sandra. i will see you on "bill hemmer reporting" in about three hours to bring you through the rest of the news in the afternoon. >> sandra: good stuff. we will see you then. thanks so much. have a great weekend, everybody. "outnumbered" starts right now. >> melissa: fox news alert, vice president mike pence is set to lead the first white house coronavirus task force briefing and nearly two months as the u.s. suffers a record number of new coronavirus cases for the second straight day in a row. we will bring you that live just as soon as that happens. another fox news alert, president trump issuing a new warning to vandals tearing down statues as far left protesters are now threatening to topple the emancipation memorial on capitol hill. that comes after two statues were toppled, the president weighing in on the discussio den

during a town hall with our own sean hannity yesterday. he is expected to sign an executive order hiking penalties for those who destroy monuments. >> i stopped at the other night, i stopped at a number of times. you will see what's happening. we told him, every night we will get tougher and tougher. at some point there's going to be retribution because it has o be. they are vandals. they are agitators, but really they are terrorists in a sense. >> melissa: this is "outnumbered" and i'm melissa francis. here today is fox business anchor, dagen mcdowell. "town hall" editor and fox news contributor, katie pavlich. fox news contributor, jessica tarlov. joining us today, former house speaker and fox news contributor, newt gingrich. he is host of "newt's world," the podcast, and author of a new book, "trump and the american future." we'll talk about that in a moment. i will start with you first on

the current state of affairs. president trump's response, specifically. do you think he is responding in the right way, saying that he is going to get even tougher? calling them vandals? what do you think? >> newt: i think you have mob rule in large parts of america right now, where people are saying they have the right to decide what survives and what doesn't. they are going to go out and do whatever they want to. i think you can't sustain that. i think we also want to look more carefully, not just at the people who are doing this, but 102 americans shot in the city of chicago over the weekend. we have a real problem right now with crime in a variety of levels. we have to have an honest conversation about what is going to take to make america safe again when you have people who are predators, whether they are statue creditors, or in the case of chicago, a 3-year-old child was killed as part of that.

it shouldn't be happening in america. >> melissa: jessica, do you think there's a connection between the vandalism that we are seeing to these statues and the level of violence that we are seeing in so many spots around the country's banking major cities? >> jessica: i think the spike in violence we are seeing in major cities is actually part of a continuing trend. we've been talking about what goes on in chicago for a few years now. it's absolutely devastating, and speaker gingrich is correct. we hear stories about this quite frequently after weekend, usually, the young children are caught in the cross fire for whatever type of altercation was going on there. but i don't see them as connected. i think it is important that we can, as a country, have a thoughtful discussion about these monuments. they are very different. to say i want to take down the statue of robert e. lee versus abraham lincoln,

george washington, ulysses s. grant. in wisconsin you preview that they were statues taken down. one of them was of a female abolitionist. why are people pulling down such as like that? i think we need to be more mature about that and have a conversation internally as a local issue about how the community feels about these statues coming down. >> melissa: dagen, focusing on the statue specifically, why do you think we are seeing this right now and why does it feel, and so many cases, random? it was one thing when we were looking at symbols that had long been the focus of controversy, but as jessica rightly points out, i mean, any statue is a target right now. >> dagen: again, you are right. you were talking about the toppling of the president grant statue, the toppling of the president george washington statue, the spray painting of the shaw 54th regiment memorial, a monument to the first african-american regiment to fight in the civil war. in terms of some of these

monuments, the movement is going to lose steam to, yes, remove confederate monuments that were put up in an attempt to show white supremacy during the jim crow era. that's when many of these monuments went up, and i can't find anybody in modern times who think they should continue to stand. also, with this emancipation memorial, you know there was criticism of that statue of abraham lincoln literally from the moment that it was dedicated. which was on i think the eve of the 11th anniversary of the assassination of president lincoln. in fact, there are reports that frederick douglass, in his famous oration at the dedication, raised the issue of the actual composition of that statue. that he talked about how he took issue with it depicting a kneeling black men rather than a standing free man. that's actually, if the individuals want that statue down, there's got to be a better

way to do it in 2020 than trying to rip it down. >> melissa: in fact, that echoes the very same words that we heard from the mayor of d.c. let's play that, and katie, i will get you to respond on the other side. >> i think we all need to do with statues is have a reasonable conversation on statues and other references to historical figures. not have a mob decide if they want to pull it down, and certainly not destroy anything in the district were set anything on fire. >> melissa: katie, why do you think it is that there are people who are not willing to wait for those simple conversations or however she phrased it? i don't want to take her words away, but to have a real conversation about whether those things should be removed. here officials are happy to sit down and do that.

>> katie: the fact is that this mob of anti-american violent anarchists are not interested in having a conversation. they are not interested in the history of what some of these monuments and statues might mean. they are interested in tearing them down because they don't believe in what america stands for, whether it's moving past racial tensions or anything else. when it comes to how this is being handled, it's nice that the d.c. mayor is now getting on board with this idea that maybe we shouldn't have a mob dictating how we move forward with these conversations about whether we should or should not allow these statues and monuments. a monument, by the way, that was paid for by freed slaves and the women who take care of it today oppose it being taken down. there has to be deterrence, and that is exactly what president trump is trying to do when he talks about law and order, when they talk about handing down indictments for those who are violent and part of this mob, there has to be a stop to those who don't want to have a conversation, and everyone keeps saying they want to have a conversation but the

fact is that anybody who dares to criticize the black lives matter movement are people who are making the argument you shod just be turned down all the statue without some kind of conversation, they are at risk for cancel culture. nobody who is engaged in this violent mob is actually interested in having a "real conversation" about anything. they are interested in getting their way through violence. we are seeing that over and over again. >> melissa: meanwhile, president trump again stepping up his push for law and order as he tore into the violence plaguing some democrat run cities across the country. chicago saw its deadliest day in 60 years last month, and murder rates are up this year in cities like baltimore and detroit. here is president. >> chicago is an example. it's, like, worse than afghanistan. it's worse than -- i shouldn't say because they're working with us -- honduras, guatemala. take a look at detroit, take a look at what's happening in

oakland. take a look at what's happening in baltimore. everybody gets upset when i say it. they say, "oh, is not a racist statement?" it's not racist. frankly, black people come up to me and say thank you. "thank you, sir, for saying it." they want help. these cities, it's like living in hell. >> melissa: speaker gingrich, we have heard explanations recently that one of the reasons we are seeing this pushback has to do with systemic racism in the cities. i was doing research for this show before hand and came across this from npr. they are talking about the record number of black female mayors around this country. if you look it up, there are black women running atlanta, san francisco, chicago, d.c., charlottesville, charlotte, you can go on. there are black men running, as mayor, baltimore, dallas, houston, st. paul, baton rouge, denver. the list goes on and on. can we have systemic racism in

these giant cities where these things are going on if the person in charge is black? >> newt: systemic racism is a political term designed to make you feel guilty and shut you up. the police commissioner in chicago who had to report on the 103 shootings is an african-american. the police commissioner, or the police chief, in minneapolis is an african-american. i think there are really deep problems, and the tragedy is -- and i think this is with the president is getting at -- democrats have run chicago since 1931. 89 years. they have run baltimore 56 years. nancy pelosi's father and brother were both mayors of baltimore. to all these cities that have

adopted democratic policies, democratic unions, they are a disaster. we need to have a national conversation about profoundly changing them. that gets to places liberals don't want to go to. they need more police, not she were. defending the police in this environment is an act of suicide. they need to be better trained and they all have to have body cameras. the idea that new york is going to cut $1 billion out of the police force, that guarantees a dramatic increase in crime. i think we have to understand, the one place where all of this vandalism changes the equation, it does two things. it's part of the movement to discredit the police who are overwhelmingly risking their lives and decent people, and it is saying to people, "you can break the law and get away with it." that's where i hope the president will move from talk to

action and simply have the fbi and others start arresting people. and put them in jail for a long time. you're not going to stop the violence until you get people who are violent off the street. >> melissa: jessica, i'm looking at all those cities where black lives matter right now are protesting. i'm looking at this report out of npr about the record number of black mayors in charge of all these cities, and i don't understand how the problem is continuing if you have these cities were african-american people feel like they are not getting a fair shake, yet the entire city has elected an african-american to run the city. what is going on? >> jessica: well, what's going on is having someone in elected office in charge there doesn't mean that it's the magic bullet that's going to fix everything. president obama was obviously a black man, it didn't mean all

the problems for black americans were going to be solved. but it means you have someone on your side working who understands the issues that are affecting you most. to speaker gingrich's point, that systemic racism doesn't exist, i don't know how he can say that with a straight face when you consider the systemic challenges that face black and brown americans in terms of the education system, the economy, even climate issues. where do people live with the worst air quality? those are black americans. water quality, look who lives in flint. these are challenges that have been going on for decades, for hundreds of years. yes, having people who reflect their communities in charge a step in the right direction, but if we have people in leadership positions across the country, cable news pundits, et cetera, denying the fact these challenges exist, these people, black and brown americans, are going to be an even more trouble. we have a lot of work to do, but i really want to push back on the idea that systemic racism doesn't exist. even republicans acknowledge it. look at what tim scott has been talking about. why was there criminal justice

reform which was brought forward by the trump administration? because even donald trump can get it out of his mouth that every once in a while there are bigger problems for black and brown americans than there are for white americans. >> melissa: it's interesting that the systemic racism continues when you have people of color in charge. that's puzzling to me. you talk about the educational system, i mean, in charge of the departed of education here in new york we have a person of color, and it's a disaster for people of color. so, i don't know. it makes the problem very puzzling. thanks to all of you. we are keeping an eye on developments in washington where the covid-19 task force led by vice president pence is such a hold a briefing. we will take you there live when it happens. plus, is it time for the black lives matter movement to flex its political muscle by forming a third party? one of the nation's most prominent african-american businessman thinks so. we will tell you i.

♪ attention veterans with va loans. record low mortgage rates have now fallen even lower. by refinancing, you can save $3000 a year with one call to newday usa. our team is standing by right now to take your call. and from start to finish, you can do it all without ever leaving the house. with our va streamline refi, there's no income verification. no appraisal. and no out of pocket costs. nobody works harder for veterans than my team at newday usa.

to give you the protein you need with less of the sugar you don't. [grunting noise] i'll take that. woohoo! 30 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar.

ensure max protein. with nutrients to support immune health.

ensure max protein. yeah. this moving thing never gets any easier. well, xfinity makes moving super easy. i can transfer my internet and tv service in about a minute. wow, that is easy. almost as easy as having those guys help you move. we are those guys. that's you? the truck adds 10 pounds. in the arms. -okay... transfer your service online in a few easy steps. now that's simple, easy, awesome. transfer your service in minutes, making moving with xfinity a breeze. visit xfinity.com/moving today.

>> dagen: bet founder robert johnson says democrats have taken black voters for granted for years. he's calling for the black lives matter movement to form a third-party to fight for their interests. johnson, a longtime democratic donor who backed hillary clinton in 2016, also had choice words for joe biden in an interview with fox news. >> if black americans want to go all the way, they will never get there in the democratic party. vice president biden said to a black american host on a show, "even if you think about voting

for donald trump, you're not black." to have that mind-set, you must have the attitude that we black americans, we own you. we can take you for granted. >> dagen: newt, to you first. the idea of the formation of another political party based on the black lives matter movement. >> newt: i understand his frustration, and it's true. what i was trying to describe earlier which he picked on better than i did, most of the problems faced by poor and african-americans are problems of feeling government, of reforms that would be very unpopular with the democratic party. it would mean reforming, for example, unions in terms of schools of other things. the question i would have for johnson would be, i think there

is a way that african-americans can get the attention of the democratic party. but what would it be for? they would have to have a platform. the current black lives matter leadership would have a platform so far to the left that i think it would get many fewer votes than they expect. third-party is pretty hard to launch. on the other hand, i think they have every reason to feel that the democratic party has taken them for granted. that's why you are going to see reparations, for example, come up as an issue. because the democrats are going to be desperate to offer something new to the black community and try to arouse their enthusiasm when it's very clear that biden currently doesn't arouse much enthusiasm. >> dagen: katie, i will raise the issue, i have heard this sentiment echoed by other individuals, and i remember distinctly charles barkley saying virtually the same thing.

he said in an interview, i think it was last year. it was on a radio show. "we need to start holding you don't don't make democrats accountable, they been taking black people's votes and they only talk to black people everyr years. all these politicians only talk to black people every four years because they want their vote." and that's for all my from charles barkley, katie. >> katie: it's obvious there's a lot of frustration about only having to cope political parties given the number of independents we've seen over the course of the past presidential election cycles. i think it's really important to revisit melissa's point, which is a very prudent and important one. look at who you are voting in. maybe it's not about race but about democratic policies and leftism and whether that has been working for the black community for the past 50 years, whether that will continue to be the path they want moving forward, given that a number of people in their own communities have been in charge and the

policies in places like flint, michigan, and chicago have led to a lot of problems for the people who live there. in terms of the third black lives matter party, he also said during the interview that he thinks tearing down statues is a bad idea, but the leader of the new york black lives matter party said that he wants to burn down the country if the country doesn't give them what he wants. so, i think the founder of the bet channel was talking about voting, not necessarily tearing things down and violets. so there's a distinction there between what he's actually talking about in terms of a party. >> dagen: jessica, but with the threat of even another party change the priorities of the democratic leadership? >> jessica: i'm not sure there's an issue about changing priorities as democratic leadership. i think what mr. johnson is talking about and what a number of african-american people have been talking about in this country is just making good on

promises and doing outreach throughout the cycle. not showing up every four years or every two years, the get up another discussion about whether that is the fair reading of this. i would encourage everyone on this subject to read the new piece about a visit made to an upper middle-class african-american neighborhood outside of detroit, and the conversations he had with black americans they are. they were expressing a lot of the same sentiments mr. johnson was. they weren't saying there should be a blm party, but that they will turn up to vote but don't necessarily love joe biden. frankly, when obama picked him, we know that was a choice he made because he thought he needed an older white man on the ticket to make him more palatable to wide swaths of americans. there is certainly a risk we could see what happen again in 2016 when hillary clinton's number with black voters went out from obama's in 2008 and 2012, and democrats really need to heed these kind of warnings. but i don't think a third-party is something that could even feasibly happen, as per speaker gingrich's comment, or something democratic leadership

is concerned about. >> dagen: melissa, really quickly, i bring this up all the time, but i think that progressive corporations, the bluest of liberal corporations, need to be held accountable for talking about one thing, about equality, and hiring so few black individuals. i'm talking about the biggest technology companies in this country. blacks are underrepresented at apple, at google, at facebook, in technical jobs, 1.5% of the technical jobs at facebook are represented by black individua individuals. >> melissa: yes, absolutely. and i gave you the stats that we have a record number of black women sitting in mayers' seats around the country. guess what? only 1% of silicon valley is filled with black women. >> dagen: thank you, melissa. the white house coronavirus task force briefing set to begin any moment now. we will take you there live at

some state governors delay or rollback reopening plans amid a spike in new covid-19 cases. is that the right move? could more states follow? ♪

the tempur-pedic breeze° makes sleep...feel...cool. because the tempur-breeze° transfers heat away from your body. so you feel cool... night after night. during the tempur-pedic summer of sleep, save $500 on all tempur-breeze mattresses. during the tempur-pedic summer of sleep, liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need.

i wish i could shake your hand. granted. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ well i didn't choose metastatic breast cancer. not the exact type. not this specific mutation. but i did pick hope...

...and also clarity... ...by knowing i have a treatment that goes right at it. discover piqray, the first and only treatment that specifically targets pik3ca mutations in hr+, her2- mbc, which are common and linked to cancer growth. piqray is taken with fulvestrant after progression on hormone therapy and has been proven to help people with a pik3ca mutation live longer without disease progression. do not take piqray if you've had a severe allergic reaction to it or to any of its ingredients. piqray can cause serious side effects including severe allergic and skin reactions, high blood sugar levels and diarrhea that are common and can be severe, and lung problems known as pneumonitis. tell your doctor right away if you have symptoms of severe allergic reactions or high blood sugar while taking piqray. your doctor will monitor your blood sugar before you start and during treatment and may monitor more often if you have a history of type 2 diabetes. before starting, tell your doctor if you have a history of diabetes, skin reactions... ...are pregnant, breastfeeding, or plan to become pregnant. common side effects include rash, nausea, tiredness and

weakness, decreased appetite, mouth sores, vomiting, weight loss, hair loss, and changes in certain blood tests. if you've progressed on hormone therapy, and have a pik3ca mutation... ...ask your doctor about piqray. >> melissa: we are just minutes away from the first white house coronavirus task force briefing in nearly two months, amid a troubling uptick in coronavirus cases nationwide. more than 39,000 new cases of covid-19 were confirmed in the past 24 hours, setting a new record for the second straight day. now some states are pausing or even rolling back there reopening plans due to the spike. texas governor greg abbott signing an executive order this morning closing bars and further limiting restaurant capacity. but president trump says there is a reason for the recent jump in cases. >> we've done 30 million --

almost, will be there today or tomorrow. 30 million tests. when you do test, you have cases. what they don't say is there are fewer deaths than there have been, way, way down. a nonmortality rate is among the best countries in the world, meaning people that die -- because a lot of these tests, it doesn't even -- in some cases it's people that didn't even know they were sick. maybe they weren't, but it shows up in a test. >> melissa: let's bring in dr. nicole saphier, new york city physician and fox news medical contributor. thank you so much for joining us, and let me ask you quickly, because one thing we have learned is that the relevant stats are per capita fatalities and also available hospital capacity. what do those stats look like in some of the places where we've seen these spikes? >> well, melissa, thanks for having me on. you and i have spoke about this at length over the last several months, and president trump is correct in the sense that we are doing more tests and now that we've ever done. we are doing over 500,000 tests

across the country per day. the things that we've been looking at, we've been looking at the percent positive, those being tested, and we are keeping a very close eye on the amount of inpatient hospital beds and icu beds that are available. while we have continued to see rising new cases, some of that being attributed to the increased testing capability, we are now seeing hospital systems in certain areas, that they are reporting they are near capacity if not i capacity already. that is concerning. one thing i want to mention, melissa, the average age of people being tested positive and some of these areas is much lower than what we saw in the northeast. this is a good thing, because we know that this really does have an effect on age. if you are under 50, the fatality rate is markedly lower than if you are 65 and older. in some of these states, the average age of testing positive is in the 30s. that's great and it's probably why we have not seen that massive uptick in hospitalization like we did in

the northeast. however, younger people still can get hospitalized, and that's what we're seeing. arizona reporting hospitalizations are near capacity, they are already doing makeshift icus. they are preparing to close on hospitals to possibly reopen. we know in texas they are facilitating adults being admitted to children's hospitals. so they are just a couple months behind what we are doing in the northeast. the frui good notes, melissa, ds have continued to markedly decrease over the last few weeks. there's been a small bump in the last 24 hours but you have to expect that when you have more cases and you have more hospitalizations. however, it still does seem that we are protecting are vulnerable and the death rate has not gone up like we saw before. >> melissa: dr. saphier, one of the reasons why we saw such a horrendous death rate in new york is because several of the really big mistakes that our governor made. one, of course, we lost more

than 6,000 people who were in nursing homes or assisted care facilities. mainly because the governor ordered those people to be sent back to their facilities from the hospitals in order to make more room in the hospitals for what he thought was a coming surge that didn't end up happening. instead, those people who really were the ones that needed the most care in a setting like a hospital, instead they were sent back to their nursing homes and assisted care facilities, and so many of them died. there is no other state where they are making that same mistake now, is there? to her knowledge? >> right now, absolutely not. unfortunately it's about 46% of those deaths early on that occurred in nursing homes. they did not protect our elderly and that is why there is so much emotion revolved around this. because they should have known better. they should have known those patients could not go to nursing homes if those nursing homes were not able to care for those patients, and that was wrong. i do hope that there's going to be some kind of renumeration on the back end of that. the good news is the other states seem to be protecting

their elderly much better than what we saw in the northeast, and all i can say is that, with knowledge comes power. we know how severe this covid-19 is for our elderly. we all need to band together and continue to protect the vulnerable until we have effective treatment and vaccines available. it does seem that is happening, which is by the death rate has continued to be down. i do want to say, though, we can expect these deaths will rise a bit over the next couple of months as we are seeing so many new cases, but i can only say it is good news in the sense the death rates are not nearing that which we saw in the northeast because of so many mistakes being made. >> melissa: we also learned that it's people with underlying conditions who a lot of times don't know they have those underlying conditions, necessarily. because they don't seek regular medical care. i imagine that that problem hasn't really been solved anywhere, especially in densely populated cities, and these are

largely minority communities, as well. is there any progress being made on that front? >> well, melissa, the entire concept of my book is chronic illness in the united states. i talk about that. there is massive racial disparities when it comes to the health care system in the united states. and, no, this is not being actively dressed right now. although you d to see little pockets of it. keep taking care of minorities and those were more vulnerable to certain chronic illnesses is essential, and we have to make e they have access to that care. the trump administration, by allowing the telehealth and telemedicine, that's a great step to making sure there's health care access across the rural communities in the united states. >> melissa: another big problem had here in the northeast, i'm trying to go through some of the lessons we learned because we were hit so hard by this. our governor, again, took seven weeks before he cleaned the subways and shut them down for real cleaning.

which was one of the main ways that this disease was traveling. i don't know that other cities have that same kind of vulnerability. what are your thoughts? >> well, i am born and raised in arizona and i can say early on china told us that the virus was spread in people's homes and on public transportation. we should have been cleaning public transportation on day one. the majority of the country does not have the same transportation systems that we have in the new york city area. however, in phoenix itself they have a metro system. they need to -- >> melissa: we are going to be listening now to the vice president as he takes it to the lectern they are. you can see this is our first coronavirus task force briefing in nearly two months. let's listen in. >> vice president pence: i want to thank secretary azar, dr. birx, dr. fauci, dr. redfield of the cdc, as well as our attorney general. dr. giroir, dr. hahn, and seema

verma. we will make updates to the american people on the status of the coronavirus pandemic in the country and then be available to questions. we very much appreciate the attendance of all who are here and all of you who have made time to tune in. as we reported today, we have now more than 2,500,000 americans that have contracted the coronavirus. sadly, we've lost more than 126,000 of our countrymen to this disease. i know i speak for the president and for every american when we express our sympathies and our deepest condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones. despite those losses, since the end of our 45 days to slow the spread, and the beginning of

efforts to open up america, thanks to the cooperation of the american people, the efforts of governors and state health officials, efforts i want to proudly say the entire federal team under the leadership of president trump. we have made truly remarkable progress in moving our nation forward. we have all seen the encouraging news as we open up america again, more than 3 million jobs created in the last jobs report. retail sales are rolling. of course, the extraordinary progress in new york, new jersey, connecticut, and new orleans. areas that just a matter of a month ago were struggling under the weight of this pandemic. and now have arrived at a very, very different place. as we stand here today, all 50 states and territories across this country are opening up

safely and responsibly. but with cases rising, particularly over the past week throughout the south, president trump directed our task force to brief the american people on several topics. first, we want to share with you, as dr. birx will, what we are seeing in the rise of new cases that today surmounted 40,000 new cases in a single day. secondly, we want to speak about what we've done and what we are doing at the federal level to support the state efforts, particularly in the states where we see rising cases. we will talk today about how this moment in the coronavirus pandemic is different than what we saw two months ago, to better equip the american people, to respond and ultimately we will speak about what every american can do to play their part in

reducing the spread and the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. for our part also, i have spoken to governors in arizona and florida and texas in the last 12 hours, and dr. birx and i will be traveling on sunday to texas, on tuesday to arizona, and i'll be traveling to florida on thursday of next week to get a ground report. of course, on monday we will conduct a what will be our 26th weekly call with the entire white house coronavirus task force and all of the nation's governors as we meet this moment. as i mentioned, it is important, gathering today, that we take a step back and think about how far we've come as a country.

when the president tapped me to lead the white house coronavirus task force, he said we have one mission, and that was to save lives. president trump's decision to suspend all travel from china in january, to stand up the white house coronavirus task force, and in february to declare a national emergency to halt travel from europe and amend travel from other places around the country, all contributed to giving our nation time to stand up a broad-based response. the whole of government response that we spoke about so many times at the podium throughout this pandemic. we at the state department also coordinated the repatriation of some 95,000 americans, and then came the moment when we brought this chart to the president of the united states. on the counsel of our very best scientists. the president was presented with

a decision that, if we did nothing, no intervention, the possibility existed at that moment in time that we could lose between 1.5 million and 2.2 million americans. with intervention and with mitigation, calling on the american people to embrace the mitigation efforts. social distancing, that were called upon first in the 15 days to slow the spread that would become 45 days to slow the spread. our best scientists believe that we could reduce the number of american fatalities to a number ranging between 100,240,000. the president made that decision, and we unveiled the 15 days that became the 45 days to slow the spread. inarguably, as we see where we are today as a nation, because

of what the american people have done, because of the incredible work of our health care workers, because of the partnership with governors in every state, we did just that. we slowed the spread. we flattened the curve. we saved lives. in the midst of that, we exponentially scaled testing capacity, partnering with private sector commercial laboratories. we have now reached some 30 million tests across the country, conducting some 500,000 tests a day. in that partnership with governors, also, the president directed us to make sure the states had what they needed, when they needed it. at this point, i am pleased to report that the federal government both delivered and facilitated the delivery of billions of supplies, of face shields and gowns and gloves and masks, and we continue to be on track to construct more than

100,000 ventilators in 100 days. as i spoke to governors last night, they confirmed to me again what fema has reported. we have no outstanding requests from any state at this time for personal protective equipment or medical supplies. let me say that again. in the affected areas, particularly the states down south that are seeing rising cases, we have no outstanding requests. as i told the governors, we are ready at a moment's notice to surge personnel, supplies, to extend capacity, and to support their health care response. in the midst of all of that, i think it always bears saying that, because of the great work about health care workers and because of american manufacturing, no american who required a ventilator has ever been denied a ventilator in the united states. i consider that nothing short of a national accomplishment.

we also surged hospital capacity in areas of the greatest anticipated need. we sent military and national guard personnel, and these charts showing the progress that we've made in new york and new jersey and new orleans all demonstrate the efforts of the people of those states, the cooperation with federal government and all the great health care workers to show the progress that we made in areas that were once deeply impacted. and we extend our thanks to the people of each of those states for the sacrifices that they made during those great and challenging times. at the close of that 45 days to slow the spread, we unveiled a plan to safely reopen america again. now all 50 states and territories are moving forward. as i said, we are seeing america go back to work, and in much of the country we are seeing jobs

expanding and economic activity expanding. our focus today is very much on the advent of a rising series of new cases across the american south. where our first mission was to save lives, once we came out of the 45 days to slow the spread, what our task force has been focused on over the course of the past two months is to partner with states to save lives and safely reopen. in fact, we have some 17 meetings of the white house coronavirus task force in the intervening days since we began the process of opening up america again, and we have been working very closely with states to move that agenda forward. as the president has made clear, we want to open our economy up, and we want to move america

forward, even while we take and continue to take the steps necessary to protect lives and the health of the american people. we stand here today because, with the rising cases among southern states, president trump asked us to brief the american people to give details and what we are seeing, what we are doing, and how it's different from two months ago. as you may recall, after seeing overall cases dropped from 30,000 a day average in april to 25,000 a day average in may, the first few weeks of june i actually saw cases averaging roughly 20,000 new cases a day. we have now seen cases begin to rise precipitously across the south. in fact, 34 states -- let me make sure i've got my number is exactly, here.

as we reported early on, 34 states across the country, though, are experiencing a measure of stability that is a credit to all the people of those states. when we speak about stability, we are talking about not necessarily states where there are no new cases but these would be states where the there are er no new cases and no rising percentage or no combination of those two things. there may be states across the country seeing a lot of increase in cases, but the percentage of positive rates is remaining very stable. nevertheless, there are 16 states with rising cases and rising percentages, and we'll be focusing on those states today. the first thing we share with the american people is that, while there is a penchant in the national debate to use a broad brush and to paint an entire

state one color, if there are rising cases and a portion of the state, this is actually a better picture of the data we literally analyze every single day. dr. birx will take a few moments to unpack the specific outbreaks in texas, florida, arizona, and california. the first thing we conveyed to the american people is that, from this new positive result in the last few days, you can see the concentration of new cases in specific parts of states, and of course very specifically in parts of countries. or, parts of the country. secondly, we want the american people to understand that it's almost inarguable that more testing is generating more cases. to one extent or another, the volume of new cases coming in is a reflection of a great success in expanding testing across the country.

as i set out the top, we are testing more than ever before, some 500,000 people a day, and perhaps we could go to that testing chart, just to show you the acceleration of testing that is taking place over the course of this pandemic in the united states. it has truly been remarkable and it's been a public and private partnership from the very outset. one of the things we are seeing among the cases, we hear this in florida and in texas and elsewhere, is that roughly half of the new cases are americans under the age of 35. which is, at a certain level, very encouraging news, as the experts tell us. as we know so far in this pandemic, younger americans are less susceptible to serious outcomes of the coronavirus, the fact that we are finding more younger americans, it's a good

thing. we will speak about the testing, and admiral brett giroir is here and can detail any questions you might have about testing going forward. we will talk about what these new numbers mean and how we can address them. dr. fauci will speak about that in just a moment, particularly in the affected areas, and the other area that we spend a great deal of time thinking about his hospitalization. not only do we track new cases every day on a county by county basis, but we also track hospitalization. the map on the left of your screen represents how -- we look at it.

and how we ensure that hospitals and health care workers have the resources and support they need. again, in the matter of new cases, you can also see with hospitalization that it's highly focused, highly detailed, and highly specific. secretary azar will speak about hospitalization, the work of hhs, to make sure that our hospitals around the country have the capacity to meet this moment. as dr. birx may well reflect, as well, we are encouraged that, where two months ago we were seeing some 15% of new cases being hospitalized, now that number is averaging roughly 5% around the country. which is also encouraging news, to say the least. so, while we have 16 states that we are focusing on, again, i would just reiterate to the

american people, the most useful thing to know is where it's happening so you can take the steps necessary to do your part. rest assured, and our conversations with governors and all of the most impacted states, we continue to be assured that hospital capacity remains strong and they know the federal government stands ready to provide them with the personal protective equipment or supplies or even expanded capacity and personnel to meet any moment. at this point in time, we are told that, in all of the states most deeply impacted, hospitalization remains very, very broadly available. finally, i want to speak about the progress that we have made as a country on the most difficult aspect of this. i said at the beginning that our hearts and our prayers go out to the families who have lost loved ones in the course of the

coronavirus pandemic, and i know i speak on behalf of everyone in this country when i extend our sympathies to the more than 126,000 families that have lost loved ones. as the president has said many times, one life lost is too many. nevertheless, i believe that at this point in the course of the pandemic we can still take some comfort in the fact that fatalities are declining all across the country. there literally was a day two months ago this week where he lost 2,500 americans in a single day. this week, because of the extraordinary work of our health care workers, because of the availability of new medicines like rimmed is severe and new treatments like steroids , and because of the cooperation of the american people, heeding the guidance that we gave at the

federal level, state and local officials gave, this week there are two days where he lost less than 300 americans. what has been a precipitous decline from some of the worst moments of this pandemic, as it impacted areas of new york and new jersey and the northeast. again, i have a heavy heart anytime i recite these numbers, but the fact that we are making progress reducing the number of americans that we have lost and are losing, i hope it's an encouragement. as we see new cases rising, and we are tracking them very carefully, there may be a tendency among the american people to think that we are back to that place that we were two months ago. that we are in a time of great losses and great hardship on the

american people. the reality is we are in a much better place with the efforts president trump mobilized at the federal level, with the efforts of this team, this whole of government approach, the efforts of governors across the country, our incredible health care workers, and the cooperation of the american people. we are in a much stronger place. the truth is we did slow the spread, we flattened the curve. we were able to stand up the resources and the capacities in our health care system to be able to meet this coronavirus in a way that would put the health of all of our country first. we have also cared for the most vulnerable and continued to focus resources and testing and supplies on the most vulnerable seniors with a serious underlying conditions. i, too, believe with all my heart that we continue to save lives. we have created a solid foundation for whatever challenges come, either in the days ahead were in the months ahead.

that is a credit. it's a credit, i believe, to our president, to our federal team, to our state partners. mostly, it's a credit to the american people and our health care workers. so, we stand here today, and we believe we've made progress. but, as we are reminded, as we see cases rising across the south, we still have work to do. so, we say to every american, particularly those in counties and in states that are being impacted by rising cases, that now is the time for everybody to continue to do their part. i think you will hear from this podium today a particular message to younger americans. younger americans across the sun belt, and the role that you can play in protecting the vulnerable, making sure that, while the coronavirus doesn't represent as significant a threat for a serious outcome to

younger americans, none of us would want to bring the disease back to our parents or grandparents, moms and dads, an elderly friend, or a friend who has an immunodeficiency, to cause a serious outcome, as well. so, we leave you just with the guidelines for all of the phases. when he put out the guidelines to open up again, we laid out, at the outset, guidance for a response will be opening. and states across the country, as i mentioned, are doing just that. 34 states are reopening safely and responsibly, and seeing low and steady cases and not seeing a rise in the percentage of positives. in the 16 states that are being impacted, particularly those we will focus on here today, we would just encourage every

american to follow the guidelines for all the phases. continue to practice good hygiene, wash your hands, avoid touching her face, disinfect frequently, people who feel sick should stay home, and when it comes to businesses, social distancing, protective equipment, temperature checks, testing and isolation. these are the guidelines for all of the phases, and they are good practices to implement if you're in a community that's affected or even if you are not. because we are all in this together, and the progress that we made that you saw illustratee new york and new jersey, connecticut and new orleans, was a result of the american people stepping forward, heeding the guidance of state, and local authorities. we encourage you to continue to do