polo sandoval is looking into all this.

polo sandoval, cnn, new york. >>> now the acting u.s.ng for an investigation into the taliban murder of 22 surrendering afghan commanders. ross wilson met with the defense minister on sunday. he tweeted the taliban committed possible war crimes. this crime must be investigated and those responsible held accountable. cnn was the first report -- of the report from a few days ago and a warning it contains graphic images. >> reporter: after over two hours of heavy fighting, all ammunitions spent. afghan commanders walk out with hands in the air. surrender, commander, surrender. the rules of war don't exist on this battlefield. seconds later, more than a dozen members of the elite special forces have been executed. sources confirmed the bodies of 22 commanders were retrieved. a village of pleas with the taliban to stop shooting. cnn has spoken to five witnesses to many masksacre which occurre last month in northern afghanistan. all confirm these events took place. >> the taliban denied the alleged excuse saying the video was fake and the accu

polo sandoval is here. polo, tell us what we know about this group and what it was up to?t we know about the 11 self described militia men is they are facing a slew of charges. they were arrested without incident after what was still a relatively long standoff as you pointed out for almost nine hours forcing the closure of interstate 95. facing a slew of charges from weapons related charges to being accused of conspiracy to commit a crime. we have the list for you and you could see for yourself there. now this standoff started when these men were apparently fuelling up their personal vehicles on the side of i-95 and a massachusetts state trooper was passing by, pulls over and to check them out, sees that they were armed, requests i.d., they refuse and that leds to this standoff between police and these individuals that as we'll say again were arrested without incident. now we are learning that they do subscribe to the moor sovereign ideology, the rise of the moor and they're based in rhode island, an independence sovereign nation and said they have territorial rights over

i'm christine romans. >> and i'm polo sandoval.ments the first time in modern u.s. history the nation's top military officer prepared for a showdown with the president. why? because the chairman of the joint chiefs feared a coup attempt by then president trump after he lost the november election. "washington post" reporters write that milley and other top officials informally planned strategies for stopping trump. and they even thought about resigning. one by one rather than carrying out orders they considered illegal, dangerous or ill advised. the authors explain that general milley was concerned about personnel moves that put trump loyalists in positions of power at the pentagon after the 2020 election. according to the book general milley said of the possible coup attempt they may try but they are not going to fing succeed. you can't do this without the military. you can't do this without the cia and the fbi. we are the guys with the guns. >> let's did hg deeper and brinn retired air force colonel scedrc lay ton. you read these

polo sandoval is following these developments for us from new york. should we expect to come out of today's questioning? >> we know we're waiting for potential developments to come out of here and remind viewers what we got here and what it means for governor cuomo. his chance to lead lawyers to actually, for him to share the account. now in terms of this interview, it could be a big sign that the probe could almost be coming to a close here over the last five months it's been going on. remember, opened this inquiry after two former cuomo staffers came forward accusing him of inappropriate behavior and more women made claims against him. cuomo denied his allegations and apologized, however, to anyone who says he may have misinterpreted his remarks as unwanted flirtation. cnn reported there are several other women who have spoken to investigators already and in fact, more than one, so at this point, some of the reporting that we're getting here is that lawyers are speaking to cuomo to, this investigation does move forward. the governor seems to be one

cnn's polo sandoval joining me right now. polo, a 6-year-old girl was killed in a shooting just three miles away from nationals park. what can you tell us? >> the result, fred, is a community in southwest washington, d.c. that is just outraged. this 6-year-old little girl was supposed to be start k the first grade this fall, and now we know that won't happen. so authorities there in washington, d.c. are offering a $60,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the death of little naya courtney, an innocent bystander that was in a crowd when a car pulled up and opened fire. in this video you see a silver vehicle driving through an intersection. and then from one second to another once it approaches the intersection you see the muzzle flashes as they open fire. d.c.'s police chief says officers were actually nearby. there's that moment there, fred. it's pretty dramatic stuff. police officers with the washington, d.c. metropolitan police department were nearby. they rushed to the scene. and they

polo sandoval is looking into all this. florida is one of the states seeing the most dramatic increases in new covid cases, and by the way, with a third shot, that booster, it would be for people over 65. what are you learning? >> that's what so many people are asking, about the need for potential booster later this year. when it comes to florida, no doubt numbers there are alarming. one thing to hear about it, when you see them alone, they certainly tell a story of why health officials are concerned. you can see 208% increase in coronavirus cases, as you take in the numbers. consider this alone. in florida, cases, new case positivity went from 8% the week of july 12th to 15%. vaccination numbers aren't necessarily going up. that's what's fueling fears as infections continue to spread that more people are not protected against the virus. when it comes to the national number at this point, less than 50% of the u.s. population is fully protected with the covid vaccine. that's because this is after vaccine efforts started some

the governor has denied ever touching anyone inappropriately and cnn's polo sandoval joins me now fromwhat do we know about this interview? and what does it signal for this on going investigation? >> reporter: jim, this is governor cuomo's chance to share his account with two lawyers in albany who are investigating accusations of sexual harassment against him. we just checked in at the capitol city right now and no significant update. but in the meantime, this interview is a big sign that the probe could be almost over after almost five months. remember, new york, tish james was the one who opened this inquiry after two former cuomo staffers came forward accusing the governor of inappropriate behavior and since then more women have made claims against him. cuomo denied these allegations. he did apologize to anyone who he says may have misinterpreted his remarks as unwanted flirtation. since then cnn also reported that several of these women spoke to investigators already, sometimes even more than once and there's also some reporting that the lawyers have met with members of cuomo's sen

cnn's polo sandoval reports. >> reporter: by now, most americans who plan to travel this holiday weekend may have already have braved the fourth of july frenzy on the roads. >> i a its they going to be pretty busy and congested. that's why i didn't want to wait and leave any later than today. >> reporter: or at some of the nation's airports, many of which team to be bursting at the seams on friday. aaa expecting nearly 48 million people will have traveled either by road or air by the time this fourth of july weekend comes to a close. most of them some 43 million opting to drive to and from their destinations according to aaa. >> the biggest is people traveling by car. there are reasons for that. international travel is down. cruising has not picked back up yet. people may generally feel more comfortable traveling by car. you can decide when you're going to leave, where you're going to stop. maybe not everybody in the family is vaccinated yet. >> reporter: gross expect rising fuel prices likely aren't keeping families from a post-pandemic getaway. it won't be cheap, a gallon of gas averag

cnn's polo sandoval has been following the developments for us. so polo, what is the doj saying about why they are not moving forward? >> fred, quickly remind our viewers how we got here. august of last year. civil rights division with the justice that it would be seeking important information from new jersey, pennsylvania, michigan and right here in new york and that included any possible executive orders that are issued by chief executives in those states during the previous spikes of the pandemic here. basically, what they were doing here, fred, is that they were trying to determine if state orders are requiring admission of covid-positive patients played a role in the deaths at those facilities, and what we learned yesterday is that the doj did review the material and would not be launching said civil rights investigations. important distinction here. they are looking into, at least they are investigating at least two facilities in the state of new jersey, but it is not obviously what many republicans wanted to see when it comes specifically to

cnn's polo sandoval is live for us now out of little rock, arkansas. one of the states seeing a surge. so polo, what are you hearing and seeing there and are people showing up to get their vaccines at the location where you are? >> reporter: not enough, fred. that's what we're hearing from officials. they want to get the word out. a majority of residents here in arkansas actually head out to their locations including this pop-up one that's being set up at the church and get that shot. they want these chairs to be full because as we heard from an official earlier with the university of arkansas for medical sciences, right now, the hospitals are full. a third covid surge is just beginning to gain momentum and that is really underscoring the importance of getting people vaccinated. right now, only about 40% of residents of arkansas have been vaccinated. it's a number that sadly has been kind of stalled and so as that stalls, covid numbers, hospitalizations, new cases that continues to rise especially with those highly contagious delta variant. now, what i'

cnn's polo sandoval tracking the holiday rush from new york. know that those travel numbers, polo, we just shared, they arrived prepandemic figure levels as well. it shows how much people want to get out and about. >> that is owe telling, christi, i'm glad you mentioned that, not only the latest figure just released by the tsa, regarding the number of people that used tsa checkpoints now leads to the pandemic era number. and significantly higher than we saw even before the pandemic. and travel experts say it's only g going to get busier this year. >> reporter: by now, most americans who plan to travel this holiday weekend may have braved the july frenzy on the roads. >> i think it's going to be pretty busy and congested. that's why i didn't want to leave any later than today. >> reporter: or at some of the nation's airports, many of which seem to be bursting at the seams on friday. aaa expecting 48 million people will have traveled by road or by air by the time this fourth of july weekend comes to a close. most of them, 73 million opted to drive

. >> cnn's polo sandoval is live in little rock, arkansas. ne of the states where vaccination rates are low and covid cases are rising. polo, i read on june 17th, arkansas had 1,500 active cases, now more than 5,000. what are you learning about that state. >> christi for the last three days at arkds we have seen over a thousand new covid cases, sharp contrast to a month ago. with all the talk of booster shots there are many states across the country, close to 27, struggling for people to get the first shot. and arkansas is one of those states here as the governor pointed out yesterday, a vaccination rate of only 32%, well below what we see across the country right now. >> certainly they need to listen to the cdc and fda. >> the nation's top infectious disease expert says listen to the cdc and not pfizer when it comes to needsing a booster. friday this is what anthony fauci told cnn about a phone call he received from the head of pfizer. >> the ceo got on the phone with me last night and apologized that they came out with the recommendation. th

let's begin our coverage this hour with polo sandoval, in little rock. sadly, cases are surging across the state. the government there, leaders trying to combat vaccine skepticism. what else are they doing to get a handle on this? >> poppy, here is another very telling number that was shared with us by one of the health officials here in little rock. basically 95% of the patients that are currently experiencing severe covid symptoms, at least at the university of arkansas for medical sciences, are people who are not vaccinated. that's 95% of the patients in that ward were not vaccinated. that's a very telling number. it certainly suggests that many of those hospitalizations are almost preventible here when you look at the numbers. let's talk specifically about arkansas. when you look at it right now, we have seen only about 35% of the population here in the state be vaccinated. when you look at arkansas as a whole, and hospitalizations, you can see how they begin to increase here. one doctor telling me their ward is already full. they're certainly lookin

cnn's polo sandoval in little rock, arkansas. one of the states seeing a surge. you're at a mobile vaccination site. the vaccinations in that state remain low. so what does it look like today? >> reporter: it's a pop-up vaccination site here, fred. and it is not as busy as authorities wish it was. in fact, i'll step out of the shot for a quick second so you can at least see that it's your usual set-up here. this pop-up vaccination location where authorities are hoping that more people around the community will actually stop by. university of arkansas for medical science is actually joining forces with a local church here in little rock, they know that some of the most trusted, most established institutions and communities are churches. so in order to try to gain confidence of so many people still unvaccinated, they are out there right now trying to get that number of the vaccination rate here in arkansas just 40%. the nation's top infectious disease expert is saying listen to the cdc and not pfizer when it comes to needing a vaccine booster. friday, this is what

cnn's polo sandoval is here with more. tell us about this group.ons they were carrying, what they were up to? >> what we know about these suspects, these are 11 self-described militia members skpsh, and what we do know about them is they were all arrested without incident after those tense nine hours. it started early saturday morning about 1:30 when a massachusetts state trooper noticed them. they were fueling up their personal vehicles, pulled over, started speaking with them and then noticed they were armed with long rifles and pistols and as a result investigators started to inquire who these men were. they refused to produce identification. backup was called and then of course that standoff began. they are charged with various weapons related charges as well as accused of conspiracy to commit a crime here. they eventually were arrested without incident, and investigators are still trying to dig more into who he has these men are. they claimed they were on the way to private property to do some training. we are learning a little bit more about

so cnn's polo sandoval is in provincetown for us. tell us what you're seeing in the town and how they're reacting. >> reporter: alisyn, that's key now because now what we know based on this new data release is that the outbreak that was certainly seen here and still to a certain degree, to a lesser degree, being felt here, was part of that evidence that was considered by the cdc when it told the rest of the country that it would be wise to put those masks back on, regardless of vaccination status and that's what we're seeing largely here, folks inside adhering to this new mask mandate that requires people wear those masks while in indoor public spaces here in provincetown but when it comes to the actual numbers, let's break them down for you. this is a sampling that the cdc considered as it revisited that mask guidance and found that 469 massachusetts residents were infected during this fourth of july outbreak. that's generally in barnstable county, and that includes here in provincetown, 74% of those, and this is what is concerning,

cnn's polo sandoval is in little rock, arkansas, one of the states seeing a surge. polo, what are you learning? >> it's important to remember, too, fred, with many parts of the country feeling they aren't out of the woods, they're certainly doing better, there are still two dozen states experiencing an increase in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations. as we mentioned, the delta variant is highly to blame. that's really what we're seeing here in arkansas. we heard from health officials a little while ago saying that, currently, the state of arkansas is experiencing the upswing portion of what is the third wave of the coronavirus cases here when it comes to hospitalizations and cases. when you look back at the general numbers, several weeks ago, the numbers were looking good. cases were on the way down. vaccinations on their way up. a few week s ago, the vaccinatin rate stalled at 40%. of course, as we mentioned, the cases continue to rise. when it comes to the vaccination rate here in little rock, also very similar according to local officials when it comes to the n

polo sandoval has more with the officer who went beyond the call of duty. >> yeah, here we go.>> reporter: jeff spent more than 40 years policing the streets of watertown, massachusetts. >> there's another one through there. >> reporter: at the end of may, this lifelong lawman had no choice but to hang up his sergeant's hat after reaching the state's mandatory retirement age of 65. [ applause ]. >> reporter: as recent as his last road call and going back to iz early dates as a military police officer, he answered every call during his career but the one that led him into east watertown that made the world notice his reputation for going beyond the call of duty. >> shots fired. shots fired. all units respond. >> reporter: he was heading home from his shift when he heard fellow officers involved in a shootout with a couple of suspected carjackers. he raced towards the chaos and mini van as they fired bullets and hurls bombed at watertown officers. >> it was right about here where one of the pipe bombs went off. >> reporter: the officers had no idea they pinned down the two brothe

cnn's polo sandoval is live in little rock, arkansas, and there is a reason for that.is one of the states where evacvaccinations are low the covid cases are on the rise. cases are skyrocketing at this point, are they not, polo? >> reporter: christi, a hospital official you spoke to a couple hours ago here on cnn i thought put it best here and really describes how critical the situation here is. the hospital official, who you'll hear from again in a few moments here, said currently arkansas is in the upward swing of a third coronavirus wave. that certainly says a lot here. here's what we've seen play out. about a month ago, according to the governor, the numbers were looking good. cases were on the way down. covid vaccinations were on their way up. then in the last few weeks, that vaccination rate, it seemed to have stalled at only about 40%. when it comes to cases, those are on the rise. many of those having to do with the dreaded delta variant. now, back to dr. cam patterson, i want you to hear directly from him, how he describes what he is currently seeing here in hi

cnn's polo sandoval has more on the spike in travel. >> reporter: by now most americans who plan to travel this holiday weekend may have already braved the fourth of july frenzy on the roads. >> i think it's going to be pretty busy and congested, yeah. that's why i didn't want to wait and leave later than today. >> reporter: or some of the nation's airports which seem to be bursting at the seams. aaa expecting 48 million will have traveled by road or by air by the time this fourth of july weekend comes to a close. most of them some 43 million opted to drive to and from their destinations according to andrew gross from aa. >> the biggest difference is those traveling by car and a number of factors figureing into that. international travel is still down. cruising has not picked back up yet and people may generally feel a little more comfortable traveling by car. you can decide when you'll leave, where you're going to stop and maybe not everybody in the family is vaccinated yet. >> reporter: he expects families aren't being kept away by rising prices. with a gallon averaging $3.12 nationally,

polo sandoval, thank you so much.iate it. >>> as americans travel in record numbers this weekend, new coronavirus cases are up 10% over the last week. the cdc says the hypertransmissible delta variant is likely to blame for the spike in infections. joining me right now to discuss is dr. megan ranny, an emergency physician at brown university. good to see you, doctor. so how can people safely celebrate the fourth of july? >> fred, it is really simple. if you and those around you are vaccinated, you can celebrate the fourth of july this year the same way that you would have done in 2019. if you are not vaccinated, you need to wear a mask at any indoor gathering. if you're vaccinated but your kids aren't, try to keep the gathering outdoors, unless it's you and one other family, in which case, especially if you're in an area with low rates of covid, it may be safe for the kids to take their masks off indoors for a little bit. >> california's positivity rate has doubled over recent weeks, and the delta variant represented

. >> cnn's polo sandoval is live in little rock, arkansas. and there's a reason he is there.rkansas is one of several state where is vaccination rates are low. and the number of covid case are on the rise. in fact, i was reading some statistics that in june, they were reporting 1500 cases of covid. as of right now, arkansas is reporting more than 5,000. what are you seeing there? >> reporter: christi, boris in just the last few days here in arkansas, an average of 1,000 new cases a day so there certainly is no shortage of warning signs when it comes to america's ongoing fight against the pandemic. as you mentioned about 27 states seeing a rise in covid cases and hospitalizations. and here in arkansas, it's certainly one of those here where the governor is expressing some concern, not only about this plateauing vaccination rate, but also that delta variant that he says is dealing this right-left punch to the state right now. >> certainly, they need to listen to the cdc and fda. >> reporter: the nation's top infectious disease expert is saying listen to the cdc and not pfizer w

. >> major concerns out of florida, but let's get to cnn's polo sandoval. a troubling new phase of the pandemic. set the scene. what is happening nationally, and what do officials fear is to come? >> absolutely right. our colleagues will offering critical insight about what's actually happening there on the ground. when you step back and look at it nationally, you see some of the numbers that are also really quite concerning here. about 43,000 new covid cases a day nationally. that's something that's certainly concerning to health officials. when you look at the numbers, when you look at the map, you can see that just about every state at this moment has a seven-day average of covid cases that either matched or exceeded the week before. and the other concerningish shoo you, we're talking about eight months into vaccination efforts here in the u.s., and still less than 50% of the population is considered fully protected, fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. we did hear just yesterday from texas doctor peter who addressed not only this strong return of c

polo sandoval with that. >> reporte >> certainly, they need to listen to the cdc and fda. >> reporterthe nation's top infectious disease expert is saying listen to the cdc, and not pfizer, when it comes to needing a vaccine booster. on friday, this is what dr. anthony fauci told cnn about a phone call he received from the head of pfizer. >> the ceo, who's a really good guy, got on the phone with me last night and apologized that they came out with that recommendation. so, there is no -- not that apologized about the recommendation -- apologized for not letting us know that he was going to do it, ahead of time. >> reporter: this, after pfizer announced, on thursday, it was applying for emergency-fda authorization for a booster shot to protect against covid-19. a booster for americans to get as early as six months after their second dose. pfizer set off alarms, when they released a statement saying that the immunity from its vaccine was waning. citing israeli health ministry data. the company said, quote, vaccine efficacy in preventing both infection and symptomatic disease has declined

polo sandoval is at new york's laguardia airport for us. ion people behind you. polo, what are you seeing on this weekend? >> reporter: phil, as you see, it usually comes in waves, right? the big reminder is for those folks heading to the terminal and boarding planes, they have to keep those masks on because of that federal mask mandate. in terms of what we expect to see in the long run when everything is said and done, over 47 million people according to aaa will have traveled to and from their destination over the fourth of july holiday. just yesterday alone almost 2.2 million people were screened at checkpoints throughout the entire country here. that's obviously a big telling number here. not only is it a pandemic record but it's higher than the same date back in 2019 so it speaks to that higher level of confidence that people have in terms of getting back into the skies. now, when it comes to what we're hearing from passengers, there's certainly some excitement. there certainly is some relief. many people here traveling for the first ti

cnn's polo sandoval here with me. adams was beating out the democratic primary field. >> it only took two weeks, ten tabulations and a huge mistake by the noew york city election board who said it had no effect on the election. they are making that projection right now, that eric adams will win the democratic nomination for the mayor's race in the city of new york. a tiny difference, a single percentage point there, well under a 10,000-vote difference. kathryn garcia said she would be making a statement tomorrow at the monument in central park. it is no coincidence she would have been the first female mayor in new york city. let me remind for viewers this was the first rank choice election for mvoters, where the had the chance to list their top five competitors and then the vote would go to the second preference. that's where we are tonight. >> 800 votes here, you wonder how it came down to this narrow margin, because today the governor of new york, cuomo, declared guns a disaster emergency. is the surge in crime what

cnn's polo sandoval is in new york. polo, when it comes to restrictions and mandates, we haven't seen they very partisan divisions. what is the view there, likely seeing more precautions ahead? >>. >> you have seen the return, starting this morning, regardless of their vaccination status, being required to wear a mask, as you point out here in new york, we certainly are expecting an announcement regarding that very same topics, possibly as early as monday. this is as the rate goes up, but so does test positivity. >> new cases of the coronavirus are rising. in every state across the nation, by at least 10% over the past week, but there are glimmers of hope. weekly vaccinations rates are up from just three weeks ago still, far short of when the white house hoped s in the south, not seeing the number of shots double, but the south still has a long way to go. as bad as things are in the south, they're about to get worse, if for lots of unvaccinated individuals. >> new cases in florida have jumped by more than 50%, in neighbo

the white house response and hear from a doctor in just a moment, but first let's go to cnn's polo sandovalpolo, the country in a dangerous position right now. it wasn't that long ago that we were celebrating a new chapter in the pandemic and yet it seems like in many ways we're getting back to where we were a few months ago when the pandemic was at its height. >> it almost gets to the point, boris, where i'm pulling out my notes from months ago really because what we're seeing right now is many of these states are getting hit hard by covid. that map that you just showed says it all. right now almost every state in the country is seeing a seven-day average of new covid cases that either matches or exceeds what they experienced just last week. when we hear from doctors over and over again they repeatedly point to vaccination as the best way to get ahead of the surge but yet fresh cdc data suggests saying that these vaccination efforts that those numbers not only are they, well, leveling out n some cases dropping. >> reporter: if you happen to be among a third of the nation's population livin

polo sandoval, cnn, new york. >>> thanks contributor. dr. abdul sayed. we appreciate you spending part of your week end with us. as covid cases tend to surges, some places are telling people to mask up again regardless of vaccination status. i want you to listen to what the surgeon general had to say about masking just last night. >> if you are living in an area where there's a lot of virus circulating, if you happen to have somebody at home who's unvaccinated like i do, erin, young kids who are too young to get vac sincinated or if you ar immunocompromised, those are all circumstances where people may make the decision to actually go the extra mile, be precautious and wear masks especially in indoor settings. you've argued that health officials might be undermining their own authority with the back and forth messaging. my question is what other options are there for them out there right now? >> let me first step back to explain what the surgeon general was intending there. the fact is this is a numbers game. the higher the number around you the higher y

let's go to cnn's polo sandoval tracking the pass rush from work.hat do we know about the amount of people out and about this weekend? >> reporter: christi and boris, good morning. we've reached and some cases exceeded prepandemic travel figures. now, when it comes to the number of people processed at tsa checkpoints, the tsa reporting what we saw on thursday was 3% higher than what we saw in 2019. when you hear from travel experts, they say this trend is only going to hold throughout the summer. by now, most americans who plan to travel this holiday weekend may have already braved the fourth of july frenzy on the roads. >> i think it's going to be pretty busy and congested. >> yeah. that's why i didn't want to wait and leave any later than today. >> reporter: or at some of the nation's airports, many of which seem to be bursting at the seams on friday. aaa expecting 48 million people will have traveled by road or by air by the time this fourth of july weekend comes to a close. most of them, 73 million opted to drive to and from their destinations a

cnn's pool sandoval joining me from la guardia airport in new york city. polot you learning. >> la guardia not as busy as you may have seen yesterday. obviously the pictures from yesterday, you see a whole lot of travelsoful traers brachg the frenzy to make it to destinations. there are people heading out today. when everything is said and done, triple a estimates we probably would have seen 48 million people head out either by air or by land and then you touched on the important figure just releasederier this morning by the transportation safety administration, showing close to 2.2 million people used security checkpoints yesterday. not only a pandemic record but also higher than it was back in 2019. so certainly speaks to the confidence of people, getting out there to travel. a couple of big challenges for airlines, one, keeping up with demand. making sure the flights are staffed so that they don't have cancellations or delays there. and secondly, unruly passengers, fred. we've talked about this. this has been an issue airlines have been facing. in fact, the

. >> and i'm polo sandoval in for laura jarrett.he surgeon general here of misinformation is a threat to public health. that misinformation as you all know is everywhere. and it means too many americans are not vaccinated, unvaccinated americans are a breeding ground for new variants. the delta is more dangerous and it is causing more restrictions. los angeles county will reinstate its mask mandate starting tomorrow night as

. >> i'm polo sandoval, state of ohio says it will not be required unvaccinated kids to wear masks whenk to school later this fall. top state health officials made that announcement yesterday that they will only, quote, strongly recommend that parents have their unvaccinated kids wear a mask while going to school and engaging in school-related activities. currently people under the age of 12 are not eligible to actually receive a covid-19 vaccine. ohio's approach here is somewhat lax when you compare to the recommendations that are being issued by the american academy of pediatrics that recommends anyone above the age of two wear a mask while at school. >>> and i'm nick valencia in atlanta, the city of savannah is reinstating a mask mandate effect d effective immediately. the mayor ben johnson said that everyone regardless of vaccination status is required to wear facial coverings inside all city government facilities as well as city schools and early childhood centers. the mandate does not apply to private businesses or institutions. the mayor is strongly encouraging owners there to im

. >> and i'm polo sandoval in for laura jarrett. it is friday, july 16. >> a warning from the surgeon general here of misinformation is a threat to public health. that misinformation as you all know is everywhere. and it means too many americans are not vaccinated, unvaccinated americans are a breeding ground for new variants. the delta is more dangerous and it is causing more restrictions. los angeles county will reinstate its mask mandate starting tomorrow night as covid cases and hospitalizations there spike. >> the university of california now planning to bar most unvaccinated students and faculty from in-person classes. the uc system includes ten campuses, about five medical centers with more than 280,000 students statewide. and as we've seen before, cases rise, vaccination pace also falling right now. it is now down about 75% in just the last two months. and that is why the surgeon general just yesterday at the white house revealing that he lost ten family members to the pandemic also saying that as a father he is also waiting

cnn's polo sandoval is live for us now out of little rock, arkansas. g a surge. so polo, what are you hearing and seeing there and are people showing up to get their vaccines at the location where you are? >> reporter: not enough, fred. that's what we're hearing from officials. they want to get the word out. a majority of residents here in arkansas actually head out to their locations including this pop-up one that's being set up at the church and get that shot. they want these chairs to be full because as we heard from an official earlier with the university of arkansas for medical sciences, right now, the hospitals are full. a third covid surge is just beginning to gain momentum and that is really underscoring the importance of getting people vaccinated. right now, only about 40% of residents of arkansas have been vaccinated. it's a number that sadly has been kind of stalled and so as that stalls, covid numbers, hospitalizations, new cases that continues to rise especial

polo sandoval and suzanne malveaux are checking in on some of the celebrations. i hope you were not involved in that. did joey chestnut do it again? >> he did. i couldn't make it past one, jim, but before we show you some of those pictures, just check out the sea of people off in the distance here. this is the iconic coney island boardwalk. a massive crowd off in the distance and the iconic amusement park. that's open for business again for the first time since the pandemic. we were out here last year. the crowds were thinner. most of the people were wearing masks a year ago. this year the park is open and masks really, you might see an occasional one but that's obviously a sign that the vaccination numbers continue to rise here in new york state now. about 66%. that's definitely something positive. and why so many people so confident in heading out and enjoying the day. let's get back to the hot dog eating competition. it was quite the picture that we saw earlier today. joey chestnut eating 76 hot dogs in ten minutes. we watched the -- everything take place. abo

polo sandoval, thank you very much. >>> so this weekend, the conservatives held their big political conference in dallas, and they proudly flew their anti-vaccine flag so much so they almost sounded pro-covid. >> because clearly, they were hoping -- the government was hoping that they could sort of sucker 90% of the population into getting vaccinated, and it -- and it isn't happening, right? younger people -- >> we're here to tell government, we don't want your benefits. we don't want your welfare. don't come knocking on my door with your fauci ouchie. you leave us the hell alone. >> now we're sort of talking about going door to door to be able to take vaccines to the people. the thing about the mechanisms they would have to build to be able to actually execute that massive of a thing, and then think about the -- what those mechanisms could be used for. they could go door to door to take your guns or bible. >> we've got republican governors across this country pretending they didn't shut down their states or close their beaches, that they didn't mandate masks, that they didn't issue shelter in

cnn's polo sandoval is there with more. >> good morning to you. here in the state of arkansas, it a race to increase vaccination numbers while they're tracking what's being described by the arkansas department of health as an alarming spike in covid cases, many of those directly linked to that highly contagious delta variant. making matters worse is that vaccination rate. only about a third of the state's population has been fully vaccinated. this weekend dr. cam patterson told cnn so farther experiencing what he described as an upward surge and another wave of covid-19 cases. dr. patterson explaining that many of the hospitals are once again full with covid-19 patients, many of them tending to trend on the younger side of things. some pregnant women as well. another doctor in the same hospital system telling me about 95% of the major covid cases that they're seeing are people who have not yet been vaccinated. that is certainly a very telling statistic that's being shared with the public as it certainly speaks to a high level of protection that th

cnn's polo sandoval joining me now from new york. what more are you learning? >> reporter: you mentioned there, the government revisiting the potential for these mask mandates. it speaks to how critical it is getting throughout the country, particularly parts of the southeast here. consider alone that right now, every state has an average seven-day -- at least a seven-day average of new covid cases that, if it doesn't match last week, it's exceeded. the best way to get ahead of any surge is to get the preemptive vaccination, according to experts. sadly, according to the latest cdc figures, showing many of those efforts continue to slow. if you happen to be among a third of the nation's population out living in the community considered to have high covid transmission, you can blame it on the unvaccinated, says alabama's republican governor kay ivey. >> the new cases in covid are because of unvaccinated folks. >> reporter: the u.s. averaging 43,000 new covid cases a day. a 65% increase over the last week. the dark colored regions on the map showing the highest co