right now, delta deja vu. confirmed covid cases and hospitalizations are on the ride. and word now driven by covid life expectancy in the u.s. has dropped by a year and a half. that's the lowest it has been since world war ii. there are new mask mandates in pasadena, california. breakthrough cases among vaccinated staffers on capitol hill and at the white house. today raising critical concerns. we have sinking vaccination numbers nationwide. misinformation stunting our process, and the strength of this new variant being called into question. a new study suggesting that johnson and johnson's vaccine may be less effective against the variant. one illinois man drove 640 miles round trip just for that single shot vccine and told the

chicago tribune that he feels "half vaccinated." we'll talk to him and a doctor to answer some questions that him and others have right now. plus a key hurdle for the infrastructure deal. the senate majority leader is calling a procedural vote. he does not have a fully written bill. what's his game plan here? also, climate crisis after climate crisis. smoke reaching the area in china, and people inkey west saw the water become even more clear blue during the pandemic. on the order of governor ron desantis and their pollution is coming back despite the local government's best attempts to stop them. more on that in moments. we start with this pandemic. we have allison basher joining

us. there are serious conversations about reopening the covid icu. leann caldwell is ramping up support. and great to see all of you. okay, i know you first visited that icu there a year ago. i remember that vividly. as i understand it now pashtts patients are younger and nearly every patient is unvaccinated. i wonder how it feels from a year ago and what it says about the new pandemic faze that we're in. >> they have nine patients in icu because of covid-19. the 9th patient arrived when we were on the floor yesterday. eight of nine have been on ventilators at some point in time. four of them were on ventilators

yesterday. we're told that all but one of those icu covid patients are unvaccinated. as you noticed the ages of the patients was the biggest difference. when i was there last year they had a specific ward that they were able to close about four months ago, but now they're considering and having conversations about whether or not they need to reopen it. but when i was with covid icu patients last year most of them were a lot older. they were people's grandparents. many in their 70s and some in their 80s. the first three patients i saw in icu because of covid-19 was all young. one was his late 20s, another in his 30s, another in his early 40s. when i asked one of the icu doctors if the patients they're seeing on this floor, because of covid-19, if they have any pre-existing conditions, he said the vast majority of them do

not. i want to read to you exactly what he said. he said "obesity would be the only probably diagnosis of some. others have no diagnosis at all. the only link is they're unvaccinated." we met one woman in the general population area, not in icu, she had been vaccinated against covid-19 but still contracted the virus anyways. she has multiple sclerosis. she says if she had not been vaccinated she could have been much worse she thinks. she wishes she had kept wearing a mask. we met another patient who was eligible to get vaccinated but didn't because he thought the vaccines were too new. he said he didn't feel like he needed it. he is still on an oxygen tank,

listen to what he told us. >> go ahead and get the vaccination because the covid is for real. it had me on my dieing bed and i didn't know if i was going to make it back or not. >> the doctor explained to me it could be a lot worse. but because i'm vaccinated it might not be as bad. it might not be as bad. they say it happens to people that if we didn't get vaccinated it could have been worse. >> 20 covid patients at this hospital hospital wide. all but three are unvaccinated. >> that's so sobersobering. our colleagues point out the political implications as well for the new phase of the pandemic. i'm quoting, what does it mean for a republican party given that this surge is coming primarily from red states and

red counties and after some gopers have peddled mistrust about vaccines. steve scalise just got vaccinated and told others to do it. fox's sean hannity and steve deucy saying people should get vaccinated. what should be discern from this? >> some republicans figured out that it is not a good business model or voter -- and it's not good for the economy if people aren't vaccinated and if people continue to get sick. you just mentioned some representatives scalise that just got vaccinated over the weekend. there are some republicans that all along have been pushing vaccinations, have been pushing mask wearing as well including

senate minority leader mitch mcconnell who has been pretty steadfast throughout, but yesterday he reiterated that it is necessary for people to get vaccinated. let's take a listen to what he said. >> the shots need to get in everybody's arms as quickly as possible or we will back in the same situation. >> i'm very concerned about vaccine hesitancy. republicans were the most hesitant group. >> so that was senator cassidy. but chris it is a tale of two republican parties. you still have people under mining the message including marjorie taylor green who was

flagged on twitter for misinformation the other day and senators like ron johnson who are questioning the efficacy of the vaccine. the republican party has a long ways to go even though some are trying to push a positive vaccination message. i think it was jamie raskin who said it is a nightmare there. a lot of people are looking. a lot of people are looking at what to do to stay safe. does that include, for example, changing behaviors and going back to the old behaviors at the height of the pandemic? >>. >> i think it is all about taking new information in.

so for example if you live with an unvaccinated child or an elderly adult, you may change your behavior as you're vaccinated. but if you are a vaccinated adult, it is true you might get covid. you will not get sick so be compromised. that's what this vaccine does. the guest before, the women with ms in the hospital, but not the icu, you have to ask if she wasn't vaccinated would she be here today to have that interview? remember that vaccination is still your best defense. >> there is new concerning information on the johnson and

johnson vax seen that i think 13 million americans have gotten. they say it is an argument for booster shots. i wonder what your thoughts are. >> this is new ant -- and important vaccination. it's important if it is recommended. certain people immune compromised people. people that may be elderly and severely at risk may be candidates for a booster either with the mrna vaccine or with another johnson and johnson dose. what we know now is this is an important space to watch.

but it is still extraordinarily effective at preventing severe hospitalization and death even with one shot. it may be anxiety provoking, but it is still not the same as being unprotected against infections. >> thank you. dr. you're going to stay with me. with that new vaccine in mind one illinois man tells the chicago tribune that until delta he was not worried. but now things have changed. he says he feels half vaccinated. i want to bring in that johnson and johnson vaccine recipient. eric, you talked to the tribune i think before that new study came out that the j&j vaccine came out, what are you thinking this morning. >> it's very interesting that it came out yesterday like there is a serendipity happening there.

obviously my thought about being half vaccinated changed into negative. maybe i'm 40% vaccinated. it did not help the level of concern i have. so it is definitely more anxiety after that, but even before that, the reason that i was thinking that i was half vaccinated is there is a growing body of evidence and discussion by prominent doctors. and also certain countries researching this. showing that just the vector viruses are probably not as good as the mrna. >> yes, of course.

>> yes, when illinois was starting the vaccination group. i'm healthy, my age didn't qualify me to get a shot early so there was a lot of unclarity. especially for my group. in those days in mid march, how information about vaccine availability was complicated. and i started looking around and i noticed that some southern counties and cities in illinois had excess vaccines. most cities only allow for residents and i found it from quincy illinois. so i took a day off work to get vaccinated and feel safe again and live my life closer to how it was before and it won't be a

captive in my parent and behind my mask. >> let me bring you back is there something that you would like to know because i would like you to have the opportunity to ask the doctor to get clarity. i think you're representative of a lot of people out there with the j&j vaccine. >> sorry you were cutting out there for a second. >> is there a question or questions you have for dr. cass? >> yes, my question. and thank you for joining and allowing me to ask the question. if today a patient of yours came who is not vaccinated given the delta being 83% of all of the cases in the u.s., and he says what vaccine should i get, what is your recommendation? >> we're in a position now where there is an abundance of vaccine

available so you can choose between the mrna and the j&j. i would get the vaccine available to you. you said you were vaccinated in march earlier than it was available in some places. the protection you had in march was remarkable. i got the mrna vaccine. when it came out people were hesitant about that technology. and there are probably millions of americans that got it only because it was a single dose. so i would say now is take the vaccine in front of you. i would take the two doses of the mrna vaccine and i think two doses will show to be better than the one. but i think if a second j&j dose is good enough to boost the response. that is what you could be a candidate soon you may feel more

protected, but you're not at risk to get very sick you are still a healthy young person that has been vaccinated. you should have some reassurance that maybe you mask up more in your community, maybe you don't go indoors to restaurants, add a few more barriers to you and unvaccinated people, but it should not feel like a zero sum gain here. because you're not. >> i guess there is another aspect of this, which is, and yesterday as i was watching part of the hearing and we saw rochelle rowinski. so they say they're looking at data, they have not made a determination. how long will it take for them to make a decision about whether or not they can get his booster

shot? >> so i think that is a complicated question because it talks about whether or not the booster is ready, but someone who might be which which will come up first. they may have immunities or an increased number of variants and the cdc has to respond about the r larger issue. and a lot of the risk that we had is that they don't have as first dose. and we need to keep that in context so i think the cdc is balancing a lot of competing interests. while we vaccinated people and we feel more at risk than we were a month or two ago, we're still extraordinarily well protected and we need to remember as we see some breakthrough infections, it feels like the severe flu and they should not feel sick at

all. >> i'm so glad you are willing to talk about your story. appreciate you. former president trump's inaugural chairman joining is campaign chair and others to join a long string of advisors to face questions and indictments. in just a few hours, a test for chuck schumer's strategy to the major infrastructure bills passed. o the major infrastructure bills passed this towel has already been used and it still smells fresh. pour a cap of downy unstopables into your washing machine before each load and enjoy fresher smelling laundry for up to 12-weeks. [♪♪] if you have diabetes, it's important to have confidence in the nutritional drink you choose. try boost glucose control. it's clinically shown to help manage blood sugar levels

and contains high quality protein to help manage hunger and support muscle health. try boost today. are you one of the millions of americans who experience occasional bloating, gas or abdominal discomfort? taking align every day can help. align contains a quality probiotic developed by gastroenterologists. it adds more good bacteria to your gut to naturally help soothe your occasional bloating, gas and abdominal discomfort. support your digestive health with align, the #1 doctor recommended probiotic. try align today.

and try new align fast acting biotic gummies. helps soothe occasional digestive upsets in as little as 7 days. - stand up if you are first generation college student. (crowd cheering) stand up if you're a mother. if you are actively deployed, a veteran, or you're in a military family, please stand. the world in which we live equally distributes talent, but it doesn't equally distribute opportunity, and paths are not always the same. - i'm so proud of you dad. - [man] i will tell you this, southern new hampshire university can change the whole trajectory of your life. (uplifting music) ♪ watch the olympic games on xfinity ♪ ♪ root for team usa and feel the energy ♪ ♪ 7000 plus hours of the olympics on display ♪ ♪ with xfinity you get every hour of every day ♪ ♪ different sports on different screens ♪ ♪ you can watch it anywhere ♪ ♪ and with the voice remote ♪ ♪ you never have to leave your chair ♪ show me team usa. ♪ all of this innovation could lead to some inspiration ♪ ♪ and you might be the next one to represent our nation ♪ ♪ this summer on your tv, tablet, or any screen ♪

♪ xfinity is here to inspire your biggest dreams ♪

this morning one of former president trump'sallies is arrested. he unlawfully influenced the portion positions of the trump campaign and the administration. he is charged with the obstruction of justice. tom winter has been following this story for us. you were on with me yesterday as it was breaking. we should say since then a spokesperson says he will plead not guilty to all charges. but tom, walk us through the latest. yes, since we spoke

yesterday and as a matter of fact early yesterday evening he had his first appearance. it wasn't a time for him to plead. they wanted to talk about his flight risk. we have details for the crimes he allegedly committed. he will be held in jail until monday at 8:00 a.m. where he will have another bail hairing. he was hearing. so not quite a spy, but he provided information to the united arap i'm rants they were talking about key issues in the

middle east, including key issues. he conducted interviews and op-eds, and he was involved with editing one of his speeches and also trying to get a summit at camp david kiboshed. this was a significant effort. they say he lied to the fbi in the course of his investigation including about a separate cell phone that they say say was a back door communication. so a pretty involved in this. based on the documents now, at this juncture, he is more of a victim than anything else. basically a friend of his for 30 years was working for a foreign government and trying to some

views in the middle east. >> thank you, tom winter. harvey weinstein is going to be in front of a judge. he was extradited yesterday where he will be arraigned on new sexual assault charges related to attacking five women between 2004 and 2014. he was convicted for sexual assault and rain, his lawyers are now appealing that. he denied having non-consensual sex with nn. non-consensual sex with nn. ♪ when technology is easier to use... ♪

barriers don't stand a chance. ♪ that's why we'll stop at nothing to deliver our technology as-a-service. ♪ so, you have diabetes, here are some easy rules. no sugar. no pizza. no foods you love. stressed? no stress. exercise. but no days off! easy, no? no. no. no. no. but with freestyle libre 14 day, you can take the mystery out of your diabetes. now you know. sir, do you know what you want to order? yes. freestyle libre 14 day. try it for free. subway®... has so much new they couldn't fit it in their last ad. so, we gonna have to go fast. ready? there's new steak, deli-style turkey, belgioioso® fresh mozzarella, hickory-smoked bacon, new hearty multigrain, and steph curry juggling avocados for some reason.

dang, that's too much for 15 seconds. water? why?! ahhhh! incoming! ahhhahh! i'm saved! water tastes like, water. so we fixed it. mio. ♪ fixodent ultra dual power water tastes like, water. provides you with an unbeatable hold and strong seal against food infiltrations. fixodent. and forget it.

in just a matter of hours we expect to see a major test of the bipartisan infrastructure bill. chuck schumer is pushing ahead with a procedural vote. some democrats are also hesitating. a bipartisan group of senators worked late into the night. they tried to hammer out the final sticking points of the bill over tacos and wine, but there is still a very raelg chance that they won't have the votes to proceed today. here is what some of the

senators had to say overnight. >> i think the vote should be held. >> it makes no sense to rush into a vote when we don't have language to share with our colleagues. >> a yes vote tomorrow is simply that the senate is ready to begin debating a bipartisan infrastructure bill. no more, no less. we waited a month and it is time to move forward. >> shannon pettypiece is at the white house. good morning to all of you. it looks like folks like mitt romney, and they're falling on death ears. where do things stand right now?

>> that's where things assistant right now. somewhere between 2:30 and 3:00 p.m. by all indications it will fail. it requires 60 to move forward. they will bring it up again in a few days. if nothing skultling the prospects they are close to this and they say a failed today to be used. and there is some optimism but that is unclear. i think as they can tell is that this is democrats haunted in 2009. they don't want to be dragged into endless negotiations that don't end up producing a result.

this will pressure the bipartisan group. it is unclear if that will happen, but the vote will occur today. >> is that what you see is going on here. i hear everything from this could be just a hiccup to a deal in real trouble, what's your view? >> this thing will get done. they only understand one thing. given what every majority leader in the history of the republican is doing, saying hey, let's wrap this up, we have to get stuff done, and that is what they're doing. this deal will get done. it will be okay. but the only thing that people understand are deadlines and schumer is doing what he needs to do to get this done. today's vote will probably fail, so they will see we don't want you picking on us.

so shannon, jim sounds pretty chil to me it is going to get done. what are you hearing from the folks there at 1600? >> there certainly remains a sense of urgency. veterans of past administrations, legislative veterans of this process, they know these things are always a slog. they take longer than you think. it will not come easily and white house officials say they're prepared for that. when you look at the time line we're starting to get near crunch time. it is near the end of july. there is an august recess that members will want to take. they will go back to their districts, and then you get to september and there is another cycle of things that need to start getting done. you know everybody in the white house has a sense of urgency. i think this white house has it in particular because there are so many veterans of that obama

white house which, to the point that sahill and jim made saw how quickly time can go by and things can get sucked down in the process of the senate. they are urging to push this forward and do what they can which to a large extent is having president biden out there trying to sell this publicly. he will go to cincinnati again today. he is doing a town hall event in the evening. they see that as their best tool to build support throughout in the public and hope that trickles over to capitol hill and starts to put pressure on members there. that is what is in their control at this point and their focusing on that. >> so, jim, i think it is fair to say the state of things in this country changed quite a bit since these infrastructure negotiations changed months ago, now. there is also an increase in inflation. there is concerns about covid cases. serious concerns about the fact that they seem to be hitting a

wall. how has this, or has it changed the debate over this deal, do you think? and some of the folks in the middle. >> i think some of the successes has changed it. you look at the child care tax credit that has been rolled out to tens of millions of people and people got real live checks this week. there is amazing videos all over tiktok saying government is working again. that in conjunction with getting a bipartisan infrastructure deal. those two things could be super important for the administration and president biden. and you have a white house that is singularly focused on delivering these things and getting these things done. there are real challenges on covid. if you look at the polls, 60% of

people say they are getting it done nap provides the wind in the sales of this white house to push to get another big thing done. let's be honest you we have been talking about infrastructure for ten years. if they can get this over the finish line that would be a very big moment. >> and it is interesting you bring up the child tax credit because vox put it this way, very interestingly making your point "the sudden deposits were such a delight to many parents that the #childtaxcredit and #childtaxcredit2021 blew up. do you think that is a sign that it should be made permanent? >> absolutely. you just don't see outpouring on social media about a government program. when is the last time you saw that? so it really strengthens the democrats hands as go to

negotiations because the childcare tax credit expires, it expires next year. so it just furthers the ambition to get this done and now you have a real bipartisan ground swell, some of the most powerful videos are republicans and independents saying wow, this is incredibly helpful to my family into it is just another big moment for the biden administration having several big moments right now. >> and this is a big moment, you cannot separate this from, covid, and infrastructure. how much of that is part of the messaging and how much of that do they think will get some of the folks off of the fence? >> they are certainly trying as much as they can to sthel covid relief package that got passed along with this new infrastructure package and saying hey, look what we were able to do earlier this year

with the child tax credit. this is evidence that if you go along with what we want it works. so go along with us this time. that's part of the messaging, but they're aware that they want to get credit for some of the achievements that white house officials felt didn't necessarily always happen in the obama administration. so that's why we saw the biden administration sending out a letter to people from the president telling them they would be getting the tax credits. and we saw the president do an event talking about them. he repeatedly brings them up and democrats will use that child tax care credit saying if you want the money to continue, vote for us because we want to extend that child care tax credit. it starts to all fit together. >> it does, indeed. shannon, sahill, and jim, thank you very much. the water off of the florida

keys is cleaner than it has been in years because the pandemic stopped cruise ships from docking in the area. but now the local government limits have been overturned. we will go live off of the keys. that is nasty. the haze and the smoke coming down across our area. nasty and hazy here on the east coast. my eyes are still burning because of wildfires thousands of miles away. how it is impacting air quality across the country. coming up. across the country coming up. someone once told me, that i should get used to people staring. so i did. it's okay, you can stare. when you're a two-time gold medalist, it comes with the territory.

- [announcer] at southern new hampshire university, we never stop celebrating our students. from day one to graduation to your dream job, that's why we're keeping your tuition low for the 10th year in a row. - [student] the affordability and the quality of education, it can be enough to change your life. - [announcer] as a nonprofit university, we believe in making college more affordable for everyone. - southern new hampshire university, it was just amazing experience. - [announcer] find your degree at snhu.edu.

to make my vision a reality. i have to take every perspective, and see clearly from every point of view. with my varilux progressive lenses i seamlessly transition from near to far. and see every detail in sharp focus. when you see no limits, there are no limits. book now at your local essilor experts to push the limits of your vision. varilux lenses by essilor.

hearing is important to living life to the fullest. that's why inside every miracle-ear store, you'll find better cheers with your favorite fans. you'll find a better life is in store at miracle-ear, when you experience the exclusive miracle-ear advantage. our team is devoted to your care, with free service adjustments and cleaning of your miracle-ear hearing aids for life. we're so confident we can improve your life, we're offering a 30-day risk-free trial. call 1-800-miracle today and experience the miracle-ear advantage. right now breaking news in la port, texas, dow chemical is confirming there has been a leak in a facility there. residents have been ordered to evacuate within half a mile. other residents are told to health isser in place. the substance in a chemical

yulgsed in acrylics and it is known to cause irritation of the nose and throat. meanwhile this morning climate conditions in polluted places that improved during the pandemic are at risk of growing worse. the popular tourist canals first in 2019 and then in 2020. in the picture on top you see fewer boats, cleaner waters. water aways around the world became clearer and cleaner. but those gains could start to fade in a few weeks because that's when the cruise industry plans to get ships back on to the seas. it is big business in florida but governor de santis has overruled one city saying they want to ban the ships. josh letterman is on a boat in

key west that is measuring the cruise ship's effects on water quality. doesn't look like a bad gig out there today. they are the homes to the only home coral reef. tell us about the threats that the waters face and the concern about cruise ships. >> you talk to residents here and they will say the water looked clearer during covid than beforehand. preliminary data shows the cloudiness of the water was less during covid-19 than it has tended to be in the last 25 years or so. but drawing a cause and effect between not having the cruise ships coming to key west in the last year and the quality of the water is really hard to establish. you need really good data for that. i want to introduce you to dr. patrick rice.

tell us about what you're doing here today. >> we have a really unique opportunity to get baseline data. we have equipment that can long data continuously and we're taking field samples here. things like dissolved oxygen, hydrogen sulfide, for tribidity. what we expect right now is something that looks like this, clear and pristine water. what we think is probably in the ship channel is something more like this. more cloudy and more turbid is the key. we don't want this bad water to come out over here to the eastern dry rocks. we're deploying this equipment and we're making sure that if there is a disturbance of some time question have information to compare to.

>> after the cruise ships come back, and it is churning up stuff on the ocean. >> any disturbance, we need to know and that's the main thing. >> i got it, smells like something in there? >> hydrogen sulfide. >> kind of a rotten egg smell. >> yeah, it is toxic, if it is on the bottom that is where it should be, if it is churned into the water it creates problems. we have scuba divers now in the water. they have gone down twice today. they will go down twice more putting at the bottom of the ocean floor. they will measure things like tribidity. every 15 minutes it will take a records of that data and every two weeks the diver wills come back out here and they will go down and they will download the

data from the devices. they will get the baseline data they need. and they will be able to measure that if and when cruise ships come back to key west. amazing stuff. very fascinating. thank you, josh. i hope you get to jump in before the end of the day. thank you for that report. wildfires are scorching several western states. jake ward went to an expert to a dry area to see what is fuelling those fires. the alarming change he noticed in just the last four months. knowing what you know, would you live here? >> no. >> but first we're tracking the latest out of china where severe floods killed at least 25 people. the water was washing away cars, it stranded people at work. it trapped kids in schools. here you see rescue workers getting people out of a flooded subway station.

officials say more than a million people have been affected by the floods there. e e that causes covid-19 from treated air. so you can breathe easier, knowing that you and your family have added protection. ♪ ♪

i always had a connection to my grandfather... i always wanted to learn more about him. i discovered some very interesting documents on ancestry. this is the uh registration card for the draft for world war two. and this is his signature which blew me away. being able to... make my grandfather real... not just a memory... is priceless. his legacy...lives on. well, would ya look at that! is priceless. it was an accident. i was— speaking of accidents, we accidentally left you off the insurance policy during enrollment, and you're not covered. not even a little bit? mm-mmm. no insurance. no.

when employees can't enter and manage their own benefits enrollment information, it can be a real pain. not even— nope! with paycom, employees enter and manage their own hr data in a single, easy-to-use software. visit paycom.com and schedule a demo today. ♪ rock the boat don't rock the boat, baby ♪ ♪ rock the boat don't tip the boat over ♪ here we go. ♪ rock the boat don't rock the boat, baby ♪ ♪ rock the boat ♪ see disney's jungle cruise. it's time to rock the boat, america. we are back with breaking news just learning about an arrest tied to a massive twitter hack targeting some big-name

americans. the doj says a 22-year-old british man has been arrested in spain accused of hacking more than 130 twitter accounts last summer. the suspect, joseph o'connor was also charged with intruding into tiktok and snapchat accounts and cyber stalking a juvenile. july 2020 hack targeted the twitter accounts of then-presidential candidate joe biden, former president barack obama, elon musk and dozens of other high-profile accounts. the u.s. will seek to have o'connor extradited. and this morning we're seeing people all along the east coast starting to put their masks back on, but not just to protect against covid. it's actually because of concerns over poor air quality as smoke from western wildfires make their way across the country. look at this live picture right here in new york city, just a hazy, hazy skyline and right now the national weather service has washington, d.c., up to boston under air quality alerts. meanwhile, 3 million people are

under red flag warnings in the northwest and northern plains. the national weather service is warning at least seven states are facing that combination of high temperatures and strong winds. that drastically raises the risk of wildfires. rid now there are more than 80 wildfires burning in 13 states. they've already burned more than a million acres. the largest fire so far this year is that bootleg fire in oregon. it scorched 350,000 acres. it's so big it's actually created its own weather system. nbc's jacob ward has more on how officials are trying to tackle this massive threat. >> more than 80 large fires are burning across 13 states with brutal heat, high winds and flames already scorching 1.2 million acres. scientists predict not just more fire this summer, but more dangerous fire because the fuel is so dry. >> dryer it is, the faster it can spread.

he runs one of the top fire labs at san jose state university. his team measures plant moisture. >> in april we thought oh, this looks really bad and then may, still looking bad. june, oh, this is looking really bad and now in july it's the low of the we've measured. >> the difference between a fire that runs through moist vegetation like this and fire that runs through dry vegetation like this is the difference between a fire that the department might put out and one that might destroy a neighborhood. just beyond this dry fuel new houses are going in right where they can burn. >> knowing what you know, would you live here? >> no. this is very dangerous. >> this is when the skies turn orange. >> he builds complex simulations to help predict fire behavior as the west faces a new kind of danger. >> it's affecting us out east. jacob ward, thank you. we are just two days away from the olympic opening ceremony in tokyo and we have new developments on how the pandemic is affecting the games.

here are the facts. the chief of the tokyo organizing committee says he is not ruling out an 11th-hour cancellation of the games. a spokesman says organizers were, quote, concentrating 100% on delivering successful games and this morning another positive case for team usa. beach volleyball star taylor crab. his infection was detected shortly after he landed in japan. according to a reuters tally, 80 people connecteded to the olympics including half a dozen athletes have tested positive for covid so far. that will do it for me this hour, i'm chris jansing. up next a live report from tokyo on how the pandemic is shaking up the olympic preparations. "andrea mitchell reports" starts next. family have added protection. ♪ ♪ voiceover: riders. wanderers on the road of life.

the journey is why they ride. when the road is all you need, there is no destination. uh, i-i'm actually just going to get an iced coffee. well, she may have a destination this one time, but usually -- no, i-i usually have a destination. yeah, but most of the time, her destination is freedom. nope, just the coffee shop. announcer: no matter why you ride, progressive has you covered with protection starting at $79 a year. voiceover: 'cause she's a biker... please don't follow me in. before we talk about tax-smart investing, what's new? -audrey's expecting... -twins! voiceover: 'cause she's a biker... ♪♪ we'd be closer to the twins. change in plans. at fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan.

(realtor) the previous owners left in a hurry, so the house comes with everything you see. follow me. ♪ (realtor) so, any questions? (wife) we'll take it! (realtor) great. (vo) it will haunt your senses. the heart-pounding audi suv family. get exceptional offers at your local audi dealer. every day in business brings something new. so get the flexibility of the new mobile service designed for your small business. introducing comcast business mobile. you get the fastest, most reliable network with nationwide 5g included. and you can get unlimited data for just 30 dollars per line per month when you get four lines-

or mix and match data options. available now for comcast business internet customers with no line-activation fees or term contract required. see if you can save by switching today. comcast business. powering possibilities. ♪ ♪ when technology is easier to use... ♪ barriers don't stand a chance. ♪

that's why we'll stop at nothing to deliver our technology as-a-service. ♪ hi, everyone. this is "andrea mitchell reports" in washington as coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths are all on a disturbing upward trend across the country. the powerful delta variant is ripping through communities and cases of the fully vaccinated. covid is hitting the u.s. olympic team as another athlete, beach volleyball player taylor crab tests positive shortly after arriving in