good day. i am andrea mitchell in washington. and rising coronavirus cases, the numbers. 12,624 new cases in florida. after this weekend, is broke the record set by new york state at the height of their pandemic surge in april. president trump responding retweeting false claims from a form 0er game show host that the cdc and doctors are lying, as his white house tries to discredit dr. anthony foumpfauc. the country's most highly respected health expert according to recent polls,

suddenly a political campaign ad as if the 79-year-old was an opponent. and the president is pushing on all fronts to reopen classrooms this fall threatening to withhold aid from districts and universities that do not comply and forcing the cdc to alter its own public health guidelines for safely reopening schools. moments ago new york state governor andrew cuomo said schools in his state will only reopen if the region is in phase four and the daily infection rate remains below 5%. i'll talk to top public health experts this hour about school safety with education secretary betsy devos who refuses to say what the government's plan is for reopening in the event of a covid spike. we begin with nbc's kerry sanders where demand for testing is hump age and lines are long. talk about the numbers, what state officials are saying and's the demand for testing and they can't meet that demand. >> reporter: well, it's certainly disturbing when you

see the numbers just came out, 12,624 as you noted. that comes on the heels of the record number of 15,300. talking about a record not just for florida but a record in the country. eclipsing even when they had the epicenter in new york. you understand that this is unprecedented and to give you sort of a world perspective, "if" florida were its own country, it would be number four. number one would be the entire united states. two, brazil. three would be india and number four would be florida. that's how many positive tests are coming back in the state of florida. as you noted, over my shoulder people gathered once again to get tests. this is a regular occurrence now in florida. across the state, people get these tests, and in many cases have to line up extremely early and wait most of the day to have the test taken.

listen to this person's experience thus far today. >> how long have you been here? >> oh, 1:00. >> 1:00 in the morning? >> yes. >> and you're here because -- >> i want a test result. >> you want test results. do you feel okay? >> yeah. i feel okay but i want -- because they say a lot of people, they get it and don't know about it, show no symptoms and i want to know, if i have antibody or -- you know? >> sure. >> reporter: andrea, unfortunately many of the people waiting will now discover they have to wait for their test results once the test is taken upwards of eight-plus days and health officials say the biggest problem with that is folks may not modify their behavior as they're waiting for test results and continue to move around the state of florida in contact with other people. get the results back that they're positive, and potentially they have been spreading it that whole time. so a lot of problems associated

with the testing, which is ongoing, but getting the results in a timely manner. andrea? >> thank you so much, kerry sanders, and that makes exactly the point. that contact tracing doesn't work if you have to wait eight days to get the results, find out if you are positive. joining me now, dr. michael osterhound director for the center for infectious decease and policy at university of minnesota and dr. richard besser, president and ceo of the report wood sbaunljohnson found and direct herb of the cdc. talk about waiting eight days and longer in some states to find out whether you're positive or negative. am i correct? does that defeat the purpose of contact tracing? >> first of all, the system is just broken. just plain broken. we have to understand that. to have contact tracing work, you have to have the test quickly but able to do it within the context how many cases are

occurring. frankly, a state like florida on fire like this, contact tracing almost becomes irrelevant and can't be done. like trying to plant petunias in the middle of a hurricane. a challenge is getting those numbers down so we're in a reasonable amount, like here in new york and places like that where then contact tracing can actually work. right now even if we had a million contact tracers in florida with the system they have, it's not going to work. >> and dr. besser, as this is all happening, the president is retweeting this game show host and his white house is going after dr. fauci. how do we rationalize this in the middle of this pandemic? >> andrea, one of the critical issues in this pandemic is the incredible disconnect we're seeing between public health and politics. what you want to avoid at all costs is what we're seeing. that's where public health message is, this is a crisis, this is a very severe situation,

and the what we do really matters. that message has been coming loud and clear from dr. fauci and others. you know, the doctor and i both worked with dr. fauci over our careers. i can't think of a more brilliant, dedicated public health leader, and he has been doing his best to put forward a public health message, messages in a situation where it's been very challenging to do so. we need to be led by public health science. it's the only way to get our economy back and running. the only way to save lives in our country. >> and one of the things that the president has been tweeting is that the cdc is lying. from your experience, you were the acting director for a number of months. >> yeah. you know, one of the things we tried to avoid at all costs at cdc, this kind of politicization. cdc has very few political

apointes. it is a -- an evidence-based agency. and it works to put forward the best information, the best science that we have. one of the things about a pandemic, and any new public health crisis is that early on what we don't know far surpasses what we do know. and it's the process of doing science and learning agency we go that leads us towards the situation where you get it under control. so lifting up things that are said early in a pandemic and comparing to what we know now, there will be differences. that's good. because it means we're learning as we go, and hopefully implementing the new science to help us ensure that lives are saved and people are protected. >> doctor, i know your field is not politics, but i want to play something for you, what the president is doing. the white house put out this opposition research-style hit on dr. fauci this weekend and keep

quoting him out of context from january and february, before the science was well known, but also taking his statements out of context. one of the things they quoted, him saying in february, february 29th, ob "weekend today" with peter alexander and kristen welker saying at this moment there is no need to change anything you're doing on a day-to-day basis. at the time the president was saying, things that were far less accurate at the same moment, but here's the entire quote. as -- more of the quote which they did not include. >> right now at this moment there is no need to change anything that you're doing on a day-by-day basis. right now the risk is still low, but this could change. i've said that many times. even on this program. you've got to watch out, because although the risk is low now, you don't need to change anything you're doing. when you start to see community spread, this could change, and force you to become much more attentive.

>> that makes it very clear that dr. fauci even at that early stage, before the science was all understood about this new virus was saying things that were completely accurate in context. >> well, let me just say i'm not a politician. i'm a scientist. frankly, i'm frustrated by this entire situation, because the more minutes we spend talking about this, the less we're spending talking to people about distancing, about the importance of why cases even in young adults are leading to a number of intensive care unit hospitalizations and deaths. why what we have to do is make sure that when you're in indoor air settings like bars and restaurants, you put yourself at high risk of transmitting this virus. why it is so important. i wish we could focus on that. that's the message the public needs to hear, that's the truth and what will make a difference in this pandemic. we're not going to go back and replay what happened three and four months ago and have any real positive effort on where

we're going forward. let's look at the ball, let's keep our eye on the ball. people, please, distance. >> i take your point. the president has a big megaphone and why we're trying to correct the record. just yesterday morning a young man, whom i know, was talking to me and said, well, i've read that masks don't help. so if you could just tell him and everyone else out there, how masks are important. he was saying, well, masks help other people. but not yourself. explain -- how masks -- how important masks are. >> we don't know how well they work. however, we believe that have some benefit. wear them. this is not a time where we have to have a debate about this. we should be throwing the kitchen sink at this virus, if it will help make a difference. so, yes. wear them. and it will not make everything all better overnight, but, in fact, it is part of a number of things we can do, distancing, number one.

wearing a mask. making sure that if you're ill you're not out in public. those are all things collectively that will make a difference and to take and isolate one is not helpful either. >> and is it too late for these things collectively to make a difference in the cases, in the states where we're seeing these cases surge? >> well, let's just be clear. it's too light for those that-otha -- late for those infected already. that history is already written, but remember, in most places in the united states, including large areas of florida, still there are many people who have not yet been infected. we estimate right now maybe 7% to 8% of the u.s. population has been imeffected with this virus. that's a long ways from 50% to 70% that will be required to get infected or vaccinated and protected to slow the virus transmission down. never, never is it too late to begin to do something to slow this virus down. look at all the countries around

the world that have done this, and done it successfully. held the numbers of cases down. they've brought their societies back. they have a thriving economy again. all because they did this. they brought the numbers down, and then they can do testing and tracing. that's what we have to get across to the american public. this is not a decision how bad the disaster's going to be. >> doctor, thank you, and dr. besser for setting the record straight. appreciate it. a doctor in san antonio spoke with the "today" show about a 30-year-old patient who succumbed to the virus after attend ag covid party with the intention of getting sick. >> before the patient died, they looked at their nurse and said, "i think i made a mistake." i thought this was a hoax, but it's not." >> beto o'rourke a former texas democratic congressman and presidential candidate who joins me now. good to see you again. congressman, let's talk about the bad information that is

getting out there, and what's happening in your state? >> andrea, this is a function of leadership, or lack thereof. dr.osterholm talked about others have been able toll do. germany has a population of roughly 83 million. an example. texas, 29 million. yesterday in germany you saw about 250 new cases. in the state of texas, 8,200. in our state it's san antonio, it's the rio grande valley, houston, my home town of el paso. dallas. every single part of the state is seeing record new cases, record hospitalizations, a positivity rate of 16%. this virus is out of control with no leadership from our governor, no leadership from the president, who as you mentioned is tweeting out health guidance from chuck woolry instead of dr. fauci. that's the difference what we're

seeing in the united states which represents a quarter of the world's cases, and nearly 25% of the world's deaths, eastern though only 4% of the globe's population. we need clear leadership from our country, from the highest levels in our states and in the white house right now, and we don't have it, and people are dieing as a result. >> let me ask you about the president's pressure on the school systems and the universities, first of all, denying visa extensions to, you know, to foreign students who are already here, some, and already coming this way at the last moment. more than a million foreign students who were suppose to be at university levels and also the public school. what are you doing about your children? >> so our three kids are set to start eighth grade, seventh grade and fourth grade in the el paso public schools whenever public schools open again in our community. right now they're slated to open mid-august, but i will tell you after listening to the

infectious disease experts in my community and across this state, we are not prepared to do that. this virus is transmitting at a rate that is out of control. so until we get that transmission rate down, until we have testing that's truly available to everyone, until we have a vigorous contact tracing program, until our rate of positivity comes down do not open these schools. because the kids become unwitting transmitters and we put the teachers, custodians, cafeteria workers, support staff at risks, because they are unable to defend themselves when we don't have the leadership and the public health guidance we need to save their lives. so let's look at a target date of perhaps october 1st, and before then, relock down this state, meaning stay-at-home orders. don't go to restaurants, mall, movie theaters. don't go out unless you absolutely have to, and when people stay at home and we take that economic hit, make sure we've implemented procedures and

processing to test, contact trace and stop the transmission of this disease. then you reopen schools, a little later this fall. >> beto o'rourke, thank you for speaking out. and coming up -- former special counsel robert mueller breaking lis silence. what he has to say about the president commuting roger stone's sentence. that's next. plus, more on back-to-school. big questions but few answers from the administration about how to get kids back in the classroom safely. saturdays happen. pain happens. aleve it. aleve is proven stronger and longer on pain than tylenol. when pain happens, aleve it. all day strong. that selling carsarvana, 100% online wouldn't work. but we went to work. building an experience that lets you shop over 17,000 cars from home. creating a coast to coast network to deliver your car as soon as tomorrow. recruiting an army of customer advocates to make your experience incredible.

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former special counsel robert mueller is breaking his silence in an unusual op-ed speaking out against the president's decision to commute the sentence of the president's longtime friend and confidant roger stone. writing in a "washington post" op-ed, "he lied about the identity of his intermediary to quickie leeks, lied about existence of written communications with intermediary, lied denying he communicated with the trump campaign about the timing of wikileaks releases and updated campaign officials repeatedly about wikileaks and tampered with a witness imploring him to stonewall congress." this as senator lindsey graham says he will call on mueller to testify before the senate judiciary committee in an apparent attempt to discredit the russia investigation. joining me now is white house correspondent geoff bennett and chuck rosenberg, senior fbi top official.

welcome to you both. chuck, first to you. let me talk about this commutation. what makes this different? what got mueller so concerned that he would break his silence? >> i'm so glad bob mueller spoke out as a man of tremendous dignity and integrity. for him to speak out, andrea, is what's so unusual. he didn't say anything we haven't said before. we've read his report, know what roger stone did, but what really irked mueller and really causes me so much pain is the fact that roger stone could be a witness against the president. so here the president is using his enormous power of pardon and commutation in order to reward a witness who remained silent, refused to give testimony about the president's miscontact. that is what's so troubling. we've had bad pardons before. president clinton's pardon of mark rich was ebusiness moll and a monumental misjudgment, but this is different, because stone has information about trump,

remained silent and was rewarded for it. >> and mitt romney is one of the few senators, there were two senators who tweeted and spoke out against this one. pat toomey from pennsylvania. then very separately mitt romney with a very strong tweet calling this an unprecedented historic corruption. an american president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president. geoff, that is the point. isn't it? something richard nixon never did, something know other president in recent history has done, which is to use the, complete the total constitutional power to pardon or commute to protect someone who actually was convicted of lying about his contacts with the president. >> it's a great point that you make, andrea. what's interesting is that ahead of this friday night announcement, roger stone told a journalist that president trump conveyed to him, at least roger stone thought that president

trump knew he was under enormous pressure for stone to turn on him. i'll tell you, though. our reporting is that from multiple white house sources, that there were several white house officials who opposed president trump granting roger stone clemency. i'm told there were also a number of white house officials who explicitly advised president trump against it, in the words of one white house official, the president was told, it was a big mistake. yet the president close to do this in his own telling, because he thought roger stone was unfairly caught up in the russia scandal, the russia witch-hunt, as the president put it on the front lawn over the weekend, andrea. >> and that journalist was howard feinman, interviewing stone quite some time and talked to him just hours before this commutation. so chuck rosenberg, mueller and whether or not lindsey graham will get him before the senate. mueller you know, reluctant to even testify from the louhouse said it was one and done.

the likelihood he would come before the senate? is that part of lindsey graham's attempt to relitigate the whole russia probe and all of the president's accusation, inaccurate accusations against president obama, vice president biden and everyone else involved with that administration? >> senator graham seems to be doing, it's a gimmick, canard. we know what bob mueller had to say. he wrote it in this report, 448 pages. senator graham has questions he ought to read the report. also we know what bob mueller said when he testified. he didn't say anything new. so remarkable is that bob mueller said anything. we know he's reluctant, always been that way, i said earlier a man of tremendous dignity, doesn't speak often and doesn't speak lightly. the content of what he wrote was stuff we already knew. what stone did wrong. a go-between, between the trump campaign and wikileaks and that stone refused to implicate the

president. nothing new, andrea. what's new, a man of bob mueller's integrity and dignity decided to speak out about the corrupt pardon or the corrupt commutation, i should say, of roger stone's sentence. i don't think there's any reason at all for him to be subpoenaed to testify. it's a gimmick. >> and there is, in fact, one piece of now unredacted part of the mueller report which indicates there is question whether the president lied in response to his answers to mueller. the written answers to mueller involve ared in this case as well. geoff, quickly before we go, we've got to talk about washington football and the announcement today. they are renaming the team. >> yes. as you know, this debate, fight over the name is not new. reading a "washington post" editorial from 1992 calling for a name change. what is new the pressure. pressure from top sponsors, fedex, the team's main sponsor, which owns naming rights to the stadium where the team plays in

maryland. pressure in amazon and nike, removed all merchandise from its website. the team announced today it is changing the name. we don't yet know the new name. apparently caught up in a trade dispute but could find out in short order what name the team will now settle on, andrea. >> just a big drama nationally as well as, of course, for all of us football fans here in washington. thank you, geoff. coming up, school days, as the president and education secretary insists kids have to go back to the classroom. what do doctors and teachers think of the idea? dr. zeke emanuel and president of the national association with us next. stay with us. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. "andrea mitcl reports" on msnbc. because if it weren't clear before, it's clear now. this country wasn't built by wall street bankers and ceos, it was built by the great american middle class,

health care workers, docs, nurses, delivery truck drivers, grocery store workers. you know we've come up with a new phrase for them: essential workers. we need to do more than praise them, we need to pay them. as president, it's my commitment to all of you, to lead on these issues and to listen. for that's what the presidency is - the duty to care, to care for all of us, not just those who vote for us, but all of us. this job is not about me. it's about you. it's about us. i'm joe biden and i approve this message. mornings were made. 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,

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for more than 2 is minutes yesterday one of the best interviewers around cnn's dana bash could not get secretary of education betsy devos to answer a simple question -- she echoes the president pushing for children to return to school. what would you do if there were another surge of covid and what is your plan for keeping children and teachers safe? >> you're the secretary of education. you're asking students to go back. so why do you not have guidance on what is school should do just weeks before you want those schools to reopen? and what happens if it faces an outbreak? >> you know, there's really good examples that have been utilized in the private sector and in,

elsewhere. also with frontline workers and hospitals, and all of that data and all of that information and all of those it examples can be referenced -- >> okay. but i'm not hearing from the department of education. do you have a plan for what students and schools should do? >> a plan -- so schools should do what's right on the ground at that time for their students and for their situation. >> dana tried. tried for 21 minutes, as i say, to get an answer to the question, do you have a plan? joining me now, a man with a plan, dr. zeke emanuel, a former obama white house health policy adviser and author of a new book titled "which country has the world's best health care?" and the president of the national education association. representing thousands of teachers across the country at all levels.

thanks very much for joining us. zeke, first to you. betsy devos could not or would not answer that question. what is the answer to whether children can go to school safely? >> children can go to school safely. we have seen it in other countries, but it does require, first of all, metrics for when you do send them to school, and having cases go down and be at a low level so your arnot arnott is not ten. cannot go back to the old style 25, 30 kids in a classroom. no physical distancing, no face wearing. you need a particular plan. when betsy devos says the private secretary sder tor does. the private sector has 10, 15, 20-page protocols single space with very detailed how we're putting people. how far apart are they going to be? probably need to reduce class sizes to 15.

we have to have kids wearing face masks. we have to have arrangement how they will eat their meals, probably in the classroom, not in a cafeteria. we have to figure out where the additional classrooms are going to be. what are we going to do about physical, either physical education or recess times that kids need for a break? do we keep them in pods and how big of those pods? those are all vital issues. what happens if one kid turns positive? with somymptoms? who do we have to track, how do we test and track that? we have none of that from betsy devos. none of that from the administration and it's very disappointing. you can't expect every school district to do this without resources. >> and, lily, you've got to be concerned about your teachers, and there are many teachers and principals, and others in the school system, who are not even in your union, but are adults

who are on the front lines and have to be worried about their own health. even if children are not transmitting the covid as often as virally as older people, teenagers, perhaps, high school kids. even if they are not infected in the same degree. you have to be concerned about your faculty. >> so i'm a sixth grade teacher from utah. president of the nea. i represent 3 million teachers, lunch workers, bus drivers. any one of my 3 million members is more qualified than betsy devos to be talking about how to safely go back to schools. they have reopened schools and have no plan. that's pretty clear. we were mystified, disturbed, angry at donald trump and betsy devos giving us orders? they have no authority to make school teachers and staff do anything. they have no power to -- take

away our special ed funding, our school lunch funding if we don't obey them they're threatening our funding. so let me -- let me say quite quickly what is alarming us. it's that folks are panicked. parents are panicked. school board members of panicked by these threats, and so i have friends that have already started gofundme pages for face movings and disinfectant wipes because they have no hope that there's going to be help, real help, from the national level. this is not going to be solved by a bake sale . and the places that open safely, by the way, it's a false choice when you say, here's an unsafe school. do we open it or do we keep it closed? no. you take the unsafe school and you make it safe. you don't open it until it is safe. all of those places that opened safely, number one, they had national leadership to help

those infection rates start to decline. where ours is exploding. knop country has opened their schools while they were surging in infection rates, but once those infection rates came down, they named their teachers and support staff as essential emergency workers. they gave them testing, tracing and treatment. they were on top, in front of the line. they had access to the face masks and disinfectants, they didn't ask them to bring their own. they carefully selected, centered all of that help around equity. you know, some of our kids have wi-fi in their home. they can borrow their mom and dad's laptop, and some of our kids don't have any of that. they did that in denmark, germany, australia. they didn't do that in brazil, in the philippines, in russia, in the places where donald trump is always bragging he loves their leaders. they did it wrong. i don't want to add the u.s. to

that list. >> and zeke, let me ask you before i let you go about the attacks against dr. fauci. someone you know very well. >> yeah. they're disgusting, and -- you know, let's face it. everyone has made mistakes. this is a very uncertainly situation. rapidly evolving. and none of us are perfect. i've made erroneous estimations and predictions. so has everyone who's tried this. and let us remember, the president, you know, you'd actually have to go back and ask, what has he gotten right about this? he said the virus would go away in warm weather. false. he said that hydroxychloroquine would be good. false. repeatedly wrong. tony's been right way more than almost anyone else in the world, and he's respected, and what's most important -- he admits when he's got it wrong and changes his prn aopinion an

tells you what he doesn't know and he puts the right qualifications on what he says, recognizing that we don't have all the information, we're making projections, and we will be wrong some of the time. it is disgusting that they're trying to take this public servant who's worked 40 years and ruin his name. it's -- work of a bully and we should oppose it and indicate how disgusting it is. >> thanks, to both of you. thanks to you zeke emanuel and to you lily speaking out for the nea and your millions of members. coming up, politics and the pandemic. joe biden throwing support behind dr. fauci as the white house seeks to discredit him. biden supporter senator chris coons of delaware, joining me next. stay with us. stay with us.

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the biden campaign is trouncing on the white house attempt to discredit dr. fauci.

tweeting it's hard to believe, heed advice and not silence them. and chris coons a strong biden supporter. are you concerned dr. fauci could be forced out by hhs? >> i am concerned, andrea. we've seen similar practices by this administration in the past where they find ways to marginalize, force out or silence critics of the president. dr. fauci is someone i first met in response to ebola and like many others in congress have great respect for his science experience, for his deep knowledge and i think a grave mistake for president trump and this administration to silence him or force him out, but we've seen for months how president trump, frankly, acts on his own whims. trusts his own gut more than he believes in science and scientific leaders, and so it, frankly, wouldn't surprise me. >> still pushing hydro

hydroxychloroquine with his adviser peter international var navarro instead of following the w.h.o. saying it should not be used. >> right. using the platform of the presidency, using his bully pulpit not to bring the country together in the face of this raging pandemic, not as a way to spread scientifically-based information but instead continuing to spread support for a remedy that has borne out to have no medical benefit. in fact, in many cases to be harnful is ju f harmful is another way the president failed this countries in the wake of this public health crisis and the how he's failed to be a leader for the world in a critical moment where america's scientific prowess, invention and intervention could

have led the world. instead a disproven potential cures for this pandemic. >> i should have said hydroxychloroquine well known for other uses but not for covid. we talked to you, before senator wicker was on to expand national service not only for contact tracing? >> andrea, we've got a great program in our country known as americorps through which 75,000 people are currentsly serving in every state and territory. there are state commissions that oversee americorps. our bill has 16 co-sponsors, a wide range of democrats and republicans on what confinkind bill do you see from senators duckworth, klobucharened booker and harris as well as cornyn, graham, rubio on wicker on a

bill that pushes forward a very strong idea. back in the great depression, fdr launched something called the civilian conservation corps to give unemployed people and opportunity to get out, to earn a living to contribute to our country. to largely build our national park system. this would be the latest iteration of an opportunity for a more flexible, locally-based but federally funded opportunity for a younger generation to step forward and serve just as the greatest generation served us overseas in a military crisis. the second world war and the civilian conservation corps did during the economic crisis of the great depression. it's got broad bipartisan support, andrea, because this bill which would double the size of americorps and increase what it is that folks earn by way of a living stifen enstipend and e award it would create opportunity and help bring americans together and that would give all of us a chance to show that we hear the needs that

all of our states and cities and counties are raising to us in washington to come together around a bipartisan proposal as we negotiate this next covid relief package. >> and also i wanted to ask you, of course, about your reaction to the president's decision to commute roger stone's sentence in a case which involved the, his conviction on the basis of lying to protect the president? >> well, roger stone was convicted on seven counts and sentenced to 40 months in jail. essentially what he was convicted of was witness tampering, lying to investigators, in order to cover up and protect the current president. and president trump publicly up through a series of tweets and in other ways encouraged his non-compliance. it is striking to me that robert mueller who has studiously avoided commentary in the months since his investigation concluded wrote an editorial saying that roger stone is a convicted felon, and should be

and should serve time. i hear that the chairman of the judiciary committee, senator graham, is going to call robert mueller to testify. in the middle of a pandemic where 130,000 americans have died, i think it's unfortunate that we're relitigating this, but i also think it's even more unfortunate that president trump chose to use the awesome power of the presidency to protect one of his own cronies who helped cover up cooperation between wikileaks and the trump campaign in 2016. rather than using his resources, his focus and his potential powers as president to lead us through this pandemic to a sag r sage -- safer and healthier america. >> senator coons, thanks for being with us today. coming up, an impossible choice. lose your job or risk contracting the covid? that's what central workers are facing. more on that coming up next.

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well the names have all changed since you hung around but those dreams have remained and they've turned around who'd have thought they'd lead ya back here where we need ya welcome back, america. it sure is good to see you. korgts the latest cdc data, minority workers at meat and chicken processing plants around the country have been hardest hit i by covid-19 accounting for 87% of cases in plants that have reported racial data. in late april, president trump signed an exec tiff order declaring it essential as plants

around the country turned to covid-19 hot spots. in her latest reporting for the new yorker, chief correspondent jane maier investigators one of the largest chicken producers and uncovers how one of the owners is leveraging the coronavirus pandemic to strip workers of protections. a spokesperson told her that, quote, this has really been a challenge for everyone. we tried to follow cdc guidelines but they changed. at some point the cdc realized essential workers were being sent home for 14 days. employees were only permitted to quarantine if they were symptomatic. jane now joins me. it's good to see you again. tell me what you found about these workers in essential jobs now in this pandemic and how they are being effected. >> i mean, the thing is that they have no choice about whether they can go to work or

not if they want to be paid they can go to work. but they are showing up and not being told how many cases of covid-19 there are among their co-workers, how many people have died. they told me that they have seen people just disappear and learn later they died. it's pretty terrifying for these people considered so essential and then in this particular plant, which is owned by a major donor to president trump there's a union fight taking place that is an unusual one that wouldn't usually take place at this time just a couple years after the contract was ratified. and in the midst of the pandemic, it's really quite extraordinary the kind of pressure that these workers are under. >> they were being paid $13 an

hour until the pandemic hit and then due to hazard pay raise of $1 an hour, but this june they cancelled that raise. then even in local convenience stores, she points out, giving workers a $3 an hour hazardous duty raise. and took it back and she shook her head and said why are they giving us a $1 raise and $2 million to donald trump. what are we, animals? >> exactly there's a lot of ang among these people that we consider to be essential workers. and part of the problem is they also feel that donald trump's administration has really let them down in terms of worker protections. osha seems to be paying almost no attention and if anything, is siding with the employers. there's sense that the usda, the agriculture department has sped

up the lines that is the worker lines so that there could be waivers to plants, including this particular company owned by a big donor to donald trump. whether they are telling workers in these covid stricken workplaces that they have to do not just 142 chickens per minute but 170 chickens per minute they have to process. which makes them having to work closer together at a thimtime when the cdc tells us all we need to be further apart it's a very difficult situation for the workers that are in these pla s plants. very scary for them, i think. >> it's terrifying. thank you very much for bringing this to our attention in the new edition of the new yorker. that does it for this edition. chris jansing picks up our coverage after a short break. chris jansing picks up our coverage after a short break needles.

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hello, everyone. i'm chris jansing. here are the latest headlines we're following at this hour. there's a white house press briefing set to guinea minute now and we'll be monotorting it. we expect the press secretary to be pressed on the trump administration spreading opposition research on dr. fo h fauci. a major medical association is now speaking out against those attacks. all of this amid the devastating covid spike, especially in