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 dailcacovid s yet in the united states, roughly 250,000 nationwide then, the pandemic and race-- new federal data shows the devastating toll of coronavis on people of color. plus, a peect storm-- how hurricane season presents additional threats amid the pandemic. >> when you saying social distance yourself 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 limit to how many are you going to test these people to make sure no one have the virus? >> woodruff: allhat and more

on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour haseen provided by: >> when the world gets complicated, a lot goes through your mind. with fid a dedicated advisor can tailor advice and recommendations to your life. that's fidelity wealth manageme.

>> the william and flora hewlett haundation. for more t50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to woomote a better d. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. contributions to your pbs statn from viewers like you. thank >> pandemic reached staggering new his today, as the u.s. dea toll surpassed 130,000. 16 statehave now posted record daily spikes in new infections

this month. all this as hospitals in the south and west strugglto keep up with the gent demand for care. william brangham has our report. >> brangham: in many places, it was a subdued holiday ekend; one overshadowed by a virus that's spading with alarming speed. americans marked the 4th of july with measured celebrations, their trips to the bea flanked with warnings. but even in states with soaring new infections, others gathered defiantly anrejected those warnings because i'm an american and i feel i should be able to do what i want to, i pay my taxes, i'll live free, i want to be free. >> brangham: som this rodeo in houston refused to wear masks, despite a new statewide order to wear them in public. >> because it's against our constitutional rights, they shouldn't be able to dictate what i wear. >> brangham: the surging caseload in texas has stretched hoitals to capacity, with record numbers of new patients admitted everyday.

houston >> the number of people in our i.c.u. beds has exponentially in ieased. in facwe don't get our hands aroundhis virus quickly, in about two wur hospital system could be in serious, sious trouble. >>rangham: a similar conce from the mayor of miami, another hotspot. >> there's no doubt that the fact that when we reopened, people staocializing as if the-- the virus didn't-- didn't exist. ham: both florida and texas reported their highest siay totals this weekend since the pandemic began. but president trump took to twitter to insist it is testing that is driving those surges, onwide deaths remain "low and steady." the weekend that incorrectlyver downplayed the severity of the virus. >> we have tested almost 40 million people. by so doing, we show cases, 99% of which are totally harmless.

>> brangham: ...it's a claim his own administration officials struggled to defend. >> what i will sayat we have data in the white house task force. those data show us that this is a serious problem. people need >> brangham: today, new york governor andrew cuomo accused the president of enabling the virus' spread tough his unfounded claims. >> mr. president, don'trae a co- consr of covid.ne doimple thing: acknowledgeri to an people that vid exists, it is a major prlem, >> brangham: but later at the white house, press secretary kayleigh mcenany called mr. cttrump's statements "l." >> the president was noting the fact that the vast majority of americans who contract coronavirus will come out on the other side othis. of course he takes this ve seriously, of cour no one >> brangham: meanwhile, ia i pas, new cases in la 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 tested positivfor covid 19 but hasn't shown any symptoms. we'll take a closer look at the racial disparities later in the program. in the day's other news, chicago 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 theeekend. but there were still more than twice as many shooting deaths compared to last year.nn >> we allow this to be

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

at least two people opened fire on the car she was rid. the shooting happened near a memorial for rayshard brooks, a black man killed by a white police officer last month. the supreme court today unanimously ruled that presidential electors can be bound to the winning candidate in their state's popeaar vote. that that in 32 states and the district of columbia, electonnot cast their electoral college vote for a different candidate.separately,o telemarketing "robocalls" to cellphones. but threw out an exception created by coness that allowed the calls for collection of government debt. a federal judge has ordered the shutdo oil pipeline pending an environmental review. it's a major victory for the standing rock sioux tribe. the pipeline crosses the missouri river, where the tribe

gets its water, and haed concerns about pollution. the head of the north dakota petroleum council insisted the pipeline is safe. >> there's been a lot of back and forth on this pipeline that carries ha a billion barrels to one to have the most market in the united states for that oil. it's got three-plus of safe operating procedures behind it now. >> woodruff: duke energand dominion energy >> woodruff: meanwhile, duke energy ainion energy announced they are canceling development of the $8 billion atlantic coast natural gas pipeline, a multi project, over delays and cost uncertainty. thatn decismes despite a recent supreme court victory over a key permit. stocks soared on wall street today, boosted by major gains in the technology sector. the dow jones industrial average 26,287. 459 points to close at the nasdaq rose 226 points, and

the s&p 500 added nearly 50. at least eight people are dead after two small planesded in northern idaho. the crash happened sunday afternoon over lake coeur d' alene. dive crews located the wreckage in about 125 feet of water. at least three children were among the victims. 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 nation after she called 911 and claimed that bird watcher christian cooper threatened her, after he calmly asked her to leash her dog as requred. she was ordered to appear in court in october on the misdemeanor charge. and, two passings of note ght: country music legend charlie daniels died today in tffnessee after ing a stroke.

for decades, he was a mainstay on the nashville scene as a singer, guitarist, fiddler and band leader. daniels was inducted into the country music hall of fame in 2016. here he is playing his grammy- winning hit "the devil went down to georgia" in 1979. >> ♪ fire on the mountain" run, boys, run! ♪ the devil's in the house the rising s ♪ chicken's in the bread pan pickg out dough ♪ granny, will your dog bite? no, child,o ♪ >> 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 for more th 90 days. cordero appeared in a number of broadway shows, including

"waitress" and "a bronx tale"., in 20 earned a tony nomination for his role in the l "bullets over broadway nick cordero was 41 years old. still to come on the newshour: covid's disproportionate toll on people of color in the u.s. a pengect storm - the increasi threats of hurricanes during the pandemic. political stakes: how president trump doubles down on racially charged language. and much more. i woodruff: the coronavir king a disproportionate toll on people ofolor. amna nawaz reports that new numbers reveal the outsized impact with striki new detail

>> nawaz: that's right judy, the "new york times" auired demographic data from the centers for disease control through a lawsuit under the freedom of informataon act. the et, of about 1.5 million cases here 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. kirsn bibbins-domingo, professor of medicine at the university of california, san francisco, wre she's also the inaugural vice dean for population health and health equity. dr. bibbins-do welcome to the "newshour", and let's start with why we have this data in the first place. times" had to sue the government to get it, t journalists and lawmakers have been asking for the data for months. people don't understand why it's so hard to gather and access this data. >> yeah, is really another example of what's been a very challenging federal strategy in managing this pandemic. it tur out the data is collected at the state level. 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 mande to report. that federal mandate didn't come till just a few weeks ago and, 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 for something that we knew was going to be important ngfor mana the pandemic. >> reporter: we should mention even the data they have is often incomplete, oftentimes the race and ethnicity of t patient isn't reported. there only goes through may so it't include the recent surge. those disparities were evidenten arly in the pandemic. back then when we talked about it, the explanation s black and brown americans have a higher health burden, they have more co-morbid yities. wh look at the broader data set, does that explanation explain the disparity? >> that explanation hasever been the most important part of

the observation. there are, frankly,es more c more cases means more black indiduals, more latinx individuals are being exposed to the virus because they are out working. ake up a disproportionate part of our service sector, our essential front line workers who are keeping our states clean, who are part of the publicta transpon, who are doing the informal service economy to take care of us who a ill, and that is what's exposing them to the virus, and that's why the caare high. >> reporter: doctor, what do you think, now that we see most states continuing to move ahead with plans to reopen. what's going to happ with that disparity? >> the striking thing in thek "new ymes" data is we see disparity in the suburban, rural settings and cities. s we reopen, it means that people are moving about, and those front line workers, those people who are doing those jobs that are essential to our economy are going to be more

exposed, and i thinkhat, in the absence of any real .potection for individual workers,., r example, protection for people whose wages might be the main reasonat hey continue to go out and work, even though they might n be feeing well, unless we have those protections inla, we're going to see a widening of these disparities and that's what i aate and what we're seeing, already, frankly, in many states. >> reporter: when you look at the medical response, knowing t disparities exists, knowing certain communities, black and brown amecans, are harder hit, should we think about doing more, nobl units, deploying vaccine first in these communities? wwald you assess we have been doing so far? >> i don't think we have been doing enough. we knew the w patternse going to exist. we already have deep, deep rvasive disparities in this country. people who think about epidemics kw that they don't distribute

equally, they distribute to communities like african-americans and latinx populations disproportionately, so we kn this ahead otime. a global pandemic like this requires a universals response a a targeted response, and the targeted response means that you distribute resources to the most.nities that need them t that means low barrier testing, taking tting to these communities, making barriers -- reducing barriers to things like thisime, making sure that you protect workers in their workplaces, which is oftentimes where they're at risk, andth making sur have access to type of health care they need if they're feeling sick, and all of those things nee happen in these communities and we're a little bit late to the game now, frankly. bibbins-domingo, from the university of california,

san francisco, thank you so much for being with us. >> thank you. >> woodruff: as amna reported, latinas have been one of the hardest hit groups in the pandemic. theyalso faced some of the biggest job losses in recent months. we spoke to several latinas, including two undocu, nted immigranout their experiences. >> my name is susie rivera.. i live in texas. i am a caregiver. the community.lderly people in i've been doing thisceort of work s986. >> ( translated ): my name is soccoro. i've been a domestic worker in sonoma county, california for 17 years. i'm originally fr oaxaca, mexco. everything has changed with the ic. i lost all my work from day one. i still haven't returned to >> my name is marisol blystone. i have been a child care provider in the city of torrance for the last 15 years.

covid, my business had children. walk-ins and everything. after covid there's only one. >> ( translated ): my name is yeni. been cleaning houses for 12have years. i lost 100% of my work for two or three months. i'm just starting back and have about 50 to 75% of the work i had before. >> (en translated ): it's very stressful and frustrating situation because i had niners family mematch 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 that was the biggest impact. we don't have access to any help

or benefit. all of a sudden i was homeless, without my possessions. that was somethingxtremely difficult for me. 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. paying my bills.e that i'm i'm getting my things paid. buatt i'm thinking on down the road, six months, eight months down the road,ow is it going to be? >> i have a son in college. d to pull him out. he's at santa cruz. he's come home. okay, what are we gonna do? how'renna do this? how.

how're we gonna-- how we're going to cover all this stuff >> ( translated ): i have never been a burden to the government. i have paid my taxes for a long time and now when i ne benefits i haven't received them. why isn't there a law that protects me? >> ( translated ): everyone's afraid. there's the pandemic and there's also the fear that there are going to be immigration raids and that any assistance me people have will be cut. >> ( translated ): we're not 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 they're not there taking care of their loved ones. >> ( translated ): if we didn't children of doctors, or nurses,

the country couldn't function. we are part of this country. we only neple to listen. >> we need help. we need the government to be do because we're raising the new generation of america. >> woodruff: the 2020 tropical uorm season has already been more active thal. the fifth named storm formed in enthe atlantic over the we and forecasters say there could be as many as six major hurricanes. but as john yang reports, this year, anning for these storms is complicated by the coronavirus pandemic. >> yang: when tropical storm cristobal lashedhe gulf coast

earlier this past month, it was already the third nad storm of the year. louisiana governor john bel edwards: >> the storm could have been a lot worse, i'm very thankf to say. we were largely spared from the most significant impact that had been forecasted. >>ang: 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 during a recent briefing on hurricane preparedness. >> so you think we cave a slightly enhanced hurricane season. that's just what we want. that's just what we want. let's see. hopefully, that won't be the case, but we'll see. >> yang: the pandemic has changed residents'nd governments' preparations, affecting everything from their absity to stock up on suppl to evacuation plans. cor example, large buildings like schools anunity centers typically have served as

evacuation she recent guidance from the centers for disease control and prevention said large shelters a should "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 o new bern, north carolina, survived hurricane florence. hethe storm dropped 30 iof rain in parts of the carolinas. >> when you saying social someone, wear your mask, wear you glove. now, if they have to go into the shelter, then that means that many people are going there.how are you going to test these people to make sure no one have the virus? 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 will have some typelof in-county r. we have to have more locations,

more shelter teams. and we are also jockeying for position with every other county, mulity and state for personal protective equipment and sanitizer. so it's not a good picture, but everybody is in the same position. >> yang: and if a big storm doe, ebuilding could be even more challenging. in 2017, floodwaters from hurricane harvey dtroyed much of daniel tellez's home in houston, 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 the repairs, which meant having to go to stores, having to speak to multiple contractors. so, yeah, it's gonna be tricky trying to navigate all of that through a ndemic. >> yang: in florida, where coronavirus cases are ain on the rise, officials are weighing options like shelter-in-place orders for people living in

homes that are strong enough, and using undesed hotels as shelters. administrat under president obama. he's now chief emergency management offic "one concern," a company that helps cities and counties with disaster response. is your advice to people in hurricane prone areas any t differcause of the coronavirus than it would be any otheyear? >> about the only thing i recommend is add the mask, gloves, hand sanitizer, disinfectants, to your supply kits. and if you're not in a evacuation zone, this is not any different, ut there's more emphasis this year, take the sts to prepare your home. know when it was built, know the building codes. it's a good option for you and your family, stay there and prepare for the storm. individual situation.he the one thing we don't want is people in an evacuation zone not to evacuate over fear of covid cause that could put them at even greater risk.

and also responders who may have too in and do rescues in t immediate aftermath of the storm. >> yang: fugate says the virus may also force chang in the way relief workers respond to disasters. mally, 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 cominin separate from each other, so if they're coming from different glates, they don't cross m 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 intense three or four month period where they've been they've got this hurricanenow season coming up. is there a worry about the a stamd the ability to sort of keep up at this level, this ihigh level? s what emergency managers do. we got the same questions after getting four hurricanes in one yeah, they're tired.004. and, yeah, they've been thinking about this. this is nothing they just

started yesterday thinking about hurricane season and other disasters. the reality is, if the system could adjust and handle this, you don't needmergency management. emergency management is for the extreme eventsthe org chart of government just can't even begin to deal with. >> yang: and this summer extreme events, a pandemic and powerful hurricanes, could be on a collision course. 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 new national sbyecurity law imposeeijing, appeared in court. the city was also expected to ruggle with the pandemic, which originated in mainland chin but hong kong has been a

coronavirus success stor with the support of the pulitzer center, and in collaboration wi 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 empty streets.italy's they'd gone on vn in march, and ended up locked down in italy, and separated from h wife valeria, back home in hong kong, where he's lived for 35 years. skype. each other only on never had a separation of this hikind, ofnature. >> schifrin: when italy opened up, they flew back to the hong kong airport, and a city that, by then, knehow to protect itself. their 12-hour arrijourney ended with a covid-19 spit test, a waiting room of social distanced tables. a positive test, and it's stight to the hospital. >> if it comes back negative, directly to your home where you

will have to do 14 days quarantine with a bracelet. it's called stay home safe, and frankly it's pel on very lo >> schifrin: the mandatory brelets track everyone's movement, and alert police if you go outside. >> when we were in lockdown in taly, we were allowed to the supermarket and buy groceries so we could breathe a little fresh air; here we are locked into the apartment. >> schifrin: one hong kong resident was sentenced to three months in pris 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.ro we all went thh sars. >> schifrin: in late 2002, in 2003, the novel coronavirus hard.sars hit hong kong >> and the hong kong populationa myself include everybody around me were very frightened because simply we didn't know

what the heck was going on. >> schifrin: sars killed nearly 800 people here, with a fatality rate of nearly 10%. >> two decades of experience have prepared us for this. >> schifrin: gabriel leung is the dean of the medical school at the university of hong kong. he recalls howe felt when he heard this year's news, of a mysterious outbreak in china. >> the immediate knee-jerk psychological reaction was of course flashbacks, 17 years. >> i think the main difference compared to sars now is that we are of course very much well- prepared. >> schifrin: this year the red 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 before the city even saw its first covid-19 by late january, residents were lining up for masks. like three or four orueuing for overnight to buy a box of mask and the price gone up like from one hundred hong kong dollars to $1,000. schifrin: so the government stepped in and handed out free masks. >> bause we learn from the 2003 sars experience we have been wearing mask very, very earlier on in thcommunity and that ie major difference. >> schifrin: but by then, the pandemic clided with politics. hong kong residents protested a new national security law that frestricted their freedom speech, the city's judicial independence, and threatened to send anyone who calls for hong kong independence, to jail for life. pro-democracy leaders including joshua wong who had been fighting disbanded their organizations. in early june he spoke to a

seuropean democramit. >> beijing take the advantage during the outbreak of covid-19 when the world is dealing with the pandemic exported from china to the world and suddenly deciding to introduce this evil law to hong kong, and to silence 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's family, someone's children, someone's grandparents, people are willing to listen, if they think it's orbeing doneon-political reasons. >> schifrin: in fact, under political pressure from beijing, the hong kong government at first resisted closing the border with mainland china. that's when the hong kong residents already mobilized by the massive prest movement, shed the government to take the threat more seriously. medical workunched a strike. pro-democracy activists cread their own covid website; and the

scientists emphasized public health over politics. dr. leo poon is also at the university of hong kong. >> people are extremely aware of the hand hygiene, people are lookin this is not only a small number of people, actually the majority of the hong kong people are dointhat. >> schifrin: only four hong kong residents have died from covid. anschoolchildren are heading back to classes, gradually. but even now, there's no resting on their laurels. >> i never like to tempt fate. and my guess is that it's going to get worse before it gets tter. >> schifrin: for george and emilio, weeks of quarantine required a lot of father-son sports. emilio perfected his dunks, and george perfectedis slo-mo camerawork. and tn, right on timehe got the text message he'd been waing for." your 14-day compulsory quarantine period will end at midnight tay." >> yes! yay! >> schifrin: ...and afthree months, father and son were free.

>> finally! >> schifrin: ...and finally reunited as a faably. >> it'lutely wonderful. quarantine after quarantine, it got a bit tiresome. i have to say you're not completely free. we climbed ov a fence, to get to the soccer pitch. but immediately there was mebody said sorry sir, you can't be here. >> schifrin: not completely free medically, or politically. but ed far, hong kong has dodg the worst of covid. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruf president trump continues to draw attention with his statements about race and racial division. this morning on twitter, he called on nascar drir bubba wallace to "apologize" for the investigation into a noose fnd in his garage stall. in the same tweet, the president said that incident as well as

nascar's decision to ban confederate flags from its races have led to the sports' "lowest ratings ever." at mount rushmore on friday, he also accused democrats of not telling the uth 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 not heroes, but that were villains. the radical view of american history is a web of lies >> woodruff: here to analyze all this and more, our dolitics mond. that's amy walter of the cook pt olitical repd host of public radio's "politics with amy walter." and tamaraf npr. she also co-hosts the "npr politics podcast." hello to both of you. we seem to be having this conversation on this subject week after week. amy, to you first, and we should

notehabubba wallace responded today by saying hatew ill always be prevailed over by love, that love will win out, in effect. naar backed him up. but here we are talkiabg t this again. is there evidence that this kind of an approach in a p race is effective?l, >> wudy, in 2016, this is what the president focused in od culture wars, and itd wor. it was effective in many places, in large partecause, well, he was running against eight years of democrat-controlled white house. that's not the case this year. he was running against hillary clinho had a lot of her own baggage from being in the political -- under the political microscope for all of these years, being a par oof a lotf different controversies in her own right. joe biden, it's very difficul ht to mak into some left wing

ader. finally, we weren't, in 2016, in th middle of a pandemic and an so he wants to make -- the president wants to make this a 2016 campaign redux, but the elements aren't there, and to your point about whether it's working, it's actually workingns ag him, judy, if you look at the polling from, say, may, where the presidenwas down, but somewhere between four and six points, now he's down by nine points. really since the beginning of juneics you've seen gap open up between joebiden and donald trump, and you cha argue a big part of that is because of the president's intense focus on these sorts of iues. >> woodruff: and we should say, tam, that the president, today,went after the washington professional football team, the cleveland professional baseball team, said if they change their names, it'sot, politically weak. does the white house think, in

me way, that this is a strategy that's going to be successful? >> it is certainly the strategy president has tweeted this, ande his campaign has talked about this, thidea that somehow there is a silent majority that isn't showing up in the polls that is going to magically show up and vote him back into fice. i was talking to a c 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 me sioned, and, ine ways, it's almost like he is running as a challenger, not as an incumbent. he isng run, saying there is a dangerous mob of people that are going to take youlifestyle away, that's going to change america. people are also part ofic ame and he's been president for three and a half years. of question the wisdom of that

message, but, certainly, this is what the trump campaig is going with. you ask them about tseheir nd-term agenda, as i did today, and the answer was he did lot in his first term, and he's going to protect people from the dangerous left wing mob and marxists. that's not an exact qte, but marxists was definitely in there. >> woodruff: amy, dig a little deeper, if you would, in what you're seeing in polls, and not just this kind of language, butl the president's handling of the covid, the paemic. >> great. you know, to tam's point, i have been talking to a lot of folkse, out thoo, who do wonder why the president is leaning into issues like the stuff he was tweeting about today, whether it's nascar or theon washinootball team, when he has very little trust on that issue. you kn, his overall approval rating is somewhere in the 40s, but, on trust to handle ce relations, it's somewhere

in the 30s. so he's literally leaning into his -- an issue that he's seen as the least credible on. nery candidate should l into the issue where they're seen as having the most credibility and, for the president, it's still is struggling, he still getsnomy positive remarks, not as great as ty were, say, four or five months ago, bt better marks than on any e.other is and it really is about him. 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 off against, and on culture, this is where he loves to g >> woodruff: go ahead, tam. yeah, so, i was talking to an advisor to the psident and his campaign, an economic advisor, and i was asking why does ite seem like esident is completely invisible on coronavirus? like he is purposiefully avong

talking about it? this advisor said, well, because he's purposefully avoiding ow,king about it, you kn coming out and acknowledging 130,000 deaths or acknowledging there is e a resurge the virus, that's not a great campaign message, and whatis advisor said, as amy pointed out, the area of one still really strong part of the president's polling is on the economy, on being able to do something about the economy, which is why he's pushed so hard to reopen,hich is why he's having an event tomorrow about reopening schools and tweed in all caps that schools must reopen. he wants to be able to tell a story about a great economic revival, a comeback. it's not clear that the virus has that in mind. >> woodruff: so, amy, when the president says 99% of the cov cases are not serious, in effect don't worry about it, it's only 1% of the ces that are worth

our concern, i mean, i think the american people know that's not the case, don't they? >> right. and thei ncern goes beyond just that sort of rhetoric, it's concern that relat exactly to what tam was talking about,w about open the economy. you can't open the economy if people are worried about getting sick. so this still all comes back w down t are the ways in which the country can get a handle on brbeinging the nr of cases down and, obviously, we're seeing right now that that is a losing argument, or at least we're not winning the war o this virus right now. there's a lot of debate about , hools being opened, daycares being opened, so, they all relate to the one thing and, as tam said,t he presid not talking about it, which is the coronavirus. >> woodruff: so many tough questions. amy walter, tamera keith, thank

you both. "politics monday." >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: the fourth of july isot ordinarily the most popular holiday in britain. but this year there was cause to opened for the first time ins nearly threeonths 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 gostoration of normal service ha well. but over the weekend there were several major episodes of bad beldvior that if repeated, c jeopardize britain's recovery.

my report comes from nottingham, the city made famous by the tgendary outlaw robin hood. 780 year old salutation inn, jeweler sue dyer celebrated inat was dubbed britain's pendence day. her choice of beverage was appropriate. >> there is of people who felt very isolated, who will be struggling with th, so it is nice that they can get out. eoerybody's gone to a lot of effort to keepe safe. lots of social distancing. erybody, whom we have co across so far, have been very sensible about things. >> reporter: jason weston runs this, one of the oldest pubs in the world. it's witnessed the 13tury black death and the 16th century plague. with covid 19 still lurking, weston wants to be on thhiright side oory. >> we are being very, very on saint. we can't risk thty of our staff, the safety of our oustomers. 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 patronnot to get hammered. >> it wasn't the drinking they were missing. they were missing the social aspect of what pubs are. >> reporter: car dealer david wakeling concurred he just now, being here, being with friends, having a beer, these 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 but he lifted the lockdown to revive britain's drowning economy. ood evening. anyone who flouts soanal distancincovid-secure rules, is not only putting us all at risk but letting wn those businesses andhaorkers, who ve done so much to prepare for this new normal. >> reporr: but the appeal was ignored almost immediately in london's soho district.

in another part of the capital, police retreated when they tried to break up a block party and were pelted with bottles. in nottingham,self restraint was also liquidated and troubled fashion asstant >> reporter: some pubs remained closed and not all out of choice. 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 in britain subjected to a regional lockdown because of a major spike in infections. >> everyone was looking forward to the fourth ofuly. my staff were prepared. the financial implications have hit us quite hard. it's beeepdevastating. orter: health officials have identified a poor iaighborhood, mainly home to people with heritage, as the source of the spike. bergency testing centers were set the army, but residents appeared to be staying away. police guarded the railway

station to stop people leaving for nearby cities like nottingham so they could go to the pub. lly bach is leicester's police commissioner, the civilian overseer of the local force. >> the british way of policing is by consent and that's all important. vital freedoms have been taken away from people and so it is very important that the law doesn't come down so hard on them. >> reporter: among other things, the fourth of july marked the opening of museums and nottingham's robin hood experience, its actors entertain visitors with the legend of the medieval outlaw who with his merrie men, robbed ich and donated the proceeds to the poor. >> there is very much sothing in the british psyche about standing up to problems and this time we are being told tod 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.

eothere is a lot of scarede out there. and i think getting small, independent businesses back on the streets is really, really important for nottingham as it is for a lot of different itn terrifying, really, baces. really terrifying. >> reporter: the government had hoped the nation would adopt a more sensible rhythm after nearly 45,000 deaths. but there are now widespread coars that britain's drinking culture d wreck the advances that have been made. ortant are pubs here tha prince willi felt obliged to have a pathfinding sip of cider. but he's not as thirsty as the average brit. sales manager andy d34z. >> i ai am relatively y althy. i am relativt. am i concerned about it? not really. no, i am not. i would like to continue my life if it were normal. people talk about the new way i do, the new normal will be normal because people are creatures of habit and will continue the way ty always

did. >> reporter: it will take a week oro before britain discove whether independence day was really incubation day. if so, parts of the countr could soon be back under lock and chain. for the pbs newshour, i'm malcolm brabant in nottingham. >> woodruff: mike smith has been responsible for producing some e the most historic fabric in s. in 1987, he co-foundedhe names project aids memorial quilt, which honors the lives of people who have died of aidted causes. spectacular, smith discusses recent one, that has galvanized people to support those lnerable 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 cae. randomly affecting people, life being put on hold. the time of the lockdow here in san francisco, it suddenly occurred to me that this is going to be the second pandemic of my life. and i really, no one should have to live through more than one. all those years ago in san '80s and mid-'80s, it was aly really dark time. i had just finished stan business school and had taken care of a friend and a classmate who died during school, and moved up to san francisco without really thinking much about a career and a job. a little heartbroken, a lile 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 going to see you again the country didn't seem to be responding or didn't seem to be caring.

when some friends and i started the aids memorial quilt, it was rely 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 snoething that's threatening and feels warm and comforting. and you think of your grandmother when someone says e ilt. and that wasn't rld we were living in with aids right then, it was a much different world where people were either, we don't have it and you do.d and that's all there is to it." almost immedtely, i thought, is is an idea that's really d ing to resonate. we s were going to do that first display at the march on washington for gay and lesbian rights in october of '87, four months after wdecided to start building this thing, which w crazy. and i think, i thought, we would do this for a little wnd we'd make our point and 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 ets to make a protest statement. and suddenly we had mothers all over the country sending us son,ls for their dea 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 life's work. in the middle of all of this, covid, when it first happened, i wasn't the only one that was looking for a way to be helpful, always been my mode.g, which has gert mcmullin, who'd been very hevolved in sewing together many of the panels inuilt for years, was feeling the same way. she used to be able to 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 at close with people. and she was is in her apartment and i was isolated and finally, she said, "i'm going to go into the workshop. 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 call to an old friend and it turned out she was desperate for maskcy that was thisroject has really opened my eyes to see how many vulnerable and at-risk populations there arn epidemic like this. in a homeless shelter, in a youth rehab program. people are right there up close with each other and you can't

get that kind of distance. the aids memorial quilt has gone from a protest banner and n mething we were going to take to washing make a difference for one day, to a ttional treasure. i mean, it largest community arts project in the world. more people have worked on the quilt than built the pamids. and a lot of what we did at the we inspired peoplethe fabric. something, anything, to express what they were going through, to tell their stories. 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 catalyst for oth people to feel like, "i can find something to do. i can get out of my house and go help stuff food at the food bank. if we can do something simple like make masks, you can do something simple, find a way to t helpful. and that's wd mu rather be remembered for, that being inat catalyst than for just ming some s my name ise 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 /bgments online at pbs.org/newshoef. 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 d wshour, thank you, please stay safe, ane you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> since our beginning, our business has been people, and their fincial wellbeing. at mission gives us purpose, and a way forward. today, and always. committed to advancing restorative justice and meangful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas. more at kendedafund.org.

>> the alfred p. sloan foundation. driven by the promise of great ideas. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur inundation. committed to buia more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ -today, on "america's test kitchen," julia makes get a show-stopping plum ginger pie, ad reviews small stand mixers, and elle makes julia the ultimate pear crisp. it's all com "g up right here erican's test kitchen."