[Tapper:] Our health lead, Nashville delaying the next phase of reopening due to the increase spread of coronavirus in that city. This comes as at least a dozen states in the U.S. are battling major spikes in new infections and in hospitalizations, though some governors seem un-inclined to reinstitute restrictions. More than 113,000 people have lost their lives here in the U.S. because of COVID-19 and as CNN's Erica Hill reports for us now, a dire new forecast is predicting it's only going to get worse.
[Erica Hill, Cnn National Correspondent:] As Americans embrace summer, health experts are focused on disturbing new data trends.
[Dr. Ashish Jha, Director, Harvard Global Health Institute:] Somehow as a country, we have decided that hundreds of thousands of Americans dying from this virus is okay, and that is unbelievable to me.
[Hill:] New modeling forecast nearly 170,000 COVID-19 related deaths in the U.S. by October 1st. In Arizona, nearly 80 percent of the state's ICU beds are now in use. It's one of at least a dozen states seeing a spike in coronavirus-related hospitalizations.
[Dr. Jay Varkey, Infectious Diseases Physician:] I think that a critical shortage of ICU beds is absolutely the nightmare scenario. That was the whole reason we were emphasizing about flattening the curve.
[Hill:] In some of first states to reopen, the curve is not flattening. Florida is still posting more than 1,000 new cases a day. In South Carolina, daily counts have been rising over the past two weeks.
[Dr. Linda Bell, South Carolina Department Of Health And Environmental Control:] I am more concerned about COVID-19 in South Carolina than I have ever been before.
[Hill:] Much of the west and south also reporting an uptick.
[Gov. Tate Reeves:] I want COVID-19 to be over, but the data suggests otherwise.
[Hill:] Nashville now delaying its next phase in reopening in response to a rise in new cases, one of the first big cities to change course. While in Iowa, the iconic state fair has been postponed for the first time since World War II. No butter cows and campaigning. New research from the U.K. boosting the case for wearing a mask, noting widespread use could help avoid a second wave.
[Andy Slavitt, Former Acting Administrator, Centers For Medicare & Medicaid Services:] It is consistent with several other studies which essentially show that if you get the majority of people wearing mask, the virus really has no place to go.
[Hill:] And in Chicago, a medical first a successful double lung transplant for a woman in her 20s whose lungs were damaged by the virus.
[Dr. Ankit Bharat, Chief Of Thoracic Surgery, Northwestern Medicine:] Yesterday, she smiled and told me just one sentence. She said, doc, thank you for not giving up on me. As health care providers, there's nothing more gratifying to hear. This is why we do what we do.
[Hill:] A bit of hope in uncertain times. Jake, in terms of that uncertainty, as you look around the country, we heard from the governor of Colorado today. Cases are staying in his case but he's started to get concerned by what he's seeing in Utah and Arizona, because there's so much travel between those three states. We also heard from local officials in South Carolina, which as you know is really seeing an increase in cases there. Local officials in Folly Beach, Myrtle Beach and others say they are canceling July Fourth celebration, including fireworks, over concerns about the spread of the virus, Jake.
[Tapper:] All right. Erica Hill in New York. Thank you so much. Joining us now, the former health commissioner of Texas and current vice chancellor for health affairs and chief medical officer at the University of Texas System, Dr. David Lakey. Dr. Lakey, thanks so much for joining us. At least twelve states have seen an uptick in coronavirus hospitalization since Memorial Day. Why? Is it because of reopenings? Is it in Texas are people not adhering to wearing masks and social distancing guidelines?
[Dr. David Lakey, Chief Medical Officer At The University Of Texas System:] I think there's many factors involved in the increase. In many ways, I think it was predictable. With the Memorial Day weekend, with the other, the marches, et cetera, and with reopening, we should assume that the number of cases will go up. Now, as they go up, we also need to continue to watch hospitalization numbers. And we will have to have significant capacity in the state of Texas right now. But it is concerning that the numbers have gone up. We're now at increase we had 2,153 patients in Texas hospitals as of this morning. And so, that's that's significantly higher than it has been in the last week or so.
[Tapper:] So what would you say to Governor Abbott or to your fellow Texans about what they need to do to prevent hospitalizations and sickness and death?
[Lakey:] Yes, I think there's personal responsibility that we need to do. I go out, I do things, but I'm careful. I wear a mask when I'm out in public. I wash my hands. If I'm sick, I'm not going to go into work. I'm not going to go out. So, these basic public health principles, we need to remember them. The virus is out there in our community. If we aren't vigilant, if we're not prudent, we shouldn't assume that we're not going to get infected with this virus. And so, until we get a vaccine, these public health measures that we've used for a century are really the cornerstone of preventing the spread of this virus in our communities.
[Tapper:] So you were the health commissioner for Texas during the Ebola crisis. And a man died in Texas of Ebola after traveling to West Africa. Obviously, Ebola and coronavirus are very different. Ebola is deadlier in a lot of ways, and coronavirus is more contagious, more infectious. Do you think Texas has been handling this spread, this threat properly?
[Lakey:] I think they're doing a good job. I think in these events you need to be careful. You need to be prudent. I think we, so far, Texas has been relatively spared. Our numbers are lower than the national average. I think that's a variety there's a variety of reasons. Early on we also make sure we had hospital capacity. We decreased the number of people in hospitals by stopping elective surgeries early on and waited until we had the right amount of PPE, personal protective equipment, before opening up. But I think there comes a point where you have to take those steps in opening business back up. That there are tremendous consequences if you have this prolonged lockdown, and not only economic and poverty, but the mental health challenges, substance abuse challenges, domestic violence, child abuse there's a variety of, you know, chronic diseases that if people can't get the medical care that they need. So you can't do full lockdown, and you can't do we can't just open things wide open right now. So that middle ground of doing prudent steps to open up business but also to wear the mask, take care of the hand hygiene. And really important is to protect older individuals, protecting the nursing home so we don't introduce the virus into the vulnerable populations. It's really, really important.
[Tapper:] All right. Dr. David Lakey, thank you so much. We really appreciate your time and expertise. A top Democrat is calling it a welcome home party for white supremacists. Up next, we're going to dig deeper into the Trump campaign's decision to restart President Trump's election rallies on Juneteenth in a city with a devastating racist history. Stay with us.