Transcripts For KGO Good Morning America 20240712 : vimarsan

Be wearing a mask. The race for the white house heating up as the candidates battle over covid. Joe biden calling on every governor to impose a mask mandate immediately. President trump firing back, calling it an overreach. This as he admits to want to block funding for the post office to prevent expanded mailin voting during the pandemic. And the president also advancing a birther lie about senator Kamala Harris. The latest on the war of words in the race for 2020. Wildfires raging in the west. Three new infernos scorching more than 14,000 acres. Hundreds of families forced from their homes. Bison attack. A motorcycle passenger charged by a giant animal at a state park. What ultimately saved her . Epic fight over fortnite. The billion dollar battle over one of the most popular games in the world. Now removed from apple and googles app stores. Shark tale. The surfer who fought a 16foot great white telling his remarkable story this morning. How he used his bare hands and surfboard to save his own life. And twilight zone. Midnight suns recording breaking rise. Fans buying up more than a million copies of the monster hit in just the first week. Now the authors tweet sending twilight fans into a frenzy. Could all the hoopla save the town hit hard by the and good morning, america. Great to be with you on this very busy friday morning. It is a busy way to end the workweek. We have a lot of news to get to starting with the coronavirus emergency. The new cdc forecast is predicting up to 200,000 coronavirus deaths in the United States by labor day and overnight california becoming the first state to surpass 600,000 cases. Just the past 24 hours now the United States reporting more than 56,000 new cases and 1,200 new deaths. Victor oquendo starts us off from hard hit miami, florida, with the latest on the backtoschool battle heating up across the country. Good morning, victor. Reporter good morning, amy. Here in florida, there is a push from the top to reopen schools. The state is basically forcing one of the Largest School districts in the tampa area to reopen classrooms by the end of the month for inperson learning or risk losing more than 200 million in funding. This morning, the debate in schools rages on. [ crowd chanting ] for some that have already reopened, rapid setbacks. At least 2,400 students and staff quarantined across at least six states. But in states where inperson learning has not started, pushbash. Dozens of parents and students in pennsylvania gathering outside a local courthouse there urging officials to open schools. We want to be in school. We want to play sports with the proper precautions. Obviously. Reporter in california one school defying state orders opening their campus to hundreds of students. Its just going to undo all of the potential progress that weve made in containing the virus. Reporter dr. Anthony fauci says in order for schools to reopen, communities need to keep infection rates under 10 and that temperature checks are not a reliable screening tool. In a livestream with Actor Matthew Mcconaughey fauci saying americans have to make a choice when it comes to partying this summer or the school year this fall. Do you want to open the bars or do you want to open the schools . Reporter this after reports of an outbreak at an ohio winery. More than 80 cases are linked to a july 11th live game show event where the shows host was symptomatic and tested positive for covid19 a week before performing. In arizonas largest district, theyre preparing for the return of more than 70,000 students and staff filling this warehouse with hundreds of thousands of ppe items and shipping them to more than 80 schools. We want to make sure that everybody feels confident coming back. Reporter and overnight, the First High School Football Game of 2020 at utahs Herriman High School. School Officials Say all participants on the field were screened before kickoff and social distancing was promoted on premise where 900 spectators came to watch the game. All Herriman High School kids, whether theyre football fans or not, are watching this night on national tv and looking for something they see that is normal. Reporter the American Academy of pediatrics now recommends children older than 2 should be wearing a mask, saying, it should be part of the norm like wearing a seat belt or a bike helmet. T. J. . New norm. Victor, thank you so much. We want to turn now to covid on campus. Students arriving at college for the start of a year that will be unlike any other. At penn state that school was already forced to do an aboutface after coming under fire for asking students to sign what amounted to a liability waiver. Our trevor ault is at Rutgers University for us this morning in new jersey. Good morning to you, trevor. Reporter good morning, t. J. Rutgers football is one of those big ten sports thats been postponed this year because of the virus and when rutgers starts up its fall semester in a few weeks, hardly any classes will be held here in person. Across the country other colleges are starting to welcome back their students but the oncampus experience has changed a lot. College movein day is looking very different this year. Penn state is still prepping for its fall start ordering staggering amounts of ppe, 1. 5 million surgical masks, 33,000 bottles of Hand Sanitizer. But the university is under fire for asking its nearly 100,000 students to sign what critics are calling a liability agreement, reading in part, quote, i assume any and all risk of exposure to covid19 that may result from attending penn state and i acknowledge that exposure or infection may result in personal injury, illness, permanent disability or death. Penn state says that document was only meant to acknowledge the schools guidelines and has since changed the language telling abc news, it is not a legal agreement and was never intended as such. At other schools where the movein has already started oh, man, wow. Reporter for students like selaya young, its not quite like what she imagined. I thought there would be lots of people everywhere and the time you got to meet a lot of different people and it was like way different. Reporter as a freshman at North Carolina a t state shell have four virtual classes and only one in person. Im always wearing my mask, and every time my roommate and i come back in, we, like, spray the whole room with lysol. Reporter at californias Westmont College where the cafeteria is already fitted with plexiglas the 1,200 students hoping to move into dorms will be randomly tested for covid throughout the year with a limit of two people per room. If quarantine doesnt drive me crazy, this puzzle definitely will. Reporter a hotel room is serving as the home for this sophomore. She is in the midst of a 14day quarantine after traveling from california but shell live at the hotel the entire semester. I think overall its going to be much safer and more convenient than living in the dorms, especially in terms of corona because i will have my own bathroom that i dont have to share with roughly five other people on my floor. Reporter and Notre Dame University just resumed classes on monday and according to the student newspaper, already at least 11 students have tested positive. They say most of those cases are tied to a single gathering that was in a crowded area with no one wearing masks. Whit . Tough decisions for these universities. Trevor ault for us, thank you. Now to some of the nations most popular restaurant chains rocked by the pandemic. According to a new report, six big names are facing potential bankruptcy. Our chief Business Correspondent Rebecca Jarvis joins us now to explain. Rebecca, good morning. Reporter good morning, whit. Thats right, restaurants across the country are facing a daily battle right now. Not only are food prices rising, you see it at the grocery store, well, they see it in their costs going up, but with social distancing measures, most of these restaurant chains arent getting the same type of foot traffic that they were getting prepandemic. On top of that, the u. S. Consumer with unemployment now above 10 and millions out of work, isnt in the mood to spend money, and already weve seen more than 16,000 restaurants across the country permanently closed since march, and a lot of them are the small mom and pop places, but a lot of them are also these big restaurant chains. And now this new report this morning suggesting that the Cheesecake Factory, Outback Steakhouse and dennys are among the chains at risk of potential bankruptcy if their finances continue on the path that theyre on right now, which is one where its very difficult to make payments to keep up with those rental agreements. Already weve seen Major Companies across the country, amy, shutter locations like tgi fridays and dennys and ihop. Amy . Rebecca jarvis, thank you for that. We appreciate it. Turning to the race for the white house and the candidates battling over how to tackle this pandemic. Joe biden calling for every governor to impose an immediate mask mandate saying it will save lives and its just the right thing to do. Be a patriot. Protect your fellow citizens. Protect your fellow citizens. Step up. Do the right thing. Do the right thing. This is not about democrat, republican or independent. Its about saving american lives. So lets institute a mask mandate nationwide starting immediately. But President Trump projected this idea and attacked their calls for a mask mandate as an overreach. The president saying biden has no clue. This all coming as the pandemic poses a challenge for election day as well and the president now threatening the funding for the post office to prevent expanded mailin voting. Mary bruce is in washington with all the latest on this. Good morning, mary. Reporter good morning, amy. The president has made no secret of it. He is concerned that if more people vote by mail, it will hurt him and republicans in november. And now the president is threatening to block funds that the post office needs to help handle a surge in mailin ballots. It is sparking fierce backlash from democrats who say the president is putting his political interests ahead of the safety of voters. With the pandemic upending how americans cast their ballots, battle lines are being drawn over mailin voting. The president thursday openly admitting he wants to block funding for the post office to prevent expanded mailin voting. Something democrats are pushing for. They need that money in order to have the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots. Now, if we dont make a deal that means they dont get the money. That means they cant have universal mailin voting. They just cant have it. Reporter without evidence trump claims mailin voting leads to widespread voter fraud. But he also admits he fears expanding mailin voting will hurt republicans. The Biden Campaign accused trump of sabotaging the Postal Service to deprive americans of their fundamental right to vote safely. Pure trump. He doesnt want an election. Reporter then late yesterday, trump signaled he would be willing to make a deal saying he would sign legislation funding the Postal Service, just at a lower amount. You would sign something that does include funding . A separate thing, i would do it. But what are the reasons the post office needs that much money . They have all these millions of ballots coming in from nowhere. Reporter so the president who himself has voted by mail in the past does seem to be willing to negotiate here and the Postal Service says it does have the ability to handle and tackle the surge in mailin ballots. The question and the real concern is whether there will be any delays here and that is what additional funding could help prevent. Amy . Mary, weve heard trump also attacking joe bidens running mate, Kamala Harris. Hes now pushing this Conspiracy Theory that falsely claims shes ineligible to be vice president. Reporter yeah, amy, here we go again. The Trump Campaign and the president now encouraging this false and racist Conspiracy Theory. Questioning Kamala Harris eligibility to be vice president. Theyre raising concerns about her parents immigration status at the time that she was born so lets be very clear on this. Kamala harris was born in oakland, california. She is an american citizen based on the 14th amendment and she very much has every right to be vice president. That is crystal clear, mary bruce, thank you very much. T. J. . Lets turn to the wildfires raging in the west. Scorching more than 14,000 acres. Our will carr is near the fire zone in lake hughes, california with more. Good morning to you, will. Reporter and, t. J. , as you know these fires are just burning so fast and so hot these days. It doesnt take much to destroy a truck like this. Check out whats left of the engine block of this truck. Its this melted piece of aluminum. This fires burned a handful of homes in the community including the one behind me. Theres really not much left here except for the charred refrigerator up there in the middle of all this devastation, this is one fire that popped up in Southern California thats being pushed by mother natures triple threat. Its going to be another hot day here and through the week well see temperatures well over 100 degrees. Thats bad news for firefighters. Think about this. Were only in august right now. California has had its deadliest and most destructive fires in november and december. We still have a long way to go. Amy . It certainly is. Will carr, thank you very well, now to that landmark milestone in the middle east peace process. President trump announcing what he called an Historic Deal to establish diplomatic relations between israel and the united arab emirates. Senior Foreign Correspondent ian pannell is in london with the details of this agreement. Good morning, ian. Reporter yeah, good morning, amy. Thats right, this is an important deal and if signed makes the uae one of only three arab countries to have full ties with israel. In the coming weeks, were going to see a bunch of agreements on things like direct flights, security and the opening of embassies. In exchange, israels agreed not to annex parts of Palestinian Land in the west bank that are currently occupied. The president we said calling it an historic Peace Agreement but the leader of the emirates calling it a road map. Reporter yeah, thats right, also the israeli leader saying the annexation plans are only paused and not shelved. Leaders on both sides still have to sell this. Behind the scenes relations having thawing and cooperation increasing because these old enemies are united by a common foe in iran and the hope is this will lead to similar moves by other nations, and while this is a much needed and important Foreign Policy success for the president ahead of the election, its still a long way short of his promised middle east peace plan. The palestinians have reacted with fury, and theres also a suggestion theyre going to withdraw their ambassador from the region. Amy . All right, ian pannell with the latest on that, thank you. Whit . Amy, turning back here at home and that bison attack at a state park in south dakota caught on camera. A bison charging a motorcycle passenger. Diane macedo has the story. Reporter this morning, a bison attack caught on camera. Holy [ bleep ]. Oh, my god. Reporter video shows a woman tossed around by the animal in south dakotas Custer State Park as shocked onlookers watch. Shes unconscious. Reporter the 54yearold was attempting to approach a bison calf wednesday. How close does she have to get . Reporter when an adult bison charged. Oh, my god. Reporter animal experts say adult bison can weigh up to 2,200 pounds and can be aggressive if provoked. Bison can be really unpredictable. Thats the risk with them. They may look calm sitting, you know, right off the path, but they can change in an instant. Reporter the woman lost consciousness as the bison swung her around. Its horn caught on her belt and jeans. But she escaped serious injury after her pants came off. Oh, my god. It got her. Reporter now local sheriffs are reminding visitors to the park, if you see bison, keep your distance. Now, after the attack happened, the bison ran off with the rest of the herd, but the local Sheriffs Office issued a warning about this days before it happened. They say bison occasionally block the road and are advising people if that happens, stay in or on your vehicle, and guys, they also say to remember that in this park, its their park and we are the guests. Yeah, that is so true, and you can get awesome pictures from the safety of your car. As you did when you saw bison. I went to south dakota and saw bison. All right. We are following a lot of other headlines this morning including that billion dollar battle over fortnite. Why apple and google pulled the incredibly popular game. How a quick thinking surfer fought off a 16foot great white shark. But first lets say good morning to ginger. Reporter good morning, t. J. Records broken from palm springs at 116 to tucson, 111 and today excessive heat warnings and watches up to washington state. Texas, youre in it too. This high is going to settle in over the weekend and dry things out, make it very tough for firefighters. Lets get the weekend forecast now sponsored by caesars rewards. Election. New details overnight about delays already being reported and a deadline that could be missed when it comes to sending out ballots. Bison attack. The terrifying moment a bison charged a woman taking pictures in a state park. Plus, some of the most popular restau