behind a lot of election interference. when they investigated him and released the first large report on his wealth and his ascent to power, a couple weeks later her husband was mysteriously attacked in front of their building. he was injected with something. still don't know what. collapsed and was convulsing on the ground and had to be taken to hospital. so her husband who is an anthropologist is now living abroad. sobol continues to insist on living in russia because the nature of her politics, the heart of her politics is that she insists radical normalcy. >> all right. thank you so much. we'll be reading your piece in the new issue of "the new yorker." much like putin's russia, belarus has its own

authoritarian strong man working to consolidate control. tomorrow, we're going to speak with a leading opposition figure in that country about her efforts to give power to the people. be sure to join us for that. i'm excited about it. that does it for us. chris jansing picks up coverage right now. hi there. i am chris jansing in for stephanie ruhle. it is monday, july 19th. we start with breaking news. just days before the olympics set to kickoff in tokyo, a shocker for team usa. an alternate on u.s. women's gymnastics team tested positive for covid. the team already in japan but the name of the athlete has not been revealed. it is just the latest setback for team usa after yesterday's announcement that tennis star coco goff tested positive too. she will not be able to compete. back in this country, new covid cases fueled by the highly

contagious delta variant are now rising in all 50 states. that's the first time we have seen that in six months. it is driven by cases among the unvaccinated. states where vaccination rates are below the national average, arkansas, missouri, florida, louisiana, for example, seeing some of the biggest outbreaks. the surgeon general says the solution may be bring back masks. >> in areas where there are low numbers of vaccinated people, where cases are rising, it is very reasonable for counties to take more mitigation measures like the mask rules coming out of l.a. i anticipate that will happen in other parts of the country too. >> gabe gutierrez is in jacksonville, florida, stephanie gosk in tokyo, geoff bennett at the white house. dylan buyers is the media reporter. and also infectious disease

doctor. good to see you all. stephanie, i have to start with you. what a shocker to wake up to. what do we know about the gymnast that tested positive. >> reporter: this is tough news for team usa to kickoff this week. the u.s. gymnastics women, six gymnasts selected to compete. an alternate tested positive. these are young women. we are told another athlete will have to go through additional quarantine measures as a result. the athlete that has covid needs to be isolated in a facility. usa gymnastics confirmed the news. and said the team moved to a separate facility to train and live. that was going to happen anyway, but gives you an idea of the measures they're taking to protect themselves. we saw a number of posts already from some team members,

including simone biles on instagram. they are together but all masked. this comes on the heels of the announcement by 17-year-old coco goff that she would not be coming to japan to compete in the tennis competition. she was a headliner of that team after serena williams pulled out when told she couldn't travel with her three-year-old. we are getting close to competition, days away. usa gymnastics women are supposed to start competing sunday. now you have also this case of the south african soccer team, men's soccer team, two of those athletes tested positive. 21 of them are considered close contacts. according to rules, they have to test negative six hours before the competition, the first game is against japan as it is. and then japan, the team, has to decide whether or not they are still comfortable to play. so it gives the opposing team the option to back out if they're not comfortable.

closer we get, chris, more we're going to see this news effecting competitions themselves. >> no way to know what the psychological impact is for other members of the gymnastics team. obviously the premier event of the olympics. doctor, look, there's no vaccine mandate at the olympics. we're not sure if the gymnastics team is vaccinated. how concerned are you, this could be the tip of the iceberg. to stephanie's point, this is a teenager who tested positive. >> chris, a lot. i think i had spoken about this before. you could see this coming down the pike. we saw this with the delta variant emerging, saw large gatherings in india first where they had large gatherings. you saw the explosion of cases, the environment in japan, you have 23% of the people as of this weekend, general population that's fully vaccinated. you said there's no mandate for

vaccination. you are seeing athletes because of lack of access to vaccines in some cases, some cases because a person didn't get vaccinated, that's creating vulnerability that can be driven among people that haven't received the vaccine. it is not like they can take time and come back. if you are isolated or become sick, that's it. the olympics are happening now. seems like an exercise in futility. i am concerned it may lead to more cases in japan and the teams there. >> gabe, where you are in florida, not much surprised me any more, but this is a terrifying statistic. that state, florida, accounts for 20% of all new covid cases in the u.s. what's going on there, what's the trend among patients they're seeing getting sick? >> reporter: well hey there, chris. what we're seeing is what we have seen the past several days in other parts of the country, chris. the doctors and nurses we speak

to saying they're seeing younger, sicker patients than what they were normally used to. here at the hospital, u.s. health in jacksonville, they have more than 100 covid patients right now in the jacksonville area. they're seeing cases double each week, chris. what's going on here? as we have been hearing, the vast majority, almost entirely really of patients that are in there are patients that are unvaccinated. speaking with several people in arkansas and tennessee last week, the vaccination rates there are lower than here. in florida, vaccination rate is 47%. relatively high, considering other parts of the country are lower than that in the 30s. but there's a great reluctance and distrust of the vaccine. we have been hearing that play out with the surgeon general saying warning of misinformation, when it comes to the vaccine.

there are certain pockets in the country, certain parts of florida especially, that they're not getting vaccinated. they made a decision not to get vaccinated, and they're ending up here. the positivity rate in this state, chris, is around 10%. again, right now, there are more than 100 people, 100 covid patients in the hospital alone. doctors and nurses we speak with say they expect it to get worse in coming weeks, especially because of back to school. >> so doctor, we know what unvaccinated people should do, they should get the vaccine, but what about vaccinated people. for example, do you agree with bringing back mask mandates, are you telling people to start wearing masks indoors again? >> chris, i think what you see is when the amount of virus in the community increases, no vaccine is perfect. know that with delta, the efficacy goes down a bit. 90% protected against hospitalizations and deaths but seeing more break through

infections. vaccines reduce the transmission, if you're vaccinated, could that change, could you be more likely to transmit it. for all cases that are increasing, tons of people unvaccinated, i think it is a wise and cautious step to reintroduce indoor masking. i think it has to be based on metrics in communities we talk about. if you're highly vaccinated communities, seeing pockets, those are areas consider reinstating mask mandates the way l.a. county has done. one thing i will say, people immuno compromised or medical conditions, i recommend take the extra step and consider putting on a mask. >> jeff, when i heard president biden blaming facebook for misinformation, i heard a lot of frustration that we seem to be essentially stuck, averaging 380,000 doses of vaccine a day nationwide, down from around

3.4 million in mid april. and there's a new poll showing among adults that haven't gotten the shot, half say because they don't trust the government, and that's a number, you can see it here. that's gone up in recent months. if you're in the government, what do you do about that? >> it is a great question, chris. the white house is well aware of the limits of presidential persuasion when it comes to messaging safety and effectiveness of covid-19 vaccines. one of the reasons last week, the white house partnered with a pop star, brought her to try to boost vaccine acceptance with younger people. beyond that, the president for months now has been saying the most convincing vaccine messages come from folks people know directly, whether it is their personal doctor, clergy member perhaps, and beyond that, the administration is sending mobile units to hard to reach areas, enlisted vaccine volunteers to go door to door to get shots in

people's arms. even that has become political, some conservative commentators try to find an opening to attack the biden administration for government overreach, but i have to say the way the white house messaged around this has changed dramatically. early in the administration this white house was reluctant to criticize state and local governments for their own slow vaccine rollout, but we have seen just in that exchange you see on the screen between peter alexander, that misinformation on social media platforms its killing people, which we should say is an objective fact. the white house has been more forward in returning fire when it comes to disinformation and misinformation, given that the vaccination rate plateaued, and delta variant is on the rise. >> facebook quickly put out a statement and said we're not costing lives, we're essentially saving lives.

facebook has pushed back very hard against that. so much of what's out there we know is misinformation is clearly resonating. recent poll that showed the number of americans who say they aren't likely to get the vaccine has gone up in recent months. what do you think that about? >> i think misinformation is everywhere. i think social media companies have to do more, but they're not the only one. i wish i had seen more from the misinformation, disinformation initiative. what i liked about that released from the surgeon general, that it is pointing to the fact it is everywhere. it is social media amplification in cases, and sometimes it is influencers that are on cable television, right wing cable television. also anytime one of us tweet something that without checking the source we are adding to misinformation that's out there. it truly is a whole of society

approach. one thing i wish they paid more attention to is that there is a small group who are amplifying the message, it has become politicized. we have to pay attention to that, take it head onto see how to take the rhetoric down when we are all in this together as a country. >> thank you all so much for this. we have more breaking news this morning. the u.s. and several allies are confirming with quote, high confidence now, that the chinese government was behind a massive ransomware attack in march when 30,000 u.s. businesses were hacked through microsoft's email software. ken delaney has been digging deeper. what do we know about the attack first of all? >> good morning, chris. the attack against microsoft email servers effected as many as 140,000 computers worldwide. it was a major deal. what's significant about the

biden administration push today is that the administration the first time is calling out what officials long said is an unholy alliance between chinese intelligence agencies and criminal hackers. they're not condemning them for using them to spy, the united states does that every day. the issue is the ministry of state security, main intelligence agency, is paying criminal hackers to conduct ransomware attacks against american and european businesses. and the other significant thing about the announcement is that after four years of donald trump flailing against china on a union lateral basis, going it alone, the biden administration enlisted allies in the announcement today. for example, this is the first time nato as an organization confirmed china's malicious cyber activities. in concert with the announcement, chris, the justice department indicted three chinese supervise. mss agents, who will never see the inside of a courtroom. nonetheless, it is a strong action by the biden

administration, a statement against what they call china's rogue behavior in cyberspace. >> thanks so much. appreciate it. coming up, jeff bezos set to take off into space. going live to where it will play out less than 24 hours from now. first, two high profile shootings in d.c., one leaves a six-year-old girl dead, the other sends nationals park into chaos. the latest on the troubling surge in shootings. next hour, this man that broke into the senate chamber january 6 will be the first rioter sentenced for a felony. how it could set the tone for hundreds of other cases. r cases. ♪ when technology is easier to use... ♪ barriers don't stand a chance. ♪ that's why we'll stop at nothing

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talk with a licensed therapist on your own time. with cerebral, everyone gets a care team. get your first month for just $30 at getcerebral.com. right now, man hunts are under way for shooting suspects after a violent weekend rattled cities nationwide. at least eight killed, dozens more injured after gunfire erupted in houston, portland, sacramento, d.c. we learned two people died in connection with two related shootings in tucson, arizona. first responders were shot. now up to three children may be missing. a six-year-old was killed in a drive-by shooting, a separate shooting sent thousands of nationals fans into panic after three people were shot outside the ballpark.

morgan radford is all over this story. take us inside the stadium, what it was like for fans, what the latest is on the investigation. >> reporter: chris, you can only imagine fear and mayhem. the reality is the shooting happened just outside the stadium. three people were wounded. one was a victim, a fan standing outside. two others police believe were actually involved in the shooting. shots rang out at the bottom of the sixth inning. i spoke to a source that said she was inside with her kids, trying to keep her kids calm while people inside that holding pen area were panicking. some adults were having anxiety attacks. listen to what one bystander said who was in the stadium at the time the shots rang out. >> basically took cover with everything going down, as you saw people running through the concourse, we basically went through into the dugout of the

padres, sitting there with manny ma chad oh's glove and everything. pretty scary. >> reporter: we want to be clear the d.c. mayor and owner of the washington nationals says they believe the shooting was not targeting fans or spectators or players or anyone inside the ballpark, but the reality of it is the woman shot outside is still in the hospital, she's expected to survive. the other two are in the hospital, and police are looking for leads. >> thank you so much for that. now to a closely watched day for suspects charged in the capitol riot. in less than an hour, the feds will sentence paul hodgkins. identified by a selfie taken in the chamber. with more than 500 charged, his

sentence could set the tone for more to come. scott mcfarland joins us. the judge has a chance to make an example. do we know what to expect? >> reporter: we expect a big fat tea leaf to read to get a sense of where cases are going, what punishments other defendants will receive. paul hodgkins' case is the perfect test market for what prosecutors and judges are going to do. he is not accused of assault or damaging anything. prosecutors say he was not only in the senate chamber with flag, gloves, goggles, rope, he was ready for the possibility of violence that day. they want him jailed for 18 months in this case. let's see what the judge decides. does the judge spare hodgkins from prison, does the judge give less than prosecutors seek. that would certainly be noticed. does the judge go harder, order more than 18 months. what a chilling effect that would have on other defendants. what a message that would send

to other defendants who are no doubt monitoring today's hearing. here's what prosecutors argue in 45 minutes, i am told. they're going to say there was collective damage that day, emotional and physical damage for the officers, $1.5 million in physical damage at the capitol. they're going to say hodgkins was a component of collective damage. defense attorneys will argue that hodgkins was, quote, courageous and strong to be among the first to plead guilty, and they're going to make an al gore ee, just like grant showed leniency to lee, the court should show lean yens. >> scott, thanks so much for that. turn to congress, we are a week out from the committee investigating january 6th. any update on what kevin mccarthy is going to do? >> reporter: still no update on that, chris.

kevin mccarthy appears to be dragging the decision out, seems conflicted between two possible strategies. one to refuse to appoint members in attempt to delegitimize allowing the democrats to move forward. republicans know they're doing the investigation with or without republicans, may as well take their seats, make their case. try to come up with some counter narrative to what democrats are doing. two things to keep in mind. kevin mccarthy about a week ago gave an interview saying he is conflicted about this, hadn't made decisions who to appoint, hasn't made a decision whether to appoint someone. later last week on thursday, kevin mccarthy met with former president donald trump in new jersey and we don't know what was said, official readout coming out of the meeting from mccarthy is they talked about midterms, that was the agenda going into it. donald trump is not a man known to stay quiet when he feels strongly about investigation into him.

mccarthy hugged trump closely on this. if the former president has a press conference -- we should be hearing where mccarthy's head is at. >> meantime, today is a bigo ta first procedural step on the package today. still no agreement how to pay for it. are they any further ahead than when they left for break? >> reporter: in a way, yes, they are. they made some decisions. the idea of more irs enforcement as a way to bolster money for higher rate of return, portman says that's out. they made that after weeks of dithering on it, looking for other ways, including medicare rebates a idea of long term revenue growth. a bit of a gimmick, one congress returned to on multiple occasions. if there's will to get to yes,

they will do it. i checked in with senator schumer's office this morning. the plan is still the same as last week, to file cloture on the vehicle to move forward. procedural vote wednesday. his office notes no vote on substance until at least thursday. schumer trying to push it along. republicans haven't sard they'll vote for this vehicle until it is done. >> sahil kapur, thank you. the fight for voting rights on the road today. will it move the needle at all? and jeff bezos set to be the next billionaire to enter space. we go live to where he will take off in less than 24 hours next. off in less than 24 hours next e. the journey is why they ride. when the road is all you need, there is no destination.

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p. this is a historic day in the fight for voting rights. happening now in georgia, first time in 20 years, the senate is going to hold a field hearing specifically focused on voting rights. back in d.c., the state democratic lawmakers from texas are headed into another week on the hill, continuing their dramatic push against new voter restrictions proposed back home in austin. priscilla thompson is in georgetown, texas. garrett haake in atlanta, and joining me, the ceo of the new

georgia project. priscilla, democrats have a busy week ahead. what are they hoping to accomplish, what are you hearing from constituents, how are they responding? >> reporter: chris, texas democrats in d.c. are kicking off a week long summit, leading with labor leaders, legs tours from other states virtually to talk about sort of what's next in their fight against more restrictive voting laws as they look ahead. meanwhile, we are here in georgetown, texas, a half hour outside austin. an area represented by one republican representative. one of the democrats in washington, d.c. we wanted to talk to their constituents about what they make of this. take a listen to some conversations we had with folks this morning. >> i would like to see people come together on this, just make it easy to vote.

make it secure. that's fine, let's not make it harder. >> it is kind of silly and sad, hope everybody can get along sooner than later. i think not in favor of voting rights legislation at all. not sure i am in favor of decamping in the game of chicken going on in the statehouse. the word i come up with is unfortunate. >> reporter: my sense from speaking to those folks is they're looking for some bipartisanship. i asked would this stop them voting for one of the democrats currently in washington, d.c. folks you heard from said it would not. we have also spoken to several republicans that didn't want to speak on camera. some shared words we cannot repeat on air. the crux of the message from them is they feel democratic lawmakers ought to come back and do their job. one man saying he would feel the

same if it was republicans that fled the state. >> let's talk about what's going on in 30 minutes, field hearing in georgia. what are we expecting? >> reporter: chris, the senate rules committee is better known for giving out office space than having big hearings on policy issues. but that's what they're doing today, at least democratic members are. they're coming to georgia where democrats believe of all restrictive voting measures passed, georgia law is the one they see as the worst, they want to shine the brightest spotlight on. that's what they intend to do. by moving the hearing here, republicans are not involved in this. mitch mcconnell statement awhile ago calling this hearing a silly stunt. he is on this committee. he and other republican members won't be here. i asked committee chair woman amy klobuchar whether this was part of an effort to show the filibuster holdouts like joe manchin and kyrsten sinema. they tried everything, it would

take a change in rules to pass a federal voting rights bill. here's what she told me. >> i think part of this is yes, bringing back evidence. now, there is evidence directly from our colleagues, like john tester, big believer in the bill from montana. he has seen a state with good election laws get changed, purely raw political power. you see wisconsin and tammy baldwin. they're hearing it from them and their personal stories, but getting evidence from voters, bringing it back with us, i think that's very important, too. >> reporter: chris, some of the evidence today comes from georgia voters testifying. some coming from raphael warnock. he is probably the most vulnerable incumbent in a battleground state. the issue is nearer to the broader picture of democracy and to democrats' unique political interest here in georgia. >> obviously we're see action on different fronts, there are road blocks to federal action to

protect voting rights. i wonder, you have the attention, i don't think any doubt there's energy from folks in texas, and folks on capitol hill today in atlanta, georgia. does the strategy match the level of energy do you think? what's your take on where we are now. >> it is not clear to me who the hearing is for. i mean, if you're talking about senate democrats, right, are you talking about georgia voters. that there's absolute clarity how republican malfeasance led us to this moment and that their desperation is being manifested with anti-voting bills. senate republicans have been very clear they have no intentions of playing ball, that they do not care about impact on americans and their participation in our elections, right. senator klobuchar was interviewed at the civil rights

museum. it is where we go to learn about bloody sunday, where senate republicans used the filibuster to block a previous round of super important civil rights and voting rights legislation. so again, it is not exactly clear who today's hearings are for and what larger strategy it is connected to. but we are familiar with story telling as an organizing tool, so there's that. >> is there implications, i don't want to put words in your mouth, maybe time and efforts and energy could be better spent? >> yeah. like this is definitely the time for escalation. statehouse republicans all over the country are trying to aggressively and quickly push through their trash maps before hr 1 or 4 or anything that sets a federal standard for how people participate in the elections or how redistricting

is conducted. they're moving very quickly. we don't see the same matching energy on the side of the democrats and those who claim to be protecting democracy in this moment. >> thanks to all of you. much to watch on that front today. make sure, tune in tonight, lawrence o'donnell, jonathan capehart talking with democrats about the decision to travel to the capitol to push for voting rights. they'll be discussing several members of the group testing positive for covid. you're going to want to watch that, 10:00 p.m. eastern here on msnbc. the count down is on. as of now, we're 23 and a half hours away from the next phase in the billionaire space race blasting off. jeff bezos preparing to lift off with three other civilians from a launch site in the west texas desert. morgan chesky is there. set the scene for us, morgan.

>> reporter: chris, just under 24 hours to go. you can imagine this is ratcheting up from excitement standpoint. this is the launch that made front page of the van horn advocate. blue origin set to take off in the shepherd rocket. on board, jeff bezos, soon to be the oldest astronaut, 82-year-old, and youngest, oliver damon. the launch is set for 9:00 a.m. eastern time tomorrow. take a listen. >> there's one person who is the first person in space, and that happened a long time ago. i am number 570. that's where we are going to be in this list. this isn't a competition. this is about building a road to space so future generations can do incredible things in space. >> excited to join the club.

>> reporter: the launch is nine days after richard branson skimmed the edge of space. bezos didn't call it a competition, there are key differences. this is a true rocket that will be piloted from the ground. branson had a pilot on board, then dropping back to the west texas desert floor via parachute for hopefully a soft landing. bezos wanted to stress the fact he hopes this paves the way, pointing to the young astronaut on board, trips like this he hopes to inspire the next generation of space goers. he says they have future plans in place for that, chris. if all goes according to plan, two more this year, september and october, and hope to be able to reuse the rocket going skyward tomorrow morning. chris? >> morgan chesky on location. tomorrow, tune in for special coverage. bezos and team take off in texas.

we will have reporters on the ground and experts here to talk about the new space race playing out. don't miss it. that's tomorrow, 9:00 a.m. eastern time. coming up, with cases rising in most states, should colleges require the vaccine. we talk to one university president about his decision next. one university president about his decision next the instant air purifier removes 99.9% of the virus that causes covid-19 from treated air. so you can breathe easier, knowing that you and your family have added protection. ♪ ♪

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planters. a nut above. washed your hands a lot today? probably like 40 times. hands feel dry? like sandpaper. introducing new dove handwash, with 5 x moisturizer blend. removes germs in seconds, moisturizes for hours. soft, smooth. new dove handwash. breaking news just in. a federal judge upheld a vaccine mandate at indiana university saying the school can decide a vaccine is in the best interest of students and staff. more than 500 campuses are requiring students to be fully vaccinated before they return in fall. that doesn't include purdue university in indiana, strongly encouraging vaccinations but not mandating them. joining me, the president of the university and former republican governor of indiana, mitch daniels. it is good to see you. you may be hearing this for the first time, we literally just

got it in, but look, the judge's decision obviously carves a different path than what you decided for purdue. what do you make of it, does it give you pause about fall on your campus. any second thoughts? >> no, it permits a different approach. we are with a very large majority of american colleges and universities who are not planning to require the vaccine this fall. it is mainly a practical decision, what will work, what will enable the safest campus environment, but i am not critical of those that choose a different path. i will say here at purdue we have offered a choice model. people can choose to stay with the system we used last year, all of us were subject to surveillance testing on a regular basis, or exempt themselves by getting vaccinated. we have done everything we know how to encourage that, enable that. gave 37,000 shots before school

broke in may. as of this morning, we have 60% of our students registered they are vaccinated. that's twice the average for their age group. we will keep working on that. we believe there will be very big enforcement problems, trying to require, throw people off campus if they didn't improve vaccination status. >> correct me if i'm wrong, doesn't indiana require college kids to be vaccinated for measles, mumps, tetanus, meningitis? >> sure. >> how is covid different. if you are worried how you would do that. >> yeah. remember, you're talking to big advocates of the vaccine. we have been promoting it every way we can, but the vaccine is not approved yet. some people draw a distinction

on that basis. should also notice that the age group we are talking about here, they're smart enough to know this, at almost zero risk personally from this. the case we made, chris -- >> as you know, the numbers are trending down in terms of age. more and more young people are getting sicker, particularly with the delta variant, and if the goal is, i think this was your term, the safest campus environment, is the safest campus environment to have everybody vaccinated? >> we want the highest percentage vaccinated that we can, but let me just observe that these young people, many of them have been exposed already, have natural immunity. we can't even calculate that. we said to them we believe in personal responsibility here. you can make a choice about yourself, but we share a responsibility to keep the campus open. so if you don't to what we

believe is the wise thing and get the vaccination, then you will have to agree to some other inveenlss, regular testing and what may be more important, if you are exposed and unvaccinated, you have to quarantine and interrupt your own academic progress in a way you probably won't find very comfortable. >> are you confident in your ability to enforce it? one of the things you just said to me was the concern about enforcing, how you would enforce if you had a vaccine mandate, but if you have all of the other regulations like masking indoors, et cetera, isn't that an even bigger enforcement challenge? >> first i'll say we won't make masking indoors or classroom decision until we get closer. that's something we can decide literally at the last minute. we don't know yet what we're going to do, neither do any other schools we're talking to

or most of them. yes. these are problems. a number of schools that used the term mandate have been back watering from that, saying we'll take your word for it or you can go get tested, if you do decline. as a practical matter, i think we are all trying to do what we can to make sure these kids, students' education is uninterrupted. we were the largest campus, most open and in person campus our size in the country last year. we sympathize with difficulty of making these judgment calls, especially in happier but more complicated environment we're in with vaccines available and so forth. >> purdue university, president mitch daniels, thank you so much. appreciate your time. ahead, the death toll in germany mounting as we get a clearer picture of vast damage caused by the worst flooding in 50 years. out west, dozens of

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♪ ♪ we have breaking news. what is happening on wall street is not good. the dow jones industrial down over 600 points. the dow is dropping over fears of a covid rebound, of course led by the delta variant. some of the stocks hardest hit are airlines right now. obviously concerns people aren't going to be comfortable traveling. we'll keep our eye on the markets throughout the day for you. massive weather disasters are blamed for taking a devastating toll on two continents this morning. across western europe they're picking through the wreckage left by mass of a floods and counting the costs, more than 180 dead, hundreds still missing. back in this country, it's fire that's the big problem. the fight against a growing

number of wildfires made increasingly difficult by the punishing heat. meghan fitzgerald is following the latest in germany. jake ward tracking wildfires out in california. meghan, you've been talking to survivors in those flood zones. what have they been telling you? >> reporter: chris, neighbors in communities are devastated. you imagine they've lived here for decades collecting years of memories. you see here piled up alongside the street. we watched as people have gone inside their homes and dragged out items from inside and on top of their property that now is waiting to be collected. you can see this car behind me just one of many that we've seen around here that have been thrown in front of people's yards, up against their homes. heavy machinery coming up and down the streets trying to pick those items up, and take them away. the germans of course being very resourceful working as quickly as they possibly can to try and clear up some of the debris. there's folks inside this house

there for example, trying to restore the home as best as they can but there's a lot of work that needs to be done here and in addition to that, you got to imagine the trauma that people are feeling right now, just blocks away from where we are there was an assisted care facility where 12 people died. neighbors across the street saying they heard the cries for help. people saying they were drowning and they couldn't swim. so certainly that is taking a toll on folks. we know and they realize there's a long way to go to rebuild. they're hopeful to have debris cleaned up in the next couple of weeks. as far as the infrastructure badly damaged in this region, that's something, chris, that could take years to rebuild. >> it's hard to wrap your mind around the horror of people in assisted living drowning in the floods and this enormous cleanup. thank you for that. obviously we are looking at a potentially historically disastrous fire season. i wonder what's going on out in

california. >> reporter: chris, you're absolutely right. we're looking at the very beginnings of what scientists forecast will be probably another record-breaking fire season. the tamarac fire burned 18,000 acres, sweeping through this portion where we're standing. most of these trees have survived, which is good news. this one behind me of course did not. the fabled widowmaker which a tree burns from the inside and then collapses. the good news overall here, chris, is that when federal authorities saw this lightning strike on july 4th it set off the beginnings of a small fire and they decided to let it go. they thought it was best to let it sweep through. here in california, fire is part of the national environment, some trees that cannot reproduce unless they catch fire. all of that means you can, in fact, watch a fire burn and it can have positive effects on the landscape. the bad news, of course, chris, is that letting a fire run its course sometimes means it's going to run into where humans live and in this case the nearby

town of marcaville. no injuries or deaths but this 18,000-acre fire is just one of dozens we're going to see in the coming months. >> jake ward, i'm not going to lie to you. that widow maker behind you is making me nervous. you stay safe. meagan fitzgerald in western europe, appreciate your reporting as well. i'm chris jansing in for stephanie ruehl. i'll see you back here at 3:00 p.m. eastern. hallie jackson will pick up our coverage next and today at 1:00 p.m., the director of the nih, dr. francis collins, will be on "meet the press daily" as covid cases surge across the country and once again are driving the markets down. stay with us. me help. lift and push and push! there... it's up there. hey joshie... wrinkles send the wrong message. help prevent them before they start with downy wrinkleguard. ♪ ♪

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that causes covid-19 from treated air. so you can breathe easier, knowing that you and your family have added protection. ♪ ♪ right now on "msnbc reports" three big headlines breaking as we speak on the coronavirus. first, that new recommendation coming in literally minutes ago, from the american academy of pediatrics. listen to this, they're saying all students need to wear maks in the fall, regardless of whether they're vaccinated or not. wall street down nearly 700 points as we come on the air in the first half hour of trading. it's getting worse in the last couple of minutes. cnbc standing by with the connection to covid, why this