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New Day
Advice for Coronavirus Pandemic; Polls Open in Michigan and Missouri; Polls on the Primary Races Today; Lockdown in Italy; China's President Visits Wuhan; Unseasonably Warm Weather in Northeast; Most Coronavirus Deaths involve Elderly Patients. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired March 10, 2020 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:00]
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I mean there's no -- there's no question. I mean we've been talking about this for six weeks now, the United States has been way behind on testing and I think part of what Robin Scholman (ph) was writing about in "The New York Times" and these other articles is the fact that we haven't had enough tests. I mean that's been a clear problem. And I think, you know, it's still a problem. I mean, even as of last week, they said that there was going to be at least a million tests by the end of the week. There weren't. Now they say there's, you know, these million tests are still going out, but there's 75,000 tests that are available in all these public health departments.
It's tough to get a test. There's no question. I get -- I get calls from colleagues, some of our collective colleagues, people in the medical community who often are calling me or people that I know saying how does this testing work?
Couple points to make. One is that still, you know, for the most part, while the guidelines are going to be loosened and I think there's going to be more testing available at some point, a couple -- couple points. For most people, as we -- as we just said, if you go to the -- go to the doctor with symptoms, they're probably still going to rule out flu or something else first as opposed to just jumping immediately to the coronavirus test because flu and just the common cold are still more likely to be the source.
The second thing is that, you know, this is a little bit more of a nuance point, but as this progresses over time, over the next couple of weeks or maybe a month, there may be many public health departments who say we no longer are going to actually be doing testing because we now know the virus is here. It is spreading. We're not going to make a medical decision that's different based on the testing. So we may actually see an increase in testing and then all of a sudden a decrease in testing as it is clear the virus is already starting to spread.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK. All right. That is helpful this morning. I mean, Sanjay, you're always helpful. But the idea that there's no one protocol that people can follow at the moment is, I think, confounding at the -- to people, but we'll check back in with you. I know there's lots of viewer questions that you're going answer as well.
GUPTA: OK. You got it.
CAMEROTA: Thank you very much, Sanjay.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So voters in six states will pick their choice for the Democratic nomination today. Another way of saying that is, it's Super Tuesday number two. It's a huge day in the election season.
That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:36:14]
CAMEROTA: Polls in Michigan and Missouri are set to open just minutes from now. Six states vote today, 352 delegates at stake.
CNN's Ryan Nobles is live in Detroit and Michigan is today's biggest prize.
What's the situation, Ryan?
RYAN NOBLES, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Alisyn, no doubt all eyes will be on Michigan today. As you mentioned, one of six states voting on this second Super Tuesday. This is really important for the Democratic candidates because it will essentially be the first head- to-head matchup between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. And right now it is Joe Biden with the delegate lead. And he also seems to have the momentum. But both he and Sanders making their case to voters here across these six states. Biden pointing to all the endorsements that he's racked up, particularly from the moderate lane of the Democratic Party, while Sanders arguing that the enthusiasm behind his campaign is what it will take to beat Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A campaign like Joe's, which is, frankly, the same old same, same old establishment politics, supported by the wealthy, and, I know, they've got all the governors and the senators supporting them, does anybody really think that that is going to be the campaign of excitement and energy that's going to grow the base that we need to defeat Trump? I don't think so.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Look, I view myself as a bridge, not as anything else. There's an entire generation of leaders you saw stand behind me. They are the future of this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBLES: And Biden picked up two big endorsements yesterday, both Cory Booker and Kamala Harris joining him for an event here in Detroit. Michigan, so important for Bernie Sanders. This was a state he was expected to lose to Hillary Clinton last time around and he pulled off an upset victory. He may need an upset victory here as well this time around if his hopes of continuing in the race can continue.
John.
BERMAN: All right, Ryan Nobles for us in Michigan. Ryan, thank you very much.
Let's talk much more about today.
Joining us, CNN's senior politics writer and analyst Harry Enten.
Ryan talked about Michigan.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICS WRITER AND ANALYST: Yes.
BERMAN: That Bernie Sanders needs a big win. Also said that he pulled this upset victory in 2016. But explain to everyone, in your mind, how 2020 might be different than 2016 for Bernie Sanders.
ENTEN: Sure. So we'll jump into Michigan first and then we'll talk about the overall sort of state of play. So I think this is rather important. White voters without a college degree. This is how Bernie Sanders pulled it off last time around. In Michigan he won those voters by 15 percentage points. That was pretty similar to what we saw in the north as an average outside the state of Vermont. He won those voters again by 15 percentage points. So that was the state of play back in 2016.
BERMAN: So this is how he was doing in 2016?
ENTEN: Yes.
BERMAN: So Michigan was perfectly consistent with everything else.
ENTEN: Exactly. The demographics lined up for him. But what have we seen so far in 2020 among those same voters in the north? So on Super Tuesday, in the northern states, outside of Vermont, what did we see? We saw that Biden was winning those voters by eight percentage points. And that is just such a key difference from what we're seeing right now in 2020 verses what we saw four years ago. If what happened in the northern states outside of Vermont happens in Michigan, today, I just don't really see how he can pull off the same sort of upset.
CAMEROTA: What else are you look for?
ENTEN: So, you know, one other thing. Let's just sort of lay the groundwork here of what's going on. You know, we mentioned the six states that are sort of voting, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, North Dakota, Idaho, Washington. Wow, I said that pretty fast, didn't I? And what I just want to point out is, basically we'll have the polls close in these areas at around 8:00 p.m. Here, this is 9:00, 10:00, 10:00, and 11:00. So -- I didn't get that one in. There we go. And so essentially we should have a night that is fairly consistent. We'll be getting results throughout the evening. In the east, those are probably Biden's best states going all the way out to the west. That's probably where Bernie will do well.
CAMEROTA: Is Washington state all mail in.
ENTEN: Washington state, at this point, I believe -- it is, I believe, yes.
[06:40:03]
CAMEROTA: I'm just saying that maybe we would get results because of that sooner. Who knows?
BERMAN: Not before 11:00. They won't do --
CAMEROTA: They won't do that/
ENTEN: They will not release the results before 11:00.
BERMAN: And the fact of the matter is, Mississippi, which might be Biden's best state, which Bernie Sanders isn't even campaigning in, chances are that will be called right at 8:00.
ENTEN: Yes. I mean, look, that -- Mississippi, you know -- you know, if you want to talk about Mississippi, I think this is, you know, something that's rather interesting, talking about margins matter more than wins in Democratic primaries. You know, go back to 2016, right, we're all talking about Michigan, how important Michigan is. Remember back in 2016 when Bernie Sanders pulled off that upset win, he only netted four delegates out of there, even though he won by a point. Clinton won Mississippi by 66 points, netted 26 delegates. And here's the thing about 2020 in Mississippi. Sanders had campaign stops scheduled in Mississippi. He decided, no, I'm going to go up to Michigan and try and win there.
And remember that Joe Biden won in Alabama by 47 points last week next door. So, remember, in Democratic primaries, it's proportional. It's the margins that matter. You want to win more votes. It's not about state wins. And so tonight, if I'm looking at Mississippi, that's a place we're expecting Biden to do particularly well and rack up a lot, a lot of delegates.
CAMEROTA: How about the suburbs?
ENTEN: Yes. So, another thing that I'm sort of keeping my eye out on is the turnout, right? We saw in -- last week in Virginia, Texas and Massachusetts, in the suburbs, we saw massive increases in turnout. And that benefited Joe Biden. It really did. He ran up the margins there and I think it might portend to something later on in the general election as well.
So tonight I'm looking in Oakland County, Michigan. This is where we were in 2016, about 180,000 people turned out. What is the turnout going to be there because that could tell us how much of these people in the suburbs, women in particular, white, college educated women are really upset with the president and going to turn out in large numbers.
BERMAN: One interesting fact.
ENTEN: Yes.
BERMAN: This, that's my home county. It is.
CAMEROTA: That -- oh, my gosh, that is so interesting.
BERMAN: It's my birthplace. My birthplace. Yes, I grew up there.
CAMEROTA: Is there like a big eight by ten glossy or something that's hung there?
BERMAN: Yes, it's a plaque. There's a big plaque.
ENTEN: One last thing that I'll sort of point out for you here is, to me, rather interesting is Missouri, which is the other state that's sort of going on, has tended to vote with the winner every single time in Democratic primaries and caucuses. Gephardt was the one exception back in 1988. Of course he was from there.
BERMAN: Harry, fascinating stuff. It gives us, I think, a blueprint to what (INAUDIBLE) tonight.
ENTEN: I try my best, folks. I try my best.
BERMAN: You do it great.
CAMEROTA: You do it really, really well.
BERMAN: I know you're going down to Washington --
ENTEN: I am.
BERMAN: To be a big part of the coverage tonight.
ENTEN: Yes.
CAMEROTA: We'll miss you tomorrow.
ENTEN: Bye.
CAMEROTA: All right -- bye.
Meanwhile, all of Italy is on lockdown this morning. We have a live report from Rome about the unprecedented measures that Italy is taking to stem the spread of coronavirus. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:46:32]
BERMAN: All of Italy, the entire country, a nation of 60 million people on lockdown this morning to contain the coronavirus. The prime minister extended all these travel restrictions overnight.
CNN's Delia Gallagher live in Rome with the very latest.
Delia. DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: John, so we've gone from
Sunday lockdown in the north of Italy, now the entire country on lockdown. What this essentially means is schools are closed, public events are off. You can still move around in your city, although you're being encouraged to stay indoors. If you do move around outside, you have to maintain three feet of distance between people. Bars and restaurants closing at 6:00. We saw a rush on supermarkets last night after the prime minister made this announcement. Government is trying to tell Italians that transport of goods is guaranteed.
Pope Francis slightly bucking the trend this morning. Is he live streaming his private mass to the rest of the world and he told his priests go out and be with the sick.
Of course there's great concern also for the health infrastructure. We spoke yesterday to the coordinator of the intensive care units in the Lombardi (ph) region. That's where Milan is. And he said they have a tsunami of patients. They are reaching a critical point there, putting patients in corridors. Lombardi has more than half of the current 9,000 cases and they have one of the best health infrastructures in the country, so other doctors in hospitals in other regions are concerned about their own health infrastructure if this virus should continue to spread.
Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: Delia, it's amazing to look at these landmarks, the video of these landmarks that look like ghost towns. Thank you very much for reporting from Italy.
China's president will make his first visit to Wuhan, that's the epicenter of the original coronavirus more than two months ago. The number of new cases, though, in China have slowed down.
CNN's David Culver is live in Shanghai with more.
What's the situation this morning, David?
DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And, Alisyn, it's so interesting listening to you and Delia talk there about what they're going through in Italy because it's where we were nearly seven weeks ago, navigating the uncertainty. And now it looks like China is making a major step forward, some progress that we're seeing. I know folks are trying to cling to some optimism here and perhaps we're seeing it within the source of all of this, where this began here in China.
And you mentioned President Xi Jinping. I mean it's significant that he made this visit today to Wuhan, the epicenter of this outbreak. It is very unlikely he would have done this had they not felt secure for his own health to go there and to meet with some of the medical personnel, the military members who are on front lines there, and some of the residents.
No question some of this is political, trying to reassure the people not only within Hubei province, but across the People's Republic of China that things are under control. They're also trying to stabilize the economy within China and internationally as well.
Beyond that, we're starting to see other indicators, though, that things are coming back to normal. Albeit a new normal I'll stress. I mean we're starting to see, John, some of the field hospitals. We talked about how quickly those were being constructed from exhibition halls and stadiums. They're not closed. Not one of them, all 14 have shut down. Why is that? There's not the demand from patients. They just don't have that.
BERMAN: I've got to say, David, it is reassuring to know that China is coming back from this, but I do think we need to make clear to people that China took actions that no other country on earth has even come close to taking.
[06:50:04]
CULVER: That's right. That's right.
BERMAN: Not close.
CAMEROTA: Or would really be able to.
BERMAN: Or perhaps -- perhaps not. But it is interesting when you compare what China did with the rest of the world.
David Culver, it's been great having you there. Thanks very much.
This morning, the CDC is rolling out new guidance for older Americans to avoid coronavirus. What you need to know to keep your family safe, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAMEROTA: A second day of unseasonably warm weather in store for the northeast U.S., while rain threatens the middle of the country.
[06:55:01]
CNN meteorologist Chad Myers has our forecast.
What are you seeing out there, Chad?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Two words, fresh air. Open the windows and get some of this out there. These are not the highs for the day, these are the current temperatures in the 50s and 60s all across the east.
This weather is brought to you by Boost, the nutrition you need, the taste you deserve.
Now, there will be some rain out there. I get that. And there's even some rain right now all the way from the Ohio Valley down to the Gulf Coast. But we have voting states today. every state you see here in white, that's a voting state. The only real problem may be Mississippi with some very heavy rainfall there. The rest of the states doing well today, all the way through tonight, and then for tomorrow really this thing is completely gone, no real significant weather there.
There will be very heavy rain in southern California. Some spots could pick up two to four inches. Luckily there's no sleet. We won't talk about that much. But there could even be some flooding out there.
Look at the temperatures in D.C. today. Some spots over 70 degrees. All the way down to the south, about the same story.
Guys, back to you.
BERMAN: All right, Chad, thank you very much.
So the coronavirus has killed at least 26 people in the United States. Most of them patients who were at least 70 years old.
CNN's Martin Savidge is live near a retirement village in central Florida with the very latest on this.
Martin, people who are older in this country are deeply concerned about coronavirus. What have you learned?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Morning, John.
There's a couple of reasons that the state of Florida and officials here are particularly concerned. And one of them is, of course, travel. They just get an influx of millions of tourists from across the country and around the world. The other is, as you point out, they've got a significant population that is deemed to be at great risk when it comes to the coronavirus.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE (voice over): Prime for a pandemic, Florida state officials are worried about the coronavirus and the state's high number of elderly.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R), FLORIDA: Avoid things like cruise ships, long plane flights, large crowds.
SAVIDGE: The CDC recommends people over the age of 60 practice social distancing, limiting close contact with others, avoiding crowds and, in some cases, even staying home.
In central Florida, there are few signs seniors are listening. At this softball game at The Villages outside Orlando, most of the players are in their 60s, 70s, even 80s. The only thing they say they've been told to cut back on is their post-game high fives.
ROY SCHWARTZ, FLORIDA RESIDENT: Well, they're telling us not to bump fist or hit forearms, we should just walk by each other and say great game, good game.
SAVIDGE (on camera): You're not concerned for yourself?
SCHWARTZ: Not at all. Not at all. Wash your hands. Somebody -- you know, cover your mouth when you cough. SAVIDGE (voice over): Seventy-two-year-old Rick Sanford isn't keen on
any suggestion he change his life tile.
RICK SANFORD, FLORIDA RESIDENT: Well, I'll be frank and say I think that it's bogus and I think it's something that each individual has to decide upon their own.
SAVIDGE: Others we talked to here are concerned, like Pat and Mick Mcevilly. He just turned 80.
MICK MCEVILLY, FLORIDA RESIDENT: This just seems to be something that they can't wrap their arms around. So that worries me some. So, you know, we're going to restrict our travel and just stay in tour local cocoon here.
SAVIDGE: A number of those we spoke to have canceled or are considering canceling cruises and trips overseas. But many still attend large, local public gatherings with other seniors that are an almost daily part of life in Florida's retirement communities, exactly the sort of close contact situations experts say where the virus could spread rapidly.
Back at the ballpark, Donna Callaghan is skeptical.
DONNA CALLAGHAN, FLORIDA RESIDENT: I think it's overdone. Absolutely. I think the media is -- I know they have to cover it, but it's -- it doesn't seem like it's any worse than the flu or anything else if you're relatively healthy.
SAVIDGE: President Trump has voiced similar comments, leading experts to fault him for downplaying the risk.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Deaths, I don't want any deaths, right? But, over the last long period of time, when people have the flu, you have an average of 36,000 people dying. I never heard those numbers. I would -- I would have been shocked.
SAVIDGE: Many of Florida's senior residents voted for Trump. And even though they are in the age group most at risk for the coronavirus, many believe him.
CALLAGHAN: He doesn't seem to be -- I don't think he's going one way or the other. It doesn't seem like he's being too overly fearful.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE: There are no reports of the coronavirus in The Villages here, which is this sprawling retirement community in central Florida. And many of those we talked to say, if and when that happens, that's when their lives will change and likely change dramatically. But for the time being, they'll stick with washing their hands.
Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: Martin, thank you very much for that report.
All right, the markets are poised for a rebound after the worst day on Wall Street in 12 years.
NEW DAY continues right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Very strong economy, but this blindsided the world.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Dow plunged more than 2,000 points, the worst one-day point drop ever prompted by fears over the virus.
[07:00:02]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you look what's happening in the world, this seems to clearly meet the definition of a pandemic.
BERMAN: Passengers are finally disembarking from a --
