this is "nightline." tonight, an alarming new coronavirus warning for the west and south. >> you are now seeing a disturbing surge of infections. >> and in the shadow over a presidential rally. >> i don't wear a mask. >> the medical reality, racing to the newest hotspots, now expecting to be overwhelmed next. >> seeing it in my os bad as it can get, that compelled me to come and help. plus, closed case? the fbi investigation and the report of the noose found in the garage of bubba wallace. why authorities are not calling it a hate crime. the nascar star taking on racism

and racing's checkered past. >>ever aspect of life. >> "nightline" starts right know. byron pitts. >> good evening. thank you for joining us. tonight parts of the u.s. seeing what a top health official says is a disturbing surge in covid-19 infections. now the health care heroes going wherever the virus takes them. their latest battle ground, arizona. here's matt gutman. >> today is my first day on the floor on my own. >> it's exciting, but it's a little bit scary. >> reporter: bridget harrigan has answered the call of about, hospitals overwhelmed with covid-19 cases are desperate for help from people like her. >> be putting me in the covid unit the whole time. so i'll want to be dressed up for that before i even get in the building. >> i was meant to go help on the front lines in some way. >> reporter: the traveling nurse has seen what the coronavirus

has done to a dedated herself t fighting this pandemic starting in new york city. >> my hospital was full of patients, pull of people. i've been to hospitals before where the census was overflowing, but this was on a whole another level. >> reporter: and as reach reaches its highest cases, she knew she was on to a new destination. in 21 states, hospitalizations are surging. and today the country's top infectious disease expert, dr. anthony fauci warning congress it could get worse. >> next couple weeks are going to be critical in our ability to address those surgings that we're seeing in florida, in texas, in arizona and in other states. >> arizona now a hot spot with over 58,000 cases and more than

1,000 deaths. garrett craig says he was the first covid patient to make it off a ventilator alive at this arizona hospital. his 30-year-old son also infected with covid. >> i was still going out, wasn't worried about anything. i made it a joke, to be honest. >> reporter: father and son now warning others not to take this virus lightly. >> social distancing is important. wear a mask. it's a miracle that we're both here and we survived. >> reporter: and the governor of arizona encouraging cities to mandate masks to stop the spread. >> i want to be clear. we recommend that all arizonans wear a face mask. whenever you cannot socially distance. >> reporter: and today, with thousands lining up to cheer president trump at this mega church in phoenix, dr. sam darani who heads covid response for a hospital system here was shocked by what he saw. and all of this as his hospital system, he says, is seeing an

alarming rise in hospitalizations just over the past 24 hours. >> you're talking about 10% increases per day. 10%, 20% increases in hospital admissions. >> reporter: what does that mean for hospitals like yours? >> you're going to get to the point your you have overflow. >> reporter: but the president's supporters dismissive. >> if a person doesn't feel like they need wear a mask i don't think they should be forced to wear a mask. >> reporter: are you putting people's lives at risk? >> no, i don't think so. i'm going to arizona. it's a great place, great state. >> reporter: in his swing throughout southwest, the president hoping to firm up support in the increasingly purple grand canyon state. first making a stop at the u.s.-mexico border, and just miles from where the president was, overwhelmed hospitals calling for every available nurse in the region and for volunteers from out of state. how short of nurses are you

right now? >> we are having a situation where we don't have enough nursing staff. >> reporter: from descending on arizona. >> we are here. >> reporter: deploying for duty on the state's front lines. >> hospitals are starting to get filled up to capacity. >> reporter: houston based icu nurse shannon roberts flew to phoenix for a six-week contract. >> i just go with no expectations. i just go in knowing that i'm going to have sick patients and knowing that i'm going to be there to take care of them. >> reporter: gina mitchell drove cross country from oklahoma to arizona in her rv. >> arizona! >> reporter: her boyfriend and two dogs along for the ride. >> you can call it a service, but this is my life. this is what i do. >> reporter: this will be her first time working with covid patients, but she says her eight years as travel nurse have

prepared her for the worst. >> i would rather somebody die with me sitting right there holding their hand, excuse me. i would rather hold their hand and get them through their journey than to have them die alone. >> reporter: bridget hair began knows first hand how bad it can get. she just wrapped up her last travel assignment in new york city. the epicenter of the pandemic, and she spent a month working in the icu of elmhurst hospital. >> when i got there, it was like a disaster zone. we treating it just like you learn as a nurse how you do disaster nursing and triage and everything. >> reporter: by early march, the hospital in queens becoming ground zero, seeing as many as a dozen defendants aths in a 24-hd from the virus. >> i've never experienced five to ten deaths in just a shift before. i've never experienced that gravity of the situation.

it's physically taxing and emotionally taxing. this is my decontamination station as i like to call it. >> reporter: now wrapping up in her new role, hair began is doing everything in her power to keep herself and others safe. >> seeing it in my opinion as bad as it can get and hearing that there's a possibility that somewhere else is headed that way was, that compelled me to come and help. >> we are reaching a point, we may not be able to take care of every patient to the best of our ability who comes into the hospital. >> reporter: dr. jennifer ohea works at banner health in phoenix. for months she's been in the trenches helping patients fight covid-19. she considers one thing critical to thwarting the virus. >> if i could ask everyone to do one thing stop the spread of covid-19 t would be to wear a cloth mask in public. >> reporter: she joined a panel

of doctors demanding that they make it easier for local leaders to mandates max wearing. >> i was so disappointed to see the lack of masking and social distancing that is so easy for the community to do in this public health crisis. >> reporter: one of the state's biggest tests for whether arizonans are heeding the call to wear masks came in the form of that rally with president trump. anybody worried about masks? >> no. >> reporter: you're one of the few people i've actually seen out here wearing a mask. why? >> well, i'm in the group of over 65. >> reporter: uh-huh. >> or 65 or over, and i have asthma, and i'm disabled vietnam-era veteran, and i figured to be smart. >> reporter: do you have a mask? did you bring a mask? >> i have one with me. >> reporter: are you going to wear one inside? >> no. not unless remember ahe

>> reporter: the mayor saying any elected official should set an example by wearing a mask, this includes the president. dr. derani, the covid resed he d snapping pictures. what percentage would you say are wearing a mask? >> about 1% to 5% probably. >> reporter: in a city going throughity surge rig through its surge right now, what does it mean? >> it's not good. any mass gathering is going to propagate the spread ever covid-19. >> here we are on our way to see president trump. >> reporter: nadia larson was determined to see the president, waking up at 5:00 a.m. to be one of the first at the rally with her friend and fellow trump supporter. though she's considered in the high-risk category as a breast cancer survivor, she is not planning to wear a mask. >> i fight any viruses with my

supplements, the vitamins i take, all five of them. iakey c the sun every day ten ms to kill the virus. >> mayim municipy immune system and if i get the virus i get over it. >> reporter: tonight she cheered on the president, both of them not wearing a mask. >> we're doing so well after the plague. it's going away. >> reporter: and as bridget harrigan comes off her shift, she says she's hopeful that the crisis that she saw in new york won't become reality in arizona. but she is ready. >> i've been there for one shift in the hospital, and it's not as bad as new york, but it could, it has every capability of getting there if the cases rise and it overruns the hospital, so i'm hoping that that doesn't happen while i'm here, but if it is, that's what i'm here for. >> reporter: for "nightline," ki o racism, the enix, arizona.e

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nascar has been rallying around one of its own, bubba wallace, the only full-time elite black race car driver at the center of a high-profile investigation. tonight what they are saying about reports of a noose found in his garage stall. after three emotional days, a sigh of relief from the president of nascar. >> they've concluded their investigation, and that talladega super speedway and determined that bubba wallace was not the target of a hate crime. >> tonight the u.s. department of justice announcing no federal hate crime was committed, when a suspected noose was found in the stall of nascar's only top tier black driver, bubba wallace, determining the rope was just a pulley and had been there since last fall. tonight wallace appearing on cnn, seeming skeptical of the investigation's results.

>> of what was hanging in my garage is not a garage during. it was a noose. it was a noose, whether tied in 2019 or whatever, it was a noose. so it wasn't directed at me. somebody tied a noose. that's what i'm saying. >> it's a turning point that has rocked the world of racing and beyond. >> banned confederate flag not allowed anywhere in sight. >> new developments after that noose was found in nascar driver bubba wallace's garage. >> bubba wallace was on the "view", talking about the moment he learned about the suspected noose. >> obviously, i was hurt. i was sad that people would go to those measures. i wouldn't say i'm shocked, because we see this stuff that goes on in the world. >> the noose in america long symbolizes racial violence. it is the symbol of essentially racial terrorism. >> all this as america continues to reckon with racism in its

past and present. for a long time, 26 year old daryl bubba wallace jr., who is biracial said he avoided talking about racism. as protests swept the country, he decided to focus on getting the confederate flag banned from nascar events. >> you look at the confederate flag, and yes, it may mean heritage to most, but to a group that is in a lot of pain right know, the african-american community is in a lot of pain, that's a symbol of hate. >> nascar began on the short tracks and bull rings of the south. the confederate flag was as commonplace as hot dogs at a baseball game. >> wallace's campaign was successful. nascar made the decision to ban the confederate flag at races earlier this month. >> in is a world-wide movement. >> for whoopi goldberg, nascar's swift response was striking. what do you make if at all there's a comparison between how nascar responded to bubba

wallace and how the nfl responded to colin kaepernick? >> you know, colin kaepernick was kneeling and taking all that heat from everybody, because nobody was really listening. now is very different when an entire nation says we are demanding this as americans, and change happens, and that's what's happening. >> i never thought that we would sit here in 2020 and be able to say that a sport like nascar stock car racing would be considered one of the leaders in major league sports when it comes to social justice. this is not a ""dukes of""dukesf hazzard" "nascar. >> reporter: on saturday, outside, the flag was still being flown by cars driving to the talladega frack. and this plane flew overhead on sunday. >> it's one of the concepts that surrounds the confederate flag is this willful deniability.

so this idea that no, the flag can't stand for racism. the flag can't stand for white supremacy and this belief that it stands for something else. >> reporter: hisris pointo the confederatelag's to '40s, 'd '60s. >> there's this longer history where the confederate flag is associated with racial antagonism, harassment and racial persecution. >> so on sunday when nascar announced it found a rope in wallace's garage stall, it was taken to be a noose. you were a child of the '60s, a child of the civil rights movement. explain why it's so striking, the imagery of a black man and a noose. >> this was a national pastime, hanging black people from trees. men, women and children. it basically says, you mean

nothing to me. you're just a piece of fruit hangin' from a tree, and i pluck you and eat you and kill you. that is what it means to people. >> reporter: nascar and the fbi launched an investigation. the fbi concluding late today, although the noose is is now known to have been in garage number four in 2019, nobody could have known mr. wallace would be assigned to garage number four last week. but it's this moment unfolding on the talladega speedway that will stay with wallace. >> yeah, every time i watch that video, i get emotional and get chills. >> a striking show of solidarity. normally, in nascar, the headlines are reserved for the champion. but on this day it was reserved for change. >> these times kind of bring back that positive light of love and show that love is way stronger than hate.

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>> jimmy: hello again, it's me, jimmy, from my house. i hope you had a nice day of meetings from your fat pants. once we go back, i'm planning on spending two months living at work. it has been quite a quarantine. we have a very picky 5-year-old daughter who last night decided she no longer eats corn. this morning he refused to eat her pancakes because i used a new mix. they stopped making the mix i used to use. and i had to try a new one. i tried to find one kind of healthy. i don't trust the mix that says just add water, that's for kool-aid. not breakfast. i add the eggs and milk, made the pancake in the shape of a butterfly, which she loves, the syrup was perfect, and she took one bite and says "it tastes like there's seeds in it." and we got in an hour-long standoff. eat the pancakes, you love

pancakes, no, i don't. you eat them