captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, summer surge: the first days of july bring the largest daily covid cases yet in the united states roughly 250,000 naonwide then, the pandemic and race-- hows theral data devastating toll of coronavirus on people of color. plus, a perfect storm-- how hurricane season presents additional threa amid the pandemic. >> when you saying socialt diance yourself six feet from someone, wear your mask, wear you glov now, if they have to go into the shelter, then that means that you're going to be limit to how many people ing there. are you going to test these people to make sure no one have the virus?

mo>> woodruff: all that an on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: complicated, a lot goes through your mind. with fidelity wealth management, a dedicated advisor can tailor advice and recommendatio to ur life. that's fidelity wealth management.

>> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting ttstitutions to promote a world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like u. thank you. he>> woodruff:ovid-19 pandemic reached staggering new highs today,e u.s. death toll surpassed 130,000. 16 states have now posted record

dailes in new infections this month. all this aitals in the south and west struggle to keep up with the urgent demand for care. william branam has our report. >> brangham: in many places, id was a subdueliday weekend; one overshadowed by a virus that's spreading with alarming speed. americans marked the 4th of july with measured celebrations, their trip with warnings.lanked but even in states with soaring new infections, others gathered defiantly and rejectse warnings >> because i'm an american and i feel i should be able to do what i want to, live free, i want to be free. brangham: some at this rodeo in houston refused to wear masks, despite a new statewide order to wear them in public. >> because it's agait our constitutional rights, they shouldn't be able to dictate what i wear. >> brangham: t surging caseload in texas has stretched hospitals to capacity, with record numbers of new patients admitted everyday.

houston mayor sylvester turner. >> the number of pple in our i.c.u. beds has exponentially increased. in fact, if we don't get our hands around this virus quickly, about two weeks our hospital system could be in serious, serious trouble. >> brangham: a similar concern from the mayor of miami, another hotspot. >> there's no doubt that the fact that when we reopened, people started socializing as if the-- the virus didn't-- didn't exist.h >> brangham: bflorida and texas reported their highest single-day totals this weekend since the pandemic began. but prt trump took to twitter to insist it is testing while highlighting that, nationwide deaths remain "low and steady." that mirrored his comments over the weekend that incorrectly downplayed the severity the virus. >> w million people.int 40 by so we show cases, 99% of which are totally harmless.

>> brangham: ...it's a claim his own administration officials struggled to defend. >> what i will say is that we have data in the white house those data show usthis is a serious problem. people need to take it seriously. >> brangham: today, new york governor andrew cuomo accused the president of enabling the unfounded claims.gh his do one simple thing: acknowledge to american people that covid exists, it is a major problem, white house, presstary at the kayleigh mcenany called mr. trump's statements "factual." >> the president was noting the fact that the vast majority of americans who contra coronavirus will come out on the other side of this. seriously, of course no oney >> brangham: meanwhile, overseas, new cases in india today surpassed russia's tally,

pputting india now in thice for most reported infections globally. the country acknowledged more than 24,000 new infections in the last 24 hours alone. officials had to postpone plans to reopen the taj mahal this week. for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham. >> the mayor of atlanta has d tested positive for co but hasn't shown any symptoms. we'll take a closer look at the racial disparitiesater in the program. in the day's other newcago suffered one of its bloodiest holiday weekends yet. 17 people were shot and killed, including a seven-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy. 70 more people were wounded by gunfire. an additional 1200 officers were on the streets over the weekend. but there were still more than twice as many shting deaths compared to last year. >> we cannot allow this to be

normalized in this city. we cannot get used ting about children being gunned down in chicago every weekend. we must keep violent offenders in jail longer. >> woodruff: new york city also saw a spike in gun violence this past weekend. 11 people died and dozens were wounded in more than 30 mayor bill de blasio voiced his concern during a morning news conference. >> it's not because of one thing, let's be really clear there's not one cause for something like this there's a lot of different piece again the fact that the court system is not working, the economy is not working people have been pent up for mohs and months, so many issues underlying this challenge. >> woodruff: and, an-year- old girl was fatally shot

saturday night in atlanta afr at least two people opened fire on the car she was riding in. the shooting happened near a memorial for rayshard brooks, a black man killa white police officer last month. the sucourt today unanimously ruled that presidential electors can be bound to the winning candidate in their state's popular vote. that means that in 32 states and the district of columbia electors, cannot cast their electoral coege vote for a different candidate. parately, the high court also upheld a 1991 law that bars mateeting "robocalls" to cellphones. created by congress that allowed the calls for collection of government debt. a federal judge has ordered th shutdown of the dakota access oil pipeline pending anvi environmental . it's a major victory fork he standing roux tribe. the pipeline crosses the missouri river, whe the tribe

gets its water, and has raised the head othe north dakota petroleum council insisted the >> there's been a lot of back and forth on this pipeline that carries half a billionre b to one to have the most market in the united states for that oil. it's got three-plus of safe optating procedures behind now. >> woodruff: duke energy and dominion energy >> woodruff: meanwhile, duke energy and dominion energy announcethey are canceling development of the $8 billion atlantic coast natural gas pipeline, a multi-state project, over delays and cost uncertainty. that decision comes despite a recent supreme court victory over a key permit. stocks soared on wall street today, boos sted by major ga the technology sector. thjones industrial average climbed 459 points to close at 26,287. the nasdaq rose 22 the s&p 500 adarly 50.

at least eight people are de after two small planes collided in northern idaho. the crash happened sunday afternoon over lake coeur d' alene. dive crews located the wreckage in about 125 feet of water. among the victims.n were there's no word yet on the cause. the white woman at the center of a viral confrontation with a black man in central park was charged today with filing a false report. amy cooper drew widespread condemnation after she called 911 and claimed that bird watcher christian cooper yhreatened her, after he cal asked her to leash her dog as required. she was ordered to appear in court in october on the tsdemeanor charge. an passings of note tonight: country music legend charlie daniels died today in tennessee after suffering a stroke.

for decades, he mainstay on the nashville scene as a singer, guitarist, fiddler and band leader. daniels was inducted into the nuntry music hall of fame 2016. rahere he is playing hisy- winning hit "the devil went down tgio ge in 1979. >> ♪ fire on the mountain" run, boys, run! in the house of e rising sun ♪ chicken's in the bread pan picking out dough ♪ granny, will ur dog bite? no, child, no ♪ >> woodruff: charlie daniels was 83 years old. and, broadway actor nick cordero died sunday in los angeles, from covid-19 complications. he'd been hospitalized f more than 90 days. cordero appeared in a number of

broadway shows, including "waitress" and "a bronx tale". in 2014, he earned a tony nomination for his role in the musical "bullets over broadway". nick cordero was 41 years old. still to come on the newshour: covid's disproptionate toll on ople of color in the u.s. a perfect stor- the increasing threats of hurricanes during the pandemic political stakes: how president trump doubles down on racially charged language. and much more. >> woodruff: the coronavirus is taking a disproportionate toll on people of color.amna nawaz rw numbers reveal the outsized

aipact with striking new d >> nawaz: that's right judy, the demographic data from the centers for disease control h a lawsuit under the freedom of information act. the data set, of about 1.5 million casehere in the u.s., shows that latinos and african americans are nearly three times more likely to be infected than white americans, and are twice as likely to die. for a closer look at those numbers, i am joined by dr. kirstebibbins-domingo, professor of medicine at the university of california, san francisco, where sheo the inaugural vice dean for population health and health equity. dr. bibbins-domingo, welcome to the "newshour", and let's start with whye have this data the first place. as we mentioned, "new york times" had to sue the government to get it, but journalistand lawmakers have been asking for the data for months. people don't understand why it so hard to gather and access >> yeah, it's ally another example of what's been a very managing this pandemic.ategy i it turns out the data is

collected at the state level. there's lots of variation about how it's collected, and there's lots of variation about how it's collected pi the people who are doing the tests, and there is no federal mandate toort. that federal mandate didn't come till just a few weeks ago ad, now that it's there, for the first time, we can start to see these patterns across the country, but it's come a little bit late fo something that w knew was going to be important for managing the pandemic. >> reporter: we should ntion even the data they have is often incomplete, oftentimes the race and ethnicy of the patient isn't reported. it doesn't include the recent surge. those disparities were evidt even early in the pandemic. back then when we talked about itthe explanation waslack and brown americans have a higher health burden, thehave mo co-morbidities. when you look at the broader data set, does that explanation explain the disparity?

>> tha been the most important part of the observation. there are,rankly,ore cases. orre cases means more black individuals,e latinx individuals are being exposed to the virus because they are out working. they make up a disproportionate part of our service sector, our essential front line workers who are keeping our states clean, who are part of the public transportation, who are doing the inl service economy to take care of us who are ill, and that is wh's exposing them to the virus, and that's why the cases are high. >> reporter: doctor, what do you think, now that we see most states continuing to move ahead th plans to reopen. what's going to happen with that disparity? >> the striking thing in the "new york times" data is we see disparity in the suburban, rurat gs and cities. as we reopen, it means that more people are moving about, and those front line workers, those peop tle who are doingse jobs that are essential to our

economy are going to be more exposed, and i think that, in the absence of any real protection for individual workers, p.p.e., for example, protection for people whose wages might be the main reason that they continue to go out and work, even though they might not feeing well, unless we have those protections in place, we're going to see a widening of these disparities and that's what i anticipate and what we're ,seeing, alread frankly, in many states. >> reporter: when yolook at e medical response, knowing the disparities exists, knowing certain communities, black and brown americans, are harder hit, should we ink about doing more, noble units, deployinfig vaccint in these communities? howwald you assess we have been doing so onr? >> i d think we have been doing enough. we knew the patterns were going to exist. we already have deep, deep pervasive disparities in this opountry. who think about epidemics

know that they don't distribute equally, they distribute to communities like african-americans and lati populations disproportionately, so we knew this ahead of time. a global pandemic like this requires a universalsesponse and a targeted response, and the targeted response means that you distrite resources to the communities that need them the most. that meansow barri testing, taking testing to these communities, making barriers -- re barriers to things like masks, which are essential at this time, making sure that you protect workers in their workplaces, which is ofttimes where they're at risk, and making sure they have access to type of health care they need if they're feeling sick, andll of those things need happen in these communies and we're a ttle bit late to the game now, frankly. >> reporter: dr. kirsten bibbins-domingo, from t university of california,

san francisco, thank you so much for being with us. >> tnk you. >> woodruff: as amna reported, latinas havehaeen one of the est hit groups in the pandemic. they have also faced some of the biggest job losses in recent nths. we spoke to several latinas, including two undocumented immigrants, about their experiences. here's what they had to say. m name is susie rivera. i live in texas. i acam giver. i take care of elderly people in the community. i've been doing this sort of trrk since 1986. >> ( slated ): my name is soccoro. i've been a domestic worker in years. california for 17 i'm originally from oaxaca, mexico. everything has changed with the pandemic. i lost all my work from day one. i still haveturned to work. >> my name is maril blystone. i have been a child care provider in the city of torrance for the last 15 years.

before covid, my business had 20 walk-ins and everything. after covid there's only one. >> ( translated ): my name is yeni. i am a domestic worker and have been cleaning houses for 12 years. i lost 100% of my work for two tee months. i'm just starting back and have about 50 to 75% of the work i had before. >> ( translated ): it's been a stressful and frustrati situation because i had nine family members catch coronavirus. one of them was a 10 year-old- girl. >> i had to deal with anxiety not only my own anxiety, but i had to deal with the anxiety of my four employees. >> ( translated ): losing my job. that was the biggest impact.

being undocumented, knowing that we don't have access to any help or benefit. all of a sudden i was homeless, without my possessions. difficult r me.extremely the fear also of getting sick. i am the head of the household if i get sick everything would fall apart. also, there's my family abroad. they depend on me too. >> your money you had there for a cushion is no longer there or it's dwindling down. you're not comfortable at the level it's at. you're not. i am very fortunat i'm paying my bills. i'm getting my things paid. bum thinking later on down the road, six months, eight months down the road, how is it going to be? ave a son in college. had to pull him out. he's at santa cruz. he's come home. okay, what are we gonna do?

how're we gonna do this? how. how're we gonna-- how we're >> (gtranslateda): i have never been a burden to the government. i have t paid es for a long time and now when i need benefits i haven't received them. why isn't thote a law that ts me? >> ( translated ): everyone's afraid. there's the pandemic and there's also the fear that there are going to be immigration raids and thatny assistance some people have will be cut. >): we're noted invisible. we're here and we're contributing to this country. >> even before this pandemic, we were essential. we are the eyes and ears of the families when theye not there taking care of their loved ones.

>> ( translated ): if we didn't cltaean, didn' care of the children of doctors, or nurses, the country couldn't function. we are part of this country. we only need people to listen. >> we need help. we need the govement to be accountable for what we have to do because we're raising the n generation of america. >> woodruff: the 2020 tropical storm season hasmolready been active than usual. the fifth named storm formed in the atlantic over the weekend and forecasters say there could be as many as six major hurricanes. but as john yang reports, this year, planning for these storms is complicated by the coronavirus pandemic. >> yang: when tropical storm cristobal lashed the gulf coast

earlier this past month, it was already the third named storm of the year. louisiana governor john bel edwards: >> the storm could have been a lot wors say. very thankful to we were largely spared frothe most significant impact that had been forecasted. >> yang: still, cristobal was part of a fast start to what forecasters say is most likely to be an unusually active atlantic storm season. the coronavirus already guarantees that it will be unlike any other, as president trump noted during a recent briefing on hurricane preparedness. >>u think we could have a slightly enhanced hurricane season. that's just what we want. that's just what we want. let's see. wepefully, that won't be the case, bul see. >> yang: the pandemic has chged residents' and governments' preparations, afthfecting everything from eir ability to sp on supplies to evacuation plans. for example, large buildings like schools and community

cenrs typically have served as evacuation shelters. for disease control ands prevention said large shelters should be a "last resort." but the federal emergency management agency has acknowledged that some mass" sheltering will still be necessary in many hurricane scenarios." two years ago, sharon bryant of new bern, north carolina, survived hurricane fe. the storm dropped 30 inches of ra. in parts of the carolin >> when you saying social distanceourself six feet from someone, wear your mask, wear you glove. now, if they have to go into the shelter, then that means that you're going to be lit to how many people are going there. are you going to test these people to make sure no one have and then if they did, where would they go? >> yang: steven still is the emergency management director for new hanover county, a couple hours south of new bern. >> we are fairly certain that we unll have some type of in- shelter.

we have to have more locations, more shelter teams. and we are also jockeying for position with every other county, municipality and state equipment and sanitizer. so it's not a good picture, but everybody is in the same position. >> yang: and if a big storm does hit, rebuilding could be even mo challenging. in 2017, floodwaters from huhicane harvey destroyed m of daniel tellez's home in housto texas. the fear of losing his house again, this time in the middle of a pandemic, weighs heavily on his mind. >> it's going to be tough. i honestly don't really want to think about it if we're being honest. i tried to be as hands on as possible with pairs, which meant having to go to stores, having to speak to multiple contracts. so, yeah, it's gonna be tricky trying to navigate all of that through a pandemic. >> yang: in florida, where coronarus cases are again on the rise, officials are weighing options like shelter-in-place

orders for people living in homes that are strong enough, and using underused hotels as shelters. craig fugate was fema's administrator under president obama. he's now chief emergency ment officer for "one concern," a company that helps cities and counties with disaster response. is your advice to people in hurricane prone areas any different because of the coronavirus than it would be any >> about the only thing i recommend is add the mask, gloves, hand sanitizer, disinfectants, to yo supply kits. and if you're not in an evacuation zone, this is not any different, ut there's more emphasis this year, take the steps to preour home. know when it was built, know the building codes. and if it's a good option for you and your family, stay there and prepare for the storm. it always cock to the individual situation. the one thing we don't want is people in an evacuation zone not to evacuate over fear of covid because that couldenut them at reater risk.

and also responders who may have to go in ao rescues in the immediate aftermath of the storm. >> yang: fugate says the virus also force changes in th way relief workers respond to disasters. >> normally, a lot of this would be, build big base camps, put everybody four to a room in a hotel, do mass feeding. probably going to have to change a lot of that and those plans are underway. also, keep the teams coming in soseparate from each otherf they're coming from different states, they don't cross mingle with other teams, they stay with the teams they came with. wear the p.p.e. >> yang: what about the emergency managers? they've been through a fairly se three or four month period where they've been fighting the pandemic and now they've got this hurricane season coming up. is there a worry about the stamina and the ability to sort thof keep up a level, this high level? >> it's what emergency managers do. we got the same questions after getting four hurricanes in one year in florida in 200 yeah, they're tired. and, yeah, they've been thinking about this.

this is not something they just started yesterday thinking about hurricane season and other disasters. the reality is, if the system could adjust and handle this, management.eed emergency emergency management is for the extreme events that the org chart of government just can't even begin to deal with. >> yang: and this summer extreme events, a pandemic and powerful hurricanes, couliobe on a collcourse. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. >> woodruff: the headlines out of hong kong recently have focused on politics. today, the first resident charged under a nenational security law imposed by beijing, appeared in court. the city was also expected to struggle with the pandemic, which originated in mainland china. but hong kong has been a

coronasuccess story. with the support of the pulitzer center, and in collaboration with the global health reporting center, nick schifrin has the story. >> schifrin: george and his son emilio's winding covid journey began with slalom in the italian alps. and dancing through italy's empty streets. they'd gone on vacation in in italy, and separated from his wife valeria, back home in hong kong, where he's lived for 35 years. they saw each only on skype. e >> 20 years togetherve never had a separation of this kind, of this nature. >> schifrin: when italy opened up, they flew back to the hong kong airport, and a city that, by then, knew how to protect itself. their 12-hour arrival journey ended with a covid-19 spit test, and a waiting room of socially distanced tables. a positive test, and it's straight to the hospital. >> if it comes back negative, you are released, free to go

directly to your home you will have to do 14 dits quarantinea bracelet. it's called stay home safeand frankly it's put on very loosely! bracelets track ev'sdatory movement, and alert police if you go outside. >> when we were in lockwn in italy, we were allowed to go to the supermarket and buy d groceries so we coeathe a little fresh air; here we are locked into the apartment. >> resident was sentenced to three months in prison for leaving without a good reason. can you talk about why you think people in hong kong are willing to listen to the government when the government demands steps like that? >> hong kong is a very peculiar case. we all went through sars. >> schifrin: in late 2002, in 2003, the novel coronavirus known as st hong kong hard. >> and the hong kong population, self included, and everybody because simply we didn't knowd

what the heck was going on. >> schifrin: sars kipeed nearly 80le here, with a fatality rate of nearly 10%. >> two decades of experience hapared us for this. >> schifrin: gabriel lng is the dean of the medical school at the university of hong kong. he recalls how he felt when he heard this year's news, of a mysterious outbreak na. >> the immediate knee-je psychological reaction was of cour flashbacks, 17 years. >> i think t main difference compared to sars now is that we are of course very much well- prepared. >> sch tape that delayed hong kong's sars response, fell away, and dr. ivan hung got swift approval for clinical trials of a potential treatment. and city officials made bulk orders for masks and other

protective gear the city even saw its first covid-19 case. by late january, residents were lining up for masks. >> people have been queuing for like three or four hours or overnight to buy a boxf mask and the price gone up like from one d hong kong dollars to $1,000. >> schifrin: so the government stepped in and handeout free masks. >> because we learn from the 2003 sars experience we have been wearing mask very, very y rlier on in the communitand that is the major difference. >> schifrin: but by then, the pandemic collided with potics. k hongg residents protested a new national security law that restricted their freedom of speech, the city's judicial independence, and threatnyed to send ae who calls for hong kong independence, to jail for life. pro-democracy leaders including joshua wg who had been fighting disbanded their organizations. in early june he spoke to a

european democracy summit. during the outbreak of covid-19 when the world is dealing with the paemic exported from china to the world and suddenly deciding to introduce this evil law to hong kong, and to sence the voice of the civil society. >> the kind of animosity that exists towards the pro-beijing government is strong. but when it comes to health, and talking about someone'family, someone's children, someone's grandparents, people are willing listen, if they think it's being done for non-political reasons. >> schifrin: in fact, under political pressure from beijing, first resistlosing thent at border with mainland china. that's when the hong kong residents already mobilized by the massive protest movement, pushed the government to take the threat more seriously. medical workers launched a strike. pro-democracy activists created

their own covid website; and the isscient emphasid public health over politics. dr. leo poon is also at t o universihong kong. >> people are extremely aware of the hand hygiene, peop looking for maskhe time. this is not only a small number of people, actually the majority of the hong kong people are doing that. residents have die covid.ng kong and schoolchildren are heading back to clses, gradually. but even now, there's no resting on their lauls. >> i never like to tempt fate. and my guess is that it's going to get worse before it gs better. >> schifrin: for george and emilio, weeks ofuarantine required a lot of father-son sports. emilio perfected his dunks, and george perfected his slo-mo camerawork. and then, right on time, he got the text msage he'd been waiting for." your 14-day compulsory quarantine period will endt midnight today." >> yes! yay! >>rin: ...and after three months, father and son were

free. >> fly! >> schifrin: ...and finally reunited as a family. >> it's absolutely wonderful. quarantine after quarantine, it got a bit tiresosa. i have to u're not completely free. we climbed over a fence, to get to the soccer pitch. but immediately there was somebody said sorry sir, you cat be here. >> schifrin: not completely free medically, or politically. but so far, kong has dodged the worst of covid. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: president trump continues to draw attention with his statements about race and racial division. this morni otwitter, he called on nascar driver bubba wallace to "apologize" for the investigatn into a noose found in his garage stall. in the same tweet, the president

said that incident as well as nascar's decision to ban confederate flags fromts races have led to the sports' "lowest ratings ever." at mount rushmore on friday, he also accused democrats of t telling the truth about american history. >> our children are taught in school to hate their own country, and to believe that the men and women who built it were no villains.ut that were the radical view of american history is a web of lies. >> woodruff: here to analyze all this and more, our politics monday duo. that's amy walter of the cook political report and host of itpublic radio's "politics amy walter." and tamara keith of npr. politics podcast."lle "npr to both of you. we seem to be having this conversation on this sject week after week.

amy, to you first, and we should note that bubba wallaceon red today by saying hate will always be prevailed over by love, that love will win t, in effect. nascar backed him up. but here we are talking about this again. is there evidence that this kind of an approach in presidential >> well, judy, in 2016, this is what the president focused in od culture wars, and it worked. it was effective in many places, in,arge part because well, he was running against eight years of democratleic-contrwhite house. that's not the case this year. he was running against hillary clinton, who had a lot of her own baggage from being in the political -- under the political mioscope for all ofhese years, being a part of a lot of different controversieer own right.

joe biden, it's very difficult to make him into some left wing mob leader. finally, we weren't, in 2016, in the middle of a pandemic and an economic recn. so he wants to make -- the president wants to make this20 a campaign redux, but the elements aren't there, and to your point about r it's working, it's actually working against him, judy, if you look at the polling from, say, may, where then, president was d but somewhere between four and six points, nowe's down by nine points. really since the beginning ofic juyou've seen the gap open up between joe biden and donald trump, and you can argue that a big part of that is because of the president's f intenseus on these sorts of issues. >> woodruff: and we should say,am, that the president, today, also went after the washington professional football team, the cleveland professional baseball team, said if they change their names, it's, quote,

politically weak. does the wte househink, in some way, that this is a strategy that's going to be successful? >> it is certainly the strategy that they're going with, and the president has tweeted this, ann his campas talked about this, the idea that somehow there is a silenty majorat isn't showing up in the polls that is goingo magically s up and vote him back into taoffice. i waing to a couple of pollsters today, and they say that, simply, he is running a race in a different time than the one that exists right now, as amy mentioned, and, in some ways, it'almost like he is running as challenger, not as an incumbent. is running, saying there is a dangerous mob of people that are going to take youer lifest away, that's going to change america. people are also pat of america, and he's been president for three and a half yrs.

these pollsters i talk to sort of question the wisdom of that essage, but, certainly, this is what the trump campaign is going with. you ask them about t second-term agenda, as i did today, and the answer was he did a lot in h first term, and he's going to protect people from the dangerous left wing mob and marxists. that's not an ext quote, bu marxists was definitely in >> woodruff: amy, dig a little deeper, if you would, into what you're seeing in polls, and not just this kind of language, but also the president's handling of the covid, the pandemic. >> great. you know, to tam's point, i have out there, too, who do wonders why the president is leanin into issues like the stuff he was tweeting about today, whethert's nascar or the washington football team, when he has very littl trust on that issue. you know, his overall approval rating isomewhere in the 40s, but, on trust to handle race relations, it's somewhere

in the s. so he's literally leaning int his -- an issue that he's seen as the least credible on.at every candshould lean into the issue where they're seen as having t most credibility and, for the president, it's still the economy, even as the economy is struggling, he still gets positive remarks, not as great as they were, say, four or five months ago but better marks than on any other issue. and it really is abouhim. i don't think this is about a strategy as much as a comfort zone for this president. he needs to have something to push ofagainst, and on culture, this is where he loves to go. >> woodruff: go ahead,tam. yeah, so, i was talking to an advisor to the president and his iscampaign, an economic ar, and i was asking why does it seem like the president is comptely invisible on coronavirus? like he is puosefully avoiding

talking about it? he's purposefully avoidingecause talking about it, you know, coming out and acknowledging 130,000 deaths or acknowledging theris resurgence in the virus, that's not a great campaign message, and what his advisor said, as amy pointed out, the area of strength, the one still really strong epart of president's polling is on the economy, on being able to do y mething abouthe economy, which is wh's pushed so hard to reopen, which is why he's having an eventbo tomorrow reopening schools and tweeted in all caps that schools must reopen. he wants to be able to tell a story about a great economic revil, a comeback. it's not clear that the viru i has th mind. >> w tdruff: so, amy, when president says 99% of the covid cases are not serious, in effect don't worry about it, it's only 1% of the cases that are worth

our concern, i mean, i think the american people know that's not the case, don't they? >> right. and their concern goes beyond ju o that sortf rhetoric, it's concern that relates exactly to what tam was talking about, about how to open the economy. you tn't open economy if people are worried about getting sick. so this still all comes back down to what are the ways in which the country can get a handle on bringing the number of cases down and,, obvious we're seeing right now that that is a losing argument, or a least we're not winning the war on this virus right now. there's a lot of debate about schools being opened, daycares being opened, and, so, they all rete to the one thing and, as tam said, the president is not talking about it, which is the coronavirus. >> woodruff: s many tough questions.

amy walter,, tamera keithhank you both. "politics monday." >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: the fourth of jy is not ordnarily the most popular holiday in britain. but this year there was cause to celebrate: the country's pubs opened for the fir time in nearly three months after coronavirus lockdowns. but in london people ignored appeals for social distancing and police had to disperse drunken crowds. here's special correspondent malcolm brabant. >> reporter: judy, like many brits, i'm enjoying my first beer in a pub in more than 100 days. the initial reaction of the government was that the restoration of normal rvice had gone well. but over the weekend there were several major episodes of bad behavior that if repeated, could jeopardize britain's recovery.

my report comes from nottingham, the city made famous by the legendary outlaw rin hood. at the 780 year old salutation inn, jeweler sue dyer celebrated what was dubbed britain's independence day. her choice of beverage was appropriate. >> there is a lot of people who felt very isolated, who will be gruggling with this, so it is nice that they c out. everybody's gone to a lot of effort to keep people safe. lots of social distancing. everybody, whom we have come across so far, have been very sensible about things. >> reporter: jason weston runs this, one of the oldest pubs in ite world. it'sssed the 13th century plague.eath and the 16th century with covid 19 still lurking, side of history.e right >> we are being very, very on int. we can't risk the safety of our staff, the safety of our customers. if you are being foolish and don't follow the guidelines, all

that is going to happen is that we are going to end up being shut down again. >> reporter: weston trusted his ritrons not to get hammered. >> it wasn't theing they were missing. they were missing the social aspect of what pubs are. >> reporter: car dealer david waling concurred. >> just now, being here, being thre with friends, having a beere simple things you take for granted. when you lose that ability, when you lose that chance to have that, to come out and to feel almost freedom. it's one of those liberties that we stand for. reporter: prime minister boris johnson knew it was a gamble. but he lifted the lockdown to revive britain's drown economy. >> good evening. anyone who flouts social distancing and covid-secure rules, is not only putting us all at risk but letting down those businesses and workers, r o have done so much to prepare fois new normal. >> reporter: but the appeal was ignored almost immediately in london's soho district.

in another part of the capal, police retreated when they tried to break up a block party and were pelted with btles. in nottingham, some self restint was also liquidated and troubled fashion assistant >> reporter: se pubs remained osed and not all out of choi. despite installing social distancing measures, including booths in his beer garden landlord alan merryweather was unable to open his doors. the reason? his pub is in leicester, the only city inritain subjected to a regional lockdown because of a major spike in infections. >> everyone was looking forward to the fourth of july. my staff were prepared. the financial implications have t us quite hard. it's been devastating. >> reporter: health officials have identified a poor neighborhood, mainly home to people with asian heritage, as the sour of the spike. emergency testing centers were set up by the army, but residents appeared to be staying away.

police guarded the railway station to stop people leaving for nearby cities like e ttingham so they could go to thb. willy bach is leicester's police commissioner, the civilian overseer of the local is by consent and that's all important. vieedoms have been taken away from people and smpit is verytant that the law doesn't come down so hard on aem. >> reporteng other things, the fourth of july marked the hening of museums and nottingham's robd experience, its actors entertain visitors with the legend of the medieval outlaw who with his merrie men, robbed the rich and donated the proceeds to the poor. >> there is very much something in the btish psyche about standing up to problems and coming together to fight it and this time we are being told to stay apart and do nothing. best you can do is do nothing. and that really has gone against the grain of a lot of people.

>> there is a lot of angry people out there. there is a lot of scared people out there. and i think getting small, independent businesses back on the streetis really, really important for no fingham as it a lot of different places. it's been terrifying, really, ally terrifying. >> reporter: the government had ped the nation would adopt a more sensible rhythm after nearly 45,000 deaths. but there are now widespread fears that britain's drinking culture could wreck the advances that have been made. so important are pubs here that prince william felt obliged to have a pathfinding sip of cider. but he's not as thirsty as the average brit. sales manager andy derz. >> i am 34, i am relatively thy. i am relatively fit. am i ced about it? not really. ke, i am not. i would o continue my life as if it were normal. people talk about the w normal, knowing human beings the way i do, the new normal will be normal because people are

creatures of habit and will ysntinue the way they alwa did. >> reporter: it will take a week or so before britain discovers whethependence day was really incubation day. if so, parts of the country, and chain. be ba under lock for the pbs newshour, i'm malcolm brabant in nottingham. >> woodruff: mike smith has been responsible for producing some of the most historic fabric in the u.s. in 1987, he co-founded the names project aids memorial quilt, which honors the lives of people wh died of aids-related htuses. in ton brief but spectacular, smith discusses that initiative and a more recent one, that has galvanized people to support those vulnerable to covid-19. >> i don't think i'm the only one with a little bit of p.t.s.d. these days.

for a lot of us that lived through those really dark days, suddenly here we are again with a virus you can't see. randomly affecting people, life being put on hold. around the t the lockdown here in san francisco, it suddenly occurred to me that this is going to bthe second pandemic of my life. and i really, no one should have to live through more than one. all those years ago in san francisco and then in the early '80s and mid-'80s, it was a really dark time. i had just finished stanford business school and had taken care of a friend and a classmate who died during school, and moved up to safrancisco without really thinking much about a career and a job. a littleeartbroken, a little bit lost and stumbled into the middle of an epidemic. the castro back then was horrible. you'd walk down the street and you'd pass dozens of people who you knew you were probably never gointo see you again. the country didn't seem to be responding or didn seem to be

caring. when some friends and i started the aids memorial quilt, it was really a cry for help. it was a really a way to be heard at a time when we all and some way to reach middle america with something that's not threatening and feels warm and comforting. and you think of your grandmother when someone says anilt. that wasn't the world we were living in with aids right then, it was a much different world where people were either, "there's you and t us and we don't have it and you do. and that's all there is to it." almost immediately, ght, this is an idea that's really going to resonate. we said we were going to do that first display at the march on washington for gay and lesbian ghts in october of '87, four months after we decided to start building thithing, which was azy. and i think, i thought, we would do this for a little while and we'd make our poinand that would be the end. and i don't think we were prepared for the beauty of the quilts. we had been making something that were basically bedsheets to make a proanst statement. suddenly we had mothers all over the country sending us pane for their dead son, expecting us to preserve them and care for them in perpetuity.

i never thought it would become my life's work, but it has become my li's work. in the middle of allf this, covid, when it first happened, i oksn't the only one that was g for a way to be helpful, a way to do something, which has always been my mode. gert mcmullin, who'd been very tvolved in sewing together many panels in the quilt for years, was feeling the same way. she used to be ablto go into hospital rooms in the '80s and be with dying friends, she just couldn't stand that she couldn't touch people and she couldn't be up close with ople. d she was isolated in her apartment and i was isolated and finally, she said, "i'm going to go into the workshop. it's emp. there's nobody else there. and i'm going to start making some face masks and we can give them away to people." i made a phone ciel to an old and it turned out she was working at an agency that was desperate for masks. this project has really opened my eyes to see how many vulnerable ati at-risk popus there are in an epidemic like this. in a homeless shelter, in a youth rehab program. people are right there up close

with each other and u can't get that kind of distance. the aids memorial quilt has gone from arotest banner and something we were going to take to washington to make a difference for one dayto a national treasure. i mean, it's the largest community arts project in the world. more people have worked on the quilt than built the pyramids. and lot of what we did at th time was not just the fabric. we inspired people to do something, athing, to express what they were going through, to tell their stories. and i think now out where we are with this mask project, and it's the same thing. we may make two or 3,000 masks, and that may save some lives. i'd much rather have this be a talyst for other people feel like, "i can find something to do. i can get out of my house and go helptuff food at the food bank. if we can do something simple something simple, find a way to an helpful. d that's what i'd much rather be remembered for, that being that catalyst than for just doing some sewing.

my name is mike smith, and this is my brief but spectacular take on turning grief into action. >> woodruff: and you can find all of our brief but spectacular segments online at s.org/newshour/brief. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs safe, and see you soon.ease stay major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> since our beginning, our business has been people, and their financial wellbeing. that mission gives us purpose, and a way forward. today, and always. da >> the kenund. committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas. more at kendedund.org. >> the alfred p. sloan

foundation. driven by the promise of great ideas. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur coundation. itted to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ptioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc

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