Result of arson fires. And coronavirus takes out the countrys Oldest Department store chain. Liquidation sale signs could be seen on lord taylor locations yesterday. The nearly 200yearold Company Announcing its declared bankruptcy. Those are some of our top stories on this monday, august 3rd. Thank you for joining us. Hope you had a good weekend. Lots of news to get to. Were beginning this half hour with the possible hurricane heading for landfall in North Carolina. Residents and President Trump has already approved a disaster declaration for parts of the state. Isaias is a Strong Tropical Storm and heading northnorthwest. Before its done it will bring as much as six inches of rain to North Carolina. Reporter josh chapin is there. Reporter beachgoers raving about the weekends weather even as a storm threatens this beach town again. For Tropical Storms, we have to look at the totality of impacts. Reporter New Hanover CountyEmergency Management is not yet calling for evacuations. For early season Tropical Storms, we like to take a good look at surge. Our vulnerability here is surge. Reporter the town of Wrightsville Beach isnt either but if conditions worsen, the town says it will take appropriate measures. The county dealing with planning for a storm during a pandemic. Generally when you have Tropical Storms, it takes the collective wisdom of a group of people in a tight setting to solve very complex problems. But that adds a risk of covid. Reporter alla visiting Wrightsville Beach with her daughter and some of her friends. Well see tomorrow what happens. How long are you supposed to be here . Till tuesday. You might maybe head out of here a little earlier . Well, they told us the indoor pool will stay open, so well be at the indoor pool tomorrow. We came on friday night, and weve been out here yesterday and today, and its been great. Reporter george wildredge is waxing down his surfboard. 3 00 in the morning i decided to come down here. Reporter coming down to be in the midst of the weather. For me, i dont know, its just kind of part of the deal. This is what you live for . I surfed twice already. What do you think . Better than connecticut where im from. Reporter officials tell us there will be more distancing in their Emergency Operations center when it opens with full staffing. There will be sanitizing stations all over as well. If it comes to it, they will have to limit capacity in their evacuation vans. As for the hotel here on the beach, the holiday inn, they are at 70 capacity, and they will not close until a mandatory evacuation is called for the town of Wrightsville Beach. Im josh chapin for abc news in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. Our thanks to josh from our Raleigh Durham station. As we mentioned, the storm will affect the u. S. Coast all the way to new england. Accuweathers marvin gomez has the details. Good morning, marvin. Kenneth, mona, isaias is on its way to the carolinas, and were going to be talking about the potential for storm surge between three and six feet high across sections of North Carolina. Tuesday will be the day for heavy rainfall all the way from d. C. All the way to new york city and into new england heading into wednesday. We already have a Flash Flood Watch in effect from South Carolina into the metropolitan area of new york where some spots across the midatlantic could get between four and eight inches of rain. Kenneth, mona. Marvin, thank you. We turn now to the global spread of the coronavirus, now infecting more than 18 Million People worldwide. As the death toll surges here at home, the debate on reopening schools rages on. Talks are resuming over a new relief package, and the White House Task force coordinator says the pandemic has entered a new phase. Abcs Megan Tevrizian has more. Reporter covid19 cases climbing across the u. S. , both in rural and urban areas. What were seeing today is different from march and april. It is extraordinarily widespread. Reporter the month of july with the worst numbers since the pandemic began. 1. 9 million new cases. 22 states, d. C. , and puerto rico seeing cases rise. One of those states is indiana, where schools are set to reopen. Have this excitement about being back for the first day of school. That very night getting a phone call saying, your childs going to need to stay home for two weeks. Disappointing, yes. Reporter this as millions of americans face potential financial disaster after their eviction protections and 600 enhanced Unemployment Benefits expired. After a threehour meeting saturday, democrats and Trump Administration officials still at an impasse for a new stimulus bill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying she doesnt have confidence in dr. Deborah birx. I think the president is spreading disinformation about the virus, and she is his she is his appointee. I have never been called pollyannaish or nonscientific or nondata driven. Reporter the number of lives lost approaching 155,000. Two of those are sam and joanne, married close to 30 years. Sam sent her video messages when she was first diagnosed with covid19. Practically ever picture i have has got you in there. I love you, darlin, and i hope you really enjoy this video. Reporter but in joannes final hours, sam donning full ppe, saying bye to her in person, risking his life. You dont recognize me with all this junk on my face, but it is sam. I love you, sweetheart. Reporter three weeks later, sam died in that same hospital room from the virus. His stepson asked him if he regretted that last hospital visit. He replied, not for one second. Megan tevrizian, abc news, san diego. Later this half hour, a medical expert will discuss the spread of this virus into our Rural Communities as well as the new challenges facing schools trying to reopen. History in the gulf of mexico as the spacex crew dragon returns to earth. The spacecraft splashed down off the coast of pensacola, florida, on schedule yesterday afternoon after returning from the International Space station. It was the first water return for a nasa crew since 1975. There were some concerns for Public Safety due to pleasure boats in the splashdown area. No one was hurt. Spacex is looking toward tourist flights as early as next year. This mission was incredibly smooth, not to say that there werent things that we want to work on and do better next time. But the capsule worked beautifully. The operations worked extremely well. So we certainly feel comfortable that were on the right path to carry commercial passengers not too long from now. Crew members bob behnken and doug hurley had been at the space station since may. Now to a Navy Lieutenant making history. As a girl, maddie fell in love with fast planes watching the blue angels. Now shes blazing a trail for women of color in the armed forces. Heres abcs janai norman. Reporter the u. S. Navy is celebrating a historic milestone. Lieutenant maddie swegle is now the navys first black female tactical jet pilot, earning her wings of gold along with 25 classmates in what the u. S. Military is hailing as a milestone. I dont think a goal in my life is to necessarily be the first at anything. That was never something that i set out to do. It was just something i was interested in, and i found out later. Reporter swegles journey taking three years since her graduation from the naval academy, learning to fly fighter jets, flying through the area at more than 1,000 Miles Per Hour. The navy releasing these training videos of swegle and other pilots following graduation. Its just one step at a time. Its really cool to think of all the things that ive done now which i never thought id be able to do. Reporter now shes moving up and will learn to fly other highspeed aircraft. And while she may be the first, the navy says now that shes here, there will be more to follow in her footsteps. So i think that representation is important because we are a very diverse nation. So i would like everyone to believe that they can achieve whatever they want to do. Thanks to our friend janai norman there. This young woman is quite incredible. We first heard about her just a few weeks ago. Now were hearing from her, and were seeing her. Yes. Great followup. Yes, definitely. Shes a smart one. Virginia native again. She said, im excited to have this opportunity to work harder and fly highperformance jet aircraft in this fleet. She says she didnt expect to be the first. She said it would have been nice to see someone before her, but now shes the one paving the way for someone else. Shes like, i never intended to be the first. But here you are. Youre the first. Im pretty sure you will not be the last. Not at all. Coming up, how safe is taking Public Transportation right now . Our medical expert weighs in on that. Plus the battle thats heating up over tiktok. Social Media Influencers are now reacting in their own creative ways to President Trump threatening to ban tiktok in the u. S. And later the heartwarming moment that a little girl gets to hear the sweet sound of her own mothers voice for the first time. Youre watching world news now. Bring the tissues. If youre age 50 to 85, and looking to buy Life Insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three ps. What are the three ps . The three ps of Life Insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price. A price you can afford, a price that cant increase, and a price that fits your budget. Im 54. Alex, whats my price . You can get coverage for 9. 95 a month. Im 65 and take medications. Whats my price . Also 9. 95 a month. I just turned 80. Whats my price . 9. 95 a month for you too. 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May be just weeks away from launching its first app aimed at curbing the spread of covid19. Apple and google jointly developed the Exposure Notification Technology for your smartphone. Its a Contact Tracing tool that would let people know if they may have been exposed to someone with the virus. As officials track the spread of the coronavirus, theyre finding that americas Rural Communities are increasingly at a new risk. I spoke earlier with dr. Shashank ravi. Dr. Ravi, lets begin with that big headline from dr. Deborah birx on the White House Coronavirus task force. She said sunday were in a new phase of the pandemic with the virus extraordinarily widespread. What did you take away from her statement . Well, one of the comments that dr. Birx mentioned was that initially three, four months ago, the virus was spreading mainly in large urban cities such as new york city or seattle. And now several months later were seeing that the virus is now widespread in both urban as well as Rural Communities. I think it shows that we cant say that anyone is immune to the spread and as a nation we need to come together to Work Together towards the safety and precautions that can help limit the spread of the virus. Theres new research out this morning on Public Transportation. Studies in europe and asia suggest that riding public buses and subways may not be a major source of transmission for this virus. Your thoughts on this research . Well, kenneth, its all a matter of relative risk. I think its also important to recognize the environment that these studies in europe and asia were done in. For one, especially in asia, theres a much higher degree of Wearing Masks across the community. The ridership across the world is down whether its up to half of what normal ridership is. So we dont quite know what the spread will be like when subways and buses are packed full of people. I think it shows that we need as ridership continues to increase, we need to start thinking about how can we keep people safe but still encourage mass transit use. Were hearing about more challenges when it comes to schools trying to reopen. A School District in indiana saw one student test positive on the very first day of classes last week. And a high school in georgia is set to open today but just reported several infections among players on the football team. What are your thoughts on how various School Districts are approaching this . I think it shows overall we need to put in the legwork now to keep our students and teachers safe when schools are reopening. I think we need to look at how do we really identify and isolate these cases that will show up. I think no matter what we do, there will always be a few cases that show up, and the key is identifying those cases as soon as possible to help isolate and limit the spread across classrooms and campuses. Dr. Ravi, thank you. Thank you, kenneth. We know the cdc is again urging schools to reopen this fall. But as the process starts to happen, these schools start to reopen, that is when we will really see exactly whats happening in there. Again, we hope that these children will be safe and the teachers and educators inside those schools. Definitely. Theyre talking about also the mental impact that it takes on students not being in schools. Right. Coming up, tiktok versus President Trump. How the president s threat to ban the popular social media app in the u. S. Is playing out among some of its most prolific users. Youre watching world news now. Youre watching world news now. I tell them, you should try cascade Platinum Plus the power of oxi. Cascade platinum oxi penetrates and breaks down food soils some detergents can leave behind, washing away even the smallest food residue, so it doesnt redeposit on your dishes. And oxi is cascades most powerful clean, formulated without any chlorine bleach, for a deep hygienic clean you can see and feel. Cascade the power of oxi. The 1 recommended brand in north america. Lets get loud lets get loud turn the music up to hear that sound lets get loud lets get loud were getting loud this morning as are the growing number of social Media Influencers who found a home on tiktok. Theyre raising their voices over the president s threat over the weekend to ban the popular social media app here in the u. S. Will ganss is here to break it down for us. Reporter hey, yeah. Good morning, you guys. Could this be the end of tiktok . Say it aint so. The president is issuing an ultimatum for the chineseowned company. This morning theres news of who could be stepping in to save the social media platform. This morning, its tiktok why are you crying . What do you want to do . Drive. You want to drive . No, you cant drive a car. No sorry. You got to wait like 14 years. Reporter versus President Trump, telling reporters on air force one over the weekend as far as tiktok is concerned, were banning them from the United States. Tiktok reaches more than 100 million americans known for its short videos, viral dances, and now its users are chiming in. Some with emotional pleas. Im financially supporting my family because of this. Im literally starting my career and inspiring people and changing peoples lives because of this. Reporter some with sarcasm. Were looking at tiktok. We may be banning tiktok. We may be doing some other things or a couple of options. Reporter tiktok has a notoriously contentious relationship with the president. Many users claiming responsibility for low turnout at his tulsa rally back in june. You can get two tickets, so i got two tickets. But i totally forgot. Reporter the campaign reported that more than 1 million had requested tickets. 6,200 showed up. But its security concerns from the chinese owned app that the president has taken issue with in recent comments. The u. S. Has already banned tiktok on governmentowned phones. But tiktok has denied sharing data with the chinese government. According to a reuters report, the Chinese Company bytedance has offered to divest the u. S. Operations of tiktok to make a deal with the white house. The apps general manager assuring users that they shouldnt worry. When it comes to safety