[King:] The coronavirus trend lines across the country right now are troubling and that might be an understatement. Let's take a look at the 50 state trends as you pop up the map here. 25 states, half of the United States right now reporting more new COVID-19 infections now compared to a week ago. That's the red and the orange on the map. And you see it, a lot of it out here in the west, but a lot of it everywhere 25 states, half of the states now trending in the wrong direction and 23 states holding steady. It's better than trending up, but it's not trending down. Only two states, Alabama and Hawaii are reporting fewer infections right now than a week ago. So, you see a lot of trouble spots, a lot of smaller population maybe, but the case count is growing. And if you look at the case timeline, this is what is troubling. The peak of the summer surge, we were up above 60,000 new infections a day, come down slowly, one month ago, 24,000 new infections. Had still a lot of infections, but there was some hope, perhaps pushing the baseline back down? It was about 20,000 before the summer surge. The goal was to get it back down, and then push it down further. Something very different is happening. You see it now trending back up. Trickling up, it's not a straight line, but trickling back up and maybe if you want to call that a plateau, it's a pretty high plateau 50,000 new infections in the United States yesterday. The average now between 40 and 50,000 new infections a day as we head into the colder season, which has public health experts worried. Among the things they worried about is that the death count will start going back up. 915 deaths reported yesterday in the United States of America. You see this trickle down some, now roughly in a plateau just below a thousand. The question is if that case count keeps going up, will this as the projections suggest start to go up as well? One of the big issues here is you need to get the positivity rate down. The higher the positivity, it's quite obvious, the more cases. And again, look across the plains and out into the west, 24 percent positivity in Idaho, 20 in South Dakota, 20 in Wisconsin, 15 in Kansas, 15 in Nevada. Double digit positivity means more cases today and it means the likelihood of more cases tomorrow because of infection in the community. Because of that, you do see some states starting to say wait a minute; we either need to add or delay when it comes to restrictions. Wisconsin putting restrictions back in place. The Governor of Kentucky reinstating a mask mandate. In Massachusetts, the Boston public schools were planning to get back in school learning. That has been put on hold. And in New York City, there are several zip codes in the city where the case count is going up; the positivity rate is going up. The mayor says we need new restrictions and I need you to cooperate.
[Mayor Bill De Blasio  New York City:] We can overcome this challenge. The data and the science make very, very clear, we can stop this challenge from turning into a full blown second wave, and we must, we must. Our businesses are coming back now, our schools are back. We need to protect this progress all over New York City. And the way to do that is to focus on the areas having a challenge, work with them, support them, work together and overcome it.
[King:] Joining us now is Dr. Dara Kass; she is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center. Doctor, it's great for you to join us I'm grateful for your time, thank you. Let's start in New York City where you are and then will pull this out for a national conversation. But the Mayor says the positivity rate is going up in certain areas, the case count going up a little bit. New York obviously went through this early on had shoved the case count down pretty good. What is the source of the problem and how significant is it?
[Dr. Dara Kass, Assoc. Professor Of Emergency Medicine, Columbia Univ. Medical Center:] The problem is really significant for us in New York and it really is about behavior of New Yorkers around this virus. It's really coming from a cluster of places where people are not wearing masks, they're not socially distancing, and they're actually not getting tested.
[Dr. Kass:] And what we're realizing is that, if you don't listen to the public health metrics, no matter how many times we try to advocate for new therapeutics and a vaccine, it's really going to undermine our ability to keep this virus at bay. What's interesting is we know about the cluster because of the number of tests being done in New York. That doesn't prevent the spread. We are learning from the White House that testing does not prevent the spread; it just identifies cases when we see them, and it shows us what we need to do once those cases are identified.
[King:] And I just went through the numbers in the national baseline now of new infections is above 43, approaching 45,000 today. 50,000 new infections reported just yesterday. Dr. Fauci who has for months been saying it is absolutely critical to shove that baseline down, now says because we haven't, this is the months ahead.
[Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director, National Institute Of Allergy And Infectious Diseases:] The models tell us that if we do not do the kinds of things that we're talking about in the cold of the fall and the winter, we can have from 300,000 to 400,000 deaths. That would be just so tragic if that happens.
[King:] It's hard to disagree, it's impossible to disagree with that. That would be incredibly tragic if it happens. But what has been interesting Dr. Kass through this is listening to the exasperated Dr. Fauci wishing and continuing to urge people to please listen, but not getting any backup from his boss, the President of the United States.
[Dr. Kass:] I mean, we're seeing it everywhere, even last night on the debate stage when the Second Lady of the United States came on stage without a mask, right? Even though the venue required masks and was first to keep people out that didn't have the mask. The modeling of the behavior matters, even when it is inconvenient.
[King:] And so, if you look across the United States right now, you look around the world right now, yes, we all were told this. We've been having this conversation for months that, when the winter comes, this is going to come back, because this is a virus that thrives in the colder temperatures. If you look here, you'll hear the president say sometimes, well, the United States is doing great compared to the rest of the world. Well, where is your proof, it's not. That's Japan at the bottom, a flat line consistently. The European Union is in green. The European Union and the United States which is the orange went up the hill, a bad hill about the same time together. But you see how the European Union came down quickly. Yes, it is trending back up right now. If you look at Spain, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Germany, other places in Europe, they have a problem at the moment. But look at the U.S. case count, it has stayed above, this is the average of confirmed cases per one million residents, it had stayed up higher because it's pretty obvious from looking at the chart, we never shoved the curve down.
[Kass:] Right. It's very much about leadership and behavior. We have seen every other country in the world respond better to this virus than us. And now we're OK with the case count of 40 to 50,000 a day when we have the weather that's helping us, and the opportunity to be outside, but some businesses shutting down. Going into the winter, it's going to just get worse. Dr. Fauci is right. And we just did not do a good enough job throughout the summer getting ourselves where we needed to be.
[King:] I wish I could say something to refute the idea that is going to get worse. But all of the numbers, all the data, all the positivity suggest that sadly, you're correct because you're relying on science to do that Dr. Kass grateful for your time today, thank you so much. And still ahead for us, as the doctor just noted, the candidates have vice president faced off last night, sharp exchanges over coronavirus over healthcare and the economy.