here are the facts as we know them this hour. 106,000 cases were reported to the world health organization over the last 24 hours. that's the most in a single day since the start of this outbreak. think about that for a minute. roger marshall says, unlike the president, he and his family are all taking hydroxychloroquine to ward off the virus.

this despite medical warnings. marshall is an obs at the trite running for congress. he was saying it would be a great sign for all. the in-person part was karnes 8d with leaving open the idea of a videoconference. 10,000 michigan residents have been told to evacuate their home. the governor said they could be under as much as nine feet of water. joining me is katy tur, and happy hump day for those struggling to remember what day of the week. today is wednesday. >> don't ask me what day of the month we're in, though. i have no idea.

here are the latest numbers. more than 1.5 million confirmed cases in the united states, more than 92,000 people have died. a solemn point of comparison, new jersey's massive metlife stadium seats 82,000. while every state has started reopening in some form, this crisis is farther from open. kentucky, which reopens restaurants with restrictions, announced 20 new coronavirus-related deaths. several of those deaths were from nursing home. the state of illinois is likely to hit the mark of 100,000 recorded cases within the next day. so cases are still out there, they are still climbing in some areas yet, but places are still, despite that, reopening. >> we are in a period, katy, of everybody saying we're trying to live with this virus, how to manage life, and we'll see how

much of our everyday life we can get back with this virus circulating. i think that's the open question. there's obviously a lot of skepticism about that. meanwhile, politics is being played. president trump making baseless claims good voter fraud and mail-in voting. he threatened to hold federal funding to michigan and nevada for making it easier to vote by mail. carol lee is at the white house. obviously what the michigan secretary of state did was no different i think than what the georgia secretary of state did for their primary, which is mail everybody an application for an absentee ballot. >> reporter: right. that's not what the president said in his tweet. he said they were absentee ballots. as you said, there were applications. chuck, i think thisunder scores for the president, you know, there's really a lot of politics

playing into his response to coronavirus. the whole reason that mail-in voting is being talked about is because people are looking at alternatives to in-person voting this fall because of the pandemic. the president's trying to undermine that essential because he doesn't think it's going to help his reelection. kelley anne conway, his councillor said she leaned in, too. she said there's little reason to look at they alternatives unless it's political. so it's a concerted and very, you know -- it's a very concerted effort to -- an intentional effort to try to do this. it's not the only thing they're focused on in this sense. >> carol, i have to say, i go back to florida, the state of florida, the republican party, you know, one of the its key strategies to winning elections is its ability to get the snowbirds to vote. it's a vote by mail state when

it comes on the republican side of the aisle, democrats are early voters. republicans like to vote by mail. he apparently -- and i've heard he's going to undermine potentially his florida field program if he continues this campaign against vote by mail. >> reporter: you know florida well. i was a reporter in florida. the mail-in vote is critical. by the way, president trump is one of those snowbirds. he voted by mail in march. it's worth reiterating that because of how he's trying to say this is corrupt and something that shouldn't happen, but there is a risk. he's really trying to undermine the mail-in ballots -- or the idea that mail-in builallots ar legitimate. >> i believe, not to delve into your resume, but sarasota county, which is the newspaper

you worked at for a while, it is. >> has as many snowbirds as any county in the country. >> reporter: yes. >> carol lee kicking us off from the white house. over to you, katy. >> to the two adopted floridians, let go to michigan state's secretary of state. madam secretary, thank you for joinings us. he says -- this was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue secretary of state. i will hold up funding to michigan if they want to go down this voter fraud path. >> carol and chuck both debunked that and said these were applications, not ballots. there's an argument by the without, according to kelley anne conway, which carol just

reported, if you're reopening states and don't need the mail-in ballots, what is your response? >> every michigan citizen has a right to vote by mail. so i have a responsibility as the chief election officer for the state of michigan to ensure everyone knows how to exercise their right to vote and all the options that are available to them. >> you have been part of prosecutions for voter frauds in the past, a bipartisan effort. how do you ensure that these mail-in ballots are not invalid? >> yeah. first, we do take voter fraud very seriously in our state, and we do prosecutor it when we find it, as we have done -- as i have done throughout my career. in addition to that, we have to note that voting by mail is safe, is secure. it's been done by millions of voters for decades throughout

this country, including in michigan. what is new in michigan is a constitutional right for citizens to vote by mail. we're working to make sure they know how to exercise that right and do so securely, the signature outside the ballot when they return their ballots by mail is how we'll do that to ensure it matches the voter registration forms. to me that is a red herring. vote by mail is secure, and it's been done securely by decades. >> madam secretary of state, can you walk us through, what are the various rules? what can't you do with a ballot? you talked about you hear the phrase ballot harvesting, that is in some ways people use it as a pejorative. some states allow you to go to a neighborhood, you collect ballots and return them for them, but that's where some people get concerned where the fraud could happen, right? not necessarily that it has

happened. that was a north carolina case. what are the michigan rules? >> whenever there's any type of an illee effort to defraud or push someone or bribe someone to vote a certain way, that is illegal, and we will prosecutor it. but the bottom line is a signature check, they have to sign themselves the ballot envelope that is returning the ballot. so that's how we confirm that the voter themselves is the person -- >> but it could be collected in a group? >> no, they have to return it either by mail or through a ballot drop box that we will be providing throughout our state. may i also mention -- >> are you concerned -- go ahead. >> i should also mention we're implementing a ballot tracking system, so that citizens can track their ballots, when they have been received, when they have been returned, and to have confidence that their ballot has

been counted. >> are you concerned about the threat the president made to withhold federal funding if you don't stop the process? >> i think two things are interesting there. the mailing of our absentee ballot applications, which anyone is able to do, including political parties. anyone can do it, anyone has authority to do it. what we are actually doing is doing it through federal funding, the c.a.r.e.s. act funding enabled us to mail applications to voters to request to vote by mail. we're grateful for the federal partnership. we hope it continues. we certainly think it would be improper to wrongly offer any support to our state or any other state that needs, to further political agendas. but my focus is to know that every citizens knows what their options are in exercise their vote. if the president, will you sue? >> there's a lot of

hypotheticals there, and my job is the chief election officer to ensure our elections run. i think those are questions for the governors and others to consider. i'm going to focus on doing my job, overseeing our elections and ensuring everyone can vote. >> not a hypothetical when the president threatens it on twitter, but maybe he won't following through. thank you, secretary benson. another voite by mail battl. in texas, they can do the attorney ken packs tonight says the ruling disregards well-established law and has expressed concerns over potential fraud. the judge's order said that mailing was a process recently used by the president of the united states. okay. joining me now is texas attorney

general ken paxton. thank you for coming on. let me start with the larger issue. you guys have a law if you're 65 or older, that's enough of a reason to get a mail-in ballot. obviously this year there are some people who believe the virus itself is a health hazard, and they would like to have the same rights for a mail-in ballot. why are you fighting this? >> so my job is really interesting. i used to be in the texas legislature and i used to write laws. now i'm in a different branch of government. my job is to enfierce torce the. the law is very specific. the legislature has confined mail-in voting to people who find it more difficult to get to the election to vote. i don't have the authority to change the law. my job is to enforce what the

legislature has passed. >> it's my understanding that somebody can check disability on the application, and that disability could be the virus itself or fear of the virus, and i think you're arguing that shouldn't be a reason to get a mail-in ballot, but i guess my question is, how would you enforce it otherwise? >> yeah. so, you know, we have to trust voters to do the right thing. the law is pretty clear. it doesn't allow for people to get mail-in ballots for fear of coronavirus or anything else, fear of being hit by a car on the way to vote. we trust our voters to do the right thing. obviously if we find ute somebody that is voted fraudulently, my job is exactly the same as the secretary of state from michigan. >> you just compared getting

coronavirus by getting hit by a car. do you think that's a fair comparison? there are people in your population that are under the age of 65 who are at risk, who have underlying medical conditions that put their lives in danger from getting this -- from getting this disease. are you confident saying to them, hey, don't worry about that, come in and vote? >> no, i'm not saying that at all. i'm saying the governor has just recently changed the dates for voting. instead of ten days of early voting, it's been changed to 20 days. so we surely want to make sure we have as safe as we can, just like open grocery stores and restaurants. nothing is guaranteed, and there's no guarantee you won't

contract it around your neighborhood. >> but going to a restaurant is not a constitutional right. >> my job isn't to change the law, just like it isn't the job of any district judge, whether state or federal to change the law. if the legislature wants to address this, you know, i'll enforce whatever law they have passed. it's not my job to change what they did, or -- it's a different role. >> so what's next? you have appealed this ruling. if you lose the next -- if you lose your appeal, what's your sense of what will be allowed? basically anybody with a registered voter can get a no-excuse absentee ballot? >> interestingly enough, the same plaintiffs if travis county, that has run to the supreme court today to rule on

what the legislature has passed. so it is fitting that the texas supreme court rule on what the law is. we should get that ruling i think very quickly. we have already appalled the federal district court who is dealing with supposedly constitutional claims. i feel very confidence we'll have that opinion overruled and we can move on with having the legislature determine what they want, as opposed to a federal judge. >> texas attorney general ken paxton, thanks for coming on and sharing your perspective. >> hey, thank you, i appreciate it. >> you got it. chuck, the centers for disease control released new federal guidelines laying out a framework for how schools and businesses and public transit can reopen. the 60-page report posted without a formal announcement came weeks after the white house

determined it too restrictive. dr. azar, thanks so much for joining us. the cdc has laid out its guidelines. do you feel like they are precise enough to allow reopenings in those areas in a safe way? >> they are very similar to the white house's guidelines that were released a couple weeks ago, in that it's a three-phased approach to loosening social distancing restrictions. in the white house's guidelines, it seemed like their major criteria for entering into phase one and moving on to different phases, was a decrease in number of cases, and these guidelines add to that, in addition to showing, they want to see decreased emergency room visits, and they also, and importantly, really emphasize how important

robust testing system that needs to be in place in order for the criteria to be met, and they very, very specifically say they have a very low threshold for reinstating more stringent mitigation methods or measures if cases start to rise. >> dr. azar, the fact that the cdc guidelines came out this week, and we have those top lines come out last week, i hate to be sort of -- i feel as if these guidelines were so important, why did they come out with those loose guidelines before the detail? this is no way to get people to pay attention to the details. >> yeah. i just think -- i know that schools and nonessential businesses, particularly mass transit for which they dedicated a number of pages, as we all know, many of us uses mass

transit, it's such an important part, i can't speak for the cdc or the white house as to what went on behind the scenes or why it wasn't released, you know, at the same time their skeleton or splinter graphics were released. i know there was some issue about, or surrounding places of work ship and concern there would be any discrimination issues based on that, but chuck, honestly i don't know. if i was a business owner, i would want as much detail as possible, so i could by guided and my decisions could be informed by the best available evidence. >> dr. natalie azar, thanks so much for joining us today. coming up with the unemployment rate at its highest since the great depression, what can congress do to stop the spiraling? micha

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today all 50 states are lifting restrictions in some form as they move towards reopening businesses. but with record unemployment and the next phase of coronavirus relief legislation stalled in congress, states are stuck fighting the economic fallout from covid-19 alone. joining us now is democratic senator from colorado michael

bennet. senator, always good to see you u you have a new legislation called the health force. tell us what it is. right, thanks, katy. it's great to see you as well. i hope you're doing well. what the health force would do is create hundreds of thousands for jobs, many young americans that are unemployed, to do the contact tracing that's necessary to, when we have a vaccine, administer the vaccine, to train people at 190 to 100 hours to get a decent paying job on the front line of the health care crisis that we face. my view is that there's no way to open up the economy unless we have something like this in place, because otherwise we're just going to end up closing it again. every day that the economy is closed costs us $20 billion. it seems to me that some investment to create the kind of health force we need, to maybe

sure we can do the contact tracing, as you and i talk to each other on video screen, would be of use. >> you and senator gillibrand are sponsoring this. have you talked to any -- >> i'm glad to have senator gillibrand on board. i think in the end there will be more who want to support this. every health agency i know in colorado, many of which are in rural republican counties in my state, they were underfunded by 60% before covid happened. they know they don't have the resources, and they're desperate to have the infrastructure in place so that once the economy is open, it can actually stay open. i hopeful to have republican support, just as i'm hopeful in republican support in reforming

the small business structure. and to provide funds to our state and local governments who are getting massacred in the covid cries. >> it's my understanding that people have brought a haveers this idea up into the west wing and it's not been embraced. i don't understand why. it's a time of crisis, you look back at on you history, one of the ways we have answered the call is tap into the scitizenry it seems like low-hanging fruit to get everybody on board, but there seems to be an allergy in the west wing to nationalize anything, whether it's testing or it's this. do you have any insight as to

why? >> because their response is utterly incoherent. how do you open the economy and protect the public health at the same time, you have to do more than one thing. you can't just open the economy and hope for the best, and you can't leave the economy closed expecting the worst. you have to put people on the front lines the president has had no strategy. the veterans administration hospital in every single state, who had the benefit of no national strategy, had to compete with every other hospital for the exact same equipment. president trump said that's good, you'll discover what the price is. that's ridiculous. what we discovered is re created more scarcity and drove prices

up. same thing is going to happen if we don't have an infrastructure in place to, as you say, to reengage the american people. we are one nation under gad for at least one reason, an that's to deal with a global pandemic like this. normally in a time of crisis you start to see bipartisanship pop up. we're in a president atelection year. you don't have a republican sponsor to this, which to me actually surprises me, but also that tell me how bad is the polarization inside the senate that you can't get a public co-sponsor? on something to me is above politics. >> i hope we will get a republican co-sponsor. what is disappointing to me is

we're spending our week here having four votes on district court judges. we're having almost no pandemic oversight, and we're not yet working on the next bill. but it is true, in fairness, we had two big votes in a row in the senate that are unanimous, that reflected the urgency of what people are hearing from their constituents. i think they'll still be hearing that. if you look at how serious the challenges are of our small businesses, the cash flow, they have two weeks, some of them, left, some less than that. colorado had to cut the higher-ed budgets, and people all over the country will start laying off cops and firefighters. this is not a usual doctor cong.

>> i'm wondering after this pandemic, or during it now, are you reconsidering your look at universal health care or something along those lines? are those sort of proposals that were big and bold during the presidential campaign that got put on the back burner, do you think they have a -- are you looking at them differently today? >> i believe the proposals i made during the presidential campaign, which were not widely paid attention to, i will admit, were the biggest, boldest best proposals. nobody made a proposals to cut childhood poverty by 20% in american in one year. i did. i believe in universal health care then and believe in it now.

i just don't believe bernie's plan is a way to get there. i'm so desperate, i think we should be fighting for something else that we can get done. not because it's a small idea, but we could build support with the american people, because 70% of the american people support the ideas i put forward on the campaign trail, not 30% of democrats. if we're willing to do that, i think we're going to start winning races in the states we need to have a convincing majority in the senate again. we'll hold on to the house, we'll win the presidency, and we'll be able to build momentum for a progressive agenda that creates an education system that's driving economic opportunity for people, and a health care system that works for everybody in the country so people have primary care. i don't need to tell people that the pandemic revealed for me the inequality in this country. i believed we had profound inequality for decades, and

anybody who spent any time in a school with poor kids in this country know how deeply unfair or society -- nobody needs to lecture me about whether we should make progress. i'm commit to do what i ran on, and i believe that will deliver for the american people the kind of change we need to have a democracy that can be sustained into the 21st century. that's what's at stake here. we ought to obviously we have to win the elens to begin with. >> senator michael bennet, not a lecture, just a question. >> i know, but i remember when you asked me if the campaign why can't we have medicare for all. my point is -- >> i was curious for your opinion on it. >> we need universal health care coverage. >> i'll moderate this debate if you'd like. >> i'm on your side.

>> senator -- >> and then with i have to make more change after that. >> senator bennet. >> thank you for having me. >> i love having they conversations. chuck over to you. it's tough to debate on zoom. you can get zoom-bustered. how teachers are planning to carry outsocial distancing in their classrooms you're watching msnbc. the s you're watchin msnbc. th i've always been fascinated by what's next.

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. right now, a powerful cyclone is lashing the eastern coastline of india in bangladesh. the strongest stop storm ever reported in the bay of bengal. the situation is made much more challenging by the pandemic as authorities are frantically trying to repurpose facilities

set aside as quarantine facilities, now they have to go. impacting supply lines, and just recorded the largest sing of-day spike with more than 5600 new cases. katy, i can tell you this, there was a storm down in south florida, it missed, an early storm, but they were already nervous about the the hurricanes shelter situation and social distancing. welcome to the summer. that will be among the atlantic coast challenges we may face. and we'll have a segment on it later, welcome to climate change. scientists have been warning about the risks that placing like bangladesh will face, not just with more squievere weathe but chuck, schools in the united kingdom are preparing for a

phased reopening next month. prime minister boris johnson said they are ready to return children to the classrooms. not all educators are on board. helena, what is happening over there? >> reporter: hi there, katy. good to be with you, what we are learning is essential lawmakers could be under pressure to roll that start day of june the 1st back. teachers' unions are very worried. they have a faced opening, so sixth graders and kindergarten getting back first. the oldest and youngest unlikely to mix. one eleva one elementary schools with associately distanced hula hoops that kids would have to play in. kits would have to administer

their own first aid, causing consternation on the part of parents. socially distanced school desks, using hazard table. that tame also being used to see social distancing in corridors, a one-way system there. this is what parents have told me. >> i think the important thing is how the children feel. i know my children wouldn't feel happy or safe going back, but you always have to think about what's best for the children and what's safe for everybody. >> this is one of the first big steps towards normality. i think actually i think people will use this as sort of as a beacon going forward. >> reporter: mixed reaction from parents there, but despite teachers in the uk feeling happy

going back to school, too. >> helena humphrey in london, thank you very much. chuck, good luck trying to get kids to stay away from each other on the playground. there was the ocean city bar that has the inner tubes. >> bumpers. >> that you can play bumpers. that to me might be a better way to go. i do like the inner tube thing. that could be fun. the epicenter of the epicenter, who is. hakeem jeffries joins us next. you're watching msnbc. next. you're watching msnbc.

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talk to your doctor, and call 844-214-2424. . new data revealed that black and hispanic communities are experiencing the highest levels of -- the zip code excluded starrett city, the nation's largest federally subsidized apartment complex. congressman, it's good to virtually see you here. let me simply start with this. tell our viewers about starrett city. >> well, starrett city is a wonderful community, a working-class community filled with hard-working new yorkers

who have done their best to make a way for themselves and their families. one of the reasons we think the numbers are so high in starrett city is because you have a disproportionately high over-representation of essential workers who live in the complex, people who are postal workers, or transit workers, police officers, or social workers, nurses, who have been getting up each and every day working to try to defeat this pandemic. the zip code is also one of the highest in terms of percentage of people who are 65 or older, and of course we know that because it's a naturally occurring retirement community, and so we know that older americans are at particular risk. then the density and the fact that people are living in close quarters, thousands on top of each other has made for a very

deadly combination. >> so this is -- this is quite the challenge when it comes to recovery and rescue. you also are somebody that does, you know -- you have a lot of ideas about how to fix parts of the city. let me ask you this. what we're staring at now, you've got to deal with the immediate and i am sure you have one eye on how to make it better long term. how can you do both at the same time? >> well, one of the first things we need to do at the congressional level, because this is an all hands on deck approach -- and governor cuomo has don't a wonderful job, as well as mayor de blasio to get the situation under control, but at the federal level we need to move forward and get the heroes act over the finish line. it would provide hazard pay, $200 billion to the essential workers. it will help with rental and

mortgage assistance, approximately $175 bill chron. as you know, chuck, it will provide robust support to state and localities, to that the essential services that are provided won't be devastated as a result of the economic catastrophe that has wrought by covid-19. then, of course, we have to turn to transformation of some of the underlying conditions that have applied historically disadvantaged communities across the country. >> congressman, i spent six years covering local news in the city, a lot of time covering issues in public housing. they're not well maintained, and haven't been for some time, and they are populated by people who are more vulnerable for this virus. the elevators are small, cramped, you can't social distance inside of them, oftentimes they don't work.

is the city taking the threat within the housing complexes seriously enough to protect those populations, many of whom, as you just said, are frontline workers? >> we are certainly have worked on an initiative to make sure we are providing people within the public housing community, as well as federally subsidized housing such as starrett city, we are providing people with the personal protective equipment that is necessary, with hand sanitizer, and of course with access to testing. so we have partnered with local churches to make sure we can open up neighborhood-based testing sites, so we can have greater visibility into who has been afflicted with the virus, and we can drive treatment and resources then into those communities. so the new york city public

housing development, and the chair has been at the forefront of trying to address the needs of the public housing community. we're going to continue to work closely with them, but it will take federal resources in order to turn the situation around. we've got to leave it there. congressman hakeem jeffries, democrat from new york, representing parts of brooklyn. thank you. katy, over to you. chuck, coming up next an nbc news exclusive. secretary of state mike pompeo the private taxpayer-funded dinners, raising concerns in the state departments. you're watching msnbc. partments. you're watching msnbc.

is. we're following more breaking news. mike pompeo responded to questions about president trump's firing of the inspect juror general saying he was the one who recommended him.

>> the president has the unilateral right to choose who he wants to be his inspector general at every agency in the federal government. they're presidentially confirmed positions and those positions just like all of us, serve at the pleasure of the president of the united states. in this case, i recommended him to the president that he be terminated. i should have done it some time ago. >> secretary pompeo is also at the center of a new nbc news investigation that found that since 2018, he held dozens of exclusive dinners for ceos and political heavy weights paid for with state department funds. it is unclear if he was investigating those dinners but two administration officials tell nbc news that linic inquired to the protocol office last week before he was fired. joining us now is the national political reporter josh letterman.

this is quite detailed. tell me about the salons, dinners and how they break from normal precedent. >> if you ever wondered what darrell earnhardt jr. and karl rove and justice alito have in common, we know. they were all invited to one of the pompeo madison dinners holding over the last year and a half or so, none of them disclosed on the public schedule but which have now come to light amid this growing standal over the ouster of the inspector general of the state department. we obtained a master list of all the people invited to attend these dinners over the last couple of years. only 14% of them were diplomats or foreign officials. the vast majority of them were people in big business. people from the government, all republicans who were invited from congress as well as long time rendonors.

they're saying this is all crazy stuff, refusing to provide any real explanation for why he got rid of that inspector general. but even in the last few hours, this war of words is heating up between him and democrats on the hill. they demand more information and accountability why this inspector general was fired. >> josh letterman, thank you for adding to the breadth of that reporting. helps us understand all of the context. and coming up in our next hour, it's being called the pandemic within the pandemic. why for some staying at home presents its own serious risk. you're watching msnbc. you're watching msnbc. ik. ik.

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> good afternoon. here are the facts as we know them at this hour. as of today, all 50 states have taken some step toward lifting some coronavirus restrictions. the latest, connecticut. state number 50 here. it kicked off phase one of a four phase reopening plan today. the world health organization is reporting the biggest single day increase in coronavirus cases since the start of the outbreak. obviously, we know there is big hot spots in latin america that might be driving this as well as what we're seeing in southeast asia. the organization recorded 106,000 new infections in the

last 24 hours. vice president mike pence is in florida this afternoon. he made a stop at a burger bar with the governor. as can you see, neither wore -- really nobody in there appears to be wearing a mask. and today governor andrew cuomo again urged new yorkers to wear masks when they leave their homes. cuomo credited the use of mask for the low rate of transmission among front line workers. >> it is amazing how effective that mask actually is. how do front line workers have a lower infection rate than the general population? they're wearing the mask. the mask works. let's bring in my co-host for the hour, katy tur, with a look at the latest numbers. katy? >> and let's focus on masks. let's gig into those numbers.

a new study out of the university of hong kong claims that wearing masks significantly reduces the transmission of coronavirus by as much as 75%. researchers studied two groups of hamsters, one infected and the other healthy. they found that without any mask barriers, 66.7% of the healthy ham psteres were infected within a week. when a barrier is placed over the healthy hamster cage, the infection rate went down 33%. with a barrier over the infected hamster cage, the infection rate was just 16.7%. so, chuck, let's leave the, you know, the visual of a hamster wearing a mask to the side here and get serious about this. >> come on, it's hard. you know it's hard. we're all thinking it. we're all thinking it. we all want to see the little mask on the hamster. but it's clear they did this with cages. >> i'm trying to be serious for the a block alone, chuck. >> i've been thinking about the

hamster mask, i'll be honest, i've been thinking about it since i saw this study early this morning. i've been obsessing over it. that's why we're talking about it. masks, it's like all the evidence points to the simplest and cheapest way to protect yourself is the mask. >> and i can confirm. this you were going on about it in this morning's meeting. we all had a giggle. but it is. it is the simplest and cheapest way. there is another study done by a group of researchers here in the united states that put a cloth covering over a person's mouth and it reduced the particles that came out of that person's mouth by 99%. so just imagine that. if we're all wearing a mask over our face, remember, it's not to protect us from getting the virus. it's to protect us -- protect everybody else from ourselves. but if we're all wearing it and we can reduce the number of droplets that leave our bodies by 99%, that's going to

seriously cut down on the infection rate and will allow all of us to get back to whatever normal is sooner than later. let's all pitch in. let's do it for each other. let's do it for ourselves. believe me, i don't want to stay in my home any longer. i don't like my cramped basement. i'd like to go out and live my life again. >> i'll go to a baseball game wearing a mask. all right? let's do it. what's wrong with wearing a mask? it is not -- it is in some ways, you know, what's wrong with a little extra anonymity when you don't get to have any? so there is even that aspect to it for you folks that want your privacy back. all right. let's turn to george. he claims that coronavirus infections are dropping. it's a matter of controversy. georgia's department of health released this graphic showing deaths plummeting. but if you take a closer look, may 7th is followed by april 26, then may 3rd.

the mix-up made the numbers appear to be significantly dropping. oops. yeah, if you reorder things. the governor's office apologized and fixed the data. so what is the reality? joining us from gainesville georgia is ellison barber. so what is the story in georgia? and, you know, obviously, we know that the fear of what would happen has not been realized. that's great news. nobody wanted to see an outbreak, a bad outbreak happen. but what is the story, ellison? >> well, let's look at numbers if we can. there are a whole lot of them. remember, georgia started to reopen about three weeks ago on april 24th. there were 26,725 cumulative confirmed cases of covid-19 across the state. today that number as of this afternoon is over 39,000. according to georgia's department of health, testing is

up. close to 403,000 tests have been administered in this state as of this afternoon. the total number of confirmed covid-19 cases has increased since georgia started to reopen. but the seven day moving average of new cases has been on a steady decline. georgia hit the lowest number of confirmed covid-19 patients hospitalized. this is according to the governor and data from georgia's emergency management agency talking about a 34% drop since may 1st. as you said, georgia's way of presenting data related to covid-19 has been pretty confusing at times. some critics have said they feel that it is purposely misleading a claim that governor's office has adamantly denied. one way, not the only way, that they are counting the number of confirmed covid-19 cases in this state is they're getting the report that the case was confirmed but then they're going back and one way again that they're counting it is they're

looking at the date that the symptoms first appeared. so that means you could have a hospital report, a confirmed covid-19 case today but if the symptoms went back four or five days, georgia is taking that confirmed case and includinged it including it in the day that symptoms first appeared. there was that incredibly confusing graphic where it didn't have the dates listed in chronological order. instead, they put the numbers of cases in five counties that have the highest infection rates in descending order. it made it look like there was this big downward trend when that really was not the case. the dwrata in that casgraph was disputed. there are questions i didn't think why it was done that way and multiple spokes people for the governor's office said it is unintentional and did fix it

within 24 hours. chuck? >> all right. ellison barber in gainesville, georgia, thank you. katy, just one quick code on this. it seems like a lot of states, the stats aren't holding up under scrutiny. we're finding out they're mixing tests. we're finding out they're double counting. if one person gets two tests, they count it as if they tested two people. you know, we're finding a couple states doing. that a couple states mixing the diagnostics testing. it's starting, when you peel back the onion in these states, it's starting to make me nervous about a lot of the collected data that we so trust because only is as good as the data you're getting from these states and right now quite a few of them, we had a virginia issue, we had a texas issue, now a georgia issue, a florida issue. this is starting to become a problem. zblfr a >> and this is a perfect example of why you need investigative journalists, people willing to get down into the numbers and double check them and hold

governments accountable, especially in the time of a pandemic when you need to know the truth. you need to have all of the facts and not some glossy version of them. also props to ellison barber, the cutest mask i've seen all day. now let's go overseas to sweden, a country that has taken a lenient approach to the pandemic. they issued a soft lockdown putting the responsibility of public health in the hands of citizens. they saw more deaths than anywhere in europe over last week. during that same time frame, they saw more deaths per capita than the uk, belgium, france, and italy. let's bring in our molly hunter. a lot of people in the states are pointing towards sweden as a mod that will th model that we should be following so we can keep our economy running, learning to live with it. economically though, what has been the effect of this on sweden? i've read reports that have said

that their economy is not doing as well as many might have hoped given that they remained open. >> katy, that's right. economists say it's really too early to tell. now certainly not doing as well as they had hoped. they had promised. they have taken less than a hit than the neighbors, denmark and norway. i was in denmark a couple weeks ago. they started to lift restrictions and open schools. denmark locked down very early. the two countries are often compared. today cafes, restaurants, schools, all still open. people still outside walking around. now they are told to, you know, not go to big gatherings. the they've been encouraged to work from home. universities are closed. but when headlines pop-up, it begs the question we've been asking, is this working? i'm going to share numbers with you. total cases in sweden right now, 31,000.

nearly 3,900 deaths. here is another metric. this is deaths per 100,000 people. so norway, 4.38. denmark, 9.45, finland, 5.44 and sweden, 36.31. now to be clear, sweden is still well behind total deaths than its european neighbors, of course, france and italy. a couple days ago the prime minister still defending this strategy. take a listen. >> life is not carrying on as normal in sweden. many people are staying at home which has had a positive effect on limiting the spread of the virus. of course we're painfully aware that too many people have lost their lives due to covid-19. just like several other countries. we do not manage to protect the most vulnerable people, elderly, despite our best intentions.

>> of course, we're hearing that same line from lots of countries, of course. but supporters of this strategy say it's way too early to draw conclusions from just one week of data. that this is the long game. it is interesting across europe as france, italy, you know, greece this weekend talking about preparing for tourists later this summer. swedes are told that nothing is changing for the foreseeable future. they should plan to have the summer vacations at home. the prime minister continues to say this is a marathon, not a sprint. katy and chuck? >> molly hunter in it london, thank you. chuck, over to you. >> well, i'm actually excited that -- about our next guest and coming right after this story. for more on this let's bring in the director of the center for infectious disease research from the university of minnesota. frankly, he's the guy that seems to tell it as straight as -- and bluntly as anybody that we speak to. doctor, it's good to virtually see you. let's start with the sweden experiment.

what have we learned from it? what should we take away from it? >> what we've learned is that wherever this virus hits first determines the rates of disease will be, what the number of severe cases will be and the deaths will be. this got into the living area, long term care facilities of sweden. it took off. just like we're seeing in the united states. but let me make a really important point here. whether it's long term care, meat packing plants, prisons, drug treatment centers, any of those areas, all you need is one person out of hundreds and hundreds to walk into that facility as an employee or a visitor and it's like putting a match to a gas can. suddenly, you go from very few cases to 40 or 50% infected. every place you have these living or working areas, they will be the canary in the mine. i would remind everybody in a few months we won't even talk about them anymore because we'll

have burnlt throut through them. that's when we'll see the rest of the population. in the end, its no about the what the score is after the first, second, or third inning, it's what it is after nine innings. i fear we're going to all be in the same soup by the end of the ninth inning. >> let me ask you this:there . e there are arguments for sweden, one is they have a help help healthier population than the united states. they say this is a long game for them and they will have immunity faster than anyone else, potentially faster than a vaccine is developed. what do you make of that argument? >> that's maa myth. when we looked at this throughout sweden, it is not much higher than it is in the united states. we're at 5% to 15% with some pockets of 20%. when you think about all the pain and suffering and death and economic disruption that we've had, we have only had 5% to 15%

of our population infected it. it this virus will keep transmitting readily until we get to 60 or 70% if a vaccine doesn't get there first. i come back to, you know, the idea that there is an easy way out. there's an easy answer. there's not. we're going to be living with this virus for months and months to come. sweden like every other place will in the end most people in sweden will be infected. most people in this country will be infected. and we have a hard time comprehending that. it is really important. >> so, doctor, let's -- we're taking the idea away from me for what i want to think about this sunday. we've all decided as a society we have to figure out how to live with this virus for a while. are we going about it, are recommendations as good as they can be on how to live with this virus and have a -- have whatever this economy looks like for the next 12 to 18 to 24

months? however it takes to vaccinate or get immunity? >> we're not. let me give you a case in point. the segment you had on before i was on where you were touting the masks. there is a lot of data that do not support that masks work. we all want the happy message. we want to be able to say they work. but let me give you two cases in point besides the data on what you just shared with the hamsters. in 1918, studies looked at masks and how well they work in reducing the cases. they found in evidence in any studies they d think about this. the mask wearing of all the places in the world was the highest in china in november and december is just a matter of cultural use. did that stop that pandemic from spreading the way it did? we can go into the data on how well does a mask take out big particles. but we have to stop having happy talk. we want that, i understand. that i want that. i'd throw the kitchen sinks that virus if i thought it would

work. we have to start having legitimate points. we have a report out today on testing. we have grossly overstated the testing capacity of this country and what impact it has. testing is important. but we've been going at it the wrong way. contact tracing. we have made elaborate claims about contact tracing, yet, the data is very sparse. we have to have the honest conditions. we're going to be with this virus until we get to that 60%, 80% protection level. this could be months and months and months. and, you know, it's not me. i'm the mess efrenger. it's biology, chemistry and psychics, not politics. we' we're not understanding that. >> there are a lot of people, myself included that put a lot of stock in masks given from the research that i've read at least and what i heard from politicians certainly here in new york city where mask wearing is a mandatory thing if you're leaving and you can't socially distance. coupled with the socially

distance, coupled with the washing the hands, is that a good measure or are you saying that -- what exactly are you saying? is it better for us to stay inside and not leave the house? >> no, i'm not. i'm not saying. that but i'm also saying i don't want to give people that are at increase risk of having a serious illness feeling protected by having a mask on. come back to the very physics of what they do. if you wear an m-95 respirator that health care workers wear, that is highly protective. but if you wear a surgical mask or a cloth mask, you're not breathing very much through the filtering. you're breathing through the loose sides that are open. two more papers just published in the last two days showing how important aerosols are. if i put a cloth mask on right now and just talk to you, the aerosols pour out of the side of the mask. if i'm infected, clearly i'm going to potentially infect others. more importantly, i'm breathing in. if you stand next to me and think because i have a mask on i'm protected, therefore i don't

have to worry, that air is going to come right in the side of that mask. we're not having those kinds of discussions. we need to. why? because people that really need to protect themselves are counting on us giving information that is not correct. this is not religion. this is science. we have got to understand it's not what we believe, it's what do the data tell us. the media contributed a lot to this. we got to end that. we have to have honest discussions. >> well let me ask you this, doctor. would you -- you would open a restaurant now at 25 or 50% capacity and if you would, how would you recommend somebody do it? >> again, another critical question. why did we get into this to begin with? we got into all the closures to shave the peak. to basically flatten the curve. and i think we've accomplished that in most locations. at this point, i think we're going to start to see potentially cases dropping regardless what we do.

now i do want people to be in crowded locations? no. do i think this disease is horrible? yes. but at the same time, when do we make that decision that it's okay to be in public spaces? we're not having that discussion. find me one state that actually adheres to the criteria that is established early better reopening. and i can't find one. so at the same time, cases should go back up. so part of it again, we're not having the honest discussions about what is our long term goal here? is it to stay locked up for 18 months? should we do that until we get a vaccine? i don't think. so society as we know it would die. but we can't let these cases go. the so i would say to people at high risk of having a serious outcome, right now, avoid public spaces. whether the government protects me or not, i have to protect myself. i would also say to anyone who is listening to this right now, you have to understand, the vast majority of what's going to happen is yet to come. and we're not planning for that. we're all dealing with happy talk of just getting over the curve and then we're going to be

okay. so we have got to develop plans to say we can't lock down. we can't just let it go willy-nilly. what are we going to do? i keep talking about threading the rope through the needle. people say what do you mean? society has to come together. let's have straight talk about masks. let's have straight talk about testing and about contact tracing. let's have straight talk about how we're protecting health care workers or not. then we can make a decision and say the world is not going to be safe. what level of safety are we willing to accept for the price we're willing to pay? again, we need that discussion so badly. so badly. >> yeah. well, doctor, the problem, the answer to that question changes depending on who you ask that question to. because i do think that is ultimately, we're trying to figure that out as a society. what are we willing -- what cost are we willing to have to open up the economy and it's a conversation nobody wants to have bluntly because it involves life and death.

doctor, straight talk. that's what we said you'd bring. you certainly do it. thank you, sir. always appreciate your expertise. >> thank you very much. thank you, chuck and katy. >> chuck, it's really great to have him on. i hope we can have him on more often. we all need that blunt talk especially this far into it when so many of us just want -- >> just like a sledgehammer. >> exactly. he is perfect for that. >> i felt like a two by four to our masks. >> i know. i know. and i can't believe i'm smiling still. still ahead, who wants to be a contact tracer? we're getting a front row seat for the training it takes to track the virus. plus, south korea successfully isolated a outbreak linked to popular nightclubs and they did it using science. but first, is it safe to give it the old college try? universities weigh whether to reopen. we'll talk to the president of the university of miami. i know somebody who went there, right after a quick break. y who

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the attorney general of michigan sent a letter to president trump asking him to wear a mass wk when he visits t ford plant. he xwd to respect the great efforts of the men and women at ford and across the state by wearing a facial covering. the president has opted not to wear masks during other visits across the country and repeatedly told reporters he

does not intend to wear a mask at any point. i believe that ford plant, chuck, according to a report that was out yesterday wanted him to wear one as well. >> you know, maybe they can talk him into a face shield. i understand if he doesn't want the cloth touching his face. the shield, clear. maybe they'll talk him into. that. >> universities and colleges are weighing whether to open for the fall semester and if they do, how. they welcome students back can they keep them safe? so joining us now is dr. julio frank, he is president of university of miami. the interim ceo of the miami health system. dr. frank, you were mechl koes' minister of health and worked at the who. this is the fifth pandemic response he has overseen. the university of miami family is certainly has somebody with a lot of expertise here. so dr. frank, let me just start with before we talk about your plans at the university of miami, what do you make of our response and what would you like

to see that you haven't seen? >> you know, we will have to do the post mortem of the pandemic itself. it will be over one day and we'll have to learn the lessons. there was a delay in noirvegs to the world. we need to learn. we need to learn that we can't continue to have a sustainable way of interacting with nature. because that's what creates that -- those possibilities for viruss to jump the species barrier. you know, they went markets and we see so often in asian areas. the crowded areas, those are the sources of the pandemics and we need to act. and then i think that one lesson we've seen seeing countries that have done a better job is the importance of very early, energetic testing and very early

action. time does matter when you're facing this growth. >> all right. let's talk about your plans at the university of miami. we're seeing other schools rollout. there seems to be a bit of a pattern earlying up fall semester and getting students off campus before winter begins. obviously a little more of a unique situation weatherwise in south florida. what are you thinking? what is the plan you guys are considering? >> so our plan is to open on time and on campus. at the beginning of august. that's our plan. obviously, provided we can do so safely. safety is the number one priority. we're working hard to make sure it is safe to open on time and on campus. our plan has four pillars. the first one is testing, tracing of cases and tracking the virus. the triple t that is key to it. >> right. >> second one, second pillar is

cleaning both hand washing, you know, pervasive presence of hand sanitizers. and careful, methodical and cleaning of surfaces. the third pillar is protecting our personal space. and that includes the use of masks in public spaces and when you can't keep the six feet of distance and that includes a reassigning of spaces with signage. we're totally changing the configuration of dormitories, residence halls, dining halls, et cetera, and classrooms, of course. and the use of a plan of online and personal ininstructiostruct. the last is vaccinating. i am afraid we won't have the vaccine just yet. but we do have the flu vaccine. this next wave which is likely to occur will coincide with the regular flu season and we need to have everyone vaccinated against the flu.

>> let me ask you this. what is your metric that will make you say i have to pull the emergency break? do what we did in the spring semester? is there a couple things you're watching closely that will term having people on campus works or not? >> well, the first thing because, you know, this is a new virus by definition. there is uncertainty. we learn as we go. we need to have adaptability. to new situations. the first big thing is when does that second wave occur? if it happens in early summer, i think we'll be fine. if it happens in late fall, i think we will be fine. if it happens towards the middle of the summer where we have just opened, that would probably require us to do what we did back in the spring. we're hoping that's not the scenario that plays out. we have the plans for those three scenarios. early summer, middle summer or

late fall towards the winter. and if it's the latter one, we would, you know, basically be able to carry on regularly. we're exploring what other universities are doing to consolidate the term so they go back and forth for thanksgiving and then the end of the year holidays. >> dr. julio frank at the university of miami, i am all in on my season tickets no matter what. i don't care if the football season is in the fall or spring. but i want them safe. dr. frank, thank you for coming on and telling us what's going on at the u. thank you. >> thank you, chuck. i appreciate it. >> you got it. katy, over to you. you noticed the tie. he has his colors on right. and what do you do when you can't be in your home and home is safe? we'll look at the rise of domestic violence cases and how one family hopes to help others next. e family hopes to helpth o

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they have businesses to grow customers to care for lives to get home to they use stamps.com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the amazing services of the post office only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4-week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps.com/try and never go to the post office again! the trump administration is defending an increase in deportation of children citing health concerns. new documents show the plans to expedite the deportations despite the current pandemic. joining us now is julia ainsley.

we have seen krona acoronavirus immigration policies get intertwined. this is one disentangled? >> yeah. this is what they were able to disentangle because of documents we obtained. chuck, what is happening subpoena there is an acceleration of deporting unaccompanied migrant children from the united states. usually the children would go through health and human services, be put with a sponsor and be able to claim asylum. now we're seeing a surge in children being awoke in the middle of the night and deported back to home countries where they don't have anyone to care for them. this seems egregious. we were able to see through documents dating back to 2017 that now acting secretary of dhs chad wolf actually had that plan in place as a way to discourage immigration. and then again in 2019 then secretary neilson wanted congress to give dhs the authority to allow them to remove children more quickly. again, these are children who are going back to dangerous countries that they fled from without anyone there to care for them or anyone who even knows

they are arriving there by plane. now through the documents we've been able to see that although now they say it's in the interest of public health, it's actually been something they've been trying to do for a long time, just not as successfully as they are now. >> and, julia, is there a -- there was some talk that i guess that they were saying if you wanted to -- the implication was parents were being told pick your child or stay in the country. >> that's right. that's some other reporting that we've had brand new this week. the parents who were in immigration detention were fiven a fo given a form to release your child. you separate or keep child with you in detention indefinitely. think said they gave those out in this terms to a lawsuit.

instead of seeing the families together. they are choosing to keep the children in detention. they're keeping them in detention. >> i'm glad we're following this story. for children and spouse who's are victims, there is violence & they spoke exclusively to one family. desperate now to save others. >> your heart is just someone took a huge knife. and just kept carving your heart out. the pain is still so raw. his daughter maria was murdered.

they adopted maria from mexico. >> we just won the parenting jackpot. >> always smiling. she snowmobiled. she rode horse ands four wheelers, she know boarded, she wooz was a cheerleader. >> she got married last year, a relationship that is controlling. >> it was intense and then coronavirus and orders to stay inside the house. >> that was not a safe place for her to be. >> do you stlid contributed to everything that happened? >> oh, sure. i mean, it further isolated her. in was an argument. why am i saying all of the faulting myself for now.

>> home is not a safe place for victims. now you're forced to stay inside. phone calls to women and families in louisville, kentucky, decreased in part, experts say, because victims are trapped with their abusers. but the center is getting more e-mails or victims calling friends using a codeword for help. >> what are you telling women about whether they can leave because of the coronavirus rules? >> well, what we're telling them is do leave. absolutely. one of the ways that perpetrators are manipulating mentally abusing their victims is through the coronavirus saying things like if walk out this door, you're going to get the coronavirus and die. >> nbc news reached out to 35 organizations in 19 states in some places hotline calls more than doubled becoming shorter and more frantic. >> we know covid-19 is a pandemic. but so is domestic violence. >> they're starting a nonprofit

called maria's voice to help victims find resources. >> there is something we can do. it is a call to action about domestic violence and it's maria's voice. >> we're just parents that have a broken heart. but we can do something and we're going to do something to stop domestic violence. >> hoping to stop a pandemic within the pandemic. kate snow, nbc news. kate snow with that report. and if you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, call the national domestic violence hotline at 1-800i 1-800-799-safe. that is 1800-799-7233. chuck? >> thank you, katy. contact tracers will be critical to tracking down and isolating clusters of coronavirus. what does it take to become one? a journalist that went through the training joins us next. - [spokeswoman] meet the ninja foodi grill.

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states are looking for contact tracers. a lot of them. health experts say we need up to 200,000 more contact tracers nationwide. i saw estimate that's say 300,000. when the states reopen, they'll track down and isolate any clusters of the virus. last week the first online contact tracing course went live through johns hopkins university. wired staff writer took the training and wrote about her experience for the magazine and she joins us now.

all right. so right now there's probably particularly younger folks, maybe they're just graduating college. maybe some folks are laid off. what does it take to become a contact tracer? is this a good job to apply for? >> definitely. i think, you know, what i learned taking the course was a mix of epidemiology, medical ethics, privacy, and interview techniques. [ inaudible ] you're kind of phone calling them to help them retrace steps. think about anyone they might have come in contact with. and then reaching out to all of them and letting them know they may have been exposed to the virus and encouraging them to self quarantine. it's a lot about listening skills. it's a lot about being empathetic and being able to

convey clear information. because, you know, it could be stressful to get that call. people could be suspicious or scared or too sick to talk. it really comes down to communication skills and building trust. >> i'm curious. if everybody in america took this class, would they be smarter about this virus? do you think it would help us all manage ourselves better? >> i definitely think so. i think it would work well. you learn a lot about how long the virus can be in your body. how long people are infectious. how it transmits between people. there is a lot to learn. i think as emily gurley from johns hopkins who taught the class put it, contact tracers are investigators, social workers and therapists all rolled into one. i actually think that if everyone took the course we would all be able to do our part

in a better way to make sure we're all lowering the risks for everybody. >> see, this is what we should all do collectively as america. let's all virtually binge one of the courses and all get smarter managing this virus going forward. megan from "wired," thank you for sharing your experience with us. you can find the article on contact tracing at wired.com. katy, over to you. >> and, chuck, at the peak of the pandemic, when the world was standing still, carbon pollution fell worldwide. but our next guest says it is proof that individual action while still important is just not nearly enough to reverse climate change on its own.

. an unexpected yet positive consequence of the pandemic has been a drop in pollution, specifically carbon pollution which fell 17% worldwide at the peak of the global stay-at-home

orders. that's mostly the result of fewer vehicles on the road, but also fewer planes in the sky and factories being closed as well. my next guest argues that that is, though, a drop in the bucket when it comes to what is needed to address climate change. joining me is michael mann, a professor of atmospheric science at penn state. let's take this step by step, michael. i'm sure everybody online saw those images of a smog-free los angeles almost looking like a painting it was so clear. oh, my god, if we all stopped getting on the road, this is what the air could look like, this is what los angeles could feel like. tell me what this study has shown and what 4% to 7% means when it comes to climate change. >> what it shows is what you might have expected.

when you slow the economy, you reduce transportation, including air travel, but mostly ground transportation and ground transport of goods. you decrease carbon emissions. right now we have a global economy that is driven by the burning of fossil fuels. as long as that's true, when you reduce economic output, you're going to reduce carbon emissions. here is the bad news. that's only going to give us maybe a 4% to 7% decrease in carbon emissions for the year. what we actually need is a 10% decrease in carbon emissions every year for the next ten years if we are to overt crossing the threshold of dangerous influence with our climate. we need to cut carbon emissions far more than that. we'd like to do that without slowing down the economy. the way to do that is to decarbonize our economy, to remake our economy so we don't have to burn fossil fuels to generate economic activity,

goods, services and transport. >> what we're seeing here is even in the months of this lockdown, we're not getting to the percentage we need to really cut down on climate change and it's going to climb right back up once everybody is let back out. seems like, michael, we're in a unique position to effect that change, change our habits since we're all locked down. what would you advise? >> that's the good news, right? what this shows us is we can have a positive impact on our environment. we can choose to act when it comes to matters of global pollution and, of course, climate change. what i'm hoping is we take away the right messages from this episo episode, that we understand that we need to find a way to live sustainably on this planet. individual action is good, you know. flying less is good. changing your diet so it's less carbon intensive, that's all good. what this study shows us is

individual action alone isn't enough to do what we need to do. we need to literally decarbonize our economy. we need politicians who are willing to support policies that will help us do that. >> explain what that means, decarbonizing our economy. >> it literally means moving away from the burning of fossil fuels for transport and power generation and everything else to renewable energy. that way we can continue to move our economy forward while not producing global carbon pollution that's warming the planet and changing our climate. we can't do that as individuals. we need politicians willing to support policies to price carbon, put a price on carbon. it should cost you something when you dump pollution into the atmosphere and provide incent e incentives for renewable energy. we have an election coming up in a matter of months where we can clooz to vote on this issue and make the right decisions. >> michael, just quickly, if

there was one single thing we could change tomorrow, what would it be? >> it would be the leadership that we have in washington, d.c. >> with a blunt answer, michael mann, thank you so much for joining us. we appreciate your time and expertise as always. chuck, 4% to 7% depending on how long these lockdowns last, but he made such a good point, we need 10% every year. if we go back to our normal ways, the opportunity that we have in front of us to cut down on carbon, to really make an impact on climate change will have gone to waste. >> he's making the argument if you're going to get the innovation you need, you almost have to force the innovation. that's why you see some governments raise mileage standards. you raise those standards, do things like that, that's how you at times get the innovation, the fuel efficiency. he's making that you have to make structural change. you and i recycling ain't enough. that is it for us today.

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while the heated seat soothes your back, neck and shoulders. kohler is an expert in bathing, so you can count on a deep soaking experience. are you seeing this? the kohler walk-in bath comes with fully adjustable hydrotherapy jets and our exclusive bubblemassage. everything is installed in as little as a day by a kohler-certified installer. and it's made by kohler- america's leading plumbing brand. we need this bath. yes. yes you do. a kohler walk-in bath provides independence with peace of mind. good afternoon. brian williams here with you, 3:00 p.m. in the east. 12:00 noon out west. nicolle wallace will join us momentarily. first a look at the headlines and the facts as we know them at this hour.

over 93,000 americans have now died from the coronavirus. that is over 1,400 more than it was this time yesterday. at the current pace, the death toll could hit 100,000 in just the next few days. all 50 states have now eased some measures aimed at stopping the spread of the virus, but for so many states, the number of new coronavirus cases is either still increasing or holding steady. 17 states have shown numbers on the increase so far this week. and globally the numbers are also on the rise. the world health organization saying a record 106,000 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours with nearly two-thirds of those cases coming from just four countries. the w.h.o. did not name those countries, but this is interesting. according to johns hopkins, the largest outbreaks have been reported in the u.s. russia, brazil and the united

kingdom. president trump threatened to withhold federal funding for michigan and nevada today over efforts by those states to pursue mail-in voting in response to the pandemic. in a tweet the president said michigan was sending absentee ballots out to all voters, but michigan secretary of state begs to differ. she says she is sending out only absentee ballot applications. the president has falsely claimed mail-in voting is somehow rife with fraud, but there is zero evidence to support that claim. now, joined by my friend and colleague nicolle wallace, host of "deadline white house," one mention and two points. sorry about yesterday. i think we're all going to get a degree in electronic engineers by the end of this. that's the mention. point one is, think of these four countries with an upswing in cases. brazil, u.s., russia, uk. that's point one.

point two, why do you think the president as a mail-in voter in florida is so dead set against mail-in voting during a pandemic, what we fear is going to be a second curve around about election day? >> well, to your second point first, everything he does is like the political version of streaking in terms of showcasing your political terror. if you're confident about your standing with the american people, you want everyone to vote. if you are so afraid that you are now channelling and making public and trying to use the levers of power to suppress the vote six months out, your terror and your political -- he's so diminished politically. he's so fearful politically. and it's just this window into what is real political weakness that he is projecting almost around the clock these days.

to your first point, we had keir simmons on at the end of this hour the last two days, and it just makes it absolutely stunning that america has withdrawn, not just from the w.h.o., which is stunning in and of itself, but this is still -- as george bush said, we rise together and we fall together. this is not something that we can beat here within our own borders. this is something that anyone on a plane, anyone that travels, anyone in an airport, this is still a global pandemic. the idea that we are one of four countries on the rise is disturbing. but the idea that we're withdrawing from the global health organization that can address what it is which is a global pandemic should scare all americans no matter their political party. we've seen donald trump sideline his own government medical experts. we've watched him admit he's taken an unproven anti malaria

drug, the one the fda warned everybody about. today we have a clear picture of what donald trump wants to hear. nbc news confirmed an associated press report which says, quote, republican political operatives are recruiting extremely pro trump doctors to prescribe reviving the u.s. economy as quickly as possible without waiting to meet safety benchmarks proposed by the cdc and to slow the spread of the coronavirus. it's unclear when this effort will begin. trump campaign communications director tim murtaugh said, quote, anybody who joins one of our coalitions is vetted. quite obviously all of our coalitions espouse policies and say things that are, of course, exactly similar mat co-with what the president believes. joining us, robert costa, moderator of washington week on pbs and lucky for us msnbc political analyst, and dr. peter

hotez founding dean of the national school of tropical medicine from the baylor college of medicine. doctor, first for you, where will one find a doctor that doesn't combine both, understanding as you do every time you're on, of the great public pressure to get the economy back going, especially if you've lost your job and you're experiencing food insecurity and financial insecurity, but also to do so safely? where does one find doctors like the ones that the trump campaign just described who are simpatico with just what trump believes? >> yeah. we're in for a very difficult period in the united states. unfortunately a large number of states now have opened up the economy before the time when some of the models, like out of the institute for health metrics

say when we're going back to containment mode, meaning one new case per million residents per day. so what that means is we're doing this faster -- we're doing this sooner than that so that we will start to see an increase in the number of cases. we've already learned how this works. we've seen this virus enough to know that it's not like you're going to see kind of a linear, gradual increase in the number of cases so you have a heads up. what happens is there's a lag, there's nothing, there's nothing, there's nothing, there's nothing. all of a sudden, six weeks after opening the economy you'll see a dramatic increase in the number of cases that hit hospitals and hit intensive care units and overwhelm the system. we have the potential risk right now by the call of having six or seven or eight cities that look like new york or look like queens new york in the united states. you can imagine how destabilizing that's going to be because whole numbers are going

to drop, people are going to lash out. i view this fall as a time of great instability in the united states. all you need to do is go to the policy models of the children's hospital of philadelphia to look what happens at major cities, even like our own city of houston, what happens if you don't do -- if you don't have that adequate social distancing in place by the fall. i get it. i understand the importance of opening up the economy. i especially understand it foreheads of households who can't -- who don't get a paycheck unless they go to work. how do you strike a middle ground to the ak pom lips versus ensuring that, in terms of disease, versus the apocalypse in terms of economic disaster. i think the only way i can see to do that is to build in place a robust health system that can track things as extensively as possible which we don't have in most cities.

and those elements are having an epidemiologic model for each major metropolitan area so you have roadmap. it means workplace testing so you know your colleagues may or may not have asymptomatic covid infection. it means a pretty expanded system of contact tracing. right now in most cities it's a fraction of the number of people that we need. it means an app system of andrew cuomoic dromic surveillance. most places -- i worry the default looks potentially bleak for this country as we go to the fall. >> bob costa, to hear the doctor talk about five cities that look like queens, new york, takes my breath away especially in light

of the reporting that's out about what the trump campaign plans to do, surround trump with mini trumps but in white lab coats. what is behind -- it sounds really sinister. am i missing something? why not use the doctors that already work for president trump that have rolled out testing, tracing, isolating and dealing with a pandemic the way a pandemic requires to be dealt with. >> reporter: based on my conversations with white house officials and allies of president trump in recent days, the president has grown frustrated with testimony on capitol hill by dr. bright, the whistle-blower and at times even with dr. fauci, his high public profile. the president is watching fox news often at night, and he's seen doctors who are on those programs talking about hydroxychloroquine, talking about him. and he identifies with them. in fact, "the washington post" reported several of the doctors

that have been commentators on fox news have been inside the west wing, inside the oval office for meetings with the president about these kind of drugs and about reopening the country. that's the dynamic inside this administration and you have people out in the states -- i just spoke with governor pete rickets of nebraska this afternoon, who are moving forward without stay-at-home orders, taking their own steps because they feel like new york and places like new york are not the same as nebraska in their own experiences. they're going along with the president's message on reopening the country. >> robert costa, listening to the doctor while this is a question for you, i'm reminded of the leonard cohen song called "you want it darker." what if this gets darker for the president politically? his poll numbers continue to be under water. there's a story out today he will no doubt find triggering about republicans preparing for

the post-trump era. that will be a neat trick for people like senator portman of ohio who has gone all in with trump to try to insist to the voters that he's a republican again. but what will that campaign look like if it gets darker from here? >> it's not only a question about getting dark, brian, on the health front which is, of course, of the utmost importance. it's also about darkness on the horizon in terms of the economy. i've been paying attention to the white house's position on this upcoming round of negotiation on another stimulus package. the white house has not yet committed to anything in particular. they're working with mitch mcconnell. they're in step with him on trying to push for liability protection for businesses. when i'm on the phone with people like frances suarez, the mayor of miami, florida today, and other mayors and governors,

they're starving for cash and supplies to shore up their government. the white house has to make a decision because it affects swing states, battle ground states. what exactly will they do in terms of stimulus if anything? especially if the economy starts to stutter and stagger even more this summer? >> doctor, to you, we had the son of jonah sulk on our broadcast this week and it was bracing to hear from him. he was one of the first three people to receive the polio vaccine because dr. saling, believing in his work experimented on his own family first. we also talked about the need for a massive rollout of whatever vaccine, whenever the vaccine is available. do you subscribe to this view that a partial rollout isn't going to do it and sooner or later you need to cover the

globe? >> certainly we're going to need a high percentage of the u.s. population and the global population vaccinated. that's why we've done something a bit unusual. we've created a partnership with an organization kaugt p.a.t.h., program for appropriate technology and health, seattle bates and done a lot of work with the gates foundation in the past. we're developing a low-cost covid-19 vaccine that can be made locally in places like india and brazil because we are worried about that global coverage. so you will need that. in the u.s., i'm actually worried about the possibility of a counterproblem. that is, we're starting to hear from a number of americans who are saying, even if the vaccine is available, they're not going to take it. this is, in part, because we have a very aggressive anti

vaccine movement that alleges vaccines cause autism. that's why they go after me because i wrote about it about my daughter. they also say vaccines are rushed, not adequately tested for safety and there's too cozy a relationship between pharma and the government. unfortunately the message that's been coming out of the white house, using things like operation warp speed together with some of the press releases from the pharma companies and biotechs say we'll have a vaccine in weeks or months plays right into that. this has actually energized the anti vaccine movement. now they're more aggressive than ever. i'm quite worried we can reach a point -- we're actually modeling this now at suny university of new york, where we might not have enough americans, not because the vac seecine is not there, but they're deliberately opting out with what's happened with the communication and

messaging. >> equally bracing, hearing our president say flat out from the white house, not everyone is going to want the vaccine when it comes out. kind of putting the public health role of the president on its ear once again. with thanks for their work in two desperate areas, our guest robert costa, dr. peter hotez. we appreciate you joining us this hour. with reopening under way in some form or faushion in all 50 states, we look at states that opened first, whether they're seeing new outbreaks, spikes of the coronavirus as a result. plus, secretary of state mike pompeo facing new questions today after reporting by this very network on his use of state department resources, ie packs pair dollars to hold high-end dinners with a very high-end crowd.

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nicolle and i turn our attention to texas where the state is moving forward with its plans to, quote, unquote, reopen its economy with bars and restaurants set to reopen this holiday weekend with social distancing measures in place. the news comes as dallas county announced its highest single day death toll as a result of this pandemic putting the total number of deaths at nearly 200 in dallas county at loam.

governor abbott easing he strikss throughout the state despite opposition from local leaders in dallas. we're happy to have with us nbc news correspondent priscilla thompson live from the bishop arts district pretty much southwest of downtown dallas. priscilla, what's it like there? >> reporter: brian, we spent the day here in dallas county. i've got to tell you, that spike in numbers hasn't stopped folks from coming out today to grab a bite do eat or walk around the neighborhood. most of those people haven't been wearing those masks. the local officials i spoke to really emphasized that they'd like to see people in those masks and ideally they want people to actually continue to stay in until the county sees that 14-day decrease in the amount of positive cases that the federal government has recommended. right now dallas county is ranging from about 200 to 250

cases per day and they haven't yet seen a sort of downward trend. however, i did speak to a number of folks out here today and i asked them, is the economy reopening too soon. listen in on what they told me. >> who really knows? you look at medical stats, you'll come up with one opinion. you look at economic stats and you'll come up with another one. it's clear that we couldn't stay closed forever. but did we open too soon? i can't say. >> reporter: officials here say it remains to be seen what the impacts of these reopenings will be on the economy. nicolle and brian. >> nbc's priscilla thompson, thank you so much. joining our conversation is our colleague, steve kornacki at the be loved big board which i miss every day. he's got new data on some of the first states to reopen and how that's gone. >> we're taking a look at states

like texas that have allowed a certain phase of reopening, reopening restaurants, in-person dining. although the states are doing it differently, that's one of the more expensive, expansive steps, the reopening of in-person dining. these are the states doing it for a few weeks now. you see from these pictures, you're talking about social distancing, masks in some cases there, lots of space between customers. the question is, doing that at least for the first few weeks, has it had a noticeable impact on the trend line when it comes to the stats in these states? first of all, here are the five states east of the mississippi river. in the last two weeks you can see in florida the cases, the actual daily increases in cases is down slightly. georgia down, south carolina, tennessee, west virginia. you see these states testing much more except noticeably west virginia lear. what you see here is the positivity rate, the percentage of all tests that are taken that

are coming back positive. if it's green here, what that indicates, you can see it's come down. it was 5% a couple weeks ago in florida. for the last two weeks it's 4%. the positivity rate is coming down as they do more testing. when you see green here, these are encouraging signs. the other states, we can take you through, these are all the numbers that are available. the one thing i flagged here. texas is an interesting case. you don't see green in the new cases column. as priscilla was mentioning, cases are up in texas. keep in mind testing is also up significantly in texas. right now the positive rate has gone down from 6% to 5% in the last two weeks in texas. that is a number you want to keep watching, but the contest could be a testing factor, could be a result of more testing. when you see a lower positive rate, that starts to speak to that as well. >> steve kornacki at the big board in what was political season, is now pandemic season. it comes down to numbers it

turns out either way, sadly in this case. also a deaths toll approaching 100,000 souls in our country. steve, thanks. when we come back, the secretary of state under increased scrutiny for hosting dinners in d.c. we'll describe them and the story when we come back.

now the story we've been talking about, and nicolle has a

newsmaker standing by to talk about it. secretary of state mike pompeo is under fire once again. nbc news revealing that pompeo held high-end taxpayer funded dinners to cultivate a group of supporters perhaps for his own political ambitions. the extensive list of attendees included billionaire ceos, supreme court justices, political heavyweights and ambassadors. the reporting comes as pompeo waived off questions about the ousted state department inspector general steve linick who was reportedly in the midst of investigating pompeo on a number of fronts including his decision to green light a saudi arms deal despite opposition in congress. this morning pompeo said linick's firing was not retaliatory. >> let's be clear. there are claims that this is for retaliation, for some investigation that the inspector

general's office was engaged in. patently false. i have no sense of what investigations were taking place inside the inspector general's office. i couldn't possibly retail eight r ate for all the things -- oh i've seen stories. someone was walking my dog to sell guns to my dry cleaner. it's crazy stuff. i didn't have access to the information so i couldn't have retaliated. it would have been impossible. >> joining our conversation is democratic congressman eric swalwell of california. he serves as a member of the house intelligence and house judiciary committees. mike pompeo lying right there, i have to share with our viewers. mike pompeo did know exactly what the inspector general was investigating because he was asked to respond to written inquiries from the inspector general. so what do you do with the secretary of state, not just who is under investigation for what looks like alleged personal corruption, having your dog walked and dinner reservations

made and your wife flown around the world on the taxpayer dollar, some potential for policy transgressions, the sale of arms to the saudis without congressional approval and then lying in front of the world about your knowledge of the investigation into you? >> good afternoon, nicolle. we use the power that the people gave us in 2018 of the purse, a majority in congress, to have chairman engel and the foreign affairs committee continue to investigate because we've gone from, but her emails, the secretary of state for president obama to, but the dinner parties, but the arms deals. of course, but the dog walking. these folks think they're above the law. they're above transparency and above any investigation. i just happen to think when you're in a position of power like that, when there's any question about what you're doing, you