hi, earn. i'm chris jansing here on this very busy tuesday afternoon. it's 3:00 p.m. on the east coast. 12 noon out west. we hope to have brian williams and nicolle wallace along with us momentarily. we begin with the headlines and the facts as we know them this hour. president trump says the coronavirus is receding in this country, but a surge of infections in the midwest has brought the nationwide total of confirmed cases to nearly 4.8 million. the virus has now taken the lives of more than 155,000 americans. none of this stopped the president from making this claim during a wild and wide-ranging interview with axios national political reporter jonathan swan. >> i think it's under control. tell you what -- >> how, 1,000 americans are dying a day. >> that's true, and it is what

it is. that doesn't mean we're not doing everything we can, it's under control as much as you can control it. this is a horrible plague that beset us. >> on the other end of the spectrum, dr. anthony fauci told the journal of the american medical association says that the united states has to get its daily case count down by 10,000 in the fall. >> we're having surging of cases, you know the last ones anywhere between 50,000 and 60,000 per day, with a 1,000 deaths per day, we've got to get those numbers down. if we don't get them down, then we're going to have a really bad situation in the fall because as you get indoors and you get the complication of influenza that's something that we're going to have to deal with. >> as the battle against the virus goes on so does the fight over the next pandemic relief bill, congressional democratic leaders are set to sit down with

trump administration negotiators later this hour for another round of talks four days after unemployment benefits expired. all of this comes as tropical storm eisaias rises up the eastern seaboard leaving millions of people without power. the storm is bringing high winds and heavy rain to the new york city area. we'll have much more on isaias' impact coming up in just a few minutes. florida is home one of the largest coronavirus outbreaks and it reopens testing sites that were closed because of isaias, the state is reducing how long it takes to report test results. nbc's sam brock joins us from hard rock stadium where a rapid response antigen test is now being offered, anticipated, lot

of people hoping that this could get up and running. what's the latest with this site? >> chris, good afternoon. the state right now is facing a crisis when it comes to the coronavirus on a number of fronts. one of them is the sheer lag time between once someone is testing and once they find out whether or not their positive. if you're waiting ten days or longer to find out. the idea behind this testing is to fast track that process and get people results in 15 minutes to 20 minutes. they're starting with vulnerable populations. over my shoulder is the hard rock stadium site, this will be reopening tomorrow with that antigen testing. how does it work? the testing measures whether or not you have a immune response in your body at that time. antibody test, shows you if you've been infected.

the idea that will get this information sooner so we'll know in real time what's going on with transmission in florida. we did interview with dr. roberts, we asked her, how reliable is this test? >> it's really important that anyone who gets that test is counselled on how likely it is maybe not be accurate. with these rapid tests, when they say they're positive, they're right. they really are positive. when they say they're negative, they're not always right. >> and that's obviously a problem, sacrifice ags little bit of accuracy for the sake of time. i pushed it, how accurate is it? 80% of the time? maybe 90% of the time. somewhere in that range. it's not 100%. the state just reported about

5,400 new cases. that's the lowest the state has seen but it coincides with the closure of testing site and it also coincides with schools trying to figure out how to reopen safely. two more teenagers lost their lives to covid in florida. >> that's correct. we have seen an issue, we saw a 9-year-old child die about a couple of weeks ago, we spoke to her family members, devastated, no pre-existing conditions. so the tate has really grappled with this question, where do you bring the students back? the governor wants to leave that this the hands of administrators and not dictating anything, providing them options. populations of people who are disproportionately who are impacted by not being in the classroom, but it's a health question no question. >> nbc's sam brock, thank you so

much for that. joining our conversation now is dr. lipi roy and white house correspondent yamiche alcindor. i what tonight play more of jonathan swan's exchange with president trump in how he believes this virus is under control. >> i have covered you for a long time. i've gone to your rallies. they love you. they listen to you. they hang on every word. they want to get their advice from you. when you hear you say everything is under control, don't worry about wearing masks. >> under control? >> a false sense of security. >> under control a day? >> a thousand americans are dying a day. >> it is what it is. but that doesn't mean we're not

doing everything we can. it's under control as much as you can control it. this is a horrible plague that beset us. >> this is as much as we control? 1,000 deaths a day? >> first of all, we have done a great job, we've gotten the governors everything they needed, many of them didn't -- some day we'll talk about the successful ones, the good ones and the bad ones. we had good and bad. lot in the middle. i could tell you right now who the great ones are and who the not great ones are. the governors do it. we gave them massive amounts of materials. >> yamiche, it is what it is? >> that was a remarkable interview by jonathan swan. the president is saying essentially, i've done the best that i can and the numbers are what they are.

somehow that him passing the buck, the governors -- your national government is doing all that it can do. really telling the president in this moment is doubling down on this moment that this is under control. the virus is continuing to surge, more and more americans are dying. in a state like florida, my home state, a state where the governor listened very carefully to what the president said, talk about opening back up real quickly, that governor listened to the president and that state is now one of the hottest spots in america, so the president is saying essentially even though the governor listened to me it's still his issue, his problem. also the president understanding that this is going to be critical part of his re-election campaign, he'll have to answer to how his response struggled and that he's in some ways, many people will believe me, but a lot of people -- including trump spotters who can see with their own two eyes this is a situation that's not under control. >> which is why his level of

numbers are going down the number of people who do trust him for positive information but let me go first, dr. roy, jonathan swan pointed out there's a lot of americans, millions of americans who listen to him, who believe him and one of the things that he said is, it's under control as much as we can control it. fact-check that. >> chris, i love how jonathan swan pointed out that to the president. millions of people in the country listen to him instead of dr. faucis and other public health experts and when the president said we're doing everything we can, so let me tell you that the medical and public health communities strongly disagree with that because for months now we've been asking, begging the federal government to do several things. one of them is at this point, the virus is rampages across the

country is mandate these simple health measures. i don't leave my home without wearing mask. mandate the public health measures like the mask, the physical distancing, make sure there's a clear, national plan a detailed strategy in terms of school reopening, businesses, ppe, activate the defense production act so that there's sufficient ppe as we roll into september which will be flu season, i want to remind your viewers, chris, last flu season we had 34 million people get sick and 490,000 hospitalizations, that in addition to coronavirus will decimate our health system, our healthcare system, so there are several key things that the federal leadership still has not done, chris. >> new survey poll, 58% of americans surveyed say they don't trust what the president

says about the coronavirus. behind the scenes, almost no democr democrats, very small number of independents. 69% of republicans do believe what he has to say about the coronavirus. he can't win with those numbers. how does the trump campaign hope to change this? are we going to see more interviews like this? clearly, they think something positive is coming out of these briefings? >> that's right. the president is feeling like if he messages that he did the best that he can and under any circumstances any president would have faltered in the way that he famterred that's the winning message for november. i did tmy best, the talking points he continues to say over and over again. key in that interview, when jonathan swan asked, when are

americans are going to have access to same-day testing here at the white house, the president could not answer that question. that issue is still not resolved from the very beginning days, testing was still a big problem and it's still an issue now. add to the fact that the president continues to push this idea that schools need to be back open, i think his campaign and he as a candidate they'll be making the case that they are doing exceptional work and he should be congratulated for a job well done. i think joe biden and the sources i talked to in his campaign, withothe president wi them sail the president is hurting himself without having an adequate response to this pandemic. president trump continues to say believe me, not the health officials and that's not a winning strategy by at least his critics' calculation, the president is hoping how it works

out for him. >> one of the impressive things about this interview even when the president was presenting what he saw as facts or somebody gave to him as facts, cherry-picking essentially what he wanted to show the american people what he wanted to show, jonathan, swan called him on it. another wild exchange over the death rate, because you'll see that the president and jonathan are looking at two very different sets of statistics. take a listen. >> take a look at some of these charts. >> i'd love to. >> we're going to look. >> let's look. >> if you look at death -- >> start to go up again. >> this one -- well, right here, the united states is lowest in numerous categories, we're lower than the world. >> lower than the world? >> in what? >> lower than europe? >> in what? >> take a look.

right here. here's case death. >> oh, you're doing death as a por portion of cases. >> you can't do that. you have to go by -- you have to go by where -- look, here's the united states, you have to go by the cases. >> you can't do that, dr. roy. which is the more accurate, helps us get a better understanding of where the united states stands compared to other country. >> reporter: yeah, chris, i found that segment to be really disturbing, this is why you can't -- this is why you need people with actual epidemiology, scientific, medical research training and background to be having these conversations, you know, tell the president exactly what he needs to know because we've seen over the course of

months, this current president doesn't have that nuanced understanding a and b. the ability to communicate the key pieces of information. this is what the public needs to know, the per capita percentage of cases and deaths in the united states is really the highest worldwide and it's shameful that a country, the richest country in the world, cannot straighten out their testing strategy, the treatment, vaccine, even the public health measures as simple as wearing a mask, we need to get the simple data out there, clear messaging, because people continue to get infected and die and we're now talking about schools reopening and the flu season coming up, all of this is just -- it's creating a nightmare and it's going to create a further burden to existing nurses and doctors and other frontline workers. >> there's a new poll that shows more than 60% of americans favor

the need for a single national strategy for reopening businesses as well as reopening schools. but then you look at what's happened over the last week, yamiche, you've seen outbreaks at camps, and the deaths of teenagers in florida, we've seen some pictures coming out of schools that have reopened already, where you see large numbers of students standing together, shoulder to shoulder, without masks on, is the white house -- is the campaign at this point, yamiche, still feeling confident if they can get schools up and running it's a positive for them? it's not going to cause more problems. >> chris, that's a key question and that was the critical question i posed to the white house press secretary today during her white house briefing at noon. i asked her, israel opened their schools and then heyed to re-close them because the virus

began to have an outbreak and students and teachers got sick, when you think about it, she doubled down, she said schools feed to be reopened. a single national strategy coming out of the white house and that strategy is reopen schools, no matter the cost and resources. localities are saying we can't do that where there's not social distancing to be had in certain school districts, parents and students are terrified. some schools said, yes, we're going to be in person, a couple of weeks later, we'll have to roll back and be online only. schools and administrators are coming to the conclusion that this virus is under control. something that will kill students, teachers and parents. the white house is saying we want schools back open. the best we can do as a nation is open up all the schools. as a result, you're seeing localities not taking the advice

of the president or the trump campaign or the white house overall. >> yamiche, always great to see you at the white house. and dr. roy, thank you so much for coming in. a break in our coverage. when we return -- the very latest on tropical storm isaias, drenching the east coast as it moves its way through the eastern seaboard. a dramatic series of explosions in beirut. the cause of that blast and the damage it left behind. i am in so much debt. sixty-two thousand seven hundred and ten dollars and thirty-one cents. sofi allowed me to refinance all of my loans to one low interest rate and an affordable monthly payment. and i just feel like there's an end in sight now and that my debt doesn't define me anymore.

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as the country continues to battle the coronavirus, there's another threat putting much of this country's atlantic coast in danger today, tropical storm isaias overnight the storm made

land fall in north carolina as a category 1 hurricane and the mid-atlantic this morning with dangerous winds and storm surge. the storm knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of customers and triggering fires and tornadoes. at least one person was killed when a tornado ripped through a neighborhood in north carolina. take a look at this drone video showing the aftermath in north carolina's oak island that's a beach town, now seemingly covered in sand. isaias has been downgraded back to a tropical storm but it remains a threat to big population centers of the northeast. including new york tristate area. and it's also the reason i'm in the anchor chair right now, because brian and nicolle's home cameras are knocked off the air. let's check out more on the path of this storm. happy to have him with us,

meteorologist bill karins. how fast is this tropical storm moving? >> chris, it will weaken from here out, by tonight into tomorrow morning it's through northern canada not even a storm we're going to track anymore. the saving grace with this storm it was actually a fast mover but it did a lot of impacts in a short period of time. the latest, it just past new york city heading into the hudson valley. all clear from philadelphia swardz. the winds are coming down quickly. look around, try to do a little cleanup, watch out for downed power lines. as the storm head northward, some damage in central and northern new england. as i said, this storm is racing away at 40 miles per hour. here's some of the current wind gusts. new york city at one point.

jfk had a 70 mile per hour wind gust. hartford, 45 to 55 mile per hour range. chris, i am here just outside of new york city, half my town doesn't have power, in the last hour i was trying to help my friend out, they don't have power. to give you an idea of why new jersey is so bad right now, these are some pictures that i took in a one-mile journey, big oak tree down there. big tree across the road with power lines down. 25 minutes outside of new york city, maybe a 15 miles, another huge oak tree down. if you look to your right that's -- all of these trees fell towards the road and not toward the homes. 1.4 million people without power in new jersey.

by far more than any other state. of course, we had a tornado at 1:15 in the morning in eastern north carolina and as we went throughout the day, we saw this morning numerous tornadoes, 16 reports, two injuries in areas of virginia and significant damage also in new jersey. the storm prediction center thinks could have an isolated tornado, we have tornado watch until 9:00 it does include massachusetts, i think they're going to be very isolated. the final thing, still have a little bit more rainfall to do, still 35 million people that are in the flash flood watch. we just lost new york city. flash flood warning for a few spots. in total right now, 2.6 million people without power. their covid-19 lives just got a lot more complicated.

you saw some of the pictures that i showed you, working from home, kids at home, no wi-fi, you get the idea, it's going to be very difficult. >> yeah, very hot. your refrigerator is not working, the number of problems escalates. let's hope that power gets turned back on very quickly for your neighbors, our colleagues many of whom from home. thank you, nbc meteorologist bill karins. gabe gutierrez joins us from lower manhattan in new york city. long island railroad has suspended service system wide, tell me what's happening where you are? >> reporter: chris, as you mentioned, some transit disruptions this afternoon as

the tropical storm roared through. this massive tube set up to try to prevent any flooding from the east reefer, an area that was hit very hard by superstorm sandy years ago, now we're starting to get those reports talking about from new jersey, to williamsburg and queens, new york, a man dhout to be in his 60s was killed, he was in the passenger seat of a car where there was a toppled tree. throughout this entire region, lot of toppled trees. 2 million people without power throughout this entire region and this is something that they're going to have to be dealing with for the next several hours, at least, and potentially several days. again, new york city, manhattan right here, all these sandbags more than a mile or so of this tube was set up, it seems to

have dodged the worst of it, but the big story in this area is power outage. >> reporter: gabe gutierrez in lower manhattan for us. when we return -- a pair of devastating explosions caught on cram in beirut. we have breaking news on that next. ♪ get your glow back. start running again with a boost of b vitamins and energy from green tea. new dunkin' refreshers. order ahead via the dunkin' app for a contactless way

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