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good day. i'm andrea mitchell in had washington. president trump executive actions door little to ease pressure other than the administration to provide meaningful relief to the millions of out of work with covid supplemental unemployment benefits expired along with a waiver on evictions. thises a the coronavirus continues to take its toll. here are the facts at this hour -- more than 5 million confirmed cases of the virus in the u.s. more than 50,000 in the last 24 hours. 163,000 deaths. today the federal government is setting up a new surge testing site in atlanta, a persistent hot spot. new concerns about children returning to classrooms after a report from the americcademy of pediatrics.

and the president is back at the white house after a weekend at his golf resort, and also attending campaign fund-raisers, but he's tweeting today that chuck schumer and nancy pelosi know his phone number if they want to make a deal. senator schumer says earlier on "morning joe" he has seen zero evidence so far that the president is involved at all and has not called back. this hour i'll speak with former presidential candidate amy klobuchars a wells a congresswoman barbara lee and our insiders for the latest on the vice president's choice for a running mate. we begin with msnbc white house correspondent kristen welker, garrett haake covering capitol hill and peter baker. kristen, first to you. a reality, fak check on the executive actions, one executive order, forcing the executive behind it. the others can suggestions and they're not really getting to the people who need it most.

>> reporter: that's right, andrea. a lot of questions about the effectiveness and the legality of these executive actions that president trump announced over the weekend. so to go through some of the big ones. president trump saying that he will give $400 in unemployment benefits. that's down from the $600 that people were initially getting and that democrats were pushing to extend. here's the catch with that, andrea. states would need to sign on and would need to add $100 of that. so you have democrats saying that the states don't have the money to do that. now, president trump was pressed on that over the weekend. he indicated that the white house might be able to provide some type of a fix to that loophole, but a lot of questions about when those checks are actually going to get into the hands of americans. now, the president also announcing a suspension of the payroll tax for those making $100,000, less than $100,000 a

year. the important point about that, andrea, essentially it defers payment. so eventually those payments are going to come due. now, president trump over the weekend saying he was looking into possibly making that permanent, but, of course, only congress has the ability to effect tax law. the president also saying that he plans to protect social security funds. of course, the payroll tax does go to pay for social security, but no details how specifically that would happen. over the weekend you had democrats even some republicans criticizing the actions. ben sasse of nebraska calling it unconstitutional slop. house speaker nancy pelosi using that same language. and president trump tweeting at sas saying, ryno ben sasse who needed my support and endorsement to get the republican nomination for senate from the great state of nebraska has now that he's got, thank you, president t., gone rogue again. this foolishness plays right into the hands of the radical

left dems. a real stand off, andrea. no indication there are any new talks planned for this week although both sides say they're open to that. >> and garrett, they've come down from the democratic side, come down $1 trillion. no sign of give on the other side, but they're far apart. any sign of talks? >> reporter: the short answer is, no. this turned into a multi-trillion dollar game of chicken here. democrats have said from the onset that they want to keep the conversations going. they want to keep negotiations going, and that up in their dem recognizing them not knowing how severe the circumstance is. and bizarre tweet from the president. a school yard version of i am rubber you are glue accusing nancy pelosi and chuck schumer only know wanting to negotiate. in a tweet, where have they been the last four weeks? the last two in speaker pelosi's office negotiating with his

chief of staff and his treasury secretary. all that time calling for a president who labeled himself the world's greatest dealmaker to come get involved himself. kind of a bizarre moment of the president throwing back this taunt at especially after the weekend he said democrats had reached out to him to resume negotiations. when chuck schumer this morning pelosi through aides denied any such outreach occurred. we're well stuck here on the negotiation side until one side or the other essentially decides to blink and come with a new offer to restart things. >> and on the legal issues, garrett, they were, almost goading them, go to court. sue me. that's not a good political play for the democrats to be suing to stop the president from, you know, letting people have more unemployment benefits. not as much as they want, but some. >> reporter: right. optics alone are bad let alone it's august and the idea a

federal court would move on this in some expedient way even before the election seems unlikely. democrats would rather see orders dismissed because they are superseded by actual action that does something. and not a lot of "there" there in these presidential memoranda, essentially. >> peter baker, we have covered a lot of white houses, you and i. never seen a president in the united states in the midst of this sort of standoff at his golf course. not just playing golf but said to be a -- started with "hail to the chief." holding drinks, not wearing masks when they first came in coming into that ballroom in violation of the new jersey state guidelines. do you want to unpack that a bit? >> i think that basically sums it up. look, he cannot have these

campaign rallies that give him such energy, that this weekend was his subs stutitute. a handful of people cheering him on while he takes on the press and democrats. not much of a substitute for a president who drinks in the adulation of a big arena full of 20,000 people. but that's the best he can do right now with the coronavirus. you know, he's in a position where he wants to turn the tables on congress and make it about how they have screwed up and he's the only one taking action by signing these executive orders, buts a others have mentioned. the truth is, if paychecks don't actually end up seeing the results of that, in other words, you don't get these unemployment benefits, it won't matter whether he had a good visual at his golf club. also, of course, he's at risk of the same thing he used to accuse president obama of doing. overreach in terms of executive power and then golfing at times when the country is actually

looking for leadership. he made a big point doing that repeatedly. criticizing repeatedly president obama for that sort of thing and now he's, of course,s a you point out, optics being at a golf club with people who don't need $400 a week talking really -- stuck in this log jam with democrats rather than figuring out a way out of it. >> and we also point out,s a i'm sure most people know, that the democrats actually passed, the house passed a bill in may sitting on mitch mcconnell's desk and he was missing in action. for all of this time, for the president to tweet again they've done nothing ands a garrett points out they were in nancy pelosi's office with his own chief of staff. do you see a breakdown inside the white house between mnuchin and meadows also? and that's part of the problem? >> sorry. >> peter, i'm sorry. >> talking to me? sorry. yeah.

absolutely. the white house felt for a while's stephen mnuchin treasury secretary involved in a number of previous negotiations, too willing to give in, to make concessions to democrats. they were not happy about that. that's why they sent in mark meadows. mark meadows chief of staff, of course, his history is in the houses a a person who blew up deals not made themes a member of the caucus, the freedom caucus. supposed to be hard-liner, bad cop and mnuchin the good cop. >> peter baker, garrett haake and kristen welker, thanks to all. and minnesota senator and former presidential candidate amy klobuchar joins me now. senator, thank you for being with us. this is a bit of a mess with people, millions of people without unemployment. the supplemental unemployment and not getting the eviction relief that the president advertised at all. that's not what it says. you're a lawyer. tell me about the legality of it, first. >> okay.

i just keep thinking of the image of these people at his golf course, at his resort. that's not what most americans are doing right now. they're struggling to get by. some are out of work. they need real unemployment benefits. they need, for those that are working, they need help with child care. they want to figure out their school year. and he just walks away, is down golfing instead of negotiating with senator schumer and representative pelosi. and this idea that they weren't negotiating, they went from $3.6 trillion, this has been reported and i talked to senator schumer about this last night myself, down to $2 trillion. it's the white house that isn't moving and then they play this gimmick which, by the way, yes, unconstitutionals a ben sasse pointed out, also think about the payroll tax change. both parties people didn't like this idea. why? it's putting the burden on the backs of seniors. it's a fake, because they're going to collect the checks next year anyway. the payroll taxes. so let's get real.

this is not a time for a band-aid solution, not when you have projected 33% reduction in gedp. head of the federal reserve doesn't think that. president trump himself said it will get worse before it gets bet perp it's time for real action and that's why he needs to go back to the negotiating table. >> i want to ask you about something definitely not in so far. it's any relief for the money that is needed to have a reliable mail-in election. and in addition on friday night there was another friday night massacre with the new head of the postal service, a trump donor, no experience, getting rid of all the experienced people and bringing in his own people. what are your concerns about a fair election, about this not being in the relief package? >> yeah. well, there's a lot of things not with what he's done with a gimmick. you know? no money for testing. there's no money for elections, and you are right. there's no money for the postal service, and you add to that the

games this guy is playing. the latest thing, andrea, i'm actually leading a group of senators on this today, latest thing is that they've announced first time in a long time that you can't use a nonprofit rate for ballots. that ups the price for ballots. it decreases the time that they will be delivered, and it just makes things much, much harder for the states. right in the middle of a pandemic. one of the things that is part of the negotiations right now, which i hope will continue, if donald trump allows them to, one of the things should be about putting in place provisions that this guy cannot mess with people's -- not only there are ballots but prescription drugs and other things being delivered in the middle of this pandemic. it's game playing, but it's putting not just our democracy at risk, it actually puts people's lives at risk, since so many more people are getting their medications delivered by

mail. >> i want to also ask you a question about joe biden. very close to a decision if not an announcement coming any day now. on who's going to be his running mate. now, first of all, there is a coalition of women's groups who are warning people to protect this nominee from the sexist and potentially racist -- if it is a black woman -- kind of criticisms we've already seen, stereotyping that affected women candidates. care to view on that? >> we've all experienced this. i think i was one, the one on the debate stage that at some point said if there hadn't been a different standard for women in politics we could play a game called "name your favorite woman president," for that matter vice president. but we can't play that game because there hasn't been one. part of this is people's expectations, the discrimination, the stuff out there on the internet, the attacks we've seen. so that's what they are doing. they're anticipating this, and i think it's a good idea. by the way, if women weren't

ambitious, then andrea mitchell, you and i wouldn't be doing this show right now, and i think we need more of that and not less of it. so my answer to this is, he's going to pick a great running mate. got a great group to pick from. >> hmm? all of my women producers, women bosses and women colleagueses a well. let me ask you also about whether this is the time. s a you yourself said. play this for you. the time for a black running mate. let's watch what you said on the day that you took yourself out of the race. >> this is a historic moment, and america must seize on this moment, and i truly believe,s a i actually told the vice president last night, whenny i called him, that i think this is a moment to put a woman of color on that ticket. >> so you told that to lawrence o'donnell when you announced

your decision. is it still true now? and if so, do you think there will be backlash if one of the white contenders is chosen? >> whoever joe biden chooses he's going to make a good decision, because they're all qualified. every single one of them. i still believe what i said to him that night, and what i said to lawrence the next day. and that is that this is a historic moment. we've seen people of color, in epic numbers hurt from this pandemic. overwhelmingly the ones percentagewise dieing, the ones on the front line. we've seen the anger over the murder of george floyd in my state. this is a moment like no other and that's my suggestion, but i will strongly support whoever he picks, because they are such a great group of women, and i hope that isn't lost in all of the, you know, the guests on the

show. who's getting attacked, who isn't. come on now. this is a moment. i remember when jair geraldine ferrara was picked. i thought, anything is possible. this is many years later and this is an election like no other and we have a group of candidates who have led, will be strong, bring compassion and competence to the ticket that will complement joe biden's compassion and confidence. so i'm excited about whoever he picks and ready to go and help. >> and gerry ferrara was 36 years ago, and -- we've seen how many years have passed. thank you very much for the ambitious senator from minnesota. which is high praise. thanks. >> there's no one more ambitious than andrea mitchell. anyway -- very good. thank you for having me on, and that is a compliment. >> thank you.

appreciate it. ands a we talk about this decision, 5 million cases and counting. should the u.s. go back into a lockdown? talk to one medical expert who says that is the only way. and one week to the democratic national convention. who's going to be joe biden's running mate? you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. reports" on . here's your iced coffee! ♪ america runs on dunkin' ♪ i have moderate to severe pnow, there's skyrizi. ♪ things are getting clearer, yeah i feel free ♪ ♪ to bare my skin ♪ yeah that's all me. ♪ nothing and me go hand in hand ♪

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texas governor greg abbott extended the disaster

declaration for his state over the weekend after texas reach add new milestone. more than 1 million cases of covid-19 and the seven-day average positivity rate reaching 20%. nbc news correspondent morgan chesky joins us. texas still one of the worst-hit states but a local doctor there says it may be worse than the numbers show. tell me about that. >> reporter: andrea, absolutely frustrating for so many health officials here in this state, because what we're seeing, hospitalizations and new daily cases level off or decline, depends on what part of state you're in. to see the status of the resources that you have to hand out to these covid-19 patients, and i want to take you to the rio grande valley, we've talked a lot about hidalgo county. a city there. city of donna, 7 out of every 100 people there, andrea, tested positive for covid-19. giving it the unfortunate titles a having one of the worst per capita rates in the entire

country for any city. and i spoke with dr. ivan ma lind malinda what could be behind the spread even doing everything they can to slow the rate. take a listen. >> the vast majority of our cases come from family transmission. because of poverty we have not multigenerational, trigenerational families living together. average age in hidalgo county in the rio grande valley is 29 years. if you're 29 years old you know you're hungry for socializing. all our 29-year-olds going to bars, socializing, having parties. >> reporter: and that disaster declaration extended by governor greg abbott allows the state to help individual counties. back when he issued that initially march 3rd, there were 50 confirmed cases in the state. more than half a million today. andrea?

>> that situation is not getting any better. thank you very much. joining me now, dr. michael osterholm, research university of minnesota. you've writ an column in the "new york times" with clear choices how to crush the virus,s a you put it. you concluded we need another lockdown. tell everyone why. >> well, first of all, the world demonstrated that it can, this virus can be controlled in a much, much better way than we've done. in fact, the city and state of new york has shown us that. what happened in the spring is, we locked down for a while. almost call it a slowdown, which, of course, many think it was more than that, but we never got our numbers down to a low level where then we could fight with the traditional public health tools that many countries around the world have done and are now allowed those countries to reopen much more than we have here. until we do that, we're just going to see a very high number that will continue to cripple us

both from a health standpoint and from an economic standpoint. so i don't think we really have any other choice but to do that, if we want to get through the next six to eight months the best way we can. >> and, of course, the problem is, that the white house, the federal government, is giving, you know, contradictory advice and not understanding that the economy won't improve until the pandemic is at least controlled. ands a you point out, that this is the only way. we're seeing super spreading events. they're becoming more of a threat. people becoming too relaxed. that motorcycle rally, historic rally. this is not the year for it, for all of those people to be in sturgis, south dakota. >> right. you know, if we give up before the virus does, the virus doesn't care. it will still infect us. we have to continue to remember. i like to say we're right now probably in the third inning of this nine inning game. only about 8% to 10% of the u.s. population has been infected to

date. for this virus to slow down transmission it will take at least 50% to 70% of the population to become infected or have a vaccine. between now and the time of vaccine is available, we'll see a tremendous number of ill people. back in march 30,000 cases a day seemed impossible. then we got it down to 22,000, but look. went to 65,000. now down. probably high 40s, low 50s to end of month. schools open. colleges, secondary education open we'll see an explosion of cases in september and october. say, remember when it was only 60,000 cases a day? that's what this country has to understand we're up against, if we don't do these things. the virus doesn't care if we don't do them. it will still infect us. >> and parents are, of course, eager to get their kids back in school, but safely. teachers are alarmed. staff are involved. now we hear more than 97,000 kids tested positive at the end of july according to the american academy of pediatrics

and children's hospital association. how troubling is that to you? with all the pressure to get the schools back, the students back into classrooms? >> yes. troubling, andrea, what's going on in the community? it's not just the kids being infected. in communities that have low levels of transmission, i think the schools particularly for elementary school kids, can be opened much more safely. i think secondary schools will be a challenge. i think if you are in a college or university, a technical school or a high school today, you are going to be part of a significant challenge for the upcoming months, buts a we've demonstrated with day care in our state here in minnesota, for example. we've not shut down our day cares the entire summer and gotten through quite well. i think that the chance of having a better experience with elementary students. you know, k-5 is a real possibility but only in communities that shut down transmission. do we want bars and restaurants

or or schools? which could we want? our choice. that's what we're up against right now. >> always appreciate your straight talk. thank you so much, doctor. thanks for being with us. >> thank you very much, andrea. thank you. sure. we only have 85 days now until the election. one week before the democratic national convention virtually kicking off. has joe biden decided on a running mate? stay with us. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. ♪ thousands of women with metastatic breast cancer, which is breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, are living in the moment and taking ibrance. ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor is for postmenopausal women or for men with hr+/her2- metastatic breast cancer, as the first hormonal based therapy. ibrance plus letrozole significantly delayed disease progression versus letrozole, and shrank tumors in over half of patients. patients taking ibrance

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we are waiting, watching for former vice president joe biden's big decision. who will be his returningmate? expected soon. has to be before a hard deadline. that's the start of the democratic national convention, which will now be virtual, starting a week from today. nbc's mike memoli is in wilmington, delaware covering the vice president in his hometown. also donna edwards of maryland, contributing contributor to the "washington post." thanks to you all. mike memoli, the man on the spot. at his beachhouse. not back in wilmington yet. beachhouse synonymous with family, conferences, decision-making. do you think a decision is near, if not already made, but not announced? what are you hearing? >> well, andrea, of course, this is already been a campaign like

none we've ever covered before. it's been a beefsteveepstakes l never before. and like those seen previously, i can tell you the biden team has been in furious preparations over the weekend waiting for that signal to come from the candidate himself about who he's chosen and when they plan to announce that decision. s a you say, spe-- as you say, weekend here and teasing reporters whether he made a decision. told one reporter he had. we understand he was joking at the time. if he has made a decision it's not money communicated widely within the campaign. but we are expecting a largely virtual but not exclusively virtual announcement. remember in 2008 the obama campaign, the first to tease this announcement asking supporters to sign up for text messages list. the biden campaign has been working to encourage supporters here at the last minute to get themselves signed up.

i think also we should look for additional virtual elementses a part of the rollout. the biden campaign saying a virtual fund reiser. might be the first time we see these two individuals together. s as a far as who's in the final group, learned friday, a day before reporting gretchen whitmer consideration, she had controversialed to meet the former vice president. those who know the most about this decision are sharing the least about it and there have been a number of these potential in-person meetings without us being able to track them, of course, in the same way because of the pandemic, andrea. >> and one other part of this virtual rollout will be a video about this new running mate. so they've probably prepared elements for all but have to put together the video. that doesn't take very long. yamiche, increasing pressure to

have a black candidate with gretchen whitmer being widely reported now to have been in for at least a couple of hours, in her meeting. i'm told they're having meetings with all the major candidates. multiple meetings with some of them. undetected? hard to follow people around during this pandemic, and certainly difficult and they've kept secrets very well. these were face-to-face meetings. it could be a white candidate. what are you expect -- would you expect the blowback to be from the black community? >> based on my reporting, vice president biden, he understands why people want to see a woman of color, but doesn't feel particularly pressured to pick a candidate of color. that's based on my reporting. i think even today there was a letter that just was released where 100 black men including attorney ben crump, the attorney for a number of families including george floyd's family, michael brown's family are ferguson. trayvon martin saying they'd

like to see a black woman saying african-american women being the backbone and most loyal voters for the democratic party and deserve a shot to be in such a positions a the vice presidency. that said i think joe biden understands african-american backed him largely and how he became the nominee. in ways feels he has a sure handle on the african-american voter. will people wonder if he doesn't pick a black woman why he didn't do that? questions he'll have to answer? certainly. will there be a blowback that will hurt him in polls? that is something joe biden feels will not happen to him. but we could see, i think a lot of it is about turnout. saw in 2008 and 2012 what it meant to have barack obama -- of course, a specific kind of candidate on the ballot. people came out in droves. turnout numbers were reported numbers. but i think joe biden feels solid in the fact that african-americans frankly look across the aisle don't see a candidate they can even begin to support in donald trump. sos a a result, what you see is joe biden not feeling pressured

here. >> and ben crump, benjamin crump endorsed kamala harris. one of the most prominent women, and susan rise, considered to still be in contention. donna ed wshwards you have two members of the caucus, karen basss a wells a val demings. a lot of choices here. but he could go in another direction. >> well, i mean, he has a lot of really fine choices, and you know, the interesting thing to me is, i've followed a lot of social media. you've got people who are lined up in all of these different camps. i think the question is going to be, once joe biden makes his decision, a running mate is announced, how quickly he can go to, to pull all of that together. i think it will be rather quick, and some people will be

disappointed, but -- others will be excited, but i think overall, i think people mostly vote for a president and not a vice president. a vice president can add something to the ticket, and i think that they will continue to go through ands a democrats really unite the party in order to get prepared for the big battle on november 3rd. >> and mike memoli a contrast in tv spending and ads themselves. content of the ads,s a our friends pointed out today between donald trump absent completely from his ads and joe biden front and center in his adses a wells a biden spending more on tv ads than donald trump? >> that's right, andrea. almost a twist on the criticism from the trump campaign of the former vice president that he's running a basement strategy. the biden campaign megging is heavily featuring the candidate himself.

economic speeches focusing on the pandemic. the trump it campaign advertising heavy on negative messages talking about the rights, talking about biden's ties to those in the left of the party. andrea, since the trump campaign had a pause in their advertising, the biden campaign outspent them 2-1. in terms of messaging, $2.5 million from the trump campaign with no mention 6 their own candidate. very interesting trend here, andrea. >> or any of this policieses a well. thank you very much. mike memoli, jamir alcindor. and helping fame who are facing eviction during the pandemic. stay with us. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. hell reports" on msnbc.

we're following two stop stories this hour. former vice president joe biden could announce his vice presidential choice very soon, and democrats slamming the executive actions that president trump signed over the weekend

questioning whether they are legal and whether the money would even get to those who need it most. joining me to talk about this is democrat congresswoman barbara lee of california. senior member of the appropriations committee. congresswoman, thank you very much for being with us. i want to talk about joe biden and his deliberations first, and the concern among people in the campaigns a wells a outside women's groups, that there is going to be and continues to be already a lot of sexist attacks and potentially racist attackses a well, if he chooses a black woman. what can be done to try to prevent that in terms of online, in interviews, in print? >> andrea, thank you so much for that question. i know personally, you know personally what this is all about. it's shameful and disgusting and i'm pleased that our women's organizations are prepared. pushing back. i mean, look, women are assertive, we're bold, yes, and

ambitious. harriet tubman, she was ambitious. ida b. wells, dorothy and shirley chisholm. my mother was ambitious. come on. about time they got over it and we have to push back on social media, through interviews and showing up and making sure you say enough is enough and not allow these horrible sexist, misogynistic comments and attitudes to prevail. i think this is it and we're going to make sure of that. >> what if he passes over, in fact, two of your colleagues in the black caucus? passes over having a black running mate at this moment in history? >> first of all, let me say all of the women are fully prepared to serves a vice president who have been made public on his list. second, we actually have three wonderful, phenomenal women in the black caucus, senator harris, congresswoman bass and also you have congresswoman

demings. all three are very active members of the congressional black caucus. so here we have three women who are well-prepared to be vice president. look, i think it's going to be up to, like, everyone understands. it's going to be up to vice president biden to make the decision. hopefully soon. i'm really excited about this, and he will actually, you know, bring forth the woman he thinks will both -- be consistent with both his values and agenda and i am prepared to work really hard to make sure that we win, regardless of who is on the tickets a it relates to the vice president. i said from day one, i thought it should be an african-american woman. this is the moment that we need to make sure that the issues around racism, sexism, equality, racial injustice and inequality is addressed in a magnificent, deep way and every single policy coming out of the white house and i think an african-american

woman is fully prepared for that. >> and to your point. i was talking about -- thinking about the house democratic caucus, of course. your colleagues, karen bass and val demings and senator, of course, part of the congress' black caucuses a well. a leading candidate. let's talk about the relief bill, because there's no solution in sight, no talks. the president taunting senator schumer and the speaker. saying where they xbrn been? with his chief of staff and treasury secretary, and you all pass add bill back in may. so what can be done for the people who are really hurting, and what do you think about the executive actions that he took? >> i think the executive actions, first of all, andrea, are smoke in mirrors. come on. there's no funding in the executive actions, first of all. secondly, how in the world do you take away from someone's unemployment? compensation. $800 a month.

people are living on the edge. democrats, yes, over two months ago put forth the h.e.r.o.e.s. act ensuring their lives and livelihood. this is a pandemic of enormous proportions and we put in resources for contact tracing for testing and for care and for resirs to isolation if necessary. we put in language with regard to a national plan and a national strategy. you see that still has not happened. also, the president is -- in terms of his bullying the school districts, actually tied to black school districts and forcing hem to physical open, even if the health protocols or the virus is such the health officials do not believe they should be opened. so deciding to penalize students that won't do this and so for the safety of our teachers and workers, all the workers at our schools and our students are in jeopardy. he cannot keep doing this. that is one thing he does not

want to happen. he wants the money to be fenced in for those schools who physically are opening and that's dangerous and it's not healthy and it could be deadly. >> well, thank you very much, congresswoman barbara lee. more on that in a moment, because we're kicking off our special week-long series, coronavirus and the classroom answering questions about sending kids back to school. one unique plan, keep them outdoors. that's coming up next. stay with us. empic® is helping many people with type 2 diabetes like emily lower their blood sugar. a majority of adults who took ozempic® reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. here's your a1c. oh! my a1c is under 7! (announcer) and you may lose weight. adults who took ozempic® lost on average up to 12 pounds. i lost almost 12 pounds! oh! (announcer) for those also with known heart disease, ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke, or death. it lowers the risk. oh!

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as school districts grapple with how to safely reopen a number of schools are taking classes entirely outdoors where covid-19 transmission rates are indeed lower. jeff bennett has more. >> reporter: as schools across the country scramble to reopen safely, the school in montgomery county, maryland, has found a solution in its own backyard. it's moving all fall classes outdoors. >> the data shows that being outdoors drastically decreases the chances of transmission. >> rolling hills. >> reporter: alicia is head of school serving children ages 2 to 12. armed with a master's degree in public health, she weighed reopening options and concluded outdoor schooling was the safest. pointing to studies that indicate coronavirus transmission rates are lower in outdoor settings than in indoor settings, especially when combined with social distancing.

to prepare for the coming year they created model outdoor classrooms with small tents and tables, larger ones are on the way. tents will stay open at all times to allow for maximum air circulation. occupancy will be limited to no more than 15 students and children will wear masks. outdoor education during a pandemic isn't new. it was common during tuburkulose outbreaks. denmark pushed many classes outside. now a small but growing number of schools are embracing outdoor schooling including a preschool and kindergarten near philadelphia. the school plans to stay outside until the end of the year and has asked parents to dress children accordingly. >> there is no bad weather. only bad clothing. and we've shared with the families that their children need to be dressed for the weather. >> reporter: eric miller is sending his two daughters to the school. >> they can build things. they can dig holes. they can play with bugs.

my kids always are better behaved after a day outside than they are after a day inside watching the ipad. >> very computerized world, sometimes we need to realize that the safer, better place is in open air. >> reporter: educators excited to bring students a classroom that takes learning outside the box. >> and joining me now nbc news correspondent jeff bennett. do they have the funds to take classes outdoors? >> yeah, it's a great question, andrea. public schools often have less outdoor green space and certainly have more students than do private schools and usually less flexibility in trying to make an option like this work. but there is a way that public school districts can sort of tailor outdoor schooling to serve their students. if for instance a public district that wanted to bring back students with learning differences or age pre-k through

first grade which remote learning is so difficult if not impossible. then this outdoor model where they can repurpose outdoor athletic fields or use a nearby park. that's one way that they would be able to do that, andrea. >> geoff, it's fascinating. of course, it also takes some money and public schools don't have the kind of money that the private schools have. but i'm really curious to how this could be developed. thank you for this possible solution and that does it for us for this edition of andrea mitchell reports. busy day, our special series coronavirus and the classroom continues next hour with one florida district that is starting the school year today. steve kornacki picking up our coverage after this short break. america runs on dunkin'

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and good afternoon, i'm steve kornacki. here's what we're watching at this hour. any minute now a press briefing at the white house. we are going to monitor that and bring you any developments as we get them. now, this briefing comes as democrats slam president trump for orders he issued that circumvent congress which was not able to reach an agreement on coronavirus relief with the white house. president trump claims house speaker nancy pelosi and senate minority leader chuck schumer want to meet to discuss an aid package and the president has not been actively involved in negotiations. the nation has now surpassed 5 million confirmed cases of coronavirus. globally there are now about 20 million confirmed cases. meanwhile,