cnn's natasha chen is live dekalb county. one of the new hot spots for covid infections and the surge is already interrupted the start of the new school year at one school, more than 100 kids now in quarantine. bring us up to speed with the latest. >> reporter: right. so the charter school in atlanta started class last tuesday and within a couple of days, they had to inform families of more than 100 students to quarantine and that's because as of friday afternoon, they've had 14 positive cases. that's because they've been actually doing a lot of testing to detect these. employees of theirs required to get tested before the school started and must continue that weekly. students strongly encouraged to test, and so out of about 1900 tests done before tuesday, they detected some positive cases and then a few more after classes started. mostly affected is that sixth grade class. nearly 100 sixth graders in quarantine. eighth graders are the ones having to move classes online because the eighth grade staff are the ones more affecte

. >> natasha chen is live in surfside this morning. natasha, talk to us about what's happening there this hour. >> reporter: christi and boris, there is a lot of activity with different crews switching shifts as the day goes on. they've been working around the clock. you mentioned some of the challenges they're facing now including that hurricane which it's unclear right now whether it will downgrade by the time it gets to florida, but even if we're talking about 40 mile per hour winds, that could create a serious safety problem when you think about the loose debris and concrete on the site. a county attorney in a court filing described the remaining parts of the structure as behaving in a way that it could collapse. so that's posing an immediate threat to the personnel on site. here is an official talking about the different factors creating challenges for them right now. >> this is very difficult, very challenging situation. our men and women are out there with this still partial building. definitely structurally compromised. it's ju

natasha chen from dekalb county. thank you very much. >>> with us to talk about all of the headlines is emergency room physician and critical care fellow dr. alex brusco. doctor, thank you for sharing part of your weekend with us. i want you to start with what you're seeing in the emergency room. you wrote an op ed for cnn and in it you say in part, quote, the patients i see frightened and struggling to breathe are mostly in their 30s, 40s and 50s. the one thing many of them have in common, they are all unvaccinated. doctor, i see all sorts of misinformation on social media but i wonder what you are hearing directly from people that you're treating about why they are unvaccinated. is it a lack of access or is it misinformation? >> thanks for having me. it's good to be here. you know, i hear it all. i don't think it's a lack of access, at least in the areas where i've been practicing in the emergency room. i think most of these patients have just been overloaded with information to the point that they can't make an ed

cnn's natasha chen has our report. >> reporter: 90 people are now confirmed dead. 31 people potentially still unaccounted for. the search teams have removed 14 million pounds of concrete and debris. they have heavy machinery lifting the pieces so delicately we're told they found an undamaged bottle of wine and a ring, other people's haeirlooms that mean so much to the families. they brought rabbis on the scene to understand what may be significant objects. here's the police chief talking about that effort. >> it could be the smallest thing that to a common person would be a container but to many it means generations. our officers are learning so much about culture, there's so many dynamics here with the sadness and the sorrow. there's a unity component we learn about each other so we respect that and honor that. >> he said there's a database families can update items with the significance they're looking for. and as teams find things we're carefully cataloging it and at a later date they can connect with families to reunite them with belongings. the israeli defense forces left sunday an

natasha chen, and paul, let's begin with you. a new indoor mask rule back in effect for los angeles county because of a rise in covid cases. how is that being embraced? >> reporter: it is that revamped rule. we saw it in a nearby restaurant this morning. someone walked in to the jersey mike's, they did not have a mask, and an employee was gracious and handed out a mask. the sheriff said he will not enforce the rule, he will ask for voluntary compliance. at ucla, they're trying to address the breathing problems some serious covid-19 patients have had, and they're doing so with singing via a zoom call to improve the lung capacity. >> beautiful, everybody. big inhale. ♪ i once was lost ♪ >> gorgeous. ♪ but now i'm found ♪ >> it's a wonderful thing. a very soulful thing. but the breathing situation is very important. because any professional opera singer or even pop singers, some of the top ones, they always knew how to breathe. and breathing is so important to communicate the song. and the lyrics and everything. so for us to

natasha chen has more. >> take it from me. get the vaccine. >> reporter: the effort to get covid-19 vaccines into arms in alabama is an uphill battle. >> reporter: the pastor has passed out fliers in his community but sometimes gets pushback from people who bring up the infamous tuskegee experiment. he warns it's not the same. >> reporter: the rampant spread of misinformation on social media is the biggest hurdle, according to health officials. some are buying into false narratives including people under 30 who are the least vaccinated in alabama. birmingham city schools have been hosting vaccine clinics at their high schools getting the band to play and cheerleaders to perform. but some members of the pep squad need a pep talk. half the girls told cnn they're too scared to get vaccinated. they don't want the virus injected into them, which is not how the vaccines work. the pfizer and moderna vaccines use a small piece of the virus' genetic sequence to create a specialized protein which prompts our immune system to create anti

cnn's natasha chen is in birmingham. natasha, school starts there in just a matter of weeks. what are people doing there to prepare for that? >> reporter: well, fred, it's all about messaging right now. today, we are outside now of a vaccine clinic that happened at parker high school's gym. they just wrapped up. they told me that they actually vaccinated 107 people today. it doesn't sound like a huge number, but it is actually the highest they've had of any of their school-based clinics throughout the summer. now, with these school-based clinics, they probably reached several hundred people in the community, but imagine the school district tells me that in birmingham, they have 10,000 students grades 7 and up. so potentially 10,000 eligible students but only reached several hundred through these clinics. hopefully, some of them have gone to other providers to get the shot but what we're sensing from the health officials especially is that they're seeing a lot of pushback from people who have a lot of questions who are scared of getting the vaccine. we met one mother and daugh

cnn's natasha chen is live in surfside, florida. natasha, talk to us about what's happening this morning. >> yeah, christi and boris, we're monitoring search and rescue efforts that could be because of the tropical storm, as it reaches florida, that's not clear how it's going to play out. if you can imagine, even 40-mile-per-hour winds could cause a lot of problems for loose concrete and debris. and talking about the demolition, that definitely won't happen until after the storm passes. but the county attorney who wrote in a filing on friday in court had mentioned that the rest of the structure that's standing is behaving like it could collapse. and that's posing an immediate threat to the personnel onsite right now. of course, at the same time, you've got the familieyies of 1 unaccounted people bracing themselves for more news. survivors are still trying to figure out what's next for them. dealing with overwhelming emotion since they escaped the building. our colleague randi kaye met up with a man who rescued an 88-year-old woman.

cnn's natasha chen is in surfside for us. natasha, are search teams doing anything differently now with this storm approaching? >> reporter: alisyn, they are working as fast as they can, and they were very concerned that this storm might take down that building and make it fall the wrong way, so that is why there was such an urgent discussion about how to bring that building down in a controlled manner. that's what you saw there last night. it happened around 10:30 p.m. now, they got back to work very quickly. the rescue teams had paused for the engineers to prepare for that demolition, but once it was demolished, 20 minutes later, the mayor of surfside told us the search and rescue teams were back on that pile. they have been working all night, and of course they want to do as much as they can before any severe weather comes in. the good news being that that -- the worst of the weather seems to be going around this area and not directly at surfside. and of course, the mayor of miami dade county had to really reassure the pub

cnn's natasha chen is in surfside for us. natasha, what's happening at the collapse site now? >> reporter: there was a brief stop at 7:00 a.m., because of a lightning strike. but they quickly resumed thereafter. they've been really working around the clock, the shifts of these workers. we see them changing shifts from time to time right here by the media staging area. there are two simultaneous efforts right now to find victims in the pile. also, though, to remove the rubble from the demolition site that happened just a week ago from the remaining part of the building that was demolished. that is going at a faster pace than expected, that's what you were referring to. of course this is also taking an emotional toll on the search and rescue teams that have been working around the clock. here is one of the rescue workers talking about the type of things she's finding in the pile. >> i feel like i'm physically digging, but i'm also emotionally digging for more strength to continue. i think the first time it really hit me was when i found a passport with a baby in it and i found t

natasha chen joins us from surfside, florida. nat natasha? >> reporter: that space between these buildings there where you see that blue/gray sky is where the building used to be. it is no longer there this morning. that demolition happened at 10:30 last night. residents in the vicinity were asked to stay indoors, to keep windows and doors closed, to keep that dust cloud and debris outside of their homes. as you mentioned, this is expected to help search and rescue teams actually access about a third of the pile they couldn't get to before because it was too close to the structurally unstable remaining building. but as we know, sometimes demolitions can be spectacles, shows. representative debbie wasserman schultz yesterday described how this is really the furthest thing from that. >> very tragic situation not only for those who are still hoping to find loved ones that have survived but also to survivor families who got out of the building and all of whom's belongings are in that apartment building. and so this is tragic, not a celebration, n

so cnn's natasha chen is following that story for us. natasha, you have some breaking news about what that school is now discussing. what have you learned? >> reporter: yeah, alisyn, just within the past hour, we got the update with the number of cases, as of this afternoon. as you mentioned, 14 total cases, more than a hundred students in quarantine. and now, the drew charter school behind us is discussing possibly having mandatory vaccination for staff. the head of school, peter mcknight, told me that about three quarters of the staff were -- are already vaccinated, but now there's discussion about whether to make that mandatory for all employees. now, of the positive test cases, only one of the staff members who tested positive was actually vaccinated. so one breakthrough case. we talked to a parent and his child who attends this school about the frustration of this happening, just a few days after school started on tuesday. here's what he said about quite a few having seen this coming. >> it's too early in the school year for this to

let's go right to cnn's natasha chen on the ground in surfside. so, natasha, sounds like a race against time. can a controlled implosion be pulled together that fast before monday. >> well, fred, the storm if it comes this way -- it's unclear where the path will take it. but if it comes through this area it might be late monday. and that is why there is a goal now to have the remaining part of the building demolished before then for safety reasons. the governor announced during the press conference once the greenlight is given this can happen within 36 hours, as early as tomorrow. and that is, again, for the safety of the people working on the site. and that's where i want to bring in captain ignatius carroll with miami fire and rescue florida task force two. what is it like right now? how much danger does your team feel working on the site, knowing there could be falling debris? and will it make the job easier once the build something done. >> the one thing with task force teams is they're used to responding to situations with a hazard. safety is

natasha chen outside atlanta. thanks so much. back now to los angeles and paul vercammen, joined by the director of the medical center. paul, to you. >> reporter: well, as we were speaking, we were talking about a 49-year-old unvaccinated patient who was in the hospital. the doctor was telling us that she up and left this morning. and speaks to the larger situation where people just don't believe that the virus is real. >> that's what she told us. she's like this isn't a real virus, a real disease, there's nothing wrong with me, even though she was on oxygen, signed out against medical advice and left. >> this has to be frustrating for you. are you seeing more unvaccinated patients pour in here still doubting the virus? >> reporter: it is beyond frustrating, everyone that we're seeing, the vast majority of patients are unvaccinated, to men and women, they all say if i knew i would feel this bad, i would have gotten the vaccine. >> reporter: she's the exception. tell us, you have a small amount of so-called break through cases her

. >> natasha chen is following this from birmingham, alabama, one of the states lagging in vaccinations and also seeing cases spike. natasha, the unvaccinated, many of them are young. are they the ones who are populating the hospitals there right now? >> amara, that is definitely a concern here in birmingham. we're at a.h. high school where there will be a pop-up clinic today, partnering with health agencies to get the word out there. i spoke with health agencies here in alabama and south carolina yesterday. they tell me they are deeply concerned at the trends they are seeing right now. >> it's coming for us. it's a beast. that's what we're seeing in the hospital. that's why we're nervous. >> reporter: the warning comes from a louisiana doctor, a voice among many, raising the alarm about what is now again a growing number of covid cases in the u.s. the number of can cases are on rise in all 50 states. >> bottom line is that we're dealing with a formidable variant in the delta variant and the extreme vulnerability of people who are not vaccinated, which will account for infections, hospi

natasha chen is following the latest covid headlines from birmingham, alabama, one of the states lagging in vaccinations and see ing covid cases spike. >> reporter: this is an ext extremely disturbing trend they're seeing, and unfortunately alabama is not alone in this. let's show you some maps to give you a sense of what's happening in the big picture here. if you look at the entire united states, the new cases in the past week compared to the previous week, all the states, all 50 states are seeing increases in alabama specifically. in the past week, new cases actually more than doubled compared to the previous week. and if you're looking at the number -- percentage of people vaccinated across the united states, you can see that in the northeast, a large percentage of those states are vaccinated. and in the southeast, that's where you're seeing some of the least vaccinated states, including alabama at about a third. 34%. and the coronavirus cases in alabama, if we could look at the seven-day average of daily change, you can see that there are a lot of orange, red spots there. so, not lo

cnn's natasha chen is live in surfside, florida. will you talk to us please on the latest on the search and rescue efforts at this hour? >> reporter: yeah, christi. those efforts are still ongoing even though there's discussion of a potential pause because of that impending hurricane that you're talking about. it may downgrade to a tropical storm by the time it comes to florida. the governor, ron desantis, is talking about the state working on duel tracks, working on preparing this, potentially 40-mile-an-hour winds could offer assistance. at the same time a county attorney in a filing friday saying that the rest of the structure of the champlain towers south is starting to behave like it could collapse posing an immediate threat to the personnel on site. so a lot of challenges right now. in the meantime, you have the families of 126 unaccounted people eagerly awaiting any sort of news and of course the survivors are dealing with overwh overwhelming emotion. randi kaye met up with a man who helped an 88-year-old woman out of the bui

natasha chen. thank you for the update. >>> it's been nearly four weeks since joe biden said the drove no longer controls our lives. it's clear that we are far from where he hoped we would be at this point. >> yeah. with the delta variant ravaging so much of this country, the president has been forced to shift his tone and keep his main focus on covid. >> let's go to cnn's kevin liptac. there's a mix of frustration and exhaustion from the white house. what are you learning about what's happening in the walls? >> reporter: this is a turning point in the pandemic for the president but it's not the turn he wanted to be taking at this point. in august rising cases forcing the president to take ever more action in combatting the virus including steps he had been reluctant to take like requiring federal workers to attest they had been vaccinated and going through these steps. telling the pentagon to mandate the vaccine for military service members. these are things the president had sought to avoid earli

natasha chen for us there in alabama. thank you, let's bring in now a medical expert from rhode island there, dr. megan rain knee, an emergency physician at brown university, cofounder of getusp pp.org. let's start with a startling statement when i heard it from scott gottlieb, he says that the majority of people who have not been vaccinated and have not had covid-19 already will get the delta variant. they will be infected with this. do you think that's the reality that we're headed toward? >> i unfortunately do think that's where we are heading. listen, this delta rare varianto much more transmissible than the prior variants of covid-19 that we've seen. it takes less time being around someone being infected, and once you are infected you are more likely to spread it to others. it is just going to decimate people who have not been vaccinated yet. it's what we're seeing already in missouri, arkansas, nevada, and elsewhere. these states where vaccination rates are so low, the portions of the state with low vaccination rate

chen, thanks so much. joining me now is a structural engineer, surfside's designated investigator of the condo collapse. he was also part of the investigations after the 9/11 attacks at the pentagon theand bombing of the federal building in oklahoma city. thanks so much for taking the time this morning. now that they've taken down the rest of the building there and it allows access really to the entire site, not just to recover bodies but also to continue the investigation, how much of a difference does that make going forward? >> well, the deal is that you still have a pile of debris whether it's the original debris or the new debris on top of the original debris, or the new debris on top of itself. it's incredibly dangerous for the rescue workers and the people that are going to be sorting out all this debris, for them to be there. there's no longer a building that can fall on them, but there's all this debris that is nominally unstable. it's set its own stability temporarily, but it can always give way

cnn's natasha chen is on the scene in surfside. i know that every minute of this delay counts, natasha. talk to us about the timeline for this demolition and for the search and when that would pick up again. >> reporter: this demolition really has to happen because they are talking about the remaining part of the structure being unsafe for the people on site. they had to stop search and rescue operations at 4:00 p.m. yesterday to allow the engineers to prepare for this demolition. they are drilling into the columns of the existing remaining structure right now. right now they were hoping to have the building come down before this storm might come through this area around late monday. so that is the hope. but there is no specific exact time that they are going to have this demolition happen according to the miami-dade county mayor. the good news is she said there will not need to be any vaccination situations in the immediate area, though she will announce a perimeter around the area where this demolition will happen. here is the ma

cnn's natasha chen is live this morning in surfside, florida. what are you learning about the search and rescue effortsnatash? >> reporter: christi and boris, it's still ongoing, even though there's talk of having to potentially pause for that storm as it comes through. the demolition will also not occur until after that storm at the very least. you can imagine at this point that other residents in other buildings in this area are highly concerned about their own structures, to try to prevent a similar tragedy from happening. our colleague, brian todd, has obtained a letter from a person close to the champlain towers east building. i want to show you this letter that he obtained. it talks about this falling concrete on a pillar that occurred after the collapse of the south tower. it discusses shoring up that concrete there and also installing 13 sensors to monitor movement of other columns in the building, to ensure safety. i want to read this one part to you. it says, the board has been assured by seven different engineers that the building is

cnn's natasha chen is at a vaccination drive outside atlanta. are you seeing a number of people looking to be vaccinated, and what's bringing them out today and changing their minds? >> reporter: jessica, more than 200 people have come through to get vaccinated at this site in dekalb county, georgia, that's more than county officials expected. that's a good thing. there were people sort of skeptical in line about the vaccine but said it was the money being given out, $50 gift cards that brought them here. america is waking up to a new day of increased covid restrictions, president biden says we're likely to see more as cases of the highly contagious delta variant continue to rise. >> in all probability, by the way, had a good day yesterday, almost a million people got vaccinated, so i am hopeful people are beginning to realize ho how essential it is. >> they show the new rate of vaccinations the highest it has been in weeks. just under half the u.s. population is fully vaccinated. the fda says it is pulling in extra help to get covid-19 vaccines

natasha chen is live in birmingham, alabama. so, alabama one of the states where low infection rates are now, in effect, costing lives because we're seeing a jump in infections there. tell us how much and what health officials are doing about that. >> reporter: jim, it is a real challenge here. alabama is at the bottom of the list when you look at the 50 states and their vaccination rates. only about a third of people in alabama are vaccinated and that is why we, today, are at a unique vaccine clinic setup that is actually by the city of birmingham. they are having a rocket docket, a mass court event where people are coming in to take care of their traffic tickets, but they're hoping they'll also stop at this clinic that's being run by meds plus. that's why we have colleen long here. dr. colleen, can you tell us what your strategy is here? most of the people who come in will not be vaccinated and also don't know this is available to them. >> correct. our strategy is to basically engage the community. since thens these vaccine cl

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natasha chen is there. what progress are recovery workers today? >> the count is 91 and 31 still potentially unaccounted. >> officials say the stair welles are the place where they would have found more people, but that was not the case during this search. they are just combing through the entire area of debris and using heavy machinery to lift the pieces off the pile. 14 million pounds of concrete and debris have been removed from the site. as they are looking for people and they are finding their belongings and signs of the lives they've led and they're lifting the pieces so carefully that they told us they found an undamaged bottle of wine. they found someone's ring and heirlooms and the miami-dade county police director explained they've even brought rabbis to the site to help them understand and identify pieces that might be religiously important. here's what he said about that. >> it could be the smallest little thing to a common person just looks like a little container, but really means generations. it's very spiritual, and i'm just so impr

here's natasha chen. >> take it from me, i'm 15 years old. go get the vaccine. >> reporter: the effort to get covid vaccines into arms in alabama is an uphill battle. >> if you have not had the vaccination, then you are part of the problem. >> reporter: pastor cedric has passed out flyers in his community. sometimes he meets pushback from people who bring up the tuskegee experiment. he says it is not a good experiment, and he warns. >> you can't get your news from social media. >> reporter: but the rampant spread of misinformation on social media is the biggest hurdle according to officials. some are buying into false narratives including people under 30 who are the least vaccinated in alabama. birmingham city schools have been hosting vaccine clinics at their high schools, getting the band to play, cheer leaders to perform. >> go, fight. >> reporter: but some members of this pep squad still need a pep talk. half of these girls told cnn they are too scared to get vaccinated. they don't want the actual virus injected into them, which is not ho

thank you so much, natasha chen. >>> let's talk about this in further detail. joining me now is architect coby carp. good to see you. there are a lot of concerns, you know, about the remaining portion of that champlain towers south and, of course, now in other structures along miami beach and north miami beach. what are your concerns about the integrity of what remains? this as search and rescue teams continue to, you know, try to dive into that debris. >> number one, i want to thank you, and my heart and my prayers goes out to the families, to the neighbors that live in the neighboring community, as well. as you know, we have friends and family who live in such buildings adjacent. what's interesting here is that there is a new day, that we in miami-dade are creating here that is unique and special. everyone is looking at an existing building product in a new light. we've had these structures, but nobody has really focused on it like we are focusing on it now. in miami, florida, we are very cognisant of that, and we have done it in the past, specifically 1992 w

cnn's natasha chen is live outside of atlanta's drew charter school. natasha, tell us about this. >> reporter: yeah, brianna. school started on tuesday. cnn obtained a letter from the drew school to families, explaining they found out about the positive test cases on wednesday night and informed families on thursday whether their student had close contact with those positive test cases and now those students, more than 100 of them in quarantine. the head of school here told the atlanta journal constitution that the most impacted grades are two, six and seven and the positive test cases likely did not stem from this campus, although that's still under investigation. the head of school also told the hac that the staff who tested positive were not vaccinated. now, it's not required for employees to be vaccinated, but the head of school did tell the ajc about three quarters of them are. he also told the paper that about one third of the eligible students that's kids 12 and up are actually vaccinated. masks are required indoors at school. there was a requir

natasha chen. thank you so much for that. >>> joining me now to discuss is dr. swamenathan an emergency physician in new jersey. god to hear you. you heard natasha saying she talked to young people. while it's impressive, right, that there would be this kind of push to get young people vaccinated, natasha said some of the folks that she's talked to said that they remain scared about the idea of getting vaccinated. so what would be the message that you would send to them? >> this is a really hard thing because especially young people, they feel invulnerable. we know this, we know this from science, from public health, from medicine. the message has to be that what we are seeing right now is a lot of young people getting sick from covid. and not just that they're developing very severe disease and needing to be hospitalized in the icu which is happening, but also there is the effects of long covid, that these young kids are going to have, that we don't fully understand at this point. so as much as a shot might hurt, the benefits of that shot far outweigh the risks

our natasha chen is outside of atlanta drew charter school. this has us so worried about what is ahead as school districts open. >> reporter: yeah, poppy, there is a lot of frustration here. we have heard from the head of school who told the atlanta journal constitution that these few positive test cases likely did not stem from campus, but they are still looking into that. what we do have is a letter from the head of school to families explaining that on wednesday night they found out about these positive test cases. by thursday they had informed families of the students who were in close contact, so now more than 100 of them are in quarantine. now, the head of school also told the hac that the staff members who tested positive were not vaccinated. there's no requirement for employees to be vaccinated, but the head of school said that three quarters of them are. he also told the hac that about a third of the eligible students 12 and up are vaccinated at the school. so there's a frustration here among the parents, one that we talked to said th

let's go live now to cnn's natasha chen. she's live at a vaccination site in dekalb county, georgia, with that story. natasha, what kind of incentives are being offered there, and are they working? >> well, boris and christi, this is billed as a back to school vaccination event, so they're giving out backpacks as well as $50 prepaid debit cards. i can tell you, the $50, that is working. because there were people lined up even before this event began. it's been going on for just about two hours now, and they have vaccinated about 100 people. that's definitely more interest than they've been seeing in the past, so something as simple as a gift card could be the trick here. the seven-day average of a new vaccination dose administered, that has also increased just as it has across the country, as you were saying here in georgia. it is 85% higher than it was three weeks ago. that average dose administered to people in the state here. so that is a positive sign. it is a race against time. it is also still a challenge convincing pe

. >> natasha chen joining us live now from surfside. boy, what a tough time today and the last 17 days have been. what is happening there? >> reporter: yeah, fred, a tough time, especially for the families of those 86 people confirmed dead. 43 still potentially unaccounted for. we do notice that the pace of finding people has really picked up in the last week, ever since the demolition of the remaining part of the building last weekend. that's because the rescuers have been able to get and access more of the pile. the people being found, i asked about whether there's any pattern to where in the rubble they're being found and where, potentially, what floors they might have lived on. there is no pattern, i'm told. they're found throughout the entire site. also, there are two i haveffort going on, not just finding the victims but also removing the rubble from the demolition area from last weekend. that's going at a faster pace than expected right now. there was a brief stoppage this morning at 7:00 a.m. because of lightning strikes, they r

natasha chen, cnn, surfside, florida. >>> now, more than 30 million people across the western united states are under heat alerts, at the moment. another historic heat wave hitting from the canadian border all the way down to the mexican border. how hot is it? well, more than 100 record-high temperatures are forecast to be broken throughout tuesday morning. already, death valley in california hit 130 degrees fahrenheit, on friday. the hottest of the -- day of the year, so far. and inching ever closer to the all-time record of 134 degrees. let's bring in meteorologist, derek van dam. what's going on, derek? >> yeah. you know, michael, of all the extreme-weather and natural disasters that we report on here at cnn weather. we have some of the strongest direct-linked evidence to the frequency and duration of heat waves linking that to climate change. more similarly, to coastal flooding than flooding. and less limited evidence, i should say, with linking climate change to things, like tornados and the frequency of hurricanes. but really, that heat wave frequency and duration is something

natasha chen is there in surfside and was also at a news conference that just took place a short time ago so what are they saying? >> reporter: yeah, fred, the new demolition plan is a departure about what we heard yesterday. the new plan, try to get the remaining part to come down before the storm possibly hits this area so with the storm possibly coming through here late monday, they would like the building to come down before then, because they don't want this storm to take it down for them and possibly go in the wrong direction so that is the new strategy and the governor did speak today saying once there is a green light this process can happen quickly within 36 hours. again, this is different from what was told to us yesterday and the county mayor said that is because a new demolition expert was brought to them who knew how to do this very quickly. and what they would do is create a tarp, put a tarp over the area that's already been searched so that when the demolition happens, they can differentiate between the debris that's already been searched and the debris that hasn't been

natasha chen, cnn, surfside, florida. >>> a little more than six months after the u.s. capitol was stormed by a violent mob of trump supporters, the final section of security fencing, added after the insurrection, has been removed. there are now concerns about how the campus will be protected, going forward. and if capitol police will have the resources they need. they are having staffing and recruitment issues, and the house and senate have yet to agree on a funding package. >>> a symbol at the heart of white supremacist violence has been taken down in charlottesville, virginia. on saturday, statues of confederate generals, robert e. lee and stonewall jackson were trucked away and banished to storage. almost four years ago, white nationalists commandeered the debate over the city's effort to remove the lee statue. their unite the right rally turned violent and deadly, as neo-nazis fought with counter-protestors. cnn's evan mcmorris-santoro reports from charlottesville. >> reporter: three hours and a saturday morning, charlottesville has wanted for years. a monument to

cnn's natasha chen joins me with more. >> reporter: ryan, the bad news is the number of new covid cases have been rising in the state of georgia. the good news is so has the vaccination rate. the seven-day average of new vaccination doses administered is up 85% since three weeks ago. one thing we're seeing that's working today at this site is that incentives work. they're giving out $50 pre-paid debit cards. we've seen lines of cars even before the event started at 8:00 a.m. today they've vaccinated more than 200 people. we talked to the very first person in line who showed up in a wheelchair. he arrived by public transit. i talked to him about the dangers of covid but here he is, talking about what really drove him to get here today. if you are unvaccinated, you're 25 times more likely to end up in the hospital or die from covid. >> right, right. i've been listening to all of that. but really, like i say, the money is what got me here. you know, just bottom line. but i know eventually they're going to have to go up, because some people are only going to come for an incentive. you know,

let's get a closer onthe ground view of what's going on with cnn's natasha chen. she's at a vaccination site in birmingham, alabama, one of the states that's been lagging in vaccinations and not coincidentally seeing cases spike. natasha, what are you hearing from officials there about this challenge that they're up against and the incentives that they're offering people to get vaccinated? >> reporter: yeah, we just talked to a health official here who told me it's an uphill battle sometimes convincing people to get vaccinated. now we're inside a high school gym where the vaccine clinic is happening today. you're seeing -- you're hearing a deejay playing music, you're seeing a festive sphere that's really trying to target young people who are among the least vaccinated in the state. we met a girl, kennedy brown, you'll see video of her here getting her shot. she's about to become a sophomore, and she was actually very nervous to get her vaccine, but her mother is the one who took her here, said, you know, it is happening, and she had the support of her entire chee

cnn's natasha which chen joins h the latest. so, natasha, describe the scene there for us. >> reporter: yeah, pamela, the israeli rescue team. the israeli defense forces. they will be returning home, tomorrow. so tonight, the local leaders held a ceremony at a church, a few blocks away from here. thanked them, along with other first responders. and miami-dade county mayor, daniella levine cava, gave a couple of keys to the city to the team. gave some medals to them. really, a deep appreciation for these partners and friends they have developed here. and they, also, met with family members of the victims, too, who thanked them for their services. after all this wrapped up, just a few minutes ago, they actually returned to the pile to continue working, tonight, even as it's raining, now. even though they're leaving tomorrow. they're -- the pace of finding people has really picked up, over the past week, especially after the demolition of the remaining part of the building so that search teams could really access more parts of the

natasha chen is in alabama, the state with the lowest percentage of vaccinations in the country. natasha, how are folks hoping to turn it around? >> fred, it is all about messaging. reaching out to certain pockets of the community. right now, the state, about one-third of people in alabama have gotten at least one dose. the problem is mostly the younger demographic, folks that are 12 to 29. as far as 18 to 29-year-olds, under a quarter of them are getting vaccinated, getting the first dose. that's why we're at the high school gym where they had a pop up vaccine clinic today. they've had more than 80 people come through today, more than they expected, but it is a real challenge to combat a lot of myths and misinformation floating around there. we talked to the kree of alabama medical services running this clinic today. he says this touched his own family. >> yesterday got a call from my uncle who didn't get the vaccine, guess what, he is in the hospital. i asked him and my family members to take the vaccine, and he hemmed and hawed, decided not to take it now. hopefully he comes o

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let's take you now live to surfside, florida and cnn's natasha chen live with our top story. natasha, bring us up to speed. what is the latest? >> reporter: boris, the search and rescue mission really resumed shortly after that demolition at 10:30 p.m. last night. i'm told they got back on site 20 minutes later and continued searching and the families have been very grateful for that action. so urgently resuming. so right now that controlled demolition has really helped in making sure that they could access areas that they weren't able to get to before. prior to the demolition, it was difficult for the search and rescue teams to get to the part closest to the remaining structure because of the instability of that building. and there was concern, of course, that the storm would take it down in the wrong direction or on top of people. so doing this in a controlled manner, that way they could now get to more areas and that is going to be a more productive and safer way to go about this experience right now. the mayor of miami-dade county has explained to people why this was the

. >> cnn's natasha chen is on the scene for us in surfside. natasha, every minute counts now. so walk us through the timeline for the demolition. >> reporter: there is no specific time announced yet for when the rest of this biluildin is coming down but the hope is that it can be done by the time this this storm might roll into this area, which could be late monday. as far as what they are doing to prepare for that demolition right now, engineers are drilling into the columns of the remaining structure. there is a team from the national science foundation gathering evidence right now, including with 3d imaging technology, and that's so there is as much evidence as possible for investigators later to help determine the cause of this collapse. and so there is a lot of preparation going on right now. that's why the search and rescue operation paused. as of yesterday at 4:00 p.m., once the engineers are finished with with their work they will deem whether it's safe for the search and rescue operation to continue. the governor yesterday said that as soon as the green light is given

cnn's natasha chen is live for us this morning in surfside. good morning to you. so it may seem counter intuitive to folks at home, but this full demolition is actually supposed to make the recovery efforts easier now. explain how that works. >> reporter: that's right, laura. this is definitely safer now for search and rescue teams to continue. that space behind us between the buildings right there, that's where the shamplain towers south used to be, and now it is not. you can't see it from where we are anymore. that is because the blast you just showed that happened just after 10:30 p.m., and people in the vicinity were asked to stay inside, to close their doors, close their windows and actually put their air-conditioning on recirculation so that it keeps the dust and debris outside and not into peopless homes. what this does now is the search and rescue teams can now access areas they previously weren't able to, for example, very close to the remaining standing structure up until this point. they weren't able to get close to that because of the it stability of t

natasha chen is at a vaccination drive in the atlanta area. obviously, there is a big push to get more people vaccinated right now. what are you seeing today? what are you hearing from people who are showing up to get vaccinated? >> reporter: well, jessica, it's clear that incentives actually work. because this is the largest number of people dekalb county has seen at recent vaccination events in the last month or so. that is partially because people are wanting the debit cards that are being given out. $50 debit cards for each person who gets a shot today. the first person in line that we talked to said he definitely came because of that. just now, they told us they reached 200 people vaccinated since this event started at 8:00 a.m. eastern time. we did also talk to some families who brought their young kids here. of course, you have to be 12 or older to get the vaccine. but school is starting in this area next week. here's one parent who talked about what it's like sending children to school right now as cases keep rising. >> in life, there'

cnn's natasha chen is with us. we know dekalb county is a lot of places in georgia, where experts are encouraging people, roll up your sleeves. get vaccinated and they're pointing out some of their own incentives to do this. any indication it's working this morning, natasha? >> reporter: christi, the incentive is definitely working. they're giving out $50 pre-paid debit cards and there was a line before this even started. you can see all of the folks behind me, they're getting good numbers here. that is a good sign. it's tracking with what we see across the country that vaccination rates are on the steady rise. especially a sharp increase in some southern states that have been lagging in vaccinations, this is definitely a race against time. a race against that delta variant. america is waking up to a new day of increased covid restrictions and president biden says we're likely to see more as cases of the highly contagious delta variant continue to rise. >> in all probability -- by the way, we had a good day yesterd

natasha chen is live outside of the drew charter school for more on this. what more could you tell us. >> reporter: well the head of school just chatted with us. there are now a few more cases that originally reported so it is a handful of positive test cases. most of the employees who tested positive were not vaccinated. one of them one. now he said, he told the atlanta journal constitution that one-third of the kids eligible for a vaccine, that is 12 and up, are actually vaccinated but very tough to manage this in a situation where so many children are not eligible for the vaccine. so you have more than a hundred students in quarantine. and we did speak to one parent and child who attends the school and the student is frustrated because she just got back to in-person learning. >> i feel like they should not have everybody back inside of the school. because they could catch it too. >> i feel mad. at same time i don't because i don't want to catch it and i feel mad because i just got inside and i just spent money on my stuff. and, yes, and it is like, we're

. >> thanks to natasha chen. the partisan divide on vaccines, namely republican hesitancy based on polling and what we know, is based on misinformation and distrust in large part. covid as identity politics may be most striking in this kaiser poll on the level of trust for sources of vaccine information. the vast majority of both democrats and republicans trust their doctors, but gop supporters have little faith in other information sources. in fact, fewer than half trust the cdc or their state government. only 30% trust dr. anthony fauci and even fewer believe in president biden. our next guest is among 13 members of the house gop doctors caucus who took part in this psa that puts aside politics to debunk misinformation and tout the sicience and benefits of getting vaccinated. congressman buddy carter of georgia joins me from savannah. you're a pharmacist and you represent one of the states that has one of the lower vaccination rates. why did you and your colleagues in the medical field feel it was so important

let's begin with natasha chen live in birmingham, alabama. and you saw firsthand how much demand or how little demand there is for the vaccine in that state, in that area. >> reporter: right, kate. yesterday we were at a clinic at a church where 11 people showed up all afternoon. right now what you're seeing behind me is a line of people going into a city of birmingham court event, it is a rocket doct, they're here to take care of traffic tickets but the city thought it was a good opportunity to offer vaccines, so that is why there is a vaccine clinic set up in hopes that some people might stop in and get their shot. and in talking to the pharmacy running this clinic, they've been trying to convince people and that is a very difficult task. so far they've convinced two people. one of them just got his shot and so each one seems like a victory for them. we're talking about a state where just about 34% of people in alabama are fully vaccinated and among the least vaccinated is the younger age group, under 30. and so some of what you were descri

natasha chen is in surfside, florida, with the latest. so how much of a difference does it make that the rescue and recovery teams could access the full site of the collapsed building now? >> reporter: well this is going to be a big deal, jim. because prior to the demolition he were were told that search and rescue teams couldn't access the part closest to the building, the remaining parts of the building itself and that was because of the instability of the structure. they were concerned about the storm potentially taking the building down for them in the wrong direction, making that an immediate threat on the people on site. so this is a controlled way of bringing it down and as you said, now they have more access to the rest of the debris pile. of course a very nerve-wracking things for families to see because when you're watching that come down, that is people's lives. their furniture, their possessions that they were hoping to retrieve. but there has been communication with them to make sure they understand this is the best course of