one teacher in gwinnett county, georgia, saying she's now left with no option, no decision other thaning to resign to all of this. joining me now is that teacher, ashley newman and the fifth grade teacher with gwinnett public schools and thank you for coming in, and i appreciate the time. talk me through why you decided to resign from teaching? >> it is a very intense time here in gwinnett county at the moment. we are working hard to figure out why these decisions are being made at such a high level without any input from the community. as a mom of a 4-year-old i'm in a position where i am protective of my daughter. i know that if i send her to school her teachers will do everything they can, but i don't feel comfortable with that as a parent, and the county originally offered options for work at home and those were retracted without any explanation as to why. we are asking right now for transparency and inclusion as community members in the decision making process because if there is no input from every side of the community, and it's just being made by the higher-ups without any exp

schools are working really hard to do what they can, but we have a lot of people that live in gwinnett county. we have over 180,000 students in gwinnett. it's the largest school district in georgia, and we have to make sure we're doing what's right for the community, because students deserve more than a rotating door of substitutes and their teacher and having to take on the weight of that concern of whether or not their teacher is healthy and safe. >> that is a good point. consistency is key. ashley, thank you so much for joining us. and thank your daughter for allowing us to steal a little bit of your time. tell her hi for us. >> i definitely will. thank you guys so much. >>> and in florida, the teachers union is still battling with the governor on whether schools can reopen for the start of the year there. the palm beach post reports that florida governor ron desantis told health department officials to keep quiet as he pushed for in-person learning. according to the paper, under his directive, county health directors across florida were told not to tell school boards whether it is safe to

parents last week protested in gwinnett county for in person learning. even though 260 employees have tested positive or recently been exposed. in light of this, the county is calling for teachers to beginning working in schools even as classes kick off virtually next week. now, one teacher says that requirement has given her no choice but to resign, there's no plan in place but to keep her safe. ashley neumann is that teacher in georgia, and we welcome her here. that sucks that you had to quit your job, you're young, i know you love the job. >> to say the least. >> i know you went through a lot of school to get the job. why was this your only choice? >> my daughter. i have a 4-year-old and i don't feel comfortable sending her back because the cases are skyrocketing in gwinnett county. we have over 18,000 in our county now. >> your president says, don't worry, your kid will be fine. they have strong immune systems. put a mask on. wash your hands. >> we don't know that for sure. a lot of kids have been home with someone since march because they haven't bee

. >>> teachers in georgia's largest school district, gwinnett county are worried about what is coming. they joined in a huge protest outside of the district headquarters just this week. [ horn honking ] >> they blasted their horns in protest at putting teachers and students back in the classroom in the midst of this pandemic. at least 260 gwinnett county school staffers have tested positive or have been in contact with someone who is infected and my next guest took part in the protest. he's anthony downer, from gwinnett county public schools, so thank you so much for being an educator and for joining me. i understand that the students will start the fall term next week from home. but i know teachers, y'all are already in the classroom, to plan and then students will be joining in class at the end of the month. tell me why and what your protesting, specifically. >> absolutely. so gcps released a money to transition some populations beginning with some special education students back into the classroom. and that should not be our focus right now. our focus should be on robust and equita

school starts next week in gwinnett county. as far as the georgia world congress center goes, it reopened, began accepting patients on monday. this is an overflow hospitals to kind of take the pressure off of the area hospitals when it comes to covid-19 patients. they're not going to take the sickest patients, but icu capacity is 85% in the state of georgia. a great number of those in the atlanta area, and look, georgia at this point is likely to surpass 200,000 covid-19 cases since the pandemic began some time this week. jim, poppy? >> sad to watch there, diane gallagher. thanks very much. now let's go to rosa flores, sh live in miami. so rosa, more than 300 hospitals there have reached icu capacity. you've challenged the governor there for hard answers. not getting those answers. tell us what you're seeing. >> reporter: you know, jim, and the debate over whether or not to reopen schools for in-person instruction still continues here in this state. let me share with you the facts, because according to the florida department of

but gwinnett county had been planning to reopen next week with online only classes. schools in mississippi and indiana that just reopened for in-person learning reporting students or staff testing positive for covid-19, leaving officials scrambling to warn their contacts. >> it's not exactly the start we were looking for in that specific school. >> reporter: more news on the treatment front. eli lily and company announcing the beginning of phase three clinical trials of an antibody therapy to treat covid-19 with plans to recruit 2,400 residents and staff at long-term care facilities to take part. and with all the focus on schools re-opening, a new study says it may be necessary to test college students frequently like every two days in order to keep college campuses open. the study's lead author saying that colleges that can't meet minimum screening standards need to reconsider whether they reopen for in-person classes. wolf? >> athena jones reporting. let's go to the white house right now. our chief white house correspondent jim acosta is joining us. jim, the divide

and that's really not fair to the professionals and the educators in gwinnett county. >> when we look at the measures being taken in other school districts near you, i know you said some of them are being a little more transparent. fulton county, for example, which includes the city of atlanta, they may have a better plan in place. we look at what happened at north palding high school. one of the things that stood out to me is the superintendent in response to what happened there talking about masks, which we hear so much about from the experts who say masks make a huge difference. the superintendent saying this is a really tough thing to enforce and so, therefore, we can't. i spent some time looking at their dress code this morning online, which by everything i read does get enforced. do you think that going back to school has become more about the politics and less about the public health and safety? >> absolutely. we're well above the 5% positivity rate at the moment, and that's not being considered. the plan that came out to phase students back in starting at the end of august and

in gwynet gwen gwinnett county , employees were testing positive a week before reopening for online learning. across the current today, teachers, students and staff rallied at more than 35 school districts for what was known as national day to resistance to reopening schools. teachers erected fake grade stones, saying here lies a third grade student from green bay. they are demanding schools open only when science says it's safe to do. >> so our teachers stiewrnghts and communities are not expendable. >> reporter: and baseball took at covid 19 hit. less than two weeks into the season the st. louis cardinals will postpone four games after seven players and six staff members tested positive. tonight we are live in miami where they are reopening testing sites now that isaias has moved on out and is no longer a threat to the state of florida. just a tip here for you, the federally-run testing sites have virtually no wait time and at least two of the testing sites here in south florida have now added 15-minute rapid test force people 65 and older and who have symptoms. norah, the state of florida

this particular district in gwinnett county is getting it from all sides. there were parents protesting a couple weeks back, asking for this face-to-face instruction, and that is the latest announcement, that they would phase that in. then you've got teachers protesting because they're highly concerned while they are required to work in the buildings, even as virtual learning starts. [ horns honking ]. >> reporter: teachers are sounding the alarm over georgia's new plan to phase in face-to-face instruction in august after starting with all virtual classes next week. >> it seems like standardized test scores matter a whole lot to this county but covid test scores don't matter enough. >> reporter: teaching honking outside of atlanta as a socially distant protest, in contract to the one organized by some parents two weeks ago in the same spot calling for face-to-face instruction. a district spokesperson said their difficult decisions will not be popular with everyone, but say they're committed to students' health, safety and education. >> they continue making

officials in gwinnett county do plan to bring students back to class by the end of the month. >> someeachers are not happy about that. natasha chen reports. >> reporter: teachers are sounding the alarm over georgia's largest school district's new plan to phase in face-to-face instruction in august. >> seems like standardized test scores matter a whole lot to this country but covid test scores don't seem to matter enough. >> reporter: teachers honked from inside their cars in gwinnett county outside atlanta this week as a socially distance protest in response to the one from parents in the same spot calling for face-to-face instruction. a spokesperson said their difficult decisions will not be popular with everyone but they're committed to the education of students. >> they're making decisions that placate different parties without considering that we need consistency and we need bold leadership. >> reporter: powell teaches second grade students who would be back in the classroom at the end of august, but no one has given her any detailed plans of what that look like. >> i'll be in the

teachers in the largest school system in georgia in gwinnett county also outside of atlanta, they hadgiven they were supposed to teach inside the classrooms even with virtual classes. and some of the teachers told me they felt they had to resign because they had issues with child care. here's what one teacher who resigned said about that situation. >> for them to see my resignation as just another number, when i've contributed so much of my time and energy to making gwinnett as great as they really want to be. it is very difficult to feel like my contributions are going unknown or unrecognized. >> and that school district in gwinnett county told me every year they have a number of teacher resignations for all sorts of reasons but this year 34 resignations due to covid-19 reasons, bianna. >> this is a conversation teachers in school districts across the country are having as we speak. so much concern about public safety as they return to schools. natasha chen, thank you so much. >>> i want to bring back in dr. bicette, medical director and assistant professor at baylor college of medic

. >> 50 miles south in gwinnett county, georgia, reality isn't much different. majority of residents in this part of the state are black and latino. >> in these minority populations, there have been health disparities that already existed before this pandemic happened. and the pandemic just shone a really big spotlight on those economic and racial disparities that we see in health care. >> georgia state representative emory university lecturer jazz minute clark is also a microbiologist. she knows the science and opted for virtual learning this fall. >> i signed up my daughter for digital learning. i fear for my daughter's safety. i fear for everyone's safety. i am hearing the stories of people who just wish that we as a community would do the right thing collectively so that we can stop the spread of this virus. >> but representative clark says her daughter isn't happy about their tough decision. >> jada loves to be around her friends, around her peers, so choosing virtual meant that i was taking that from her. but as a scientist and just understanding viral tra

joining us is a first grade teacher in the gwinnett school county district.et me get this straight. you have been back in the classroom preparing. it's just the teachers in gwinnett county right through, but soon -- you're a first grade teacher, august 26th, the first graders are going to be coming back into the classroom. are you prepared for that? >> thank you so much for having me. wow, that's a really loaded question, are we prepared for that? you're correct, we have been working on digital plans. teachers have been in the building. and we were notified yesterday that the county is going to proceed with starting to allow kindergarten students and first grade students back into the building august 26th. this came as a big surprise to us. so up until now we have been doing an preparing to go virtual. so we're going to have to pivot. >> and so who are you worried about? >> i have a lot of fears. the community spread is still very high. i have asthma, my 2-year-old son is showing indications he as well has asthma and i'm worried. bringing in kindergarten and

. >> reporter: about an hour to the east in gwinnett county, georgia, nearly 300 teachers and staff are out sick. teachers that tested positive for covid-19 or exposed to someone who was infected. in mississippi, in indiana, the list of states is growing, where teachers and students are testing positive just as parents are getting kids back into >> iny mind, i'm thinking, here we go. >> i want to be clear. this is extraordinarily widespread. it's into the rural as equal urban areas. >> reporter: getting that message across is a challenge. positive rates are climbing in 25 states. california alone now has more than a half million cases. in new york, authorities arrested the owner of this party boat after photos showed big parties with little social distancing. in new jersey, they believe that large parties have led to larger transmission and now the governor is putting a limit on most indoor gatherings to 25 people. >> we cannot move forward if a few knuckleheads think the rules don't apply to them or they think they can be cute and skate by with a wink and a nod. >> reporter: a vaccine

. >> reporter: about an hour and a half to the east in gwinnett, county, georgia, school hasn't started yet, but nearly 300 teachers and staff are out sick. teachers that tested positive for covid-19 or exposed to someone who was infected. in mississippi, in indiana, the list of states is growing, where teachers and students are testing positive just as parents are getting kids back into classes. >> in my mind, i'm thinking, here we go. >> reporter: in washington, the white house task force coordinator is saying all corners of the country are struggling with the virus. >> i want to be very clear. what we're seeing today is different from march and april. this is extraordinarily widespread. it's into the rural as equal urban areas. >> reporter: getting that message across is a challenge. positive rates are climbing in 25 states. california alone now has more than a half million cases. in new york, authorities arrested the owner of this party boat after photos showed big parties with little social distancing. in new jersey, they believe that large parties have led to larger transmission a

in gwinnett county, teachers doing prep work inside the buildings, 260 in that district are quarantiningr have tested positive for covid-19 as well. natasha chen, cnn, atlanta. >>> britain's prime minister pushing to reopen schools by september, saying quote it's morally irresponsible to keep them closed. government pledging more than a billion dollars to help students catch up. but comes on the heels of recent study revealing that u.k. could see second coronavirus wave this winter if schools reopen without stricter testing system. in israel, students returned in may after two months. looked like right decision at the time but they've learned incredibly hard lessons that the world could listen to. ellio elliott reports. >> reporter: from teacher's pet to near bottom of the class. israel now grappling with one of the world's worst covid outbreaks. this one are a big reason why. head of the jerusalem parent/teacher association. >> a kid is a super spreader, because of it we have 150 kids infected, 25 teachers. it's a huge school, 1,200 students with brothers and sisters all around jerusale

what looks a situation in gwinnett county is far different than you might find in poll ver county. superintendent, the principal of the middle school, high school and elementary school. for all i know he probably mows the lawns. the incident rate there could be far different than you have in gwinnett county. they're responsible for doing the most important things for their communities with return to school. and it's a very, very challenging situation across the state. i don't know of a superintendent across the state who would want anything other than face-to-face education. but most importantly what they are looking out for is the safety of the students, the safety of the staff, and the respective families. >> sandra: when it comes to gwinnett county throw up the stats, 28 confirmed cases and 67 suspected cases among employees as of wednesday. that's according to the executive director of communication relations. is it safe to send kids back to school where you have the adults, teachers and staff spreading it at that level? >> yeah. this is where the fine line crosses between educ

take gwinnett county, for example. on wednesday teachers began to reopen campus. by thursday, 260 employees were barred from entering that are schools, either because they tested positive for the virus or were exposed to somebody who had. in greenfield, indiana, a junior high school student tested poach for the first day in class. they caught it earlier, but the student had already attended a partial day, possibly exposing students and teachers. >>> a superintendent in arizona likened his decision of reopening schools feeling like there's a gun to his head. quote -- i always lost one teacher to this virus, do i risk opening up? clenching face a unique challenge as well. how do you house and educate students? coring to the niche tiff, most colleges and universities are planning for a hybrid of onloon and in-person learning. just 75 schools have committed fully to in-person learning. >>> mitch daniels is the current president of purdue university. he's advocating for the reopening and said it would be a breach of duty not to. thank you so much for coming on. i visit

gwinnett county is starting virtual and phasing in and requiring the teachers to be in the school buildings. several of the districts we hear of a number of cases and people having to quarantine within the first week of school or with just teachers prepping in the buildings and of course meanwhile looking at a seven-day average of new cases in the state of georgia that looks pretty scary honestly. in july you saw that huge increase, slightly better in early august but still very troubling numbers trying to start school, dana. >> they sure are and let's hope the nine kids we think, maybe teachers, are doing okay. appreciate that report, natasha. >>> and the national security council is now accusing russia and china of targeting election websites. in an effort to interfere with the 2020 presidential election. what will the president do to act? we'll talk about that next. (gong rings) - this is joe. (combative yelling) he used to have bad breath. now, he uses a capful of therabreath fresh breath oral rinse to keep his breath smelling great, all day long. (combative yelling) therabreath, it's a

outside of atlanta, a district close to you, gwinnett county, georgia, found 269 public school employees tested positive or were in contact with someone who tested positive. gives you an example of the spread of this and how it could affect school reopening. where do you stand on opening schools? is there a standard? in other words, if the area, the school district has a low enough positivity rate and a small enough spread, can it be safe? >> i think so. i think if you look, the national academy of medicine had a very complete report on this. there's been a couple other reports on school openings that are worth looking at. i think the point is to bring community viral transmission down. so communities, for example, in new york and connecticut are probably fine opening schools. other communities around the country may be fine. communities where there's a lot of spread right now are not ready to reopen schools. i think we need to be very clear about this. we need to bring community transmission down before we talk about opening or not opening schools. >> dautsch hr. fauci has said f it's n

over in gwinnett county teachers required to be in the buildings for prep and training before classes begin, about 260 employees are either testing positive or quarantining at the moment so just now we are at this new mega testing site at the atlanta airport. we asked the georgia governor who was here to announce this expanded testing about why he doesn't have a mask mandate required for schools. here's what governor kemp told us. >> i'm confident the superintendents have the tools, the resources, the masks that we have given them as far as the state's concerned to be able to handle that at the local level. >> we are asking teachers to risk their lives daily to a virus that is preventable. that we can control the transmission. and the measures that are being put in place are not measures that we know will prevent the transmission in our school buildings. >> reporter: so you can hear educators are extremely concerned about this and i did just get to speak one on one with the u.s. surgeon general also here today about the mask mandates. he said he is not opposed to mandates but that eng

for example in georgia, the largest school district there, gwinnett county, hundreds have tested positive for coronavirus or have been in contact with someone who has been infected. and gwinnett has one of the highest rates in the entire state. so let's go to bianna golodryga. this is after the teachers returned to school last week to plan for the upcoming school year so it is my understanding students were not yet in the building, correct. >> that is right. students will return to school which is virtual next week but the teachers had to report last wednesday. and get this, brooke, by the next day, thursday, 260 employees had either tested positive or were in contact and exposed to somebody who had tested positive. so they are in quarantine. and our own natasha chen has spoken with teachers who resigning and petitioning to the school board because they don't have the opportunity to work from home which is what so many of them want to do. one teacher she spoke with said she quit. she was a 4-year-old daughter at home and she wanted to stay with her daughter and feel safe. and what is so p

week that because of positive test cases there are about 260 total people in quarantine, over in gwinnett county, the largest school system in georgia you have 260 employees who are either quarantined or who have tested positive after just their prep beak in those buildings. collapses haven't even started there. so palding county is not alone in this and you mentioned we know of at least nine positive cases at north palding high school, one positive case at the middle schools and this resulted in the high school keeping those students home for another two days of virtual learning. they are supposed to be notified by tomorrow night on what the school plans to do in the coming days for classes, as they consult with the health department and sanitize that campus. now, as you talked about, that crowded hallway photo taken by sophomore hannah waters resulted in her suspension, then a reversal of that suspension. she says that now she's gotten threats over that. >> i feel like a lot of teachers have my back, because they know how dangerous it is going to school, but i know that a lot of the kids i go

. >> reporte >> reporter: gwinnett county reporting many are staying home after testing positive or comingnto contact with someone who has. and this just into cnn the mississippi governor has decided to order a mask mandate for the next couple of weeks. and that mandate extends to people in schools saying that both teachers and students must wear masks. that is because mississippi is seeing a major spike in cases there. wolf? >> like several other states. thanks very much, sara sidner for that report. our chief white house correspondent jim acosta is standing by. the president seems to be showing a stunningly cavalier attitude toward this health disaster. >> reporter: that's right, wolf. and an administration official is telling cnn that others on the coronavirus task force here at the white house agree with dr. deborah birx's stark assessment that the pandemic in the u.s. has entered a new phase and that covid-19 has become, quote, extraordinarily widespread. president trump lashed out at birx after she made that remark. but it's the president's latest comments on the virus that are raisi

this week, technical problems have been especially worrisome, like in gwinnett county, georgia. >> i, tried to log into the eclass portal and was getting an error message for the most part. >> reporter: with many students and parents unable to log in this week, the district asked them to stagger their attempts to access the program. meanwhile a superintendent of schools in texas said a cyber attack blocked some students from logging into their first day of online classes this week. this comes as the debate rages over whether remote or in-person learning will work best during the pandemic. >> teachers could really benefit -- >> reporter: during a zoom meeting with education specialists in recent days, one expert said a disadvantage of remote learning is it doesn't always play to teachers' strengths. >> the teachers who are our most effective teachers who we've had so far in typical face-to-face situations may not be the most effective in remote environments. >> reporter: some parents of students with special needs say their kids aren't being served as well online, like one mother who

back into the school, but we know what's taking place and quite frankly, we do not want to be gwinnett county. we do not want to be unc. >> yeah. i get it. i get it. i guess part of the reason why i ask also is what i mentioned and that's "the washington post qwest ". i want your take on it since you're in the middle of this and they're reporteding that florida's commissioner had a phone call with school district superintendents last week and urged you guys to be, quote, surgical. that's the word they're quoting him with docovid-19 cases as opposed to sweeping and not to close schools without talking to state officials first. were you on that call? >> i was on that call. we certainly were encouraged to participate in a dialogue with the department of education regarding cases in our schools. i personally did not get a sense that we were to be guided by direction from tallahassee. look, i think all along as superintendent, as a constitutional officer in the state of florida we're responsible for 41,000 employees and 350,000 kids. i think the best decisions are made at the local level in consul

. >> reporter: teachers honked from inside their cars in gwinnett county as a socially distant protest by those in the same spot calling for some face-to-face instruction. a district spokesperson said their difficult decisions will not be popular with everyone. but say they're committed to student's health, safety and education. >> seems like they keep making decisions that placate different parties without considering, we need consistent and bold leadership. >> reporter: teaches second grade students who would be back in the classroom at the end of august but no one has given her detailed plans o of what that looks like. >> i'll be in the room teaching children on top of also teaching online children too. so i have three jobs, a mom, a classroom teacher and an online teacher. >> reporter: her own children are allowed to go with her to work which alleviates child care concerns but it's not ideal since they have asthma. >> this is not well thought out at all. >> reporter: the fears are real, 260 gwinnett employees testing positive before school even started. at least 260 students and ei

gwinnett county, largest school sdplict georgia, some of the teachers, only doing prep in the classrooms so far. 260 employees have had to quarantine, have either tested positive or are in quarantine there as well. these are just numbers and reports that we're seeing now pop up in various school districts around the atlanta metro area. of course, each of them taking a slightly different approach to whether they do virtual or face-to-face instruction. jim? >> okay. very big development in that school that went viral last week with the photograph of those students in the hallway all crammed together next to one another and turns out this school has to switch to virtual learning a couple of days. that is stunning stuff. okay. natasha chen thank you very much for that. appreciate it. >>> with me now to discuss, dr. jonathan reiner a cnn medical analyst and professor of m medicine george washington university and vanderbilt medical center. dr. reiner, first, your reaction to this. i suppose we should have seen this coming? >> yeah. of course. georgia opened with widespread virus in the commun

. >> reporter: teachers honked from inside their cars in gwinnett county as a socially distant protest in contrast to the one organized by some parents two weeks ago in the same spot, calling for face-to-face instruction. a district spokesperson said their difficult decisions will not be popular with everyone, but say they're committed to students' health, safety, and education. >> it seems they keep making decisions that placate different parties without considering that we need consistency, we need bold leadership. [ horns honking ] >> reporter: powell teaches second grade students. no one's given her any detailed plans of what that looks like. >> i'll be in the room teaching children on top of also teaching online children too. so three jobs. a mom, a classroom teacher, and an online teacher. >> reporter: her own children are allowed to go with her to work, but she says it's not ideal, since they have asthma. >> this is not well thought at all. >> reporter: the fears are real. with 260 gwinnett employees already testing positive or in quarantine before school has even started. in ch

you did, but it was a different county, it was gwinnett county. that was 200 something teachers and staff. this is a different group of 200 in a different county. and it's students. this is what you risk. the white house task force coordinator warned in a private call with state and local officials this week, that nine cities in particular are on their radar. you can see that includes atlanta, where the mayor is in a legal face-off with the governor over mask mandates. can you believe that anyone in charge still has a problem with telling people to wear masks if they can't socially distance? governor kemp is against them. even when it comes to schools. that is a smart idea to one person, trump. he says it should be up to local officials. why give them the choice on something like this? it can only help. this is what we all saw. this is what happens, when you leave it to them. you leave it to people, there's risk, and here's the reality. kids cramming a hallway, i don't see any masks in the picture. and remember, i know the president told you it's g

in some districts they're asking the teachers to return for planning, in gwinnett county public schools which start back virtually next week. they have 260 employees who have either tested positive for or come in close contact with a case of covid-19 and they can't work. no word right now on whether or not that's going to impact the start of school, again, virtually next week. but, brooke. >> this is difficult in planning out school during a pandemic. they have teachers to worry about, parents that aren't sure what to do with the students. they have to stay out of school and you have the children who by enlarge do want to go back but as we saw just up the road in cherokee county, georgia, there is risk as well. >> as the debate rages on. you can't help about wonder about the stories, is this a sign of what to come if kids go back to school. diane, thank you so much for what is going on there in georgia. >>> dr. celine gounder is with me now. to talk through all of this. and doctor grounder, what is your reaction to the images of a crowded school hallway in georgia, second grader already

the largest school district, gwinnett county public schools, they start back school virtually next week. currently, right now, they have roughly 260 employees who have either tested positive for or been exposed to covid-19. so they can't work. now, most of those teachers may be teaching from inside their classrooms, even though the students aren't going to be there to begin with. john, we're seeing all sorts of different scenarios throughout the state of georgia on how these districts are approaching educating during a pandemic, and at each avenue they choose, we're seeing road blocks because of these positive cases, and parents aren't sure how to plan. teachers don't know how to plan, and districts aren't sure if they've made the right choice. >> well, this is a conversation around the country within the state of georgia, within these different school districts and we'll continue with diane gallagher. appreciate the latest update and stay on top of this. and insights, seen jer scholar from john hopkins, doctor, thank you for being with us. a conversation happening in every family in am

and in talking to the largest school system in georgia just yesterday, gwinnett county, 34 resigned.y're forced to work in the school buildings even when teaching virtual classes and that presents a problem for their children, their own children and child care. here is what one of them said about her resignation. >> for them to see my resignation as just another number when i've contribute so much of my time and energy to making gwinnett as great as they really want to be, it is very difficult to feel like my contributions are going unknown or unrecognized. >> reporter: and cobb county, another district told me that they have not seen an increase in teacher resignations this year. of course, these districts tell me that sometimes teachers resign at the beginning of school years for various reasons. of course, this year bianna, is unlike any other. so we're continuing to track that situation. >> that is absolutely true. and obviously this is not an easy decision for these teachers to make. so many of them so passionate about their work. natasha chen, thank you so much. >>> well, let's

. >> considering what's happened in gwinnett county and unc, i think that our approach is the right approach. >> reporter: georgia still a major concern. the state now has the highest number of cases per capita in the country. and while the number of new cases in the u.s. is declining, deaths have plateaued at an average of more than a thousand a day for the last 23 days. >> we still don't have a magic bullet to be able to prevent death or serious disease. and we're still not doing the job that we need to do to be able to contain spread in most places in the united states. >> reporter: as a push for a vaccine continues, new cnn polling finds just 56% of americans say they'd get the vaccine. that's down ten points since may. >> vaccine disinformation can lead clearly to vaccine hesitancech. >> reporter: while most agree those on the front lines should have first priority, pope francis also stressing his hope that it will ultimately be made available to all. >> translator: it would be sad if the rich are given priority for the covid-19 vaccine. it would be sad if this vaccine became the proper

classes begin online for students in the biggest school district in georgia, but officials if gwinnett county plan to bring students back to class by the end of the month. the decision comes after school districts in georgia have already started in-person classes and now are coping with the wave of new cases. cnn's natasha chen joins us now. this plan to bring students back has some parents and teachers concerned and so many other states are watching closely. >> absolutely. this particular county, the district had actually vacillated a bit on what they were going to do for the beginning of the school year. at first, they had surveyed people to see what they would like for their options. then in july, they looked at the numbers and said we should go all virtual for the beginning of class, and now just in the past week they have said that toward the end of august, they are going to phase in face-to-face instruction after there were several parent protests calling for that face-to-face instruction. now, this week, teachers heard that and they got very concerned because already they are being req

in gwinnett county, there are at least 260 employees during just the prep and training week. classes haven't started there. 260 employees who have tested positive or had to quarantine. now, of course, north paulding high school, though, did gain some notoriety last week when a student posted a picture of a very crowded hallway to social media and showed a lot of students not social distancing, a lot not wearing masks. the superintendent made it clear that was a five-minute passing period when students were changing classes, something he said that may happen when there's a school of more than 2,000 students. of course all educators are making some pretty tough decisions about how to start school right now like this and a lot of that has to do with the covid numbers around georgia. we're standing here where governor brian kemp and the u.s. surgeon general are announcing today, expanded testing near the atlanta airport after health and humans identified atlanta as a hot spot. these tests here will turn results in 48 to 72 hours which is currently much faster than other test resu

. >> and teachers here in gwinnett county, the largest school system in georgia are also upset.strict is phasing students back into the classroom. tonight, there is a board meeting, where teachers plan to protest outside and one of them told me, there are at least 50 people signed up to speak publicly there. john? >> natasha chen for us in atlanta. thank you very much. joining us now is dr. ali khan, the dean of the university of nebraska medical center's college of public health. dr. khan, there is one question that is looming over every household with children right now, which is, will my kids get to go back to school. if they are back in school, how long will they be able to stay there. if they're not in school, when will they be able to go back. this is it. 95% of the discussions in every house are all about this. and i think there were major developments overnight, with the detroit teachers authorizing a strike, if they are convinced that safety measures are not in place. teachers in new york city threatening to strike if they don't see changes made. it just seems like ther

in georgia's gwinnett county, more than 250 employees are not working after testing positive or being exposed. the school year has barely begun. we're seeing outbreaks in indiana and other states. what's your takeaway here? >> i'm with you in terms of this is topic number one in our household. i have three girls, 11, 13, and 15. i think it's an exercise probably in futility. i mean, it's a very contagious virus. where i live the numbers have been going up. i think people are going to do their best efforts. but i think you're going to run into situations where you could have a super spreader event as we probably saw in gwinnett and at camp high harbor which you may be familiar with. 250 kids got infected there as well. it's going to be tough. i think there's going to be these stutter starts where maybe they start but then they have to go back to virtual learning pretty quickly. >> as a parent myself, i'm still not sure what i'm going to do next month when my son's supposed to go to school. it's just hard to know and it seems like the data in terms of kids transmitting the virus isn't r

concerned about the safety of in-school learning, joining me now ari montgomery a teacher from gwinnett countyng a mother of two young boys and having to teach them at home and deal with virtual learning during the spring. i now know how hard jobs are like yours being a teacher so i appreciate you very much as do so many parents out there. how did you feel when you found out that schools would be in-persin in-person? >> i felt very hopeless. i also felt very shocked because i remember our district agreeing to start digitally. so we agreed to start digitally and we realize tlad we received an email that said that we would be going to face students back in as soon as august 26th which leaves us only 14 days of digital learning. >> what safety measures are in place to protect not only you but the children in your classroom? >> to be honest, the safety measures in place, it is booing to vary from school to school. that is unnerving recently. what we have in place at the moment is just basically virtual meetings. we're not meeting with any of our colleagues in the building as we have been transitio

>> that stat is remarkable, the one you talk about, gwinnett county school system, 260 employees had to go home and quarantine during that first week of school. pretty remarkable. appreciate that, ron allen. recent glitch in the coronavirus reporting system is preventing the state from taking businesses off a watch list. in one bay area county, there is a plan to pay people up to $1250 to stay inside and quarantine for 14 days. this would be in the form of a one-time payment. nbc's scott cohn is joining me from campbell, california. a lot of people might say give me $1250 and i'll stay in and quarantine. you can make money that way and it's safer. but let's talk about the failures that led to the system glitch and how it's affected the lives of californians, mostly back under an economic shutdown. >> reporter: yeah. alex, we'll get to that one-time payment thing in a moment. that's in alameda county. here in santa clara county, in campbell, south of san jose. the official explanation for this glitch that has led to a backlog of some 300,000 tests is that they were using an existing s

at this point we're already seeing protests from teachers in the state's largest district, gwinnett county public schools, yesterday, the socially distanced demonstrations. because they start school back there virtually next week. but there's already a plan that was released that says they are going to be phasing in this in-person learning a few weeks after that. [ cars honking horns ] and the teachers are concerned that it's not going to be safe. we've been reporting on those positive cases. you have seen the pictures floating around as well. a picture from north paulding high school here in georgia that went viral. the student who took that photograph of a crowded hallway during transition time actually spoke with us. she was suspended for violating school protocols having her cell phone. this is why she said she did it. >> i was concerned for the safety of everyone in that building and everyone in the county because precautions that the cdc and guidelines that the cdc has been telling us for months now weren't being followed. i'd like to say that this is some good and necessary trouble.

. >>> this morning we turn to police in gwinnett county, georgia. over this video here. they are investigating use of force concerns behind this video that was taken on tuesday and posted on line. of course, as you can imagine, it has gone viral. you can see the officer there with the taser and knocked a woman to the ground. police say it started when the officer was responding to a dispute with a neighbor. the woman resisted arrest and scuffled with the officer, he said. he's not yet been identified. that woman was arrested and charged with felony obstruction and simple battery of an officer. the officer was placed on administrative duty. >>> there is new hope this morning in the fight against covid-19. a new trial of a vaccine is about to begin. so how much promise does this offer? offer? we made usaa insurance for veterans like liz and mike. an army family who is always at the ready. so when they got a little surprise... two!? ...they didn't panic. they got a bigger car for their soon-to-be-bigger family. after shopping around for insurance, they called usaa - who hel

. >> reporter: about an hour and a half to the east in gwinnett county, georgia, school hasn't startedready nearly 300 teachers and staff are out sick. teachers who tested positive for covid-19 or were exposed to someone who is infected. in mississippi and indiana, the list of states is growing where teachers and students are testing positive just as parents are getting kids back into classes. >> in my mind, i'm thinking, here we go. >> reporter: in washington, the white house task force coordinator saying all corners of the country are struggling with the virus. >> i want to be very clear. what we're seeing today is different from march and april. it is extraordinarily widespread. it's into the rural as equal urban areas. >> reporter: getting that message across is a challenge. positive rates are climbing in 25 states. california alone now has more than 500,000 cases. new jersey, they believe that large parties have led to larger transmission. now the governor is putting a limit on most indoor gatherings to 25 people. >> we cannot move forward in a few knuckleheads think the rules don

and over in gwinnett county, the largest school system in georgia, at least 260 employees either testinge or in quarantine. and just to explain where we are this morning, this is by the atlanta airport. we're expecting later this morning governor brian kemp along with the u.s. surgeon general to announce a new partnership, allowing for new testing in the next 16 days that would allow results to come back in 48 to 72 hours, a turnaround that is much faster than it currently is in georgia. >> it's much faster than it is in places around the country. that would be helpful, to be sure, if measures elsewhere also enforced. and natasha chen, thanks very much for being with us. joining us now, dr. carlos del rio at grady health system. can we put the picture back up, so people can see this picture in north paulding high school last week that was posted by hanna waters. clearly, dr. del rio, people are not social distancing and people are not wearing masks. here's the thing, they were required to do neither inside that high school. masks were not required and in the guidelines posted by that sch

. >> when teachers in gwinnett county georgia are being asked to return to the classroom without a plano keep them safe and parents are exhausted juggling full time work and full time child care. >> visiting our parents and grand parents through the window of a nursing home, worrying all the time that they'll get sick. >> when unemployment in north charleston, south carolina has risen nearly four fold. and evictions are putting families out on the street in the middle of a pandemic. >> make no mistake, it didn't have to be this bad. in the early days of the virus, donald trump didn't listen to the experts, and then he said something that a president should never say. >> he said, i don't take responsibility at all. >> no responsibility. >> no leadership. >> no plan. >> he still doesn't have a plan. >> donald trump just doesn't understand, we can't fix our economy until we get ahold of the virus. >> while working families are struggling, he's looking out for the people who are already doing just fine. the wealthy. the big corporations. the donors to his campaign. >> he's looking out for h

georgia's largest school district north of atlanta, school hasn't even started yet and nearly 300 gwinnett county teachers and staff members are sick or exposed to the virus. >> it's hard to focus on what i'm paid to do because of this health pandemic and how risky it is to go into the building. >> reporter: for many families across the country whose school systems have decided to go with in-person instruction, it's a tough decision to send the kids to class. >> i just want to cry. that was hard. >> reporter: health officials insist that none of this will get any easier as long as we keep seeing this, people crowding a beverly hills mansion overnight, and at the party there was not a face covering in sight. police responded after a noise complaint. they made no arrests and wrote no tickets. on the other side of the country, new jersey's health commissioner is blaming another crowded party for a growing outbreak that has hit the rutgers university football team. so far at least 28 players have tested positive for the coronavirus. and even when schools, for example, follow precautions recommended b

. >> when teachers in gwinnett county, georgia, and across the country are being asked to return to theroom without a plan to keep them safe and parents are exhausted juggling full-time work and full-time childcare. >> and visiting our parents and grandparents through the window of a nursing home, worrying all the time that they get sick. >> when unemployment in north charleston, south carolina, a city i represent, has risen nearly four-fold and evictions are putting families out on the street in the middle of a pandemic. >> make no mistake, it didn't have to be this bad. in early days of the virus, donald trump didn't listen to the experts. and then he said something that a president should never say. >> he said, i don't take responsibility at all. >> no responsibility. >> no leadership. >> no plan. >> he still doesn't have a plan. >> donald trump just doesn't understand. we can't fix our economy until we get ahold of the virus. >> while working families are struggling, he's looking out for the people who are already doing just fine. the wealthy. the big corporations. the donors to his