88 days left to the election. Happy friday, christine. It is friday. A lot to get to this morning before we move onto the weekend. Coronavirus our top story, of course, forcing life or death choices across the country, but for 160,000 americans its too late and the situation in the u. S. Wont improve until at least september. The cdc projects 181,000 americans will die by august 29th. Thats still 1,000 people a day until then. More than 1200 died yesterday. Now a separate influential model used by the white house projects the death rate gets even worse. Nearly 300,000 almost double the current total could die by december 1st, but this model also shows if nearly everyone wore a mask, 95 of americans wore a mask, 66,000 lives would be spared. Easy comparison. Kentucky mandated masks last month. Deaths are down. Tennessee has no mask requirement. Deaths are up. If every individual is wearing a mask is putting the brakes on transmission by 40 , that starts to add up. Thats why as we push the forecasts out to december, theres a huge benefit in mask wearing. They loosen mask guidelines. Why . The fda says there is a shortage of personal protective equipment even though the white house has said for months that supplies are adequate. Do you remember this exchange . I think its sporadic. I talked to my colleagues around the country. Certainly there are pockets of areas where ppe is not ideal, but this is an unprecedented time. Sporadic for you but not sporadic for a lot of other people. Oh, no, i agree, mr. President. Ive heard the opposite. Ive heard they are loaded up with gowns now. Body language there. Another big surprise overnight in ohio. Hours after announcing a positive test, Governor Mike Dewine tested negative for coronavirus in the evening. The first test was a rapid antigen test. Remember, eight states have entered a pact to purchase antigen tests. The rate of positive tests going up in 33 states. Thats considered a reliable early indicator. Positive tests proceeding a surge in cases and obviously hospitalizations and deaths. Higher positivity is an especially big problem because the pandemic is spewing young, young people who tend to be asymptomatic and they spread the virus without realizing it. In georgia one student posted this photo of a very crowded hallway in her school and she paid homage to the late congressman john lewis and she explained why she did it. I was concerned for the safety of everyone in that building and everyone in the county. Like to say this is some good and necessary trouble so i dont regret doing this because it needed to be said. Suspended for taking that picture and showing the world how the conditions were in the hallway. In that same spirit, dozens of georgia teachers gathered outside the school and honking horns in protest. 263 guinette staff tested positive or are in quarantine. The state of pennsylvania is postponing youth sports until january. Governor ron desantis is pushing for the return of school sports. He would not shut down a Schools Program even if athletes test positive for covid. Democrats saying dont rush reopening. Now is not the time for another premature victory lap. Breaking overnight, President Trump escalating his battle with beijing with an executive order banning tiktok from operating in the u. S. If its not sold. Critics of the popular app say its possible user data could wind up in the hands of a chinese country. Theyre saying National Security is an excuse to crush business. Microsoft has been in talks to purchase the app. The president accuses tiktok of spreading false claims. Something the president knows about since he does it almost every day. The ban includes wechat and the Parent Company tencent. Tencent invests in a lot of u. S. Tech companies, including fortnite. Shares are down here. Economists expect they need 10 1 2 . Thats a slowdown from june. Theres real worry that rising coronavirus cases across the country will lead to a second wave of job losses. Another nearly 1. 2 million americans filed for firsttime Unemployment Benefits last week. Meanwhile, stimulus talks are on collapse as they trade blame and get no closer to a deal. More than 25 Million People lost 600 a week in extra jobless benefits. That means a cut of up to 86 in their weekly payments. 23 million renters are at risk of eviction. President trump said he would take executive action today on a payroll tax cut, eviction protection and an unemployment extension. Not clear if thats legal. Senate finance chairman Chuck Grassley said he doubts if the president is serious about taking that action. Cnn predicting bill hayiggey is the winner. He will be favored to beat whichever democrat he is expected to face. One other critical decision in tennessee. The state Supreme Court vacating a ruling that would have allowed all registered voters in the state to vote absentee in 2020 of a state currently requires an excuse to vote absentee. Seven minutes past the hour. The streets of beirut filled with rage about cleanup. Cnn is live there next. 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. An army family who is always at the ready. So when they got a little surprise. Two . They didnt panic. They got a bigger car for their soontobebigger family. After shopping around for insurance, they called usaa who helped find the right coverage for them and even some muchneeded savings. That was the easy part. Usaa insurance is made the way liz and mike need it easy. Usaa insurance is made the way liz and mike need it as business moves forward, were all changing the way things get done. Like how we redefine collaboration. How we come up with new ways to serve our customers. And deliver our products. But no matter how things change, one thing never will. You can rely on the people and the network of at t. To help keep your business connected. I want food. Wow. That woman and her husband are lucky to be alive. The glass and debris from tuesdays explosion in beirut injured them both. They now lay in a local hospital room together recovering after surgeries. They are among the thousands across beirut injured in that crash facing a long and uncertain road. Cnns arwa damon live with the very latest. Good morning, arwa. Reporter good morning, there are survivors as this country continues to figure out just how it is going to recover from this. Could there be anyone left alive . Its a hope dozens of family members of the missing cling to. Knowing that its unlikely but not wanting to accept that their loved one could be gone. Others are laid to rest. Utterly shattered in lebanons capital city. Those who survived are trying to pick up the pieces. Glass and debris crunch below the feet of an army of volunteers stepping in where the government is not. Attempting to clear the rubble of billions of dollars of damage. They urge each other on, but for others its all just too much. The intensity of the emotional roller coaster that is being lebanese has left them hollow shells. What should we feel, asked one resident . You cant feel anything in lebanon. Theres nothing to feel sad about anymore, he says. As the cleanup continues, a rage grows across the country at how a new disaster could happen. Still, without any clear explanation or apology. As french president Emmanuel Macron toured the wreckage, the first foreign leader to step foot here, he was surrounded by hundreds of lebanese calling for revolution urging him, begging him do something. He vowed that france would stand with the lebanese people but cautioned its leaders. Translator the requirement of a friend in times of need is to rush to the scene when times are hard but not to hand out blank checks to a system not trusted by the people. Reporter from outside and inside the country, demands for answers grow louder as calls emerge for an independent probe into the explosion. This is not just about accountability or how the country is going to rebuild emotionally and physically. Its about how its going to find its soul. And, christine, as lebanon tries to recover from this and move forwa forward, one of the many challenges facing it are going to be exactly how the people do try to come together in the aftermath of all of this. There is a lot right now that is in the hands of the lebanese government and this countrys political elite against whom rage has been increasing well before this actual explosion. They said they did detain 16 employees of the port yesterday. There are growing calls for an International Investigation because at the end of the day the lebanese government is going to have to investigate itself and investigate its predecessors. Certainly a national tragedy. Arwa damon, thank you so much for bringing that to us. Boris . The commission on president ial debates is pushing back against the Trumps Campaign for a fourth debate this fall. The campaign has officially agreed to three faceoffs but is pushing biden to agree to add or move one debate before early voting begins in North Carolina on september 4th. They say increased early and mailin voting are fwroupds and they did say they would consider a change if both sides requested it. Big tech facing scrutiny. President trump made false claims against coronavirus and child immunity. It turned out the dnc was temporarily unable to post from the war room after trying to call out the president. Twitters systems unable to tell the information between misinformation and someone calling out that misinformation and a bug in the algorithm for facebook owned instagram systematically shielded President Trump from negative hashtags but didnt do the same for joe biden. Both issues highlight inconsistent rules ahead of the november election. If the abridged baseball season is any indication the football season could be a problem, and dozens of players now say its not worth taking the field. They are opting out. Well explain in the Bleacher Report next. We could never do what they do. But what we can do it be a partner that never quits. Verizon is the most Reliable Network in america. Built for interoperability and puts First Responders first, giving their calls priority, 24 7. We do what we do best so they can too. The freestyle libre 14 managday system. Etes can be hard. A continuous glucose monitor. Makes it easy. Easy to check your glucose without fingersticks, and easy to share your data with your doctor. And for those who qualify, the freestyle libre 14 day system, is also covered by medicare. Ask your doctor for a prescription. You can do it without fingersticks. Learn more at freestylelibre. Us but what if you could startdo better than that . Like adapt. Discover. Deliver. In new ways. To new customers. What if you could come back stronger . Faster. Better. At comcast business, we want to help you not just bounce back. But bounce forward. And now, were committed to helping you do just that with a powerful and reliable internet and voice solution at a great price. Call or go online today. Nearly 70 nfl players opting out of the upcoming football season over concerns about covid19. Andy scholls has more in this mornings Bleacher Report. Good morning, andy. No major stars opting out, but a lot of key players. Some teams affected more than others. Yeah, thats very true, boris. We didnt see the big name quarterbacks or anyone like that opting out. All players had until yesterday afternoon to make the decision. A spokesperson saying of the more than 2800 players, 66 of them have chose to opt out of this upcoming season. The majority of them linemen. 20 on offense, 11 on defense. New England Patriots had the most players opt out with eight. Only three teams had no one opting out of this season, steelers, falcons, chargers. Players considered high risk will be paid 350,000 stipend and players without risk receive 150,000 for an advance against future salaries for a season set to kick off thursday, september 10th. Packers fans wont be allowed at least for the first two games at lambeau field. Team officials still say theyre helpful they cant go. The Penn State Team will not allow any fans at the football games. They did leave it open later if things improve. Penn state has the second biggest stadium in the country with capacity of over 106,000. Pennsylvania currently limits capacity to 250 people for Outdoor Events right now. Major League Baseball announcing changes to its schedule after many games postponed because of covid19 outbreak. Marlins, phillies, cardinals have multiple series to make up. Major League Baseball is adding 14 double headers involving ten teams. The double headers now seven inning games. In the meantime, braves outfielder reversed his decision to opt out. He had a walk off home run. You cant mob them, you have to dance around and socially distance to celebrate a walk off home run. Tiger woods had his best first round at a majors since 2012. Tigers short game saved him at one point making three birdies in four holes. Two under three off the lead held by jason day and brendan todd. Bryson dechambeau is so strong he broke his driver. After hissing his shot on the seventh, he graebd over and his driver head snapped right off. Hes bulked up. 40 pounds after he started on the tour. He bulked up 20 pounds during the shutdown. You know, me, im in the moment trying to hit the shot and, you know, definitely the ball did not react proper. I hit it out to the right. Felt like i drew it and the ball went to the right and spun up. Thats not normal. And so it was surprising. I went over to pick up my tee and leaned a little on it and the thing, see ya later. Dechambeau was allowed to replace his club, christine. Youve got Brooks Koepka trying to win as well. Hes in contention. Basketball, baseball, golf on this weekend. Sports is back, christine. All right. All right. It sure is. Thanks, andy. Andy scholls. Sports is back, but millions of americans are now working several jobs in the new gig economy. This week we look at how it works, how it doesnt in the united shades of america sunday night at 10. An army family who is always at the ready. So when they got a little surprise. Two . They didnt panic. They got a bigger car for their soontobebigger family. After shopping around for insurance, they called usaa who helped find the right coverage for them and even some muchneeded savings. That was the easy part. Usaa insurance is made the way liz and mike need it easy. Usaa insurance is made the way liz and mike need it that gives me cash back onesome new aeverything. Akuten thats ebates. I get cash back on electronics, travel, clothes. Youre talking about ebates. I cant stop talking about rakuten. Pretty good deal peter sfx [blender] ebates is now rakuten, sign up today. Cmon pizzas here. Whoa is that shaq . This is my new pizza the shaqaroni and its bigger than pizza because for every shaqaroni sold, 1 is donated to the Papa Johns Foundation for building community. 1 is donated to the Papa Johns Foundation infallible up to 24hr demand morfresh wear. Wear. By loreal paris. Excellent coverage with no weigh down. A breathable formula for fresh skin hour after hour. Defies transfer, no excess. Infallible up to 24hr fresh wear. By loreal paris. 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 now and never go to the post office again the number of dead americans could double by december. The only way to prevent it, wear a mask. Breaking overnight, the ban on two chinese apps. The consequences could go further than you think. Good morning, this is early start. Im christine romans. Im poor ris sanchez in for laura jarrett. Just past half the hour. Sounds like were seeing breaking news. Widespread Power Outages in new york city. This is the view from our building looking north to harlem. This time of morning, boris, that should be lit up with lights. So we are following these reports of widespread Power Outages in new york city. Well get that to you as soon as we have confirmation and more details. But at 30 minutes past the hour. Top story, 160,000 americans now dead of coronavirus. The situation wont improve any time soon. The cdc projects 181,000 americans will die by august 29th. Thats still 1,000 people a day. More than 1200. 1200 people died yesterday of coronavirus. A separate influential model proves the death rate gets worse. Nearly 300,000 could die by december 1st but the same model also shows if nearly everyone wore a mask 95 of the population, 66,000 lives would be spared. Easy comparison here. Kentucky mandated masks last month. Deaths are down. Tennessee has no mask requirement, deaths are up. Wearing that facial covering. Wearing that mask is truly helping kentucky in so many different ways. Our people, our economy, our kids so lets keep it up. Overnight a surprise from the fda. Loosened mask guidelines making it easier for companies to obtain them. Why . The fda says there is a shortage of personal protective equipment even though the white house has said for months that supplies are adequate. Remember this exchange back in may . I think its sporadic. I talked to my colleagues around the country. There are pockets where ppe is not ideal. Sporadic for you but not sporadic for a lot of people. Oh, no, i agree, mr. President. Ive heard the opposite. Ive heard they are loaded up with gowns now. All right. Another big surprise overnight in ohio. Hours after announcing a positive test, Governor Mike Dewine then said he tested negative for coronavirus last night. Now the first test before a planned meeting with the president was a rapid antigen test. Remember, eight states have entered a pact to purchase antigen tests. Testing declined in 29 states this week. The covid tracking project said the drop is much more widespread. Higher positivity is an especially big problem because the pandem