hi, everyone. i'm nicolle wallace. it's 3:00 p.m. in the east. 12 noon out west. brian williams will be back with us at this time tomorrow. we begin with the facts and headlines as we know them at this hour. the coronavirus is spreading faster than at any point in the pandemic. as 22 states and 2 u.s. territories have set new daily infection records just since july 1st. 75,000 new cases were reported just yesterday, the highest single-day total yet. that brings the number of confirmed infections in the united states to nearly 3.5 million with the death toll climbing to 138,000 souls. the university of washington

institute for health metricses and evaluation, a model once touted by the white house now projects that the virus could now kill more than 224,000 americans by november 1st. former fda commissioner scott gottlieb say new cases will slow. >> arizona looks like it's the upper limited of its testing capacity. we'll start to see new cases on a daily basis to start slow their growth. we really need to look at hospitalizations to know what's going on in those states and hospitalizations tragically continue to rise. >> oklahoma governor, republican governor kevin stitt is the first governor in this country to announce he's tested positive for coronavirus. stitt who didn't wear a mask when he attended president trump's rally in tulsa last

month said he's isolating from his family and walking from home. walmart announcing today that starting next monday all shoppers at its stores in the united states, including its sam's club locations, will be required to wear a mask. and remaryland that if you haven't filed your federal tax return you have a few hours left to do so. the irs moved the deadline from april 15th to july 15th because of the pandemic. with a large number of states following suit. florida has emerged as the enessential for of the pandemic in our country. the state reported just over 10,000 new coronavirus cases yesterday. bringing the total number of cases in the state to more than 300,000. the third highest state total in the u.s. nbc's kerry sanders joins us now from ft. lauderdale, kerry? >> reporter: nicolle, when you talk about the state becoming the epicenter, an epicenter within that and that's south florida, miami-dade county,

broward county, concentrated most of these cases and as we look at the most recent numbers we see here, 10,085 positive tests in today's numbers releaseds following the 9,261, bot 2078 line, the numbers are moving in the wrong direction here and many dade county, miami-dade county, the positive results coming back are at 28% and that's far above what they're searching for they're looking for a positive result of about 10% and so, the problem is clearly not under control, the authorities are doing just about anything they can telling people not only to social distance and to wear masks but telling restaurants to close. in miami-dade a curfew at 10:00 p.m. but at this point and as we seen over and over around the world there's lag effect from the regulations and rules that go into place and whether they're effective or not. the authorities here in florida do have a problem on their hands

also at the hospitals, in miami-dade the icu capacity is beyond 100%, it's at 106%. in the hospitals they have mo h morphed areas that are normally icu areas they added space. the numbers that are coming out in terms of going up and up you can see that florida has serious problem one that the governor here says he's doing his best to address but he's faced a fair amount of criticism including here in south florida from mayors who say they need a little bit more from the governor than just pep rallies as the miami herald called it. >> kerry, that was my question for you. are there private conversations with mayors of both political parties for the governor to come down more forcefully and require masks statewide?

>> well, there are those discussions, but the governor's response is, look, this is florida unlike most states is four, maybe five states, what works in the panhandle and what works in tallahassee, versus what happens in jacksonville, orlando, tampa, miami or in the rural areas, it's too diverse of a state to have one mandate. but on the other side he's pushed this down to local counties and cities and an example is in indian river county where they had debate, should they be forcing people to wear masks in public? and after a long debate and people testifying, the county commission voted late yesterday, no, no one has to wear a mask. you have a patchwork and it sends a confusing message. they look at florida and they see the numbers, why can't this state, why can't the governor get it all together? he said, he's working towards that but decisions are being made at the local levels.

>> kerry sanders in ft. lauderdale, florida, stay safe, my friend. as cases surge across the country, we're getting dire warnings of what melee ahead for us. author jon barry, definitive history of the 1918 spanish flu pandemic. wrote in a "the new york times" op-ed things will get much worse. he wrote this, this is our second chance. we won't get a third. if we don't get the growth of this pandemic under control now, in a few months, when the weather turns cold and forces people to spend more time indoors we could face a disaster that dwarfs the situation today. dr. robert redfield echoed that concern with jama saying a combination of coronavirus and the flu could cause huge problems later this year. >> i do think that the fall and the winter of 2020 and 201 will

probably be one of the most difficult times in public health. >> those warnings comes as the trump administration continues its war against the very scientists working to contain the pandemic. "the new york times" first reported that instead of sending data to cdc hospitals have been ordered to bypass the cdc and send all patient information to a new database at the health and human services department in washington. according to that times report, the database that will receive that information is not open to the public that affect the work of officials to make projects and crucial decisions. peter navarro attacked dr. anthony, the nation's top infectious disease expert in a

published usa today op-ed. dr. navarro writes this, has a good bedside manner with the public but he's been wrong with everything i have interacted with him on. here's what president trump told reporters about it a short time ago. >> yeah, i have a very good relationship with dr. fauci and we're all on the same team. we want to get rid of this mess that china sent us. he made a statement representing himself he shouldn't be doing that. >> for his part, dr. fauci has always responded to the attacks him, he said, quote, when the staff lets out something like that and the entire scientific and press community push back on it it ultimately hurts the president. joining our conversation los angeles times white house president eli stokols and dr.

susan bailey. doctor bailey, i have to start with you and this projection that we're heading toward the possibility that 240,000 americans could lose their lives by november, how are we to process that and avoid that fate? >> well, first, thank you so much for having me on and yes, the numbers are very frightening. this pandemic rages out of control and the one thing that we know to do right now, today, that all of us can do is to observe our basic public health measures of wearing a mask, staying the distance and staying home if you're sick. we all have a part to play in controlling this pandemic. >> dr. bailey, we don't have all hands on deck, kerry sanders just reported from the florida the governor doesn't see it as his role to tell states and

localities what to do, the governor of oklahoma who wasn't wearing a mask i believe at the president's rally in tulsa, where most participants weren't wearing masks, showcased on news programs all over the world. i mean, we are an example the world over of half the country not doing its part. what do we do about that. >> masks are a personal responsibility. we know that they work. they know they can keep you catching the virus. i call it the golden rule of coronavirus -- masks yourself for others as you would have them wear a mask for you. it's a measure that we all have the responsibility to take on for ourselves. dr. redfield of the cdc came out yesterday in jama that there ought to be, everybody in the country ought to be wearing masks and i couldn't agree more.

>> eli, let me ask you about the war on dr. fauci. and the effort to deprive the cdc of patient information from hospitals treating them. you have some reporting on this. take me inside your understanding of how peter navarro somehow went rogue and got an op-ed published. >> that's certainly the line that the white house is putting out today, nicolle, although our reporting reveals that's not exactly accurate that the president not only knew about navarro's plan to write this op-ed that he supported it, encouraged it inside this white hou house. this is consistent with the president who all the aides know has grown frustrated with anthony fauci. the administration has blocked him from doing television interviews, that's why he's

talking to the atlantic and doing facebook sessions and things like that, he's not been able to go on television, dan scavino also tweeted an attack on fauci, a cartoon -- all inside a white house acts to appease and enthuse this president. they all know that he's frustrated with dr. fauci. according to the atlantic interview, fauci never got an apology when he met with chief of staff mark meadows about this. the president has been asked about this twice today. the first time he didn't take a side. the second time he said well peter shouldn't have done that. it's taking him a little while to come around to defending fauci and all of this is very revealing, this is a president for whom everything is personal, nicolle, we all know this in year four here, and he looks dr. fauci who has a approval number

twice as high as his. instead of following the science the president's gut instinct, his reaction mimicked by a lot of people who work in this white house is to go after him and take him down. >> dr. fauci responded to a question about who the public should trust, only 26% of the public trust donald trump for information about the coronavirus. 67% trust dr. fauci. here's dr. fauci answering a question about who people should trust going forward. >> i believe for the most part you can trust respected medical authorities. i believe one of them. i would stick with respected medical authorities, who have a track record of telling t have

of giving iored on scientific evidence and good data. >> so, eli, that seems like a broadside against the hydroxychloroquine pushers, the mask deniedeniers, suggestions have turned out not to represent what good, informed medical experts are suggesting, is that as far as we should expect to see fauci go in defending himself in your view, eli? >> i don't know -- fauci has always been pretty honest when asked a direct question. but he's talking about all the people from the president on down who politicized this response and that's a big part of why we are where we are today with this disease, as this pandemic continues to spread and that's a scary place for the country to be. you hear republicans,

increasingly republican governors of these red states where this virus started to show up they're starting to follow the science. we're hearing from some republicans in washington defending fauci. they won't criticize this president. mcconnell said he has total confidence in dr. fauci, you're hearing pushback on this white house from republicans on the front line of this and republicans in washington. >> our thanks to eli stokols and dr. susan bailey for starting us off on this wednesday afternoon. when we come back -- donald trump heads to another coronavirus hot spot he's in atlanta where the city's mayor and her family have tested positive for the virus. mayor k eshgs ssheshia lance bos

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moments ago donald trump touched down in atlanta. georgia also a battleground state in this presidential election. also a coronavirus hot spot and a place where the debate over racial injustice in this country has been front and center. the state added nearly 3400 cases of coronavirus yesterday for a total of nearly 124,000 cases. in cases surging in georgia in populous counties city leaders are sounding the alarm for more testing. so far, 10% of the state's

roughly 1.1 million test results have been positive. meanwhile, georgia's increase in hospitalizations have prompted the state's republican governor brian kemp to reopen the coronavirus field hospital at atlanta convention center, converted back in april. still, the governor hasn't mandated masks statewide. atlanta's mayor is rolling back her city to the phase one of its reopening plan. with us is atlanta mayor keisha lance bolt toms, who announced last week that she tested positive for covid-19. you shared your experience of getting test ed, waiting, waiting, waiting, and while you were waiting concerns that other people in your house got sick. can you share that with us. >> yes, i was tested on the 29th

just routine testing. i had my family at the same time. i had attended a funeral. and just decided i'd get tested. those results didn't come in as we made it into the weekend, i noticed that my husband was sleeping more than usual. by the next monday our results still weren't back. we were able to get some testing, with same-day results through emory university, when we got those results, my husband was positive and i was positive as well as one of my children. at that time, my child was asymptomatic and positive and certainly had we known that over an eight-day period we would have taken precautions within our household and certainly had not gone out in public and put others at risk. >> i mean, what you just described sounds like the

microcosm for the national problem and failure of testing in this country. how do we still in month five not have testing figured out and what point is contact tracing if you lose those eight days. >> this is so upsetting of where we are with this pandemic and thankfully i was able to get results the same day on our next round of tests, but i would imagine had i gone to other testing site i likely would have waited eight days again and it's the reason we can't get to the other side of the virus and we look at other countries, we look at what they've done to flatten this curve, we're doing everything that we can possibly do to make it worse and what's even more upsetting, there's the death, there's the sickness and looking at our children in their

eyes and telling them they may not be able to go back to school in the fall when we have had all of spring and summer to get this testing right is the failure on the part of the president of the united states and governors across this country. >> you raised schools, where is your head on the debate about opening schools in atlanta? >> this is a tough one. i don't control the schools. the superintendent makes that decision. atlanta public schools has decided to delay opening for nine weeks -- delay opening with virtual learning for the first nine weeks, i think that's a solid plan but we're a large metropolitan area and the other major juries dishsdictioesdicti place. it's extremely frustrating not

to have leadership and guidance that's giving us solid direction on how we move past this as a country. >> if we can just put the two issues together, though, how do you open up schools and guarantee the safety of the students and the teachers if it takes eight days to get a test result back and so many kids that have the virus thankfully are asymptomatic but it makes it harder f eer to catch cases in . do you foresee to have schools open in your city or state before testing is fixed from the current delays? >> i don't know how you do that. i wouldn't have been caught with a temperature check. when you think about our children and atlanta in particular, many of our children have asthma, three of mine do. one has it pretty badly, so that's an extra consideration but on top of that we have to

think about our custodians, our teachers, cafeteria workers and so many parents across this country, at the end of the school day, i'm a working parent, my husband works, it's grandma who's at home waiting for the kids to come home. we certainly won't have that luxury come that fall either. i think there's a lot of considerations and i think our focus right now needs to be making sure that all of our children have access to technology, they have broadband access and that we can also continue to provide meals for our children who are missing those important meals while they otherwise would be in school. >> let me ask you about two more things before we lose you, you've been so generous with your time. you've been at the center of everything pull at the country, how is your city doing, how are you doing and does donald trump's presence in the state help or hurt on any of those fronts? >> we're still standing.

i am for the first time glad to see donald trump in georgia because i think that his recognition and acknowledgment that georgia is in play. joe biden is polling so well in this state, this is a battleground state. and if you look at where donald trump is giving his energy it's to states that the republicans are concerned about losing, but he's also giving a lot of attention to women leaders across this country including myself, lori lightfoot in chicago, not sure what that is all about, but i find it most interesting but i think this speaks to how concerned the republicans are that they will lose georgia and they should be concerned because they will. >> we've been talking about your city and your state suffering under the coronavirus we have a live picture on our screen of donald trump getting off air

force one, no mask. governor brian kemp also refusing to mandate a statewide mask order. does that concern you? are you hoping that he's not an example for too many people in your city or state? >> well, donald trump is actually violating the law as he stands on our tarmac without a mask, the city of atlanta operates atlanta hartsfield-jackson airport. we have mandate that you should have on a mask. so i am very glad to see that the others on the tarmac are heeding the law in atlanta, but it's not surprising to me that donald trump is once again breaking it. >> our governor cuomo has offered the city of atlanta any assistance it needs, are you going to take him up on that?

>> sure will. my mom says a friend in need is a friend indeed. we need the ppe, we need the testing, we need the support with contact tracing. we're grateful for that support. >> mayor keisha lance bottoms of atlanta, i hope you and your family feel well. continue to recover. thank you for spending some time with us. >> thank you for having me. when we come back -- new developments in the death of george floyd. we're getting our first look at video from one of arresting officers' body caption as the floyd family files a civil lawsuit against the city of minneapolis. that story is next. minneapolis. that story is next