captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight, covid on the rise-- infection rates in the u.s.ontinue to break records as the president claims the virus will disappear. we speako the republican vernor of maryla about the pandemic response. th, use of force-- concerns grow over the trumpmi adstration's response to protests as federal agents impose their presence onin demonstratorortland, oregon. and the economic aftermath-- italy's tourism industry struggles to escape the specter

of the coronavirus, even as the rest of the country returns to normality. >> ( translated ): today feais throwing the tourist industry to reverse. and it's creating enormous economic difficulties. italy is touri. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> when the world gets your mind.d, a lot goes through with fidelitwealth management, a dedicated advisor can tailor advice and recommendations to your life. that's fidelity wealth management. >> consumer cellular.

>> financial serd ces firm raymmes. at czi.org. the wilma and hewitt foundation for more than 50 years, promote ago better world. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing suort these institutions: and individuals. possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contrutions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the resurgence of

covid-19 has more of the countro facing a choicght: mask up or shut down. and in washington it has political leaders facing itical choices of own. white house correspondent yamiche alcindor begins our coverage. >> reporter: at the height of summer, the pandemic is hitting new heights. today in florida, cases topped 10,000 for the sixth day in a but despite those s, governor ron desantis repeated calls for schools to reopen this fall. >> we just got to be guided by the idence and data and make sure we're putting the interest of kids first and give parents the choices that they deserve. >> reporter: today, the florida education association-- the thlargest teachers union i state-- sued desantis over that decision. meanwhile, at the white house, the continued virus surge is forcing an about-face on strategy. today, president trump said his covi19 briefings with top health experts will likely

resume tomrow. >> we have had this big flare up in florida, texas-- a couple of other places. so i think what we're going to do is i'll get involved and 'll stt doing briefings. >> reporter: the president met leaders to begin talks on aal fifth round of coronavirus relief. >>e're working on negotiating with the democrats on trying t opt a plan that helps small busine, helps , helps this country. >> democrats in the house passed a bill to provide another $3 trillion.t nate republicans are eyeing a narrower, $1 trillion package expected to be finalid tomorrow. >> we're looking for a theme here, think liability protections for those trying to deal with the pandemic. we don't need an epidemic of lawsuits on the heels of the pandemice're already struggling with. >> reporter: a major sticking point in negotiations: mey for testing.

in an inrview with fox news that aired sunday, president trump said that responsibility falls on the states. >> some vernors have done well, some governors have done poorly. theye supposed to have i supplied everybo't have. >> reporr: he also took anher shot at dr. anthony fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert. >> he's a little bit of an armist. that's oy. >> reporter: and, he said a woulnot do enough to slow the spread. >> i want pe to have a certain freedom and i don't believe in tt. and i don't agree with the statement that if everyone wears a mask everything could disappear. >> reporter: despite that, this afternoon president trump tweeted this photo of himself wearing a mask. he wrote, "many people say that it is patriotic to wear a face mask... there is nobody more patriotic than me." today on fox news, surgeonra gejerome adams pleaded with americans to leave politi aside and cover up. >> i'm begging you, please understand that we are trying to take away youree frdoms when we say wr a face

coveng. >> reporter: other countries, g th f fewer cases than the u.s., are embracce coverings as the new normal. and, on thvaccine front, new research by scientists at oxford university is showing early promise. >> we have found that in over 1,000 people, the safety profile looks rather good and reassuring. and importantly, we are seeing good immune responses in almost everybody. >> reporter: for the pbsho ne, i'm yamiche alcindor. >> woodruff: as we have seen, governors are on the frontlines of combating the pdemic and its economic fallout. republican larry hogan ofrm maryland is ch of the national governor's association. recently, he has spot about failures on the federal level to respond. iss book, "still standing" out next week and he joins us now fromnnapolis. governor hogan, thank you so much for joining us today. i do want to start with the inndemic. we have some nermation about what's going on in maryland. your state, of course, has ved ahead with reopening much of

your economy, but the on sunday, it was reported 900 ne cases in a day. the evious week, over 500 new cases. over 700 new cas and five days out of a weeink. thisspite of the reopening, is it time to put that reopening pause? >> well, judy, we're looking at a whole lot of numbers, had you to put it a little bit in perspective because we did, over the past few days, two or three times more than normal -- than normal tting, so we did almost 30,000 tests, yesterday, as d opposed ng normally about 10 or 15. our positivity rate is actually down, and we have been trending tn the same direction. we hi our peak about 90 days ago when we're stadilyoing in a down direction. we're one o nine states in thetr cothat's going in a down direction or staying level or plateaued, so we're keeping an eye on the additional number

cases, but what's good is we're seeing a good trend on the positivity rate which yesterday was 3-.-smrks and we're getting a handle where the cases might be. we're doing a good job on coact tracing. we're looking at other states where we're seeing big increases. we're doing good on hospitalizations, cases and deaths which are trending in a down direcon. >> wdruff: a baltimore sun pushing back in jue to reopen bars and restaurants. it said, we spiete keping social distancing is difficult, it's not impossible. it pints out that the cases rising in maryland as in other states are mainly among 20-year-olds and 30-year-olds. is that something that you tink could have been a mistake? anthony fauci now says barsed should be cl >> i think it was a mistake on the part of a lot of other states. we, on t other hand, did not

open bars the way they did in other states. we only opened theem for sated distanced dining and with very strict capacity restrictions an masks. so many other sates opened up bars with hundreds of pestple ding in line at bars. we never did that. i saw the editorial in the sune but didn't agth it, but i'm the one that raced the alarn on thern here in our state. while we're very far down on people over 35, we're seeing an increase inur 20-something and 30-something yrmingdz, and as ot of that ho do with parties and people going out, hanging out togethe ad corning gait at some of these facilities, so we're eping a close eye on it and we've asked our local health department officials to step up the enforcement of some issues to make sure people aree following rules, and if we have to roll things back, we definitely will take those tions. >> woodruff: let me ask you ab wt the book. re only given accesso part of it.

i gather you will release then rest of it ioming days. but in the book, you write about your life, your many experiences, but you also have pretty pointedriticisms of president trp's handling of this pandemic, especially in the early days, and you write about a peri you call his -- you refer to his public dismissals of the seriousns of this crisis, and you say he was commenting "like a man more concerned about boosting the stock market or his reelection plans." was this, i action, the cause of thousands of people losing their lives? >> well, you know, i talk about -- i have about -- you know, th book was coming out a little earlier, and i pushed thn pause buand i asked my asked me, becauof theff and they pandemic, they would only pusht it off til end of april and asked if i would add the more recent things. i added five chapters to talk about the the early response to the pandemic and whawe were

faced with as governors. it's not really an attack on the president, but it deals with the mistakes i saw early on ignoring advice of experts. i think t ear messaging about there was nothing to be concerned about, when we all dew that there was, an i think not having some early actions on nationwide tesng and things like that. so it wasn't just meant to be critical of the president. i've always been u front and direct and try to tell people exactlwhat's going o i've praised them when they've dope something right, but there were definitely mistakes made in the beginning of the crisis. the president could haveen li to tad vice of the smart people in histi administ, scientists, doctors, made decisis ick around done a better response and done a better job of letting people know how serious it was.

we wasted several months where we could have got antter handle on this. >> woodruff: did that lead to lives lost? >> no question about i in some ways, we've saved lives becaie this thng has been attached down. the original estimates were up to 2 million lives lost. johns hopkins was predicting by now we would have lost 12,000-some lives at a minim. we've lost about 3,000 people, which is tragic. so web look at the lives wee lost or save either way, but, right now, i think everybody's trying to do everything they can to move forward toe sure that we an't back in the same position now that we we back in the height of this crisis, back in the early days of march and april, and that's the scary thing right now that it looks liket's coming back to the same kinds of levels. >> woodruff: you have said, governgan, that you didn't vote for president trump in 2016 y it sounds liu may not vote for him this year. will you vote for joe biden?

>> well, look, i have, like everybody else in america, have till november to decide what toh do i'm iring the national governor's association. i'm not able to get involved in politics right now on a partan basis. regardless of what happens in november, i think we're going to take a hard look at what the future of the republican party is going to look like and what the future of our coury's going to look like over the next four years. >> woodruff: and what adice do you give republicans, because it's clear that many of them are saying nowt they're comfortable wh president trump what advice do youfor them? >> i think the republican party has really got to take a look at how they're going to -- ronal t reagan alwaylked about a bigger tent, and he did a good job of raching out d winning over independents and swing deoncrats and i think that' thing the republican party is not doing now.sf succ politics is about addition and multiplication, not

subtraction and division. if we're going to win as a rty, we have to appeal to more people and not shrink the base. that's what i've done in maryland and we've bone over suburban women, mocrats, minority voters, and thepu ican party is doing a poor job of reaching those folks and >> woodruff: and larry hogan might be a candidate for presidt in 2024. is it something you're looking at? at.that's way too earlto look i've got a great job as governor till the middle of 2023, and we're in the midst of twin and the virus and i'm going tos keep things focused here at home. >> woodruff: larry hogan, governor of the state of maryland. we appreciate .. >> thank y thanyou, judy.

>> woodruff: in the day's other news: labor unions and racial justice groups held a nationwide "strike for black lives" to protest against racism organizers called outs in more than two dozen u.s. cit ps. in new yortesters rallied outside the trump international hotel. they said they have to work, regardless of the pandemic. >> we are all standing together and fighting against every single injusce passed our way. every time you leave your house also to sahe sick, you are and putting your family and yourself at risk. children, elderly, even your neighbors. >> woodruff: separately, in portland, oregon, protesters set fire to the entryway of the federal courthouse overnight in new clashes with federal agents. the mayor and governor demanded the agents be withdrawn, but the departmentf homeland security said they'll stay. we'll get much more on the portland story, after this news

suary. w >>te couple are charged with showing guns in a racial protest. mark and patricia says they were deg their hoe. a local prosecutor said they could have triedggiolence. president trump condemned the investigation and suggeed he might intervene. e u.s. of representativesu. th house of representatives today honored the late john lewis, the manca that maned the "conscience of the congress." the georgia democrat died friday at age 8 he was a legendary figure in the civil rights movement, and his later career in politics spanned three decades. this afternoon, lawmakers observed a moment of silence after senior members of the georgia delegation paid their own tribes. >> the world is a better place because john lewis spent his life pursuing freedom love peace and justice for all of humanity.

>> ouration has indeed lost a giant, and its times like these that we must be reminded we stand on the shoulders of giants, like john. >> woodruff: in georgia today, state democrats selected their party chair, state senator nikema williams, to replace congressman lewis on the november ballot. they may have foue gunmanors say who killed a federal judge and wounded otherin the home. byy den hollander was found dead today apparentlhis own hand. he was a self-described judge.minist and had derided the in the presidential campaign, in the presidential campaign, democrat joe biden picked up endorsements from topmuslim-ame. they include democratic congresswoman ilhan omar of minnota. the former vice president

summit, and vowed rid ofm the ban on travelers from aus mainlym countries. >> donald trump has fanned the flames of hate in this country across the board, through his words, his policies, his appointments, his deeds. if i have the honor of being president, i will end the muslim ban on day one. >> woodruff: meanwhile, president trump took part in aro dtable with supporters this evening at his hotel in washington. but in his interview that aired sunday ofox he would not say if he will accept november's electionesults if he loses. >> y don't know until you see, it depends.-i i think mavoting is going to righe election. i really do. look, i have to see. no, i'm not going to just say yes. and i didn't last time, either. >> woodruff: we'll take a closer look at the presidential race the united arab emirates

launched the arab world's first interplanetary mission today with a spacecraft bound for mars. the unmanned orbiter "amal," japan, beginning a sevenonthom journey. the mission will study the martian upper atmosphere a monitor climate change for at least two years. and on wall street, the tech sector shot higher, leaving the broader market in its wake. the dow jones industrial average gained not quite nine points to close at 26,680. the nasdaq rose nearly 264 points a the s&p 500 added 27. still to come on the "newshour," federal agents impose their presence on protesters in portland, oregon; italy's tourism industry struggles to escape the specter of the coronavirus; six mons after the pandemic's onset in the u.s., examine the response, and much more.

>> woodruff: some of the recent protests against police violence itand racism have been meta federal response. and in portland,rego local ofcials believe that presence is causing more harm than good. john yang reports on the growing rift between president trump and local leaders. >>eporter: for more than 50 days, protesters have crded the streets of portland, oregons in respoe to the killing of orge floyd. many of the demonstrations stayed peaceful. rat following the increased presence of fedeagents this month, clashes between law enforcement and protesters have escalated. city officials say tt's caused an uptick in alleged police brutality, arson and vandalism.

>> it's like pouria gasoline on fire. >> reporter: sunday night, a group of motrs linked arms to protect hundreds of protesters demonstrating outside the cit's federal couse. but later, federal authorities broke up the crowd by setting off flash bangs and tear gas. >> four or five men came out, jump out and just start rushing at all of us. it was absolutely terrifying. >> reporter: today president trump defended his decision to deploy federal lawnforcement ficers in portland. >> we're going to have more feiral law forcement, tha can tell you. in portland they've done a fantastic job. these are anarchists, these are not protesters. people say protesters. these people are anarchists. these are people that hate our country. etand we're not going to lt go forward. >> reporte state and local ficials want them off the streets. >> leave. your presence here is not wantedit's not needed. >> reporter: portland mayor ted wheeler. >> unmarked vehicles, driving into crowds, pulling people off the stres without any probable

cause as far as i can tell. and the people who are engaging in these activities aren't evenl g to identify who they are and they don wear an insignia on their uniform.ea that's athreat to democracy. >> reporter: on fox news this morning, acting department of homeland security secretary chad woee said his agents don't nd invitations to do their job. on friday, oregon attorney general ellen rosenblum sued the department of homeland security another federal agencies f allegedly violating protesters' civil rights. the suit claims agents in unmarked cars took people off the streets without warrants. the amican civil liberties union of oregon alsoued d.h.s. and the u.s. marshals service for allegedly violating th rights of journalists and legal observers. oregon democrats accuse thet presid playing politics. >> there's no question in my nd that this is a ve cynical umploy on the part of the white house.lu i ably believe that the play here is to support his own

base >> reporter: docratic senator jeff merkley tweeted he will seek legislation barring the administration from sending" paramilitary squads" into u.s. cities. as protests continue across the couny, portland is not the trump administration's only focus. reported d.h.s. pl deployne" 150 agents to chicago. responding to that report, chicago mayor lori lightfoot told reporters her city doesn't need federal agents without insignias "taking people off the streets." kate brown is the governor of oregon. we're joined by kate brown, governor of oregon rk joining us from portland. thank you so much for being with us.de you heard pre trump in that taped spot saying the reason the federal forces are in portland are to restore order and, late th afternoon,

d.h.s., the department of homelansecurity, tweeted out that portland is ripe with violent anarchists, assaulting federal offices and feder buildings. what'sour response? , well, unfortunately, things re calming down, when trump's troops appeared on our streets. i was really clear when i spoke with the secretary of sehomeland rity last week. i asked them to leave, and that their presence here was not needed. the challenge their presence here nis escalating already challenging situaon. things were beginng to calm down, then trump's troops arved, and it's simply like pouring gasoline on a fire. >> reporter: have you had anyre onversations with secretary wolf since then? >> no, i haven't.ha thsh reality ishis is about scoring political points wi their base. this is aboutolitical thater. if they were really interested in-s problving or in public deescalate and engage inlling

dialogue. instead, they bring moreroops to the streets, they tak peaceful protestors off into unmarked cars and, unfortunately, last weekend, they almost killed a paceful protestor. thisits outrageous. s a violation on the principals on which this country >> reporter: thmost killed a peaceful protestor. the protestor was hit by a nonlethal projectile fired by someone, i believe it was the marshall service, d the u.s. attorney has referred that to d.h.s. inspector general forat investn. we've heard d.h.s. talk about the federal building, but the federal protective service, which is pa of d.h.s., does have the authority, the responsibilityhef protecting federal building, where all is is going on. how can you argue that you don't

want them in the city? >> look, there's no question about their legal authority to protect public buildings, but thiss substantially more than that. if you are interested in resolving a crisis, wouldn't you call the elected leaders inlved? wouldn't you see how you could help? the irony of this entire siation is that we do need help. like all state oregon is substantially in need of stance.al as we need help with testing plies and equipment. i th a challenge and the trump troops in portland are exacerbating an alrea challenging situation on the streets. look, this i distraction for the trump administration. distract fromg to the challenging job they have done, the fairly to lead this

country through a nationalnd ic. there is no national response and no leadership out of the trump administration. >> reporter: you talk about if they were interested in trying to rolve this problem they'd talk with local and state officials. usually in this situation, there is coordination between federal, state and local officials. has that been the case in this instance? olutely not. both the mayor and myself, in speaking with the secretar of homeland security, said we do not want you here, please leave. th camen without talking to us, and now they are staying without our permission. and i have to say, elected officials at the local level, at the state level and at the federal level, we are all united against the presence of these trump troops here in the streets of portland. last night, we had hundreds of mothers from around the city putting their bodies, putting their lives between protesters

and federal officers. this is a very serious situation. the federal troops need to pack up and go home and let us manage the situation. >> reporter: have you been hearing from any your colleagues, any governors from other states worried about what might haen in their states? >> yes. i spoke to two govnors yesterday. folks are extremely concerned. a couple of weeks ago o a call with the white house, the president said, we needed to be dominating the streets, we need to have our national guard, our military out patrolling the streets. that's not how we do things here. but governors from around the country are concerned, particularly democratic governors that t president will bring troops in and increase the level of tension and increase the level of violence. look, the violence is viewl --

e violence is absolutel unacceptable, no question about that. the violence is a distraction for the incredibly important work that we need to do to eradicate racism in our criminal justice system, in our healthcare system and, of course, in our educationm, sys but the trump administration is not interested in problem solving, the trump administration is not interested etin public s they arenterested in political theater d scoring points with their base. >> oregon governor kate brown from portlan tonight. thank u very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: italy iemerging from its covid nightmare. now in high tourist season, tourism is a vital part ofy, italy's econsually bringing in 13% of italy's more but many are worried a. persisting fear of the unknown

will cause lasting damage to the trade. from the beach town of rimini on the adriatic coast, special correspondent malcolm brabant reports. >> reporter: this is ania essentl part of gabriele pagliarani'sew regime: disinfecting sun beds on his stretch of rimini's extensive beach. so's had to remove some umbrella stations to boosal distancing and comply with new rules to reduce the risk of contagion. >> ( translated ): unfortunately this is anything but a successful summer. this damn virus covid hasry derailed eing. and we have an economy below zero. >> reporter: for 33 years this yeach club has been a mo maker. normally at this stage of the season, says pagliarani, it would be full of visitors from across europe and beyond. but legions of empty sun loungers rresent potential disaster. >> ( translated ): one year you can survive.

two certainly not. let's hope this pandemic goes away as soon as possible. >> reporter: a recent analysis of rimini's tourism prospects is devastating. a professor from bologna university is predicting many bankruptciesas so many families are dependent on tourism. he says that some of them are going to have to get used . they may find their income slashed in half or even worse. in his most timistic scenario he says losses here will be as great as 40%. and for this city alone, that means more than $1 billion or more. >> ( translated ): 40% means that in all likelihood 20-30,000 people in the hotel and accommodation sector won't be rehired. >> reporter: patrizaldis speaks on behalf of hoteliers in rimini, but she's worried about italian tourism as a whole. in less crazy times, the industry generates about $250 billion a year, or 13% of italy's g.d.p.

is ( translated ): today fea rowing the tourist industry to reverse. and it's creating enormousif economicculties. italy is tourism. >> reporter: the downtll hit the poorest hardest. jangir alam om banglades has eked out a living onhe beach for the past 11 years. >> ( translated ): no tourists are here. now it's a hard life. this year is a bad year. the virus has hit the whole world. it's a big problem. not only for me, but for everyone. >> reporter: but tunisian ice cream vendor adam ramore optimistic. >> ( translated ): it's difficult, but we'll try to adapt. we've come from a very difficult situation. now we'll try to get our lives back in our own hands and crack on. >> reporter: but the desire to reboot the economy is temperedce by c about a second wave.

grottamare, south along the adriatic coast is, another town reli tourism. market trader maria rita quinzi says aiety is prevalent. >> ( translated ): more than anything people are scared. they don't know what to do inof termearing gloves or having contact. they look around and complain is someonot wearing a mask. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: but this is a sign of confidence. hospital doctor christopher muscat's family celebrates the birthdays of his mother and sonb atchside restaurant. >> there was surely an emergency unl some time ago, but now we are over. there are very, very f cases of people who are asymptomatic-- don't have any sympts-- so i think it's safe enough to come over. >> reporter: as soon as italy opened its borders, german influeer andrea eggers drove south to check out destinations

nfor her 55,000 followers instagram. at rimini's grand hotel,erspex screens at the breakfast buffet protect guts and staff. eggers' doctor husband egbert ca a medical practitioner' eye. >> i see safety. and i think all tourists can come to italy and they don't have to be afraid. >> i think the situation is wonderful.ep >>ter: to compensateor the lack of foreigners, business leaders hope italians willic behave patrily and take vacations at home. on rimini beach, suns alessandro and angela nasi from northern italy lapped up the solitude. covid forced us to be locked up at ho forwo and a half months without being able to move. we couldn't wait to get out and breathe some good sea air. >> reporter: normally, money a starts to fler dusk.

not any more. at this popular nighlub, the dance floor is off limits. no chance of getting up close and personal under new social distcing rules.tr >> ( slated ): why is it i can be on a flight for eight hos elbow to elbow with a person, and then masked up i can't dance with someone for half an hour? things don't add up. the measures are just too surd. >> reporter: nightclub owner lucio paesani is anxious not leasbecause he took out a quarter million llar loan before the pandemibegan. soar his earnings have been negligible. than devastating.: it's more this was a healt business with a great balance and good income in this region. no matter, in three months, they've put us on our knees. >> reporter: across italian tourism, businses and workers are marking time. emergency laws guarantee that jobs are protected until august. t unless there's an unexpected upturn, the wheel of misfortune will throw tens thousands out of work.

malcolm brabant in rimini. >> woodruff: with the numbers of both inftions and deaths related to coronavirus continuing to climb in this country, amna nawaz marks the moment with two people focused on stopping the pandemic and looking at what needs to be done next. >> reporter: it was just about six months ago when the very first known case of covid-19 was confirmed in the united states. since that time, the toll hass. been enorm more than three and a half million people infected, nearly 140,000 killed, and millions more have lost jobs and now face an uncertain future. to look back at how we got where are over these last six months and where we go next, i'm joined by john berry he's a professor at tulane

university school of public health and ahor of "the great influenza: the story of the deadliest pandemic in history." also, dr. rajiv shah. he's president of the rockefeller foundation and a former administrator of the s. agency for international development. welcome to you both. ank you for being here. and dr. shah, i want to start with you, because the rockefeller foundatias just announced a new national covid testing antracing action plan. it was an idea we should say has been floated fm the beginning of the pandemic. you were talking about it in intervws weeks ago. i think a lot of people find it hard to believe we d't have that kind of plan yet. why don't we? w >> weldo know that every country in the world that has gotten on top of covid-19, has done it based on a plan that makes testing effective and ubiquitous for their populationc and paarly those in need. and then ties testing and test results to isolation andqu antine efforts that can help reduce the chain of transmission.

i helpedead the ebola response in 2014 in west africa, getting testing times down from eight or nine days to four hours made all the fference in beating back ebola. we put a plan out there months ago to get america from about 6-700,000 tests a week, up to 30 and we today announced a new approach that will help us actually get to 30 million tests a weekwhich is what we think america desperately needs to avoid and to avert aatastrophe that's even worse than what we're experiencing now this. fa >> reporter: but we are now six months in. again, what? why don't we have this kind of plan? what's stood in the way? coordination at all levels ofand government, and it takes industry working together with the public sector, and because we hav't seen that happening as much as we would like, thefo rockefelledation pulled together industry groups, scientists, investors and public health authorities at all levels of government. we worin more than 30 cities around the country.

and what we found is basically people nd protocols for how to use testing much more aggressively, especially foras ptomic testing. so the teachers, firefighters, police officers, esstial workers, healthce service providers, residents in nursing homes are getting regular testing. and we can catch people who don't have symptoms. that's the big missing piece and that's the piece that threatens to shut down our economy again this fall when the flu season >> reporter: john you wrote recently, looking back over the last six months, i'm quote. you back your you said, "had we done it right the fit time, we would be htoperating at near 100% r now." hindsight is certainly 20/20. this was a novel virus. so how can you be sure of that? how do you know that? >> well, every other developed couny in the world is done. they've all done a better job than we have. some of them have done pbably better than anybody in public health thought was possible.

you know, italy was the epicenter. we're all familiar with then. devaat they are now down to under 200 cases a day. compare that to florida, which i cases a day.was er 13,000 texas, over 10,000. often it's just impossible to do the kind of testing and tracing when you do that. dr. shah is talking about when you havever 10,000 cases in one state. when you gett down to something like what italy is doing, what's germany is doing, what other european cotrs have done. forget about some of the asian countries where thcounts are even dramatically less than of the vir.you can get control we should have done, we should have, could have and, you know, we still cane do have an opportunity going forward. but the window is closing rapidly. >> reporter: dr. shah, let me ask you about what john berry juwe said, though. ear a lot about comparing

the u.s. response to other countries. you've led emergency response in the u.s. is different in culture, in leadership in a lot of ways. are those fair compa? >> well, well, they' very fair comparisons, and frankly, they also offer a roadmap to allow us a way out. i just want to reiterate what john just said. we have a very short window to act now to avert a real catastrophe this fall. and that catastrophe can only be averted with a major new investment in testing and tracing the development of protocols so people without sytoms are getting regular screening tests. the good news is there's some new technologi, particularly the low cost, less sensitive, bumore frequent and rapid antigen tests that could change threality in america. but we need to embrace that new opportunity now and act on it. >> reporter: john barry, we've also we should note that those cases did increase. ere were some mitigation sps put into place not consistently

across the entire country. but as dr. fauci recently pointed out, we never went into a full lockdown acro the untry. do you think that coulstill be ahead? >> well, certaly, i think in, in hotspots and county by unty, that may very well probably is necessary. you know, politicay, nationally, that would be difficult. obvisly, we never got the baseline down where it needed to be. and right now it is, i think, out control and in several states. and you' not going to get control of it simply even if you get widespread compliance with social distancing mass hand shing and staying home when sick and so forth. that is not going to d than blunt the explosive gwth. it will not in a, in a short timeframe, at any rate, get things done where they need to be. you need to be much more

ghgressive than that so that you will have few enases that the testing and tracing is possible. >> reporter: dr. shah, it's hard for many people to remember what life was even like six months ago, it has changed so amatically in so many different ways. and we can mark the beginning of the pandemic with that fir confirmed case on january 20. how do we mark the end? >> well, you know, as we've seen before, the only way you mark the end is when you see theo curve bentw that then it's really no longer an imminent a immediate threat to everyone around us. anwe've done this before. frankly, some states have succeeded in this first wave of getting cases down. o we've seer countries, as john mentioned, succeed in we ourselves, america led the effort in west africa to fightba against the ebola crisis and won. so we knowow to do this. but it starts with having a data driven, evidence based report approach.

and that requires testing. that requires tracin and that requires behavior change. and it has to be top-down and organized right now. the federal government has an opportunity. everyone should have that kind of access to testing so they can go do their essential work. and the government could make that possible by putting resources into advanced purchase contras or using the defense production act to make ts of available, especiaese newst kits low cost rapid tests that get you a result in 15, 20 minutes. so with that sort of mindset of we're all in it together. we'll work togethegh left and public and private. that's what it's going to take to win this fight. >> repter: it's a phrase we' heard often over the last six months: we're all in it tother. that is dr. jiv shah of the rockefeller foundation and thor john barry. thanks so much to you both. >> thank you. >> thank you for having us.

>> woodruff: here to analyze the political consequences ofum president s coronavirus response, our politics monday team. at's amy walter of "the cook political report" and host of public radio's "politics wit amy walter." and tama keith of npr. she also co-hosts the "npr politics podcast." it's so good to see both of you. let'salk about the president. right now, tam, he's coming under a lot of criticism, have been hearing. governor larry hogan of maryland, who weew inter earlier on the program, writes in his new book about the point back in march wheretop wiz saying anybody can get a test when, behind the scenes, governor hogan said no one, no governor could get tests and, in fact, we just heard it's still hard to get tests in. the fox intereway yestethe president said testing iwhat's

causing the rise in cases. tell us, tam, is this aat deliberate sy on the part of the white house? >> let's start by saying that the rise in cases.t's causing the rise in cases is vastly outpacing the increase in sting. so a quick fact check there. but i've spoken to advisors of the presidentfo who've said he simply does no want to be the messenger when it comes to the coronavirus. he doesn't want to talk about it. he wants to talk about the economy. he wants to tal about things that he tnks can lead to his reelection. the problem is all roads lead back to the coronavirus, and there's a sense that maybe he's realizing that,aybe a couple of front-page "new york times" articles have helped wake him up bringing back the coronavirus task force briefing, bringing back the briefings. we'll see i that really happens and, you know, if all the scientists are thereand if those briefings are helpful. but the challenge that he has at

this t point ist the majority of americans tell pollsters that they do not trust the information that they're getting from the president of the united states on coronavirus. so that is a problem, as he tries to run for reelection and the american public potentially if he' bringing bac these briefingabout the pandemi >> amy, what do you make of what the president's saying these days? andhat interview yterday with fox news about how he's describing his relationship wit this virus and his leadership of trying to address this pandemic? >> well, he's trying to do both things, whichis s the administration has done the best that we can, this wasn't our fault, this was the chinese governors to take the ball from there, it's not necessarily my

job. but as we've sn in poll after poll, judy, the governors of these states, red states and blue states, most of them are getting higherir ratings on t handling of the coronavirus than the present is. now, in a state lik azona, that's not the case, where, obviously, there's a very big hot laot, but ins that the president points to -- places like michigan where he said they won't let him come and have rallie there -- the democratic governor there hasr a much hig approval rating on her handling of the coronavirus. what hs also doing, judy, he mpd it in this chris wallace interview, his gn is doing this in tv ads, essentially, what the campaign message is at this point from donald trump is don't be scart of the coronavirus, be scared of the radical left, theyre going to defund our cities and we'll fall in chaos and anarchy, that's

where he wants the battle for the 20 race to be fought. it's that americans aren't particularly interested in it being fo wht there. tht an answer on how to live and deal with this pandemic. >> woodruff: and picking up on that, tam, yesterday, the president did a telephone- a couple of, i guess, over the weekend, telephone rales, oral lis by phone, including one in he pained this very scary picture of joe biden -- he's goin to send immigrants into your neighborhood to do terrible things, he's going to create subsidized housing with all sorts of unsavory people. is the goal to frighten people? >> certainly. is delivering and it's been morc ex in the last week or so is that democrats are going to destroy the suburbs. i spoke to former republican

congressmewho represented the suburbs until he saw the writing on the wall and decided not to run for reelection, and he said he doesn't see that message really selling in the suburbs. he says that suburban vots are sophisticated enough to know that joe biden is not going to eliminattheir local police departments and that fair housing policy and multi-family housing is n going to lead to the destruction of their towns. he's, like, i live in a suburb, i don't how they're going to destroy the suburbs. yoyou know, talking to polls too, so far, they don't think that this is something that voters are really buyin the reason the president is making a play for the suburbs iw the suburbs last time and, now, polls show vice president joe biden up by a lot, by ahole lot, for a de, mocr the suburbs. >> woodruff: go ahead, amy. ell, i think he's ying to

do, if he can't win those voters back, at least make themsk tical of suppoing joe biden, maybe even sit out this election because they may not like donald trump, but they're worried about joe but, judy, a state that you know really well -- geora, the lanta suburbs - just tshow you how quickly the suburbs changed. gwyneth cnty, which for a long time was a republican stronghold, mitt romney won there almost 10 points in 2012. in 2018, stacey abrams won gwyneth county. a lot is because the suburb has become ls white, it's become almost a third african-american, and latino and asian popularity growing there, too, s suburbs theup is talking about and maybe he remembers from the '70s and 's, that's not

the suburbs that have been moving to democrat, that's not anymore. look like >> woodruff: a little time left, but i want to ask you both to quickly say something about this, and that is that congress is back, tam, looking at how much money and where to spend money in covid relief. does it go to individuals? is it going to go to cities and states? what do you see right now? >> well, there's a major fight brewing, and the answob is ly going to be all of the above, but the question is sort of how much money goes to what thing, how much money will go to schools to help them reopen safely. president trump talked a lot about wanting the schools to reopenin there's somethat comes after that f most parents, chich is safely, and m mcconnell has said -- and s'll find out more detail soon- butd that he thinks the schools do need to get money, and one of the fights will be about the unemployment insurance, the extra unemployment people have been getting because to have the

pandemic. oodruff: and amy, quick, how much does all this matter politically that the this done and get the money out there? >> well, very important. if schools are the big issue here,s remember, schoart opening inany states in august, so this moy has to start getting out the door very quickly. they can't wait until september an october. the other thing is that if you look at some of the ads run by incumbent republicans that are in danger this year like susan collins, they're touting the amount of money they've brought back to their states. they would love to talk abo that in the reelection campaign ads than having to talk about donald trump, especially in some of these really competitive blue and purple states. >> woodruf so interesting. election is only three and a half months away. i looked at the calendar. we know it's coming,ovember 3. amy walter, tamera keith, thank you >> you're welcome.

>> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight, but before we go, a word about someone the country lost tekend. i first interviewed john lewis in atlanta in 1971 when he was director of the voter education project. i was a cub reporter for local tv station. he was in his early 30's but already a hero of the civil rights movement. i remember bei struck by the contrast between his burning determination to make aen diff, and that polite, soft-spoken demeanor. i was luy to be able to interview him many more times over the years, including in 2002 when, classically john lewis, he publicly forgave then- senate majority leader, t republicnt lott of mississippi, after lott had praised south carolina segregationist strom thurmond. congressn lewis told me, "it's very much in keeping with the philosophy and the discipline of nonviolence to forgive people."

he defined what it meant to be courageous, and was truly one of the greatest people i've ever known i'm judy woodruff. join us on-line 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 anbusiness has been people their financial wellbeing. that mission gives us purpose, and a way forward. today, and always. >> consumer cellular. >> the kendeda fund. committed to advancing restative justice and meaningful work through ivinvestments in transform leaders and ideas. more at kendedafund.org.

>> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. >> supported by the john d. and foundation.. macarthur committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >>nd with the ongoing support of these institutions t s program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs statn from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc d captio media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

♪ ♪ hello, everyone and welcome to "amanpour & company." here's what's coming up. 2 million cases and counting in brazil. a report cashed rd on the presi >>n -- >> when you see something that just, say something.ir, not do somethin >> a newocumentary for our time. director don porter on the legacy of civil rights giant congressman john pllewis. -- >> the thing that is very clear is that kids are less severely

affected of this vir than the adults. >> the knowns and unknowns around returningo school. wek