Illness in one of the volunteer participants. This is a standard precaution they say as the Company Reviews all of the information. But as we wait for a vaccine, Top Health Experts are demanding more testing as a way to try to get a handle of this. Directors for the National Institutes of health say test as many people as possible. A new report from the Rockefeller Foundation at Duke University suggesting that the bar should be set at 200 million tests per month. Now, to be clear thats not an unusual message. Health experts have been saying the key to stopping the outbreak is widespread testing and Contact Tracing and it works but the u. S. Remains without a National Plan to do so. Lets begin with the latest on this halt to astrazenecas trials. Cnns medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now thats why you do the broad trials to confirm it is safe. How significant is this effect on one patient in the trial . This could be very significant, jim. When they have an unexplained illness among their study subjects. When youre testing tens of thousands of people in your trials, theres a chance one will get an unexplained illness. You have to stop down and dont vaccinate any more people and see if its vaccine related. Thats why the trials are so unpredictable. This is why we should not believe donald trump when he says, yep, i believe well have a vaccine by election day and we shouldnt listen to the pharmaceutical executives when they give rosy forecasts. Yesterday, one connected to the Pfizer Vaccine said our vaccine is nearly perfect. How can you say when it hasnt been tested . You dont know if Something Like this will happen. In fact, one of the others said all last spring well finish first. You dont know. Vaccine trials require a great deal of humility. And elizabeth, until we have very broad not just a vaccine, but very broad vaccination, a key issue here in being able to really get control of the pandemic is testing and you have the nih coming out this morning speaking loudly in support of very broad testing. Basically, as i read it saying test everyone you can, but that stands in contrast to the cdc guidance. Who should you believe . It stands in contrast. This was quite an amazing statement from the heads of various institutions within the National Institutes of health saying we need to test people who have been exposed to someone with covid. They have been close to someone with covid for more than 15 minutes. They might be fine, but they still need to be tested even if theyre asymptomatic. That stands in contrast to what the cdc said. You dont need to test people who are asymptomatic or presymptomatic. I think what the nih is saying is what most experts are saying. You do need to people, if they have had an exposure. I asked dr. Fauci about that last week. I mean, it seemed he was trying to walk down that nih announce there. Thank you very much. Joining us now is dr. Richard besser, former acting director under president obama and he led the response to the h1n1 response to the epidemic. First, the astrazeneca trial. As Elizabeth Cohen is noting, this is why you do broad based phase 3 testing. What does this tell you . Clearly, theres a lot of political pressure to fast track vaccine approval here. Does this kind of thing give pause to the folks in charge of giving that approval . Can it help stand in the way of that political pressure were seeing . Well, i hope it reinforces what youre just saying, the value of doing these large trials and not prejudging the outcome. You know, i continue to talk about, you know, if we have a vaccine rather than when we have a vaccine. Because theres no guarantee that we will have a safe and effective vaccine. Im optimistic, but lets wait and see what these trials show. I also thing though, jim, its important not to overinterpret the pause in the astrazeneca trial. This is why you do these big trials if you see something, you stop. You investigate, you see was this related to the vaccine or not. You know, in the large trials you have hundreds of thousands of people in vaccine trials. You will see life events. You will see people who die from other things totally unrelated. Someone has a heart attack or has cancer. But if someone died in the vaccine trial you have to look to see what happened. If its related to the vaccine, that will raise some questions, okay, is this type of vaccine a safe vaccine and proceed. This is what you expect to see. Its good sign theyre taking the pause and hopefully it will increase the pressure to let cdc and fda do their jobs and make sure that we dont get a vaccine approved before we know its safe and effective. Yeah, dr. Besser, both dr. Fauci yesterday saying that its just very unlikely that there will be an effective vaccine before election day. Adding to what the chief adviser to operation warped speed said its extremely unlikely, but not impossible. Explain to our viewers why youre at the point of an if, meaning there may not in your opinion be a vaccine that is broadly taken and proves effective so that we can all get back to life as normal before. Like this may change everything for us going forward. Yes, thats right. Poppy, there are billions of dollars hundreds of billions of dollars that are being invested to try and get us a safe and effective vaccine and i think thats terrific. And im optimistic. But if you look at the history of vaccine development, hiv, malaria, dengue fever, diseases that have killed hundreds of millions of people around the globe, we dont have vaccines for those yet. So theres no guarantee that well have one. And we have to make sure that every effort is done to make sure that if we have one, its scaled up and its produced and its great the efforts that are going in that way. But we cant prejudge the notion that there will be one. Thats what these trials are for. All of the data we have seen so far thats been optimistic has been done in dozens of people. Thats not enough to give you anything but a signal that its okay to move forward with the larger trials. And russia is moving forward with testing on just 78 people. Lets talk about broad based testing to hear that from the nih, its not new. You know, every expert has been saying you have to Contact Tracing. Does it make a difference at this point . The federal government has decided not to go down this path. Where does that lead us as a country . Yeah, i think the nih is saying more than that. If we get to the point where we had, you know, a cheap point of care test, something where you could do a quick swab and get a result, it might change how we approach kids going back to school and teachers and staff where you could test people every day. You wake up in the morning you do a test. If youre negative, you go to work, but if youre not, you stay at home. Clearly everyone in Public Health is saying the same thing. If you have been exposed to someone who has a Covid Infection you need to be tested. And its really important that were breaking data down by race and ethnicity to make sure were testing everywhere because this is having dispar it impacts on communities of color. And with the schools opening, im afraid that will be amplifi amplified. Thank you, dr. Besser. Lets talk about the newer hot spots in the midwest. Omar jimenez, you have just learned that the university not too far from you where you are in Downtown Chicago is enacting a two week quarantine. Reporter thats right. Bradley university put in a quarantine and is moving to all online classes as they are seeing dozens of the students test positive on the campus and they said they were observing large and small gatherings where people were not Wearing Masks and not physical distancing and they can trace a lot of the cases to the gatherings. This quarantine is meant to give them time to give them a handle and access the virus extent on campus. We have seen it play out at the university of iowa, for example. Their Athletics Program is now resuming voluntary and mandatory workouts after stopping everything altogether with 93 athletes testing positive. The recent wave of testing got it down to 21 which is good news. When you look at the university as a whole, since they began tracking cases back on august 18th, they have had more than 1,300 people on campus test positive for coronavirus and according to their own dashboard those are just selfreported cases. When you expand to look at the region as a whole, there are a lot of states in the red when it comes to confirmed cases per 100,000, for example. Numbers that have increased we have seen in some cases over recent weeks. And when you look specifically within that at the things look a little bit better i should say when you compare the numbers from the previous week to the last week as well and when you look at states in general and confirmed cases in total, illinois does lead the pack but they have set record levels of testing here in the state as their Positivity Rate has been right around 4 . Poppy . Omar, thank you. And rosa flores, florida has gotten some of the figures under control. Whats happening there . Give us your best assessment as to where florida stands. Reporter you know, jim, if you look at the big picture, florida is definitely heading in the right direction. The Florida Department of Health Reporting yesterday 1,823 cases, the day before that 1,834. Look, we hadnt seen such low numbers since mid june, but there are two concerns looming right now. First of all, the potential effects of the labor day week and also the return to facetoface instruction. At least 1. 6 Million Students in this state are now learning facetoface. Now, i wish i could give you an exact number of how many students, how many teachers have contracted the coronavirus, but the state of florida still has not relied this information. I continue to push. The last email i received from the state was the state was working on how to structure the report to release data. But they havent released the data. We know that two counties have been very good about releasing this information. I just heard back from martin county. That county reports that 433 students have been transitioned to Remote Learning because of the coronavirus. And Hillsborough County which launched their own dashboard shows that 60 students so far have contracted the coronavirus and 148 employees as well. Look, in the two biggest counties in the state, most impacted by the coronavirus, jim and poppy, they are still in virtual learning. Im talking about broward and miamidade where i am. But they are planning to take a look at the metrics within their county at the end of this month to determine if they can then transition to facetoface learning. Rosa, always pushing for the answers, thank you. Let us know what you do hear back. Still to come the president calls on his supporters to act as poll watchers to prevent what he says will be voter fraud without any evidence. On the same night that a top election Attorney Says that the party tried for decades to find double voting, but never did. And through the president is encouraging people to do it. Plus, taxpayer dollars for trumps defense. The doj asked to take over the defense of President Trump in a defamation filed by e. Jean carroll, a woman who claims he raped her in the 90s. And wildfires burning in california, one burning in the area about the size of central park every 30 minutes. The size is off the charts. Well speak to someone in charge of battling those blazes. Honey . New nyquil severe honey is maximum strength cold and flu medicine with soothing honeylicious taste. Nyquil honey. The nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever best sleep with a cold medicine. To put the darkness of the past four years behind us. To end the anger, the insults, the division, the violence, and start fresh in america. We can stop focusing on a president that thinks its all about him, and start focusing on whats best for us. We need to get control over the virus. Donald trump failed. Joe biden will get it done. We need to help working families. Joe bidens plan rewards work, and makes the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share. We need to take the next step in health care. Joe biden will lower premiums and reduce drug costs while still protecting those with preexisting conditions. We need to take on Climate Change and protect Social Security and medicare. Weve had four years of a president who brings out the worst in america. Isnt it time we had a president who brought out the best . Im joe biden and i approve this message. And all the moments you havent hi love, cant wait got the ring yes and with jared it doesnt have to were all finding ways to keep moving. But how do we make sure the direction were headed is forward . At fidelity, youll get the planning and advice to prepare you for the future, without sacrificing the things that are important to you today. Well help you plan for healthcare costs, taxes and any other uncertainties along the way. Because with fidelity, you can feel confident that the only direction youre moving is forward. Well, the u. S. Is announcing that it is drawing down the number of troops in iraq. Yeah, part of a broader effort by this president to reduce troop deployments in a number of countries. Barbara starr is at the pentagon. Barbara, im curious what senior military officials thought of this. Think its the right idea at the right time . Well, good morning, jim and poppy. This is something that they were perfectly willing to do. It was announced earlier today in baghdad, taking the current level of about 5,200 although many will tell you its less than that, drawing it down to about 3,000 during the month of september. General frank mckenzie, the commanding general, talked about this earlier today in baghdad and why the military thinks its a good idea and general mckenzie said in part, let me quote, this decision is due to our confidence in the Iraqi Security forces increased stability to operate independently. The journey has been difficult and the sacrifice has been great but the progress has been significant. Youll recall when u. S. Troops several years ago first went back in to iraq to try and push isis back in large part it was because iraqi forces were not able to really fight against isis. So the last several years has been a massive training and Assistance Program to get them to this point, but its interesting theyre being so blunt, 3,000 by the end of september, because its President Trump who so often who said he doesnt want to signal military moves to americas adversaries and right now, signaling to iran thats stepping up the support for militia activity inside iraq, according to the u. S. Commanders. He made his desire public on reducing forces in afghanistan. Barbara starr, thanks very much. President trump digging in on his strategy to cast doubt once again on the integrity of the u. S. Election. Got to be careful with those ballots. Watch those ballots. I dont like it. You know, you have a democrat governor, you have all of these democrats watching that stuff. I dont like it. Watch it. Be poll watchers when you go there. Watch all of the thieving and stealing and robbing they do. Because this is important. We win North Carolina we win. Where is this evidence . Also a Top Republican election attorney someone whos done this for 40 years this morning is shooting down those claims laying out all of it in his Washington Post oped saying the party has searched for such voter fraud for decades in vain. Our White House Correspondent john harwood is with us. Good morning. To hear this from ginsburg says a lot. It absolutely does. Theres no Greater Authority within the Republican Party on Election Administration than ben ginsberg. But what we have seen from the president is in recent days his rhetoric on race, on law and order, on the integrity of the election itself is getting more and more raw and incendiary. Now, you could hear a little bit of important art in that clip from President Trump. He was bathing in the reaction from crowd. He loves being among his supporters but its not hard to imagine well move from where the president is casting doubt on the integrity of the election to where hes actually mucking up the administration of the election itself. You could imagine, for example, that in the same way that vigilantes have entered scenes of protest in oregon, in wisconsin, where two people ended up getting killed and one of the supporters with the long gun has been charged with homicide, you can see people trying to intervene at election polling sites. Hes suggested of course that people show up having cast an absentee ballot and try to verify that their ballot was cast or vote again and in that case, again t, the potential for chaos is palpable. Thats one of the risks that the president is creating right now. This is the latest in the series of times that the president has called for supporters to vote more than once which is illegal. We have seen an attempt by his adviser to say thats not what the president really said. What is the answer you get from the white house here . Is the president encouraging people to vote twice and do they have any defense for that . Theyre trying to make a distinction, jim, between actually voting twice and having sent in your absentee ballot and going to check and see if it was recorded. The challenge of course is that if the ballot was sent inclose enough to the election, it wont be marked on the poll watchers poll book that will allow them to say, no, you have not voted. In that cast, you can cast a provisional ballot, but if people try to vote again, not having ascertained whether their vote was counted or not, that would be illegal and thats what ben ginsberg called out in oped. What he said was that this suggestion by the president is doubly wrong. One, because its suggesting that the supporters take an illegal act and secondly it raises doubts about all of the Republican Partys posture in this litigation across the country. Theyre trying to say theyre sincerely interested in the honest election and if the president is asking the voters to vote twice that raises the question of whether or not this is simply a tactic to try to keep other people from voting. But not his own supporters. John harwood, thanks very much. It is very unusual this move but the Justice Department now wants to defend the president in a defamation lawsuit that has been filed against him by e. Jean carroll. She has accused the president of raping her in the 90s. The president has denied it, saying it is totally false. This comes amid criticism that the Justice Department under bill barr has acted in the president s personal interest. You look at the paula jones case with clinton. Personal lawyer handled that. Now you have the Justice Department here. Does this break with precedent . Hi, jim, this is extraordinary. Even if you think of the challenges that the president has taken to try to block subpoenas for his financial records, those were handled by private attorneys. This is extremely unusual. The department of justice saying theyll represent the president in the defamation claim against them, because he denied the allegations that he raped carroll in the 90s. Theyre saying it falls within the scope of the presidency but carrolls attorneys said this is a shocking claim to make. Now, whats very interesting here is the timing. This claim, this lawsuit was filed in november of 2019. A state judge last month said it could go forward and e. Jean carroll is moving to get a sample of the president s dna because she says she has the black dress she wore the day of the alleged assault. By moving it into federal court its put before a different judge and resetting the table it will cause arguments about whether this is a valid for the doj or not. This is moving up to the discovery phase that its now going to be delayed. So, you know, this is an extraordinary move. It will be challenged by her lawyers and well see whats going to happen there, jim and poppy. Kara scannell, thank you. Well, the home of the world series is waiting for relief after taking a Major Economic hit because of the pandemic. Will lawmakers step up to the plate there . O go go go go go go go on a real vacation. Visit go rving. Com or your nearest rv dealer. Go on a real vacation. The dexevery 5 minutes. Numbers and it also tells me which way im going. I can just look at my phone and see my numbers. In real time. Its the easiest app in the world. 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All tempurpedic mattresses are on sale, with savings up to 500. Learn more at tempurpedic. Com the game doesnt end after a spectacular touchdown grab because theres always another team looking to punch one in. With nfl redzone from nfl network on xfinity, you get every touchdown from every game on sunday afternoons. All season long. Watch every breakout star, every heart pounding running attack and every bigtime defensive stop. Sundays were made for football on xfinity. Thats simple, easy, awesome. Add the more sports and entertainment package for nfl redzone. Click, call or visit a store today to learn more. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell is gearing up for a vote tomorrow it looks like on a much more narrow stimulus bill. Countdowns manu raju has more. Does this republican bill go anywhere and if not, what are the chances of a deal before the election . Very slim at the moment. This bill is really designed to get republicans in line. What the Republican Leadership is doing behind the scenes, trying to get at least 51 of their members of the 53 member conference behind this bill because they want to create an argument theyre for this plan, blaming the democrats for blocking the consensus items. It requires 60 votes to advance. Mitch mcconnell put forward a plan in july and that didnt come up for a vote because the democrats revolted. The democrats want 600 and it includes the extension for the payment Paycheck Protection Program and it provides Liability Protection to protect the schools and others from lawsuits. Its short of what the democrats want, which is at least 2. 2 trillion in the next round of stimulus here, guys. So manu, the fact that we have been i mean, has been a month over a month, right, since the last round of Unemployment Benefits ended, you have so many people struggling and minorities struggling more. This new Goldman Sachs owned business 40 will run out of reserves by the end of year if congress doesnt act this month. Do you get the sense that members of congress understand how dire it is . Yeah. The members certainly do. But they dont have any agreement about what should be accomplished. Some republicans dont think any other stimulus is needed, just open up the economy and the economy can come roaring back and others want a significant intervention into the economy. Youre hearing what the democrats are pushing as well but there are so many things in the bill that the democrats want. One of the big flash points 1 trillion that the democrat wants for the state and local governments and the republican plan is silent on that. Unlikely to be resolved by november. A shame for millions of americans waiting for help. The home of the Little League world series is taking a Major Economic hit after coronavirus forced officials to cancel the tournament for the first time in nearly 75 years. Williamsport, pennsylvania, is expected to lose millions. Cnns Vanessa Yurkevich has more on the huge Financial Impact on this one town. This is the first year in 95 years that a game of baseball wasnt played in this stadium. Reporter a summer without baseball in williamsport, pennsylvania, is like ripping the citys identity apart. There would be about 40 players here. In i given year. Reporter but baseball was no match for a pandemic. Forcing cancellations of the minor league cross cutters season. A Major League Baseball game and the Little League world series, all held in williamsport. Its been a weird summer for those of us in sports where sports take place during those months, but its been a weird summer for everybody. Reporter williamsport is the largest city within a 55 mile radius surrounded by rural countryside. Fewer than 250 confirmed covid19 cases among 28,000 residents but the economy has not escaped unscathed. For the first time in its nearly 75year history, the Little League world series was canceled. An estimated 40 million loss to businesses. We just it kind of broke our hearts to have to cancel it and knowing that it was going to cause them some additional economic pain as well. Reporter and just days after launching a new flight from williamsport to charlotte, North Carolina, last month, American Airlines said it was suspending it. The regional airport, ten counties about half a Million People so we definitely need that reliable air service if were going to, you know, come back economically from covid. Reporter unemployment in this county is now 13. 3 . Higher than the national average. Job losses are everywhere. Four of the cross cutters six full final employees are furloughed and its worst for seasonal workers. Upwards of 90 people dont have didnt have those summer jobs that they usually would depend on during those months. Reporter and then theres permanent layoffs. 15 teachers now out of a job at the yoga. Inhale. Were down at least a third of our students and so we decided to close. Reporter theyre one of first in the city to go. And with no government funding, they couldnt survive. I think there was a lot of uncertainty in the winter and without the ability to pay finances here, we just couldnt sustain that. Reporter Small Businesses are the heart beat of america. But particularly in small communities around the country like williamsport. We have to make sure people are able to sustain their livelihood and that folks arent losing their homes, businesses. I know thats the story throughout the country and its no different here in williamsport. Reporter and this field right behind me is where the Little Leagues which was supposed to have been played. Now, williamsport is unique in the economy is directly tied to baseball but its not unique in the sense that it represents many small towns and cities across america who have had to cancel events, who are losing out on summer tourism thats so critical to their economy. It really illustrates no matter how rural of a case or how few coronavirus cases there are no one is except from the economic pain of the coronavirus. There really isnt and your piece displays that. Vanessa, thanks a lot. Joe biden has just released his new proposal for promotes American Manufacturing and jobs. Yeah. Tax plan, a series of executive proposals hes proposing. M. J. , what does it mean for rich americans, average americans . Reporter well, today will mark the first time that joe biden returns to michigan since the pandemic slowed down a lot of inperson campaigning and the overarching theme is the economy and particularly the issue of manufacturing. Biden is trying to promote the made in america agenda and youre right. Hes putting out a series of new proposals including new taxes on American Companies that send jobs overseas. This includes an off shoring penalty tax and a tax credit offered to companies that create jobs in the United States and really this is a penalizing and Rewarding Companies depending on whether they keep jobs in the United States or send them abroad. Hes also proposing a number of executive orders to help the purchasing of american products. This comes as we have heard President Trump over the last couple of weeks trying to paint this rosy picture of the economic recovery and what the Biden Campaign is betting on there are many voters out there who simply do not to see that as their reality. So those are the kinds of voters and in particular that joe biden will try to connect with, particularly in this very important Battle Ground state. Speaking to biden aides when you ask them about the state of the 2020 race, they will say, you know, after the Republican Convention the democratic convention, they see the race as being relatively stable and they feel like even though republicans have tried to turn the focus to law and order, they feel pretty strongly that the economy and the pandemic remain the top issues for a lot of voters out there. Jim and poppy . We will see. M. J. Lee, thank you. Tomorrow, joe biden will sit down with jake tapper, 4 00, only here on cnn. Critical phase 3 trials of russias Coronavirus Vaccine begins today. Experts around the world still urging caution. Remember, theyre allowing people to take the vaccine before the trials are done. More ahead. There are lots of people who are confused about which medicare plan is right for them. Hey, thats me. I barely know where to start. Well, start here with me, karen. Im a licensed humana sales agent. Well its nice to meet you karen, im john smith. Hi john. At humana we know youre unique, so you have different needs from other john smiths. Yea, ive always thought so. And together we can find a plan thats right for you. Great i go to the doctor a couple of times a year and i have some prescriptions but im never fully sure whats covered and whats not. With humanas all in one Medicare Advantage plans, you get coverage for hospital stays, doctor visits and part d Prescription Drug benefits all for an affordable, and sometimes no monthly plan premium. Do you have any more information . Sure, ill get a decision guide in the mail to you today. Theyre free. Finally, someone who understands the real me. Your health and happiness is important to us. Call or go online now to get your free decision guide. Call a licensed humana sales agent today. In russia, phase 3 Clinical Trials for that countrys Coronavirus Vaccine begin today. This is where they test it among thousands of people to make sure its safe. Right. And whats different here and so interesting is that although the critical phase of trials is just beginning, russia as we have reported has been distributing this vaccine to the general public, despite safety concerns and questions. Lets go to our Cnn International correspondent Matthew Chance in moscow. Matthew, where are you . Reporter yeah, hi, poppy. Im actually at a hospital in the center of moscow called Hospital Number 2. And its one of the places thats been identified by the russian authorities as where theyre going to start sort of implementing those really crucial phase 3 human trials. There are 40,000 people that the russians say they want to get on board with those trials. So far, we have seen one person be vaccinated here this morning. This is the first day, remember, of those human trials, those third phase human trials getting under way so they have a long way to go. 39,999. Were waiting now for somebody else to come in, to get vaccinated as well. But, you know, obviously the timing on this its obviously slow, kind of a bureaucratic process. It is taking place at other centers around moscow and around the country as well. There are big concerns about this russian vaccine. About whether its safe, about whether its effective. And, you know, whats thats why you have phase 3 trials in the first place, of course. But whats different in russia is of course that this vaccine that russia is giving people already, even outside of trials has been approved before the trials finished. So front line workers like doctors and teachers are able to get them. Theres not been a great deal of pickup on the governments initiative to get vaccinated early, to protect them from covid19 because the vaccine has been fast tracked. There is a sort of deep sense of mistrust among people many people we have spoken to about whether its safe enough for them to take. Nevertheless, these trials are going ahead. The Russian Direct Investment Fund which is the Sovereign Wealth Fund which has been financially backing the Vaccine Research has announced this morning that mexico has ordered 32 million doses of sputnik v, the russian vaccine as they have dubbed it, and the idf said theyre expecting lots more orders to come in from around the world in the days and the weeks ahead. Poppy and jim, back to you. Matthew chance there as theyre giving it out in russia. Well, more than 2 million acres have been scorched across california and just one of the recent 25 wildfires is burning in the area roughly the size of central park in new york city every 30 minutes. The scale is amazing. Well get a view from the ground. Want it im a celebrate this feeling watch me while i break the ceiling yeah i do it right cuz im a diamond. Did you know that you can shop online with a virtual consultant . Ask about special financing with the diamond credit card. Ask about special financing look at that embarrassing you. That wall is your everest. But not any more. Today lets paint. And right now, get incredible savings on behr premium paints and stains. Exclusively at the home depot. Dozens of wildfires are burning up and down the west coast. Im sure youve seen some of the pictures. Its just harrowing. At least 25 ravaging parts of california, north and south. Extreme heat, strong winds continue to fuel them. At least 2. 2 million acres. So many homes have burned across the state. The creek fire in Central California is burning an area roughly the size of central park right here in new york city every 30 minutes to give you a perspective on this. Thank you for being here, but to you and your entire team for the effort that you guys are putting around the clock, we know you are. You look at the rate that that fire is burning. You look at the north complex fire in Northern California burning about 1,000 acres every 30 seconds. Can you talk about what is making it so difficult this year in particular to get a handle on these . Yeah. Well, thank you, poppy and jim for having us this morning. Well, its Mother Nature has brought a lot to bear here in california this year. The combination of temperatures, record temperatures, high temperatures, low humidity, dynamic wind conditions and the drought that had been present in Northern California for the last year have all combined to make this one of the most challenging and perhaps most challenging wildfire season theyve ever seen. So put this into context so folks know. I think folks who dont live there say i see this happen every year and it seems to be getting worse. Do we know what is making every year seem to break the previous years records. I mean, is Climate Change a factor . What can we learn from this . . Well, certainly and my commander in chief here in california, Governor Newsom has spoken about the deleterious effects of Climate Change on our state and its a real factor here. Obviously, human migration and patterns in the state are factors, as well. Its a populous state, lots of visitors and lots of activity. So there is a cost and things we need to be careful of to make sure that california is safe. We have seen, colonel, harrowing videos this week of people being rescued, some by boat, some airlifted and completely trapped and surrounded by flames in places and at moments they certainly did not expect that this could happen. What is your message to anyone who may be going out. A lot of them have been campers, for example, so that they can be safe and protected and not get stuck in a situation like this . Well, its important that all of us maintain Situational Awareness and think about where were traveling, where were conducting recreation. The Sheriffs Department in fresno and Madera County and fresno p. D. Are also part of the team that helped save all those campers in that area because they actually hiked out and moved out into the wilderness to warn folks, but we would like to encourage folks to, you know, think before you travel. Plan ahead and make sure you leave plenty of time because Highway Networks are impacted. Smoke, quality, visibility conditions, you just need to be careful out there. Are you getting the help you need from the federal government here . Ive seen a lot of accounts of shortage, for instance of firefighters, right . But are you getting the money and support you need nationally it fight these fires . The National Government has tremendous capability and resources and california has reached outside of its network to its partner states and is receiving enormous help already and from National Guard bureau, for example, idaho, utah have had bucket aircraft to support us in the Fire Fighting operation. In some sense, california as a military and National Guard has been more ready than ever because of our covid mitigation efforts and what the mission since late march and the federal government has been helping fund our military operations under the control of Governor Newsom. So ive kind of had help from both sides and funding from the federal government for our personnel and covid mitigation efforts and now from our sister and brother states across the country and providing us aircraft and pilots and personnel to help in the fight against the fires. Im sure well need more help. This is a historic fire season and so far its been heartwarming the support that weve been given from the other National Guards across the country. Listen, we send you best wishes and just thanks for the hard work you do. We know youre working through the night and folks are refshging their lives to do so. Keep it up. Were thinking about you. Thank you so much for having me. Colonel jesse miller and well be right back. I had saved up some money and then found the home of my dreams. But my home of my dreams needed some work sofi was the first lender that even offered a personal loan. I didnt even know that was an option. The personal loan let us renovate our Single Family house into a multiunit home. And i get to live in this Beautiful House with this beautiful kitchen and its all thanks to sofi. The first and only full prescription strength nonsteroidal antiinflammatory gel available overthecounter. New voltaren is powerful arthritis pain relief in a gel. Voltaren. 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