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Coronavirus In The U.S.; World War Zero; Interview With Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY); CPAC Attendee Tests Positive For Coronavirus; Grand Princess Cruise Ship To Dock In Oakland Tomorrow; Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) Endorses Joe Biden For President. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired March 08, 2020 - 14:00   ET

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

[13:59:59]

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST: It seems that Boris Johnson is stuck between an American rock and a European hard place and he has ten months to decide.

Thanks to all of you for being part of my program this week. I will see you next week.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Sunday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin with the growing coronavirus outbreak. The U.S. is seeing a big spike in the number of confirmed cases across the country -- more than 475 right now.

In New York alone, 16 new cases popped up overnight, and this weekend over a dozen states and Washington D.C. reported their first cases. 19 people have died and that number is only expected to grow. Excuse me.

Today, the Surgeon General says the U.S. is shifting its response to the epidemic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JEROME ADAMS, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: Initially we had a posture of containment so that we could give people time to prepare for where we are right now. Now we're shifting into a mitigation phase which means that we're helping communities understand you're going to see more cases. Unfortunately, you're going to see more deaths, but that doesn't mean that we should panic.

It means that we should take the things that we know work for individuals to protect themselves. Communities need to have that conversation and prepare for more cases so that we can prevent more deaths.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Meanwhile, some hope for the thousands of people stuck on board the Grand Princess cruise ship, a ship that saw 21 cases of coronavirus. Officials are allowing the ship to dock in Oakland, California tomorrow. But passengers will then be transferred to military bases for a two-week quarantine.

We'll have more on the coronavirus outbreak in a moment, but right now in Ohio an unlikely alliance with a lofty goal.

Former governors John Kasich, Arnold Schwarzenegger and former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry are holding their first town hall for their nonprofit organization, World War Zero. Their goal, move the country toward net zero carbon emissions. Their plan sparked millions of climate conversations in 2020, including at town halls like one being held today.

And guess what? They're joining me right now live from Otterbein University. Good to see you -- a very smart, dynamic trio.

Governor Kasich -- you first since this is your home state. You have quite the roster of people who have enlisted to World War Zero, but you really want to fill the room today. Do you think you'll be able to do that given the coronavirus? Are you concerned that people might stay away?

JOHN KASICH, FORMER GOVERNOR, OHIO: Oh yes. No, Fredricka -- it's really amazing. We were hoping in the beginning, we had short notice on. This was John Kerry's idea -- the whole thing. And he brought Arnold in and how could I say no to all that.

But you know, we were hoping to fill a couple of hundred seats and now we have about 2,000 people here today. And no one is staying away. Everybody was lined up, and it shows you, as I said earlier, that politicians better open their eyes and open their ears because the public is saying save our planet. Do something. Don't play politics.

And it's very exciting to be here with the secretary of state, John Kerry, and of course my dear friend, The Terminator himself. He's here to terminate carbon.

WHITFIELD: That's right. Well, I can't wait to hear more about what you expect from people. Secretary Kerry -- since this was your idea, you know, how do you allay fears of people who might be a little concerned about this coronavirus and then now being in a setting with lots of people at your town hall?

JOHN KERRY, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, what's critical is taking all the precautions. Nobody here is shaking hands. I've seen more elbow touches than I've ever seen in my life. And you wash your hands. You need to be careful. Don't be around somebody who's sneezing and coughing.

There are clear precautions. The only way it is passed is in droplets. And so if you take the kind of precautions we're aware of, I think we can begin to actually begin to contain it.

It's going to grow for a bit. We all know that. And it's a challenge.

But the bigger challenge for the long haul is the climate change, the crisis of climate change. We're not getting the job done. Despite what we did in the Paris agreement, no country in the world is meeting the kind of targets that we need in order to save catastrophic damages from happening.

And we're seeing everything. I mean Antarctica, 70 degrees -- that's unheard of. We're seeing changes in the oceans, the warming of the oceans. The currents are now 76 percent faster than they were at any time previously. And that was something that was predicted to happen at the end of the century, not now.

So all the feedback loops are coming to us faster. Mother Earth telling us, hey, you guys better get to work to protect me. And that's exactly why we're here.

[14:04:58]

KERRY: We think -- by the way, all three of us are united in this partly because we know this is one of the greatest economic opportunities the world has ever had.

Moving to do the new energy, cleaning up the way we power our vehicles, the choices we have to stop pollution, and thereby make people healthier. All of these things are to our benefit and they create jobs and there's an enormous amount of money to be made in doing it.

WHITFIELD: All right. So Governor Schwarzenegger -- yes, we are talking about, you know, two very big global issues, you know, the global health concerning coronavirus and of course, the global, you know health of Mother Earth.

World War Zero effort -- what is the goal here? You know, how do you move this country toward zero carbon emissions, you know. And how is it that you all came together and plotted this plan and really recruit, you know, a varied array of people, talent and minds.

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, FORMER GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNI: Well, first of all, I think that John just mentioned all the things, the changes that are happening right now in the world and that we have seen over the last few decades happening. I think the one thing that I want to add to that is which is for me the most important factor and that is that we have seven million people die every year because of pollution.

And I think that when you think about the coronavirus now, how worried we are because there are over 3,000 people that have died worldwide, think about seven million people that have died. So we have to go and really fight back just like we do with the coronavirus.

I think every move that we make to really protect people is the right move and I think we have to do the same thing with the environment. It's not just the environment. It's the health and it's the amount of people that are dying because of pollution and we've got to stop that. We've got to slow it down. We've got to find ways to do it.

(CROSSTALKING)

WHITFIELD: And Governor Schwarzenegger --

KASICH: Fredricka, let me just say -- WHITFIELD: Ok. Go ahead, Governor Kasich.

KASICH: Oh, I'm sorry. I was just going to say that, you know, , one of the things that corona has revealed are the holes in our public health system. And now we need to study. We need to fight this and we need to study and we need to patch those holes and get ahead of it, the same way that we're talking about getting ahead of what could be terrible impacts and there already are some in terms of climate.

And so, you know, there's things like 163 critical drugs that are no longer made in the United States. They're generic drugs. There's no profit. They're made in China and India. We've got to face all of this. And we've got to face the longer-term issue here of climate. So that's -- it's -- but we'll get ahead of this thing.

SCHWARZENEGGER: The other thing that I wanted to mention here is, you know, we talk a lot about, you know, what we should do. And I think the important thing is to learn from what has been done.

And we in California, we have really shown that you can do it. We have made a commitment in 2006 to reduce our greenhouse gases and our pollution by 25 percent by the year 2020, and we hit it by 2018. We were two years early, and we hit our goal.

The same is with renewable energy. We were at 21 percent renewable energy. Now we're at 50 percent, so we hit our goal early.

So when they talk about the green new deal, it's all bogus because the fact of the matter is go for the real deal. The real deal is in California. We have shown that you can do it. We have shown that you can go and not harm the economy because we are now much more ahead of the United States when it comes to GDP growth.

The national GDP growth is around 2.2 percent . We are at 3.4 to 3.6 percent. We have the fifth largest economy in the world. We have proven that when you go green, it saves the economy at the same time, it creates jobs and it makes people be able to go from the coal job, the oil jobs to the green jobs to put solars and electric cars and stuff like that.

So we have done it. So the United States now has to follow what we have done.

WHITFIELD: So Secretary Kerry -- as California has its milestones, but you know, what is the life change that you all are asking people to engage in? Is it, you know, not driving gas-fueled vehicles? Is it using more solar panelling on homes? What? After the discussions today and at other town halls, then what? What's the action?

KERRY: Well, there are many actions. First of all, there are individual actions that people can take in their own lives. If you're going out to get a new car today, you should be getting an electric vehicle. And more and more manufacturers are building them.

I know I just was in Detroit. Ford is building a whole new plant and a whole new facility and bringing 5,000 jobs to Detroit to deal with electric cars. So any worker in South Carolina making the BMW SUV that they produce there today can make the same car except it can have a drive train that's electric and it can have batteries.

[14:09:53]

KERRY: So people are not--we're not asking people to give up a lifestyle. In fact we're asking them to embrace something that will give a better life-style, that will be healthier.

I mean the pollution that Arnold is talking about is what is causing those are greenhouse gases. And the fact is that the biggest cause of children being hospitalized in America in the summertime is environmentally-induced asthma. It comes from the air quality. We spend $55 billion a year to deal with that.

So if we were to begin to make life healthier and to make better choices, we're going to grow better jobs. Example, fastest growing job in America today is solar power technician. Second fastest growing job in America is wind power turbine technician technician.

So this is the future. We have about 300,000 of those workers versus some few thousand in the several coal mining states, maybe 50 000 total that have anything to do with coal. And no bank in America will now finance coal.

So the truth is the future of the marketplace is already making decisions and moving in this direction.

But the three of us understand we're not doing it fast enough. That's the challenge. And you have to have a war mentality. You have to bring the manufacturers to the White House, sit them down. What do you need to move faster? What tax credit do we need, what kind of subsidy if we do.

How are we going to have average workers in America be able to afford the buy the current price of an electric car. The demand will ultimately lower that price so it's to our advantage to accelerate that market as much as we can.

We should have a $1 million prize in America for the person who comes up or entity that comes up with battery storage that lasts for 25 days or more. The day we do that, we have totally changed the equation because you won't have problems of companies saying, how am I going to keep my factory open when the wind isn't blowing or the sun isn't shining.

We can solve these things, but nobody is being asked to do it in a coordinated way that harnesses America's ingenuity, our creative talent, our entrepreneurial skill. We do that, we win.

WHITFIELD: Ok. Let me maximize the moment if I might because I've got you three and you have a varied expertise. Let's talk about the road to the White House.

Right after this next Super Tuesday, Ohio will have its primary -- Governor Kasich, in your state there, and it is a pivotal state. What are you hoping to see from either Biden or Sanders to appeal to Ohioans?

KASICH: Let me just say one other thing in regard to what we're doing. We favor quick evolution, not revolution here when it comes to how we can meet the objectives we have on cleaning our environment. That's why we're all together, to figure out -- build a consensus that we all can agree we have a problem and then how do we move to fix it.

In regard to the election, upcoming election, I think what you're going to see in Ohio is a Joe Biden who's able to appeal to many of those blue collar disaffected people in our state.

And if Bernie Sanders were the nominee, and I'm not here to like knock, you know, Sanders or to tell you I'm Biden's campaign manager because I am not, but as an observer, I don't think that Bernie Sanders really stood a chance in Ohio.

If Joe Biden can be the Joe Biden people know, being able to relate to blue collar Independents and calming those disaffected Republicans who don't like Trump but they don't want revolution, they want some order in Washington and the White House, I think at this point you're going to see Joe Biden have momentum. And I think come the fall it's going to be one heck of a battle across this country.

What Joe Biden brings that the Democrats have lost is the ability to attract the working man and woman, and somehow the Democrats lost them and he has an ability to bring them back.

And why? Because that's how he grew up. That's who he is. It's going to be very interesting to see.

WHITFIELD: So Governor -- are you endorsing Joe Biden?

KASICH: No, I'm not endorsing Joe Biden. I am just an observer here. You asked me my view. I'm an observer. As to what I will do -- you know, when we get into the fall we'll just have to decide that. Right now I'm an observer. I'm enjoying it. I'm glad that Joe Biden is doing better.

(CROSSTALKING)

WHITFIELD: Ok, very good.

Secretary Kerry -- you have endorsed Biden and you did so early on. You know, he's been victorious in South Carolina, of course Super Tuesday. Now this Tuesday you're talking about six states, you know, including Michigan heading to the polls. Is Biden campaigning differently ahead of these races?

KERRY: Well, I think he's -- i just came from Michigan and I think Joe Biden's message is being heard and people are responding to him in Michigan. My sense is that Joe brings with him, to build off of what John just said about appealing to the folks here in Ohio.

[14:14:52]

KERRY: Joe is the only candidate on the Democratic side who was running for president who was asked by 65 candidates in 24 states to go campaign for them. And we won 41 seats in 2018 that turned the House. Those 41, some of them were in very tough districts.

None of them asked any other candidate to campaign for them except Joe Biden. Why? Because they feel Joe can help them in those districts and those districts are critical to governing in America. You don't just want to have somebody elected president who's got a favorite issue.

You want to elect somebody president who could bring Democrats and Republicans, liberals, conservatives to the table to fix our democracy in our country. It's broken today. We need to have a Washington that becomes functional again. And I think Joe has a proven record of bringing people together, not being the prisoner of ideology but wanting to make things work.

And I think that's what Americans want right now.

WHITFIELD: Governor Schwarzenegger -- you're a Republican but it's no secret you're not a huge fan of President Trump. You all have a rather frayed relationship. There remains one Republican, Bill Weld, campaigning. So how are you approaching this race? Would you vote for a Democrat?

SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, first of all, let me just say that I am so thrilled that we three are working together because here you have two Republicans, one Democrat. We don't fight over those things. We maybe have different ways of looking at how we get there but one thing we know for sure and that is we all want to go and reduce pollution. And we all want to go and slow this madness down that is killing the world.

And so this is why it is very important that Democrats and Republicans work together on this issue and that we don't see it as a political issue. I don't ever fall for those traps when they say Republicans are not right there and their denials and all this kind of stuff.

Because as long as we stay out of that, as long as we and make it a people's issue because there is no Democratic air, there is no Republican air. We all breathe the same air.

There is no Democratic water. There's no Republican water. We all drink the same water.

So this is why we all have to work together rather than attacking each other and all this. And the reality of it is any of those candidates that are out there, no matter if they're Republican or Democratic candidates, none of them have really shown that they have passed any legislation that has reduced greenhouse gases or pollution in the United States or in any of those states. So this is really the fact of it.

And so therefore, we have to stop with the dialogue and we have to start getting into action. I mean this is what this is about.

And people should listen to the states because states are the laboratory for the federal government. And this is why I said earlier what we have done in California, we are the perfect example for the federal government to take this package of what we have done and copy it and then America will go and change everything around.

So that's the way it feels. I don't go for this Democratic-Republican thing. I think both parties can work together and get this done.

KERRY: And Fredricka -- can I add to that?

WHITFIELD: Absolutely.

KERRY: One of the things that --well, we're really focused on the notion that you've got to have accountability in our political process. If people can today deny the science of what 6,000 -- 7,000 reports that have been peer reviewed, all explaining exactly what's happening and there isn't one peer reviewed study to the contrary. But if people today can be in Congress denying what's happening, then we have to create accountability.

The only way you get that accountability is through the conversations that we're going to have that encourages people to say, you know what, I'm going to vote climate. I'm going to go to the polls.

And if we look back in 2016, the turnout of eligible Americans was just 55.6 percent -- that's a 20-year low. And the turnout of young people was only 19 percent.

So we're going to talk to America. We're bringing these different people. We have admirals and generals. We have former Republican Defense secretaries. We have the arch bishop of Canterbury. We have former prime ministers.

We have a whole group of people who are saying we want to join the grassroots. We want the top roots and the grassroots to come together and create a movement that creates the political accountability we need to make things happen.

WHITFIELD: Fantastic.

KERRY: It's the only way we get out of it.

KASICH: One final point --

(CROSSTALKING)

WHITFIELD: All right. I think folks are really celebrating the variation of your uniqueness coming together for this very common purpose of trying to change lives in a big way. We got to go soon, Governor -- because you all have a town hall that you've got to attend to, but go ahead and make your last point.

KASICH: Ok. We got to go but listen -- one last point. There aren't many Arnold Schwarzeneggers. Arnold was a governor who led from the top-down. I like to think I did as well. But in America it's the people who speak. It's a bottom up.

And as the people of this country get more and more involved, the politicians will be afraid not to listen. That's where the solution will come from. Thanks for having us on -- Fredricka.

SCHWARZENEGGER: Thank you.

[14:19:56]

WHITFIELD: Thank you so much for joining us. I really appreciate it. I know your town hall is going to be a great success and people are excited because we hear -- and I heard all the voices, people around the set there couldn't wait to talk to you and then, of course, get into the town hall.

Governor Kasich, Governor Schwarzenegger, Secretary Kerry -- thank you so much. World War Zero town hall about to begin.

KERRY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Now that we're off the air with you -- thank you.

KERRY: WorldWarZero.com. WorldWarZero.com. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: You got it.

All right. Thanks so much -- gentlemen. Appreciate it.

All right. Meantime, again that other big pressing global health issue, that of coronavirus. And there are now 16 new cases of the coronavirus that have been confirmed in New York this morning, bringing that number in that state to 105.

Eighty-two of those cases are in Westchester County which is just north of New York City. 12 people are infected inside New York City's five boroughs as the virus continues to spread.

Another great Governor with us now from the great state of New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo joining me right now.

So Governor -- I mean, this is very serious and getting more serious, you know, really with each moment. So tell us what you can about the origins of these 16 new cases.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): Yes. Thanks. Good afternoon -- Fred.

It is serious but just let's pause for a moment on how serious it is because I'm afraid that the fear is actually outpacing the facts and we're fighting the virus but we're also fighting this anxiety. And people have to take a step back, a deep breath, and actually understand what we're looking at.

We have tremendous data on what happens with the coronavirus. We've studied other countries, et cetera. Johns Hopkins has been tracking every case -- 107,000 cases; 3,000 fatalities, ok?

We don't want anyone to die, but that's the parameters of what we're looking at. We have 108 cases in New York -- we only have 105 cases, I'm sorry. We have 8 people in the hospital out of 105 cases. So the real danger is twofold. One, if it continues to spread we're going to have to take drastic containment measures which means you basically shut down everything, which is what China did. That's bad for the economy, it's bad for business, bad for society.

Second, it's the vulnerable population -- senior citizens, elderly, people with compromised immune systems and underlying illness. That is what where we're trying to stop. And the way to do that is to fight the spread. You fight the spread through containment which is testing.

We're testing aggressively. You find the person who is positive. You isolate that person. The better you are at testing and isolation, the more you'll reduce the spreading and hopefully we don't have to go through --

WHITFIELD: But those are the cases that you know of, right?

CUOMO: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Right. Those are the cases that you know of but then there is the concern of those who, you know, are asymptomatic. And what do you do? How do you address that because that's how the numbers continue to rise. Some are asymptomatic for a moment and then symptoms arise.

CUOMO: Yes, you do the best you can. Look, this is imperfect and we understand that but the best you can is when you find the person who's been infected, you trace it back. Where were they, who did they touch, et cetera. You check the flights coming from countries that have an infection rate that's high.

You do the best you can. It's not a perfect system, that's for sure. In the meantime, you reduce density. I'm talking to the business leaders all across New York. I'm going to meet with them this week.

Let part of the workforce stay home, telecommuting. It's a digital economy, let people stay home. Liberal sick leave. If you're sick -- stay home. So that's what we're looking at.

What we do need is we need to reduce the fear and we need cooperation from the people. And we need the federal government to actually help rather than hinder and to tell the American people the truth and stick with the truth.

You now have, I think, tremendous anxiety because they're hearing mixed messages from the federal government. The President stands up and says anybody who wants a test can have a test. The Vice President stands up and says we don't have enough tests.

You hear that, you get nervous. We can't test everybody who wants to test. That is not true. I had to put special protocols in place in New York just to make it clear we have to prioritize the tests because we don't have the capacity. And I need the federal government to approve the use of private labs and automated testing --

WHITFIELD: And in fact, you toured a lab -- CUOMO: -- which will increase exponentially the number of tests we can do.

WHITFIELD: You toured a lab recently --

CUOMO: Yes,

(CROSSTALKING)

WHITFIELD: What did you discover there?

[14:24:58]

CUOMO: I toured a lab this morning -- Fred. It's the most sophisticated lab in the State. It's one of the most sophisticated labs in the United States of America. They have automated testing. They can do 120 tests in a matter of just about an hour.

No human beings. It's all done by machine. The federal government hasn't approved the usage. I mean I don't need anything from the feds but don't get in our way. And the federal government has been slow off the mark to begin with.

You know you need testing. You know you don't have the capacity. Why won't you approve these private labs with the automated testing which are going to use the federally-approved protocol anyway.

I mean it is -- it's really difficult to deal with when you're in my position because you know the more you test, the more you contain. You have more testing capacity, but the federal government is not authorizing its use.

WHITFIELD: All right. We'll leave it there for now.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo -- thanks so much. And good luck to you and your state.

CUOMO: Thank you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Next, nearly 16 million people in parts of northern Italy are now under lockdown because of the rapidly spreading coronavirus.

A CNN reporter had to be evacuated from the so-called red zone. We'll talk to him live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:30:00]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back.

Officials with the Conservative Political Action Conference confirmed that one attendee has tested positive for coronavirus. Both President Trump and Vice President Pence spoke at the CPAC event in Maryland a little over a week ago. The group's chairman, Matt Schlapp, says that while he himself did not have incidental -- did have rather incidental contact with the infected person, neither Trump nor Pence did.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT SCHLAPP, CPAC CHAIRMAN: I can verify that he had no contact with either the president or the vice president. And I can tell you when the president was on site at CPAC, he lives by what he tells us because I saw him scrub down his hands and clean his hands. As we get more information, we'll release it.

I think he was there most of the time and the patient did not -- I would say this, he didn't spend a lot of time going all over the conference. He stayed more in a small area. And anybody I know that might have had contact with the patient, if I can verify it, believe me, I've called that person.

We are not alarmed at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Kristen Holmes is in West Palm Beach, Florida, near Mar-a-Lago, where President Trump is spending the weekend. So, Kristen, what is the White House saying about all of this?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, the press secretary essentially reiterated that you've heard Matt just say, that Vice President Pence or President Trump had not interacted with this attendee. But there's a bigger concern here. That's not about them directly interacting with this attendee.

You have to keep in mind, this is a big conservative conference. There was a lot of Trump allies, supporters, people from the Hill who work with President Trump and the White House staff on a regular basis and we still don't know if any of them actually interacted with this attendee or not.

Now, the press secretary went on to say that the Secret Service as well as the president's doctor are working with government agencies to make sure that the first family remains safe. And President Trump himself was asked about this last night and said he wasn't concerned. And on top of that, he said he was going to keep holding these big political rallies.

It remains to be seen whether or not that can actually happen as we see more and more cases of this virus across the country. I was with him on Friday when he was in Tennessee and I saw him shaking hands with people in close proximity to people. Will this continue? That's the big question as we move forward as we see, again, more and more cases of this outbreak of this virus.

WHITFIELD: All right, habit changing potentially indeed. All right, Kristen Holmes, thank you so much.

All right, still ahead, thousands of passengers aboard the Diamond Princess are desperately waiting to disembark that ship after 21 cases of coronavirus are confirmed on board. We'll have the latest. But, first, it is International Women's Day right now. Thousands of women around the world are marching in celebration. You're looking at a march in Santiago, Chile. The goal, to advance gender equality and the empowerment of women. Listen.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:35:00]

WHITFIELD: Some hopeful news for the thousands of passengers on board the Grand Princess Cruise Ship. The ship will now dock tomorrow and all the passengers will be transferred to military bases for medical screening and a mandatory 14-day quarantine.

CNN's Lucy Kafanov joins me now from Oakland. So, Lucy, what more are you learning?

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, it's good news for sure but there was so much confusion late last night. Passengers were initially told that the ship will be coming here, the Port of Oakland, today, on Sunday. Then at the last minute, a change of plans. Take a listen to the captain's announcement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPTAIN: We received an update from the U.S. government that additional planning and preparations are required before the ship will be able to arrive in Oakland. So instead of arriving today, we will arrive at some time on Monday.

They have not given us a specific arrival time. We know this will be a disappointment to you, and we share in that disappointment. However, we are required to follow the government's instructions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAFANOV: So, Fred, here is what we know. The ship will be taken here to the Port of Oakland tomorrow, on Monday, unclear what time. Seriously ill patients will be evacuated first. They will be taken to local hospitals. The rest of the passengers will disembark afterwards. That is a process that could take more than one day.

California residents -- and there's about 1,000 of them on board this ship -- they will be quarantined in the state in federally operated facilities, Travis Air Base here up north, and the Miramar Air Base down near San Diego are two bases.

[14:40:01]

Remember, they were home to the Wuhan evacuees, Americans who left the Chinese ground zero city, center of the outbreak. The rest of the residents will get taken to military bases in Texas and Georgia.

The big question now, what happens to the hundreds of foreigners on board that's currently being worked out between the State Department and the relevant countries. The crew, about 1,100 or so people, they're not as lucky. They're going to have to stay on board that ship for the 14-day quarantine. But we all remember what happened with the Diamond Princess, the ship quarantined off the coast of Japan. The disease spread so quickly there.

So, some positive developments. At least they know that they will be taken to shore soon, but it's going to be a long haul, at least 14 days for everyone on board, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes, that is going to be long. All right, thank you so much, Lucy Kafanov. I appreciate it.

And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:40:00]

WHITFIELD: Right now, nearly 16 million people across Northern Italy are under a lockdown. Italy's prime minister announcing a strict new quarantine for a massive region in Northern Italy, including major cities such as Milan and Venice. It's one of the most drastic responses we have seen to combat the spread of coronavirus. It comes as Italy is dealing with the largest outbreak in Uurope, recording more than 7,000 cases and 366 deaths.

For more on this, let's bring in CNN's Ben Wedeman who is in Bologna, Italy, who just evacuated from the so-called red zone. So, Ben, what have you been experiencing and everybody else there?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly the news that this new expanded red zone would be established came out very early in the morning, but, honestly, we didn't see any form of panic in Milan where we were. People were sort of expecting this to happen. And as we made our way down here, nobody stopped us. We're now in essentially what is called the yellow zone, the zone adjacent to the red zone.

Speaking to police along the way, they said they have yet to receive any orders on how to implement this latest decree. Of course, to call it drastic is an understatement given that if you look in terms of the percentage of the population of Italy that is now under these draconian measures, it's about 25 percent of the population in the most prosperous, industrial area of the country. And, therefore, this is going to have a huge impact.

Now, we've just, as you mentioned those numbers, a huge increase, 1,492 new cases in the last 24 hours, 133 new deaths, bringing the death toll to 366. And I can tell you, we arrived in Italy 13 days ago at which point the death -- rather the number of cases was around 300. So the Italian government is taking these drastic actions to try to control the spread of coronavirus.

So far, Fredricka, the results are meager.

WHITFIELD: It is a dire situation. Ben Wedeman, thank you so much. Two days until Super Tuesday in this state, and Joe Biden has picked up yet another key endorsement. This one from one-time rival, Senator Kamala Harris. Could this take Biden over the top as he battles against Bernie Sanders for the nomination? We're live next.

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WHITFIELD: With another Super Tuesday just days away, the endorsements just keep rolling in for former Vice President Joe Biden. Today, Senator and former Democratic rival Kamala Harris announced that she'll do anything in her power to help get Biden elected starting tomorrow at a campaign rally in Detroit. This as Senator Bernie Sanders admits that Michigan could be the make it or break it state for his campaign.

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SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Right now, our focus is here in Michigan where we think we have the agenda that can win this state and also we're two people in the race. It's vice president Biden and myself. We have the opportunity to contrast our voting records, our vision for the future. And in Michigan, the people here have been devastated, devastated in Flint and Detroit by these disastrous trade agreements that Joe Biden voted for.

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WHITFIELD: CNN's Abby Phillip is in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with the Sanders campaign. So, Abby, what are people saying in terms of whether Senator Harris' endorsement can make a difference for Joe Biden in Michigan?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Senator Harris' endorsement really has been hotly anticipated for several months. Sources told me several weeks ago that she was considering an endorsement and we learned that she wanted to wait until Senator Elizabeth Warren got out of the race before weighing in. But now that it's here, it's just one more in a string of endorsements coming for Joe Biden in these final days but especially after Super Tuesday.

And it's really the aftermath of Super Tuesday that's weighing heavily on this race at this moment. Senator Bernie Sanders is trying to make a comeback and it starts here in Michigan where I am right now. The senator has been really postponing everything in favor of hitting the ground in Michigan day after day, rally after rally, trying to regain any kind of momentum that was lost after Joe Biden had a very good night on Super Tuesday.

Michigan is where Bernie Sanders actually had a really great night four years ago, in 2016. He narrowly beat Hillary Clinton. And it really foreshadowed some of the troubles the Democrats would have with white working class voters.

And so here in this state, he is focusing not just on workers but also on African-American voters, and that's where the endorsement of the reverend, Jesse Jackson, came in. Jackson endorsed Bernie Sanders today, basically making a link between the fights for economic inequality and racial inequality and tying it to Bernie Sanders' message. Take a listen.

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SANDERS: If there was no Jesse Jackson, in my view, there would not have been a President Barack Obama.

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REV. JESSE JACKSON, BERNIE SANDERS SUPPORTER: A lot of talks, these things about Democratic socialism. What does all that mean? The operative word is democracy, of, for and by the people. We want a fair, social spending budget. Roosevelt called the economic bill of rights after it became social security. Johnson called it war on poverty. Brother King called it job income for every American. Well, Johnson, Dr. King, Roosevelt, they were on the right page. Thank God for Bernie Sanders.

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PHILLIP: So the stakes are high here for the Sanders campaign and they know that a big key to winning this state is going to be improving his performance with African-American voters. That's been a struggle for him up until this point. We'll see how that goes for him on Tuesday, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Lots on the line. Abby Phillip, thank you so much. And we'll be right back.

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