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Stocks Plummet; Global Coronavirus Crisis Escalates. Aired 3- 3:30p ET

Aired March 09, 2020 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:44]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Welcome back. Hour two. You're watching CNN on this Monday afternoon, I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being here.

U.S. stocks -- look at this -- plunging after oil prices tumble, while coronavirus fears skyrocket. The combination actually forcing halt in trading this morning after stocks lost 7 percent shortly after the opening bell.

And now the White House is inviting Wall Street executives -- that includes bank CEOs -- to a meeting this week on coronavirus, as President Trump huddles with his advisers on this very issue.

That meeting is set as a number of confirmed cases jumps to 100,000 worldwide. And that includes this cruise ship, where at least 21 people have tested positive for coronavirus. These are live pictures out of Oakland, California, here.

And any minute now, these passengers, 2,400 passengers, 1,100 cruise members here on the Grand Princess, will dock in Oakland after being held at sea for the last couple of days.

And let's go straight there to California.

CNN's Dan Simon is there at the port, where the ship is expected to off-load all of these thousands of people.

And so, Dan, what is the plan?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is finally coming to shore. You could see it in the San Francisco Bay behind me here entering the Port of Oakland.

And this is a process, Brooke, that is not quick. It is going to take two or three days to get all these passengers off the ship. Of course, those who have the most acute medical needs, they will immediately get off the ship and go to area hospitals.

But then there is a process for removing all of the passengers who will then go into a mandatory 14-day quarantine. Brooke, let's just review how we got here. This is a cruise that was headed to the Hawaiian Islands, sailed

around the islands for 15 days, and then in the middle of their journey authorities discovered that a couple of people who were on the previous voyage on board the same ship came down with coronavirus.

So that set forth a plan to really stop things and to begin testing some of the people on that ship. Ultimately, 45 passengers and crew people were tested, and 19 came back positive -- excuse me -- 21 came back positive; 19 crew members were positive.

So now here we are. After all of this time, they have basically been in the middle of the ocean since Thursday. hand now it is finally coming to shore, 2,400 passengers, 1,100 crew members coming to the Port of Oakland.

Immediately, we're beginning unboarding, or some of these passengers are going to start coming off the ship. And then soon they will go into quarantine to various military installations across the country -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Yes. And I know they have rushed to create this containment area where those passengers will be disembarking. I know you're keeping your eye on that cruise ship, as are we, Dan Simon. And we will come back to.

Meantime, back to the markets. The Dow is down nearly 2,000 points this hour.

CNN's Alison Kosik is on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

And, Alison, what are you hearing from traders?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are seeing stocks, Brooke, at session lows as we get into the final hour of this historic day of trading, historic not just because of the percentage and the point drops we're seeing in stocks, but because this morning we saw circuit breakers activated because stocks fell too far too fast.

So stocks wound up being halted from trading for 15 minutes. But even after that breather, the realities still remain, those fears still remain, for one, the bond market flashing a big red flag to investors saying that they're concerned about a global recession, about oil prices plunging, plunging the most since 1991.

That was during the Gulf War, and then, of course, concerns about the coronavirus and its impact on the global economy. No one really knows what the impact is going to be on global economies or on businesses worldwide.

And it's all of that uncertainty, if you think about it, that is the reason we're seeing investors do their best to run for cover -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Alison, thank you.

With me now, Alexis Glick, former Wall Street executive, finance expert and CEO of GENYOUth.

So, Alexis Glick--

ALEXIS GLICK, FINANCIAL EXPERT: Yes.

BALDWIN: -- you're the expert on all things markets. I know you have been in touch with a lot of the Fortune 500 CEOs. And we will get to what they're saying to you in just a second.

But just in terms of the markets this morning and how trading just came to a halt once they triggered that 7 percent, that circuit breaker, explain to people what happened.

[15:05:06]

GLICK: So, essentially, there are mechanisms in place that if there is a large downward fall in the stock market, that they create these what they call halts or barriers to trading.

So, this morning, at 9:33, when the market did trade down 7 percent, trading was halted for 15 minutes. There are three what we call circuit breakers, if the market trades down 7, percent, 13 percent or 20 percent.

So, when you have a 7 percent decline, all trading ceases to exist for 15 minutes.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Why, just so everyone--

GLICK: They do this because they want to make sure they have an orderly marketplace.

BALDWIN: Yes.

GLICK: So, if the market were to trade down further, as much as 13 percent, there would be a another 15-minute hole before 3:25. Market closes at 4:00 p.m. on the East Coast.

If the market were to trade down 20 percent, which no one expects, you shut the marketplace down for this -- for the day. Today's opening was the third worst opening that we have seen since the '07-'08 crisis and post-9/11.

BALDWIN: Wow.

GLICK: So it really did shake folks to the core.

But those barriers, those circuit breakers are in place to create order.

BALDWIN: Yes.

GLICK: Some would argue that it doesn't necessarily, but so far the market is working orderly. BALDWIN: Part of the plunge today with the markets is all related to these oil prices, right? So the oil prices, they were already getting hit from a drop in demand because of the coronavirus. And then there's this feud between the Russians and the Saudis.

GLICK: Yes.

BALDWIN: Explain what's going on.

GLICK: So essentially, what happened is they were working together with OPEC, which really is the comptroller of oil prices coming out of the Middle East and of the global economy.

Net-net, what ultimately happened is that Russia was not willing to go along with Saudi Arabia and the other oil-producing nations, like Iran, Venezuela, us.

Russia wanted to go it alone and would not agree to a cut. So, Saudi Arabia, in retaliation decided to cut prices this weekend.

That scared the markets. And we woke up this morning to a 30 percent reduction in crude oil prices. So, across the board, that has scared everyone.

What it says is, is that we're not all in this together, the decision for Russia to go it alone. Some say that could be tactics and their way of negotiating, the Saudis, with the Russians.

But at the end of the day, that sent a shockwave through the markets. Now, here's the thing. If you're a consumer sitting at home, there's a good shot that in the next couple of weeks, you could see gasoline prices at a couple dollars. That can add some stimulus.

BALDWIN: Which is amazing, if you're actually getting in your car and going somewhere.

GLICK: If you're going somewhere.

But the point is, we're kind of being told to stay put.

BALDWIN: Stay put.

GLICK: So it's not only starting to cause recession fears, but it's also a fear for everyone, from banks, government, on down.

If you think about it right now, just to contextualize interest rates, as we know it, mortgage rates are now at an 8-year low. The 10-year treasury, which is what everybody looks as the benchmark, right now is trading at an all-time low, historic all-time low, even in the wake of the Fed's rate cut last week.

What that says is investors are nervous.

BALDWIN: But who isn't nervous, according to you--

GLICK: Yes. BALDWIN: -- are these Fortune 500 companies. Like, they're not

panicking.

GLICK: Yes.

BALDWIN: Who have you reached out to and what are they telling you?

GLICK: So let me -- just to contextualize, I think I have had a conversation with at least six Fortune 500 companies, which means they are essentially the largest global companies in the world.

I have been speaking to them all day long. Across the board, what they are saying is, we have got our contingency plans in place. We are overcommunicating. We are stepping in where we can.

Let's look at a couple of announcements that have come out just in the past couple of days.

BALDWIN: Yes.

GLICK: You have tech giants, like Amazon, Google, Microsoft and others pledging that they are going to pay their hourly workers -- they are not going to cease to pay them -- to actually stay home and not be in environments that could cause a growth in the coronavirus, number one.

Health care companies, number two, have stepped in and said they're going to pay for the testing for individuals who are uninsured. They're going to help the most at-risk populations.

Case after case after case is situations where corporate America is figuring out, what role can we play and how do we step up?

The one thing I will tell you is that, in terms of cancellations of events, cancellations of travel, most companies across America are saying, nonessential travel, don't do it. They are looking out 90 days. Their contingency plans are in place for 90 days.

And what they're saying is, right now, what we need to do, which is the number one thing we can do, is overcommunicate. They feel that they are getting the information that they need from CDC. They're working with their local medical providers or universities or health care systems.

[15:10:06]

And what most of them are doing is hosting either daily or in some cases multiple daily calls in regards to the information that they're sharing out.

And employees across the board are saying, thank.

BALDWIN: No, overcommunication, that's a good thing.

GLICK: Clarify. Bingo. BALDWIN: Yes. And that's interesting that they're also thinking

that's it's a 90-day benchmark or window in which they're functioning at this -- at this moment.

All the good stuff, all the insight coming from you.

Alexis Glick, thank you.

GLICK: Thank you so much.

BALDWIN: Thank you very much.

By the way, starting today, you will notice that CNN is using the term pandemic to describe the current coronavirus outbreak.

And it is not a decision that CNN takes lightly. While it may sound alarming, it should not cause panic. The terminology we're going to start using is to focus on preparedness.

And just let me show you the criteria for what constitutes a pandemic, a new virus that causes illness or death. We know that that has been happening. Number two, sustained person-to-person transmission. We have even seen evidence of people passing this on to others in their proximity. And evidence of spread throughout the world.

There are now more than 100,000 confirmed cases worldwide on every single continent, except for Antarctica, and nearly 4,000 are dead. There are more than 600 cases across the United States with 22 deaths.

And as the virus spreads right here in the United States, are hospitals prepared to handle the widening crisis?

I'm going to let you listen to CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: On the left is a moderate scenario, 38 million people possibly needing medical care, a million hospitalizations, 200,000 needing ICU care.

If you look at a very serious scenario, it's almost 10-fold that. But just focus on the moderate scenario.

And as you think of those numbers, let me tell you that in the United States, we have about 100,000 intensive care unit beds, give or take. That's half of what we possibly need.

We have about 62,000 breathing machines or ventilators. And we know that, with a moderate scenario, we will need about 64,000. Of the ones in the bottom, 62,000, plus 10,000 in the stockpile, many of them are being used because we're in flu season.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Sanjay, thank you. James Phillips is a physician and an assistant professor of emergency

medicine at George Washington University Hospital.

So, Dr. Phillips, thank you for coming on.

DR. JAMES PHILLIPS, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Do you agree with Sanjay? I mean, are you worried that U.S. hospitals just aren't prepared for what's to come?

PHILLIPS: Well, the concerns are certainly valid.

And the numbers that he's provided I think are important for the public to pay attention to. The reality that we're seeing right now is that the death rate for this virus is around 1 percent.

There's people that want to argue more or less, but 1 percent of the population of the United States is a very large number. One percent of the population of the globe is a very large number.

And although 1 percent may pass away -- and, gosh, we hope it's less than that -- we're going to try our best -- many more are going to get seriously ill. And that's the issue with our hospitals and the number of beds that we have right now.

We know how many beds we have in the United States, both regular and ICU. We know the type of equipment that we have. And given a moderate- to worst-case scenario, the math is concerning.

BALDWIN: I mean, talking about the math, I was just talking to -- there's an Episcopalian priest at a church in Georgetown tested positive.

I was just talking to his assistant last hour. And there you are in Washington, right? So, you have the area's now first two cases of coronavirus. For you specifically in your E.R., what are you most concerned about?

PHILLIPS: Well, it's the first two cases of confirmed coronaviruses, but emergency physicians around the country are knowledgeable that there's many more that haven't been tested.

So, in our hospital, primarily, we're treating people that come in with those symptoms exactly as we would treat them if they had the virus confirmed in order to prevent spread.

So there's no one-size-fits-all for how hospitals prepare. I work in a large academic urban center. I have also worked in small rural hospitals in Oklahoma, particularly during my training in medical school.

Everybody prepares differently. Where we have lots of beds and lots of doctors, a six-bed E.R. with one doctor has totally different concerns.

The universal concerns, however, are pretty constant. And as I have said before, in disaster medicine, we consider three major things, staff, stuff and space.

And the way that hospitals have to consider this is from those standpoints, staff being, how do we protect our health care work force, and then get them back in the fight if they get sick? We need to know how long we are out of work before we can go back keep patients safe.

[15:15:01]

The government needs to focus on getting that us that research and that information.

From a space standpoint, we want to keep people away from the virus. So, you will see more -- with more frequency across the country and around here soon separate spaces where we're taking care of patients presenting to the emergency department with respiratory concerns.

Fevers, coughs and shortness of breath, we may have a tent outside. We may have an alternate place in the hospital to manage you and keep you away from all of the normal patients coming.

BALDWIN: But guess who does have to interact? And bless you for this, but the doctors, the nurses, right? I mean, you have written that you will be getting coronavirus. Why do you say that?

PHILLIPS: Well, I think it's highly likely.

There's no 100 percents in medicine. I say that to my residents and to my fellows all the time. I'm going to try my best. But the fact is, is, I'm one of thousands and thousands of doctors and nurses that will be interacting directly with the patients that have this virus.

Despite our best precautions, we have seen in other outbreaks transmission still does happen. In addition to that, I have a 2-year- old in day care. I have a pregnant wife. We went to the doctor's office this morning. And I'm an American. I went to the mall. I went to see my godson's basketball game yesterday.

There's more places outside the hospital where I have a high rate of getting the virus.

BALDWIN: So, just quickly, last question -- I'm thinking about your pregnant wife and your itty-bitty child -- like what do you do if and when?

You will just have to self-quarantine and they will go on living their lives?

PHILLIPS: Well, I'm going to do my best to not bring that virus home.

BALDWIN: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Our hospitals has taken precautions to help us prevent going home with the virus.

Other hospitals need to do the same with PPE and scrub recycling and things like that. And if I get sick, I will isolate in my man cave downstairs, try to recover, try to take care of patients online, however that telemedicine becomes available.

And the good news is, what is good news is that this virus seems to have mercy on the young and so far on the pregnant transmitting that to their young.

BALDWIN: Yes. OK.

We wish you only good health, Dr. Phillips. Thank you for everything you're doing and that you will be doing.

PHILLIPS: Thanks.

BALDWIN: I appreciate it.

PHILLIPS: Thanks for having me on.

BALDWIN: Let me -- let's take another quick look. Here they are, live pictures, Oakland, California. You see some of these passengers waving their hands, waving those towels.

They are ready to get off this ship, right? So they're about to disembark. We're going to watch that process before they go to various military bases for quarantine.

And as Americans look for leadership, the president of the United States and his staff are spreading misinformation and blaming political opponents for this crisis. We will talk about that ahead.

And I'm sure you have seen empty store shelves like this. We have new details about nationwide shortages and limits on products.

You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:22:15]

BALDWIN: Fear of coronavirus is leading to panic buying and empty store shelves.

All across the country, shoppers are stocking up on supplies, like disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizers, water, even toilet paper.

CNN's Polo Sandoval is live now.

And, Polo, you tell me, how bad are the shortages? And what's being done about it?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Brooke, those things are really hard to find, obviously.

From here in New York, up to Maine, all the way across the country in California, those kinds of items are definitely very difficult to track down, the hand sanitizer, of course, those disinfecting wipes, those face masks that health officials continue to tell the public may not be the best way of protecting yourself.

But then the toilet paper? We did turn to various experts, one in particular, an economist, saying that likely it's all about the state of uncertainty. Many people might fear the potential for inventory shortages, possible disruptions to life, to their everyday life, if they have to potentially remain at home.

And that's not only leading to price-gouging, but also inventory shortages across the country. And back to that hand sanitizer, in fact, there are many people across the country, they are choosing to just make their own.

In fact, here, the state of New York, just this morning, Governor Andrew Cuomo announcing that the state of New York will be making their own.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): We're introducing New York State Clean hand sanitizer made, conveniently, by the state of New York.

This is a superior product to products now on the market. The World Health Organization, CDC, all those people, suggest 60 percent alcohol content. Purell, competitor to New York State Clean, 70 percent alcohol. This is 75 percent alcohol.

It also has a -- comes in a variety of sizes. It has a very nice floral bouquet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Now, we should mention the governor did strike a very serious tone, however, when he was talking about his real concern here is that perhaps fears about this coronavirus, Brooke, will be spreading faster than the virus itself, something that would lead to the panic and hysteria that he said is simply unwarranted right now.

BALDWIN: Yes.

We had him on last week. He says, do not panic. I know, for some, easier said than done.

Polo, thank you.

Just in to CNN, Fulton County in Georgia shutting all public schools tomorrow, after an employee has tested positive for the virus. We have details on that and how universities around the country are responding to the threat.

Plus, let's get you back out -- here we go -- live pictures of this cruise ship in Oakland, California, as it is about to dock.

[15:25:04]

And all kinds of questions remain over where those who've been exposed will be headed. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)