captioninsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. n on tshour tonight: the u.s. records iheste. one-day total of new covid cases yet as the coronavirus pandemic continues to undo reopening plans. then, the future of hong kong. thousands protest in the streets, facing armed police and arrests as a controversial security law goes into effect. plus, back to school. despite widespread calls for risocial distancing, the an academy of pediatrics says students should be back in the classroom this fall. and, the search for treatment. doctors and scientists experiment with f-label use of different drugs in hope of

combating covid-19. >> we haven't had a situation like this. people are ud to saying, "ok, i've got this disease, where's the drug?" i guess everyone is starting to learn a little bit more about what drug discovery is like. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> financial services firm raymond james. ♪ ♪ s supporting social entreprened their solutions to the world's most

pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the lemelson foundation. committed to improving lives through invention, in the u.s. and developing countries. on the web at lemelson.org. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation.co itted to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfou.org pp>> and with the ongoing t of these institutions: >> this program was made public broadcasting.orion for and by contributions to your pbs from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the u.s. death tolc from tid-19 pandemic has,0 now topped 1 people. the epicenter has shifted to the ballooned to recors.e cases have

na nawaz has our report. >> nawaz: california's covid se was once called a" miracle," for quickly stemming virus spread. but the state today took steps to move back into lockdown after new cases spiked almost 80% in the last two wee. >> bottom line is spread of this virus continues at a re particularly concerning fourth of july weekend has raised a lot oconcern from health officials. we want to again remind each and everyone of you if we want to be independent of covid-1ave to be much more vigilant.aw >> n: california's not alone. a majority of states in the untry are now reporting surges in infections. yesterday, the u.s. recorded more than 47,000 new cases, thee nation's h single-day spike in the pandemic so far. to slow virus spreadeast 14 states are now moving to pause or reverse plans to re-open their economies.

but the majority of states are still moving ahead on lifting restrictions, despite the rise in infections. currently, only 17 states and the district of columbia have issued mask mandates.d xas is not one of them. in fact, lieutenant governor daa patric in a fox news interview last night that heny doesn't needdvice from dr. anthony fauci, the nation's top >> fauci said toda expert. concerned about states like texas that "skippethover" certaigs. he doesn't know what he's talking about. >> nawaz: texas had one of the shortest stay at home orders in the nation, and is now reversing re-opening steps after a record number of new infections. hospitals here, already stretched, are bracing for the weeks ahead. >> the hospitals rig now are operating with nearly 100% of intensive care unit beds ase occupied aral hospitals. if the community doesn't start behaving differently, there's going to be a lihot to what the itals will handle. it's not today. that's three weeks from now. >> nawaz: in phoenix today, vice

president mike pence met with governor doug doucey, as arizona struggles to contain its spikepu in cases, an a pause on re-opening. >> i know we'll get through this. absolutely confident with your leadership, the full support of the federal govement behind you cooperation of people of arizona we'll slow the spread and flatten the curve. >> nawaz: meanwhile in washington, the senate last night approved a five-week extension on the paycheck protection program , for small businesses struggling to stay open with the stops and starts of state plans. business owners like jnguyen are left struggling to keep up with shifting plans like texas'a recent rev >> that basically, definitely, added a lot of complexity and stress to small business owners like me. we were hoping it would turn around by may but now everythini is in the wrong direction, it doesn't look like we're going to be over this anytime soon. >> nawaz: plans on hold across the country, as states scramble

to stifle another swell of covid-19 infections. for the pbs newshour, i'm amna nawaz. >> woodruff: ithe day's other ws, police in hong kong began making arrests today under a new national security law imposed on the city by mainland china. tousands of protesters to the streets in the semi- autonomous territory after the measure went into effect last night. we'll have more on the contentious new law after the news summary. in seattle today, police cleared protesters from a so-called "occupied" zone near downtown. violence had flared there in recent weeks. two teenagers were killed and six others were wounded in separate shootings. officers in riot gear moved in on the enclavearly this morning, after the mayor issuede an executirder for police to begin clearing the streets. they arrested more than 20 people. >> our job is to protect and to serve the community.

our job is to support peacul demonstrations. but what has happened here on these streets over the last two weeks-- few weeks that is-- it is lawless and it is brutal and unacceptable.it is simply >> woodruff: their nsmonstrations were in res to the police killing of george floyd in minneapolis in may. bwmakers in new york city have agreed to shift lion in police funding to education and social service pgrams. but advocates for defunding the police argued those cuts don't far enough. protesters camped outside city 9 hall for day in a row. but at his news conference today, mayor bilgrde blasio did with them. >> this is a huge reinstment in communities while we still stay safe as a city. i'm very comfortable we struck the right balance. and agn, what i'm saying represents-- i'm certain-- the

majority of new yorkers who want this to be a safe city, they want more faness, they want more reform, but they also want to make sure we consistently stay safe. >> woodruff: the new york city police department is the largesu in t. its current budget is $6 billion. the new cuts come as the city is trying to claw its way back from $9 billion in revenue losses from the covid-19 pandemic. richmond, virginia mayor levar stoney today ordered theat immeremoval of all confederate statues on city r operty. crews in the forpital of the confederacy began removing a statue depicting general stonewall jackson. meanwhile, two republican u.s. senators-- ron johnson of wiscsin and james lankford o oklahoma-- filed an amendment to replace columbus day with juneteenth as a new federal holiday.re thlts from yesterday's state elections are in.

former colorado democr governor john hickenlooper will face republican senator cory winning his primary tuesday night.or in western co, five-term republican congressman scott tipton lost in his primary to far-right businesswoman lauren boebert. meanwhile in oklahoma, voters narrowly approd expanding medicaid in the state. the trump administration pushed back today against accusations the president neglected reports of russian bounties for killing u.s. troops in afghanistan. mr. trump took to twitter and dismissed those intelligence reports as "fake news." and secretary of state mike pompeo insisted the situation was handled "incredibly well" to >> we see threats in soldiers stationedver the our world every single day.si everle day. the fact that the russians are engaged in afghanistan ia way

that's adverse to us is nothing w, by the way. adviser robert o'brien told fox news a top c.i.a. official decided not to verbaief the president on the matter, since the intelligence was unverified. but he said response options drawn up just in case t information was corroborated. and, stocks were mixed on wall street today. the dow jones industverage fell 78 points to close at 25,735. the nasdaq rose nearly 96 points and the s&p-500 added 15.om still toon the newshour, russians vote to change their s nstitution to allow vladimir putin to extend esidency. the american academy of pediatrics calls for students to be back the classroom this fall. protesters face arrest in hong kong as a controversl security

law goes into effect. and much more. >> woodruff: polls closed in russia today after seven days of voting on cotitutional changes. one would allow president vladimir putin to stand for two more terms in office. early indications were that 70+% voted in favor. as special correspondent lucy preeminent leader for two decades may be around for years >> reporter: it is a vote on russia's future, and the higher the turnout, the more credible it will look and to bring voters in, driv some good old electioneering: each ballot paper comes with a

lottery ticket, with prizes fros cash to but the biggest winner will likely be president vladimir putin, with a chance to rule into his eighties. and many of his supporters don't need incentives.ed >> ( transl ): he is the best president of all the presidents. with him, russia will survive. >> ( translated ): even though many people dislike him, i think he's right and our country is flourishing. >> reporter: voters like tatiana prokofieva have spent most of their adult lives under vladimir putin's leadership. she was just 30 when he came to power in the year 20. but she also remembers what came before, in the 1990s, when russia's economy collapsed, and she credits putin, with its recovery. >> ( translated ): people live has increased.standard of living now each family has at least two cars, that is an indicator. he was able to do it. we had a good olympics in sochi, and after that i went to sochi and saw how it was transformed.

work is underway, you can't deny it. >> reporter: the campaign for played on national pride.s has vladimir putin led a military parade on the eve of polls opening.an d says the amendments would reinforce russian values like truth, justice and respect forla the ho. >>e translated ): we t just voting for amendments we vote for the coin whiches. we want to live, with modern education and realthcare, with able social protection of citizens, with effective power, accountable to society. >> reporter: one amendment outlaws same-sex marriage, with campaign videos portraying gay people as bad parents. others guarantee the minimum wage and pensions. and one gives president tin criminal immunity for life. and yet with all that, there's been very little discussion about the amendment that could

extend his time in office. the changes all come as a single package. ballot paper, yes or no, but this national vote takes in russian constitutients to the critics say it's been designed ow minimise the focus on vladimir putin's and executed in a way that gives them almost no chance to argue. rallies and protests are banned because of the pandemic, and the opsition party members, campaigners like tatiana usmanova, says russia's state hearing.esn't give them a fair >> ( translated ): we were not allowed to express our position to those who are against this vo. everything that is happening now is an absolutely strange, illegitimate procedure to recognize results that are simply impossible. >> reporter: but russia also has a troubled htory with outright fraud and ballot-stuffing, and election monitors say this time they've witnessed multle violations. officials even took the unprecedented step of announcing

early results, hours before polls closed - something which would usually be banned. vladimir putin hasn involved in messy military interventions in chechnya, georgia, ukraine and syria, and suffered under international economic sanctions. his approval ratings havesl ped in the last year, but remain high. so far, he has played y, and has yet to say if he'll stand efor another term in offin >> he is allowed to. t's necessary to preserve this option, this possibility, in order to prevent the elites l frking around in search of the successor. h these we words. so what he was b tically plannisay is that he can't afford to be a lame duck because it's dangerous, because he is surrounded by people he can't trust. >> reporter: but not everyone who remembers the 1990s is votingor the amendments. sergei mitrokhin led the liberal opposition party yabloko.

and he says just as russia had its first chance at democracy, vlimir putin led it in a different direction. >> ( translated ): we understood that those mistakes and crim that were committed then would inevitably lead russia to anco authoritariaupt regime, and so it happened. unfortunately, we foresaw this. >> reporter: for an older generation of voters, this poll is about whethst the relative ility gained in putin's russia has been worth it. and if the amendments are passed as expected, tir children may live most of their lives knowing nothing else. for the pbs newshour, i'm lucy taylor, in moscow.

>> woodruff: millions of american children-- eir parents-- are desperate to know eat the fall might look l for school. as william brangham reports, one of the nation's leading chdhood medical groups is arguing that kids need to get oom. in the clas >> brangham: that's right, judy. the american academy of pediatrics, the a.a.p. statement this week arguing that, given what we know about the virus and what we know kids being stuck at home, "the aap strongly advocates that all policy consi coming school year should start with the goal of hing students physically present in school. i'm joined now by one of the authors of that report. dr. sean o'leary is a pediatrician and infectious disease specialist, a professora and vice of the american academy of pediatrics committee on infectious diseases. dr. o'leary, thank you very much for being here. your report offers all kinds of cautions about how to make school safer, how to keep teachers and kids safe. but given what we know now, make ne argument that you made this report. >> yeah.

so, you know, i know there's a lot of concern about the risks of kids going into school, both for students and teachers. i think we know a lot more now than we did in march when we pretty much all shut schoo so i think there are ways that we can make schools safe. it's realla strategy of risk mitigation. so putting together multiple different strategies as opposed to risk elimination.'r not going to be able to eliminate, completely eliminate risk ihools just the wayab we're no to completely eliminate risk elsewhere. i think the other really crucial other side of the coin is that, you know, kids have really suffered from not be school, you know, starting with educational outcomes. we've seen really tlot of evident those have really gone down. and then, of course, lots of concerns with behavioral health and abuse, all kinds of problems from kids just bng at home. and then you look at what we're all to do now withg

reopene economy-- so much of reopening the economy h to do with children being in so i think everything we can do right now to get this virus under co know, one to two months to make it much safer for kids to be in school. we really need to be doing that. >> brangham: some of your report also seems to be informed by what we are learning about how kids get sick with coronavirus and how they might then transmit the virus to others, to adults in the room, their teachers. >> so, you kno it's becoming clearer. i mean, we're still learningda ever but it's becoming clearer that kids appear to be less likely to get infected with covid-19. when they do get infected the disease tends to be much less severe than it does in adults, particularly older adults. d they also tend to be less likely to spread the disease to other people.hi we probably because they are less symptomatic when they have it. sneezing as much when they have it. so there are a number of factors involved with ov-2 that i

think we now know that we di't know then. >> brangham: i mean, i hear everything that you're saying about the importance emotionally, psychologically, educationally, nutritionally, ev, your report cites, of getting kids back into schools. but i know so many parents who have heard the mantra of" socially distance, stay away from others." d now the idea of sending their kids back into crowded classrms is terrifying to them, frankly.do how e make schools safe so that that can actually happen? >> yeah, i think there are a number of measures we can take, but a few of the things that we know works. a physical distancing works. ideally six feet, but even three feet is pretty good. when you can't maintx feet, wearing face coverings, particularly for the older kids who do appear more likely to spread the virus. masks work. there's more and more evidence coming out every day about the effectiveness of masks in preventing the spread of covid- 19. but we really have to consider the teachers and thetaff as well. what we have seen in otheres

plhat have opened schools is that the spread tends to be child to adult or adult child. >> brangham: education week, idi knowa poll of teachers and educators, and i think it was two thirds of them said that they were nervous abe idea of school reopening in the fall. they argued that some of them might be looking to retire early. do you worry that that reopening plans might cause an exodus of teachers from schools? >> you know, i think we're allvo pretty n right now about just about everything we're doing. we're in a pretty precipitous place right now in this country a with cases increasing ant of states. and so, yeah, i think there's reason to be nervous. i i do thiwe can, you know, for communities where the virus is not raging, i do think it's realistic to open schools safely.yo soknow, yeah, i'm nervous and i understand why teachers would be nervous as well. and i think, you know, all

things considered, though, school is cruciaon so many levels. and so, you know, that's that was really the impetus behind this guidance. and i think, you know, teachers should be involved and, you know, are involved in the process of crafting these plans as schools reopen. i'm optimistic that in a lot of places we're going to be able to get there. >> brangham: all right. dr. sean o'leary of the american academy of pediatrics, thankou very much for your time. >> thank you. a new set of natiosecuritytoday, laws, imposed by the central on this, the 23rd anniversary of the city's handover from the c britishina, nick schifrin tells us a new and ominous day dawned for the freewheeling hub

of international busess. >> schifrin: with the wave of a thue banner, a confrontation protestors, oland an arrest, hong konge made clear the new national security law does not allow freedom of speech. today in hong kong, police arrested activists not for what they did, but also for what they id. pro-democracy activists who unfurled foreign flags and talked about hong kong independence were detained. the crackdown and protests continued into the night. in total, the police detained more than 300-- at one point, they filled an entire bus. >> it definitely completely changed life inside hog. >> schifrin: isaac cheng was vice president of the prominent pro-mocracy group demosisto. but after the national security law was passed, the group disbanded, out of fear arrest. why are you willing to do is interview despite the threats? >> i have to speak to present hong kong situation. we hope that the international society can recognize this situation.

under national unification, who provokes by unlawful means ivtred of beijing, who directly or indirectly re instructions, control, funding or other kinds of support from ply to anyone visiting hong kong. eporter: why are you willing to do this interview despite the threats? i have eak to present theng ong situation. >> reporter: the u.s. revoked visas of senior chinese officials >> schifrin: the u.s. has revoked senior chinese government officials' visas involved in the hong kong crackdown, and promises more actions. the united kingdom warned britons traveling to honeakong faced ind threat of detention and deportation.

and the government invited all hong kong residents eligible foo british nationrseas passports, to become british citizens. that's a lifeline for one hong kong couple eligible for british citizenship, whom i spoke to today. why are you thinking about o aving hong kong? >> we just have for our daughter. i mean, we have our next generation. >> schifrin: of the hundreds of thousands of people who have filled hong kong streets, thousands feel like they've lost the battle, and are planning on emigrating. w e couple did not want to give their names or seir faces criticizing the new law. >> it's what people say, it's what people wear, it's what people look like. with this law, we noger know how the government is going to define the law, how they're going to execute the law. >> schifrin: you're talking about leaving your home, leavinb where you'n raising your ouild, leaving all your friends. how do you feel that? >> it's really sad. i mean, we both grew up in this place. >> i mean, to be really honest, rtthis is like the last reor us. >> we kn that some people can't leave, like, i have my parents in hong kong. i'm pretty sure that they're not

>> schifrin: where are you hoping to move? >> i think the covid-19 and political situation in the states, and also the brexit, i think it just poses a lot moreon ques >> schifrin: one other place that has done a pretty good job over covid 19 is taiwan. would you consider going tota an? >> a lot of people didn't expect how beijing could be that and it now made us question how aggressive beijing would be to taiwan now. >> sifrin: that's a nightmar for u.s. policymakers who ve been trying to bolster taiwan's ability to stand up to beijing, more than hong kong could. and another group that's not standing up to beijing is theni business com. >> i think it would be a leap to say that tourists or regular busisspeople should be >> schifrin: craig is the president of the u.s. china business council. he says the 1,300 american businesses and 85,000 americans currently in hong kong are willing to live under the newon na security law.

>> i suspect that it will have t an impact at margin. but i would not expect that to be overly large. businesses will go where their security, stability, safety and good market. they're not eological. and china is a very large and important market. >> schifrin: that is music to beijing's ears. r the communist party, today was a celebration, marking the kong handover fromin to hong beijing. and today foreign ministry spokesman zhao lijian said the legislation was necessary. >> this will safeguard national sovereignty and security. >> schifrin: activists admit that means they're already restricted in what tn say. >> actually, i cannot speak a lot because now is the national security law. >> schifri the silencing of hong kong activists has begun -- and there is little standing in the way of beijing's plans. for thpbs newshour, i'm nick schifri

>> w pramila jayapal, a democrat from washington state, was elected to ngress in 2016. she's the co-chair of the and has become a inssive caucus pushing the party on issues likr medicarell. her book, "use the power youma have: a brown s guide to politics and political change" is out this week. thank you very much. congratulations on the book. this is the story of how you grew up in this accomplished indian family. you came froindonesia to e united states to go to college, and very early on, you starteda this h, as you put it, for your identity. you wanted to stop ving in the hyphen, i think is how you wrote it. what did you mean by that?

>> well, dy, first of all, thank you so much for having me. i came to this country when i o was 16 yea by myself and it w really because my parents took everything thehad and ed it to send me here to this land of opportunity. and i kept struggling to ure out, am i indian, am i american? ani stayed here for 18 years before getting my citizenship, and i think that, when you travel from one part of the country -- one part of the world to another part ofhe worl you are in that limbo state. that the hyphen that tai lk about. indian-american is the hyphen. latino-american, african-american. we all bring reth us dif pieces, whatever the means is that we have come to thisun y, and i think immigrants today exemplify that seach for identity, search for meaning, but also the striving to bring everythinghat we have to bear to this new country that we call home. >> woodruff: and your journey, as you describe it, you worked

in the nonprofit yoena, worked in finance on wall street, and you came to a point where you realized, as you said, it wasn't enough to be onh outside, you wanted to be on the inside fighting for what you believe, but you clearly think it's tougher for a personfo color. i mean, hence the title of the book, "a brown woman's guide toi cs." how is it different? give an example. >> first, look at numbers. i'm the first south asian-american woman ever to i am also one out of 14 immigrants out of 535 naturalized now serving and, you know, if you look at the history of congress, over 11,000 peoplea served. there have been only been 79 women of color who have evseer ed in congress, so just that tells you the barriers that exist. but when you get here -- and it's difficult enoh getting here, the fundraising, the way the system works, the lack of leadership ladders, until fairly

recently, i would say, but, also, once you get here, this is a very male, very white insttution. it is ng on in age in many ways, and we've made a big difference over the last four years that i have been here, but a lot of the structures are still built for a certain kind of power, and they are built with institutional racism and sexism built into the operation. >> woodruff: well, you have taken on a very visible role. quickly, as i mentioned, co-chair of the progressive caucus. the issues are comg thick and fast. one i want to ask you out police reform. seattle, which you represent, we've seenrosters set up what they've called an autonomous zone. they push out the the police for a few weeks. it was just today, in fact, that lice were able to break that up peacefully, but two people died in the course of these last few weeks.

you sounded sympathetic to whatt these pros were trying to do. on balance, did they accomplish something useful, do you think? >> i ati sympatto the whole idea of protest and dissent. it is na fudamental constitutional right, and it is absolutely critical anend urg in this moment as we watch george floyd murdered. so i think that what has emerged over the last several weeks should be, again, a lesson for us in seattle as well as across the country thatin theof militaristic response that happened immediately after those protesters started going out was, in fact, the very thing that protesters were protesting. so i hope that, as we go forward, that the city leadership, the city council, all of us at the federallev ol, really a us in elected who's fightingor justiceody continues that fight peacefully,

nonviolently but urgently because that is what we must w are to move forward as a country. >> woodruff: very quickly, finally, a question about the presidential race, you initially were very much with bernie sanders' campaign with him in april. you did after bernie sanders dropped out endorsed joe biden. are you cocerned -- i've read what you've said and you've expressed coern that he may not be progressive enough to excite younger voter progressive voters. do you seriously believe that these are voters who would vote for donald trump over joe biden? >> no, i don't think that they would vote for donald trump, bu that has noways been our problem with the base. the problemhaslways been the base feels unheard, unreached out to, uninspired by candidates who run in various ections including as president, so i think that one of the things that we have to do/and i talk about this in this book, is we

have to actually speak to our base. we hhe to talk to them wi ideas that inspire young people and goe folks of color. tcause they won't vote for donald trump, buey will potentially sit out if not inspired. ere are a lot of reasony these voters are disenfranchised to start with, and we don't have time to go into them, but what i would say is any democratic presdent has to erstand that we need these voters, we need our base to be with us, we can't just goto the swing voter and forget about our ways. >> woodruff: congresswoman pramila jayapal. thank you very much. the book, "use the power you politics and politcal change." thank you. >> thank you, judy. oo

>>uff: with covid-19 cases once again filling hospital beds across the country, miles o'brien reports on some of the scientists are thias theyd search for, if not a cure, at least a treatment. it's part of our leading edge series on science and innovation. and a note, some of the video miles used here was shot as part of an eaier collaboration with pbs's frontline. reporter: emergency room phckician ryan padgett is ba home with his family, on the mend after a near death experience, a hail mary pass, and a stunning victory over covid-19. it all began in late february, when he and the team at evergreen health kirkland began treating some very sick nursing home residents, with thel symptoms of vieumonia. >> you're used to dealing with patients witillness, but to alize that you're going to potentially have 60 patients from one place with this novel lness. it was rlly kind of scary >> reporter: still, with only a handful of sk days in 19 years on the job, dr. padgett wasn't too concerned about his own health.

in fact, he was the picture of it. a starting offensive lineman fou northwesteversity in the 1996 rose bowl, he has alwaysgr stayed it shape. then the telltale symptoms ofru covid-19 caming through his body's defensive line. >> and i was like, "wow! something is different here," and kind of think timing wise that i was probably infected. they called it the beast and you realized why. it's like getting hit by a truck. >> reporter: things went downhill, fast. he ended up in the intensive care unit at seattle's swedish medical center on a ventilator and a heart lung machine. sure, the virus had done plenty of damage, but inside his body something se was at play. mounted a counter ive thatm had had run amok. this ove cytokine storm.ed a >> my immune system had caught a

ld fire. my body overreacted and was putting me into kidney failure, respiratory failure, my heart and even my liver started going downhill. >> reporter: it was not a surprise. there were numerous reports from china of covid patients who succumbed to a cytokine storm. a similar thing sometimes happens to cancer patients receiving immunotherapy. so the medical team reached out to the oncology department. dr. krish patel. >> we were all really learning day to day how tthtry to manage illness, and i think that's where kind of borrowing from her disease presses or other specialties seem to make sense. >> reporter: he recommended an antibody called tocilizumab. in addition to helping cancer patients, it is used to treat people with rheumatoid arthritis as well. doctors in china had some success with it, so the team here saw no reason not to try it on ryan padgett. within days, they had weaned him off the machines.

>> we were very encouraged by what we saw his experiee, and since that time have had developed continued experience with the medicine. >> reporter: dr. patel says the team at swedish has now treated more than 65 covid patients with results.b, with encouraging he is participating in a big randomized study, results due later this summer. but ryan padgett needs no convincing.my >> it saveife. >> you think? >> absolutely.th isn't the time for a year long randomized control trial. this is the time oput your finger where it's bleeding and hold it there, and let hope it stops. pandemic, but it can often lead to false hope. >> people want hope bunofalse hope ijust neutral. false hope is worse than no hope at all. >> reporter: chemisterek lowe has done early stage drug discovery for 30 years. he also writes the well

respected blog "in the pipelin"" people are scared and look bg for a silvlet. >> they sure are and i don't blame them for a minute. and we haven't had a situation like this. people are used to saying," okay, i've gothis disease. where's the drug? but i guess everyone is starting to learn a little bit more about what drug discovery is like. >> reporter: we are all learning the hard way. >> and a lot of good things have come out about the hydroxy, a lot of good things. >> reporter: president trump frequently promoted the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a covid-19 therapeutic, before there was scientific data to support the claims. when that data came in, it showed hydroxychloquine offers no benefit, but also great harm, causing potentially fatal heart arrhythmias in some patients. on june 15th, the food and drug administration revoked the emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine as a covid-19 treatment.

. george diaz treated th first us covid-19 patient at providce regional medical center in everett. he was failing fast when dr. diaz got permission from the f.d.a. and the patient to try the anti viral drug remdesivir. >> he was still having very higa feve still was requiring oxygen, the day that we gave it to him. by the next day, his fever was resolved. the next day he had gone and he was able to come off of oxygen one day after receiving treatmen he felt much better. tehe felt like he had stard beating the virus. >> reporter: dr. diaz is participating in a big randomized study of remdesivir and in the mntime continues to see lots of encouraging signs among the paents he treats. a separate study released at the end of may shows remdesivir slightly reduces the length of hospital stays for covid-19 patients. >> so that tells you about where

the drug is. helpful, but not a cure. because there's no way that oneu singlecan shut down a viral infection. that's one thing that we've sort of proven over the years. >> reporter: doctors on the frontlines all over the world h have tridreds of drugs foron off label usovid patients. the most promising, a steroid called dexamethasone. one study showit reduces the mortality rate for covid patits on ventilators. but perhs the most proven way to beat back a virus is found in the blood of the survivors. after all, the antibodies it contains have proven their mettle by defeating the virus. but so-called convalescent plasma has limits. one survivor may only be able to help no more than three others. the solution to that may lie in, immune cells which are cloned and grown in large bes

they produce so called monoclonal antibodies and scientists are now identifying the most effective of them. dr. robert garry is a professor of microbiology and immunology at tulane medical school. >> these have worked very well and other serious diseases like so, i'm waiting for the sars- cov-2 human monoclonal antibodies. i think that those are very likely to have a major impact on the course of this illness. m >> reporteoclonal antibodies are like a temporary vaccine for those who are sick, their families, and for health care workers. and while it likely won't taketo as lonring them to the market as a vaccine, scaling upe production to global demand patience than we hd maybe more fosthe pbs newshour on mile o'brien in seattle

>> woodruff: much attention, including ours here at the newshourhas lately been cused on the push to end the covid-19 pandemic. but some are also calling racism another epidemic, and urgingen more aon be paid to ending it, as well. despite the longstanding perception that we are a nation defined by its disions, special correspondent charlayne hunter-gault turns to a different perspective now. it's the latest in our "race matters" series and her ongoingn look at solutis to racis seen in black lives matternity been portrayed as being woefully divided on most major subjects. but david brooks, a new york times columnist, has been insisting even before recent events that this country is more united than divided.

you surely know david from the newshour's weekly "shields and brooks" segment each friday ... but in another role, he's been reaching out to americans of all stripes to understand how they're feeling in these uncertain times. >> reporter: david brooks, thank you so much for joining us. o it's so great to be with you. >> reporter: you know, you've written columns in the past few months saying that the country is more united than d. who were you talking to and what was leading you to that conclusion, that we're more united than divided? i put out a plea to my readers and 6,500 sent me essays about how they were doing. and a lot of them were in bad shape. and yet when i spoke to themov the weeks and over the months, they were super impressed by how their neighbors were showing up for each other. and the things they talked about over and over again was: ¡myre locaaurant is now giving away food, my local church is now a soup kitchen, my neighbors are showing up for me.' and there was a sense that the country was actually acting for

each other. and so i think there was a feeling-- especially in the first few weeks of the pandemic, a feeling of common action and common purpose and common vulnerability. >> reporter: has then anything else as a result of the pandemic that has made people come closer together or realize they were more united than they thought? >> i think the reaction to theer floyd muas been, on the whole, a very good news story. i look at the marches and there was somebeiolence in the nning, but the violence has they were not a blk uprising. they were an american uprising. >> reporter: what's the solution >> well, i think tst thing we have to do is learn from each other and ta to each other. and my rule is the more uncomfortable the conversation and so i'm hoping the firstt. thing we do is make use of this moment of useful discomfort to face realies in our country and to face each other. anthat's the shi in consciousness that needs to take, you know, personal transformation and social

transformation, and have them together. but then it has to be institutionalized with action. and one of the thingat needs to be happening is because of redlining and segregation and prejudice, we have areas of concentrated poverty all across this country. to me, this won't be fixed until the school i visited in detroit a few months ago, which was all afrin american or three percent of kids were reading on grade level. this won't be fixed until that's fixed. and so getting involved in the things that join us together... the things wlove together, we love our kids. and if we can focus on aican- american education, education for poor people. that's part of the solution, not just police reform. we love our work. if we can give common work so there's a little more economicn equalityis country. and then we love our ighborhoods. the people who are doing the best work are in the neighborhood. recently.ng about watts and there's an organizationrs there, sisf watts, and they've been living in watts their whole lives. they know what watts needs.ou outside don't know what

watts needs. but if we got morey to them, and urces and power to them, o.ey actually know what to and so getting money right to the grassroots, to the people who n't write grants because they're too busy. that, to me, is how you build up a neighborhood. and the neighborhood is the unit of change here. >> reporter: tell me aut the your solution for unity. into >> yeah. so for years and years, it ngemed like every problem, every column i was wrind appearance i did with mark was about social isolation, socialn disconnectd polarization. and i realized this is a problem underlying a lot of other problems. but it's also being solved at the local level by community builders, who i call weavers. and they're creating connectn, they're bridging divides, they're creating a better country, and there finding a better way to live. so, for example, in chicago, in a neighborhood called englewood, which is a tough neighborhood, there's a woman who lives there named asiaha butler, and asiaha englewood because she had a

daughter and she was afraid for her safety. atlanta and she'd booked the moving company and everything. and on the day before she was going to move out, she looked across the street at an empty lot. and there was a little girl in a pink dress playing with broken bottles. and she turns to her husband and says, "we're not moving out. we're not going to be st another family that left this behind." and so she googledvolunteer in englewood." now she runs rage, which is the big community organization in englewood.th they cleaned ulots. they've created connections within the community. now, if you go there, there's some stores. and when stores are open, that they sell t-shis: proud daughter of englewood, proud son of englewood. and so the community begins to get turned around by weavers. and find wea drs everywhere. rop into a place, wilkes, north carolina. we ask around: who makes a difference here, who's trusted here? and we found 75 people doing amazing stuff. and so weavers are, i think, are leading us into a better future. >> reporter: are you hopeful, batd on what you've seen, t the solutions you've seen

working are going and how do you make them continue for the benefit of all of us? >> when i look at the marches, when i look at the people i speak through the weave project, when i look at the people i've interviewed through my journalism, i just see such a desire for just a new era. and such a sense that this is a portal to a different future. and i have faith in that. >> reporter: david, i think tht's what so many people w to hear now. and thank you for sharing that with us. and thank you for being with us. >> it's great to be with you, charlayne.ea it's a real re. >> woodruff: our "now read thi"" book club pick for june was a spy thriller, that is relevant amid the black lives matter prtsotes. jeffrey brown talks uthor lauren wilkinson, part of our series, "canvas."

>> brown: the west african nation of burkina faso in the 1980s, and the real-life figure of revolutionary leader thomas sankara, whom the c.i.a. is eager to be rid of.it the setting of "american spy," a cold-war espionage thriller with a twist-- its protagonist is a black woman named marie mitchell.lk author lauren son: >> the thing that i was after was creating a very complicated female character in the spy genre. i felt that the spy genre is actually a reallgood opportunity to talk about double consciousness, because it is so much about, you know-- to me, being a spy, so much about being very, very aware of how other people perceive you. >> brangham: this idea of the double consciousness, that du bois wrote about, and others have--i mean, i was thinking abt

ralph ellison, of course, with "invisible man." were you-- youmain character's father says, at one point, "i've been a spy in this country for as long as i can remember."ea >> i mean, that to me was a direct hat tip to ellison. you know, that the main character's grandfather, in," "invisible mays something very similar to him that kind of confounds the protagonist for-- most of the book. i think this book is my own version of exploring that idea. you know what the grandfather was saying when he said that he was a spy his whole life.s >> brown: in tse, it's a spy. but as a black man in his case, yeah. >> yeah, i took it. i took that metaphorical idea, and i made it as literal as possible, to kind of give it a little more a little more dimension. >> brown: well, another thing you're clearly exploring through your characters, right and wrong. you know, in he-- in the clsic spy genre, at least, i'm familiar with like aohn le carre, cold war. people are aware of the moral

ambiguities, but they sort of fall into it. righ i mean, you don't even know what's good and bad anymore. your character, she's trying to keep hold of what's right and wrong. >> i lovthe spy that exists in the moral gray area. that's the onehat always speaks to me. le carre's spies. cold" so much because i love the that figure who is morally gray, who is trying to flow their own moral compass, and the way in which it is because it may not be aligned with the country that they are working for, or and so, i think, with marie, with a black spy, thern added dimension to that, which ishat her awareness, that she is working f and serving an institution that she does not feel is designed to serve her as a black american. so, you know, she has every

reason to challenge the moral compass of the insti in which she works, and she's challenged by it despite herself. >> brown: and course, you wrote this before what's happening in our culture right now.bu we were reading it at our club. i just read it in the last few weeks, after the killing of georgeloyd, with the protesters in the street. how do you see the book now? i mean, does it resonate in a new way for you? >> no, because i felt that i was writing about things that have always existed and will always exist, younow, unless we make some real, real systemic changes. so i think what has been happening is that it's alway been present. only now is there an awareness of it in sort of more mainstream thinking in our country. as i said, the book took seven years, and i wrote about it

in those full seven with the confidence that said that the way that marie felt was going to resonate with black people. >> woodruff: that was great, and for july, our book club selection is citizen, an american "citen: an american lyric" b poet claudia rankine. in it she plores moments in her own life and those of others to draw a richly detailed portrait of race in amerlla. we hope yoead along and join other readers here and on our facebook page for ow read this," our book club collaboration with "the new york times." newshour for tonighat's the i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at thebs newshour, thank you, please stay safe and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs

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♪ >> hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & co." here's what's coming up. the process was good enough for president clinton, and basic fairness dictates it ought to be good enoughde for this pre, as well. >> sator mitch mcconnell holdshe the key to t impchment trial of president trump. i ask his former aide, scott jennings, and his political biographer, alec macgillis, about the taciturn senate leader. then... t >> it is stot unifies us. it is our story. >> bringing his career of art and activism full circle, the award-winning actor tim robbinon raising up refugees in "the new colossus." and. >> ♪ i have painfully turned every one ♪ >> esperanza spalding takes the jazz scene by storm. ♪