With eight days remaining in the u. S. Election season, the country is enduring its worst stretch of the coronavirus pandemic. For the 7th straight day, it has confirmed more than 58,000 new infections with a couple of days well over 80,000 thrown in the mix. And once again, the virus hitting the white house. Cnn has learned at least five people close to the Vice President have tested positive. Among them mike pences chief of staff and one of his closest aides. Pence was in close contact with some of those staff members, but his office says he has so far tested negative and is so far refusing to quarantine. Instead, he held a Campaign Rally in North Carolina and plans to hold more up until election day. The world standing out here in the rain for one reason and one reason only. And that is in North Carolina and america need four more years of President Donald Trump in the white house. And President Trump was also on the campaign trail rallying support in maine. He was asked if the Vice President s refusal to quarantine was a good idea. The white house chief of staff mark meadows meanwhile also defending the Vice President s decision to continue campaigning but admitting the nationwide outbreak is getting out of hand. Heres what we have to do. Were not going to control the pandemic. We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigation. Why arent we going to get control of the pandemic . Because it is a contagious virus just like the flu why not make efforts to contain it . We are making efforts to contain it. By running all over the country not wearing a mask . Thats what the president is doing. We can get into the back and forth. Let me just say this. What we need to do is make sure we have the proper mitigation factors whether its vaccines or therapies or treatments to make sure people dont die from this. The Vice President , who we should remember is also the head of the White House Coronavirus task force, brought some energy to a sunday rally while at the same time breaking his own administrations Public Health guidelines. Cnns john harwood with more about the confusing messaging. Reporter events on sunday encapsulated the dilemma facing President Trump and his campaign with just over a week to go before election day. The president was campaigning in both maine and New Hampshire insisting were rounding the corner on the pandemic, appearing without masks or social distancing, getting very close to voters. But reality entruded with a major outbreak of coronavirus with people close to the Vice President , including his chief of staff marc short, as well as his body man, the one who travels most closely with mike pence. Now, despite that, the white house continued to have mike pence out on the campaign trail. He disregarded cdc guidelines, did not quarantine himself. The white house chief of staff mark meadows confessed in a conversation with jack tapper that we cant control the pandemic. Were simply waiting for therapeutics and a vaccine. The challenge, of course, is for the president , the coronavirus pandemic is the number one issue for voters, and they have a harsh judgment of the president s handling of it. Nevertheless, hes pressing on. He ended the evening on sunday with a trick or treat halloween event at the white house, the president appearing without a mask. However, he was not handing out the candy itself. That was done by white house staffers who were Wearing Masks and gloves in a different location. John harwood, cnn, the white house. Democratic Vice President ial candidate Kamala Harris was back on the campaign trail this weekend. The difference with her is she cancelled all travel a week ago after two people in her orbit tested positive for the virus. Sunday in michigan, harris criticizing the Vice President for ignoring the advice of his own Health Experts. He should be following the guidelines. Were doing it. I think we have modelled the right and good behavior, and they should take our lead. We are breaking records for the number of people that are contracting a deadly virus. And this administration fails to take personal responsibility or responsibility in terms of leading the nation through this dangerous and deadly mass casualty event. And thats why they have forfeited their right to a second term in office. Now, harris made multiple Campaign Stops in michigan, and heres why. Michigan is traditionally a blue state. President trump was the first republican to win there since 1988. But he did win by a razor thin margin, fewer than 11,000 votes. Michigan is home to the bloc of Blue Collar Workers that delivered the election to conservative Ronald Reagan back in the 80s. Both democratic and republican camps are vying for this key group of workers that has the ability to swing the vote. As cnns jessica dean explains the biden camp wants to shake things up in traditionally red states. Reporter were now entering the closing week of the 2020 president ial election and joe biden and Kamala Harris are hitting the campaign trail going into states that really tell you a lot about where the Campaign Sees things right now. Joe biden will be heading to georgia later this week. Thats a state that no democrat has carried since 1992 when bill clinton carried that state. For her part, Kamala Harris will include texas on her travel schedule. Again, democrats havent had any luck in texas in a long, long time. But the Bidenharris Campaign sending harris into texas in its closing days hoping to up their chances of carrying that state and all of its electoral votes come next tuesday. Cnn Politics White House reporter Steven Collinson joins me now to talk about all this. Were going to start with the five people in Vice President mike pences orbit testing positive for coronavirus, his chief of staff among them. That follows of course the president , his wife, husband child and many others in the white house. How damaging politically is it for the administration, which is already, of course, fighting claims of mismanagement . Well, i think what it does is the administration and the white house simply cant get out from under this coronavirus pandemic. Were heading into the last week of the campaign. The president doesnt want to be talking about coronavirus at all, but he cannot escape it. And the fact now that the Vice President is now in the middle of another coronavirus hot spot in the white house really advances the point that the democratic nominee joe biden is trying to make. Hes basically saying that trump and pence, the president and the Vice President , cant keep themselves safe, cant keep the people around them safe, so how are they going to keep the rest of the American People safe. And that really plays into this issue of whether the white houses mishandling of the pandemic should disqualify the president and the Vice President from claiming a second term. How do you see it playing out on the electoral map . Theres some surprising states in play. I think whats very interesting is the fact that the president is playing defense on a lot of territory that he wouldnt want to be defending in the last week of the campaign. If you think about states like georgia, arizona, even texas where democrats think they can do very well even if they dont pull off that state at the end of the day, these are places where the president should have been strong and should have had locked up. Arizona, for example, in the southwest is one of these classic changing states. Theyre showing us the future of american politics. Big urbansuburban ecenters are changing states that used to be rural and conservative in swing states and potentially democratic states going forward, not just in this election but in the elections to come. Thats also the case with a state like georgia, a real solid conservative state thats damaging demographically and is coming into play. The president is fighting not just in those big midwest battlegrounds but all across and map and he cant really afford to lose many or any in fact of those big seven or eight swing states if its going down to a second term. You know, its interesting because he has slipped with suburban women, even some of the noncollege educated whites. But the thing is among the immoveable base many of them are the noncollege educated whites and lower income people, and theyre most affected by potential things like health care, loss cuts already to social safety nets and so on, income equality. All things the Trump Administration has negatively impacted and yet they are still loyal. Why is that . I think in conservative politics, especially in particular with this president , hes forged a cultural connection with many of these voters that supersedes some of the economic issues. You know, he has starved himself as the voice for the forgotten american, people who feel they have not been served well by washington, d. C. , that theyve you know, the trade global trade, seeing their jobs disappear abroad to low wage economies. They believe that america is being ripped off by foreign countries. They culturally feel this America First philosophy in their bones. So, i think thats one reason they stick together. You talked about all those constituencies where the president has been losing shares of the vote according to the polls polls. The theory of his campaign basically is that there are millions of untapped trumpystyle voters out there, many of whom didnt vote for the president in 2016, who didnt vote for anybody. And the campaign believes it can get those kind of voters out, and that will kind of play against some of those states where the president is in trouble. You know, it does seem a long shot when a campaign has to talk about finding new voters, millions of them. Its usually a time theyre in trouble. But the campaign, the trump campaign, is convinced that these are the voters its going to find. And theyre going to confound all the posters conception of what the actual electorate will look like on november 3rd. Steven collinson, thanks so much. Well, the u. S. Has recorded more than 8. 6 million cases of coronavirus, by far the most in the world. And with infections soaring at record rates, Health Experts are now calling for drastic measures to slow the spread. The former food and drug commissioner says it is time to consider a limited and temporary National Mask mandate, warning of more deaths and hospital admissions in the weeks ahead. His suggestion comes days after the nations top Infectious Disease expert also signalled he would support a nationwide mandate. France breaks its own daily record for new covid19 infections. Its only one of many European Countries hoping to slow down the virus with new restrictions. Well have that when we come back. [yawn] you. Look. Stunning. Want the truth to why i wake up feeling. [growls softly]. So darn awesome . [makes playful sound] i take care of my skin. Not this skin. That skin. And when youve got incontinence, you sure need to. Tena intimates pads lock liquid in, and are now 100 breathable to care for your intimate skin. Are you still here . Kind to skin. Protects like tena. Welcome back. Countries across europe are in the midst of a new surge of coronavirus and new restrictions are being put in place as infections break records. Italy surpassed its record for new daily cases on sunday. The Prime Minister saying italy cant, though, afford another lockdown. As a result, the government ordering bars and restaurants to close by 6 00 p. M. While business businesses, like movie theaters, casinos and gyms have to close their doors altogether for now. Now france reporting more than 52,000 new cases on sunday, breaking its daily record for the fourth day in a row. The countrys Positivity Rate more than doubled that of the u. S. And the uk reported nearly 20,000 new infections on sunday. Wales largely spared from the virus earlier this year is now under a socalled fire break lockdown with cases rising. Cnns nina dos santos explains how to work and the mixed response its getting. Reporter shutting up shop and locking down. Fridays last orders were filled with uncertainty in cardiff as come sunday wales has more residents ordered to stay at home for the next two weeks. A fire break deemed essential to stop covid in its tracks. A short but deep period of restrictions that will interrupt the virus, break the chain of transmission. But that is the best hope we have of being able to get things back on track. The decision was welcomed by these shoppers on the streets. Its about time that somebody took the bull by the horns. Theres people dying at the end of the day. You know, just stay in and respect that. Reporter but not so much in the supermarkets, where a ban on the sale of nonessential items prompted a petition to loosen the new laws almost immediately. Meanwhile, businesses braced themselves from meager takings. If this didnt work the first time, why is it going to work the second time . We socially distance in the store. Why cant we stay open safely . Reporter like scotland in northern ireland, wales has its own government, with autonomy over matters like health. It claims this National Lockdown is needed to prevent the virus spreading from big cities to remote places where it hasnt yet gained a foothold. The porous border with england is also a source of concern. The mountains of north wales, they were spared the first wave of pandemic, only to recently witness an uptick in cases, thanks largely to tourists bringing the virus over the border from hotspots in england. The government says its following scientific advice. Part of that science confirms that genetic material from covid19 caught by people in neighboring parts of england is now popping up in waste water in wales. Very, very busy here. In the summer. Yeah, very busy. It was really busy. Thousands of visitors were streaming into snowdonia every day. Now ot even the locals are allowed out without good reason. Halloween is off the cards so that maybe christmas can be saved. You cant do anything and you cant diversify. Weve all built our businesses up over 15, 20 years. You know, what can you do . Reporter wales is taking a different approach to other parts of britain still focused on local tiered restrictions. This lockdown will last until november 9th. Whether the picture will look less bleak thereafter, it may be many more weeks before that becomes clear. Nina dos santos, cnn, wales. And now lets return to paris and cnns melissa bell following the story there of some incredibly worrying numbers from where you are. Fill us in. Reporter you mentioned earlier on, michael, that Positivity Rate here in france compared to the United States, for instance, 17 . What weve seen over the course of the last few days are several rises of more than 40,000 new cases announced every day. Thats been going on now over the course of the weekend every single day and last night again only record more than 52,000 new cases in a single day. This week of course is going to be crucial. The head of the Regional Health authority here in the greater paris region says that tuesday or wednesday will be a crucial period to look at whether those rises continue, michael, because it will have been now more than a week that the curfews been in place and places like here in paris. And that should begin to have an impact on those figures. If it doesnt, then theyre going to have to look at fresh restrictions, and thats something were seeing elsewhere in europe as well is as the numbers continue to rise, everyones trying to avoid that second lockdown. But everyones being brought pretty close to it. There are things that the french can bring in still, for instance, things like bringing the curfew slightly lower rkts making it closer. There are further restrictions that can be brought in. The crucial things to be looked at, the proportion of icu beds taken up by covid19 patients and that is now at 65 here in the greater paris area. That is very concerning. And as you touched on there the situation equally worrying elsewhere in europe. Again, michael, weve seen over the course of the last few days worrying rises in a number of European Countries. When you look at those figures, the countries that have the highest infection rates as compared to their populations, the five Top Countries in the world right now are in europe. It gives you an idea of how bad things are. And i think Giuseppe Conte summed it up when he announced all bars and restaurants are going to have to close beyond 6 00 p. M. And things like gyms, beauty parlors close altogether. He said, look, we simply cant afford a second lockdown. So, again, countries really taking their restrictions as high as they can but avoiding going back into the full lockdowns that we saw in the spring, staying as well where the city, the area around the capital madrid already on partial lockdown. Their fresh restrictions introduced things like fresh curfews placed nationwide and new restrictions on traveling between regions. Every country in europe look at how we can get the figures down without the full lockdowns, michael. Very concerning. Melissa bell there in paris for us. Now