Texas republican Governor Greg Abbott basically pleading with people there to wear a mask. Nbcs Morgan Chesky is in dallas for us. Morgan, hospital beds across that state filling up. What are you hearing specifically from hospital workers about the situation there and if theyre prepared for this to get worse . Reporter craig, what were hearing is frankly a lot of frustration. Nearly every major urban area in texas has become a hot spot in its own right, and almost every statistic that should be trending downward at this point in time continues to tick on up. You mentioned those cases in texas. We know here in dallas, 74 of the icu beds are currently occupied. It really depends on what hospital you go to here on how theyre doing resourcewise. We know one of the hardest areas hit in the state is particularly in south texas. I had a chance to speak with a hospital down in edinburg, 25 miles north of the mexican border. Right now they have construction crews building additional beds and wings overnight because they have patients waiting in ambulances with covid out front. Meanwhile, the mayor of houston telling me another shutdown could be a possibility at this point in time if those cases continue to go up. Back here at Parkland Hospital in dallas, they have kept adding floors to their covid unit. Its now five floors deep inside this hospital behind me. The head nurse of this program telling me, craig, that shes concerned that things could get worse before they get better. Take a listen. It is a catastrophic disease, and were seeing it more into a disease where more and more patients coming in sicker. I will never forget that feeling and watching that last heartbeat on a 27yearold man. That should not have had that outcome. There was nothing you could do to stop it. Reporter youre hearing those ages trending younger. Thats one of the things weve been seeing from a group standpoint. Initially we thought covid19 would impact the older population. As the summer months have progressed, weve seen statistics prove that this younger group, 40, 30 and below is also very much at risk of the virus with that 27yearold passing away within the past week here in dallas. Morgan, not to put you on the spot here, but your reporting offers a unique perspective because you are actually a survivor yourself now. You contracted coronavirus several weeks ago. How are you doing . Reporter its an odd feeling, craig. I think that i go back, three, 3 1 2 weeks ago whenever i lost my sense of taste and smell. I scheduled a test as quickly as i could. I was one of the fortunate ones to actually get the results in a timely manner so i could selfisolate. Over the next several weeks i experienced some of those symptoms that weve come to know with covid, but every experience i found has differed when people reamed out to me. I didnt necessarily have a fever, but i had a cough. I had an extreme sense of fatigue. I definitely had what people have described as a mental fog where, easy task, id walk into a room, forget what i was there for. Remembering things became a little tougher. I had a chance to speak with a couple doctors who tell me that that could very well be happening because of inflammation in the brain from the virus either actively being inside it or residual effects that could last from a few weeks to months to potentially even longer. One of the make takeaways i have from this experience, craig, is everyones experience is very different and were learning more about this virus each and every day. I had a doctor yesterday tell me, morgan, the longest anyone can be an expert on this is about seven months because thats the only amount of time weve had to look into this. Its good to be back, but at the same time everything is a little more tiring. But im looking forward to kind of a hopeful recovery. Frankly, its good to be back and chatting with you, craig. That mental fog that you spoke of there, its not apparent through your work. Youre still quite sharp, my friend. Be safe out there. Glad to have you back on the air. Morgan chesky in dallas, texas. I appreciate that. Lets go from texas to florida. Number of coronavirus deaths in florida. That number has hid a new single day record, 132 statewide. Now south florida mayors are sounding the alarm over the escalating crisis directly with Governor Desantis. Nbcs Kerry Sanders is in ft. Lauderdale for us. Hes outside Broward Health medical center. Kerry, walk us through whats happening in that state, in your state, and what do we know about what came out of that meeting between that group of mayors and Governor Desantis . Reporter craig, florida is very much the epicenter. In the epicenter of the state there is the epicenter of south florida. So the numbers have just been released again today for the state positive tests, at 10,085. Thats up from yesterdays 9,200. We see it going up and down. Of course, what everybody wanted to see was the numbers going down. Over the weekend we had a record 15,300. The problem is across the state. But, as i say, the epicenter is really here in south florida. In miamidade, broward and pooech counties where there are more than 120,000 positive cases. The death toll as you noted, single day record of 132. In the backdrop of all of this, the governor who lives in tallahassee, the capital, quite a distance. Came down to south florida and sat around with the mayors in south florida, specifically in Miamidade County to discuss what it is theyre looking for. The miami herald put it well when it said the mayors werent looking for a pep rally. The governor came here saying he thinks there will be football in the fall and high schools for kids. The mayors are saying were not even sure the schools will open. Amid all that backdrop, you have Indian River County discussing whether they should have mandatory mask wearing and the county commissioners decided against requiring mandatory masks. This as the cdc was releasing once again information about masks, telling people that cloth masks like this are the most effective. Listen to what some of those who gathered at the county commission had to say ability wearing a mask ordered by the government. This is the United States and im not willing to give you my freedom and im not going to stand by silently while you decide what is best for my health. Im respectful about wearing a mask, if i go into a place and i feel i should put one on, i do, but i dont feel that it should be mandated where i could be fined for not having one. Believe me, i have been told i am a murderer for not wearing one. Reporter Indian River County commissioners saying, okay, we hear you. Were not going to require wearing masks. The governor, after his meeting at the roundtable, said that part of what he is trying to do to manage this in the state is to recognize that florida is a very large and different kind of state where you dont have the same populations and the same issues in various parts of the state. So in south florida, its basically one state. Up in the panhandle its another state. Over in the jacksonville area its another state. So he doesnt want a onesizefitsall. When you see the state is not even mandating masks, and county commissioners are deciding were not going to mandate it, it certainly suggests, according to health officials, that getting the handle on the spread of coronavirus is likely not to happen without some sort of demand that people Pay Attention and participate, craig, in actively trying to do their part to stop the spread. Personal responsibility. Kerry sanders for us there in his home state . Florida, thank you. Meanwhile, the debate over reopening schools is intensifying as well all over the country. One School District in kansas city has landed on an approach thats joined sodrawing mixed r from parents. The North Kansas CitySchool District is bringing back two Elementary Schools for inperson classes this week. Theyre basically going to see how it goes and use it as a model to get more kids back to school hopefully. Nbcs cal perry is in kansas city, the latest stop on his road to le discovery tour. Cal, youve been talking to parents there about this plan. What are they telling you . Reporter the parents whose children are back in school, and this is the third day of school, are obviously happy that theyre back i. Frees up a lot of activities at home and allows parents to get back to work. 236 students in the Elementary School behind me. The changes start as they get on the bus. We spoke to a father about two daughters being assigned window seats. When children arrive theres a Wellness Check that includes a temperature check. Its really about minimizing the group activities, no more playing on the playground. Theyll break into smaller groups, no more eating in the cafeteria. Theyll bring their lunches back into the classroom. The biggest change is the mandatory mask wearing for elementary students. We heard from the superintendent saying it has been a problem, that the kids are taking it all in stride. I spoke to one father who said the kids at this school and around the country can actually lead on this issue. Take a listen. This is a really cool moment and opportunity for our kids to be leaders. My 5yearold can wear a mask all day at school to help keep everyone around her safe, i think so, too, can adults. When you look at what schools are doing to keep everyone safe, its a good message to send to the public. This rolling approach, seeing how it goes for these schools before opening it up for the wider district is what we can expect to see in places around the counted. The deadline to inform the School District as to informing them they say hope will be august 24th. We got an indication how many kids are staying home from these two schools. We understand its about 10 or 11 . The overwhelming majority of those who could come back did come back, craig. All right, cal perry there in kansas city, missouri where it looks like its raining like cats and dogs, buddy. Stay dry. Really raining. The white house ready to totally upend the way we track clive data. The Trump Administration is going to order hospitals to stop sending case data to the cdc. Instead it is going to go to a central database at the department of health and Human Services. Health experts are raising concerns that the information could be politicized or even withheld from the public. Nbcs Geoff Bennett is at the white house for us. Geoff, the president has been somewhat vocal in his criticism of the cdc, other Health Experts as well. Hes making claims like more testing means more cases. Take us through this change and take us through the concerns about the change. Reporter ill explain this because this can be confusing to people who arent familiar with how this process works. The takeaway here is the Trump Administration is changing the way hospitals report covid19 patient information. Now, until today hospitals were ordered to send all of that information that really provides a full picture of how the pandemic is progressing, broken down by region, by age, by gender, by race, hospitals had to send all that information to the cdc. Well, as of today, the administration is changing that. The administration is telling these hospitals, telling them to bypass the cdc directly and instead to send all that information to a database that the administration, the department of health and Human Services will control directly. Why . Its because the cdc reporting system is broken. That is not in dispute. You can ask any Public Health expert, any journalist, self included who has had to rely on that information, theres a problem. Significant lag time between when that information is collected and when its reported out. Rather than fix the system, the administration is now creating a new one. Hhs spokesperson Michael Caputo tells us this, he says the new faster and complete data system is what our nation needs to defeat the coronavirus, and the cdc, an operating division of hhs will certainly participate in the steam lined all of government response. He says the cdc will still report out the data but adds here, they will simply no longer control it. There are significant questions, though, craig about whether the Trump Administration can be trusted to be a good steward of this information, whether they will misrepresent it, whether they will politicize it or withhold it altogether. This whole thing comes as the president , as white house officials are facing really increased criticism for putting politics ahead of Public Health. You can trust respected medical authorities. I believe im one of them. So i think you can trust me, but i would stick with respected medical authorities who have a track record of telling the truth. So that was dr. Fauci in response to a question i think you were about to ask me about Peter Navarro, craig. Go ahead. Yeah. Geoff, it was just that that sort of backandforth between the white house and dr. Fauci, and this idea that dr. Fauci shouldnt be trusted. Reporter right. The clip we saw there, he was responding to a question put to him yesterday at a Georgetown University live stream event. He was asked who can the public trust in these sorts of situations. He said in a roundabout way, people like me, trusted health officials. The other thing thats happening here is Peter Navarro, President Trumps trade adviser who is not a scientist, not a Public Health official, yesterday he wrote this scathing oped, this attack against dr. Fauci that usa today, for whatever reason, ran. They ran this oped. Ill read part of it to you. It says this, Anthony Fauci has been wrong about everything i have ever interacted with him on. Now, the white house says that navarro did this on his own. They say he did not get this cleared by the white house coms team. Its strange credulity to think that Peter Navarro would write an opinion ep like this without the tacit or express permission of trz. Clearly mr. Nah regard row thinks hes elevating the president s case here. The question is will he face any disciplinary action. So far thats not clear, craig. Strange credulity, one of my favorite phrases, Geoff Bennett. While geoff was reporting there, the governor of South Carolina, Henry Mcmaster holding a news conferen conference, talking about the reopening of schools there in South Carolina. Governor mcmaster saying that schools need to be ready and able to open to take kids five days a week. The governor also saying that he wants plans from School Districts by friday on how this is going to happen. The governor also saying that parents in South Carolina will have the option to keep their kids at home. Were watching and listening very closely to governor mcmaster. Longtime ali of President Trumps as well. Well listen and monitor for news. Well pass that along for you. Meanwhile, in tennessee, a top doctor went to a meeting about stopping the spread of coronavirus in his hospital and he caught coronavirus. Now after ten days unconscious and weeks of recovery, he has quite the warning for all of us. Hell share it next. First, though, a grieving arizona family is blaming the government for their fathers covid19 death, and they did not hold back in his obituary. That obituary has now gone viral. In it the doctor blames, quote, the carelessness of the politicians who continue to jeopardize the health of brown bodies. This morning on the third hour of today, Kristen Urquiza said she blames Arizona Governor doug ducey for her fathers dealt. He would say, if the governor is saying its safe, why cant i go out. Hes telling me to go out and go shopping, get a drink. Why would he tell us its safe if its not safe. I want to read what the Governors Office said, quote, our hearts go out to the family and loved ones. We know nothing can alleviate the pain associated with his loss, and every loss from this virus is tragic. What do you say to that, kristen . I dont need the governors heart. I need the governor and the president to act. 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