Spiegel Stuff: The Hill's 12:30 Report — Presented by AT&T — Former CDC director previews a tough school year ahead | Biden sits with Stephanopoulos | House Intel gets 1st Afghanistan hearing | SC GOP plans WH’24 cattle call | NJ Gov. Murphy cruising | ICUs fill up in South | Maricopa wants its money

Presented by AT&T

NEWS THIS MORNING

Delta Variant Ripples Outward

The summer coronavirus surge is beginning to pose a real risk to the school year as it ripples out from its Southern epicenter into states across the nation. As kids head back to the classroom, we called former CDC director Richard Besser, who now heads the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to ask what we can expect in the next few weeks. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

The Hill: Where do you think we stand in the course of the delta variant surge?

Besser: It's really hard to predict when you look at delta variant and how it spread in different countries. The delta variant is continuing to rise, nationally, at a time when children are going back to school, at a time when people will be moving towards more indoor activities. And if we don't take it seriously in terms of ramping up vaccination coverage and following guidance in terms of other public health measures, we could see more and more of our health care system getting overwhelmed.

The Hill: Is there a way to gauge where the surge is headed next?

Besser: Clearly states that have the lowest vaccine coverage are as the greatest risk, but in each and every state vaccine coverage is unevenly distributed. And so I expect that every state will get tested and challenged by the delta variant.

The Hill: Do you think it’s safe to go back to school?

Besser: I do, but with some caveats. Schools [that] put in place measures to reduce transmission to protect children staff and teachers have been able to do so successfully, and we've seen rates of transmission in schools that are far below that of the surrounding community. I think the right place for children is in school.

With that being said, this is going to be a very challenging school year. We will see transmission in schools, even in schools that are doing all the right things, and so what I expect we will see is that schools will open. Kids will be in class, there'll be periods of time where schools are going to have to shut down and move back to remote learning that puts an incredible burden on parents to be able to have to be able to be flexible to be able to take care of their children. And what we've seen in America is that this hits working women the hardest, and within the group of working women, women of color, definitely the hardest.

The Hill: What can we say about how much of a threat the delta variant actually poses to kids?

Besser: I haven't seen convincing data that this variant is more dangerous to children. But the fact that more children are getting sick means that more children will end up in the hospital, or children will develop the inflammatory syndrome that's been seen with COVID. More children will develop long term symptoms. And unfortunately, more children will die. How severe this impact is on children, depends in part on what children do in terms of wearing masks, but is more driven by what those around them do. The thing that we can do that will protect our children the most is ensure that we ourselves are vaccinated, that those around our children are vaccinated. And then we help those who have yet to make a decision to get vaccinated.

The Hill: We hit 200 million Americans who have gotten at least one shot yesterday. Are you satisfied with the progress we’ve made on vaccine acceptance?

Besser: I think we are making continued progress towards vaccine acceptance but not sufficient progress. What will help get this under control is more and more people getting vaccinated here. And more and more people being given the opportunity to be vaccinated around the globe. And on both of those fronts, there's still a lot of work to be done.

A MESSAGE FROM AT&T

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It’s Thursday. I’m Reid Wilson, filling in for Cate today with a quick recap of the morning and what’s coming up. Send comments, story ideas and events for our radar to rwilson@thehill.com.

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IN THE WHITE HOUSE

Biden’s First Post-Afghanistan Interview

Lots of coverage in The Hill this morning of President Biden’s sit-down with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. Some highlights:

— Biden denied that top military commanders recommend he leave 2,500 troops in Afghanistan in the midst of peace negotiations with the Taliban. The Wall Street Journal reported in April that Joint Chiefs chairman Mark Milley, NATO commander Gen. Austin Miller and CentCom chief Gen. Frank McKenzie recommended maintaining a presence.

— Biden said he doesn’t believe the Taliban has changed in the 20 years since they lost power. “Let me put it this way. I think they're going through sort of an existential crisis about [whether] they want to be recognized by the international community as being a legitimate government. I'm not sure they do.”

— The Taliban has seized billions in U.S. weapons, including Black Hawk helicopters, A-29 Super Tucano attack aircraft, Humvees and rifles. From The Hill’s Rebecca Kheel.

FIRST HILL HEARING SET

From The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch: The House Intelligence Committee will hold a hearing Monday on the fallout from the U.S. withdrawal. At least four congressional committees are planning hearings.

IN THE STATES

Audits Have Consequences

Via The Arizona Republic, Maricopa County has formally asked the Arizona state Senate for $2.8 million to replace the voting machines that are no longer useable after the Senate’s auditors broke the chain of custody. The county now has to lease new machines for its upcoming elections after an audit that’s losing support even among the Senate Republicans who initially voted for it.

Beach Holiday

Via The State, the South Carolina Republican Party will hold a new policy conference Oct. 29-31 in Myrtle Beach in hopes of attracting White House 2024 hopefuls. A reminder, the Republican National Committee’s new committee tasked with overseeing the 2024 calendar is stacked with the chairs of the Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada state parties, so don’t expect much of a change in the early order of nominating contests.

Phil in the Blanks

A new Monmouth University poll shows New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) romping to re-election over Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli. Murphy leads Ciattarelli 52 percent to 36 percent, and 62 percent of New Jersey voters say they have no opinion of Ciattarelli.

THAT’LL WORK:

When a New Jersey city councilman didn’t hear back on his open records request from city leaders for 12 hours, he tried a novel approach: He called 911 to ask for a welfare check on the mayor and the police chief. Yeah, he’s in trouble now.

A MESSAGE FROM AT&T

LATEST WITH THE CORONAVIRUS

ICUs Filling Up

Alabama has run out of intensive care unit beds as the delta variant wave sweeps over Southern states. Hospitals in Houston have erected overflow tents outside. Arkansas hospitals are close to capacity.

This graph from the Los Angeles Times had me reeling: “In Arizona, a special COVID-19 hotline is getting desperate calls from hospitals in Wyoming, Arkansas, Texas and California who are in search of bed space. Often, there are no takers.”

CASE NUMBERS:

Coronavirus cases in the U.S.: 37,167,353 people have been infected in the United States, with an average of 140,893 new cases a day over the last week.

U.S. death toll: 624,318 people have died, up an average of 809 a day in the last week.

Breakdown of the numbers: https://cnn.it/2UAgW3y

VACCINATION NUMBERS:

Total number of vaccinations administered in the U.S.: 359 million shots have been given.

Seven-day average of doses administered: An average of 774,118 doses in the last week.

For context: The U.S. population is roughly 331 million.

Breakdown of the numbers: https://bloom.bg/3iVTPLH

NOTABLE TWEETS:

Dispatches From the Boots on the Ground

Peas, Peas Me

Wow, that actually looks delicious....

Naomi Osaka shows her support for Haiti:

I Want Sec. Haaland's Tour Guides...

ON TAP:

The House and Senate are out. President Biden and Vice President Harris are in D.C. They met with the national security team to receive an update on Afghanistan this morning. Later, they will meet with the coronavirus task force and Congressional leaders ahead of the House’s return next week.

WHAT TO WATCH:

2 p.m. EDT: State Department Press Secretary Ned Price briefs reporters. Livestream: https://www.c-span.org/video/?514163-1/state-department-briefing

2:30 p.m. EDT: Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), an Afghanistan vet, discusses U.S. efforts to relocate Afghans to other nations. Livestream: https://www.c-span.org/video/?514159-1/rep-seth-moulton-afghanistan

NOW FOR THE FUN STUFF...:

Today is National Soft-Serve Ice Cream Day.

A True American Hero

Next time you’re sitting in a restaurant regretting your decision not to order the fajitas, cast a happy thought toward the memory of Mama Ninfa Laurenzo, a product of the Rio Grande Valley who introduced fajitas to the American restaurant scene. After her husband died and their tortilla factory failed, Mama Ninfa opened a tiny restaurant that served fajitas – and she sold 250 on her first day in business.

And because you made it this far, here’s s dog working on its modeling career: https://bit.ly/3AbkUSa