticized the democrats for not adopting what he called a skinny proposal, something that they believe the issues they can agree on. democrats came back and said that was simply not enough and asked for much more to be on table. there is a whole wide range of things that they disagree on. one, the overall scope of of this plan. the democrats have pushed for a package north of $3 trillion, $3.4 trillion. the republicans' plan is about $1trillion. mark meadows said they went a

little bit above $1trillion but beyond that there's a whole host of other issues, state and local funding. the democrats in their bill call for almost $1 trillion for state and local governments. republicans say that's far too much. still a disagreement about how much, whether to extend the $600 a week in jobless benefits. the republicans came back and pushed for what they called a middle ground, and the mitch mcconnell, senate majority leader, has made a red line providing liability protections for businesses, for schools, for hospitals that reopen to ensure that people cannot be -- that they can't be subject to lawsuits for reopening amid this pandemic, so you're seeing a whole host of disagreements which is why yesterday both sides essentially contended it was unclear how this is is going to end up, and, of course, so many people are waiting here on what can happen, but both chambers, kate, are essentially gone. senators, house members are

gone. they have 24 hours on notice if there's any deal there. may not be any talks ordeals and this issue may be punted. >> and president gone as well to his vacation home in new jersey. take a vacation, manu. nothing is going to happen. good to see you. thank you very much. as millions of americans are waiting, waiting to see if there's more federal aid to come to them. we are getting a new look at the job situation in the economy. the economy added is.8 million jobs in july. the unemployment rate improving to so.2%. some perspective on this. let's bring in cnn business anchor julia chertly. julia, the pace of recovery is a focus for this report as well. what do you see here? >> reporter: well, i see a better number than expect, kate, and that's welcome news, but you're already going there. there are many caveats here. the first one is that the official unemployment rate, the 10.2%, the analysis saying it

should be one percentage point higher. we've still got people higher they are absent rather than unemployed. millions of people would like a job, but they are not included in these numbers because they are not officially look, and then take a look the a the sectors that we're seeing. a third of the gains coming from the hospitality and leisure sector, regulars trans, bars, retail, health services, some of the hardest hit in the beginning in terms of sectors and some of the most vulnerable, of course. if we see rising covid cases, the challenges that the health crisis is moving quicker than we can collect the data to understand what's going on and what impact it's having, this data is three weeks old and that matters. . a lot has changed in just that time so where are we, well? we're at an infliction point. i think to your point precisely. this is a dramatic slowdown in the recovery and the job creation that we've seen. we've added back almost half of the pandemic losses in terms of jobs that we've seen. what happens next depends on the health crisis. the it depends on financial aid as you were just discussing.

i don't think this helps break the deadlock. it is just one number. it's not bad enough for the democrats, it's not good enough to justify for the republicans cutting benefits. it's pretty simple, kate. if you cut benefits people will cut spending and that will slow the recovery. it's not what we should be doing at this moment in time. not the right move to cut benefits. >> yeah. i mean, you lay it tout perfectly. it's a mess, an absolute mess. >> it is. thank you so much, julia. really appreciate it. come up, florida is still one of the hardest hit states in the country and florida's governor is not only pushing for schools to reopen for in-person learning but also a return of school sports, what he says should happen if student athletes test positive for covid. when you take align,

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. we're standing by right now for a briefing by new york's governor andrew cuomo. he's expected to announce his decision on if and how schools throughout the state can reopen this fall. so far most of the largest school districts in the country have chosen to begin the year with virtual learning, but

cuomo's decision is a huge one as tim packets the largest school district in the country, new york city public schools, which has 1.1 million students. we'll bring you that when he makes the announcement and we will bring you the update to let you no what he says. in georgia a student was suspended for posting a photograph of a crowded hallway in her school on the first day back. hanna waters says that suspension has been reversed after the picture and punishment made headlines all over the country. she was asked why she did it and why she posted this photograph you're looking at and waters said she was channeling the late georgia congressman george lewis saying that the picture was good and necessary trouble. cnn has reached out to the school district for comment, and we've not heard back. to florida now where governor ron desantis says that the reward is worth the risk when it comes to youth sports this fall. he says they should start back

up calling them vital despite, as we well know, the raging pandemic throughout his state. cnn's rosa flores is in miami and joins me right now. rosa, he's also continuing to push for schools to open for in-person learning. what are you learning about what desantis is now pushing for with sports? >> reporter: you know, kate, there's so many questions about this h.earlier this week i asked governor ron desanties point blank and said, governor, what is your statewide safety reopening plan us a push for the reopening of schools? he dodged the question and then i tried to follow up, and he walked out of the press conference. he has not presented a statewide safety plan yet he continues to push for the reopening of schools, and now yesterday he's also pushing for the return of girls and boys sports. now the governor explained yesterday during the press conference that he's not envisioning an nba style bubble. he's not envisioning for the shutdown of sports programs when an athlete has symptoms.

instead, he said, that what would happen is that individual would be isolated, testing and then ten days later that individual could return. now the governor also explained that he does have children, that they are not school age, but if they were, he would want them to play. take a listen. >> as a father, my kids are young, they are not sports age yet but, you know, if they, i would want them playing and if they bring something back to the house, as much as i wouldn't want, that would i rather take that risk than to deprive them of the opportunity, you know, to do things like this. >> reporter: now the governor, of course, continues to say that parents have a choice as to whether or not to send their children to in-person face-to-face instruction, but, kate, as we look overall at the state, you can see that, yes, the number of daily cases has dropped. today, for example, the florida

department of public health has reportedp,000 cases but that's actually down. the record a few weeks ago was more than 15,000 and you look at the positivity rate and in the past two weeks it's between 12% and 17%. kate. >> still not acceptable, even close to that rate. thank you, rose, a, really appreciate it. coming up for us she's an e.r. nurse who survived cancer and then she survived covid, but her road to recovery is still over. side effects lingering now for months. she joins me next. are you still at risk for a heart attack or stroke?

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call your doctor about vascepa today. [ applause ] >> that was april 23rd, an amazing moment for the entire hospital system there in boston. that also an amazing moment for this woman who was released from the hospital after her battle with coronavirus, the very same hospital that she's been an e.r. nurse in for years, but the road to recovery, you would not have known it then, but she knows it now was far from over. more than 100 days later she's still suffering from the lingering side effects from

covid, something doctors are hearing more and more about that still have very research to explain. there's had a name for this now. it's become as long haulers, suffering from a range of lingering effects, foggy memories, skin damage, gastrointestinal issues and balance issues i've even heard as well. deb is joining me right now. you look wonderful. thank you so much for being here. i've watched that video of you leaving the hospital so many times because it was filled with such a -- you could see your joy even behind your mask and you could hear the joy of all of your friends and colleagues there as well, and now just so we can see that again, and now though the road for you is not over. you're still dealing with lingering effects. describe that for me, deb. >> right now my hairdresser bet who worked at ultra vista in braintree has noticed my hair is

coming out. i've lost 65% of my hair. i lost it years ago with cancer and chemo treatments and it's one thing i did not expect to lose after covid. >> i'm sure -- and i've heard that from many, that these side effects are strange in some regards. sometimes they come and go. i recently talked to someone who is dealing with lingering side effects as well and he said the hardest part for him was the psychological toll that will this has on him. you're no longer sick but you're still dealing with the impact of this disease. how has it affected you? has it been the same for you? >> yes. it affects me a lot. you know, you have an image to uphold. you're a nurse and you're taking care of patients and when you come home, you kind of get down and depressed because when you look at your hair it's coming out in the bathroom and then you go to your hairdresser, and she's telling you that a little bit more hair is coming out, split ends.

it the has no life to it, so it -- it causes a lot of anxiety. >> what do you hear from your doctors? what are you hearing about -- about -- how this is connected? >> honestly i haven't told my doctor yet. she and i have a virtual meeting in two weeks so i'm not quite sure what they are going to do, but i would like someone to help me out, and as well as the people in my job who also have lost their hair from covid. >> you've heard about this from others as well? >> yes. there are nurses and house keepers that have been coronavirus positive, and we are all losing our hair. it's absolutely horrendous. >> horrendous, and -- and on some level mysterious i think. you know, when you -- if you've been dealing with this for so many -- three months now, are you at all afraid that this could be permanent?

>> that's what i'm afraid of. that is what i'm afraid of. i don't know if that's going to be permanent, but it don't know the effects that it has on my body and why is it happening and how long is this going to happen for? >> yeah. no kidding. just so everyone knows, you're no wilting in. you beat cancer as you mentioned back in the early 2000s. you're a member of the navy nurse corps and have been an e.r. nurse now for more than 30 years. are you back working at the hospital even dealing with all of this? >> yes. yeah. i went back and i'm working three days a week, 12-hour shifts and i feel strong and i also feel anxious at times when i just come home and see that i lose my hair and i'm hoping that -- that -- i mean, there's been comments to me saying, wow, your hair doesn't look as full as it used to be so that's hard.

>> yeah. and -- and everyone always has the best of intentions. >> say that again, deb. >> i still have my cancer wig so maybe i might have to start wearing that, i don't know. >> if need be, you would rock it. you would rock it proudly and you would look beautiful, that's for sure. the. >> thank you. >> how -- how -- has having the disease, has getting sick with covid and dealing now with not only you had to spend time in the hospital, i think it was nine days that you were in the hospital before you were -- before you were released and then these ongoing effects that you're dealing with, how has this entire experience changed in the way that you work and treat patients who are also fighting the disease now that you're back? >> well, there are a lot of

patients that we still test for coronavirus, and there are some that we still see, and you just have to do the best you can to make sure that they are comfortable and help them out as best as you can so that they can get on up to the floor and get out of the hospital. that's the only thing i wanted to do is get out of the hospital after 12 days of being in that room. >> 12 days. i'm sorry, i never want to say anything short of exactly what you d.well, you're a fighter. you look beautiful, inside and out, deb. thank you for coming on. thank you for your fight and thank you for what you do day in and day out. appreciate it. great to hear you speak out because it's important for folks to know that they are not alone, that it's still mysterious with the lingering effects of covid like yourself. >> thank you. >> thank you so much. coming up for us, just weeks ago arizona was on the brink of becoming another epicenter of the virus. now cases are declining. the what did officials do right?

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this just into cnn. new york governor andrew cuomo just announcing that all new york state school districts are authorized to reopen. cnn's alexandra field joining us now with more information on that. lay out what the governor said about this decision and what it means. >> reporter: he says it's a testament to the fact that new york has brought its infection rate so low over the course of the last few months that he's saying every school and every region across the state can go ahead and reopen. of course, every district will

have their own plan, but they are all cleared to do that right now. he says the state will continue, of course, to be closely watching the numbers if the infection rates start to go up. then they can order schools to shut down in a region-by-region basis depending on where you see infections. he's stressing a lot of points this morning though, putting a lot of the responsibility on the school districts to improve their communication with parents, with students, with teachers. he's telling them that they all need to post plans online for how they will do contact tracing in the event it's needed, for how they will do remote learning if that's needed and how they will do covid testing in the event that that's needed. on top of that he's ordering all of the districts to organize discussion sessions with parents, also discussion sessions with teachers about how the new school year will g.certainly, this is uncharted territory. kate, this is really fascinating though because you've got the largest school district in the country, new york city, with 1.1 million students they are cleared to go back to school and if you look at the top ten largest districts across country, the other nine are

doing online learning. that of course, is a function of the surge of infection in those other states, not what we're seeing here in new york, not now. kate? >> real quickly, alex, to lay out what mayor de blasio has laid out some in-person learning is what he suggested the plan would be. >> exactly. this does, again, allow the districts to decide what is right for their district. you've got some 750 districts across the state. they have all had to submit their plans to the department of health and also to the department of education. they are laying out plans for in person, online and for some sort of hybrid, but right now they can all go ahead because the infection rate is so low. they can all send kids back to school if that's what parents choose to do. >> they can be largest school district in the country would be the one -- would be the only one of the largest school districts in the country to be opening for in-person learning, really quite soon. alex, great to see you. thank you so much. coming up for us, arizona cases now on the decline.

leveling off, doing well? is it a success? what does it mean and what did officials do right, and what can other states learn? we'll be right back. what happens when a wireless carrier

puts its customers in charge? well, the good news gets shared. and it gets rated #1 for customer satisfaction. but don't just take our word for it. take theirs. it's your wireless. your rules. only with xfinity mobile. call, click or visit a store today. one month ago arizona because epicenter of the coronavirus crisis in the united states. today cases are still at a high

level and started to decline. you can see here at its peak in july the state was averaging about 3,500 new cases a day over a 7-day period and now just under 2,000 cases a day. not where you want to be in the end but definitely heading in the right direction. how did arizona start turning this around? what could the rest of the country learn from it? joining me now is will humble, a former arizona state health director. it's good to see you again, will. thank you for being here. >> yeah. >> when you were on previously i was looking back at it sounding the alarm of how bad the situation in the state was getting after reopening too fast so describe from your perspective what you are seeing now. >> it was terrible. we were really a global hotspot. what we have seen for about the last three weeks is is a moderation in the number of new cases. our percent positivity rate is drifting down although we are

still way too high at about 15%. that's on a seven-day moving average and more importantly we are no longer using crisis standards of care within the hospital system because there's been some relief in that regard so things are in general improving but nothing to the point where we'd be able to open k-12 school system or anything like this. >> i think to make it clear for everyone, you're not here to say this is a complete success. no way. but you need to see -- it needs to start decleaning to get anywhere near the light at the end of the tunnel if you will. what do you think it was that most help turn things around here in the state? >> i'll do them in order. i think the biggest thing was first of all our -- we had no face covering requirement until late june and our governor prohibited cities and counties

to put in an ordinance until late june. they did that. and face coverings are now fairly normalized so that i think has been the biggest -- that's the thing that i think made the biggest difference. the other things are -- these are equally big i think. is that the governor at the end of june, the very end of june shut the bars and the nightclubs which were clearly super spreading venues because there was no mitigation whatever within those places and it was really amplifying the virus so i think those are the key things. bars, nightclubs, face coverings. finally, restaurants are supposed to limit their capacity to 50%. compliance on that is spotty. but i think that's making a little bit of a difference. >> definitely it seems at least a cultural shift in how people view the daily life is probably what came about with it.

what do you think other states should take from this arizona lesson? >> first of all, don't do what we did early on. two things, what not to do and then what to do if they're in a hole. face coverings work. do not put up resistance. if you are an elected official, it works. it is high return on investment. please do that. if you're a local official and can or a governor, please put in a face covering requirement. it works. it will help save your economy and hospital system so that's one thing. i think that's the big take home message. if you do dig yourselves into a hole like we did in arizona because of making poor choices prohibiting face covering ordinances and so forth and allowing bars and nightclubs to be free for alls lock those things down. what are the things that we have learned?

this virus is responsive to policy decisions. that's what we found. bad policy decisions in may and june and then better policy decisions at the end of june and we are benefiting from that right now although not, like you said, not where we need to be but not getting worse. >> talk to me what you think about schools. what do you think should happen with k-12 schools as schools are set to reopen for in-person classes in arizona in a couple of weeks. >> yeah. so originally our governor had been setting dates for school opening which makes sense pre-pandemic but not in a pandemic and we did advocacy to urge the governor to require metrics, to put forward metrics so that school districts see what's happening in the communities and what the percent positivity, what the trend in cases and so forth and then obviously build their mitigation

plans but don't open for in-person instruction until the metrics are met and our -- he did order the state health department to put metrics together and did that yesterday and actually they're pretty good so no county meets the standards. >> so interesting. >> a good thing and which means they're aggressive. >> right. >> they're driving policy. >> it is nice to see some -- i'm going to take it as good news as is. thank you for coming in. thank you for joining me today. cnn's coverage continues with john king right now. thank you, kate. hello, everybody. i'm john king in washington. an announcement from the new york governor on schools, all schools in the empire state can welcome kids back to the classroom saying this. if anyone can open schools, we can open