okay. new worries among undocumented warning workers with essential jobs in the united states. they are afraid to get tested for covid. gadi schwartz takes a look at the challenges in our nbc news and telemundo partnership. >> reporter: in california's central valley, a quarter of the food supply is in the hands of essential work force with a lot of fear and a lot to lose. >> she says she is hoping they don't get evicted. >> reporter: she and her

daughter usually pick grapes. they have not worked since they learned her son was exposed to covid-19. >> you might not work? >> yes. >> that will that do for paying the rent? >> exactly. it will be a stress. >> we tried to be proactive. >> reporter: the ceo is trying to make sure workers get paid for missed hours and hopes other farms do the same. >> we will take care of you. we will do the right thing. >> reporter: for many undocumented workers, there is fear and reluctance to self report. even to doctors promising confidentiality. >> are you checking? >> absolutely not. that is not the intent. we are here to help. >> reporter: the governor of california pledged $52 million to central valley to help with testing and contact tracing. as our colleague found, the pressure to keep working is forcing some to ignore the

possibility of expose us to covid-19. >> the farm workers' union says up to 70% are undocumented. >> that's what a father of four is afraid of. so three weeks ago, he was exposed to coronavirus. somebody came to his house and tested positive. he decided not to get tested because he needs to make money for his family. >> reporter: the $500 he and his wife bring home every week barely covers the bills. he kept working. he did not show symptoms so he did not tell his boss. instead, he and other workers who thought they may be infected quietly warned each other to keep distance. she works alongside hundreds of others at the pistascio packing

plant. they got coronavirus and missing out on two weeks of pay. before she got sick, she saw others hiding symptoms and holding in coughing fits for as long as they could. so she says at work she would go inside the restroom and hear her co-workers coughing because they were most likely sick with covid. for many, a forced decision with dangerous consequences. health or livelihood with the potential for disaster. >> thanks to gadi schwartz for that report. ahead on msnbc at this hour, covid relief talks collapse. what president trump is threatening to do and what may be motivating him to act? and defending the maskless.

and new york schools get the green light to reopen classrooms, but is it safe? the new reaction this hour. >> i want them back full-time in person and as a teacher, my studen students. i want them five days a week. we tried to zoom with the kids. it was difficult. a lot did not have access to devices. a lot did not have home support. >> risky rally. a biker rally that is starting today despite coronavirus concerns in south dakota. we say good morning, everybody. it is saturday, august 8th. i'm kendis gibson live from msnbc world headquarters in new york city. we start with the coronavirus. the number of cases with no signs of slowing down. the u.s. getting closer to another grim milestone. 5 million confirmed cases. the governor of ohio, mike dewine, after testing positive for covid-19 and a day later negative, he is confident in the

accuracy of his state's testing system. >> i don't want people in ohio or any place else to think is that, you know, these tests are not accurate. the test that i got at ohio state is the same test we have seen time and time again in ohio. i'm told by the best scientists we can find that they are 99.7% accurate. >> the governor reinstates travel restrictions in hawaii. the honolulu mayor says all parks and beaches on the island of oahu will be closed starting this weekend. that's a big deal. and nashville, police are taking to the streets to enforce the mask mandate. officers issued over a dozen citations over the weekend to people for not complying and gave nearly 400 verbal warnings.

this comes as tennessee had the deadliest week since the start of the pandemic. have you seen this photo? it is creating concern about whether or not schools should be reopening in georgia. take a look. this is the photo i'm talking about. crowded hallway. snapped by a high school student in the town of dallas, georgia. on the first day of school. the caption was stated only 10% of people wearing masks. we hav have shaq brewster with . shaq, officials there in that particular school are saying they will not mandate for students to wear masks inside. >> reporter: that's right, kendis. you are learning that officials are starting to figure out how hard it is to reopen schools amid the surging pandemic here in cherokee county. there are more than 240 students and staff under quarantine after

the first week of classes. 17 students or at least 17 students tested positive for the coronavirus. at this middle school on the first day of classes, a student came and found out he was positive for the coronavirus. that led to 15 quarantines. kendis, the district is not commenting to media. they are sending letters to parents saying they want focus to be on the communication with parents. when you look at schools reopening plans and you see they are going through and sanitizes and they are recommending masks. that was a source of frustration for the parents. kendis, this is occurring all over the state. parents trying to understand and how districts looking to reopen. in gwinn terett county is start

the school year by virtual learning. listen to what the teacher told us. a former teacher at this point, who resigned, after being denied to work from home. listen to what she told katy tur. >> we are trying to be transparent as educators. we are concerned about the community. who will take care of the class? many educators are immune know co compromised. i have children in the school building. >> reporter: let's go back to that pick you referenced at top. the reason why you have the high numbers is because in many of the schools reopening plans, what you see is they say if you have contracted the virus or if you were exposed to someone who contracted the virus -- some say if you were exposed to someone exposed to someone who tested positive for the virus, you have

to quarantine. look at that scene. if one person tested positive, you see the impact once the contact tracing can be. kendis. >> it will be several weeks before we see if this has an impact. shaq brewster in canton. thank you. despite the outbreaks in schools, all schools in new york state have the green light to reopen in the fall. governor cuomo sparking backlash. saying the infection rate is low enough in new york city, which was once the epicenter of the pandemic. ron allen is joining us this morning. ron, new york has several hundred school districts throughout the state. the governor is saying it is up to local leaders and individual districts. >> reporter: exactly. he gave approval for schools to

reopen and classrooms to reopen. he admitted and said it is up to the parents, teachers and students to determine whether or not they feel safe enough to return. there is a lot of unsettled questions and homework that has to get done before that can happen. as the debate rages across the country. governor comuomo's decision to reopen schools and the largest system in the country in new york city, is a remarkable turn around for the state hit hardest by the virus. the infection rate is less than 1%. >> if anybody can open schools, we can open schools. that's true for every region in the state. period. >> reporter: a decision welcomed by parents and teachers. >> we tried to zoom with the kids. it was really difficult. a lot did not have access to devices. a lot did not have home support. >> reporter: every district must submit a detailed plan about how

schools will operate and how they address concerns like testing and contact tracing. >> our biggest concerns are we have the social distancing in place. that is important. we know when you go into a supermarket, you have to be six feet from the next person. we want that in schools. >> reporter: outbreaks happening in schools which reopened. in a surge of local reports, nbc news found over 60 cases of positive cases in tennessee, georgia and indiana and mississippi. in alabama, the entire varsity football team and coaching staff at the school went into quarantine after a player showed signs of covid during practice. also fuelling anxiety? a new cdc report about the deadly covid-related illness. mis-c. multisystem inflammatory syndrome. 570 cases in 40 states and d.c. 2/3 requiring time in icu and 10

deaths. this 10-year-old rushed to the pittsburgh hospital with temperature soaring and struggling to breathe. >> it looked grim when he was in icu and i thought he wasn't going to make it out. >> reporter: he survived. on the medical front, dr. fauci now says not to expect a vaccine that will guarantee protection against covid. >> we don't know if it will be 50% or 60%. i'd like to see 75% or more. the chances of it being 998% effective is not great. >> reporter: he went on to say that means the nation cannot abandon the public health approach. masks and social distancing and testing and tracing. the question is how to implement all that in the nation's schools and classrooms to feel safe enough to return. kendis. >> and implement it all in a few weeks before the year reopens.

ron allen, thank you. joining me for more is jaman williams and dr. holly phillips. jaman, we messed up closing things down and now we are trying to open the doors up and we don't have to. is this too much too soon? >> thanks for having me. the decision made by the mayor and governor are inexplicably goofy and unnecessarily risky. we feel like maybe they are trying to prove a point because we were so bad at closing down. in fact, i want to remind folks the decision we made early on may have negatively infected the nation. now instead of opening slowly, we want to swing the doors open

which could work and could not. why are we taking this risk that we just don't have to take. >> dr. phillips, i want to bring you into the conversation. what are your concerns as the state reopens, especially new york city. those students will be taking subways and buses and crowded at my high school. a high school in new york city. it was more than 3,000 students packed in together. >> sure. you know, i think this is one of those situations where we are reminded that for anything to go back to normal, we have to control the virus. on one hand, the benefits of in-person learning are inarguably important. we know remote learning leaves our most vulnerable children at risk. it was a disaster for them. that's not a strong case. it is not argument to open schools at any cost. new york city right now has a 1%

infection rate which is great. the question is if we open schools, will it stay that way? will we keep schools open? there are safeguards in place if one child in a classroom were to test positive. that entire classroom and staff and teachers would have to quarantine for 14 days. if more than two children test positive, possibly an entire building would close. the question is is that a benefit? is that worth reopening when we might have to close again in short order? does it do more damage than help us out? >> jaman? do you get the proper safeguards in place that new york state has it figured out? >> no, i feel they don't have this proper health infrastructure in place. one thing they want to do is randomly test people instead of having a system that gets to

everyone on a regular basis. we don't have the infrastructure in place. as i mentioned, we have a lot of questions. why not wait until we get more questions answered? we are saying no places that we do not want people indoors crowded. except for the thousands of kids who will be in school with teachers and principals and custodians. it makes no sense. we put forth a plan that we believe worked and helped open schools more slowly. it is being ignored. it is being ignored at the risk of making the same errors that we made at the beginning just in reverse. >> at the risk of a lot of minority groups. dr. phillips, the cdc says hispanic children are eight times more likely to be hospitalized with covid-19 than their white peers. black children are five teaimes more likely to be hospitalized. how troubling are those numbers

for new york students and students across the country where they are reopening? >> it is extremely troubling. you know, this is a case where the groups that are the most vulnerable by staying home, not going to school, are also the most vulnerable in school. they have the potential to contract the virus and severely ill from the virus. the potential to bring it home to communities where people are also vulnerable and more likely to have severe cases of the virus. all of those things are tremendously worrisome. >> we'll leave it there. dr. phillips. i appreciate it. new jersey is reporting more cases after weeks of declines. now the governor there is tightening restrictions in the attempt to bring the infection rate down.

mcaulif cori coffin is live for us. cori, do they realize they flattened the curve and now things seem to be spiking again? >> reporter: you know who notices the most, kendis? the businesses. businesses we spoke to. especially here on the coast and on the jersey shore. they rely on business for the summer to be able to sustain throughout the year. with things spiking with cases now, there is a chance they may have to shutdown again. that would be really bad for them. this is set to be a beautiful day today. in fact, boardwalk will be packed on this summer day. the outdoor paces for the businesses will likely be packed as well. they told us that they are hoping even though we are seeing the rise in cases that things start to level off with the warning bells and alarm bells that the governor has been setting since last week talking about the rise in infection rate in new jersey. they also spoke about what this has been like to try to recover

from covid-19 after recovering from sandy a couple of years ago. listen to what they had to tell me. >> if we're going to talk about the comparisons to sandy and to the pandemic, sandy we could see. this we can't see. this is a disease. an especially democrp deidemic . with sandy, we saw infrastructure that we had to rebuild. >> this is a beautiful time to come to seaside heights. we hope to stay open through september. like you said, that transmission rate, you know, everyone in the d industry is much watching. >> reporter: kendis, 45% of people are cooperating with tracers trying to quell the spread. >> people are for getting we are all in this together. cori coffin in seaside heights. thank you. coming up at the top of the

hour on "velshi" the mayor of jackson, mississippi. why he imposed a curfew in that city. michigan democratic lieutenant governor. and leg and legal battle brewing in wisconsin. it is the issue over kanye west on the ballot in 2020. hear why mickey mouse and bernie sanders are part of it. what? yeah. what yeah

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new today, president trump is dismissing the report from the intelligence agency on election meddling, including russia acting against joe biden. kelly o'donnell is following the president. >> reporter: good morning, kendis. the president commented on that issue and he talked about the

plans to step in to break the deadlock with congress over the wave of coronavirus relief. he created a news event at his private club. a nighttime news conference. not the white house, but his new jersey private club. paying members packed together. first mostly without masks. which were later passed out. when questioned about the state laws barring large gatherings, the president defended. >> political activity. a peaceful protest. when you have and as you know -- >> reporter: the president pushed back the report from the administration. on foreign interference in this november's election. using that to pummel joe biden. >> if joe biden were president, china would own our country. >> reporter: the report assessed russia is using a range of

measures to denigrate former vice president biden. china prefers that president trump whom beijing sees as unpredictable does not win re-election. biden states trump has tried to coerce foreign interference. >> we have to be careful. the biggest risk we have is mail-in ballots. >> reporter: hours after the friday jobs report showed 1.8 million new jobs added in july, negotiations for more covid relief stalled on capitol hill. >> meet us in the middle. please for the sake of america, meet us in the middle. >> reporter: the president is prepared to act alone to bypass congress to restart unemployment benefits and other financial help. >> if democrats continue to hold this critical relief hostage, i will act under my authority as

president to give americans relief they need. >> reporter: brushing off legal questions that congress can authorize funding. >> we have the money. we have the money. >> reporter: and even the president's own team in the negotiations, steve mnuchin and mark meadows, have acknowledged using executive order is not as good a solution as trying to get to legislation. the talks have been hung up. we don't know when there will be any breakthrough. the president is spending the week in new jersey and he will have campaign fund-raisers. including one in the hamptons tonight. kendis. >> thank you, kelly. i want to follow-up on this. former federal prosecutor is with us. joyce, i want to pick up where kelly left off. the executive orders by the

president. purse strings are controlled by congress. are these legal avenues for the president? >> so, i think we have to talk about two different things here. one is if this was a functional administration, we would see congress negotiating a package. congress, of course, has the spending and taxing power. that is broken down here and it is unfair to characterize this as trump does as being the democrats fault and democrats trying to get base support safety net provisions in place for american citizens. the republicans have walked away from that. now the president inserts himself in the really inappropriate way suggesting he can usurp congress spending power. the reality is he can't do that. we have seen trump in the past do things he technically and legally can't do leaving it for a challenge in court down the road to rule it out and force him to revamp his decisions

which is what happened with the immigration early on with executive orders. he was forced to amend the clearly unconstitutional exercises of power. there are things he can do with executive order. he might be able to extend the moratorium on evictions. he doesn't have the power to spend. >> all right. joyce, i want to use your legal knowledge on another topic. two legal challenges to kanye west's filing to be on the ballot in wisconsin. there was a suggestion he was one or two minutes late to be on the ballot in filing. another suggestion of including mickey mouse or bernie sanders. >> the signature challenge is probably the more significant one, kendis. he is required to file 2,000 signatures of registered citi n citizens to get on the ballot. the papers he filed have about

2,400 signatures. some suggest one is mickey mouse or people were not aware of what they were signed or coerced. expect the signatures to see if it falls below the 2,000 signature requirement. >> with four fingers, it will be clear which one was mickey mouse signature. i'm sure. joyce, thanks for being here on this morning. booing in bedminster. guests forego wearing masks. and tomorrow "a.m. joy" hosted by zerlina maxwell and will have guest hillary clinton. will have guest hillary clinton. then, give people more plans to mix and match,

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quite a bit off fallout aftr the event in bedminster, new jersey last night. dozens of club members standing shoulder to shoulder in the room and only a few wearing masks. the president called it a peaceful protest. joining me now is susan del percio and jeff mason. welcome. jeff, you were there. i want to ask you about that. after the pictures, you saw many white house staffers hand out masks to those who wanted to wear them. there were still plenty of people not wearing them in the room. take us into the room. what was it like? >> sure. last night, they scheduled this press conference last minute. the press pool that travels with the president had been disbanded earlier in the day. the president decided he wanted to speak. they gathered us. we went to his property and brought into the room that you are seeing now on the screen.

there were people who we saw brought in before who, i guess, were guests or visitors at the club. they were waiting essentially to observe the press conference. they were not exercising social distancing or not wearing masks until you mentioned they were passed out. i think most people put masks on at that point. it was really right before the press conference they put those on. then they were kind of participants in the press conference in the sense that when one of my colleagues asked the president about setting an example during the pandemic with the location and the social distancing within the ballroom, the president bristled at that and said it was a peaceful protest. also said there are exceptions in new jersey for political events. that is true, but what is unusual, that wasn't technically a political event. he was given a press conference.

it was not something sponsored by his campaign. >> the lines are blurred. very blurred with this particular white house. susan, especially with this particular situation, if it was a political event, that makes it a little sticky. >> yeah. jeff can speak to this. i believe the president's campaign would have to reimburse the government for political activity and that can include his security detail on hand. that was the president saying it was a political event. the other thing is the optics of it. to have it at your golf course while 1,000 people died yesterday. >> 2,000. >> more than 2,000. people are hungry. they don't have enough money for food. donald trump is having questionable press conference/political

event/peaceful protest, so he says. it makes no sense. it goes against everything that the white house has been trying to do. can you imagine what the story would have been even if he had the people and club members there and said upon entering everyone was wearing a mask. it matches what the president should be saying as the leader of the country trying to get through a pandemic. s>> during that event, trump indicated he will take executive action as the relief package is at a standstill. jeff, can he do that? there are legal hurdles he might face. >> there certainly are. we asked him, kendis, about that. if he had concerns about the legal ramifications of trying to achieve unemployment benefits

and what he wants to do to prevent evictions. he said no. he did have the money without congress approving it. he's not concerned about it. there are legal clouds and legal questions hanging over that. he wasn't very specific at all about when he plans to sign the orders and if he wants to give more time to the congressional delegations and his white house team to work out the deal. we asked him and he said he could fine it sign it by the en week. he might have been referring to next week. he wasn't super clear on that. you are right to raise the question. there are legal questions about it. there is also a question of timing and it is not the same as getting legislation. >> all right. speaking of timing. were you going to say something? >> i was agreeing with jeff.

>> we have to leave it there. susan and jeff, thank you. next, a huge motorcycle rally in a small town in south dakota raising fears of coronavirus with more than 250,000 people expected to attend. what about social distancing and masks and all that? masks and all that they get that no two people are alike and customize your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. almost done. what do you think? i don't see it. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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expecting hundreds of thousands of people to attend the sturgis motorcycle rally with no mask mandates. some fear this could turn into a super spreader for the coronavirus. kathy park is there for us right now. kathy, it may be the largest public gathering since the pandemic. even the pilgrimage to mecca which draws millions of people which was down to thousand people this year. >> reporter: kendis, that is right. right now, it is still pretty quiet. give it a couple of hours and downtown sturgis will be packed with people and motorcycles. the ten-day event has been going on since 1938. the largest motorcycle rally in the world. because of the coronavirus, it had to make adjustments. crews out sanitizing the streets and sidewalks. when it comes to social

distancing and mask wearing, it is encouraged, but not required. this morning, an 80-year tradition rolls on in sturgis, south dakota, even during the pandemic. harleys at every turn, but very few masks. >> you just be careful. you can't not live life. >> reporter: the city is expected to swell into the hundreds of thousands with tourists and bikers from across the country and becoming one of the largest public gatherings since the start of the outbreak. >> we'll take precautions. hopefully everyone will be respectful. we take it seriously, but not reservations. >> reporter: city leaders say they prepared for the event by non tor monitoring infection rates and as for social distancing? >> as a municipality in our state, we are limited to what we can do. >> nothing is mandated?

>> no, not mandated. we cannot do that as a city in the state. >> reporter: more than half of the residents wanted to cancel over covid concerns. >> i think it is selfish that the power that has been did not stop this. >> we can't block off the entrance to the community. on a daily basis, we get hundreds of thousands of people saying it doesn't matter what happens. we're coming. >> reporter: south dakota's infection rate has remained low compared to many states. and corrupt urrently, fewer tha cases. the governor never issued a stay-at-home order or mask mandate. now she is pitching businesses to set up shop with the new ad. >> in south dakota, we trust our people. we respect their rights. we won't shut them down. >> reporter: so it is full throttle for the legendary rally. and to prevent any sort of upswing in coronavirus cases in sturgis, free testing will be

offered to residents one week after the rally if they are asymptomatic so they can quarantine if needed. kendis. >> thank you. kathy park, i appreciate it. the president is taking on one of his favorite targets. not obama, biden or clinton. athletes. black athletes. dave zahring weighs in next. t. this is our moment to build a new american economy for our families and for our communities. when we spend taxpayers' money, we should use it to buy american products

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pandemic, record high unemployment. people getting evicted from their homes. unemployment insurance has run out for millions, not to mention the foreign interference in our elections and the russian bounties. instead of all that he's zeroing in on something else. something that is really, really impacting this country right now. of great importance to the future of this country. the dozens of athletes, coaches, staff members, referees kneeling during or before the national anthem at sporting events.

>> i think it's disgraceful. we work with them. we work with them very hard trying to get them open. i was pushing them to get open. then i see everybody kneeling during the anthem. it's not acceptable to me. when i see them kneeling, i just turn off the game. >> dave zarin is a sports editor for "the nation." thanks for being here. do you think the president is actually watching a basketball game? >> no, i don't think president trump is actually watching a basketball. i think lebron james had the best answer for this nonsense where he said we don't really care whether pump watches tv or not. >> we have that. let's play it. >> i really don't think the basketball community are sad about losing his viewership. our fans not only love the way

we play the game, we try to give back to them with our commitment to the game, but also respect, you know, what else we try to bring to the game and acknowledging what's right and what's wrong. the game will go on without his eyes on it. i can sit here and speak for all of us that love the game of basketball. we could care less. >> lebron telling you what the lakers feel. for the greater sports world, with the president weighing in on all of this, do they care less what he's saying? >> the impact is definitely lessened from the days when he was calling nfl players who took a knee, specifically colin kaepernick s.o.b.s at rallies in huntsville, alabama. the players i spoke to when trump started this anti-athlete crusade against particularly black athletes protesting police violence through the game, when it first started they were shocked, you upset, felt this was a call to more action.

now it's like dust on their shoulder. they're going like this, whatever, it's president trump talking again. they're focused on what their goal is, which is providing clarity about a movement to take on police violence. they're not shirking from that responsibility. >> i can't imagine people at home cooking their goya beans saying no, i'm not going to watch the nba. they weren't the people going to be watching the nba any way. members of the oklahoma city thunder also kneeled during their game. even after a representative in oklahoma threatened to rescind their tax breaks if they did. what kind of message are teams sending to their politicians? >> they're sending the message we won't be intimidated. it's not a coincidence that the oklahoma city thunder has a player by the name of chris paul who has been one of the most outspoken up-front players on these questions. he's the head of the nba players association. he's somebody other players talk

casually about voting for some day when chris runs for president himself. so they're more likely to follow chris paul an any oklahoma poll signals. i think it's amusing from an economic perspective. the thunder is run by one of the most powerful families in all of oklahoma. they're billionaries. they're not going to cry about what a state legislature has to say about their future tax breaks. >> not at all. we only have a few seconds. i want to show the photo of the wnba team, the atlanta dream. the women there wearing the photo with the opponent of one of their owners that she's running against, senator kelly loeffler. that is the epitome of what, you would say? >> that is the epitome of raising the stakes. that's the epitome of not just taking a knee because other folks are taking a knee, but raising the level to a new height of rebellion which honestly the wnba has done for years.

they have been the pace setters for the nba in terms of using their platform to speak out for political justice. >> amazing saying vote warnock as owe toesed to one of the co-owners, one of their bosses. wow. dave zirin, thank you. i like the pandemic scruff. thank you. i'm kendis gibson, i'll be back tomorrow at 6:00 a.m. next on velshi, the mayor of jackson, mississippi. and michigan's lieutenant governor. we'll ask about gretchen whitmer visiting with joe biden and her being possibly named as a running mate. running mate into a smaller life?

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for the 20th straight week more than 1 million americans have sought first-time jobless help, even during the great recession that number was never higher than 700,000. at least 33 states now have orders in place that require people to wear face coverings in public. we'll check with one mayor whose state just joined that list and may soon be the largest hotbed for covid in the country. and only 44% of black families own their homes compared with nearly 74% of white families. what's at the root of the difference?