they took a knee all in support of black lives matter. from here i believe they are going back to the courthouse with the huge black lives matter yellow letters there. we will keep you posted back at 6:00 with more. we will let you know what is happening there in martinez. breaking news tonight. staggering numbers out of florida more than 15,000 covid cases confirmed in just one day thousands more than new york at its peak hospitals there overwhelmed, but disney world now open. the new warning from the administration. >> we do expect deaths to go up. >> and fears that a brutal heat wave down south may fuel more indoor transmission. plus, the new white house attacks and dr. anthony fauci. the campaign to discredit him in the eyes of the public. an explosion a massive fire onboard a navy ship in california. sailors injured and

smoke visible for miles. the fire chief warning it could burn for days the investigation into a murdered soldier. did the army culture contribute to her death. the demand for answers tonight. are schools safe dr. john torres talks to pediatricians across the country and asks them one question -- >> would you let your kids go back to school >> their answers might surprise you. plus, on point, the dad making that extra leap to bond with their daughters. >> announcer: this is "nbc nightly news" with kate snow. >> good evening. the numbers out of florida tonight are alarming. more than 15,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus in one day. that is the highest number any state has recorded even eclipsing new york at the worst of its crisis in april. the number partially due to increased testing, but still hospitals are filling. masks are still not required across the state of florida but the white house taskforce warns wearing them in hot spots is essential the most well-known

member of that task force, dr. anthony fauci, came under fire today from the white house itself we have a lot to cover. we begin with sam brock in orlando. >> reporter: for a state already smashing covid records, florida soaring to a new stratosphere, 15,300 cases. >> that's a lot of new cases. wow. that's a lot. >> that number, it's a little bit ridiculous. >> reporter: physicians sounding the alarm. >> people are dying. they aren't just getting sick, they are dying. our loved ones are dying. you should care about people you're interacting with. >> reporter: florida fatalities this week, over 500. in miami-dade hospitals at 94% icu capacity with the mayor confirming six are now full >> it's our icu capacity causing us concern. again, like i said, we can crank up another 500. >> reporter: if the sunshine state were its own country, it would rank fourth highest in the world for new covid cases behind the united states, brazil and india.

despite the explosion of infections, many rules remain unchanged. masks are not required statewide and florida's beaches and businesses remain open. >> as you see, they are doing temperature screenings as soon as you load off the boat dock. >> reporter: even disney world, back this weekend the evans family from california say conditions are not what you might expect. >> the capacity is very, very reduced you can walk anywhere in the park and not bump into anybody. >> reporter: signs of social distancing, and cautious behavior, key to keeping thi already spiraling crisis from deepening. >> what you're seeing across the state right now, on a scale of one to ten, how worried are you? >> on a scale of one to ten, i have to admit i'm on that eight to nine scale of worry. there isn't an infinite supply of physicians that can take care of covid patients. >> sam joins us from orlando. sam, part of the increase in cases is due to more testing, right? >> reporter: testing definitely part of the story,

kate 140,000 tests performed by florida that is easily the most so far. the rate of positivity went from 24% four days ago to 13 1/2% tonight but still concern about hospitals and ers being overwhelmed. kate. >> sam brock, thank you so much. officials are worried, also, that as cases rise, more deaths will follow. this weekend has already seen an uptick a major warning today, be prepared for more fatalities erin mclaughlin has more. >> reporter: tonight more than 1,000 american lives reported lost this weekend. a grim warning from the white house task force. >> we do expect deaths to go up if you have more cases, more hospitalizations, we we expect to see that over the next two or three weeks before this turns around. >> reporter: with at least 3.2 million cases an 135,000 dead, the white house insists america does not need to shut down again if 90% of people in hot spots will wear masks.

>> if we don't have that, we will not get control of the virus, but with no nationwide mask mandate, wearin them is still up to individuals. >> people aren't taking it serious. >> i'm walking out, and see at least ten people going in and they don't have masks on. >> reporter: in texas, confirmed cases continue to climb. nearly 6,000 reported today. >> it is serious it is not a hoax it can drop on anyone at any time. >> reporter: in arizona, an alarming positivity rate. more than 120,000 confirmed cases. >> we are setting records of the type you don't want to set for the use of ventilators by covid patients, acute care beds >> back in april there >> reporter: back in april, hope of a summer break from the virus. >> it dies very quickly with the sun. >> reporter: now a distant memory as the heat wave hits some of the country's hot spots with temperatures forecasted to be as high as 115 degrees. >> i think summer temperatures made things worse in a lot

of places, because i created opportunities for people to be spending a lot of time indoors together >> reporter: hard-hit michigan now seeing an uptick in cases after hundreds attended lake parties. several partygoers have since tested positive for the virus. health officials say the parties were so packed, contact tracing is impossible. meanwhile at a nursing meanwhile, at nursing home in san diego, a infectious disease control strike team tries to contain a massive outbreak 11 residents have died, more than 100 others infected. as the virus spreads, so, too, does concern things will get worse. >> we're heading to large shutdowns. about half the country is either in deep trouble or going to be there soon, unless they really ratchet things back. >> erin is with me now. erin, is there a concern states reopened too quickly >> reporter: kate, experts sa they believe some states opened too soon and too aggressively opening restaurants and bars despite evidence that it wasn't safe. kate

>> all right erin, thank you. despite cases surging, the white house is not only relying much less on the nation's top infectious disease specialist dr. anthony fauci, but now actively trying to discredit him. kelly o'donnell has the latest. >> reporter: the white house writing its own new prescription for managing the pandemic crisis a strategy t sideline the nation's top infectious disease expert, dr. anthony fauci, reducing his public visibility. >> we are still knee-deep in the first wave of this. >> officials are >> reporter: officials are quietly providing a list of fauci's public comments and advice dating back to several months of undermining his credibility. the white house pointed to fauci's january predictions that coronavirus was not a major threat and likely had no asymptomatic spread. officials have offered

this february tv appearance. >> there was no need to change anything that you're doing on a day by day basis. >> reporter: officials failed t note that fauci's views were considered accurate at the time but the science evolves. the effort to diminish him starts at the top. >> i disagree with him. dr. fauci said don't wear a mask, and now he says wear them. >> today's head of >> reporter: today's head of coronavirus testing also cut his colleague. >> i respect dr. fauci a lot but dr. fauci is not 100% right. >> reporter: dr. fauci has served six presidents and awarded the medal of freedom. his approval rating was 67% last month the president in that same poll lagged behind at 26% approval their assessments about the crisis now often diverge. >> we have the greatest testing program in the world. >> i don't think you can say we're doing great. >> reporter: dr. fauci declined comment. this weekend, the president ultimately followed that mask advice, donning one for the first time in public saturday. >> and kelly in separate development, can we talk about the former special counsel

speaking out after the president granted roger stone clemency >> reporter: this is a rare unexpected return of robert mueller, kate. the counsel has written an opinion piece to defend the integrity of the russian investigation and the jury that found roger stone guilty of lying and obstructing. mueller writes although the prison sentence has been set aside and commuted, he remains a convicted felon, and rightly so. kate >> kelly o'donnell at the white house for us kelly, thank you now to breaking news out of the port of san diego where a u.s. navy ship is burning following an explosion onboard. at least 21 people have been taken to the hospital molly hunter has details. >> there's a large amount of smoke. this is not a good spot up here jrt tonight. >> reporter: tonight air smoke still streaming out of the "uss bonhomme richard." on the ground visible for miles.

>> people jumping off, it's on fire. >> reporter: a massive three-alarm fire. >> fire, fire, fire. >> reporter: san diego fire department got the first call about 9:00 a.m. sunday morning. the second, 9:09 the third, 9:51. >> i don't think the whole city is going to go up in flames. >> reporter: the navy confirming 21 people, 17 sailors and 4 civilians were hospitalized for nonlife threatening injuries 160 were on board. the entire crew off the ship and accounted for. >> this could very well go on for days. more than likely this will just burn down to the waterline. >> reporter: the reason for the explosion, a 55-gallon drum of oil. >> the good news was it was not an ordnance that was our concern, that we would see subsequent explosions after that right now there's a lot of fuel on the ship that starts becoming part of the combustibles there and this will go on. >> reporter: and that's the danger. that that fuel potentiall threatening the other ships at the base. molly hunter, nbc news. trump says he'll be briefed tomorrow on the case

of murdered ft. hood soldier vanessa guillen. her death sparked renewed calls for a closer look at how the military handles abuse and harassment kathy park has the latest. >> reporter: a convoy of cars in san antonio traveled 13 miles in honor of army specialist vanessa guillen. her disappearance gaining national attention with protesters demanding justice. and now the army secretary is ordering an independent review of the command climate and culture at ft. hood adding we are saddened and deeply troubled by the loss of one of our own. guillen was last seen on base april 22nd setting off a search with local law enforcement, fellow soldiers and military police investigators found the 20-year-old's remains not far from ft. hood in late june. according to a criminal complaint filed, army specialist aaron robinson, a suspect in her killing, died by suicide when confronted by police cecily aguilar, a civilian, is accused of helping robinson

dispose of guillen's body the soldier's grieving family wants answers and accountability. >> my sister deserves justice! >> reporter: an attorney representing the family said guillen se she had had been sexually harassed by a supervisor. the army said they had no credible report this happened. president trump weighed in on the case during a one-on-one with jose diaz-balart. >> is there something you could do to have more transparency in the way the armed forces investigates sexual harassment and sexual abuse >> they are going to be reporting to me on monday about it. i thought it was horrible. >> reporter: tonight loved ones are fighting to keep guillen's story alive. >> my family does not deserve this vanessa guillen! didn't not deserve this >> reporter: kathy park, nbc news. up next, we asked the experts, would doctors send their own

kids back to school this fall? also on the brink, can malls survive coronavirus?

we're back with a that is front and center for a lot of families right now. whether or not it's safe t send kids back to school education secretary betsy devos again today threatened to pull federal funding for schools that don't

reopen many cities and states aren't sure yet if it's safe.doctors, who are als parents, what they would do. >> reporter: tonight as schools struggle to reopening safely, nb news reached out to five top pediatricians across the country, a random sampling of doctors to find out how dangerous the coronavirus is for kids our experts agree. most children don't get as sick as adults and serious complications are rare. >> this has been a strange pandemic usually for respiratory virus children are the first and the most substantially affected. this has been a flip of that. it's adults and older adults affected. >> reporter: in fact, kids onl account for 2% of all cases. doctors say they don't expect that number to significantly increase when schools open, because kids don't appear to be good at spreading the virus. >> are kids as good at transmitting the virus as adults? >> the data that comes out now seems to show that most transmissions occur from adults to adults,

or adult to children. >> the younger you are, the less likely you are to transmit the disease. >> reporter: while many teacher are concerned about reopening school so soon, the five doctors we spoke to agreed the benefits of being in the classroom far outweigh the risk of disease. but the key is to reopen safely. >> we are not doing transmissions with following simple guidelines. >> each school system is going to have to come up with their own guidelines you can't say one city is just like the next. >> reporter: all agree guidelines should include rules for social distancing. keep desks three to six feet apart and make sur desks aren't facing each other schools may want to consider holding gym classes outside. >> in your perfect world of sending kids back to school, what would you like to see set up in those school systems? >> they should try to increase the airflow in the classroom, try

to distance as much as possible i have been doing a lot of research looking into face masks. i don't think they'r necessarily useful in elementary school children they do provide protection, i think, for high school students. >> would you let your kids go back to school >> i will. my kids are looking forward to it. >> yes, period, absolutely. >> absolutely. as much as i can. >> without hesitation. >> without a hesitation, yes. >> i have no concerns about sending my child to school in the fall. >> i would let my kids go back to school. >> reporter: dr. john forress, nbc news. >> so interesting. still ahead, as more stores go out of business, is this the end of the shoppingal ma as we know it plus keeping them on their toes. the little girls teaming up with dads for a special kind of dance class.

we've been talking a lot about the financial impact of covid on our economy retail has taken a huge hit along with that, malls. once a mainstay of the american shopping experience, they are now on the brink of extinction jo ling kent reports. >> lots of space in this mall. >> reporter: it's been a part of american culture and the economy for generations, but the future of the traditional mall more uncertain than ever with the covid crisis closing stores for months on end. and in some cases, closing up for good. that's what happened at metro center mall in phoenix going out of business last month after almost 50 years. >> we're really sad about it, have a lot of childhood memories here. >> came here every saturday with my mom. >> reporter: metro center is th latest casualty in the

retail apocalypse, shutting permanent as online shopping becomes a bigger part of the new normal. >> what has coronavirus done with demise of malls? >> we could be talking about 400 malls that might not make it as a result of covid, because tenants don't have the ability -- it's not that they don't want to pay rent, they don't have the means. >> reporter: that forced the legendary names like brooks brother, jcpenney, j. crew to file for bankruptcy in the coronavirus pandemic now experts say in this economic and health crisis people are shopping less than ever and avoidin malls and crowds. also devastated, multiplex medvedev theaters attached to malls. they are selling fewer tickets to cut off social distancing cutting off important source of foot traffic to the mall. >> how does the movie theater factor change what happens for malls and their ability to survive? >> that is the $10 million question

i think the future of the movie theaters are going to be actually "the" biggest change in the mall. we have spoken to some landlords who are already thinking about how to reuse that space, but we have t think about it in a different way. if we don't, we're just kid ourselves >> reporter: that re-invention i already under way in houston. this former sears will soon become a new home for startups, academic research, apartments, and, yes, some retail stores other ideas, turn sprawling spaces vacated by department stores into mini fulfillment centers. grocery stores, gyms and dividing up retail space for smaller stores that got their start online perhaps a new circle of life for retail as we know it jo ling kent, nbc news, los angeles. when we come back, raising the bar. the daddy-daughter class helping these pairs build stronger bonds.

there's good news tonight about a unique way some dads are building stronger bonds with their young daughters. it's their chance to become better role models, even if it means going way out of their comfort zone. >> bring it up to the middle >> reporter: it's the beauty of ballet reimagined i an untraditional class with ballet and yoga, creating a special connection between dads and daughters lifelong dancer erin lee found the this art studio seven years ago in philadelphia, but started this class last year. it was a class in a studio, a special place for fathers and their daughters to bond and build character. >> it's to really change the narrative of fatherhood. the black fatherhood. >> lift up.

>> and the role they have in their daughter's lives. >> ready >> reporter: julien meyers goes with his 6-year-old daughter nola. >> tell me what's different about this class. >> it's all about showing them we're here to support you through ballet >> especially dads >> reporter: james jackson is a essential worker delivering meals to those in need. when the pandemic hit and the classes went online, he and daughter jay adjusted. >> now we've got to do something, you know what i mean, to stay together through the zoom and things like this, we can still stay connected >> we're going to bring it up over our heads. >> reporter: during these uncertain times, the instructor, tanisha anderson, is helping families make new memories. >> by having my dad there, he is right next to me, and he

helps me he's doing the dances with me. >> what's fun about it >> um -- because my daddy spins me around. >> how is your dad as a ballet dancer? >> he is a little bit good. [ laughter ] >> reporter: despite everything despite the distance, hoping for the day they can all be in class together again. >> this is something that we'll never lose, those daddy-daughter moments, she'll grow up and be, yeah, my dad did yoga with me as she gets older, i'll look back and say, remember this >> it's about a lot more than dance. that is "nbc nightly news" on this sunday. lester holt will be back with you tomorrow i'm kate snow. for all of us at nbc news, stay safe and have a great night this cheeseburger is the best!

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it's beautiful! say what? i said it's bea.... try my $5.99 southwest cheddar cheeseburger combo and make it a double for a buck more. order now with no contact delivery. right now at 6:00, standing up for the black lives matter movement, tons of people demonstrating right now amid rising racial tensions. the news at 6:00 starts right now. good evening, thank you for joining us. right now they're making their voices heard. let's get out to live pictures of the demonstrators. they marched from the martinez courthouse downtown to the black lives matter mural sits over to waterfront park. there they are right there. and they have heard from speakers. all of this is in support of the black lives matter