right now on "america this morning," crisis mode. cities from florida to texas to arizona and california seeing coronavirus infections spike. the biggest one-day total ever. re-opening plans put on pause from california to new york. this morning, the shocking claim that young people are throwing covid parties offering money to see who gets infected. what's being done to crack down. and this morning, the major league baseball coach back on the field describing his emotional fight agains tough times. the new jobs report out this morning as more americans are laid off for a second time. what congress is saying now about helping small businesses. breaking overnight, $1,000 per dead u.s. soldier. new details about the alleged russian bounty program to kill americans.

plus, the new power graby vladimir putin. mmer scorcher. the potentially historic heat wave on the way as we gear up for july 4th. newlywed nightmare. the couple washed out to sea and the dramatic rescue. plus, the woman who claimed she was fired because her boss felt her kids were too noisy during conference calls. good thursday morning, everyone. in the last 24 hours the u.s. has broken another record when it comes to new cases of the coronavirus. >> for the first time we've seen more than 50,000 new cases in a single day, and the number of people in the hospital is back to the level we saw in may. >> 22 states are now pausing or rolling back their re-opening plans. that means more restaurants and ek tmorning with man there's incoern ou our coverage.

this morning, california rolling back re-openings as new coronavirus infections explode. >> the bottom line is the spread of this virus continues at a rate that is particularly concerning. >> reporter: 70% of the state now under new restrictions. restaurants, wineries and movie theaters barred from indoor business while every single beach in l.a. is shut down. >> i know we're exhausted. i know that we let down our guard. i know some of us think that we're invincible, but this disease reminds us that we're not. >> reporter: up north testing sites in the bay area overwhelmed. one location outside oakland says even though they can do 500 tests per day, they had to start turning people away by noon. doctors in the state say testing capacity isn't the only thing holding them back. >> so today we found out that we didn't have as many swabs as we needed per the testing that we would need to do in the next two days.

>> reporter: with nearly 250,000 cases, california is among four states in the country seeing record jumps in daily infections. in texas, icus are reaching their limits. just this week, parkland hospital in dallas opened a third icu ward to deal with the crisis. >> just worry that what's to come two, three weeks from now. >> reporter: and the pentagon now saying the military is struggling to stop the spread within their ranks with the number of sick service members more than doubling in less than a month. meanwhile, nurses in miami say the virus is making people sicker than before. >> patients seem to be way more critical than the first wave. >> reporter: and now new reports of people trying to catch the virus on purpose. in alabama officials say college students are throwing covid-19 parties to see who can get sick first. >> to put money in a pot, whoever catches covid first gets the pot. we have gotten from around the country gets worse and worse all the time. >> reporter: and just outside

new york city a cluster of at least eight cases are linked to a house party. ma young adults in their 20s. some facing $2,000 fines. new york's mayor now slamming the brakes on indoor dining. the decision comes as major businesses like apple and mcdonald's roll back re-opening plans across the country. but major league baseball back on the diamond for spring training, part two. cubs coach tommy hottovy getting emotional talking about his fight against the virus and the toll on his family. >> it's still kind of raw in the fact that we just t we just got through it. >> reporter: and last night, the first action on the field for fans. >> a diving catch. >> reporter: the collegiate

coastal league playing baseball. league the savannah bananas taking on the macon bacon with fans in the stands. a stark reminder, in just the last four months more americans have died from covid-19 than all u.s. soldiers killed in the 18 months the u.s. was involved in world war i plus the wars in afghanistan and iraq. kenneth, mona. >> megan, thank you. the labor department releasing the monthly jobs report. expected to show 3 million jobs added last month but the unemployment rate is still over 12%. some workers are getting laid off for a second time as more areas pause re-opening plans. the house joined the senate voting to extend the payroll protection program for small businesses. president trump is expected to approve it. in a new interview the president says he still believes the coronavirus will disappear and he's striking a different tone on wearing a mask. abc's ines de la cuetara has more. >> reporter: as the coronavirus pandemic continues to worsen in many parts of the country, president trump struggling to explain how he plans to lead the nation out of this crisis telling fox business -- >> i think we're going to be

very good with the coronavirus. i think that at some point that's going to sort of just disappear, i hope. >> reporter: the president also facing growing backlash for refusing to wear a mask but now insisting -- >> i'm all for masks. i think masks are good. i would wear -- if i were in a group of people and i was close -- >> you would wear one? >> i would -- i have. i mean, people have seen me wearing one and i thought i looked okay. i looked like the lone ranger. >> reporter: and on the foreign policy front, the white house grappling with new reports that accuse the kremlin of paying taliban fighters to kill u.s. troops in afghanistan. trump insisting the intelligence people didn't believe it happened and saying this -- >> i think it's a hoax. >> reporter: his 2020 opponent blasting the president for not taking action sooner, both with regards to russia -- >> if he was briefed and nothing was done about this, that's a dereliction of duty. he doesn't seem to be cognizantly aware of what's going on. >> reporter: -- and when it comes to the pandemic. >> donald trump is in retreat.

he called himself a wartime president. what happened? >> reporter: this as a new politico morning consult poll finds trump's approval rating has dropped to 39% with 59% of voters disapproving of the president. >> the trump team believes they haven't begun to define joe biden, and they think biden's numbers will go down and trump's numbers will go up, but he is operating from a massive enormous hole. >> reporter: fund-raising numbers reflecting that trend as well with biden and democrats raising more than president trump and the republican party in the latest round of numbers. kenneth and mona. >> ines, thank you. russian president vladimir putin has tightened his grip on power. voters have passed a referendum that allows putin to stay in office until 2036. the opposition accuses the government of rigging the vote. meanwhile, there is new information about that alleged plot by russia to offer bounty payments to kill u.s. troops. "the new york times" reports an afghan contractor served as a

middleman paying up to $100,000 for every dead american. the army is expected to provide more details today about the case of vanessa guillen, a missing soldier from ft. hood. the update comes a day after one suspect, a civilian, was arrested and a second suspect, a soldier, died by suicide. guillen vanished in april. investigators are trying to identify remains found near a local river. her family says she had been sexually harassed and no one tried to help. >> she signed the contract with the army to protect and serve the country, yet look how they treat her, like she was nothing. i want justice, and i want answers. my family does not deserve this. vanessa guillen did not deserve this. >> reporter: the army says it will investigate ft. hood's program for harassment victims. a building collapse left i new york city but no one was seriously hurt. officials say the building in

brooklyn fell just weeks after a stop work order was issued because construction work wasn't being done properly. time now for a look at your thursday morning weather. a funnel cloud swooped over southwestern kansas near the oklahoma border. the national weather service confirms it was an ef-1 tornado. checking today's high temperatures, 91 in kansas city. it will be into the 90s from denver across the country to new york. looking ahead to the holiday weekend, forecasters say it will be a scorcher. high temperatures combined with humidity will create feel like temperatures into triple digits from dallas to new orleans all the way to the east coast. coming up, a drug bust like we've never seen connected to isis and the mafia. also ahead, the woman who claims she was fired from her job because her kids kept interrupting her calls. and breaking overnight, a fight for justice gets results. a basketball superstar helps

free a man from prison.

back now with a massive drug bust worth more than a billion dollars. it's being called the largest seizure of amphetamines in the world. it was uncovered in italy but the 14-ton shipment came from zia in these industrial cylinders. officials say isis likely teamed up with the mafia to move the drugs. police in seattle reoccupied a protest zone. they tore down campsites, surrounded the neighborhood and arrested more than 40 protesters. the mayor ordered the police action after a spike in violence. now to the fight for justice paying off for one of the best women's basketball players in the history of the game. maya moore put her career on hold to help free a man who spent decades in prison for a

crime he did not commit. 23 years after his wrongful conviction, jonathan irons is a free man. wnba star maya moore giving up her 2019 season to help him overturn his conviction on charges of burglary and assault. >> i'm dedicating my life to freeing jonathan the same way i dedicated myself to each game in the wnba. >> reporter: moore's family met irons through prison ministry. she and irons introduced in 2007 just before her freshman year at uconn. irons was convicted at 16, tried as an adult and convicted by an all white jury to 50 years for assault and burglary. but maya working in tandem with his team of lawyers saw holes in the prosecution. >> jonathan's case is special in that there were so many different problems in his case, there was no other forensic evidence that linked him to the crime. just didn't add up that jonathan could have done it. >> people don't want to watch a fixed game. they want to watch a fair game

and so that's all we're asking for, in our justice system, let's be fair and make it equal for every person to have the truth be shown and treated with respect and dignity. >> reporter: maya who "sports illustrated" has called the greatest winner in the history of basketball channeling that drive into winning jonathan's freedom. his conviction overturned in march paving the road for his eventual release after more than two decades of incarceration. >> after 23 years of lies, i'm free. ♪ praise the lord, hallelujah, i'm free ♪ hallelujah. >> and both irons and maya moore will be live on "good morning america" later this morning. >> we look forward to that. coming up, the new warning about a scam targeting dog owners. but first a wedding washout courtesy of the pacific ocean. the dramatic rescue next. see ya! heartworm disease? no way! simparica trio is the first chewable

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to remember the day, so you pick the ideal spot, in this case off the coast of laguna beach, california. you venture out onto a rock to set up the perfect pose, and suddenly it all goes horribly wrong, and you end up all wet. a giant wave hit the bride and groom sweeping them into the ocean. luckily lifeguards brought them back to shore a bit red faced but not injured. we're turning to coronavirus and researchers say the death toll could be 30% higher than we think. also, there's encouraging news in the race for a vaccine but scientists are now considering whether to infect people with the virus on purpose. earlier i spoke with dr. shashank ravi about each of these topics. "the journal of the american medical association" or "jama" conducted a new study estimating the coronavirus death toll between march and may could be 28% higher than the official death toll that's been reported. what do you think about this? what does it mean going forward? >> well, kenneth, it's an interesting study that looked to

compare the death rates from the spring to one year ago, and it found that when looking at the total number of patients who died, that there was an increase that couldn't totally be explained just by the reported numbers of covid-19 deaths, which leads to the question, what else caused this increase, and so their conclusions concluded that there were secondary deaths due to covid-19 such as patients not coming in to seek health care in a timely manner. >> we learned today that labs across the country are currently near or at capacity due to the increasing demand for coronavirus tests in recent days. your thoughts? >> well, i think overall this is a good thing. to my knowledge the companies aren't necessarily running out of the tests themselves but more a manner of the capacity that they're able to process these tests. >> there are new results out from pfizer regarding promising news on antibodies produced and developed during the vaccine

trial. what do you think about this data? >> overall i'm cautiously optimistic. the data was one of the early phases of the vaccine trial that looked at a small cohort of patients and showed that overall the vaccine that they're testing is safe. that allows us to then go on to the next phase of the trial that really looks at a larger group of patients and looks at the actual antibody response and what that antibody response means. >> "the new york times" is reporting that researchers are debating whether to infect people with the coronavirus on purpose to test vaccines. what more can you tell us about this? >> well, it's an interesting idea that isn't entirely novel. it's been used for other vaccine trials in the past. the difference is in the past it was often used for diseases where there was another type of treatment available. at the end of the day, it comes down to a risk/benefit discussion and whether the risk of infecting individuals that we don't entirely know what's going on with the virus outweighs the

benefit of getting more results faster. >> our thanks to dr. ravi. the nfl preseason will be shorter due to the coronavirus. the league will play two preseason games instead of four. the goal is to give players more time to get in shape this summer. and more people are adopting pets during the pandemic and scammers, they're taking notice running fake ads for puppy sales for potential owners have lost thousands of dollars only to learn there is no dog. the better business bureau says check its website for a list of breeders and always visit in person. coming up, the infamous tv cartoon making a comeback. >> i wasn't ready for that one. but first staying safe at the beach. a new way swimmers can track a new way swimmers can track sharks this summer. pri ghmorao severe rheumatoid arthritis. proof i can fight psoriatic arthritis... ...with humira. proof of less joint pain... ...and clearer skin in psa.

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time to check "the pulse." we begin with a lawsuit from a mother of two in california. >> she started working from home because of the pandemic, and she claimed she was fired because her boss complained that her kids were too noisy during conference calls. driss wallace is suing her employer for gender discrimination and wrongful termination. >> she said she had to juggle lunches and naptimes for her 4-year-old daughter and infant son but still met the deadlines. >> he said the kids cannot be heard on business calls with clients. it's unprofessional. >> her employer says it can't comment on a pendingase. "good morning america" will have more on her story along with tips on balancing work and family. next some high-tech help to keep beachgoers aware of sharks lurking nearby. >> it's now being used on cape cod. it's called the sharktivity app. it can track shark sightings as well as the movement of sharks that researchers have tagged

with sensors. >> they say people on the beach have more to fear from the coronavirus than they do from sharks. next the return of an unforgettable duo, beavis and butthead are back. >> the animated teenage head bangers got famous on mtv in the '90s. their show returning for two new seasons on comedy central. >> the boys will be entering a whole new generation z world. mona, go ahead, give it to me. there it is. you did a lot better than me. >> i'm practicing. just in time for independence day, "hamilton" is going global. >> the smash hit musical debuts tomorrow on the streaming service of our parent company, disney plus. since it opened on broadway five years ago, "hamilton" has played to sold out crowds with some audience members paying thousands of dollars a ticket. >> ooh. it was the first broadway show to make more than $4 million in just one week. the movie debuting tomorrow features the original cast. it was filmed in 2016. >> i was definitely not one of those people paying thousands of dollars. i still haven't seen it.

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making news at 4:27, new fears lead gooe vernor newsom t order a new shutdown. and the zoo may need to close unless they make a critical change. and pressure growing to wear a mask numbers reveal how unhappy some measures are with president trump's response to the pandemic. good morning, it is thursday, july -- oh, goodness. mike, what month is it? >> i think it is july. >> it is really july. here we are. >> it could be june 32nd if you wanted. >> yes. that's what i was thinking. >> because june was such a great

month, let's keep it around. how are you doing this morning? >> i'm well. how about you. >> >> i'm doing well too. let's take a look at the forecast. look at the wind in fairfield, 31 miles per hour. so a little breezy. more cloud cover this morning. but that is all going to go back to the coast today. and a deeper marine layer and faster sea breeze means a little more cooling. yesterday we dropped a couple agrees, this afternoon we'll drop a couple more. 65 at san francisco. 72 at oakland, 80 in san jose. mid-80s in the east bay valleys. let's get back to cue massey wi kumasi with the news. and at the live desk, frs are still on the scene of a grass fire this morning that could pose big problems for the area in bay point. we'll get to the video so you r

willow pass road. and fire crews rushed to the scene. strong winds pushed flames up the him making conditions challenging for firefighters. they contained to less than 10 acres and no injuries have been reported. they are just trying to pinpoint the cause of the flames. and developing news for you this morning. an inmate at san quentin is dead from what authorities think was covid-19. guards found the 75-year-old unresponsive in his cell yesterday and he died a few hours later. doctors are testing his body for signs of coronavirus. he was on death row for the rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl. the prison is dealing with a surge of coronavirus skascases. last week, a 71-year-old died

from covid-19. and an employee at warriors facility has tested positive for the virus. and the location has been closed for cleaning. and next week's scheduled camp will be postponed. during the pandemic, we are focused on how we can continue to build a better bay area. governor newsom's decision to impose new restrictions on 19 counties including three mere in t here in the bay area will have a big impact. and they have been ordered to close indoor operations at restaurants, wiesie theaters, familyme om zoos, and museums for at least three weeks. there will be a full closure of bars and breweries. >> this doesn't