Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Passengers Disembark Quarantined Cruise Ship In Japan; Rivals Accuse Bloomberg Of Buying Presidency; Killing Of Young Girl Causes National Outrage; U.S. Evacuated 300 plus American Citizens from Cruise Ship; U.K. Reeling from Storm Dennis. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired February 19, 2020 - 01:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[01:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Studio 7 at CNN's World Headquarters in Atlanta. Ahead this hour, the quarantine that failed. As the vacation from hell finally comes to an end for passages on the Diamond Princess, hundreds are infected and thousands exposed to the coronavirus.

He's been everywhere but nowhere. A (INAUDIBLE) presence in the race of the Democrats presidential nomination but now it's crunch time for billionaire Mike Bloomberg. And it's pardon-palooza. You get a pardon, you get a pardon, and you get a pardon. But wait, there's more. The U.S. President might not be done handing out the get out of jail free card.

The death toll from the novel coronavirus has spiked once more. China says another 136 people have died across the mainland. Well, the second death has been reported in Hong Kong. The virus has now killed more than 2,000 people and infected more than 75,000 worldwide. But China says some 14,000 patients have recovered and being discharged from hospital. And the World Health Organization warns a vaccine we take at least another 12 to 18 months.

Meantime in Yokohama, Japan, passengers who tested negative for the virus on a quarantine cruise ship have started to disembark. They were refused permission to leave for more than two weeks. CNN's Will Ripley live again this hour in Yokohama where the ship has been docked. Not exactly the best result. When you look at what happened, they arrived with one confirmed case on board, 16, 17 days later, they leave with more than 500, 545 to be precise, as well as thousands exposed to this.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And you have infectious disease experts including a Japanese professor at Kobe University telling us that not only are these passengers at risk of becoming infected on the boat, but now that they're being allowed to walk off the boat, from what was considered to be not only -- not a quarantine or failed quarantine, but perhaps an incubator or a petri dish, a breeding ground for infection. You can see why there is growing concern that now you're allowing

these people off the ship with a letter saying that everything's just fine. They've completed 14 days and they can go back to school and work and they can go on public transportation. Look, what we're seeing now is obviously welcome news for the people on the ship who've been confined to their cabins and have just wanted to get back to their lives. But is it safe? Well, a Japanese professor that I just mentioned is saying no, it's not.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENTARO IWATA, PROFESSOR OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES, KOBE UNIVERSITY: Inside Princess Diamond, I was so scared. I was so scared of getting quarantined because there was no way to tell where the virus is. No green zone, no red zone, everybody there could have virus and everybody was not careful about it. There was no single professional infection control person inside the ship. And there was nobody in charge of the infection prevention as a professional. The bureaucrats are in charge of everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: That was the view from someone who visited the ship just yesterday. And now today, people are being allowed off. I interviewed that professor. And he actually told me, John, that people could even potentially be infected as they walk off because of the fact that there is nobody who's an infectious disease specialist managing the situation.

And that perhaps is why the United States, and Canada, and Australia, and all these other countries that are evacuating and repatriating their citizens are putting them under 14-day quarantine once they arrive back in their home countries. But what about all the others, the thousands of others who will be allowed to disembark in the coming days and could basically walk right into an airport, fly home, get on a plane?

Those are questions that as of now, the Japanese government is answering, In fact, the health ministry when we brought up this professor's concerns, they simply told us that was his opinion, and they have no comment.

VAUSE: Here's another question for the health ministry of Japan. Today is February 19th. On February 6th, passengers race concerned about the virus being spread through the ventilation system onboard the boat going from cabin, to cabin, to cabin, to cabin. There is also concerned about maybe was being spread through the pipes, through -- you know, through the ventilation of the pipes, and all these sort of means possible. This was raised in the very early days of the quarantine. They did nothing about it. RIPLEY: And it might not even be as complex as coming through the air

vents because they were trying to reassure passengers that the air that they were breathing in their cabins was fresh air from the outside. But you had crew members, who some of whom had become infected who were bringing towels, and linens, and food, and toys, and various other things to the rooms, and they're going from room to room.

[01:05:16]

And we've seen photos from the crew quarters because we've been communicating with crew members as well as passengers, and we've seen that crew members are not in full hazmat gear there. Some of them weren't even wearing masks all the time. So imagine if somebody you know, was next to another crew member who was infected and then they went to a stateroom, and then they went to another, and then they went to 100 other staterooms over the course of their shifts.

This is not in any way to diminish the hard and valiant work of the crew members who themselves have to now undergo another quarantine once all the passengers are off the ship. I mean, this has been an ordeal for them. But when you look at a disease infection rate of two percent which means that one out of every -- I'm sorry, which means that two out of every 100 people by you know statistical average die as a result of becoming infected with this, and you had 3,700 people on board that ship, those numbers are good reason to be concerned especially for a country like Japan that has taken such stringent measures in terms of keeping everybody locked in their cabins because they're worried about, you know, the effect on their most important sporting event in decades coming up in just a matter of months, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

VAUSE: I never do math on a but two percent of 3,700 passengers in cruise is 74 people did. That's just the average. We'll see what happens. Will, thank you. Will Ripley live for us in Yokohama. Well, for the coming days, the focus in U.S. politics will be on the state of Nevada where Michael Bloomberg will make his first appearance on the debate stage and mixing it up with his rivals for the Democratic nomination.

Bloomberg's multi-million-dollar advertising blitz appears to be paying off. A new NPR-Maris College Poll shows Bernie Sanders as the solid front runner 31 percent, but Bloomberg who has not ended any of the early states is second with 19 percent, enough to qualify for Wednesday's debate in Las Vegas.

Political Analyst Michael Genovese is with us now from Los Angeles. So, Michael, good to see you. And now, look, Mike, Bernie Sanders, he was part of a CNN Town Hall on Tuesday. He's asked specifically about Bloomberg actually qualifying for the debate in Las Vegas. This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, Mr. Bloomberg has every right in the world to run for president of the United States. He's an American citizen. But I don't think he has the right to buy this election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: OK, so here's the thing. For months, Bloomberg has been everywhere but nowhere. He's bought every screen money he can buy. Now comes the moment of truth when he has to step out that very expensive comfort zone and actually start campaigning. And this is when the money won't matter.

MICHAEL GENOVESE, POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, unless there be any confusion. We'll easily be able to recognize Mike Bloomberg on the stage at the debate because he'll be the one with the big target on his forehead. This -- he's the man all of the Democrats seem to be going after because he's the one who's rising the fastest. So what's unusual is that Bernie Sanders, maybe the front runner, but the one they fear most is Mike Bloomberg.

And so you may get on Wednesday night a food fight, you may get a demolition derby, but it's mostly going to be aimed at Mike Bloomberg.

VAUSE: And then the U.S. President knows just how far to twist the knife to rile up the Bernie supporters. This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It just seems unfair what's happening to Bernie Sanders, to be honest with you. I watched it happen four years ago. It seems that Bernie Sanders and that whole big section of the Democratic Party or as I call it, the Democrat Party, which is really the correct name, it seems they're taken advantage of like they were four years ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Here's the question. If this primary race to Democrats is all about electability and you have Donald Trump now on a very strong position come November, doesn't that help Bloomberg in terms of eligibility if there is going to be a tough fight with Donald Trump? But here's the question, will the Bernie supporters get behind Bloomberg if he is the eventual nominee?

GENOVESE: First of all, Donald Trump doesn't hide his emotions. He wants to run against Bernie. He thinks Bernie will be the weakest candidate. He thinks he can crush them. He fears most Mike Bloomberg because Bloomberg fights back. He's got that New York hutzpah and he can go after Trump.

Plus, remember in the Forbes rating of who's the richest, Mr. Bloomberg rates number eight, Trump to 75. That gets under Trump's skin in so many ways. The big question then becomes if Bloomberg or Person X gets the nomination, will a lot of the Bernie supporters, as some did in 2016 either sit out the race or what was worse in 2016, some of the Bernie folks voted for Trump.

And so that's the big elephant in the room that we don't know the answer to that question. Bernie's folks are loyal to him the way Trump's folks are loyal to him. But can that loyalty be transferred? That's a tough call.

VAUSE: Very quickly on this issue. I mean, we had Donald Trump last elections, a billionaire -- alleged billionaire in the race. This time around, if Bloomberg does get the nomination again, the battle of the billionaires. Is it still the case of the U.S. politics that if you're not a billionaire, or you know a billionaire who's a very good friend, essentially running for president is just out of the picture?

[01:10:11]

GENOVESE: No. I think that's a misimpression. I think it's a misimpression because Bernie has demonstrated that you can do it with small contributions if you have a wide net. Also, it's the conventional way of raising money that a number of the other candidates have been engaged in.

So yes, if I had my druthers, I'd rather be the billionaire in the room, but you don't have to be. Plus, billionaires and wealthy candidates don't always win. In fact, quite often, they lose. So they don't have the greatest track record. The American people are ornery and cantankerous. They have their own way of figuring out who they want to vote for. If they want a billionaire, they'll take one. If they want someone else, they'll go after that.

So I don't think that the billionaire boys club as you could call it is going to dramatically affect the way fundraising or presidential politics is played in the future.

VAUSE: Well, a sign that this President seems very comfortable right now and willing to do whatever he actually wants. President Trump handed out a bunch of pardons, clemencies to 11 convicted criminals. Michael, you'll stay with us but in the meantime, a quick report from Kaitlan Collins.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: Yes, we have commuted the sentence of Rod Blagojevich.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The former Governor of Illinois was serving 14 years after he was convicted of essentially trying to sell President Barack Obama's open Senate seat for personal gain. He wants appeared on The Apprentice, but was fired by Trump on the show.

TRUMP: But Rod, you're fired.

COLLINS: Though lately, Trump has paid attention to efforts by his family to get him out of prison.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know the President has got a lot on his hands.

TRUMP: I watched his wife on television. I don't know him very well.

COLLINS: Trump came close to commuting Blagojevich's sentence last summer before being talked out of it by Illinois Republicans who warned him about the blowback he'd face for intervening in what many saw as the pay to play scheme he campaigned against.

TRUMP: It was a prosecution by the same people, Comey, Fitzpatrick, the same group. COLLINS: Today, the President also pardoned former New York City Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik, who was found guilty of eight felonies including tax fraud and lying to White House officials.

TRUMP: Yes, I just pardoned Bernie Kerik, a man who has had many recommendations from a lot of good people.

COLLINS: The President has also watched Kerik on Fox News where he appeared last night. Kerik was also heavily involved in the case of Eddie Gallagher, the Navy SEAL accused of war crimes whom Trump also recently cleared.

BERNARD KERIK, FORMER POLICE COMMISSIONER, NEW YORK: This was a retaliatory measure by the admiral. An admiral that has overseen this entire corrupt, unethical, and criminal investigation, and should be booted from the Navy Seals.

COLLINS: Trump didn't stop there. He also pardon the former owner of the San Francisco 49ers Eddie DeBartolo who was found guilty of attempting to conceal an extortion attempt. And Michael Milken, the 1980s investment banker known as the junk bonds king who was sought wiped clean his securities fraud conviction for decades.

TRUMP: He paid a big price, paid a very tough price, but he's done an incredible job.

COLLINS: Despite all of that, the President wouldn't say if he's considering leniency for his longtime friend Roger Stone, who was said to be sentenced in just two days.

TRUMP: I haven't given it any thought.

COLLINS: Sources say that's not true, and that Trump has wade pardoning Stone in recent weeks, as Stone's allies have lobbied the president to do so.

TRUMP: I'm actually, I guess, the chief law enforcement officer of the country.

COLLINS: Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: And Michael, last I checked, the President of the United States is not the chief law enforcement officer. That would be the attorney general who according to reporting from Kaitlan, has considered resigning over President Trump's interference with the Justice Department matters making his tweets, according to a source close to the situation.

But the reality is, if the Republicans in Congress are willing to give this president a free pass on pretty much anything, he can do what every damn well pleases.

GENOVESE: And he's done a good job of that. I'm mean, so open the floodgates. Let all who are corrupt go free. This is -- this is questionably one of the more bizarre roads down which Trump may go because you wonder if this is just an Amuse-bouche, and the main courses to follow. The main course being Stone, Flynn, Manafort, and then maybe even a self-pardon.

But it's an attempt to make common that which is uncommon. To normalize this notion that we can just let white-collar criminals go free there. They were all mistreated. The Justice Department is after people who are rich, it's after us, and I'm one of the victims as well. So, you know, you try to desensitize people to the fact that you're in a series of cases, pardoning people who are convicted of federal crimes of a very serious nature. So let's try to normalize it. Let's just try to make it just a very common thing.

VAUSE: And President Obama used his authority to grant clemency, I think, to about 2,000 inmates at one point who'd received very tough mandatory sentences. The point was to highlight the need for justice reform which is a policy issue.

The Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, noted on Twitter, "There are 175,000 federal prisoners. Many are serving harsh sentences that deserved mercy. Yet Trump uses pads almost exclusively for political supporters, wealthy individuals, contestants on his T.V. show, and worse abuses are almost surely to come."

The authority for a president to pardon is sweeping, but is it absolute? Is there a point -- I guess it doesn't really matter now, though, that it becomes an abuse of power?

[01:15:39]

GENOVESE: The only limitation on the President's pardon power is in cases of impeachment. Beyond that, the courts have been very clear and the Constitution makes it very clear that Donald Trump is correct. He has wide latitude on pardons. But again, there are norms that you don't simply violate willy nilly. And that's what Donald Trump has made a history of doing in his first three years. Any norm that he confronts, he's ready to tear down if it gains him some leverage, some power.

And so that the rail guards -- the guardrails rather, on democracy are being torn down and they're crumbling before our very eyes because Donald Trump says, anything I want to do I can do. I have an article two. Well, you have an article two, but it doesn't say anything like that. But it's the norms that are really being violated. Yes, any president can pardon any -- pretty much anyone he wants, but most presidents don't.

VAUSE: Yes, that's the point. Most presidents do not. And if you keep saying it over and over and over again, it becomes accepted, I guess. Michael, as always, thank you so much. I appreciate you being with us.

GENOVESE: Thank you, John.

VAUSE: Still to come, the U.N. says the humanitarian crisis in Syria is reaching a horrifying level. The brutal conditions now facing those who are fleeing the fighting. That's ahead. Also, women are being murdered at the highest rate that Mexico seen in decades. The public is outraged and blaming the government.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN INTERNATIONAL METEOROLOGIST: A Sunny February afternoon shaping up for large parts of the United States. I'm meteorologist Pedram Javaheri. From the southwest, to the northwest, all the way into the northeastern United States, sunshine should be plentiful. It is in the central region of the U.S. where some wintry weather is expected and the soggy is part of the country has to be right here at the southern tier along the Gulf Coast where a significant flood risk once again in place, a lot of rainfall in recent days, additional rainfall lingers through much of Wednesday afternoon.

But notice this. When you're talking about Chicago in the middle and latter portion of February, anytime you're hovering around average, that is considered a good place to be. And that is certainly going to be the case the next couple of days, a little below that by Thursday afternoon. But notice what happens in the upcoming weekend. Not only do we not see any opportunity for any wintry weather those temperatures climb up to as warm is eight degrees and incredible run of Spring Lake warmth on the horizon across portions of the Midwestern United States.

But notice along the Gulf Coast, again, the trend continues Houston all the way towards Jacksonville. Rainfall is going to be plentiful and certainly the heaviest of which from Montgomery eastward into Savannah, Georgia are flooding. The risk there is the highest. The trend at 14 degrees in Atlanta, nine out of Dallas, four below with a few snow showers. That will be in the evening hours there across the Denver metro area. And then work your way into the tropics, Belize City, leave you with partly cloudy skies there, highs around 29.

[01:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: The humanitarian crisis in northern Syria is reaching a horrifying new level according to the U.N., which claims about 900,000 people have been displaced as the Syrian government carries out a military offensive to retake Idlib, the last province under rebel control. Turkey is now sending more troops into the area to counter the Syrian offensive. CNN's Arwa Damon has more now on this humanitarian disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The numbers of those being displaced, those trying to outrun the encroaching war and violence are jumping dramatically by the day. And 60 percent of them are children. Right now, we're talking about more than half a million children who have been displaced since December. There is not enough humanitarian assistance.

The scale of this crisis is by far greater than what humanitarian organizations are able to supply. Temperatures are freezing and every day the Assad regime is gaining even more ground despite statements being made by Turkey warning Bashar al-Assad's forces to move back to that previously agreed-upon demarcation line that was meant in theory some two days ago to create what was supposed to be a de-escalation zone inside Idlib.

Listen to the words of what the U.N.'s humanitarian emergency coordinator said, talking about what's happening inside. He called it the biggest humanitarian horror story of the 21st century. It's not just the violence that people are fleeing from. They're also deathly afraid of being surrounded by the regime's forces. They're afraid of a widespread massacre. They are afraid of being detained by regime forces and disappearing into the regime's prison system.

They're afraid of the regime moving in and cutting off the roads that leads to the border crossings with Turkey, not because the Turkish border is empty, but because they know that what humanitarian supplies are able to move in are moving in from those two vital border crossings. They're afraid of the cold, of the children getting sick. There's not enough hospitals. There's not enough medical facilities. They too, are being bombed, are under fire and are being forced to shut down as this regime is continuing with this ground defensive, of course, being backed by the Russians, especially by the Russian airpower.

People inside asked us time and time again, where are we supposed to run now that there is nowhere that is truly safe to go to. Arwa Damon CNN, Hatay, Turkey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Jury deliberations are underway in the Harvey Weinstein rape trial in New York. The one-time Hollywood heavy hitter is accused of first-degree criminal sexual act, two counts of rape, and two counts of predatory sexual assault. Jurors are apparently finding it difficult to sort through all the legal definitions of the charges and have asked the court for clarification on a number of points.

To Mexico now which is seeing the natural outpouring of grief and outrage after the brutal murder of a seven-year-old girl. Mourners say she's one of the latest victims in a wave of violence targeting women. And as CNN's Cyril Vanier report, there's growing frustration with the response from the government.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CYRIL VANIER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: They're crying out for justice. Justice for Fatima, a seven-year-old murdered last week in Mexico. Here, family and friends from Fatima's San Sebastian neighborhood gathered to honor her memory as her remains were returned home days after they were discovered in a bag near Mexico City.

Fatima went missing last Tuesday. This CCTV footage allegedly shows Fatima on the day she disappeared being led by an unidentified woman who is now the focus of a police search. Authorities have not said whether the woman is a suspect. Fatima's murder has angered people here. They took to the streets on

Monday demanding quick action to find those responsible. This is a spokesperson for the Mexico City prosecutor's office offering two million pesos, a little over $100,000 For information. But this has done little to appease people. Some say they're angry because the killing is just the latest in a series of murders of women in this country.

There were several protests across Mexico City last weekend over the killing of 25-year-old Ingrid Ischemia whose partner is being held for her murder. Dozens gathered in front of the presidential palace last Friday, and splashed blood-red paint on one of the gates, angry that the government is not doing enough to address violence against women. Among the protesters was this woman whose daughter was also a murder victim.

[01:25:41]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): It fills us with rage and anger and that's why we're here because they're murdering us and this government and the last one are not interested in us.

VANIER: Official government data shows that an average of 10 women were killed per day in Mexico in 2018, one of the highest murder rates of women in the country in three decades. On Monday, President Andres Lopez Obrador described the violent crimes against the women of Mexico as a social illness fueled by hate.

ANDRES LOPEZ OBRADOR, PRESIDENT OF MEXICO (through translator): This is the rotten fruit of selfishness and amassing of wealth in the hands of a few while leaving behind the great majority of our people.

VANIER: In the meantime, anger is growing. And protesters here see a crisis that they say the government is slow in addressing. Cyril Vanier, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: From luxury cruise to the holiday from hell. And for passengers from the Diamond Princess, even those back on U.S. soil, this voyage of the damned might not be over yet. Details in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:30:14]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

I'm John Vause with the headlines this hour.

The U.S. president has granted clemency to 11 convicted criminals, including former Illinois governor, Rob Blagojevich. Mr. Trump insists he is the country's chief law enforcement officer. He's not. He insists he has the right to be involved in those legal cases. The U.N. says the ongoing humanitarian crisis in northern Syria has

reached a horrifying new level. Around 900,000 people have been displaced in the past two months alone, more than half a million are children. On Tuesday, Turkey announced it would send more troops to the region as talks continue with Russia.

The global death toll from the coronavirus has now topped 2,000 with at least 75,000 cases confirmed. The vast majority of them have come from mainland China. But Chinese officials say some 14,000 patients have recovered so far and have been discharged from hospitals.

Outside of mainland China, the highest number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus was on the Diamond Princess. The moment the luxury cruise ship arrived at Yokohama in Japan, it was placed under quarantine.

And what followed for almost 4,000 passengers and crew was two weeks of uncertainty, confusion, and fear as a growing number tested positive for the virus.

Two of those passengers now safely off the ship are Gay and Bill Courter. They were evacuated Monday on a flight organized by the U.S. government. And for two weeks while they were under quarantine, they kept a very detailed record of their ordeal. Both are now at the Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas where they will spend another two weeks.

But for now, Gay Courter is able to join us via Skype for more on what truly sounds like an absolute holiday from hell. Gay -- can you describe that sense of relief, that moment your flight touched down on U.S. soil? What was it like?

GAY COURTER, DIAMOND PRINCESS PASSENGER: Well, it was very eerie when the plane landed. It was -- first of all, it was a big cargo plane, like no flight you've ever been on. There were porta-potties bolted into the floor. Seats bolted down. There was a whole triage area behind curtains where some people who had just been discovered to be positive were put.

If you're hungry you went back and rummaged through boxes and coolers, not the most sanitary way, either. There were no airplane rules like tray tables up or down.

I can't even -- it was -- we were tended to by men in white hazmat suits and sometimes another group would come around. Honestly, you're not going to believe this. They were wearing green ghostbusters suits with the hoses and the thing in the back. It was so otherworldly.

And we walked towards the terminal, a giant aircraft hangar, and this little lighted door. Just as we started to go in, there's all these servicemen applauding us. When we walked into the bright lights like this they were applauding us. And that is the moment I burst into tears.

VAUSE: Yes. That was the relief moment. I want to go back though to your time on board the Diamond Princess because serious concerns started pretty much within days of the quarantine. It's starting. It was about the virus spreading through the ship's ventilation system.

February 6th, you issued a press release which said the situation on board was unlikely to be safe in this quarantine, because the air recirculation cannot contain the droplets of this virus.

And just to paraphrase the rest here, with everyone confined to their cabins, you were all essentially sitting ducks to get this virus.

That must have been a fairly dark moment for you and for everyone on board.

COURTER: Well, I think very early and very quickly, we got in touch with our children and doctors and friends, and we found out we were about two degrees of separation from anyone we wanted to get information from.

And our team worked tirelessly. And we got information right from the top of the powers that be in the United States. That there were certainly questions whether this was a safe quarantine. They said never, never quarantine healthy people with sick people which is what had been done. And they suggested several methods of populating this disease, one of which was the air vents.

[01:34:50]

COURTER: But very quickly that went on to the news, directly from us. And the captain, over this public address system, which was the only, only way we got information, was saying that is absolutely not true. We are pumping fresh air all the time. Don't worry about air circulation.

It may not be air circulation, it may have been plumbing. There's a lot of factors and ways it could have gotten to us. But we did not feel safe.

And we -- nobody would listen to us, so we went to the media and said we are not safe. We are sitting ducks here. And guess what -- we were.

VAUSE: Yes.

COURTER: The virus just went the way -- contagion on the ship just went like this. And they have --

VAUSE: Absolutely.

COURTER: -- yet.

VAUSE: Then -- let's just go forward two days. With the rate of infection on board the Diamond Princess, you know, increasing at the same rate as mainland China, you sent out these images and, it's essentially all these ambulances lining up on the dock with a press statement which read, "Six new ambulances arrived this morning and two infected patients were evacuated."

And here is the announcement which came over the ship from the captain. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are able to confirm that those two guests safely disembarked the vessel and are, as I speak, in the hospital receiving all necessary medical care.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Not to be glib here, but it sounds like an Agatha Christie novel. Every day, new victims will be found, and those who were left on board would just sit there and wait and wonder if they might be next.

COURTER: Well yes. And then, you know, we had a day with no announcement for sick people. So we're feeling, wow, you know, things are going steady now. We're going to be ok.

And then the next day, I don't remember which number it was but it was something like 60 or 80, 101 -- whatever cases it was. And then the last three days we were there, even though we could Google it and find out how many cases there were, they stopped telling us.

VAUSE: It seems that quarantining the ship made a bad situation a whole lot worse. But now you're there on the air force base in San Antonio in Texas. And it doesn't seem to be quite the controls that you would expect that would be in place for when a group of people in your situation would arrive.

COURTER: Well, we were told in writing, I believe, that only people who had tested negative -- we had been swabbed but the tests hadn't come back yet -- that's a throat swab they do. But you had to have temperature checks along the way. And apparently the first sign is a temperature.

And so we were negative all along. We get on the plane. We are assuming everybody on the plane is negative. And then I was standing in a line for -- the toilet was a port-a-potty. I was standing in the line when one of these white suited guys came up to a woman and said, are you Mrs. So-and-So. She said yes. He said ok, you have to go sit there.

And it was inside -- I think it was this (INAUDIBLE) tent that was gaffer-taped to the floor on all sides. She said why, why do I have to go in there? And they said your tests came back positive. You are not showing symptoms, but you are positive. She started shaking -- and it was two feet away from me.

VAUSE: Obviously, you have a few issues to worry about over the next couple of days about whether or not your health will maintain, you know. And whether you will maintain to be healthy and not catch this virus, I should say. But we are out of time -- Gay. So I will wrap up there. But thank you so much for speaking with us. We wish you all the very best for both you and your husband.

Hopefully, it will be 14 days and you will be out of there and this will all just be a memory.

COURTER: Well, you, know I am a writer. So my son says mom, two weeks locked in a room with a good story. You'll do something out of that.

VAUSE: Judging by what you have already posted, I'm sure you will. We look forward to it.

COURTER: Thank you so much.

VAUSE: Take care. You're welcome.

Well, Storm Dennis caused historic flooding in the U.K., and now they are coping with the staggering aftermath. We'll survey the damage -- after the break.

[01:39:14]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Britain's Queen Elizabeth may have thrown a major wrench into Harry and Meghan's plans to make a few extra bucks after their defection from the royal family. A review is underway into their plans to use the word "royal" in their branding as in "Sussex Royal", which could have been used for a range of items like stationery, books, clothing and more.

If they are denied permission, it will mean the need to come up quickly with a rebranding strategy. An a sign perhaps the Queen is taking a hard line with the rebellious royals who last month agreed to give up their titles of "his and her royal highness".

A respite on Tuesday for the U.K. from the extreme weather, which prompted a record-breaking number of flood warnings. But as the country begins to catch its breath from Storm Dennis, more wet weather may be on the way.

Here is Scott McLean.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Storm Dennis brought gale force winds and mammoth levels of rain to the U.K. this weekend, flooding streets and swamping homes. And in some parts of the country, it is likely still to get worse.

The deadly storm battered the British coast line while further inland it forced many people to flee to higher ground as rivers burst their banks. The worst of the flooding is in southwest England and in wales where authorities went door to door with boats and even used helicopters in rescue operations.

On Sunday, Storm Dennis caused a record number of flood warnings and alerts in England -- almost 600. Tuesday's weather brought a welcome reprieve for many areas as floodwaters receded, leaving a muddy mess on the streets but a much bigger problem inside homes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All the furniture is gone, all the carpets, floor, electricity, gas, everything is ruined -- all the houses ruined.

MCLEAN: All of the rainfall came on top of what Storm Ciara dropped just a week earlier. In Northern England, Dennis was the last thing they needed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are just getting back on track. We couldn't (ph) help being hit hard again.

MCLEAN: While the situation improves in some communities, elsewhere it may still get worse with some river levels still rising prompting flood warnings that pose a danger to life and a forecast showing more heavy rain to come this week.

Scott McLean, CNN -- London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Raining in the U.K.

Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.

Please stay with us. "WORLD SPORT" starts after the break.

[01:43:45]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END