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Second Person Dies from Coronavirus in Washington State; New York Confirms Woman in Manhattan as State's First Case; Democratic Candidates Push for Votes Before High-Stakes Super Tuesday; Bloomberg Makes Case to Voters Ahead of Ballot Debut; Dow Opens After Worst Week Since Financial Crisis. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired March 02, 2020 - 09:00   ET

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


[09:00:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Very good morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Poppy Harlow this morning. We are following all of the fast-moving developments in the coronavirus outbreak. More than 60 countries now confirming they have cases. Major tourist attractions, including the Louvre Museum in Paris closed.

President Trump announcing new travel restrictions at airports and screenings there. Several U.S. schools shut down for cleaning.

SCIUTTO: Listen, communities around the world are struggling now with how to respond. What's too far, what's the right steps to take.

HARLOW: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Closures, travel restrictions, et cetera. And communities obviously making different decisions as they go. Here are the latest statistics here in the U.S. A second death now in the U.S., two dozen new cases have been confirmed across the country bringing the total number -- it's still a small one in this country, as far as we know -- 89 people infected here in the U.S.

Joining us now is CNN's Stephanie Elam. She is live in Kirkland, Washington. This is one of the places, really the biggest so far, at least of confirmed cases now. It's a nursing facility where the second U.S. victim to die from this was a resident.

Stephanie, what do we know? Are these cases linked? And do we know how it got to that facility?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Those are all the questions that everyone would like to find out, especially here in Kirkland, Washington, obviously, Jim and Poppy. When you take a look at the fact that we now have six cases, some of them are presumptive at this point. Four of those are presumptive. But still, six cases related to this one facility here in Kirkland.

And one of those being the 70-year-old man or a man in his 70s who passed away. He also had some underlying health issues, same as we saw with the man in his 50s who passed away. Not a resident here but also just taking a look at what we're seeing here in Washington state. You look at that and people are concerned about what may have happened here.

We know five of the people are a resident. One is a health care worker in her 40s that is also tested for some coronavirus here. So this is obviously a big concern, how it is spreading from this one place. But overall in Washington state they have 13 cases of coronavirus. And what we are hearing from officials at this point is that we are expected to see these numbers rise because they are saying at this point it's likely that this virus has already been out in the community so we should see that more people are tested for this.

HARLOW: And Steph, just to build on that, I mean, what do we know about any more signs of community transmission where you are because that's what everyone is talking about right now?

ELAM: Completely. I mean, you're seeing signs of it. We know that there were some medics who were a part of the team that were here, helping one of the patients. There are now seven medics who are now quarantined because of that. Elsewhere, we know of a parent and a child looked like they had flu-like systems, didn't test for flu, turned out it could have been coronavirus, and now the school is closed today.

So you do see a nervousness here in the Seattle area permeating a lot of fear about that. But really they are trying to track down how it could have gotten here and how there's so many people in this one building that have now tested for it.

HARLOW: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Thank you, Stephanie. And again, another community trying to figure out just how far it goes and what's necessary to do in response to this. So here is another one, a big one. New York has confirmed the state's first case of coronavirus. Just one. It's a woman in Manhattan. But it has now put airports here and elsewhere in the country on high alert. They are trying to figure out how to spot these people early.

HARLOW: Let's go to our Brynn Gingras. She joins us from Newark Airport, obviously big international airport. Tell us about -- before you get to sort of the changes at the airport, what do we know about this one case in New York City?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Poppy and Jim, good morning. And New York's Governor Andrew Cuomo, he appeared on "NEW DAY" this morning giving us a little bit more details about that woman, a 39- year-old woman, who is a health care worker herself, but traveling from Iran. And he said on our air that essentially she was not symptomatic on the plane, she went to her home in Manhattan, didn't take public transportation. And then she was tested in a hospital, tested positive for coronavirus but is back in her home in self- isolation and she is having improvement. She's not in any serious condition. But the governor certainly saying this is the first case for New York

City but most likely will not be the last. Of course we're hoping to learn a little bit more about this particular case and more precautions the state is taking in a news conference scheduled at 9:45 this morning.

SCIUTTO: Brynn, thanks so much. Obviously we're going to follow as communities around the country handle this as best they can.

Let's speak more now with Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Carlos Del Rio.

And Sanjay, so good to have you here because there's so much information and people at home, I mean, I feel for them, because we're trying to digest it as we go. We got a long list for you.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: OK.

SCIUTTO: First let's start on what we know about the spread of this in the U.S. right? Because yes, it's popping up in a number of communities, small numbers at this stage but we also know that this is a highly contagious thing.

[09:05:01]

So for instance, one woman in New York probably means more. Do we know and how best do we find out how far?

GUPTA: Add onto all those things that we have not been testing. We have not been doing surveillance, which is a basic pillar, a first pillar really of public health, because everything else follows once you actually know what you're dealing with.

SCIUTTO: Why aren't we testing?

GUPTA: Well, I think that this is a big question, this is going to be one of those lessons learned in retrospect. I think we dropped the ball on this one, I'll be honest with you. If you look at South Korea, they tested some 65,000 people over there. UK they tested close to 8,000 people.

SCIUTTO: How do they choose who they tested?

GUPTA: Well, they have -- the criteria was a little broader than our criteria. Here, it had to be travel to one of these areas where it was circulating and known exposure to an infected person. Problem is, that there's a lot of people who came in with these type symptoms, didn't quite fit flu.

HARLOW: Yes.

GUPTA: Did quite fit cold. But didn't meet these criteria either and therefore, they weren't tested. My guess is, and, you know, these testing kits are now going to be going out. My guess is and people should not be alarmed by this is that the numbers are going to suddenly skyrocket.

HARLOW: Because there'd be more tests.

GUPTA: Because we have more tests and that those people are out there.

HARLOW: With us also is Dr. Carlos Del Rio, professor of medicine and global health at Emory.

So, Doctor, just building on what Dr. Gupta just said, if your kid is sick and not getting better, and has the shortness of breath, and has this cough, and maybe a slight fever, if I take my kid to the pediatrician, are they going to have this test kit so you're going to test for coronavirus?

SCIUTTO: Great question.

DR. CARLOS DEL RIO, PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE AND GLOBAL HEALTH, EMORY UNIVERSITY: Well, first of all, let me just say, Poppy, that I agree totally with Sanjay. I think the testing is a big problem and has been a big problem. And the answer I have for you is, no, currently you can't get a test done. It's very hard to get a test done because it's not commercially available yet because it's controlled by state -- by health departments and by CDC and you have to go through so many barriers to get a test done.

So we have to make testing easier. We have to make testing available. And we have to get testing to clinical sites that need to have it. Testing needs to happen for public health and for clinical sites.

HARLOW: Can I just ask a quick follow on that to you, Sanjay? And that is, OK, so if we're able to get through all these barriers and get, you know, our children tested or what have you, is the only thing you could do about it, keep them home so they don't infect other people? There's no sort of --

GUPTA: Yes.

HARLOW: There's no Tamiflu equivalent, right?

GUPTA: Correct. Yes, so you ask me, why do we do a test? Right? And as doctors you always do a test because you're going to do something different based on the test.

HARLOW: Right.

GUPTA: But the thing different here is exactly what you're saying. Because we know that this can be spread by people with minimal symptoms or no symptoms, sort of socially isolating them so that they're not infecting other people becomes very important.

SCIUTTO: Just to be clear, it can be spread by people who aren't yet showing symptoms.

GUPTA: That's correct.

SCIUTTO: Right. See that's the --

GUPTA: That's correct. And that'll be something that they learned over the last couple of months.

SCIUTTO: Yes. OK. So, Dr. Del Rio, and if you want to pipe in, Sanjay, please feel free. The big question to you is how prepared then is the country? Right? Do we have enough tests? Are we testing enough people? Because you're also getting other signs from other communities. In Alabama, I mean, just an alarming story, the location selected by the federal government to send patients had fake facilities because it was really a testing, you know, for training rather than for actual treatment here.

You have the case of a patient in San Antonio who's released after testing positive. So someone was tested and then they released after.

HARLOW: Right.

SCIUTTO: What is your confidence as a health care professional in the response nationally so far and the resources so far?

DEL RIO: You know, I think it's a mix. I think there's some good things that have happened and there's some not so good things. I would say it's really a mix. But I would say overall we're not prepared and we're not ready. And I would say it's not just the testing. I would say that something that we need to think about, is our health care facilities are already crowded. We have very little surge capacity.

So here in Atlanta where I am or New York, if you all of a sudden had like in Italy 500 cases of which 20 percent would require hospitalization, you would not have a place to put those people. There's simply not enough hospital beds and ICU beds to take care of people?

SCIUTTO: Really?

DEL RIO: Absolutely.

SCIUTTO: In the United States of America.

HARLOW: That's amazing.

SCIUTTO: That's amazing.

DEL RIO: We have made hospitals very efficient. They are a little bit like airlines, there's never an empty seat, and therefore there's very little surge capacity. And I think we need to start thinking about that. Part of mitigation is going to be, what do we do with sick people, how do we take care of them and where do we put them if we have a surge. And those conversations have not happened.

SCIUTTO: Wow.

HARLOW: Sanjay, a question that I think and Jim, I'm sure, Jim, or every parent of little kids out there and especially babies, want to know. Should we be bringing our babies on planes, for example? Is that just making it more likely they could catch this? Should we be canceling vacations? GUPTA: Right. Well, I will say one thing about kids. And this is again

something that's been learned over the last couple of months is that for some reason they seem to be somewhat insulated from this virus.

SCIUTTO: That's a remarkable thing.

GUPTA: Yes, it is.

SCIUTTO: Tell us how we know that.

GUPTA: Well, they basically looked at these largest studies coming out of China because that's where the majority of patients are, 72,000 patients studied. And this is something that they found. That kids can contract the virus but actually not -- they're not getting that sick from it.

[09:10:04]

SCIUTTO: Interesting.

GUPTA: So they could be carriers to your point earlier.

SCIUTTO: Right.

GUPTA: But I -- you know, I think we're less concerned about kids. As far as travel goes, I think the answer to the question is not yet.

SCIUTTO: Right.

GUPTA: We're not at that point yet where we should say domestically that there's enough evidence of community spread where we should start canceling.

Look, it might happen. We might get the alert one day or the recommendation I should say from Governor Cuomo here that people -- kids should stay home from school and that people should stay home from work and that mass gatherings are going to be canceled. And that, you know, you stay home and do you have enough supplies in your house for two weeks, you know, food, water, medicines, whatever it is.

That may come. Hopefully that's not alarming because it is a tried and true sort of public health strategy. And Carlos, you know, who I've known for years, we were actually covering h1n1 in Mexico together. Some of those strategies took place in Mexico at that time and they worked, you know.

HARLOW: Yes.

GUPTA: So that's what --

SCIUTTO: Well, and as you look at China, for instance. I mean, China took almost medieval measures, right, in terms of confining people, seems to have helped. And you're already beginning to see things in Europe like canceling sports matches.

GUPTA: That's right. SCIUTTO: Or at least, you know, people coming.

Listen, Sanjay, Carlos, thanks to both of you.

Folks, our commitment to you is we're going to bring you the best information we have as you have it. There are a lot of confusing questions. Folks are deciding as they go. One good place to look, Sanjay's new podcast, "Coronavirus: Fact Versus Fiction." We need that. He'll make sense of the headlines. Give you all the information you need to stay safe and healthy. Check it out, CNN.com.

Still to come this hour, a major shift as Democrats fight for a strong finish on Super Tuesday? Will former vice president Joe Biden get a boost from his big win, and it was big, in South Carolina?

HARLOW: Plus an historic peace agreement with the Taliban sets in motion a potential for a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. But still, large risks remain. Will this deal actually stick?

And the opening bell set to ring in just a few minutes on Wall Street. How will markets fare after what can only be described as a brutal last week?

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[09:15:00]

HARLOW: It's a big day tomorrow. You know that?

SCIUTTO: A little bit, yes --

HARLOW: Super Tuesday, more than 1,300 delegates up for grabs on a single day. And don't the Democratic candidates know it. Candidates campaigning all across the country today in the final hours. Joe Biden hopes to springboard off his blowout South Carolina win and shore up support in moderate lane of the party.

SCIUTTO: So, of course a big factor, someone is no longer on the trail, that's former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, also a moderate, something Joe Biden watching very closely his campaign. CNN Washington correspondent Jessica Dean joins us now from Houston in Texas, of course a big prize tomorrow. Do we have a sense of the effect there?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, Joe Biden is spending most of today in Texas. So, that tells you a lot of what that campaign is thinking about right now. As you mentioned so delegate rich here in Texas. California, of course, the other big prize tomorrow when so many delegates will be up for grabs. And Biden is really looking to consolidate this moderate lane of the Democratic primary as Bernie Sanders looks to expand his lead, guys.

And then he -- but to do that, he's hoping to run up the score in places like Texas, and places like California. Joe Biden will be in Houston today at an event here, and then in Dallas trying to get to as many places as is possible. But Poppy and Jim, you saw that map. You've got to get to a lot of places in a very short amount of time. HARLOW: Then they've got private planes, I suppose. Mayor Buttigieg

before you go --

DEAN: Right!

HARLOW: Not endorsing anyone yet after announcing that he is out. But had phone conversations according to "The New York Times" with former President Obama and with the former Vice President Joe Biden. And we know what he said about Bernie Sanders --

DEAN: Right.

HARLOW: So where does this thing go?

DEAN: Right, so, I think you read the tea leaves there on kind of where Pete Buttigieg is in terms of his policies and who he most closely alliance with. Of course, Joe Biden and his campaign paying very close attention to what Mayor Buttigieg might end up doing. But right now, no indication of exactly what might happen.

So which is something to keep an eye on. But keep in mind, Pete Buttigieg has a lot of people who were big supporters of his, Poppy and Jim, so he's in a position right now to leverage some of that. Will he do --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

DEAN: It?

HARLOW: Yes, he absolutely does, and a ton of money behind him as well. Jess, thank you very much for that.

SCIUTTO: Yes, where do those votes go, where does the money go? Joining us now to talk about the path forward for the candidates still in the race, CNN senior political writer and analyst Harry Enten. OK, so, the big question here, Joe Biden post-South Carolina --

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL WRITER & ANALYST: Yes --

SCIUTTO: Pete Buttigieg's departure --

ENTEN: A lot has changed --

SCIUTTO: Is that an automatic benefit for Biden?

ENTEN: You know, I don't know if it's an automatic benefit, but I will say that, I do think it probably does benefit the former vice president of the United States. And I'll show you why? So, this is the ideology of the support in the first four contests, and what do we see here? We see that in the moderate lane, Biden and Buttigieg were doing quite well, and in the very liberal lane not so well.

And you can take a look here at the difference between the two of those, which I think is really key. Both Biden, Buttigieg and Klobuchar were doing considerably better in the moderate lane than in the very liberal lane, which is the exact opposite of Bernie Sanders, right? Who is doing considerably better in the very liberal lane than the moderate lane.

So, I would expect that Biden would benefit. But I think there's another reason why we might think that Biden may benefit or maybe why this isn't so good for Bernie Sanders. So, take a look at the polls, the recent polls in California, Texas, North Carolina. Those are the three most rich delegate prizes on Super Tuesday. What do we see here? Well, you see Buttigieg was at the bottom on all of them.

But Buttigieg's exit helps more candidates reach the 15 percent threshold. Look at this. Look how close they were in California in that 15 percent threshold. Same thing here in Texas with Warren, same thing here with Bloomberg and Warren obviously in North Carolina. Of course, 15 percent is so important --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

ENTEN: Because that's the threshold to get delegates.

[09:20:00]

SCIUTTO: Yes, both the wind and that 15 percent --

ENTEN: Exactly --

SCIUTTO: Threshold to look at. That's --

HARLOW: But these polls, Harry, were taken before, you know, Joe Biden just swept South Carolina.

ENTEN: Yes --

HARLOW: OK?

ENTEN: It's exactly right, they all were. And I can tell you that South Carolina can change a lot of things --

HARLOW: Yes --

ENTEN: I mean, just look at 2012 on the Republican side, right? Before Gingrich won South Carolina, Romney was leading in the national polls by 8. Just three days afterward, Gingrich jumped out to an 8- point lead, and then 8 days after that, Romney sort of jumped back out. So, what I would say is in fact, three days is more than enough time for a surge for Joe Biden.

It might actually be a good thing. And then, the other thing I'll point out, Michael Bloomberg right, who is now jumping in this race. I wouldn't be surprised if some of Bloomberg's support in fact leaks over to Biden. Why? Because in a poll earlier this month, you saw that Bloomberg supporters, 73 percent -- look at that huge total --

HARLOW: Yes, might --

ENTEN: Who said they might change their mind --

HARLOW: Yes -- ENTEN: And look who the big second choice of that was --

HARLOW: Sure --

ENTEN: It was Biden, Buttigieg was second, but he's out now. So, Biden in fact may be the big beneficiary of his large win because Bloomberg supporters believe him.

SCIUTTO: Harry Enten, always good to have the numbers.

ENTEN: Thank you, sir --

SCIUTTO: Thanks so much. Let's discuss now, joined by Alex Burns; national political correspondent for "The New York Times", Errol Louis; political anchor of "Spectrum News". So, a lot of questions for you gentlemen. Errol, begin with you. So --

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes --

SCIUTTO: The Biden effect here, I mean, let's not over or understate the change in the span of 72 hours. But very different math for him, is it not? But also, that last really sticks out to me, that, you know, Bloomberg, a lot of folks have sort of been gravitating towards --

HARLOW: Really?

SCIUTTO: Bloomberg. Moderate candidates, they're worried about not having someone who could beat Trump. If they and Buttigieg's supporters go his way, you know, we've got a real big --

LOUIS: A contest --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

LOUIS: We've got a real contest --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

LOUIS: Look, Mike Bloomberg himself laid this out. When he initially was thinking about running for president, he publicly said, the reason I will not run, said Mike Bloomberg, is that I don't want to hurt Joe Biden. That the same people who like him would like me. I don't want to split that vote.

And you know, initially, what he -- well, the theory was that, Biden is the -- kind of the runaway winner and Bloomberg can only hurt him, and then that would advantage Donald Trump, the incumbent. There's a new logic that's out there now, and we heard Mayor Bloomberg talk about it just last night. Saying that, look, if you make Sanders the nominee, he's going to lose. He's going to go down in flames, and Donald Trump, he'll take a lot of the Democratic ticket with him.

But that's -- that initial logic though is still there. Which is that, if you are a Bloomberg supporter, you are very likely taking away votes and possibly delegates from Joe Biden. We'll know that for sure after Super Tuesday.

HARLOW: Yes --

LOUIS: And that might, in fact, change the rational for Bloomberg staying in the race.

HARLOW: I was stunned, Alex, to hear the candor from Congressman Clyburn about the retooling that he thinks is needed in Biden's camp. Now, that he's thrown his support behind him, it was a huge part of his win, the exit poll showing in South Carolina. But just listen to what he thinks needs to happen at the Biden campaign. Here he was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC): We need to do some retooling in the campaign. No question about that. I'm all in. And I'm not going to sit idly by and watch people mishandle this campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Well, Kate Bedingfield from the campaign will be on later this hour. We'll talk to her about that. But for you, I mean, looking at Super Tuesday, is winning for the Biden camp just not losing by too many delegates tomorrow?

ALEX BURNS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Pretty much. You know --

HARLOW: Yes --

BURNS: The goal for Joe Biden and really every other candidate in the race right now is, yes, to try to get a big bump for yourself out of Super Tuesday. But more than that, it's to try to hold back Bernie Sanders from building just such a big lead that whatever else you do after that is virtually irrelevant because you cannot overtake him. I thought those comments by Jim Clyburn were stunning.

HARLOW: Me, too.

BURNS: And reflected --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

BURNS: Something that a lot of us have heard for a long time from the former vice president's top supporters that they just have very little confidence in the political operation around him --

HARLOW: Yes --

BURNS: So, we need to look at this now as a multi-stage challenge for Joe Biden. First, he's got to turn around that South Carolina win and convert in a big way on Tuesday. And then he's got a really, rapidly build out his campaign operation --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

BURNS: His fundraising operation, step up his own performance in debates and on the stump over a much wider landscape than we've seen him on so far --

SCIUTTO: OK, so, Errol Louis --

HARLOW: Yes --

SCIUTTO: Imagine the Democratic Party has in its mind the picture of a moderate candidate, who is better equipped to win a general election, and does all it can to keep Sanders from that position, and lo and behold, finds in November, they weren't right.

HARLOW: This might have happened a couple of years ago.

SCIUTTO: Well, are they shattering classes anymore, right today than they were in 2016?

LOUIS: Look, the reality is that, all of the people that I've talked to, the smartest people, the people who have been in politics the longest, they say, nobody knows anything for sure. You know, you get little clues, though. I mean, and one of the clues that I've been taking a look at is when Bernie Sanders says this is going to be a political revolution, that we're going to draw people to us, we're going to lead the party, we're going to win.

[09:25:00]

You know, you've got to look at turnout numbers. You know, in popular vote at this point Joe Biden is ahead. And more --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

LOUIS: People wouldn't cast ballots for him in the various primaries --

SCIUTTO: South Carolina really just did enough for him --

LOUIS: Yes, I mean, you look at New Hampshire where, yes, Bernie Sanders won handily, but with half of the votes that he got four years ago. You have to sort of ask yourself, is this really where the base is?

SCIUTTO: So, you're saying the chattering classes may be more right this time than they were in 2016?

LOUIS: I think the chattering classes or anybody looking at this, should approach it with some modesty, some humility, look for some data points --

HARLOW: Yes --

LOUIS: And some educated guesses if that's what you want to do or just, you know, sort of watch the process unfold in front of us.

HARLOW: When it comes to the very important African-American vote, obviously in South Carolina, but around the country and especially in these key Super Tuesday states, a few things happened over the weekend that are notable. Mayor Bloomberg had some congregants turn their back on him when he was speaking over the weekend.

You had Senator Amy Klobuchar unable to hold a rally in her home state of Minnesota in St. Louis Park because the Black Lives Matter protesters protesting how she handled the -- you know, the case of Myon Burrell, and he's serving life in prison now. And he was a teenager when he was convicted of murder. And then on top of that, you have the real question about -- well, Bernie Sanders also didn't go to Selma. I just wonder what all of this means when it comes to the African-American vote.

BURNS: Well, the theory of the Biden campaign all along has been that, at the end of the day from South Carolina on forward, when African-American voters start to play a much stronger role in the primary process that he would benefit from the depth and intensity of his support and his bond with that community, particularly in the south.

That has panned out in the one contest where it has been tested so far. And it's the statement about the failure of every other candidate in the race to really make their case to black voters in a compelling way that Biden was able to run up the total so far. It's not just his own popularity. When you look at Mayor Buttigieg, Senator Warren, Senator Klobuchar, they were just -- even Tom Steyer, who staked his --

HARLOW: That's really --

BURNS: Entire candidacy on South Carolina --

HARLOW: And a couple of a million dollars --

BURNS: Right, just really not a particularly impressive breakthrough of any kind in that community. Now, we do need to wait and see I think a little bit, whether that plays out in the same way nationally. That black voters in the south and South Carolina do tend to be more conservative, especially older black voters in the south. And someone like Bernie Sanders did sort of fight Joe Biden to a draw with younger black voters in South Carolina.

So, I don't know that Joe Biden can necessarily count on that kind of massive blowout everywhere in the country. But the fact that no other candidate has even come close --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

BURNS: To narrowing the margin overall tells you a lot about why Biden is where he is right now.

SCIUTTO: And Errol, just very quickly because --

LOUIS: Yes --

SCIUTTO: We've got some news in -- just in the last couple of minutes. Buttigieg mulling endorsement following calls with Biden and Obama. That's not an endorsement yet, but mulling an endorsement. How significant would that be? LOUIS: That is significant. And that last name I think is worth

noting. I was going to say that. The two black voters that you want to hear from are named Barack and Michelle Obama.

SCIUTTO: OK --

LOUIS: And if and when they weigh in, I think you'll see a big change --

HARLOW: Yes --

LOUIS: In how --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

LOUIS: These numbers go.

SCIUTTO: Interesting, we'll follow if that happens during our hours, we will.

HARLOW: Thanks, appreciate it, Alex, Errol, have you back soon. The struggle is real on Wall Street as we get ready for the market to open for the week here in the U.S. Stocks -- look at that, mixed right now. We'll see how the open is as the coronavirus spreads around the world.

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