>> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm natalie morales. thank you for watching. first up on the msnbc, covid concerns this fourth of july. a defiant president trump holding another fireworks show. tonight, mask and social distancing encouraged, but not required, as cases soar in america. >> this as covid concerns reaching the inner circle. a top campaign official reveals she's infected. officers fired! pictures mocking the choke hold death of elijah mcclain costing several aurora police officers their jobs. the new outrage this morning as protesters surround a police precinct with more demands overnight. about-face. washington's nfl team says it's reviewing the controversial name after refusing for years.

the new corporations that are adding to the pressure today. and now, the cleveland's baseball team looks to get with the times, as well. and cheers! the uk, even, apparently prince william celebrating as pubs reopen across the country for the first time in months. it comes as the uk puts new travel restrictions in place on americans. just for the record, it's not even 11:00 in the uk, and they're already drinking. >> i think it started at 6:00 a.m. there. >> okay, sorry! >> and we're going to have some good live shots for you. >> prince william is lit right now. >> on our independence day. >> on our independence day. we're the ones that celebrate this. remember, we left y'all on this day. a lot of people will be going here today. >> oh, yes. >> this is myrtle beach, south carolina. looks beautiful. looks enticing. the beaches are expected to be jammed again today with residents and tourists. >> yeah, that could mean trouble. myrtle beach has become a

coronavirus hot spot. as of thursday, the county where myrtle beach is located has report ed 100 new cases a day fr six straight weeks. >> there are some mask requirements in that particular area of myrtle beach. now to the latest on the pandemic, today, this saturday, could add to another streak and become the fourth day where we top off 50,000 in a row, in cases. there are now more than 2.7 million confirmed cases in the united states and that number is climbing in 33 states. beachgoers on the east coast are flocking to the jersey shore for the holiday weekend. beaches are open in new jersey. they opened at reduced capacity and also outdoor dining is allowed. that isn't the case, though, in several other states. in california, los angeles and ventura county beaches are closed. in florida, broward, palm beach, and miami-dade beaches are closed. and in texas, they have closed

several beaches along the coast, including galveston, rockport, and corpus christi. former fda commissioner dr. scott gottlieb offering a bit of reassurance, telling cnbc, the worst of the outbreak will be over by january. >> this will be over by january, one way or the other. either we'll get to a vaccine or it will have spread enough that it will stop spreading efficiently. we have a short period of time to get there. we should be doing everything we can to preserve what we want of our way of life over that time period and just get through it. >> that's a long time away. >> yeah. well, yesterday was also just barely the start of baseball again, with summer camp and already 31 major league baseball players and seven staff members tested positive for coronavirus, across 19 teams. mlb announcing these results after testing over 3,000 players and staff. of course, all of that part of their mandatory screening policy. this comes as the league expects to start its shortened season at the end of the month. >> a lot to think about with that sport, if they have to make

any changes. meanwhile, president trump defying warning about coronavirus and wildfires last night at mt. rushmore. speaking to a packed crowd at the national monument, delivering a divisive stance in the ongoing culture wars. >> angry mobs are trying to tear down statues of our founders, deface our most sacred memorials, and unleash a wave of violent crime in our cities. they think the american people are weak and soft and submissive. but, no, the american people are strong and proud. and they will not allow our country and all of its values, history, and culture, to be taken from them. >> a feel-good, unifying speech. these people didn't think so. this was nearby mt. rushmore,

where people were protesting the president's event. cal perry is there this morning. >> reporter: good morning. that speech more red meat for the president's base, happening in a location that many people taking umbrage with. this, of course, the black hills is native american land. the treaty of 1868 in laramie give this land back to native americans, and within ten years, that treaty was broken. the native americans were forcibly and violently removed from this land. something that even the supreme court in 1980 disagreed with, saying the federal government has not treated the tribes here well and that this is their land. so we saw a number of people arrested, two or three dozen people arrested on one of the main roads leading into the memorial, where the president gave his speech. people there showing the cameras that they were willing to get arrested for their cause. sitting down in the road peacefully, as police removed them. now, the other story, of course, is the pandemic. and the coronavirus that we are all living through. there was no social distancing at the president's speech. something that, of course, critics had taken issue with. the president seemingly wading

into all of these issues. at one point, calling andrew jackson, the quote, great andrew jackson. andrew jackson was responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of native americans, something here that people are absolutely going to take issue with in the coming days. guys? >> nbc's cal perry in south dakota. thank you. president trump arrived in washington, d.c. a short time ago. he'll be getting ready for tonight's fourth of july celebrations in the nation's capital, despite concerns again that the event may be a super spreader for covid-19. there you see the first family, the president and first lady arriving there at joint base andrews. nbc's jeff bennett joins us now from the white house. jeff, what are the expectations for tonight, as we do say good morning and happy fourth to you. >> reporter: happy fourth to the both of you. look, the president and the white house have planned a more scaled back july 4th celebration, at least as compared to what happened last year. you'll remember, the president spoke at the lincoln memorial,

surrounded by military vehicles. this year, the white house is planning to convene some hundreds of people on the south lawn. there will be fireworks, there will be a military flyover. that is despite, as you rightly point out, the current surge in coronavirus cases. interestingly enough, the fight against the coronavirus pandemic is actually part of the theme for tonight's event at the white house, which they're billing as the salute to america. and they've invited doctors, nurses, and some front line workers. i'll tell you, though. d.c. mayor muriel bowser, who canceled the city's july 4th parade told the white house and told the interior department that this event actually goes against established cdc guidelines. she says it's reckless and that it doesn't model good public health behavior. and of course, president trump has been criticized for continuing to hold these large events in tulsa, in arizona, in south dakota last night. and now here at the white house, despite the current coronavirus crisis. this is part of him wanting to project a return to normal.

of course, in this election year. but this coronavirus pandemic keeps hitting his inner circle. just this past week, we learned that herman cain, a former presidential candidate, who is now a trump campaign surrogate, he was seen at the tulsa rally without a mask. herman cain contracted coronavirus. skbr and just land, we confirmed the news with "the new york times," that kimberly gillfold, she has now contracted coronavirus. she and don junior traveled to south dakota. they were tested before the event. she came down positive. he apparently has tested negative. neither of them traveled with president trump on air force one and we're told that the two of them now are self-isolating together. >> in fact, we're told that they're driving back from south dakota to the east coast. >> it's going to be a long trip. >> it is going to be a long trip. nbc's jeff bennett there at the white house for us. thanks, man.

>> sure. let's head over to florida now, where another near-record high for new cases. officials announced more than 9,400 cases on friday. that is just a day after setting a new single-day high on thursday at more than 10,000 cases. those rising numbers prompting officials in parts -- in southern parts of the state like miami to close beaches for the holiday weekend. joining us now from north of orlando, nbc's chris pallone. chris, what are you hearing this morning? >> reporter: yeah, good morning, cory and candace. as you can see behind me, i am at a testing facility. this is an urgent care center in sanford, florida, where people are already lining up to get tested here this morning. as you mentioned, health officials are keeping their eye on the state of florida, as one of the nation's hot spots. as time goes along over this holiday weekend, because there has been a disturbing trend here. as you mentioned, 9,500 new cases yesterday. and you might say, well, has the state increased testing? yes, it has, a bit over the last couple of weeks, but the

positivity rate right now is up officials here very concerned. they added about 67, 68 new deaths yesterday. in the last couple of weeks, the number of new cases, the number of new hospitalizations and deaths have started to increase. people here have been saying, the governor and others have been saying that deaths remain relatively low because thesis cases are mostly young people, and that is true. but those deaths and hospitalizations have started to increase over the last few days. and so that's a trend worth watching. as you mentioned, the state of florida has a hodgepodge of methods to deal with this crisis. there is no statewide mask order, but some counties have imposed their own mask orders. certain cities, as you mentioned, and south florida beaches are closed. but just 60 miles to the east of here, places like daytona beach, new smyrna beach, those beaches are all open. yesterday, we got a glimpse of what the weekend might look like

in daytona beach. things were pretty well spaced out, but the weather was bad. the weather might be bad again today with lots of rain in the forecast today and tomorrow. frankly, health officials here are more concerned about indoor gatherings rather than people being out on the beach. but, the governor here, ron desantis, republicans said he is not closing businesses. they have rolled back restrictions. restaurants can only be at 50% capacity. bars are closed. but other than that, it's kind of at a hodgepodge, as i said, of regulations on whether people have to wear masks in public. lots of people are waiting to get tested, as the number of cases increase here. cory, candace? >> nbc's chris pallone live in sanford, florida. chris, we appreciate that. and i know in florida, they are also concerned about the 25 to 34-year-olds, which make up 20% of cases. >> well, studies show the coronavirus pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on black communities. a recent survey finds nearly one third of black americans know

someone who died from the virus compared to 17% for latina hispanic americans and 9% for white americans. >> joining us now is dr. uche and the founder of advancing health equity. doctor, you recently said that black communities were already sick before coronavirus and that deeply rooted racism has helped contribute to the health disparities in the black communities. what exactly do you mean by that, when you say that the community was already sick? >> that's such a great question. what we know is before the pandemic, there were significant racial disparities. plaque men have the shortest life expectancy. black communities carry the highest burden of chronic disease. and we know that those chronic diseases put patients at risk for developing very serious complications of covid-19. and also, we know that black people disproportionately represent front line workers and also have to use public

transportation. so in essence, black communities were put at risk for being infected with coronavirus. >> in the meantime, doctor, the pandemic is also taking a toll on the lbgtq communities. with new research out just this morning, actually, showing many are more vulnerable to economic hardship and susceptible to the hiv, pointing to struggles with employment and difficulty getting medication. what's your reaction to that new study and how -- is there any help for those communities out there? >> so my reaction is that we really need to start collecting sexual orientation gender identity data. that data is not being collected. i think maybe pennsylvania may be the only state that's collecting that, to see really the true impact on lbgtq communities. fortunately, there are advocacy groups out there like the human rights campaign, who are providing services to community members. but we really need to be able to ramp up those resources. >> doctor, there was some new

research out this week that i found really interesting. it's from the children's hospital of philadelphia. it suggests that coronavirus is spreading along interstate highways. some of these mentioned, i-80, i-90, i-95. what exactly do you make of this? and i would like to take it a step further. what do you think states should be doing about it? >> yeah, so, you know, the difficulty is that, you know, states really can't shut down their interstates and their highways. for example, here in new york, we're doing quarantines on people who are coming from states with high rates of infection. and so, i think what it's showing is that this traveling, which is going to increase over the summer, is more likely going to be due to the spread of coronavirus. and we're going to need -- excuse me, we're going to need to think about how travel is influencing surges that we're seeing around the country. >> very interesting, indeed. i want to show you this map. it is from the harvard global health institute. they assigned every county here that's a risk level with red

being the highest risk. as you take a look at that map, i'm hoping you can see it, doctor, or are familiar with it, what advice do you have for people who are traveling over this holiday weekend? >> you know what, i mean, obviously, my first bit of advice is, don't travel. seeing what we saw here in new york city in march and april really scared me. and so if you are going to travel, travel by car. travel in small groups. do not stay indoors. you want to stay outdoors as much as possible. wear a mask as often as possible. try to physically distance more than 6 feet when you. so you can try to lower the risk as much as you can. it's impossible to have no risk, but just lower it as much as possible. >> it's impossible to have no risk. that is the key. just try to lower the numbers. dr. uche blackstock, thank you. >> thank you so much. not only is it independence day, the fourth of july here in the united states, but it is

super saturday in the uk. >> super saturday! yes! >> and some even saying super spreader saturday as thousands of businesses are opening their doors for the first time in over three months. >> alex witt, are you pumped for super saturday? >> i guess so. >> i guess so. >> she's like, my name is bennett, leave me out of it. bars, pubs, movie theaters and hair salons in britain have been given the green light to reopen, as lockdown restrictions ease over there. just on friday, prince william visited a pub near his country home in england, where he sat down for a drink with the owner, proving that the royals, they're just like us. >> they're just like us. >> it's amazing. >> the uk is also loosening travel restrictions for some, of course, as we know. british government has issued a list of nearly 60 destinations that now pose a reduced risk for coronavirus. of course, we already know that the u.s. did not make that cut. anyone traveling from the states will be expected to self-quarantine for 14 days. you know what i noticed?

>> we don't want to go there, anyway. >> absolutely not. i'm not trying to bring it over there again. but also, i don't think prince william had a mask on. something to keep in mind. >> so they really are like us. >> good point! let's switch topics a little bit. the nfl reportedly will play the black national anthem before each game in the first week of the season. >> yep, but critics want to see far more than a tribute to address the league's racial inequality. what other changes can we expect? and beyond the polls in the battle for the white house this morning, a new key indicator of support that doesn't exactly bode well for president trump. bode well for president trump. tv announcer: come on down to our appliance superstore

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all right, all new today, four police officers have lost their jobs over pictures mornckg the choke hold that police used on 23-year-old elijah mcclain days before he died. >> an internal investigation

showed up these photos taken at the site where police stopped mcclain in august of last year. mcclain's family's attorney says two of the three officers in the photos were there on the night that mcclain was stopped. >> two of those officers stood idly by as their colleagues tackled elijah mcclain, as they tortured him, inflicting multiple different kinds of force over the course of 15 minutes. and i'm not just talking about the carotid choke holds, although there were two of those, but multiple kinds of force that killed a small young man who was entirely peaceful, who had done nothing wrong, who was trying to get home with a bottle of iced tea from the station down the street. and these officers, who today we learned posted amusing photographs, because they thought it was just so darned funny to reenact the murder of a peaceful young man. >> joining us right now, michael star hopkins, a founding partner of northern star strategies. he also worked on the obama and hillary clinton presidential

campaigns. welcome, michael. you see those images, you see those officers smiling right there at the scene. three of these aurora officers were fired. and one reassigned nearly a year after the incident. your reaction to the latest developments in this? >> i mean, it shows that this isn't just a problem of having a bad apple, but the tree is rotting. the lack of humanity, the lack of empathy that's being shown by the people that are supposed to protect us should just shock all of us to the core. it breaks my heart. and i don't really know how we can have a better conversation, a better trust system between the african-american community and law enforcement when we see things like this. >> and michael, the police union in aurora is already pushing back on this latest development with the four officers being ousted. they are calling it a rush to judgment. but when it comes to elijah's life being taken away, it's taken over ten months to even get to this point, where we are

now spop what is it going to get some level of justice for this young man? >> look, we've got to start with indictments. but what you said is just the root of the problem. we always have to beg for there to be an investigation to be opened, for people to be held accountable when it's black lives that are murdered. but, you know, when a cop is murdered, there's always an indictment. there's always a conviction. there's always a quick process. and so, we're not asking for anything out of the ordinary. we just want the same treatment that anyone else would get. >> okay, let's switch topics and talk a little bit about sports. making headlines this morning. two pro sports teams considering name changes. the washington football team, acting only after a push from two giant sponsors, fedex -- of course, they play at fedex fielfiel field -- and pepsico. and the cleveland baseball team who rider their offensive mascot

in 2018. what does it mean that this change is coming now. does it mean that corporate america is taking equality seriously. does it mean that dan snyder is finally woke? >> let me start by saying i'm a washingt washingtonian. i'm a lifelong fan of the washington football team. but the name is racist. dan snyder is an awful owner that most fans can't stand. it seems like he'll probably end up stumbling into the right decision, but only after being forced to by corporate influence. it's always, at the end of the day, about money, which is what happens happening here. as public sentiment changes, the money changes. now companies want to pull out, now endorsements are being funded. and that's, at the end of the day, unfortunately, what motivates these people. but whatever motivates them, it's time for change. and it looks like we're finally going to get some real change. >> yeah, i can't wait to sing "hail to the --" whatever it is.

to more -- >> we've got to score some touchdowns. >> hail to the senators, hail to the -- >> the warriors. >> so many options. bullets are off the table. what do you think about the nfl's new anthem plan to include the -- in the first week of the football season, lift every voice and sing. the 120-year-old song declared by the naacp as the black national anthem. this is a bold change. and also, i say good luck to anybody who -- and i am inspired by might be who knows the second verse. >> this is like -- it's a nice gesture, i guess. but i don't know who is really calling for it. it seems like the kind of move that a pr team makes when they don't have any black people in the room to make the decision. it's an empty gesture at the end of the day, if we don't have black owners, if we don't have black gms, if we don't have more black coaches. like, yeah, it's cool, i love to sing "lift every voice and sing," but i also love to see

more black millionaires and billionaires and more black nfl and owners. so get at me with the real decisions. >> how it would really help is if you have all of the black-owned teams and team owners sing that song. >> there we go. >> there we go. while kneeling. >> exactly. it would fairly be quiet, i'm sure. >> it would definitely last longer than the one-week program that they've announced they're doing zp doing. >> and the confederacy. >> michael star hopkins, thank you so much. >> michael, really quickly, how's your petition going? >> petition's really good. we crossed 300,000 signatories. we're adding new donors every day. so make sure you go check out the johnlewisbridge co.com. >> he's trying to change the name of the edmund pettus bridge to john lewis. >> glad we were able to get that in. getting to the bottom of the russian bounty intel. how can president trump claim it's all a hoax, when he, even

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to learn more, visit paycom.com there are plenty of questions this morning over those reports that russia offered cash and bounties to the taliban to kill u.s. troops in afghanistan. a group of bipartisan congressional leaders known as the gang of eight were the latest to be briefed by intelligence officials led by cia director, gina haspel. >> a trump administration maintains that president trump was never briefed verbally on that intelligence, because there was no corroborating evidence. now the president is casting doubt on the credibility of the intelligence altogether. >> this didn't rise to the occasion. and from what i hear, and i hear it pretty good, the intelligence people didn't even -- many of them didn't believe it happened at all. i think it's a hoax. i think it's a hoax by the newspapers and the democrats.

>> joining us right now is maryland senator, ben cardin, a democratic ranking member of the foreign relations committee. senator, thank you so much for being here on this fourth of july. from what you and your colleagues have learned and heard so far, is this a hoax? >> no, it's absolutely not a hoax. it's a very serious issue. and it's very difficult to understand how the president either didn't know about this or doesn't want to believe what his intelligence community is telling him. he would rather have his own way of dealing with russia. even though it compromises the safety of american soldiers. it's outrageous. >> and senator, do you have any concerns that by the president calling this a hoax, that he's basically ruling out any ability for the u.s. to take any action against russia, to demand that they stop this? >> well, what concerns me by calling it a hoax, it's an invitation to mr. putin to continue to do this type of conduct against american safety. so that he feels that he can reward those that are attacking

our soldiers without any repercussions from the president of the united states. it's just an open invitation to do harm against america. >> senator, your committee is among those in the senate requesting a briefing on wire transfers that were intercepted, apparently, by u.s. intelligence, all connected to the bounty. has there been any indication yet on whether that briefing will happen? >> you're absolutely correct. we have asked for briefings. not only our committee, but for all the members. it's outrageous, the way this administration fails to operate in a transparent wap with the united states senate and with the congress. so, yes, we've asked for it. there's no date set. we're not going to let this go. this is a pretty serious issue. >> and senator cardin, switching gears just a little bit here. president trump has been promoting that big july 4th celebration in d.c. for tonight.

this despite the mayor's objections because of the danger of spreading coronavirus. as many as 300,000 face masks will be given out, but people won't be apparently be required to wear them. what are your thoughts on this? >> as we saw last night where people were not wearing face masks, this is putting people very close together during a pandemic, where we see escalating number of people with the virus. the president should be leading by example. unfortunately, his example is exactly the wrong message to the american people. we should hunker down right now and stay safe. stop spreading this virus, and the president is adding towards the challenges we have in this country. >> now, a lot of people don't realize this, at least outside of the beltway, but the washington football team plays in your state of maryland. so finish this sentence for me. hail to the -- >> yeah, right. well, first of all, what took them so long to change? my goodness, we're very proud to

have the team in maryland, but quite frankly, it's just amazing that it's taken them this long to recognize this name needs to go. and we called for that many, many years ago. >> what would you name them? >> oh, there's a lot of different choices. as long as they don't pick the rauc ravens, i'm okay. >> i think they're not in danger of that, thankfully. let's turn to the latest jobs report. the numbers, 4.8 million jobs added in june. the unemployment rate dropping to 11.1%. but, as fresh spikes of coronavirus grow across the country, the fed has fears that a deeper recession could be coming. of course, senator, you're a member of the small business committee, so what are you hearing from those businesses? did they fear that another infection spike could impact them? did they expect these job numbers to keep rising or to be stagnant or even reverse? >> well, small business owners

are in a desperate situation. when we passed the cares act, we thought eight weeks would be enough help for small businesses to be back in a market where they could survive. that's not the case. we need to do more. we should have acted before we went on to the fourth of july recess. but we needed a second round of help. the ppe program was very helpful, but we needed more help targeted to those small businesses that need the help, that have revenue la lostzosses. >> senator cardin, as i take a look at your skype room there, i was looking at the last time you got judged by the folks online at roomrater. they gave you a six of ten, saying, shelves do work. they work better with more effort. >> what?! >> well, you know, i see the shameless promotion of books behind people in the background. i'm just trying to be myself. >> that's what it is! >> own it! >> points for realness, okay!

senator ben cardin -- >> we demand a recount. that's at least a 7.5. >> absolutely! >> thanks. >> thank you. all right, it is bad enough for president trump that he is trailing in the polls. >> but trump now trails joe biden in another battle that seemed hardly possible a few months ago. what it all means, next. few months ago what it all means, next. ctose. so you can enjoy it even if you're sensitive. yet some say it isn't real milk. i guess those cows must actually be big dogs. sit! i said sit! so here's to the strong, who trust in our performance and comfortable, long-lasting protection. because your strength is supported by ours. depend. the only thing stronger than us, is you.

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biden out-raised president trump for the second month in a row. >> biden campaign announcing this week, a record haul of $144 million, just hours after the president's campaign announced they raised $131 million. that was in june. joining us now, nicholas woo, politics reporter for "usa toda today". nicholas, good morning to you. of course, joe biden struggled early on to raise the cash with this race. all of that seems to have changed now. 68% of their donors in june were new to the campaign. the biden team added 2.6 million people to its email list and the average donation in june was $34. so my question to you is how should democrats feel about these numbers? >> well, i think it's a number that democrats should feel really good about. all through the primary campaign, the biden campaign was known for somewhat anemic fund-raising numbers compared to, say, bernie sanders and a very high cash flow rate. but now they're not really spending that much money, and they're just raking in cash. now, the trump campaign still has a ton of cash on hand, and

trump campaign manager brad parscale is very fond of saying that they have a death star for the campaign. but people forget that the death star blew up twice. >> yeah. and biden campaign. touche! >> the biden campaign has been saving a lot on their travel budget. upstairs, living room to the basement. how concerning would you say all of this is for the trump campaign? >> i would say it's very concerning to them. as we can see, poll numbers for the president remain consistently low. and rather than trying to improve his standing among independents, we've seen him lean into this very divisive base-first approach. and as we've seen with his speech in south dakota last night where he warned of this culture war and leaned into these tropes of culture war and i think what he referred to as left-wing fascism. not the kind of things you want to say if you're trying to win

over independents. >> what do you make of that strategy, nicholas? do you think it's because he's trying to rally his base and he believes he does have enough voters to win this, as long as he gets them impassioned enough? >> absolutely. the thing that the trump campaign said that they would campaign on, that being the economy, hasn't really done so well. so right now, you have them -- you have the president leaning into the same sort of things that he thought worked for him in 2016. leaning into things on immigration, on the culture war, weighing in on everything from, you know, the renaming of schools and the tearing down of statues. so we'll see how successful this strategy is. but at least so far, it doesn't really seem to have moved the needle among independent voters. >> yeah. and i don't think they care about that, necessarily, including "the new york times" writing this morning, saying that trump used that mt. rushmore speech that you were referring to to deliberate, divisive culture war message, which is what many people were saying that it was, a very divisive speech there in the heart of america. you've seen the latest polls

from cnn. a new one from cnbc, rather, now shows biden is widening his lead over the president in six key states. arizona, florida, michigan, north carolina, pennsylvania, wisconsin. what do these numbers say to you, and the folks that follow this sort of stuff, with just four months left? >> well, there is always a chance that these kinds of really large leads could be outlier polls. but the numbers i found really interesting in the cross tabs of that one poll were the marks that trump got for his overall handling of the coronavirus pandemic and on the economy. so only 41% of americans in that poll approved of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. and 46% said they approved of how he'd been handling the economy through this. both of which are near and dear to many voters. perhaps more so than culture wars or issues. if he's not getting high marks on those, it's going to be hard for him to call back that territory heading into the

general election. >> all right. nicholas woo, thanks for joings this morning as we count down to november 3rd, 2020. >> all right. we're putting the brakes on reopening. new york may hit one type of business really hard. >> in a moment, how restaurants are coping without indoor dining. rants e arcoping without indoor dining for better things than rheumatoid arthritis. when considering another treatment, ask about xeljanz a pill for adults with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis when methotrexate has not helped enough. xeljanz can reduce pain, swelling, and further joint damage, even without methotrexate. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections. before and during treatment, your doctor should check for infections like tb and do blood tests. tell your doctor if you've had hepatitis b or c, have flu-like symptoms, or are prone to infections. serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra

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thousands of people have flocked to north carolina's beaches for the fourth of july weekend, but officials are worried about a potential spike in covid cases there. >> nbc's amanda golden is in north carolina. amanda, what are you seeing there? >> reporter: well, hey, ken disand cory. i thought i would beat the rush here. there are numerous chairs and umbrellas and tents being set up. this comes as the outer banks as a whole are experiencing numerous people coming in. this area is pretty much sold out all of the hotels and the

cottages and beach rentals here that is predominantly where people will come in stay insular to their families but it is where they come out to the beach and try to experience a little bit of sunshine. and so, when speaking with local officials and talking with the county commissioners here, they have concerns about potential spikes after the holiday weekend. they're expecting about 300,000 people either week around the fourth of july bumpering this saturday holiday of coming in and experiencing the beach and the businesses. and they're worried about potential spikes we have seen at other beach locations like myrtle beach. the numbers in north carolina right now overall are going up. here in the outer banks it has not been the case so far. i spoke with someone small business owner to hear about the concerns he has for his own business heading into the season. he's thrilled to see business back up and running and experiencing customers coming around for him, but he does have concerns going into the holiday weekend of what it could mean going forward. listen to what he told me. >> there's obviously a little worry. we're starting to see a spike in cases. we haven't necessarily seen it

here, which i think is a good sign. but i mean, there's people everywhere right now. again, this is the busiest in all my years here, it was an internal struggle going, how do we survive especially as a seasonal business, a seasonal community without a season? and i think that was a really scary, scary thing. it's good to see people back here. it's super exciting to have folks back here. that's what we wanted kind of all along. >> reporter: so as you heard the businesses here really excited about having people coming around, but here on the beach, it will be interesting to see if we can really obtain social distancing and having enough spread between the various families and groups that will be out here throughout the holiday. >> nbc's amanda golden there live in north carolina the outer banks. looking beautiful out there. thank you. >> absolutely stunning. right now new york is one of the bright spots in the fight against covid. life is slowly getting back to normal, new cases remain low. more businesses are reopening, too. >> restaurants in the city have been allowed to expand outdoor

dining. they were supposed to resume indoor dining in just a few days from now, but the skyrocketing number of cases in other states prompted officials here in new york to delay that indefinitely. back with us now is a founder and ceo of a restaurant in new york. luca, thank you for being here. appreciate it. happy fourth. we first spoke with you back in march, i believe. how is your business doing right now? >> well, we were glad that on june 22nd we were able to restart for outdoor dining. that has been certainly helpful. the open restaurant initiative in the city has been pretty good. we went from closing four out of our five locations to reopening three of them. and business is okay. it's better than it was before when we had to shelter in place

and only takeout and delivery. we are at about 50% of our regular sales in our open restaurants, of course. >> of course, luca, restaurants were so close to being able to have indoor dining again. what was your reaction when officials delayed the reopening of indoor dining? >> you know, i believe it was the correct decision. as a businessbusinessman, i wou to have my restaurants open back to normal as quickly as possible. the worst thing that could happen to restaurants, to business like mine, is to reopen and then have to be closed again. looking at the spikes in cases in arizona and florida and california, we don't want to have customers come in and then spike, restart, you know, people congregating at the bar. we know that indoor is where the

virus spreads. and we just don't want that. we don't want to go back to where we were just a couple months ago. >> and luca, of course in the meantime from the very beginning you were helping feed front line workers through the restaurant. what has that been like? >> well, shortly after i was at your studios, we met on the 16th of march, we were asked to close and just be open for takeout and delivery. so i wanted to really take care of my people. i said, why don't we take care -- why don't we help others on the front lines. we started doing deliveries to hospitals and nursing homes throughout the city. and we got a coalition of restaurants that helped us. as of today, still going, we have delivered over 125,000 meals with coalition 20 restaurants. it has been incredible. i was telling my daughter it was

one of my co-founders, i said, i'm learning more in the last four months about resilience and about restaurants and about care than i learned the last 20 years in new york city. >> wow. we learned a lot of lessons in the last six months. i think we're good for the next six months. >> yes. >> luca, thank you. and thank you for watching msnbc live. >> we'll be back tomorrow at 6:00 a.m. at the top of the hour, new nbc reporting on the new white house message on covid-19, learn to live with it. yeah, that's the motto. but how many lives will be lost as the president waits for the virus to disappear? alex whit with the answer.

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♪ first up here on nsnbc as americans celebrate the holiday, the death toll from the coronavirus tops 130,000. new fears that july 4th crowds could cause more spikes. >> take it seriously. i mean, you're taking it back to your parents, grandparents, younger siblings that could potentially get it and could be very serious for them. a fireworks show goes on despite wild fire fears and coronavirus worries. the president stoking social divisions. >> this monument will never be