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New Day Sunday

First Coronavirus Death Confirmed In The U.S.; Trump Urges Americans Not To Panic Over Outbreak; Blowout Win For Joe Biden In South Carolina Primary; Marches To Cross Alabama Bridge To Commemorate "Bloody Sunday". Aired 7-8a ET

Aired March 01, 2020 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:06]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Very impressive win for the former vice president.

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: For all of those who have been knocked down, counted out, left behind, this is your campaign.

(CHEERS)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You cannot win them all. And now we head to Super Tuesday in Virginia.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tom Steyer is going to end his presidential candidacy.

TOM STEYER (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I said if I didn't see a path to winning that I'd suspend my campaign.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Health officials in Washington state confirm the first death in the United States from the coronavirus.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Additional cases in the United States are likely. But healthy individuals should be able to fully recover.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president clearly trying to change the public narrative around this and reassure the public.

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The American people should know the risk for the average American remains low.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY WEEEKEND with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good morning. It's good to have you with us here from the U.S. and around the world.

We begin this hour with new concerns regarding the spread of the coronavirus here in the U.S.

Health officials in the state of Washington investigating now a possible outbreak at a long-term nursing facility.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Two people have tested positive there. More than 50 residents and staff have symptoms and will be tested.

The state of Washington also confirmed the first patient to die after being infected with the virus in the U.S.

In this country, there are now at least 71 confirmed or presumptive cases of coronavirus, including a third case in Illinois. In total, the CDC says 24 coronavirus cases originated here in the U.S.

CNN's Omar Jimenez is in Kirkland, Washington.

Let's start with the first known patient to die of coronavirus in the U.S. What do you know?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Victor, Christi, this man, the first person known to die from the coronavirus here in the United States was a man in his 50s and did have underlying health conditions, according to health officials here. And one of the reasons or one of the major concerns I should say aside from the death itself is that this person showed no relevant travel history that would have potentially exposed him to the coronavirus, indicating that this likely came through community spread.

Now, while his was the only deadly announcement that was put forward over the course of Saturday, it was one of three in total new coronavirus cases that were announced here for Washington state. Two of them stemming from the life care nursing facility right behind me at this moment. One of them, a health care worker in her 40s who worked at this facility and another resident in her 70s. Both of them being treated at this moment.

And it's part of why Governor Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency, because you look at this site in particular, state officials are treating this as a potential outbreak site. It's why we expect both state health and CDC officials to be here over the course of today, trying to get to the bottom of where this came from and also testing around 50 people or so associated with this.

And it's why the center here has put out a note telling families and people who would be otherwise visiting to not come here because they won't be allowed in as they try to get to the bottom of this. And when you look countrywide, of course, we've heard from the CDC director over the course of yesterday saying that this is likely not the end of the cases.

We will see more as they pop up across the country and, of course, we saw a third one popped up in Illinois -- Victor, Christi.

PAUL: All right. Omar Jimenez, we appreciate it so much. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: So, with us now, a man who is living with coronavirus. He says he was infected while aboard that Diamond Princess cruise ship. He was quarantined for 14 days there before being among the hundreds of Americans evacuated.

PAUL: Carl Goldman is with us from the University of Nebraska Hospital in Omaha now. He's in isolation there. Carl, I understand you just got tested positive again yesterday.

How do you feel, first of all?

CARL GOLDMAN, CORONAVIRUS PATIENT: I feel fine, Christi. I'm healthy. No fever for now. About eight days. All I have is a dry cough that still lingers.

BLACKWELL: So, you're saying you feel fine now. You've got this cough. What was the worst of it? How were you feeling at its worst?

GOLDMAN: During the worst, and I'm sure of this, of one to ten scale of being ill with ten being the worst, I was about a two. My only really bad day was when I was on the plane back from the Diamond Princess to California and my fever -- I woke up after a two-hour nap and spiked up to a fever over 103.

[07:05:03]

That stayed with me for probably six, seven, eight hours, the flight -- the remaining flight back to California.

PAUL: So, Carl, I understand the cruise started January 17th, which means you have been out of work and dealing with this since that time.

How is your work handling your absence?

GOLDMAN: Sure. So my wife and I own the local radio station in Santa Clarita, California. We travel -- we've traveled many times for short trips. (INAUDIBLE) was the one that we've ever gone before, but we can work virtually, and our staff are stellar.

So, we scrambled once we knew we were going to be quarantined to change appointments. I'm working eight, nine, ten hours a day with my laptop here, Internet and phone, and then I get to relax a little bit toward the end of the day. But our staff has really picked up the ball. So has our community. They offered to do just about anything we asked.

BLACKWELL: Carl, we don't often talk about the treatment that people diagnosed with coronavirus receive. Tell us about your treatment day- to-day as they try to help you recover.

GOLDMAN: Yes. It's pretty funny. My biggest treatment is drinking tons of Gatorade. I've been through every rainbow color in the spectrum, and multiple amounts of time.

There is no antibiotic for this. There's no cure for it. So, other than what I had the high fever and they gave me ibuprofen, I basically receive no medical -- I've gotten lots of medical care, but no medication, you know, to combat this. PAUL: So, you're five, six weeks into this thing according to best I

can deduce from the calculations here of how long you've been gone. How long are you mandated to be in isolation, do you know what has to happen to help get to -- would you go to a quarantine level or are you cleared altogether.

GOLDMAN: Well, that's the range of time, Christi, it's up to my body. The good news is my wife who's been quarantined separately here in Omaha is able to go home Monday, tomorrow. That's wonderful. She never had the virus.

For me, what they do is asked me every two days, every 48 hours until I test negative. I tested positive again, unfortunately, yesterday. So, Monday they'll give me another test. I'll have to go through three tests in a row, 24 hours apart before I'm declared free of the virus.

Those tests, by the way, Christi, are swabs up my nose and they're also -- they're swabs of my nose and also my throat. So I have to go ahead and made sure I had nine tests. Three of those tests each day, three days in a row to be released.

PAUL: Wow.

BLACKWELL: Carl Goldman. I say that you feel fine, that is great to hear. Unfortunately, still testing positive for coronavirus.

Carl Goldman, thank you so much for being with us and we hope you get better soon.

GOLDMAN: Of course. I can't wait to get home from Omaha. I did get my first Omaha steak yesterday from Omaha Steaks. That was wonderful.

BLACKWELL: Well, good.

PAUL: That's great. That was great. Yes, I'm sure your wife misses you. So, we hope you get home soon.

All right. Take good care of yourself.

BLACKWELL: Thank you, Carl.

GOLDMAN: Thank you.

PAUL: Carl Goldman there for us.

So, President Trump and top U.S. health officials -- they're aiming to reassure Americans that the government is handling this outbreak. They're urging us not to cover -- not to panic, rather, over this virus.

Vice President Pence is in charge, of course, of the White House response. And he tweeted this picture, that's the Situation Room, his Situation Room meeting with the Coronavirus Task Force yesterday.

BLACKWELL: In an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, the vice president stresses that most people who get the virus will recover. But he says there's a risk for people with underlying conditions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PENCE: There will be more cases.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: And possibly more deaths?

PENCE: And -- it is possible. I mean, the reality that Dr. Fauci and others explained to me since I took on these duties a few days ago is that for most people that contract the coronavirus, they will recover. They will deal with a respiratory illness. We'll get them treatment.

But for people that have other conditions that would militate toward a worse outcome, that we could have more -- we could have more sad news. But the American people should know the risk for the average American remains low.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:10:05]

BLACKWELL: Let's go to CNN's Sarah Westwood now. She's at the White House.

Sarah, listen, before the president came out this week to talk about coronavirus, he had only been in that briefing room once and now a second time in a short period. You phrased it earlier as a bit of course correction. How are they handling it now?

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right, Victor. President Trump really demonstrating a shift in tone, a shift in his approach to talking about the coronavirus. Yesterday, we saw him reading carefully from a set of prepared note.

That's not something we often see President Trump do when he gets in front of a bunch of reporters like that. We saw him ceding ground to the experts when there were technical questions about the specifics of the virus and the resources that the administration has.

He's really walking the sidelines between keeping people calm and now trying to set realistic expectations about what an outbreak in the U.S. might look like. He started out his appearance in the briefing yesterday by offering condolences to the family of the American in Washington who died becoming the first American to die of the coronavirus in the U.S. He also said that we are likely to see many more cases in the U.S. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Additional cases in the United States are likely. But healthy individuals should be able to fully recover. And we think that will be a statement we can make with great surety now that we've gotten familiar with this problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WESTWOOD: This is really a shift from his more dismissive tone during the earlier weeks of this virus when he said, for example, that it would disappear, that perhaps it would go away when the weather gets warmer. Now, the president on Monday is set to meet with the pharmaceutical companies. He said that was a prearranged meeting, but the topic of the development of the vaccine from the coronavirus is likely, something he is going to discuss with those pharmaceutical executives on Monday.

The White House listed travel restrictions for parts of Italy and South Korea, strong advisories for Americans not to travel there, as well as expanded restrictions on travel to Iran -- Victor and Christi.

BLACKWELL: Sarah Westwood, for us at the White House, thank you so much.

This morning, be sure to watch CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" for more of Jake Tapper's interview with Vice President Mike Pence. Also on the show, former vice president and winner of the South Carolina Democratic primary, Joe Biden. That's this morning at 9:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.

PAUL: And former Vice President Biden as we said winning big in South Carolina. He's reshaping the Democratic presidential campaign right now.

How does the victory positioned him heading into Super Tuesday?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: All of those of you who have been knocked down, counted out, left behind, this is your campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And the U.S. is expanding travel restrictions to coronavirus hotspots. We'll tell you where and what else the government is doing to protect you and your family.

PAUL: And the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, it was a key moment in the civil rights movement. We're speaking with one of the youngest marchers that day about what she remembers.

Stick with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:17:26]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Now, thanks to all of you, the heart of the Democratic Party, we just won and we've won big because of you.

(CHEERS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Former Vice President Joe Biden there after what was a blowout victory in South Carolina. He wrapped up the primary with 48 percent of the vote compared to 19 percent for Senator Bernie Sanders.

BLACKWELL: And this victory pushes him now into second place for delegates. Now the race moves on to Super Tuesday contest. Fourteen states, America Samoa go to polls.

PAUL: The question is whether Biden can use this momentum from South Carolina to pull out another big win this week.

BLACKWELL: CNN Washington Correspondent, Jessica Dean joins us from Columbia, South Carolina.

A late night ma'am has turned into an early morning for you. What's been the reaction to Biden's win, Jessica?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning to both of you. Great to be with you.

Yes, look, Joe Biden and his campaign, his supporters incredibly excited about his big victory here last night. They had counted a victory. Biden himself had said he would win. But even their biggest dreams, this was a big one for them. This was a blowout win, and he won across a section of demographics here in South Carolina.

And as you mentioned, it really shifts as delegates raise putting him into second place. So, it really does show you that one primary night can really shift the dynamics. Bernie Sanders also announcing this morning a huge haul when it comes to money, $46.5 million in the month of February. That's a very, very big number.

And while he did not have a victory here last night, they're looking ahead to Super Tuesday. This was Bernie Sanders last night. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: Now, I am very proud that in this campaign so far, we've won the popular vote in Iowa.

(CHEERS)

We have won the New Hampshire primary.

(CHEERS)]

We have won the Nevada caucus.

(CHEERS)

But you cannot win them all. A lot of state -- a lot of states out there and tonight, we did not win in South Carolina.

(END VIDEO CLIP) DEAN: So, again, Bernie Sanders flexing his fundraising muscle this morning, $46.5 million in the month of February.

In the meantime, Tom Steyer, the billionaire businessman who put a lot of money and a lot of time into South Carolina made the announcement last night that he would be dropping out of the race after a disappointing finish here.

[07:20:10]

He had long said -- or he had said last night that he really didn't see a path forward. Take a listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEYER: But I said if I didn't see a path to winning that I'd suspend my campaign. And honestly, I can't see a path where I can win the presidency. So am I going to continue to work on every single one of these issues? Yes, of course, I am, because I've never stopped.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEYER: So, also a lot of questions this morning about, will the -- will the field get any narrower by Super Tuesday or just after Super Tuesday.

My colleague Jeff Zeleny reporting last night that for the Biden campaign's part, they're happy to see Amy Klobuchar stay in the race in Minnesota on Super Tuesday, and give Bernie Sanders a run for his money. They are happy to see Elizabeth Warren, stay in that race in Massachusetts and do the same thing in that state.

But, guys, we now turn the corner to Super Tuesday with Joe Biden coming off this huge win here in South Carolina. You can expect a lot of money to be flowing into their campaign as well, something that there have been questions about over the last several weeks for sure, after the disappointing finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire. So, he'll have money, also momentum. You also see Bernie Sanders with that huge fundraising number.

So, we're setting up a very pivotal Super Tuesday coming up now in just a couple of days -- Victor and Christi.

BLACKWELL: $46.5 million for the Sanders campaign in February alone.

DEAN: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Jessica Dean there in Columbia, thanks.

DEAN: Yes.

PAUL: Let's talk to political reporter for "The Hill", Julia Manchester, and CNN political commentator and host of "You Decide" podcast, Errol Louis.

Good morning to you both. ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

PAUL: Let's listen to something else that the former vice president said yesterday to the crowd there that caught some people's eyes -- some people's ears. Let's listen together.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: This is the moment to choose the path forward for our party. This is the moment and it's arrived, maybe sooner than anyone guessed it would. But it's here. And the decisions Democrats make all across America the next few days will determine what this party stands for, what we believe and what we'll get done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: What this party stands for. Errol, it sounds like it might have been a dig to Bernie Sanders and the president challenging voters. You decide who is the face of the Democratic Party. Is it me or Sanders?

LOUIS: Well, that's right. And not just in terms of who is the figurehead or the front man, but also what the policies are and what it's all about. I mean, he made repeated references in that same speech to not being lured by the -- what he called -- implied was a false promise of a revolution, saying that it's about affecting people's lives in the here and now. It's about, again, shoring up the party up and down the ballot.

That was another theme of the Biden victory speech last night, which was to talk about how all kinds of offices are really in play and are really at stake. And that what he wants to do is carry the whole Democratic ticket to victory. That's not something you often hear Bernie Sanders say and frankly, Biden is pointing out it's not something Sanders can credibly claim to do.

PAUL: So, I want to look at an exit poll that was particularly interesting, Julia. It was -- they asked will you vote Democratic in November regardless of who wins the nomination? Eighty-one percent said, yes. Only 17 said no. Is that reflective of the rest of the country?

You know, polls have shown that electability obviously is key here. But if this is true, does Biden's win reshape this whole thing if they just want to go for electability.

JULIA MANCHESTER, POLITICAL REPORTER, THE HILL: Right. So, I've seen a number of polls that essentially said the same thing and talked to a number of voters on the ground in Virginia, as well as New Hampshire who have also said the same thing, that they will vote for whoever wins the primary. And you've actually seen a lot of more establishment candidates like Mike Bloomberg and Joe Biden essentially touting the assertion that if Bernie Sanders becomes the nominee, he won't be able to beat Donald Trump.

So, I would say that poll negates that, it's probably good news for someone like Bernie Sanders. But going forward, I think Bernie Sanders needs to continue to tout results like that and polls like that, saying, look, it doesn't matter even though I might not have this traditional establishment view that other Democrats have, you know, I could potentially unite the Democratic Party just as much as a Bloomberg or a Biden will. But with new fresher image full.

PAUL: So, you mentioned Bloomberg. And as of today, we're stepping into a whole new ball game here, are we not, Errol? This is the first contest, Super Tuesday, that Bloomberg's name will be on the ballot.

In fact, it was interesting yesterday, one of the political reporters in South Carolina said he had talked to several people who thought Bloomberg was on the ballot in South Carolina and would be voting for him. And, of course, they couldn't.

Does Biden's -- does Biden's momentum eat into what could potentially be Bloomberg's --

LOUIS: Well, I think it's a question that runs both ways, frankly. Mike Bloomberg has been spending millions and millions of dollars, hundreds of organizers on the ground in the Super Tuesday states. Much of that work is invisible to the rest of us. We won't know if it worked or not until Tuesday when the results roll in.

So, Joe Biden has got the wind at his back. He's got a lot of momentum going in these states, some of which shared media markets with South Carolina. So, you know, North Carolina is going to be a good hunting ground for him. He's getting a big endorsement today in Virginia, to the extent that he can sort of play on the regional sympathies of Democratic voters in Alabama and Tennessee, he's looking to have a good day on Tuesday.

On the other hand, again, Mike Bloomberg has been picking up endorsements from mayors all over the country, all throughout California. He's been running ads on social media as well as on television in all of these states. We don't know what it's going to amount to, especially when you start going district by district to see who can make the 15 percent threshold for actually picking up delegates, which, of course, is what this is all about.

PAUL: Right. And in terms of Bernie Sander -- Bernie Sanders, Julia, did it come down to the younger voter turnout for him?

MANCHESTER: I think in part it does. It depends what state you're looking at. Obviously in California and Texas, Bernie Sanders already has a pretty strong lead in those two states. However, in states like Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina where Joe Biden and Mike Bloomberg have invested quite a bit of time and resources, Bernie Sanders will be probably looking to get that younger vote to turn out, especially that younger vote among minority communities.

PAUL: If he doesn't have that younger vote, is that problematic for him?

MANCHESTER: Absolutely. And I would say, you know, it is problematic. But looking at South Carolina, he appeared to have that younger vote among African Americans, according to exit polls, but he didn't win at the same time. So --

PAUL: Super Tuesday is a whole new ball game. Steyer is out, Bloomberg is in. We'll see what happens.

Julia Manchester, Errol Louis, always appreciate you being here. Thank you.

MANCHESTER: Thank you.

LOUIS: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: The surgeon general has a message for you, stop buying face masks. Up next, why wearing one will not prevent you from catching the coronavirus.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:31:42]

BLACKWELL: There are more than 86,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus worldwide. Nearly 3,000 people have died from the virus. Most of those deaths in China.

But just yesterday, the CDC announced the first death of a coronavirus patient in the U.S.

PAUL: President Trump and top U.S. health officials are urging everyone to stay calm, stressing that most people who contract the virus will experience mild to moderate flu-like symptoms, nothing beyond that.

With us now, senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen and Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, an epidemiologist and public health expert. He's also a CNN political commentator.

Elizabeth, I want to start with you, and thank you both for being here.

This virus obviously seems to be spreading in the U.S. What is the realistic expectations at that hospitals and the medical field is prepared to treat patients?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think the expectation is that this will continue to grow. There's new evidence that for everybody who gets this virus, they will spread it to few people. And we've seen, you know, several cases popping up just over the weekend.

What hospitals need to prepare for, there are several issues here. One is they want to be able to test for this virus as quickly as possible. When someone walks in with symptoms, such as trouble breathing, a fever, they need to know that they can test quickly. That has not been the case so far. It's getting better. But it's not been the case so far.

Also, are there enough negative pressure rooms in U.S. hospitals today? The CDC says you really should be putting the patients in negative pressure rooms. That keeps the infection out from the other -- from other areas of the hospital. They might change that. But that's the recommendation right now. There's concern there aren't just enough of these rooms.

BLACKWELL: Dr. El-Sayed, we spoke earlier this hour with Carl Goldman. He is in isolation in Nebraska. He was on a Diamond Princess cruise. He says at it's worse, on a scale of one to ten. His symptoms were a two. I wrote him down here, he says said he has chills, no body aches, no stuffy nose, only some tightness in his chest and coughing spells.

I would imagine that for a lot of people that that may not be enough to send them to a doctor or a hospital. He says he would have gone to work.

So, how do you test people if they can test positive with so few symptoms? How do you know who to test?

DR. ABDUL EL-SAYED, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, what you're speaking to, Victor, the fact for most people, an infection with this coronavirus is going to give them very mild symptoms. The problem, though, is that they can pass that on to people whom they love who may have a far worse course because they have underlying disease.

So, people with lung disease, or heart disease are going to have a far worse course than the individual with whom you spoke. And so, we've got to make sure that the people understand it's not the risk to themselves, it's the people around them.

The other worrisome moment is the number of cases that we've seen that have been spread in the community with no known contacts to people with coronavirus. So, this moment is going to really stress the lack of access to the testing kits that we have right now. We've got a responsibility to get very clear information out to people about what they ought to do if they're feeling these kinds of symptoms and in a place where there's an outbreak.

And so, we've got this moment where we can act, we've got to act quickly and we got to get clear recommendations out to people waiting on leadership from the CDC and from the administration.

PAUL: We know people have been buying these face masks, just you mentioned, in bulk and a lot of people are concerned there won't be a big enough supply.

[07:35:03]

Well, the surgeon general is telling people face masks aren't necessary, that they're not going to help.

Elizabeth, if that's the case, then what should we be doing other than washing our hands? We know that's the overarching theme here.

COHEN: Right, washing hands, staying home when you're sick, don't get near other people who are sick. These masks, the issue is that the kind of masks that most people are

using are what are often called surgical masks. Those won't protect you nearly as well. They won't protect you from the droplets that we're concerned about here.

The ones that do a better job of protecting you, they have to be fitted to your face. So, if they're not fitted properly, those also won't work. Really for most of us, we don't need to worry about this.

Again, I always say, what people need to worry about depends on who you are. What a young healthy person is going to worry about is different than someone who is older or who has underlying conditions or both. If you fall into those categories, you might want to think about other precautions, maybe not traveling certain places, maybe not being in large groups.

But if you're young and healthy, I mean, we've talked about that patient in Nebraska, you know, it's sort of like during flu season, when you're young and healthy, you still go out and do things. You don't wear a mask during flu season. So, why would you wear a mask now?

PAUL: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Dr. El-Sayed, we learned so much from Carl who is in isolation.

PAUL: Yes.

BLACKWELL: One of the things that surprised me. I asked him about the treatment. He said what he's getting is Gatorade. He says he's --

PAUL: Gallons of it.

BLACKWELL: Every color.

Is that the extent of treatment?

EL-SAYED: Well, again, if you're relatively healthy, you have no underlying disease, then, yes, just like we tell everybody with a flu or a cold, hydrate and make sure to get your rest. That's basically the treatment. I mean, this is a viral illness that affects your upper respiratory and lower respiratory system.

That being said, the real danger here, again, I have to emphasize, is for folks, like Elizabeth said, who have a baseline heart or lung disease. And for them, it could be a far worse course, sometimes landing them in the ICU on a ventilator.

And so, again, for the most of us, right, this is going to end up being a mild viral illness that's going to look like what Carl suggested. But it really is about containment of the spread, because if it gets to somebody who truly is baseline ill, this could end up in a far more serious illness or even death.

BLACKWELL: Dr. El-Sayed, in addition to an epidemiologist and public health expert, you're also a CNN political commentator. You've endorsed Bernie Sanders.

I bring that up, my question about the intersection of public health and politics. I read the president's proclamation adding these additional travel restrictions. And there's one sentence that jumped off the page considering what the rest of the text is. Let's put it up on the screen.

In discussion of Iran, it reads, Iran is not a trustworthy state actor as it has repeatedly demonstrated through history of engaging in malign activity and confirmed most recently its repeated denials of responsibility for shooting down an international airliner.

Is that relevant in the discussion of adding these travel restrictions typically?

EL-SAYED: It's sad to see this administration politicizing some sort of international issue with respect to Iran. What I really would have liked to see from this administration is up-front leadership early on.

The thing about a pandemic, potential pandemic like this, you have to beat it at its source. We had a moment to be able to contain this in Wuhan. Guess what? Under this administration, they cut the branches of the CDC that were focused on international emerging infectious diseases like this coronavirus.

And so, I think what we're trying to see, what we're seeing from this administration is an attempt to wag the dog a little bit, to focus this on the issue with the Iran rather than focusing on what the country could do right now. We've got an incredible United States public health service, an incredible CDC, but they've been systematically underfunded. They've been politicized in a way that I think is inappropriate in a moment like this.

We need to see one leader step up, command and control the situation. It's not going to be Vice President Mike Pence because he frankly lost trust in the scientific community. I hate to see this turn into a focus on the president's beef with Iran.

PAUL: We have to just wait and see what happens in the next couple of days. I know the president is meeting tomorrow with pharmaceutical companies regarding a vaccine. And, we, of course, will be watching, and hoping that everybody just takes care of themselves.

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, Elizabeth Cohen, we appreciate you both. Thank you both.

BLACKWELL: Thank you.

PAUL: Fifty-five years since protesters were attacked attempting to march for voting rights in Alabama.

Lynda Blackmon Lowery, she was 15 when she was beaten by police. Coming up, we hear a story about the day and how she's continuing to make contributions to civil rights.

[07:40:01] Also a reminder, vice president Mike Pence will join Jake Tapper on "STATE OF THE UNION" this morning. Also on the show, former vice president and Democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden, right off his win in South Carolina. It's this morning at 9:00 Eastern on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Today, people will march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Alabama to commemorate Bloody Sunday.

In March of 1965, civil rights activists, some of them students, attempted to march the 54 miles from Selma to Montgomery, calling for equal voting rights.

[07:45:05]

They were met with clubs and tear gas from state troopers.

With me now is one of the younger marchers that day. Lynda Blackmon Lowery. Her memoire is "Turning 15 On the Road to Freedom."

Thank you so much for joining me this morning and thank you for the work you've done over decades for voting and civil rights for people across this country.

LYNDA BLACKMON LOWERY, MARCHED IN SELMA AS A TEEN: Well, thank you. Good morning. Thank you for having me.

BLACKWELL: Good morning.

Let me start here. Because to be so young, you were 14 years old on Bloody Sunday. You turned 15 a couple of weeks later.

What you tell us, I think we don't talk enough about is that there was a kids movement as well. Tell me about that.

LOWERY: I always tell people that the Selma movement was the children's movement. The children went to jail, marched and went to jail in order for our parents not to have to march and go to jail. One of our parents marched, they would go to jail. Two, they would lose their jobs and three, in 1965 we felt -- the young people felt that if our parents went to jail, they would separate the family. And much like it is at the borders today. So, the Selma movement was the children's movement.

BLACKWELL: You know, we see black and white videos and we hear stories and see photographs of that day from that period. But give us the vivid, bold color memory that stands out for you from that period.

LOWERY: I remember feeling kind of jubilant when we left -- when we left Brown Chapel on that day, March 7th. But I remember feeling by the time we topped the Edmund Pettus Bridge and could see over to the other side, I do remember feeling like something about to happen. It's not going to be good.

That day, I was beaten, I received seven stitches over my right eye and 28 in the back of my head. I became a very angry 14-year-old. And because I had done nothing, nor had anyone on that bridge done anything for the brutality --

BLACKWELL: Yes.

LOWERY: -- you know, we received that day. So the day was a terrifying day --

BLACKWELL: Let me --

LOWERY: -- for a 14-year-old.

BLACKWELL: I apologize for interrupting. I want to save time for this painting that a man came up to you with. Tell us the story. We have a picture of you with it. Tell me what happened.

LOWERY: We were at the foot soldiers breakfast yesterday morning and a local artist from -- he's originally from Selma, but lives in Montgomery. His name is Frank Hardy.

Frank said come, I got something to show you. He said, this has haunted me for years. The picture of a girl running from the bridge bleeding from her head and he said, this girl is you.

BLACKWELL: Wow.

LOWERY: I said, oh, OK. And it was like, this is awesome. I was really speechless. People who know me know I am never speechless. So I was really speechless that day.

BLACKWELL: Wow.

Lynda Blackmon Lowery, thank you so much again for all that you've done. You continue your work in mental health. Thank you to all the people who were there 55 years ago.

We'll be right back.

LOWERY: You are so very welcome.

BLACKWELL: Thank you. We'll be right back.

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[07:53:41]

BLACKWELL: Coming up tonight, Queen Elizabeth takes the thrones, but soon faces scandals and rumors involving her sister, her marriage and the rule of the monarchy. "THE WINDSORS: INSIDE THE ROYAL DYNASTY". A new episode tonight at 10:00 on CNN.

PAUL: Let's talk about human kindness as we highlight the kindness of strangers around the world that helped to save a little girl.

You might remember Zainab. She's from South Florida, look at her there. We told you about her about a year ago. She was diagnosed with cancer in 2018.

Well, she needed aggressive treatments that required blood and platelet transfusions to save her life. The problem was, she has some of the rarest blood in the world. She is missing a common antigen known as Indian B, and a suitable blood donor, also, obviously have to be missing that same antigen.

Well, one blood donation center in Orlando posted it on social media, this desperate search for a donor match. It went viral, people around the world lined up to be tested to see if they were a match. There were only five suitable donors found and they consistently donated to keep Zainab supplied with that life saving blood.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are surely a lifesaver for us. They have given our daughter a new life and we are very thankful to them. Thank you so much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: And we just got word from one blood donation center that Zainab is in remission.

[07:55:04]

She celebrated her 4th birthday. All thanks to some people who are so kind and really think about other humans.

We thank them so much.

Absolutely happy birthday to her.

So let's go spread some human kindness. Thanks for starting your morning with us.

BLACKWELL: "INSIDE POLITICS WITH JOHN KING" is up next.

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