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Woodruff covid19 keeps spreading across swaths of the United States, and National Experts are telling congress they are worried. They are also calling for more testing. Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins begins our coverage of the days events. Its a mixed bag some good, and some we have a problem with. Desjardins from the nations top Infectious Disease expert, dr. Anthony fauci, the latest assessment of where things stand, more than three months into the pandemic. He and three other top National Health officials testified at a congressional hearing. At the top of the agenda rising numbers of cases across much of the sunbelt. Were now seeing a disturbing the next couple of weeks are going to be critical in our ability to address those surges that we are seeing in florida, texas, and arizona, and in other states. Theyre not the only ones that are having a difficulty. Desjardins in fact, a dozen states across the south and southwest are hitting new infection records. New hot spots are emerging, even as some states move to reopen their economies. That includes places like myrtle beach, south carolina, a popular vacation spot thats helped bump the states new infection rate when adjusted for population to fourth place nationally. Still, fauci said today he is optimistic that a vaccine to counter the spread could be ready by the end of this year, or early next. And he vowed that officials will not cut corners to get there. I would be very disappointed if we jumped to a conclusion before we knew that a vaccine was truly safe and truly effective, because i wouldnt want a perpetual ambiguity of not knowing whether or not it is truly safe and truly effective. Desjardins also testifying today, admiral brett giroir, assistant secretary of health at the department of health and human services. He focused on testing. The only way that we will be able to understand who has the disease, who is infected and can pass it, and do appropriate contact tracing, is to test appropriately, smartly, as many people as we can. Desjardins thats become a contentious point within the administration, after President Trump said he called for scaling back tests he said bluntly because testing was driving up case numbers. Aides said he was kidding, but today came this. I dont kid. Let me just tell you, let me make it clear. Desjardins leaving the white house for arizona this morning, mr. Trump doubled down testing is a doubleedge sword. In one way, it tells you, you have cases. In another way, you find out where the cases are and you do a good job. Desjardins back at the House Committee hearing, fauci said that, in fact, the president has never asked them to cut back on testing. None of us have ever been told to slow down on testing. That just is a fact. In fact, we will be doing more testing. Desjardins all of this as the virus continues to pass new milestones around the world. Cases in south africa topped 100,000 today, totaling nearly a third of all infections across thafrican continent. The spread is also accelerating in india, where 15,000 new cases were recorded in the past day. The picture is starkly different elsewhere. Today, we can say that our Long National hibernation is beginning to come to an end, and life is returning to our streets and to our shops. Desjardins british Prime MinisterBoris Johnson said the country will begin to ease social distancing restrictions, including at pubs and restaurants, by early july. For the pbs newshour, im Lisa Desjardins. Nawaz as lisa reported, texas is taking a particularly hard hit right now. The state recorded more than 5,000 new cases in a day, a new alltime high. For about a week now, texas has been reporting roughly 4,000 new cases a day and the houston region is reflecting those broader trends with nearly 32,000 cases overall and almost 500 deaths in that region. For a report from the front lines, we turn to dr. Hillary fairbrother. She works in emergency medicine at the texas medical center. Dr. Fairbrother, welcome to the newshour and thanks for being with us. Lets talk about those numbers, that surge in infections were seeing across texas. What are you seeing on the ground in houston . So on the ground in houston, i am definitely seeing an increase in cases. Were seeing an increase in volume in ou emergency department, both public and private, and we are seeing more and more people worried that they have the symptoms of coronavirus. Nawaz we should point out there was a statewide stayathome order. Governor abbott issued that for all of april. Ever since then, texas has been on a steady march to reopening. Now that youre seeing this surge in infection, do you think thats due to the reopening . You know, texas was an anomaly, so when we first started dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, like everyone else, we had these horrifying projections of what was to come and all sorts of scientists really trying to prepare us for what to expect when it came to the pandemic and the number of people who are sick and all of those things, and in texas those numbers never came true, and so initially the governor, like many other governors, issued stayathome orders and everyone stayed at home, and socially isolated. The business and economies were shut down. After, you know, a decent while of not seeing those numbers come to pass, the governor and the state started to open, and without a question, coronavirus has never left the houston community. We have always had cases. We all had this kind of steady spate of cases that was in our community. So i dont think that anyone could say that reopening did not adversely affect the number of cases. The real question really is i think can we handle this increase in volume. Nawaz we mentioned the new alltime singleday high today. Governor abbott also said yesterday the virus is now spreading at an unacceptable rate. Hes urging people to continue social distancing and Wearing Masks and wash their hands. Do you think that message is getting out, and are those practices enough to slow the spread that youre seeing now . So i applaud the governor for those important messages. We do. We beg you, please stay at home. Please socially distance. Please wash your hands. And when you absolutely have to go out, please wear masks. This helps everyone and this includes people like myself who have to go to work so we can take care of everyone who gets sick in the city of houston. Whether it wilbe enough to keep. In my mind we have this duty. We reopened the state, and that was so important to so many businesses, but we always have to balance everything, whether its the economy or any other resource, with our healthcare resource that we have available, with the number of ventilators and isue beds and hospital beds that we have available. And it is when one of those things becomes completely imbalanced that i think we will see our state and the city of houston really suffer. So its just about balance. Whether the increased urging to stay at home is getting through to people and changing their behavior, i think it has yet to be seen. There has to be some more personal accountability so that hopefully we can keep our economy open and also take care of and have the resources to take care of anyone who gets sick in the state of texas. But its a balance. Nawaz it is a balance indeed. Were wishing you and the people in houston all the very best. Dr. Hilary fairbrother, houston emergency medicine physician. Thanks for being with us. Thank you so much. Woodruff in the days other news, President Trump vowed to sign an executive order against tearing down statues of confederate leaders and others. He cited a federal law that punishes vandalism of monuments to military leaders by up to ten years in prison. We are loing at longterm jail sentences for these vandals and these hoodlums and these anarchists and agitators, and call them whatever you want. I will have an executive order very shortly, and all its really going to do is reinforce whats already there, but in a more uniform way. Woodruff we will take a closer look at this debate, later in the program. The president spent much of the day in arizona, touring the southern border wall before holding a rally in phoenix. His visit marked more than 200 miles of wall built. Thats less than half the total that mr. Trump had promised to build by years end. Mourners gathered in atlanta today for the funeral of rayshard brooks. Police shot and killed brooks as he was running away after an attempted arrest for intoxication. Todays funeral was held at atlantas historic Ebenezer Baptist church, where reverend Martin Luther king jr. Once preached. The f. B. I. Now says a noose found at a nascar speedway in alabama had been there since october. It was in a garage space assigned last week to bubba wallace, nascars only black driver, for a weekend race. The f. B. I. Says that means there was no federal crime. In mexico, a powerful earthquake rocked the southern and central parts of the country, killing at least two people. Thousands of people in mexico city took refuge outdoors, as the tremor swayed buildings. Initial damage reports were relatively minor. The quake also triggered small tsunamis along the pacific coast. New york, kentucky and Virginia Held primary elections amid the pandemic today. In kentucky, democrats chose a u. S. Senate nominee to face republican majority leader mitch mcconnell. The Convention Center in louisville served as a single, giant polling place for more than 500 precincts. Thousands of voters flowed through, with relative ease. This process was very smooth, very simple, very easy process. People walked you through, everybody was there, i loved it. People need to understand the new norm and get with the program. Theres nothing wrong with this process. Mailin or coming out to the one location. Woodruff other voters complained that the single site was too far from where they live. Officials also faced an outpouring of mailin ballots. And on wall street today, the Dow Jones Industrial average gained 131 points to close at 26,156. The nasdaq rose nearly 75 points, and the s p 500 added 13. Still to come on the newshour we discuss the pandemic, protests, and more with supporters of the president at his latest rally. Questions remain about public statues and monuments across the country. Covid19 compounds alreadydire circumstances in wartorn yemen. And, much more. Woodruff as we reported earlier, President Trump traveled to the state of arizona today. Our stephanie sy is in phoenix, and joins me now. So hello, stephanie. You are just outside of the president s event. Tell us what else youve learned about his visit to arizona today. Thats right, judy. I am outside the dream city megachurch here in phoenix. The president landed in this coronavirus hot spot to hold a rally at this church behind me, which has the capacity of about 3,000 people. The church i am told is filled to capacity waiting for the president to speak. This was billed as an event for students, but we saw much more than students here, really a mix of ages that we saw, and its 110 degrees out here, so it does feel like a slightly more low key trump rally, just handful of vendors and not the carnival atmosphere that im used to seeing at a trump rally. Earlier today, the president was near yuma, arizona. He had a roundtable with border officials, and the white house had touted that visit as a way for trump to talk about the 200 miles of border wall that had been built. In fact, since trump took office, only three miles of new barrier has been erected. Judy . Woodruff so stephanie, you told us that you talked to some of the people who waited for hos in line to get in to see the president in this 110degree heat. What precautions ae being taken around health and around the covid virus . There were people that were waiting for hours in this heat, judy to, get in to the church. That also means theyve been sitting inside that church with the circulating air for hours as theyre waiting for the president to take the stage. Some people were Wearing Masks. I would say about 20 were Wearing Masks in this heat. A lot of people said they would put masks on once they got inside the venue. Some people said they would not put masks on unless they were forced to do so. And a few people really said they were making a political statement by not wearing a mask. I think i think the whole covid thing is kind of like a slippery slope. Pgee what they can get away with. They see how many people are going to be sheep and wear masks, and they say okay, if we can get away with that, what other rights can we infringe upon . Now the phenix city council, judy, did pass an ordinance just a few days ago requiring people to wear masks in public places, but the phoenix mayor said shes not planning to enforce that and hand out citations and 250 fines among the people at the rally. And, of course, not with the president either. I will say that a local reporter inside that ive been talking to says there is absolutely no social distancing in there, and there is a minimal amount of mask wearing. Obviously this mass gathering goes against c. D. C. Guidelines. The mayors Statement Today also said there really is no safe way to hold a rally like this in this pandemic. Woodruff stephanie, one other thing, we know all this takes place at a moment, a time of widespread public protests over racial injustice, including protests there in phoenix. What are some of the president s supporters telling you about all that . You know, we did speak to at least one person who was sympathetic to the death of george floyd, but overall what we heard is a focus on those isolated incidents of rioting and looting, including at the scottsdale mall that happened here a few weeks ago as as oppod to thinking or talking about the legitimate grievances of the black lives matter. Here is how one trump supporter we tech to earlier framed the issue. Its divided. I dont think its Donald Trumps fault, i think its the left. They are definitely pushing narratives that theres always been police brutality. Its nothing new. And i think that black people kill black people more often than that, anyway. I think thats the least of our concerns. That is a common refrain from people who oppose or dont support the black lives matter movement, judy, as a way to detract from real incidents of police brutality. I will say that earlier today i spoke to a white family that had come out here as sort of a mini counterprotest. They were Holding Small signs that said black lives matter. Their children were holding those signs. When i asked them about their political persuasion, they said simply, were christian. And on that point of protestors, were not seeing them right here in the vicinity of dream city church, but we do know on the perimeter there are several protestors, antitrump protestors that have shown up. Woodruff all right. Stephanie sigh reporting fm the site of President Trumps visit right now to phoenix, arizona. Thank you, stephanie. Thank you. Woodruff as the country faces a moment of reckoning about its treatment of black americans and other people of color, the display of memorials, monuments and statues is being reexamined once again. President trump doubled down today, threatening prison time for vandalizing or destroying statues. Part of our race matters coverage, we begin with this report from jeffrey brown. Brown heits on a horse, tall in the saddle theodore roosevelt, 26th president of the United States, in a pose symbolizing american strength and confidence. But below him, two men a native american and an african, nameless figures in different poses, and for many, different symbols of american racism and brutal expansionism. Sunday, the American Museum of Natural History in new york announced it would remove the statue from its central park entrance, where its stood since 1940. Its keeping roosevelts name elsewhere in the museum to honor his role in conservation. The removal brought different responses. If this makes some people upset we dont worship statues, so why not tear it down . Its terrible. I think that when you start eliminating history and you start eliminating statues. We have to remember how we got here, through the history. Tear them down brown the killing of george floyd and its aftermath have brought demands for racial justice, and for a new reckoning with american history. Last night, protesters in washingtons Lafayette Square tried to pull down a statue of president Andrew Jackson, before police moved them back. The protests first centered on confederate monuments. The giant statue of robert e. Lee in richmond, virginia has been the site of massive demonstrations. cheers in washington, d. C. On friday night, demonstrators pulled down a memorial of confederate general albert pike. cheers the same night, protesters in raleigh, North Carolina toppled a confederate statue. cheers the next morning, crowds cheered as historians and analysts have noted, many of these statues were built well after the civil war, and with a purpose well beyond remembering and celebrating the past. The first real push to erect these monuments were in t