good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington, as an alarming surge of covid-19 cases slams into cities from the south to the sun belt to california. here are the facts at this hour. with mounting criticism that the president is downplaying the pandemic threat, the white house coronavirus task force will hold its first public briefing since the end of april, but not at the white house and not with the president scheduled to attend. instead the group will assemble in the next half hour at the department of health and human services. veteran c a veteran cbs white house correspondent calling it "political distancing." the united states is continuing to lead the world in

infection and deaths from covid-19. more than 8,000 new cases in florida and peak infection rates in alabama, missouri, montana, and utah. and at least four other states have now been forced to pause their reopening plans. in texas, governor greg abbott this morning ordering bars to shut down and new limits on indoor dining, as the cdc suggests new antibody tests suggests the number of cases could be ten times higher than reported and that 90% of americans are still susceptible to getting the virus. and despite the ongoing pandemic, the trump administration chose this of all moments to file an appeal last night with the supreme court to scrap obamacare even as a record half million americans have enrolled as of last month, because they are newly unemployed and have lost their health benefits. doctors and nurses on the front lines are all too aware that the pandemic is not going away. >> we're surging in arizona.

>> there's definitely some wishful thinking that this would burn itself out over the summer. >> i walk into a small conference room with family members and try to explain to them that we don't have a bed for them. they're very frustrated. and they're very scared. >> and the white house announcing today that the president has scrapped his plans to go to bedminster, new jersey for the weekend, a last-minute change, even though there had been pushback from the white house against the fact that new jersey of course joined new york and connecticut in deciding this week to quarantine anyone who had been in other states where there is a surge of the pandemic. and of course the president had been in phoenix, arizona as recently as earlier this week. joining me now is nbc correspondent sam brock joining us from houston, from harris

county, of course in texas, which is the hotspot in texas. sam, what's going on there, as governor greg abbott is announcing that he is rolling back the reopening there in some instances? >> reporter: andrea, good afternoon, good to be with you. there was in ongoing question of how long we were going to go until the other shoe drops. and i guess the answer is today, how many executive daconsecutiv skyrocketing cases will we see? governor abbott lowered restaurant capacity from 75% to 50%. as it pertains to bars, if your gross sales of alcoholic benches a -- beverages exceed a certain amount, you have to close. i asked one owner, was this a long time in coming, should the governor have taken this step weeks or months ago?

he said, absolutely, it's better for businesses and patrons if we have some sort of containment on this virus which clearly at this point, andrea, we don't. 6,000 new cases announced yesterday. we're wait to go see what that number might be today. i had a chance to sit down with houston's mayor sylvester turner to ask him how serious he thinks this worsening icu hospitalization rate is. >> if the number of infections continues to increase and the number of people going to the hospitals are increasing and the number of people going to your icu rooms are increasing, i think that's very difficult to say that you have it under control. >> reporter: do you think there's been unnecessary alarm when it comes to hospitalization numbers? >> no. the situation is bad. we're in the midst of a health care crisis. >> reporter: an emphatic response there. icu capacity, andrea, as of yesterday hit 100%, which means hospitals would have to convert beds from other areas to reach demand. they say they can do that, some of the biggest ceos, but the

biggest infection rate for houston, andrea, 14% yesterday, well above what officials are comfortable with. andrea? >> thank you so much, sam, that is really alarming. now to columbia, south carolina, mayor steve benjamin there, mayor benjamin, thank you very much. you're requiring masks, what has led you to that decision? >> it's clear, andrea, we were in the middle of the greatest pandemic since 1918. we've been following the data from the very beginning, even the politics aside, even personal preference, in recognizing that testing gives us data. data then gives us intelligence and intelligence allows us to make smart policy. so we've been leading from the front very early on with a stay at home, stay safe order, when the governor wouldn't act, imposing a curfew when the governor decided not to act. and now, even watching city by city, charleston, greenville, columbia, and others, moving

forward to do what we can with every single public health official in the world saying we should require a mask to slow down the spread of covid-19. it's real. it's costing so many lives. it requires urgent and immediate action. >> how are you planning to enforce it, mr. mayor? >> we decided to go the route of a civil infraction. a civil infraction with fines and penalties for businesses that don't comply and for individuals, a small penalty. the goal is to try and encourage a cultural shift, push people towards recognizing our mutual responsibility to each other, and not trying to criminalize an activity that then puts a law enforcement officer into the posture. we're already dealing with a number of different issues around law enforcement right now. so we don't want to create that environment. what we do want to create is an environment where everyone recognizes that we are our brother's keeper, that we have a

responsibility to take care of our neighbors. if we get our arms around the pandemic, as your previous reporter, my friend sylvester turner, the mayor of houston, said, the public crisis will take care of itself. our council determined that our decisions will be centered around our true north, saving lives. we have 700 sadly lost to the virus last weekend. we have to act with a sense of urgency and a focus on public data, not the politics of the moment. >> myrtle beach, the beach town there, is becoming a source of infection, according to neighboring governors and neighboring mayors in ohio, west

virginia, kentucky. what is the responsibility of the beach communities to try to keep people safe? >> i'm very encouraged, obviously charleston led passing an ordinance, the mayor of myrtle beach has been aggressively on top of this for quite some time. we've just got to show the restraint necessary, recognizing that the contagion, regardless of the demography or age or whatever, aggressively seeks new hosts. we cannot have people on our beaches side by side. there are ways for family units to congregate and engage in proper physical distancing to slow the spread of this thing. it takes discipline. it takings public policymakers stepping up and creating rules that help us all stay alive and healthy. i'm not alone, obviously, in lamenting the lack of discipline

on the national level and how it's percolated down to the states. i am, i will tell you, very proud of a number of our mayors and the way that we've led in front on trying to do what we can. but we need consistency, and leadership, particularly for those who have the resources appropriated by congress to make sure that we can staff up all the testing that we need, and that we message to people the importance of our collective role in saving lives. >> mayor steve benjamin in columbia, south carolina, thank you so much for being with us today. we go cross-country now to los angeles where we find mayor garcetti, thank you so much, mayor, for being with us. you have a problem in california. everybody has been praising california, the governor and you of course in l.a., for leading the way in testing and the lockdown on the west coast. what's gone wrong now, why the surge? >> this is a virus that's just

as dangerous the first day, you know, today, as it was the first day it arrived. it preys on our division, it preys on our laziness, it preys on our exhaustion as well. in the city of l.a., we're doing reasonably well. our deaths continue to go down, our hospital capacity is strong. and our percentage of california cases has been reduced as well, i think that's due to our testing. i've said to people it's really about four things. it's about being respectful and wear a mask, it's about being responsible and socially distance. it's about being safe, wash your hands. and it's about being proactive, get a test. we need to continue to have federal support for that. we've gone through about $70 million of local money, not from washington, to do this sort of testing to make sure whether you have a symptom or not, no matter your age, your race, your zip code, you can find out whether you are a silent spreader or if you're feeling sick, obviously, whether you have covid-19. these things remain critical. so we've gotten smarter even as

the disease has [ inaudible ]. >> mr. mayor, what about other mayors in orange county, for instance, newport beach, this infection is obviously being carried as people move about. >> absolutely. and, you know, you can do as well as you want in your own city, but you're not an island. as we've seen, you know, surrounding counties, neighboring cities. if we don't all move together, you can see the same bad health effects happen everywhere. especially young people now, 18 to 40 years old, about 40% of our cases are in those younger people who are saying, hey, i'm probably not going to get it and if i get it, i'm not going to do i. i've always told people, you can be a lifesaver or you can be a life taker. you could literally kill someone you love. when we see young people gathering in unauthorized ways, it's important for young people to know the role they can play to save the lives of their

family and loved ones and to make sure the economy can stay open. that's really what's at risk here, not just saving lives but people's livelihoods that are hanging by their fingernails. we have to make sure we're smart, safe, and proactive about the things we do as we open up. >> mr. mayor, in the midst of this pandemic the last thing we need is a presidential election, importantly, disrupted by the pandemic. and you're very involved with the pandemic, with the biden campaign, of course, the vice presidential selection process. he has made the decision to have a socially distanced convention, delegates won't be there. and in the midst of all this, the attorney general last night again throwing all kinds of doubt about the veracity of mail-in balloting, saying that it's rife with fraud, although he has no evidence to prove it. what are you doing to counteract this, since the president is not letting the senate pass the needed money to make mail-in

balloting safe? >> if we ever needed to see evidence that we really do need to restore the soul of this country, like joe biden says, it's what's coming out of this white house every single day. using tear gas to suppress first amendment rights reca, taking a the most basic right in a democracy to vote, which is something republicans, democrats, and independents should all believe in you believe in democracy. it's reprehensible. in the states we see the federal government attacking states for trying to make voting easier, which is the most ridiculous thing i've ever seen come out of a white house. we will fight this strongly. we're proud to be headquartered in milwaukee for the convention. we're going to show that all of america is sick and tired of these divisive politics, trying to slow down tests in the midst of a pandemic, trying to attack the affordable care act as they're doing right now in the supreme court. this is the wrong kind of

leadership that has ripped apart the soul of america. joe biden will restore that soul for all of us. >> mayor eric garcetti from los angeles, thank you so much for being with us today. and coming up next, an historic vote right here in d.c. as the house of representatives takes up the d.c. statehood vote in just a few hours. the voting will take place. the district's mayor, muriel bowser, joins me next. plus the white house coronavirus task force will be briefing for the first time since april 27. we'll bring that to you live as it happens. hit it, charlie! ♪matthew, say's to bring it back. the five-dollar footlong. better choice for matthew. it's back sandwich emoji.♪ five-dollar footlongs are back when you buy two. for a limited time. an herbal stress reliever ashwagandha, five-dollar footlongs are back when you buy two. that helps you turn the stressed life... into your best life. stress less and live more. with stressballs.

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welcome back. you are looking at live pictures of the house floor. the house and congress now debating historic legislation that would make washington, d.c. the 51st state. speaker nancy pelosi and other democratic members today speaking out in support of the district but also donning masks emblazoned with "51st." senate republicans are opposed to the bill as senator tom cotton indicated yesterday. >> they want to make washington a state to rig the rules of our democracy and try to give the democratic party permanent power. but in doing so, the democrats are committing an act of historical vandalism as grotesque as those committed by

jacobin mobs roaming our streets. >> joining me now is d.c. mayor muriel bowser. madam mayor, thank you very much. you're in the district building, monitoring the debate. how are you feeling about it as this debate finally takes place for the first time since 1993? >> absolutely. thank you, andrea, for covering it and for spreading the word across america about what we're fighting for. we're in a historic march for statehood. we know that the district becoming the 51st state is the only way the 700,000 taxpaying americans are fully represented and become full americans. and that's why we are fighting for statehood for d.c. >> how frustrating is it that mitch mcconnell won't even bring it to the floor? >> it's very frustrating. we've answered all of the questions that have been lobbed against us about statehood. and now all that is left is that

the issue of whether americans should be represented in the congress who pay taxes is a partisan issue. democrat versus republican. but that's not really the question that the members should be asking themselves. they should be asking themselves what is fair and what reflects the principles of the american democracy. d.c. residents being the only people in the free world whose capital city residents aren't represented in the capital, is simply anti-american. >> and in fact it's been since 1801, the last time d.c. residents were able to vote. you've been pointing out that d.c. residents pay more in taxes per capita than anyone else in the country. >> right. sometimes people are confused about who we are and how we operate in washington, d.c. and what the constitution requires. the bill that's before the house

of representatives continues to have a nation's capital, a federal enclave required by the constitution of the united states. but the balance, the current district of columbia where over 700,000 people live, becomes the 51st state. our population is already greater than that of two states. we're bigger than wyoming and vermont. and unlike the territories, which we've been compared to recently, we pay all of the federal taxes that every american pays in the 50 states. so when you see "taxation without representation" on our license plates, we're paying more per capita than any jurisdiction, giving more to the federal government than we get back, we're literally being taxed without being represented. our congresswoman, eleanor

holmes norton, has been fighting this 2350fight to get a vote in house of representatives. currently we don't have anybody speaking for us in the senate. and getting two senators and being fully autonomous is what statehood means for washington, d.c. >> would land be taken from the neighboring states, from virginia and maryland, in this new conception of a 51st state? >> absolutely not. so the current district of columbia in the admission act, there is a section that is the federal enclave, that includes the white house, the capitol, the supreme court, the national mall, all the smithsonians. the people from across america will still come to their nation's capital. in the balance, and the balance of the district of columbia becomes the 51st state. >> do you think there is a

racial reason for this, for the district being without a vote? >> well, we know the earliest discussions among the framers in the district of columbia related to slavery. and we know that race has accompanied this discussion throughout. everybody knows that we are proud of our rich, diverse history in the district of columbia. african-americans, people of color, and people of all backgrounds call d.c. home. and we should not -- people should not look to us and say that we're too urban, we're too black, we're too liberal. and that makes us different from the people of the other american states, and we have to justify our american citizenship and representation. that hasn't been the case for any state being added to the union and it shouldn't be the case for us.

>> this certainly came to the forewhen district residents did not get their share, their full share of the stimulus checks, they were treated as a territory and got half as much. but it really came to light three weeks ago, a little more than three weeks ago, when you did not have the power to control the national guard, to prevent the federal troops from clearing peaceful protesters from in front of the white house, so the president could have a photo opportunity. and it came to light that you, unlike any governor in america, and the governors of the territories, cannot stop the president from federalizing troops. the 82nd airborne were outside district borders in case they were needed and the national guard troops arrayed themselves in front of the lincoln memorial. >> i think this is a real education for everyone in america, that we never thought we would see the federal government move in that way against american citizens.

many conservatives will argue that d.c. can't be a state because the state would have too much power over the federal government. but we know how dated that argument is. the real concern that we saw was a big massive federal government and its army can move on american citizens. american citizens who are peacefully protesting. and no one wants to see that happen. what residents across america should know is that the federal enclave that will be the seat of federal power will continue to operate under the jurisdiction of the congress of the united states. the president will have access to the secret service, the united states park police, and the congress to the capitol police. but the residents of washington, d.c., our new state, washington, d.c., will be fully autonomous. we already operate like a i donu

that, i operate as the governor, we have a $15 billion budget, we balance our budgets every year, we see improvements in our schools, city services, and our amenities. so we know what we're doing to manage our city. our residents elect people to control every aspect of our life, and the federal government has to stay out of it. >> and very briefly, you have said that you do not support pulling down monuments, you want this to be debated and done in a democratic way. >> absolutely. first of all, we don't support any disorder or destruction of our public spaces in d.c. there is a lot of debate about monuments and memorials and other references to historical figures. and i think now especially, it's time for a thorough review of those things.

>> madam mayor, muriel bowser, thank you so much for taking time, i know it's a busy day. thanks for being with us today. >> thank you. and we are waiting. the first coronavirus white house task force briefing since april 27. they will be not at the white house, not in the briefing room, not with the president, we're told, but at the department of health and human services. the vice president is expected to be there. we're joined now to set the stage by nbc news white house correspondent and co-host of "weekend today," kristen welker. nbc news' host of "meet the press," chuck todd. a senior scholar at johns hopkins center for health security. and former congresswoman done in a shdonna shalala. kristen, the president isn't coming, this isn't at the white house, they haven't been seen since april 27. we haven't seen dr. fauci since

april 22. what do you expect at this time and why do you think they're doing it? >> i think the pressure just became too great, andrea. the fact that you have cases spiking all across the country, the task force needed to address the public and needs to lay out what the next steps are and what the administration plans to do about it. it is striking, we have not seen the task force in two months. we're not expecting president trump to appear at this briefing. and take note, andrea, it's not happening at the white house. it's happening at hhs. and so this is an attempt to really walk this fine line between acknowledging that something has shifted and something has changed and yet we know president trump has really wanted to turn the page on all of this. he wants to focus on the economy. he wants to focus on his reelection campaign. and yet his response to this crisis, andrea, is part of why we are seeing former vice president joe biden topping him in the polls nationally, at least it's part of the equation, and also in some key battleground states.

now, i've been talking to members of the task force who have privately said for weeks now, andrea, that they want to be addressing the public. they think it's important that they're getting information out. and again, the pressure at this point just too great. >> and chuck todd, we know that during the ebola crisis, during previous pandemics, the cdc briefed every day. the cdc has been basically silenced, they're finally showing up today at a time when federal money is going to run out next week for testing, and they say they're not going to extend it. >> andrea, they've also put out some critical new advisories that basically if you're not a reporter who covers the cdc and got the conference call information, you didn't have an opportunity to even ask more questions about it. this is very important guidance. the new guidance they put out this week that basically said, look, this is not just about 65 and over that have to be cautious. they put out new precautions

about women that are pregnant, new precautions for people of a younger age. so this has been one of the problems, and just to put it in crass political terms, one of the reasons why both the governor of texas and the governor of florida have waited to act is they've had no -- you know, they've wanted to act with some political cover from the white house and they've gotten none. and finally, abbott acts, and the minute abbott acts, desantis acts, and now you're seeing, you know, the federal government finally coming out. but there has just been no guidance. states have been on their own. and those that have had republican governors, that are sensitive to the trump base, have been paralyzed. you've seen it, you know, they've been completely paralyzed and it's all been due to a lack of guidance and a lack of, frankly, i guess guts of the federal government to come out and hold these daily briefings and take questions. >> and donna shalala, i referred to you as a former congresswoman, of course you're

a current congresswoman. but you're from florida which is now a hotspot. it's governor desantis who has not shown the leadership until just in the last 24, 48 hours. and you are someone who led the department where this briefing is being held, hhs. just as the administration has filed a challenge in the supreme court last night to try to once and for all kill obamacare. a half million people needed it in the last month that we have records for because they are now unemployed and don't have employer-provided health care. >> this is tragic. you know, there's no question. my district has the largest enrollment in obamacare in the country. over 100,000 people. the idea of them losing their health insurance is just horrible. it's immoral for the government to go into court and take people's health insurance away in the middle of a pandemic. i do want to add that it is more than symbolic that they're meeting at hhs, finally.

they're meeting in the scientific headquarters of the federal government. they should have been doing that from the beginning. i used to make tony and everybody wear their white coats when they talked about the infectious diseases, just to reassure the american people that distinguished physicians/scientists were giving them the right information. i'm terribly worried about florida. we had 9,000 cases. we've never had 9,000 cases. it's incredibly high. and we're not doing enough. we'll see hadwhat they say toda. whatever it is, the amount of testing has not worked and we need to do much more. >> and dr. adaja, the simple act of using a mask, of wearing a mask, which has been so politicized by the president, and to a lesser extent by the vice president, but the other leadership in the white house,

how important is it to wear a mask and how easy is it to wear a mask in public? >> what we've seen is that face coverings have become one of the major recommendation from public health authorities, as a way of stopping transmission from individuals who may have mild symptoms or don't know they're sick. now there's not just masks but face shields people can use that may actually be better. it's not something that's a major burden on people to wear. it's clear that transmission is occurring from people who have very mild symptoms who don't know that they're ill. this is something we're going to see become the new norm as we move forward in this pandemic, trying to limit the risk and harm this virus causes on the one hand and allowing ourselves to get back to some semblance of normal life on the other. >> and chuck todd, we see in the polling, strong leadership on the pandemic issue in favor of joe biden and against donald trump, which may be one reason

why they're finally having this briefing today. let's listen to something that joe biden said just yesterday in lancaster, pennsylvania, about the pandemic and the president's leadership. >> he's like a child who can't believe this has happened to him. all his whining and self-pity. this pandemic didn't happen to him. it happened to all of us. and his job isn't to whine about it. his job is to do something about it, to lead. >> chuck, the "new york times"/siena poll in the last two days showed 58% of those polled disapprove of the president's leadership in the pandemic. >> as the caseload goes up, the president's number goes down and

his deficit to joe biden goes up. i think it was peggy noonan earlier today put it pretty well. we're in a turbulent situation and there's a perception, more and more voters view the president, particularly in the suburbs, as the one adding to the turbulence, like he's not -- it's already turbulent, we already know it, don't add to our turbulence. i think between the social unrest, his reaction to the protests, his mishandling of this virus, because the most remarkable thing about all these polls, andrea, is the president still leads biden on the issue of the economy. never in our lifetime has a candidate been down this much while winning on the issue of the economy. it just shows you, this is not a pocketbook election. this is a whole bunch of people desperate for calm leadership. >> and as we see the health officials walking out and taking their positions in the front row, we'll wait to see who gets

behind the podium, chuck, but as we're talking about politics here, we all warn everybody it's early and battleground states are what matter, not the national polls, where we've seen double disability leads now in at least three polls, cnn, fox, and now "new york times"/siena, but now the battleground state polls are indicating some really strong leads, 11 points, you know, in wisconsin, double digits in pennsylvania. >> there's two things going on. andrea, there's -- no, but there's two things happening here. one is, it's older voters. it's older voters who did vote for trump over clinton who are leaving the president. that explains the double digit leads in the northern tier. and in the southern tier, it's the flight of the suburban republican voter. it's college-educated men, right? the president's already been losing college-educated women. but the swing vote right now, the difference between landslide

and no landslide for joe biden is college-educated white men in the south. >> and i know people say, you know, it is so early and we've seen these leads evaporate. but this is the largest lead for an incumbent president. and here comes vice president pence. we see dr. birx and we see dr. fauci as well as the hhs secretary. so the full complement. let's listen to the vice president. thank you so much, chuck. >> good afternoon and to our fellow americans out west, good morning. we just completed today's meeting of the white house coronavirus task force. and i'm pleased to be joined by many members of the task force with us for this briefing. i want to thank secretary azar, dr. birx, dr. fauci, dr. redfield of the cdc, as well as our attorney general, dr. giroir

of the u.s. public health service, and dr. hahn and seema verma. we'll make a series of presentations to update the american people on the status of the coronavirus pandemic in the country and then be available to take questions. but we very much appreciate the attendance of all who are here and all of you who have made time to tune in. as we reported today, we have now more than 2,500,000 americans that have contracted the coronavirus. and sadly, we've lost more than 126,000 of our countrymen to this disease. and i know i speak for the president and for every american when we express our sympathies and our deepest condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones. despite those losses, since the end of our 45 days to slow the

spread and the beginning of efforts to open up america, thanks to the cooperation of the american people, the efforts of governors and state health officials, efforts i want to proudly say of the entire federal team under the leadership of president trump, we have made truly remarkable progress in moving our nation forward. we've all seen the encouraging news as we open up america again, more than 3 million jobs created in the last job report. retail sales are rolling. and of course the extraordinary progress in new york, new jersey, connecticut, and new orleans, areas that just a matter of a month ago were struggling under the weight of this pandemic, and now have arrived at a very, very different place. as we stand here today, all 50

states and territories across this country are opening up safely and responsibly. but with cases rising, particularly over the past week, throughout the south, president trump directed our task force to brief the american people on several topics. first, we want to share with you, as dr. birx will, what we're seeing in the rise of new cases that today surmounted 40,000 new cases in a single day. secondly we want to speak about what we've done and what we are doing at the federal level to support the state efforts, particularly in the states where we see rising cases. we'll talk today about how this moment in the coronavirus pandemic is different than what we saw two months ago, to better equip the american people to respond. and ultimately we will speak

about what every american can do to play their part in reducing the spread and the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. for our part also, i've spoken to governors in arizona and florida and texas in the last 12 hours. and dr. birx and i will be traveling on sunday to texas, on tuesday to arizona, and i'll be traveling to florida on thursday of next week to get a ground report. and of course on monday we will conduct what will be our 26th weekly call with the entire white house coronavirus task force and all of the nation's governors as we meet this moment. as i mentioned, it's important, gathering today, that we take a step back and think about how

far we've come as a country. when the president tabbed me to lead the coronavirus task force, he said we have one mission and that's to save lives. president trump's decision to suspend all travel from china in january to stand up the white house coronavirus task force in february, to declare a national emergency, to halt travel from europe and amend travel from other places around the country, all contributed to giving our nation time to stand up a broad-based response, the whole of government response that we spoke about so many times at the podium throughout this pandemic. the state department also coordinated the repatriation of some 95,000 americans. and then came the moment when we brought this chart to the president of the united states on the counsel of our very best

scientists. the president was presented with a decision that if we did nothing, no intervention, the possibility existed at that moment in time that we could lose between 1.5 million and 2.2 million americans. but with intervention and with mitigation, by calling on the american people to embrace the mitigation efforts, social distancing, that were called upon first in the 15 days to slow the spread that would become 45 days to slow the spread, our best scientists believed that we could -- we could reduce the number of american fatalities to a number ranging between 100,000 and 240,000. the president made that decision. and we unveiled the 15 days that became the 45 days to slow the spread. and inarguably, as we see where

we are today as a nation, because of what the american people have done, because of the incredible work of our health care workers, because of a partnership with governors in every state, we did just that. we slowed the spread. we flattened the curve. we saved lives. in the midst of that we exponentially scaled testing capacity, partnering with private sector commercial laboratories. we've now reached some 30 million tests across the country conducting some 500,000 tests a day. in partnership with governors also, the president directed us to make sure that states had what they needed, when they needed it. and at this point i'm pleased to report that the federal government both delivered and facilitated the delivery of billions of supplies of face shields and gowns and gloves and masks. and we continue to be on track

to construct more than 100,000 ventilators in 100 days. and as i spoke to governors last night, they confirmed to me again what fema has reported. we have no outstanding requests from any state at this time for personal protective equipment or medical supplies. let me say that again. in the affected areas, particularly the states down south that are seeing rising cases, we have no outstanding requests. as i've told the governors, we're ready at a moment's notice to surge personnel, to surge supplies, to expand capacity, and to support their health care response. in the midst of all of that, i think it always bears saying that because of the great work of our health care workers and because of american manufacturing, no american who required a ventilator has ever been denied a ventilator in the united states. and i consider that nothing

short of a national accomplishment. we also surged hospital capacity in areas of the greatest anticipated need. we sent military and national guard personnel. and these charts showing the progress that we've made in new york and new jersey and new orleans all demonstrate the efforts of the people of those states in cooperation with federal government and all the great health care workers to show the progress that we made in areas that were once deeply impacted. and we extend our thanks, we extend our thanks to the people of each of those states for the sacrifices that they made during those great and challenging times. but at the close of that 45 days to slow the spread, we unveiled a plan to safely reopen america again. and now all 50 states and territories are moving forward. and as i said, we're seeing america go back to work.

and in much of the country, we're seeing jobs expanding and economic activity expanding. but our focus today is very much on -- on the advent of a rising series of new cases across the american south. and where our first mission was to save lives, once we came out of the 45 days to slow the spread, what our task force has been focused on over the course of the past two months is to partner with states to save lives and safely reopen. in fact we've had some 17 meetings of the white house coronavirus task force in the intervening days since we began the process of opening up america again. and we've been working very closely with states to move that agenda forward. but as the president has made

clear, we want to open our economy up. we want to move america forward, even while we take and continue to take the steps necessary to protect lives and the health of the american people. we stand here today because with the rising cases among southern states, president trump asked us to brief the american people, to give details on what we're seeing, what we're doing, and how it's different from two months ago. as you may recall, after seeing overall cases drop from a 30,000 a day average in april to 25,000 a day average in may, the first few weeks of june actually saw cases averaging roughly 20,000 new cases a day. we now have seen cases begin to rise precipitously across the south. in fact, 34 states -- 34 -- let

me make sure i've got my numbers exactly right here. as we reported early on, 34 states across the country, though, are experiencing a measure of stability that is a credit to all of the people of those states. when we speak about stability, we are talking about not necessarily states where there are no new cases but these would be states where there are either no new cases and no rising percentage or no combination of those two things. there may be states across the country that are seeing a modest increase in cases but their percentage of positive rates is remaining very stable. and -- but nevertheless, there are 16 states with rising cases and rising percentages. and we'll be focusing on those states today. the first thing we would share with the american people is that while there is a penchant in the national debate to use a broad

brush and to paint an entire state one color, if there are rising cases in a portion of the state, this is actually a better picture of the data that we literally picture we literally analyze the data every single day. dr. birx will take a few moments to unpack the specific outbreaks in texas, california and arizona. the fist thing we would compare to the american people from these positive results in the last few days you can see the concentration of new cases in specific parts of states and, of course, very specifically in parts of countries. secondly, we want the american people to understand it's almost inarguable that more testing is generating more cases. to one extent or another the volume of new cases coming in is a reflection of a great success

in expanding testing across the country. as i said at the top we're testing more than ever before some 500,000 people a day, and perhaps we could go to that testing chart if it's there just to show you the acceleration of testing that's taken place over the course of this pandemic in the united states. it's truly been a remarkable and it's been a public and private partnership from the very outset. one of the things that we're seeing among the cases and we hear this in florida and we hear this in texas and elsewhere is that roughly half of the new cases are americans under the age of 35. which is at a certain level very encouraging news as the experts tell us because as we know so far in this pandemic that younger americans are less likely to have the serious

outcomes of the coronavirus. and the fact we're finding more younger americans who have contracted the coronavirus is a good thing. and so we'll speak about the testing and admiral brett girar is here and can detail any questions you have about testing going forward. thirdly, we'll talk about what these new numbers mean and how we can address them, and dr. fauci will speak about that in just a moment particularly in the affected areas. and the other area that we spend a great deal of time thinking about is hospitalization. not only do we track new cases every day on a county by county basis but we also track hospitalization. and the map on the left of your screen represents how -- characterize states with regard to in patient coronavirus cases

over the last 14 days. the map on the right shows you how we look at it and how we ensure that hospitals and health care workers have the resources and support they need. again, as in the matter of new cases you can also see with hospitalization it's highly focused, highly detailed and highly specific. secretary azar will speak about hospitalization, the work of hhs to make sure our hospitals around the country have the capacity to meet this moment. but as dr. birx may well reflect as well we were encouraged some two months ago we were seeing some 15% of new cases being hospitalized, now that number is averaging roughly 5% around the country, which is also encouraging news to say the least. and so while we have 16 states

that we're focusing on, again i would reiterate to the american people the most useful thing to know is where it's happening so you can take the steps necessary to do your part. but rest assured in our conversations with governors in all the most impacted states we continue to be assured that hospital capacity remains strong, and they know the federal government stands ready to provide them with personal protective equipment or supplies or even expanded capacity and personnel to meet any moment. but at this point in time we are told that in all of the states most deeply impacted that hospitalization remains very, very broadly available. finally, i want to speak about the progress that we've made as a country on the most difficult aspect of this. i said at the beginning that our hearts and our prayers go out to

the families who have lost loved ones in the course of the coronavirus pandemic. and i know i speak on behalf of everyone in this country when i extend our sympathies to the more than 126,000 families that have lost loved ones. as the president have said many times one life lost is too many. but nevertheless i believe at this point in the course of the pandemic we can still take some comfort in the fact that fatalities are declining all across the country. there literally was a day two months ago this week where we lost 2,500 americans in a single day. this week because of the extraordinary work of our health care workers, because of the availability of new medicines like remdesivir, new treatments like steroids and because of the

cooperation of the american people heeding the guidance we gave at the federal level and state and local officials gave this week there were two days where we lost less than 300 americans. and you can see from this chart what has been a precipitous decline from some of the worst moments of this pandemic as it impacted areas of new york and new jersey and the northeast again, i have a heavy heart every time i recite these numbers, but the fact we are making progress reducing the number of americans that we have lost and are losing i hope is an encouragement. because as we're seeing the new cases rising there may be a tendency among the american people to think we are back to that place that we were two months ago, that we're in a time

of great losses and great hardship on the american people. the reality is we are in a much better place. with the efforts president trump mobilized at the federal level, with the effort of this team, the efforts of governors across it country, our incredible health care workers and the cooperation of the american people we're in a much stronger place. the truth is we did slow the spread. we flattened the curve. we were able to stand up the resources and the capacities in our health care system to be able to meet this coronavirus in a way that would put the health of all of our country first. we also cared for the most vulnerable and continue to focus resources and testing and supplies on the most vulnerable. and i too believe with all my heart we've continued to save lives. we've created a solid foundation

for whatever challenges come either in the days ahead or the months ahead, and that's a credit. that's a credit i believe to our president, to our federal team, to our state partners but mostly it's a credit to the american people and our health care workers. and so we stand here today we believe we've made progress. but as we are reminded as we see cases rising across the south that we still have work to do, and so we say to every american particularly those in counties and in states that are being impacted by rising cases that now is the time for everybody to continue to do their part. and i think you'll hear from this podium today a particular message to younger americans, younger americans across the sun belt and the role that you can play in protecting the vulnerable and making sure that while the coronavirus doesn't represent as significant a

threat for sear rious outcomes a younger american none of us would want to bring the disease back to our parents our grandparents, moms and dads, an elderly friend or a friend who has an immunodeficiency. we laid out at the outset guidance for responsible reopening, and states across the country as i mentioned are doing just that. 34 states are reopening safely and responsibly and seeing low and steady cases and not seeing a rise in the percentage of positives. and in the 16 states that are being impacted particularly

those that we'll focus on here today we would just encourage every american to follow the guidelines for all the phases, continue to practice good hygiene, wash your hands, avoid touching your face, disinfect frequently. people who feel sick should stay home, and when it comes to businesses social distancing, protective equipment, temperature checks, testing and isolation. these are the guidelines for all of the phases, and they are good practices to implement if you're in a community that's affected or even if you are not because we're all in this together. and the progress that we made that you saw illustrated in those charts in places like new york and new jersey, connecticut and new orleans was a result of the american people stepping forward, heeding the guidance of federal, state