Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining me on this fourth of july. Im fredricka whitfield. We begin this Independence Day with another huge spike in the number of coronavirus cases. Today, florida reported its highest case count to date. More than 11,000 new infections in a single day. That number far surpass anything other state right now. And despite that, many beaches there remain open this holiday weekend. In texas, icu beds in at least two counties are reaching capacity. At least two severely ill patients were forced to be flown to other cities. New cases are surging across the country once again topping 50,000 for the Third Straight day. Its a trend thats been growing in recent weeks. And right now, 37 states are reporting an increase in infections, but in the midst of the climbing case count, President Trump held a campaignstyle rally last night in the shadow of mt. Rushmore where there was no social distancing being enforced and not many people were Wearing Masks. Much more on what the president said coming up. Lets start now in florida, however, where new cases have hit a disturbing new level. Cnns Boris Sanchez is in Clearwater Beach. What are you seeing there . Hey, fred. Yeah, families are still pouring into the beach this morning. I should tell you that we spoke with a local yesterday who told us that what he had seen on the beach, there were fewer numbers of people coming this holiday weekend. He believed that a lot of that had to do with visitors to the Sunshine State coming in fewer numbers this holiday weekend. In part because of coronavirus. But the numbers are alarming. In the first three days of july, the Sunshine State seeing more than 30,000 new coronavirus cases. They had 100,000 for the entire month of june. And as were watching this spike in cases, were also watching folks here on the beaches of clearwater where there are no real restrictions as to accessing the beach. They are asking folks here to stay six feet apart if they dont live in the same household, to not congregate in groups of more than ten people. The enforcement around that is still an open question because weve seen groups of more than ten people coming to the beach. The attitude from people that ive spoken to here, there is a confidence that they are taking enough precautions to keep away from the risk of coronavirus. One woman i spoke to names kathy moved to florida from alabama in the middle of this pandemic. She says that she is taking precautions but she had an interesting disposition. She believes at some point shes likely going to catch coronavirus so she wants to at least have a good time while all of this is happening. Listen to more from kathy. I just think that we all should wear a mask and protect ourselves as best we can and keep the social distancing going on and, you know, thats if were going to get it, were going to get it. Im happy to be here. I really am. I know the numbers are going up, and i hope it drops, but it doesnt seem like it is. So why stop enjoying life . The big concern, obviously, fred, is weeks from now when we will likely see a surge in cases similar to what we saw after memorial day weekend when folks were ignoring the social distancing guidelines and we saw a spike in cases across the nation. The leadership in florida, Governor Ron Desantis leaving it up to local authorities. Here Clearwater Beach is open. On the southeast part of the state miamidade, broward, palm beach, all those beaches are closed this holiday weekend. Boris sanchez, thanks so much. On to arizona now. The number of new reported coronavirus cases also continues to climb. Hospitals are also getting dangerously close to capacity as the number of people requiring treatment soars. Cnns evan mcmorrissantoro joins me from scottsdale, arizona. Perhaps weve given you enough time for the town to open, people are milling about. And what are they telling you . Lets start with the situation here because here in arizona, it really is very dire when it comes to this pandemic that has been surging in this state for days now. We just have some new numbers that came in just recently. 2,700 new cases reported yesterday. Just about that number here in arizona. And that icu bed number has been hovering around 90 full capacity for the past several days. That came again in today. That means only 171 icu beds left in arizona for people who might need them as this pandemic surges. Now right now, im in old town scottsdale which is sort of a tourist area that is sort of made to look like or perhaps is an old western town but, today, this morning, its kind of a ghost town to be honest. There arent that many people right now. People are still sort of maybe staying inside, maybe not coming out yet. But i want to give you a picture of what things look like in arizona right now which is that this is an area where theres a lot of restaurants, a lot of shopping. And in arizona, despite the fact there have been some new restrictions put into place by the governor in terms of things like trying to close gyms, movie theaters, urge people not to congregate in big groups this weekend, restaurants are still open for inperson dining. Here in old town, one of the stores you went in, we spoke with a store owner, shes required to have everybody who comes in wear a mask. But other than that, she is still open for business. She can come in and walk around. Arizona is trying to deal with keeping businesses open while also trying to impose some new restrictions. And thats really the story here, fred. Right. Or maybe, evan, people are staying away from where you are because they are alarmed at those numbers, you know, at the arizona hospitals that many of them are nearing capacity. So how about if we talk about this worlds oldest rodeo. There are plans for the show to still go on this weekend . Thats right. This is another story of the organized resistance to these new measures. Governor doug ducey last week, after keeping the state mostly open said, look, im going to close some of this stuff down. I want people to not congregate in big groups but im going to leave the decision of how to do that, and if to do that, to local municipalities. Yesterday i was in prescott, about 100 miles here from the phoenix scottsdale area. They have this thing every year called the worlds oldest rodeo. It culminates this weekend. They ran it anyway. We tried to bring our cameras in. They didnt allow cnn in. Were going to abide by whatever rules we can but you guys cant come in and cant talk to us about it. You can see some of the footage we were able to obtain that people inside that rodeo were sitting in grandstands and not Wearing Masks from what we could see. Now part of that resistance factor here is that they made everybody who showed up to that rodeo sign one of these waivers that weve seen like from the president at his events and other things saying i acknowledge that theres a pandemic and i am assuming the risk of attending. And thats what they had to do to keep that rodeo open, which they did decide to do, fred. So that tape was provided by the rodeo. That was fresh tape, not necessarily file tape . Thats tape from last nights rodeo and from a broadcast of it, yes. Okay. All right. Evan mcmorrissantoro, thank you so much. Now lets go to alabama where just yesterday the state recorded its highest number of new cases in a single day since the start of the pandemic. Right now alabama has more than 42,000 confirmed cases and over 1,000 deaths. Joining me right now, dr. Michael sagg, the associate dean for Global Health and professor of medicine at the university of alabama, birmingham. Doctor, good to see you again. Good to see you, fred. When you see these numbers, how concerned are you . Im very concerned. Were getting an f, all of us. The country. Still . You did say that last weekend when i asked you to give a grade. You said an f. Even now, after the vipce president , the Surgeon General and mitch mcconnell, all of them imploring, do wear a mask. Its the smartest thing to do. That hasnt changed your National Response grade . Well, its a step in the right direction. Were trying to make the correction. So lets say its our First Quarter exam and weve gotten an f and through well buckle down and start studying better. You saw the rodeo report. Thats not good. People crowding into mt. Rushmore. Thats not good. We need to be in this together. And right now, what it feels like is that the grassroots of america is leading the leadership, if you will. So those who are older, those who are thinking about their health first are staying at home. Theyre going out in masks. Theyre very careful. There was a story in the Washington Post just a day or two ago where some top epidemiologists were evaluated or gave their opinion about what we should do. The remarkable thing about it, fred, is everybody is saying the same thing. Wear a mask. Keep distance. Stay at home when you can. If everyone starts to embrace that, i think then we have a chance to get a better grade in the next quarters exam. It is really going back to the basics. Just reiterating the basics of protection because even though all of us globally have learned a little more about the pandemic, trying to keep one another safe still goes back to the basic principle things that you and so many have implored. Washing your hands, wear a mask, keep your social distancing. What do you say to the folks, young people particularly, in your neighboring city of tuscaloosa who are throwing covid parties saying they almost want to catch the coronavirus. Yeah, its a scary thing and, you know, i was young, too, at one point, and i kind of understand theres pranks that are done and different types of games. This is a deadly game. Truly deadly. And even young people can get infected and end up in the icu. Its not does that underscore the mistake from the very beginning . The messaging about what we, you know, human beings, know about this pandemic is that young people are less at risk. Was it a mistake to ever say that at such early stages of this pandemic that it was the older, you know, folks over 50 who were most at risk and now fast forward a few months, were all discovering young people are not necessarily immune. They, too, are at risk. Perhaps its the degrees of risk are different. Thats exactly right. I dont know that anybody said there was no risk for young people, but the emphasis was on the older folks. But at this point in time, i think the general public is mostly now brought up to speed on epidemiology. They could all probably pass the epidemiology 101 course on crowds and safe distancing. Heres the tough news. This virus, in my opinion, is going to be with us for at least a year or more. At least a year or more. And so weve got to create a new normal where we protect ourselves and our communities and so far were not doing so well. But hopefully in the next couple of months well do better. Okay. Were going to check back with you and see what kind of grade this nation is getting from your point of view. Dr. Michael sagg, thank you. Thank you. It is a fourth of july unlike any other. An evening of fireworks, however, and an allstar musical lineup. That could be familiar. Join cnn tonight with jewel, barry manilow, cece winans, don mclean and many others. Don lemon and dana bash host cnns fourth of july in america. Live tonight starting at 8 00 eastern. Coming up President Trump marked the beginning of the fourth of july weekend by stoking the culture wars and remaining largely silent on the pandemic that is intensifying across many states. Plus, after recovering from a deadly tornado this year and now fighting the pandemic, the people in one Tennessee Town are marking the holiday by honoring others. birds singing bouncy keyboard music [announcer] food delivery just got more rewarding. package crashing into ground now that gruhhub gives you rewards when you order. dog barking did you order tacos again . device beeping boom, rewarded with a perk like 5. 00 off. Ordering dinner for the family . Voila rewarded with free delivery and a side of quiet. Grubhub gives you rewards for rewarding yourself, with food. doorbell ringing [crowd] grubhub scooter horn beeping new fixodent ultra dual power provides you with an unbeatable hold and strong seal against food infiltrations. Fixodent. And forget it. With air wick essential mist. Nature. With kits starting at just ten dollars you can transform natural essential oils into mist at a price that is just right. Leading armies to battle . , was that your greataunt, keeping armies alive . Drafting the plans. Taking the pictures. Was it your family members . Who flew. Who fixed. Who fought. Who rose to the occasion. When the world needed them most. Find and honor your ancestors who servered in world war ii. Their stories live on at ancestry. President trump will take part in a fourth of july event at the white house later on today. This after delivering a divisive speech during an Independence Day celebration at mt. Rushmore last night. Instead of delivering an inspirational message of unity, as the nation battles a growing pandemic, the president chose to make an impassioned culture war speech before a large crowd. That was packed in there with no social distancing being enforced. And very few masks were being worn. The president railed against the removal of statues and monuments that some believe are symbols of racial oppression and made a completely unsubstantiated claim about u. S. Schools. Our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values and indoctrinate our children. Our children are taught in school to hate their own country and to believe that the men and women who built it were not heroes but that were villains. Sarah westwood is at the white house for us. The president seems to be doubling down on this culture war rhetoric. Will there be more of this . Well, fred, clearly the president believes its advantageous for him to come down on this side of the culture war. Thats the type of speech we saw him give last night. He offered his most forceful defense of the preservation of monuments yet saying that images of americas founders will never be removed from mt. Rushmore or from anywhere else. But that speech was about so much more than statues. The president was also taking aim at the social Justice Movement in general. He argued that his opponents have tried to use that as a tool to silence dissidents. And the president also took aim at the culture. Its led to some statues already being toppled or vandalized. Our people have a great memory. They will never forget the destruction of statues and monuments to george washington, abraham lincoln, ulysses s. Grant, abolitionists and many others. The violent mayhem we have seen in the streets and cities that are run by liberal democrats in every case is the predictable result of years of extreme indoctrination and bias in education, journalism and other cultural institutions. The president is at the white house for whats expected to be a quieter day today. He gives remarks later this evening and watches the fireworks near d. C. From the white house balcony. We should note even though this public celebration of Independence Day is something that the president encouraged, city officials did not want this to happen because of the risk of spreading the virus, fred. Except the governor was all for it. Sarah, there was no social distancing at mt. Rushmore. While there may have been a handing out of masks, there was no encouragement to really do so. How is it y is , why is it that white house doesnt think this is filled with risks . There are inherent risks to the event we saw take place last night. The governor said that there would not be social distancing at that event. People were not standing six feet apart. Many of them did not wear masks. And that hit pretty close to home. Kimberly guilfoyle, the girlfriend of the president s son, tested positive for coronavirus as the president was heading to south dakota last night. Remember that everyone who comes into contact with the president has to be tested for covid so her diagnosis was made during that screening process. Shes asymptomatic and selfisolating, sources tell cnn, and luckily donald trump jr. Did not test positive for the virus, fred. Thank you, sarah westwood. Joining me to discuss, tara setmeyer, a former gop communication director on capitol hill and a cnn political commentator. Good to see you. Happy fourth. Weve got our red, white and blue on here all the way around. So let me start with that event at mt. Rushmore. No social distancing at a time when coronavirus cases are surging to record levels across the country. The president , first lady showing up, no masks. And a member of their inner circle testing positive for covid19. So what is the message the president is gaining here . And was this an intentional portion of the message he wants to send . Well, its clear that the message is the president doesnt give a damn about the health of the United States of america. He has gone out there and been intransigent when it comes to setting an example of Wearing Masks, which has been the unequivocal direction of medical experts, including his own government, including now his own Vice President , members of the Republican Party have finally come around and are pushing that we need to wear masks. There are hundreds 125,000plus dead americans now in this country. Deaths that could have been avoidable if we had leadership from the top, from the very beginning so that people understood the risks of not being wearing a mask and not socially distancing. I spent a coup ele of days down the shore in new jersey. There was no social distancing on the boardwalks, at the outdoor restaurants. There were outdoor restaurants th that had trump signs proudly displayed in their parking lot as a sign somehow of a political statement that wear a mask, not wearing a mask, they are proud of this. So you see a direct correlation yes. Absolutely. You see a direct correlation. Absolutely. So then whats behind the president really digging in on whether its dont wear a mask, even though he said in a fox interview that hes worn one and looks like the lone ranger. Hes okay with it. But hes digging in on the fear mongering, this divisive factually Incorrect Information that we saw on display at mt. Rushmore. And, re