old high school and help teach the same broadcast class she took when she was a opportunity. breana passed away last sunday. may they rest in peace, and may their memories be a blessing. this is cnn breaking news. >> welcome to you, our viewers, here, in the united states and around the world. i'm kim brunhuber. this is cnn "newsroom" and we're following breaking news at this hour. donald trump has suffered a great, personal loss. he says his brother robert trump died saturday at a new york hospital. president trump visited his brother there on friday. here is what he said at a white house briefing that day. >> i have a wonderful brother. we've had a great relationship, for a long time. for -- from day one. it's a long time ago. and he's in the hospital right now. and hopefully, he'll be all right. but he's -- he's pretty -- he's

having a hard time. >> cnn's kristen holmes has been traveling with the president, and she filed this report for us from bridgewater, new jersey. >> reporter: president trump's brother, robert trump, passing away late saturday. a night after president trump had gone on an impromptu visit to new york city. the press had known he was going to new jersey. at the last minute, they told us that he was going to a hospital in new york to visit his brother, robert. we know that he had been seriously ill. but not clear what illness he had. and he had been in and out of the hospital, since the spring. now, the white house issued a statement, on behalf of president trump. and it is, clearly, an emotional and sentimental statement here. it says, it is with a heavy heart, i share that my wonderful brother, robert, peacefully passed away tonight. he was not just my brother. he was my best friend. he will be greatly missed, but we will meet again. his memory will live on in my

heart forever. robert, i love you. recollect rest in peace, the president said. so, clearly, there, you can see the strength of their relationship. president trump has said on numerous occasions that robert trump supported his candidacy for president, a thousand percent. again, it is unclear exactly what the illness is that robert trump passed for. but it is, again, his younger brother who had been ill since around the spring, passed away late saturday night. kristen holmes, cnn, traveling with the president in bridgewater, new jersey. >> president trump's expected to attend his brother's funeral. though, we don't have any details about the plans, yet. some of the president's children are tweeting act thebout their family's loss. ivanka trump wrote, uncle robert, we love you. you are in our hearts and prayers, always. eric trump said robert trump was an incredible man. strong, kind, and loyal to the

core. anyone who encountered him felt his warmth, immediately. he will be deeply missed by our entire family. meanwhile, the world is still losing ground in the battle against the coronavirus. the world health organization received reports of a record number of new cases in the last 24 hours. more than 294,000. the figures from the u.s. are just as grim. more than 1,000 deaths have been reported, for the fourth-straight day. and that brings the u.s. death toll to more than 169,000. california's still the hardest-hit state with more than 12,000 new cases, including backlogs. and there is a scary report coming out of the cdc. it says covid-19 rates among children are steadily increasing. the agency says children now account for more than 7% of all cases, and kids under 18 make up about 22% of the population. the cdc, also, says one in three children hospitalized with the virus end up in the icu. and that's the same rate as for

adults. georgia's governor is now letting cities impose mask mandates, with some restrictions. his executive order says they can't be forced, on private property or at polling places. that may not appease federal health experts, who have accused georgia of not doing enough to stop rising cases. natasha chen reports. >> reporter: georgia is not doing enough to prevent the spread of covid-19. that's according to white house coronavirus task force recommendations from august 9th. a document obtained by the atlanta journal constitution. it reads, there is widespread and expanding community, viral spread. and there is no significant improvement in the atlanta metro area, with continued high levels of new cases at a plateau. mitigation efforts must increase. governor brian kemp's office fired back. sending cnn a list of its ongoing efforts to combat the virus. saying, in part, quote the dph

lab has been working around the clock with multiple shifts since early summer. and that governor kemp continues to rely on data, science, and the public health advice of the public health-l director. in a state seeing at least 3,000 new cases every day over the last month, the atlanta mayor says it's too soon for students to be in classrooms. >> we're seeing it, already, in our state. in schools that reopened, kids are getting infected. and it's, in my opinion, this is my opinion as a parent, it's more disruptive to think you're sending your child into a situation. and then, have to pull them all back out. >> courtney smith pulled her daughters out of public school in atlanta suburbs, altogether. when they told her they saw 30 to 40 students in each classroom, with few people wearing masks. >> as parents, our number one task in life is to protect our babies. and i really felt like i was dropping mine off at a death

trap. so there were a lot of tears shed by my children and by me last week. >> she transferred them to a charter school, which she said has far fewer students in class and more of them wearing masks. confirmed 81 new cases for the week, nearly triple the previous week's count. two high schools in the district had to temporarily pause in-person learning. >> if you want your kids in school, your schools have to stay open. and for the schools to stay open, you have to contain your numbers of covid cases. and the best way, that we know of, to contain those cases is to implement masks and to, also, implement a hybrid program where you reduce the number of students at one time. >> but there is no mask mandate at cherokee county schools, nor at paulding county schools. starting monday, that school will use a hybrid schedule, with both in-person and digital

learning. >> there's definitely going to be issues when you open anything. we saw that when we opened businesses. we're seeing that when we open schools. we've given them guidance. we've worked with them to, really, give them the tools that they need to open. >> those tools include shipments of masks that represearen't reqy the state. though, kemp once sued for mandating masks. natasha chen, cnn, atlanta. >> now, as we mentioned, covid-19 rates among u.s. children are increasing. more with what top health experts are saying on how the virus is impacting kids. >> that's right. new cdc guidelines that parents might want to consider, as they weigh whether or not to send their children back to school this fall. the cdc, now, acknowledging that children do transmit the virus, in places like homes and summer camps. the cdc, also, noting that the

number of cases among children is rising. now, 7.3% of all covid cases are among children. that is up, considerably, since cdc's last guidance which was at 2% for children with covid. also, the cdc noting that the lower rates in children could be attributable to school closures in the early part of the pandemic. and that's why it was lower for children. now, given the new guidance, it is entirely appropriate to be questioning public officials, including governors and mayors, who have put forth plans to reopen schools or allowed them to reopen. and in -- in new york, particularly, the governor, last week, announced the fact that schools can reopen here. we've reached out to the governor here to see if these new cdc guidelines factor into the decision or change the plan, at all. we have not heard back from them. but educators, here, in new york city, the largest school district in the country.

now, expressing a lot of unease about schools opening here and whether they have the right precautions and the right equipment to deal with the large influx of students who would be coming back to school here. but for now, at least as far as new york's concerned, it looks like full speed ahead on reopenings. back to you. >> dr. jonathan reiner is cnn medical analyst and professor of medicine at george washington university. and he joins me from washington. thank you, so much, for joining us here. so let's start with the situation we're in, now. friday, we set the record for the most cases in a single day in august. but, saturday, president trump claimed we have done it right. is there anything we've done right, in this crisis? >> no, not from a public-health perspective. we're still not testing enough. we still don't have a universal mask mandate. we still have states that are

open in really dense viral outbreaks, where they should be closed. so, there isn't a lot that we've done right. i will say that the care given to patients in hospitals, throughout the united states, has been magnificent. and the mortality rate, case fatality rate, is about half what it was at the beginning of the pandemic in the united states. so, i think we've gotten that right. and that's getting even better. but, from a public health perspective, no, we haven't gotten a lot right. >> so, we heard dire predictions this week from the director of the cdc, who said that the pandemic, coupled with the flu season, could create, quote, the worst fall from a public-health perspective we've ever had. so, then, on saturday, president trump said he disagreed with those comments. who's more likely to be right here? >> yeah. so the president really doesn't have the expertise to disagree with the cdc director.

he may not like what the cdc director is saying, and he tends to sideline people who issue statements that he finds distasteful. but i agree with the cdc director's concern. look. i'm hopeful that people wearing masks in the united states and social distancing will have a demonstrable effect on the flu. it should and i hope it does. the other campaign that we need to start, now, is we need to vaccinate everybody in this country for the flu. you know, in our best year in the united states, we barely vaccinate 60% of the population. and if you look at younger people, it's barely a quarter. so we need to -- we need to do much better than that this year and vaccinate just about everyone. we need to pave the way for making people comfortable getting vaccines. having trust in our public-health experts when we talk about vaccines.

and then, look to vaccinate everyone when we have a covid vaccine. >> but, yeah, i'm curious as to how you're going to go about doing that. because, you know, even with the covid vaccine, for something that could be deadly, what is it, you know, some third of americans say they don't plan on getting it. so how do you -- how would you do that as -- as a public health policy, to try and get more people comfortable with the idea of vaccines? >> well, i think it's going to be different, in different communities. but i think this has to be -- people have to be educated, at the grassroots level. i think, you know, there are parts of american society that distrust the government. and in those parts, i think it has to come from the people that are trusted in those parts of the country. but the message has to be clear, that we won't release a vaccine until it's safe and effective. i hate the phrase warp speed because it sounds like we're just trying to get this out, as

quickly as possible. you know, we have a saying during an emergency in the hospital where we work quickly but we don't rush. and i think that's the message the public has to understand. we're working quickly but we're not rushing. and we won't release a vaccine, unless it's a great vaccine. restore public confidence in that. you know, we have a cancer vaccine. the hpv vaccine is a cancer vaccine, and barely half of teenagers are up to date on -- on -- on that. so, we do have a long way to go. >> thank you so much for your time, dr. jonathan reiner, we appreciate it. >> my pleasure. >> so, amid the pandemic, president trump is doubling down on his attack against mail-in voting. during a saturday news conference, he repeated his unproven claims that an election held, largely by mail, won't be fair or legitimate. >> we are going to have an election that takes place on a beautiful day, november 3rd. and usually, at the end of the evening, they say, donald trump has won the election.

donald trump is your new president. what if they say, you know what? you're not going to know this, possibly, if you really did it right, for months or for years. because these ballots are all going to be lost. they're going to be gone. >> house democrats are considering, possibly, cutting their summer recess short to deal with the growing controversy. the newly-installed postmaster general and republican donor, louis dejoy, has been criticized for changes he recently implemented. those changes have, effectively, slowed down mail service by eliminating worker hours, as well as hundreds of sorting machines. cnn confirmed the inspector general of the postal service is now reviewing those recent changes, as well as dejoy's ethics compliance. and senator bernie sanders responded, saturday, with this brief tweet. the postmaster general must resign, immediately. meanwhile, congressional leaders are speaking out about the impact president trump's attacks can, potentially, have

on voters. >> i never thought that i would live to see the united states of america tolerate a tyrant. who seems to just trample upon our constitution. john lewis. that would be so disappointed that he gave -- nearly, gave his life to get the vote for people of color. and to watch the complicity of the republicans in holding on to this kind of shenanigans is just beyond me. >> and with fewer than 80 days until the election, the postal service is warning of delivery delays to come. cnn's sarah westwood has more. president trump, on saturday, continued to cast doubt on the reliability of mail-in voting. despite experts repeatedly saying that widespread voter

fraud in the u.s. is exceedingly rare. and many states have relied on mail-in voting, to varying degrees, for years. and although, the postmaster general, louis dejoy, has made changes to the post office operations that critics say will hamper its ability to deliver mail-in ballots at the volume expected in november. the president praised dejoy's efforts. he also sought to draw a distinction between absentee voting and mail-in voting. >> louis. he is working very hard. but, as you know, the democrats aren't approving the proper funding for postal. and they're not approving the proper funding for this ridiculous thing that they want to do, which is all mail-in voting. universal, you could call it, mail-in voting. again, absentee voting is great. you request. i'm an absentee voter because i requested, i got, and then, i sent in my vote. so that works out very well. that's what we've had. but now, they want to send in millions and millions of ballots. and you see what's happening.

they're being locke they're being lost. they're being discarded. they are finding them in piles. it's going to be a catastrophe. >> and the president recently requested his own absentee ballot. but the distinction between absentee voting and mail-in voting is not black and white. in fact, the lines between them are pretty blurred. both are conducted in much the same way. their ballots are delivered through the mail. and only nine states and the district of columbia are doing what the president was warning a about, which is mailing everyone a ballot. in most states, they will still have to request a ballot in order to vote. the election result may not be entirely clear on election night because it does take longer to count mail-in votes. the president tweeted, the democrats know the 2020 election will be a fraudulent mess. will maybe never know who won. meanwhile, the postal service, in late july, warned 46 states and the district of columbia that their election laws are incompatible with the postal service operations.

for example, they said that some of the ledeadlines that states have set for turning in their ballots, just doesn't leave the postal service enough time to get those ballots delivered. sarah westwood, cnn, washington. >> on monday, the democratic party will make its official nomination for its presidential candidate. but donald trump isn't about to let the biden campaign have all the spotlight. that's next. plus, we'll find out what's making french officials crack down on mandatory mask wearing in two of the country's largest cities. stay with us. i have the power to lower my blood sugar and a1c. because i can still make my own insulin. and trulicity activates my body to release it like it's supposed to. once-weekly trulicity is for type 2 diabetes. it's not insulin. it starts acting from the first dose. and it lowers risk of heart attack, stroke, or death in people with known heart disease or multiple risk factors. trulicity isn't for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. don't take trulicity if you're allergic to it, you or your family have medullary thyroid cancer,

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on saturday, u.s. president donald trump had another chance to denounce the birther conspiracy about presumptive u.s. democratic vice presidential nominee, kamala harris. he said he would stop pursuing it. but he didn't dismiss the conspiracy, either. instead, the president continued to praise a professor who wrote an opinion piece for "newsweek" questioning harris's eligibility. >> i have nothing to do with that. i read something about it, and i will say that he is a brilliant

lawyer. i guess he wrote an article about it. so, i know nothing about it but it's not something that bothers me. >> but, sir, when you do that, it creates -- >> why do you say that? i just don't know about it. but it's not something that we will be pursuing. let me be -- let me put it differently. don't tell me what i know. let me put it differently. let me put it differently. to me, it doesn't bother me, at all. >> meanwhile, president trump's challengers are preparing for the democratic national convention next week. former vice president joe biden and his new running mate, kamala harris, are getting ready to accept the party's nomination. for now, harris is taking a step into the spotlight. jessica dean tells us more. >> kamala harris giving her first interview since that announcement was made, earlier this week. and in that virtual interview, harris, praising her running mate, joe biden, for having what she calls the audacity to put a black woman on the ticket with

him. going, also, into the policies that they hope to put in place. but, continuing to go back to joe biden really playing that traditional role as the vice presidential candidate. and elevating the person at the top of the ticket. in this case, that being joe biden. harris, also, continues to fuel an incredible fundraising boost for the biden campaign. they announced they raised $48 million over the two days after her announcement, which is just a shocking number. considering that, earlier in the campaign cycle, biden wasn't raising that in a whole quarter of fundraising. they're raising that, in 48 hours. we are told that both harris and biden will be delivering their nomination-acceptance speeches, right here, in wilmington, delaware, when the democratic convention happens next week. but until then, it's a pretty quiet weekend in delaware as harris and biden prepare. jessica dean, cnn, wilmington, delaware. >> president trump's campaign is planning to launch an aggressive, digital ad campaign

to counter the democratic national convention. the trump campaign is trying to take eyes away from the digital dnc meeting. they say they are focusing on youtube, hulu, and several news websites. and president trump is expected to make a campaign stop outside of joe biden's hometown on the day biden's expected to accept his party's nomination. now, of course, cnn will be bringing you live coverage of this year's all-digital democratic national convention that starts this monday, at 8:00 p.m. eastern time. then, on monday, august 24th, we will be covering the republican national convention. and of course, you can check out our daily coverage of the race for the white house at cnn.com. police in chicago say day made two dozen arrests after 17 of that i ever officers were injured. the city's superintendent said multiple agitators assaulted police officers. this was after a day-long,

peaceful demonstration in another part of town. cnn's omar jimenez was there. >> saturday in chicago has been defined, in part, by protesting through the streets. this group, behind me, protesting toward downtown from the south side of the city. and of course, this comes a week after those images we saw emerge. unrelated. but unrelated images of looting and rioting, in some cases, throughout the downtown streets of chicago. this type of demonstration, the peaceful one, is much of what officials here want to see. people exercising their right to free speech. however, officials here are taking no chances. as you may notice, on either side of me, police. hundreds, over the course of this, are flafrnking these protestors to, in their mind, make sure that things don't get out of control. and the city of chicago has imposed a curfew in the overnight hours, restricting access to downtown to try and prevent some of the phenomena we saw last weekend from occurring

this weekend. but the passion that you are seeing amongst the people that are protesting and that are out here is going nowhere, amidst what has been a very, very violent year, here, in the city of chicago. omar jimenez, cnn, chicago. >> belarusian president alexander lukashenko doesn't want foreign mediation to calm the protests in his country saying, quote, he won't give up the country to anyone. but he has reached out to russian president, vladimir putin, to reaffirm their mutual cooperation. belarus has been rocked by protests for the past week, after a highly-contested presidential election. lukashenko's party says he won 80% of the vote. but opposition members and protestors believe the vote was rigged. the country is one of the most politically repressed in the world. tens of thousands of people have risked arrest, violence, and even alleged torture to demand lukashenko step down. well, despite growing anger

against the government in lebanon, the president says it would be impossible for him to step down, after beirut's deadly explosion. he told french broadcaster on saturday that if he resigned, it would create a power vacuum. his remarks follow last monday's announcement that prime minister hassan diab and his government would resign. he is also calling for judicial supervision of the blast investigation, and an independen independent magistrate. >> democrats considering cutting their recess short. the changes that have called a mail-delivery slowdown, coming up ahead. stay with us. ♪

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all right. let's bring you up to date on our breaking news story now. u.s. president donald trump has lost the man he called his best friend. his younger brother, robert trump, who passed away at a new york hospital saturday. details haven't been released. he is expected to attend the funeral, though we don't have any word an plans, yet. robert trump served as executive vice president of the trump organization and he was 71 years old. in the run-up to the u.s. election in november, the u.s. postal service is already warning americans there are delays with mail delivery. many voters are expected to vote by mail because of the coronavirus pandemic. but as cnn's pete muntene explains, recent changes within the postal service have already started to have negative impact.

>> reporter: the postal service slogan might be, we deliver, but it's not what reality appears to be. >> we're having our trucks leave buildings with zero mail in the trucks. >> for nick, the mail is moving too slow. >> my union reps. you know, they call me throughout the night, in the morning, saying, nick, the mail is all over the place. we're just not getting it out. >> in 35 years with the united states postal service, he says he has never seen issues this severe. the new changes have democrats worried that slow mail could slow mail-in ballots. crucial in an election year, overshadowed by the pandemic. >> we're not providing the service that we provided, 24/7, before mr. dejoy was appointed the postmaster general. >> in june, president trump appointed longtime supporter louis dejoy with no postal experience. it is his newly implemented

changes, like limiting overtime that he says are causing delays, nationwide. in baltimore, people waited two hours in hopes of getting their mail, that never showed up. >> i am waiting on unemployment. a card. and it's just not showing up. so -- yeah, it should be here today. but it should've been here a week ago, too. so, i don't really know. >> mail delays have, also, been reported from minneapolis to north carolina. and in fiphiladelphia. >> a lot of them are bills. and then, they going to charge you late charges. >> we've missed six collection days in the last four weeks, which means they're not delivering. they're not collecting. so, it's a problem. medicines aren't being delivered. bills aren't going out in the mail. >> james mayo says the problem got so bad that he called his con fwresma congressman, and he is not the only one. >> people are calling us, raising concerns about the mail system. >> house democrat, dwight evans, and 80 other members of

congress, wrote dejoy, demanding the postal service not reduce mail-delivery hours. dejoy denies that any intentional slowdown is taking place. >> despite any assertions to the contrary, we are not slowing down election mail or any other mail. >> reporter: postal carriers live by the motto, neither rain, nor snow. now, the concern is politics will keep those, like james mayo, waiting on the mail. >> both sides of the aisles need to look at this. they need to fund the postal service properly so that these guys can go back to work. >> pete muntene, cnn, philadelphia. >> on saturday, france reported more than 3,300 new coronavirus infections. that marks a post-lockdown high, for the fourth day in a row. and it's forcing authorities to step up their efforts to fight the spread of the virus. cnn's jim bitterman has more from paris. >> it wasn't exactly a stampede but there definitely was a surge of travelers trying to get to great britain before that 14-day

quarantine period went into effect. in fact, though, now, it's too late to avoid that. it's, also, too late to avoid the new restrictions that went into effect in france this morning, in two of the major cities. in paris and marseille, where there are areas of the city designated where masks must be worn and that includes pedestrians, joggers, and anyone else who is out in public, must wear masks in certain areas of the city. paris, about half of the city. and the head police official here said, in fact, it could be expanded to include much more territory, if the numbers do not go right. we talked to a couple people out in the streets. they were not exactly pleased. but, on the other hand, they were complying with the orders. >> the rules here in paris. so it's not my favorite thing to wear a mask. but when they want it, i will do it. and no problem.

>> all of this is with good reason, of course. because the number of cases here, the number of new cases, has been surging over the last few weeks, and particularly the last few days. in fact, in the last three days, the number of new cases has gone up, every single day, and hit a new record every day since may 11th, when the restrictions started to come off. and after may 11th, the number of cases went down. and it continues to go down, right up until about a month ago. and then, they started going up, again. and now, they're at a level where authorities are concerned. and so, they are now imposing new restrictions. jim bittermann, cnn outside paris. >> and brazil is reporting more than 40,000 new cases of covid-19 in just 24 hours. that's according to health officials there. the country's suffering the world's worst outbreak, after the united states. more than 107,000 people have died from the virus. but sao paulo, the state hardest hit, saw fewer deaths saturday, than the day before.

now, the world health organization says brazil is vital to the search for an end to the pandemic. three vaccine studies are relying on the country's scientists and volunteers. and this just in to cnn. two companies from israel and the united arab emirates have just announced they are joining forces to come up with a faster covid-19 testing device. the deal between israel's terra group and the uae's apex national investment company could be the first cross-border deal after the two countries announced on thursday, they were normalizing relations. while the coronavirus is fueling unrest in bolivia. protestors say the country's leader is using the pandemic as an excuse to keep postponing elections. >> reporter: a country facing two crises. the coronavirus and politics. these demonstrators in bolivia are angry that the country's

general election was postponed, for a second time. supporters of former leftist leader morales says is using covid-19 to continuously delay the vote. giving her time to revive the campaign, an accusation she refuses. more than a dozen government officials, including herself, contracted the virus. tensions have been brewing since the presidential election was moved from september 6th to october 18. protestors say they want election moved back to the september date where assurances the election will not be postponed again. >> translator: the government is using this as a pretext. oxygen. drugs. were already lacking, a long time ago. >> it's been nine months since the president resigned and left the country, amid allegations of electoral fraud which he denies. he and his supporters say it

was -- critics say democracy was restored. power fell to a senator, who was sworn in with the mandate to call for new elections. the vote is yet to take place. to voice their protests, she's set up roadblocks through the main intercity roads. common practice. in the transport of medical smies and oxygen needed for patients and babies in the nicu unit. protestors disagree. >> translator: we're letting in ambulances and oxygen. and we're not stoning them. they're passing through, with full confidence, and we're opope opening the way. >> the government tried to solve the stalemate but ordering armed forces to transport 66 tons of oxygen to three ministries. told cnn he is trying to prevent the potential catastrophe. >> translator: to go out and

fire some lead would be the politically correct thing to do but we are not doing it. >> on top of medical supplies, the barricades are raising concerns of possible fuel and gasoline shortages in this fragile nation. protestors, also, furious over the government's poor response to the coronavirus pandemic. bolivia has nearly 4,000 deaths. the virus has overwhelmed morgues and hospitals, and the spread is not slowing down. cnn. after the break. face masks are, of course, a big part of pandemic protection. but, not all masks are created equal. we'll explain. and later, we'll be talking to an artist who's trying to help people feel a sense of peace during the pandemic. you want to see that. stay with us. and i love it.

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well, as life during the pandemic rolls on, wearing a

mask, at least for most of us, is the new normal. but some masks work better than others. cnn's brian todd takes a closer look. >> reporter: they come in so many different styles, materials, and designs. from n95 surgical masks, to bandanas, knitted masks. even, so-called gators, those stretchy bands of fabric that cover the neck. now, a new study from researchers at duke university has advice on which masks work, and which don't. gators, or fleece masks, they say, you should stay away from. >> it's a combination, certainly, of stretchiness of the material and the material, potentially, being very thin. >> reporter: the bandana, according to the researchers, may look cool but doesn't work well. >> the material, itself, that is just a little bit more transparent and a little bit more transmissive to these droplets. in addition, there is, of course, lots of gaps. >> the duke researchers tested

14 different kinds of masks. they shined irry desent light. >> stay healthy, people. stay healthy, people. >> they used a cell phone camera to record the droplets. then, counted the droplets that were let through by the different masks. the ones that work well, they say? n95 surgical masks are the best, letting out very few, if any, droplets. but those should be reserved for frontline health care workers. those standard, surgical masks, the light blue ones many of us can buy at stores, also, work well they say. and the duke researchers say there's one kind of mask that they believe does more harm than good. the fleece mask because of the size of droplets it lets through. >> what's noticeable here is that you see lots of particles, and lots of little particles. so this is actually

counterproductive because the little particles, they got generated from big particles. they tend to hang around longer in the air. >> duke researchers told cnn their study is not meant as an endorsement of certain masks. other experts are hopeful that this kind of advice can be communicated, more clearly, to the public. acknowledging, there's been way too much confusion. >> we should not have any confusion over mask wearing. this is confusion that we, ourselves, the frontline workers, the government, public health experts, doctors, nurses, and others when it comes to infection prevention and control. >> experts say after the health professionals all get on the same page over which kind of masks work best, the next thing they have to do is find a way to distribute the masks that work, to a wide range of people. and train people how to put on and take off masks. and how to clean and store them because there are specific techniques involved in that, too. brian todd, cnn, washington.

>> important information that could save your life there. well, coming up after the break. lissie is keen to feel peace and she wants you to feel it, too, as we all cope with the pandemic. i have opinion talking to the singer/songwriter about her contribution -- well, you could call the soundtrack of 2020. coming up next.

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♪ i just want to feel peace >> the song is called peace. and couldn't we use a little more of that during the turbulent times? the musician is lissie and the newly released video shows clips send in by fans. sbm see that joins me now from

illinois. thank you so much for joining me here. the song came out in 2018. but the video, the collage, the snapshots of fans' lives in the pandemic, it's a hopeful video for challenging times. how did it come about? >> yeah, well, thanks for having me. in the very early days of quarantine, you know, as shows were getting canceled and i was talking to a lot of my creative friends and just adjusting with the rest of the world to the surreal new reality we are facing collectively, a good friend of mine, a brilliant director, and collaborators, thought it was a beautiful thing to encourage my friends and family and followers to submit honest videos of what lockdown

was like for them in the beginning there, and we encourage them to send us the playful sweet things and maybe some of the more harrowing or challenging or painful parts of it too. and to round it out, a collective human experience we are going through together. ♪ ♪ take away by burden >> what struck me from that experience that i saw, there wasn't necessarily the emotional toll it was taking on people. it was the small ways we learn to make the unbearable bearable. but your song got me thinking, one hand, we are living through a communal shared experience, and the individualism, and the lack of social cohesion that is highlighted by the pandemic. it's never been keenly apparent. after having gone through the process, gathering the unifying, uniting moments for the video,

are you more hopeful now about the country than you were in 2018 when the song came out or less? >> yeah, well, i mean, i think what is so interesting about the times, i think we are all personally grieving and struggling and navigating and we are also on another level going it collectively. so the time i wrote the song, it's a general longing to just have my own presence and peace and surrender when i have a heavy heart. but in the context of this song, i think it's hopeful because i think one thing i witnessed through the video and just since covid has changed all of our lives is people really, you know, spending time with their families, spending time in

nature. remembering those simpler kind of really soul satisfying things we don't have the opportunity to do because of other obligations or the hectic pace of life. if there is a bright side, seeing people get outdoors and move their body and play with their kids and make art and maybe finding some time. so i think that everyone is really had to confront themselves in one way, shape or form. and i like to think we will have regrown and reconnect to parts of ourself. >> i think we will leave it on that optimistic note. thank you so much for talking to us. it's certainly has moments of calm and optimism that we need. we appreciate it. >> absolutely. thank you for this opportunity and i hope people enjoy the video, and stay strong out there. we're more -- i think we are more resilient than we realize. and well get through. >> thank you for watching. the news continues after the break.

condolences pouring in for u.s. president donald trump. his younger brother robert died after being sick for months. also at this hour, students return to schools. top experts weigh in on how the coronavirus may affect children. and democrats in congress floating the possibility of cutting their summer recess short to deal with the growing controversy over mail-in ballots in this year's presidential election. coming to you