This is cnn tonight, i am don lemon. It is 11 00 p. M. On the east coast. A tragic milestone. This country reaching a Record Number of new coronavirus cases in a single day. 37,077 new cases reported. The three most populous states, california, florida, texas now setting records for new coronavirus cases on a daily basis. Florida reporting more than 5,000 cases today for a second day in a row. Texas reporting 6,000 cases today. The highest number reported in a single day. The governor of texas putting the brakes on any new phases of reopening in his state. One medical expert in texas warning the states biggest cities could see what he calls apocalyptic surges in cases and President Trump in deep denial about the spike in the pandemic leaving a serious void in the national leadership. A source saying he will never change when it comes to wearing a mask. He doesnt like the image and wont admit he is wrong. Yet this virus is killing americans every single day. I should say more and more americans now every single day. Lets discuss now with folks that can tell me if i am write about that. The director of cardiac program at George Washington university hospital. Gentlemen, good evening to both. John, 31 states now seeing a rise in new coronavirus cases. The cdc thinks there may be ten times as many cases as reported. But here is what the president was focused on for an hour of propaganda on fox news tonight. You cant flip. Chicago is an example. It is worse than afghanistan. You say is that a racist statement. It is not racist. Frankly black people come up to me and say thank you. Thank you sir for saying it. They want to help. The cities, it is like living in hell. It is very controversial to say stop and frisk. Stop and frisk. Rudy giuliani started stop and frisk and it was a great thing he did for new york. The president is downplaying the pandemic as some kids with snivels and rambling about race and black people thanking him and on and on. I would like to know who the black people are. Why . Why is he doing this . The president is fixated on two distinct ideas. One, that he had a Strong Economy that was going to surf to reelection until he was hit out of the blue by this pandemic. He didnt build the greatest economy in the world as he said but he is fixated on that. He is trying to get back to that by in essence wishing the pandemic away and try to avoid focus on it and shift back to the economy. The second thing he is fixated on is the idea that racial conflict works for him. It worked for him in 2016 to get the republican nomination and the presidency. He is beating that drum. Trying to alarm white voters about black and brown people in the United States. The problem that he has is the polls show it is not working in particular among whites. He carried whites against Hillary Clinton in 2016. In the polling the gap narrowed substantially in the direction of joe biden. Hes got big problems. Doctor, i want you to listen to the white house economic advisor. What he had to say about the pandemic earlier today. The growth rate is only up a little bit. We are going to have hot spots, no doubt about that. We have now texas and parts of the south, the carolinas, arizona. We just have to live with that. I think that is part of the story of the declining impact of the virus but it does linger and pop up. We are going to see these things. The economy will not be closed down again. There may be certain places that it is. That is up to the local authorities. That was doctor sorry. Not a doctor. Trump says a few members. Kudlow says a few hot spots. You have a medical degree unlike both of them. Are they wrong . Yeah. Dont listen to dr. Kudlow. Calling texas for instance a hot spot is like calling the sun a hot spot. Yeah. I would say its hot. The pandemic is roaring in texas and arizona and florida. In fact if you look at the number of cases in the three states, a third of the new cases in the United States coming out of those three places. It is a giant problem. And i think that we have already seen Governor Abbott pause the opening, the further opening of texas. But as some of the earlier guests this evening have stated i think you are going to see places like texas having to close. There is a real risk in places like houston of hospitals being overrun. Capacity being totally exceeded. I think that we may quickly get to a point where parts of texas are going to have to shut down. That would be the responsible thing to do. I am hoping that the leadership in the states has the political courage to do that. They wont have the backing in washington. It has to come from the state houses. We have to have the courage to shut down places where the virus is out of control. There is no other way to do it. It is not up to kudlow or the president to shut states or cities town. I was shocked when he said the economy is not going to shut down again. But that is not up to dr. Kudlow. We are told the white house that the Coronavirus Task force briefing will return tomorrow. The most important question for the countrys top medical officials. I want to know from dr. Birx and fauci how they what their threshhold is for shutting either a municipality or a state down. What their goals are for increasing testing. The president seems to think testing is overrated. Many others think we need multiple of what we are doing now. We are doing about 500,000 tests a day. Some places think we need to do 5 million tests a day. I would like to know what birx and fauci think about that. We are not close to the end of the first wave. I am worried about the second wave this fall and i want to know what ppe we have in the national stockpile. We still are using n95 masks as are most places around the country. I want to know what stockpiles we built. I dont think we built many. They are hard to find. There are so many questions. Really quickly, john. Is this any indication they have to take it seriously, that the Coronavirus Task force will have a briefing tomorrow. Its been quite a while. They cant avoid it. The numbers are too high. The potential that hospitalizations and deaths are going to skyrocket and overwhelm the Hospital Capacity in those sunbelt states is impossible to avoid and you see it in the reaction from the republican governors of texas and arizona. They are alarmed and the administration is responding. Thank you both very much. Appreciate it. Now i want to get to the latest on the rise in cases all across the country. Reporter in the nations three most populous states, california, florida, texas, things are going from bad to worse. I think history will look back upon the United States and americans going down this road. Reporter Los Angeles County has more confirmed cases than any county in the country. We are still in the first wave of this pandemic. Texas pausings it reopening to corral the spread of covid19 and restricting elective surgeries in four counties. Texas Medical Center using nearly alls it icu beds in the greater houston area. Hospitals are a concern in florida which added more than 5,000 new cases. Governor desantis resisting calls for a state wide mask mandate. It is incredibly unfortunate that this is so political. Hardhit miami where masks are required the mayor is considering a fine for anyone ignoring the order. If you dont want to go backwards the only option we have is to order masks in public. Cdc confirming more young people are contracting the virus. In ohio cases have jumped in the last 24 hours. 60 of the states cases are people between the ages of 20 to 49. We have increased testing. But no analyst i talked to believes that the total increase will be to that at all. Hospitalizations and icu admissions are also up, especially in the cincinnati area. Across the country for every person diagnosed, ten more were likely infected. As many as 20 Million People according to new findings from the cdc. It is about ten times more people have antibodies. There is new concern for pregnant women. The cdc reports they may be at higher risk for severe covid19 symptoms, especially black and hispanic women. Disneylands reopening delayed. California said they have not met the criteria. Apple closing more stores in florida because of the virus and while in new york city plans are underway for a phase 3, bringing back indoor dining, sports and dog runs on july 5th. Erica hill, cnn, new york. Erica, thank you very much. With the country seeing a Record Number of coronavirus cases in a single day fox news is pushings it denial campaign. We will have the facts next. These folks, they dont have time to go to the post office they have businesses to grow customers to care for lives to get home to they use stamps. Com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the Amazing Services of the post office only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps. Com tv and never go to the post office again fox news pushing misinformation and conspiracy theories about the coronavirus pandemic, and the Washington Post reports three new studies show how conservative media has discouraged audiences from taking steps to protect themselves and others. Is their coverage costing lives . Reporter i dont like any of the headgear situation people are wearing. Reporter covering your face for the common good. On fox news that clashes with a misguided notion of individual rights. I would rather roll the dice. Reporter foxs coverage matters because President Trump consumes it night and day. There is not a lot of evidence masks would help. Reporter foxs talk shows feature contrarians and laugh at the people that do take the dangers seriously. Ahead of the president s rally in tulsa they predicted the media would criticize trump fans. They will keep panning the crowds. Pointing people out on tv. They dont have masks on. Trump supporters, embrace it and love it. After the rally. You noticed a lot of the people not Wearing Masks. Everyone there was having so much fun. So much fun. So little concern in right wing media about the consequences. Mostly they dont talk about the virus much at all. They have moved on. Sleepy joe campaign, obamagate. Granted some guests drag the conversation back to reality. President the president and Many Republican governors are not encouraging people to wear mask there is a paradox where it is hurting the economy. Common sense steps like face coverings which are a mustwear at fox news headquarters, a recent memo reminded a mask in all shared work space. They are not a political philosophy. Dr. Oz with a simple message on thursday. Masks are about being kind. Hopefully the president was watching. And knowing anything about the president he was watching and hears the rhetoric from fox. Fox just does not talk about the virus as much as it focuses on other stories like deep state scandals and as a result people come away ill informed. So called. Yeah. Is there any way to describe that so called fox news town hall we saw tonight besides an hour of propaganda . Any other way to describe it . An hour of poor propaganda. Back and forth. Talking points from one person to the other. No real value. An audience of 50 people socially distanced, temperatures checked ahead of time and Wearing Masks in the audience. The president could have addressed the pandemic head on and talked about the importance of taking safety precautions. He focused on his own anger and bitterness and resentments and hannity reflects that back to him. You mentioned a number of new studies showing the effect of conservative media downplaying of the virus on millions of people. The rhetoric can actually affect peoples lives. This is a quote from one of the people studying this. We are receiving an incredible number of studies and solid data showing that consuming farright media and social media content was strongly associated with low concern about the virus at the onset of the pandemic in february and march. The same thing is true now as we are in the throws of the ongoing crisis. When you are not hearing valuable productive information from government leaders and from media leaders like sean hannity, people end up in a very troubling and even dangerous situation. I would consider this a Public Service announcement more than a criticism of fox news. Because people are dying. Thanks very much. The cases are going up. Appreciate it. Many professional athletes grappling with two crises, right. The coronavirus and racism in america. Is now the time for the return of sports . Look who is here. Man, i cant wait to talk to bob costas. He is going to weigh in next. Ut® rapid wrinkle repair®. Weve got the retinol that gives you results in one week. Not just any retinol. Accelerated retinol sa. For not only smoother skin in one day, but youngerlooking skin in just one week. And thats clinically proven. Results that fast or your money back. Unless youre attached to your wrinkles. One week is all it takes. Neutrogena®. And my side super soft . One week is all it takes. Yes, with the sleep number 360 smart bed, on sale now, you can both adjust your comfort with your sleep number setting. Come on pup, time to go. Can it help me fall asleep faster . Yes, by gently warming your feet but can it help keep me asleep . Absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. So you can really promise better sleep . Not promise. Prove. And now, during the lowest prices of the season, the queen sleep number 360 c4 smart bed is only 1,299, save 400. Only for a limited time. To learn more, go to sleepnumber. Com. Im a talking dog. The other issue. Oh. Im scratching like crazy. Youve got some allergic itch with skin inflammation. Apoquel can work on that itch in as little as 4 hours, whether its a new or chronic problem. And apoquels treated over 8 million dogs. Nice. And. The talking dog thing . Is it bothering you . No. Itching like a dog is bothering me. Until dogs can speak for themselves, you have to. When allergic itch is a problem, ask for apoquel. Apoquel is for the control of itch associated with allergic dermatitis and the control of Atopic Dermatitis in dogs. Do not use apoquel in dogs less than 12 months old or those with serious infections. Apoquel may increase the chance of developing serious infections and may cause existing parasitic skin infestations or preexisting cancers to worsen. Do not use in breeding, pregnant, or lactating dogs. Most common side effects are vomiting and diarrhea. Feeling better . Im speechless. Thanks for the apoquel. Aw. Thats what friends are for. Ask your veterinarian for apoquel next to you, apoquel is a dogs best friend. Neuriva has clinically proven oingredients that fuel five, indicators of brain performanc memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. Try our new gummies for 30 days and see the difference. Hey allergy muddlers. Achoo . Do your sneezes turn heads . Try zyrtec. It starts working hard at hour one. And works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. Zyrtec muddle no more. This virus is testing all of us. And its testing the people on the front lines of this fight most of all. So abbott is getting new tests into their hands, delivering the critical results they need. And until this fight is over, we. Will. Never. Quit. Because they never quit. So with the Coronavirus Crisis hitting sports leagues around the country as they try to begin or resume their seasons. More athletes are testing positive for the virus and athletes in the nba are questioning whether now is the time to bring sports back. Lets discuss now. Hall of fame broadcaster, bob costas. So happy you are here. You finally took the opportunity to come on. I know you have been very busy. Lets talk about this, the return of sports. Whatever that would look like would bring back some kind of normalcy, but there are two big issues we have to grapple with right now. The coronavirus and the countrys original sin, racism. What place does sports have in america at this time at this intersection we have between race and health . It would take the race part of it. The idea, i heard some people express it. Former nba player Stephen Jackson who was close to george floyd and looked like brothers or twins. Stephen jackson has expressed his views and so has kyrie irving that now is not the time to return to play because they should be concentrating on the social issues. But even if the present movement is extraordinarily successful the idea that systemic racism will have an end point in the foreseeable future or that all of our problems will be behind us in the foreseeable future does not strike me as logical. We can walk and chew gum at the same time. If nba players return to play or players in any sport they have an even greater platform and more eyes will be on them. I dont buy that argument. However there is a good argument to say even with the best intentions and the best medical expertise brought to bear if you need a 100page protocol and that is what baseball has for instance. If there are so many needles to thread it is reasonable to ask even as we cross our fingers saying i hope they get a 60game season and hope it goes off without a hitch. There are so many yes and where for and so much doubt about how much jeopardy it might place a given player or his family in, that to me is the more pertinent question right now. Is now the time to return and if they do return can they do it successfully amid the coronavirus pandemic. The social issues, if anything would be better highlighted if the players are back doing what they are known for doing. The players now seem to be more empowered than i have seen them in recent times, bob. Lebron james is speaking out about how the nfl handled Colin Kaepernicks protest. As far as the nfl, i am not in those locker rooms or with the guy but i understand apology, i have not heard a true official apology to Colin Kaepernick on what he was going through and trying to tell the nfl and the world about why he was kneeling when he did it as a San Francisco 49er. I think that is still wrong. Now they are listening some. But i still think we have not heard that official apology to a man that bas