Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Dow Dives Again; Coronavirus Pandemic Intensifies. Aired 3- 3:30p ET

Aired March 11, 2020 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:03]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KENNJI KIZUKA, HUMAN RIGHTS FIRST: It's shocking to hear a government attorney admit that in court.

This is just as bad or worse than family separation, and all done in the name of some strange notion of security, of somehow this is supposed to protect us.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After five days, the kidnapped man says the cartel gunmen were so drunk and high, they let him go. He feels lucky, not only because he wasn't harmed, but also because of the mercy shown by the immigration judge.

But there's pain knowing he may never see his family again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Because I miss them. They're suffering as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: That was Nick Valencia reporting there.

And I can tell you that both migrants in this report were given court orders to be deported, but they have been waived by a judge, allowing them to stay in the United States.

We reached out to DHS and DOJ about the audio you just heard. And they wouldn't comment.

We continue on. You're watching CNN, I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being here.

The coronavirus is officially a pandemic, and countries across the world need to -- quote, unquote -- "get better" at stopping the spread. That is the message from the World Health Organization today, who's urging officials worldwide to step up their testing capabilities, as well as their communication with those who could be impacted.

Up on Capitol Hill, a frightening forecast from the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We will see more cases and things will get worse than they are right now.

How much worse we will get will depend on our ability to do two things, to contain the influx in people who are infected coming from the outside, and the ability to contain and mitigate within our own country.

Bottom line, it's going to get worse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Nineteen states have now declared a state of emergency, as the number of cases soars past 1,000 here in the u.s, all of it leading top Senate Democrats to push President Trump to declare this a national emergency.

And take a look at the Big Board with me at this hour, stocks taking another tumble. The president is meeting with some of the nation's top bankers, among them, the head of Goldman Sachs, who warned today that the bull market is coming to an end.

Much more on the markets here in just a moment.

But let's get straight to Washington state, where Governor Jay Inslee just banned all gatherings of more than 250 people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JAY INSLEE (D-WA): We got to listen to science. We got to look what's happening here. And we got to act.

It is not going to be easy. We are going to have to change our lives in ways that are uncomfortable if we're going to succeed as a community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's go straight to Seattle to my colleague, Sara Sidner.

And, Sara, this is a major step in a state that has been hit very hard by the coronavirus. What's the reaction to this so far?

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Look, I think what you're hearing from officials, not only the governor himself, but also the mayor of Seattle, is that life as we know it is going to change some, that there are going to be some lifestyle changes that need to happen in the immediate term and potentially in the long term, not only here in this state, but across the nation.

We heard a very somber and direct message from the mayor, talking about the fact that things are going to get harder, not easier, for now, and this isn't a short-term thing. This may be a long-term thing.

And they're talking about everything from handwashing to making sure that people who are in those vulnerable areas -- a vulnerable age, do not go out, for example, to large crowds and large gatherings. You did hear from the governor there that they are banning large gatherings of 250 people or more.

And that includes everything from sporting events to concerts as well. You also have restaurants very concerned, businesses, especially small businesses, extremely concerned, because the numbers of people who are out and about are lessening here.

They praise people in this community for that. They praise people for taking this very seriously. And the reason why this is sort of considered the epicenter at this moment is in part because 260 people have been tested positive for coronavirus, and 19 of the 24 people who have died here, that all happened in one place, and that was connected to the Life Care Center, a nursing home here.

The number of deaths higher in this state than in any other state. And so Washington is taking extreme steps and steps that they feel are absolutely necessary to try and contain this virus.

How are people taking it? You are seeing fewer people out. You are seeing fewer people doing things. And now there are other things that are tumbling, for example, whether or not the Mariners are going to have their opening day in a couple of weeks here.

[15:05:01]

And you have got also the soccer team here as well that is supposed to have its game here and as to what they are going to do, because some of these teams could decide to do what some other teams have decided to do, which is not to have a crowd.

But it's also something that a lot of folks enjoy and brings money to the city -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Listen, I know a lot of people may see all of this as draconian measures, but if this is what they have to do to contain this thing, then this is what they have to do.

Sara Sidner in Washington state, thank you for that.

SIDNER: Sure.

BALDWIN: We showed you the Big Board a second ago.

Just on the markets, the Dow is tanking once again, down more than 1,500 points right now, putting the market officially into bear market territory.

Alison Kosik is live at the New York Stock Exchange.

And what does this mean for us now?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, yes, the Dow has entered a bear market. That is a 20 percent drop from a recent high.

And numbers aside, what it basically means is that investors are really growing incredibly pessimistic about the state of the market. So with the bear coming out, that means the bull market is now over.

And it was a historic bull market running 11 years. In fact, it had its anniversary just this week on Monday, but it was the coronavirus that changed all of that. All of those fears are pushing stocks obviously much lower.

The last time we saw a bear market was during the financial crisis, but we have seen stocks just go higher and higher since then. In fact, we were talking about bubbles, Brooke, before the bear came out -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Alison, thank you very much with this huge update from Wall Street and from the New York Stock Exchange.

In Georgia, there are 22 confirmed cases of coronavirus so far. And CNN spoke to one of those patients this morning from his hospital bed. His name is Clay Bentley. He explained what happened when he first went to the hospital last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLAY BENTLEY, CORONAVIRUS PATIENT: They kept me in the hospital all day, ran tests, ran flu, put fluids through me all day.

They asked me if I had been out of the country, if I had been to China, different places in the world. And I told them no. So they said, well, the flu is coming back negative, so it don't mean you don't know have the flu. They're just not 100 percent. So we're just going to send you home.

So, they sent me home on Monday. Well, I progressively got worse over the next few days. And I wound up -- I wound up calling the hospital on Friday morning. And I said, I feel like you all just sent me home to die.

I said, I'm getting worse, I'm getting worse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow.

BENTLEY: So, they told me, come immediately back to the hospital.

So once I got back to the hospital, then they started realizing that I probably have the coronavirus, and got in touch with the CDC, and started doing tests. And it all came back positive.

So, you know, the thing that they talk about, being out of the country is one indicators of needing a test, I don't go anywhere. I'm retired. So I feel like I'm in prison, because nobody can come see me. I can't -- I can't even walk out of the room.

So I worked law enforcement my whole career, so I feel like I'm in a jail cell and just can't get away. So, hopefully, I will be out of here soon.

It's very lonely. It is a lonely place to be, to be sick and you can't even -- you can't even talk to your own family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Can you imagine?

He also said his wife is a flight attendant who is now under self- quarantine. But health officials have not tested her for coronavirus.

Dr. Gavin Macgregor-Skinner is an infectious disease expert and epidemiologist. He is also the director of training for the Global Biorisk Advisory Council.

So, Doc, thank you so much for being here.

And can we just talk about that man in that hospital bed for just a moment? I mean, just how he's feeling, and then the fact that his wife hasn't been tested, even though he is clearly sick and positive with the virus. Why would that be?

DR. GAVIN MACGREGOR-SKINNER, PENN STATE UNIVERSITY: Oh, Brooke, this is something is going to happen thousands and thousands of times more, as we see this virus spread across so many different geographical locations here in the U.S.

One of the things that I just heard Mr. Bentley say, his emotional needs, he's anxious, he's worried. They need to be met. And doctors and nurses do this all the time for patients across any disease or condition they have.

So we need to make sure we meet the emotional needs. We also need to ensure that we don't just lock up all this really great information that we have from U.S. government agencies, from local health departments in Web sites.

Don't -- because we don't -- let's not expect people go onto read pages and pages and then interpret that of what to do. Let's get out there and be proactive, teach people, how do you look after someone when they're sick? How do you protect yourself? How do you stop the infection from spreading?

[15:10:02]

And let's also work with companies. I'm really seeing not a lot of action from companies at the moment. Let's help these companies say, well, here's a flight attendant, she works for a company. That company needs to have the right public health actions and decisions, so she doesn't suffer, her family doesn't suffer, but also to ensure that we protect the other workers, as well as the passengers.

BALDWIN: Yes.

MACGREGOR-SKINNER: And those messages aren't being delivered appropriately. BALDWIN: Yes.

Well, you know we did hear from today? Let me play this clip, Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Here you go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAUCI: I think if you count all the cases of minimally symptomatic or asymptomatic infection, that probably brings the mortality rate down to somewhere around 1 percent, which means it is 10 times more lethal than the seasonal flu.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Ten times more lethal than the seasonal flu, Doctor, and this is all -- just context-wise -- the White House has been kind of downplaying it.

We heard from Kellyanne Conway Friday saying, it's contained. Clearly, it's not.

Why do you think Dr. Fauci is coming out and saying what he is today?

MACGREGOR-SKINNER: Because we're now seeing more and more people around the world, even here in the U.S., become infected. We're now getting more pieces of the puzzle.

The jigsaw is coming together as we learn about the symptoms, the length of the incubation period.

But, more importantly, need to emphasize that Dr. Fauci was talking about vulnerable populations. And the messages that we haven't gotten out to the U.S. public is how to help as a community, not just -- let's not just focus on individuals.

Let's focus on communities, how to protect vulnerable populations. If you go to the CDC chronic disease Web site, it says on their Web site today, six out of every 10 Americans has a chronic disease, and it takes a community to then take the appropriate public health actions to protect them.

And we're not seeing that happening. But what we need to ensure is those messages are delivered. It's easy to do.

BALDWIN: And then, Dr. Macgregor-Skinner, we have been trying -- I know I have a bunch of questions for you. But let me defer to some of our viewer questions.

And this is one of the viewer questions. One of them asked, what medicine should we have in our prep kits?

MACGREGOR-SKINNER: Great question.

This is a timeline for any disaster, any emergency. Let's start preparing for kits that we may need, food, water, as well as medicines.

And, again, I would emphasize, for any cold, flu, or even if you think you may have been exposed and have had the coronavirus, you need to contact a medical provider. And what we're seeing, medical providers will say, well, depending on your conditions, whether you have got any underlying medical issues, depending on what we know about this patient, you may take medicine that reduces fever or medicine that reduces pains and aches, drink lots of fluids, get lots of rest.

But, again, this is the important thing, Brooke. Where are the messages? Where's the easy way to deliver this to 300 million people? This is how you look after someone who's sick. This is how what you should be doing when you're sick.

We just assume that everyone knows how to treat someone with the flu and the cold. What we're learning now, there are significant gaps out there that we still haven't worked out how to deliver the actions appropriately.

BALDWIN: You're right. You're right.

Dr. Macgregor-Skinner, thank you for calling that to light. I appreciate it. I appreciate you and your expertise.

Moments ago, Italy announced a jump of more than 2,000 cases just in the last day there. We will take you live to Rome as that country is on this massive lockdown.

Also, President Trump's national security adviser is blaming China for the delay in the coronavirus response, claiming their attempts to cover up the outbreak put the rest of the world two months behind.

And we are also following the breaking news in the world of sports. One NBA team officially deciding to play without fans.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:18:11]

BALDWIN: The coronavirus is now starting to disrupt major league sports.

Just in last hour, we were talking about how the NBA's Golden State Warriors announced that they will have to play tomorrow night's game without fans. Same for Sunday's XFL game in Seattle. And the Major League soccer team in Seattle has postponed its Saturday match.

CNN sports correspondent Carolyn Manno is with me.

And, I mean, this is a big deal with regard to the Warriors and the NBA. What kind of pressure these teams under right now?

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Hi. This is breaking right now as we're speaking. And the Warriors is just the tip of the iceberg. They're under a lot of pressure. Remember a couple days ago, when I was lucky enough to join you, Brooke. We talked about city-by-city government, state-by-state government.

Logistically, this is a complete nightmare for sports because it's all interwoven together. So they're under a lot of pressure to make sure that everybody is safe and healthy and also make the right decision for fans too.

San Francisco during that two-week ban of public gatherings over 1,000 people, that is affecting the Warriors, because, as you mentioned, they're going to play without fans. And then, also, the Giants have an exhibition game that is scheduled right now for March 24. They're looking for another location for that.

You have got the Seattle Mariners who are actually supposed to open up at home against the Rangers. Right now, they're working with Major League Baseball. So it's a trickle-down effect, I would say, right now from local governments, governors who are making decisions. That goes straight to the leagues, and then leagues go to these teams and try to get as much information out as possible.

But I think you're going to see a lot more. We -- when we spoke the other day, we said maybe the NCAA Tournament won't be affected. I think everybody in sports with as much money as at stake and how difficult it is to organize all these things, especially a huge, impactful, really big tournament like the NCAA Tournament, were just waiting to the very last second to make these decisions.

BALDWIN: To call it.

MANNO: But now they're going to have to act.

BALDWIN: OK.

So, March Madness still a go, but that could very likely change.

[15:20:00]

MANNO: Yes, keep an eye out for that sooner, rather than later. I know you're a big college basketball fan.

BALDWIN: Yes.

MANNO: So, the governor in Ohio has been very active.

And the first four games of the tournament played in Dayton, so that could be affected sooner, rather than later.

BALDWIN: OK. Keep us posted, Carolyn Manno. We appreciate you. Thank you.

New York's governor just announced 39 new cases of coronavirus in the state. And with the growing number of cases of course comes a demand for more testing. Governor Andrew Cuomo says the state now has a contract with private labs to help meet the demand, because they cannot solely rely on the CDC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): It was a tremendous delay. And CDC was a terrible bottleneck.

CDC, their main lab was in Atlanta, so all the tests were supposed to go to CDC. They were going to send them down to Atlanta. Then they were going to come back. We had a tremendous pent-up demand for tests.

They then went to phase two. OK, the state labs can test. Yes, but that got us a few hundred. That wasn't enough. And then this is the third phase, where we can't just wait anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: New York now has 212 cases. That is the second highest in the country. Many of those infected live in the area of New Rochelle. That's a New York City suburb.

It's now the first coronavirus containment zone in the country. Governor Cuomo has deployed the National Guard to help deliver food and help clean public spaces.

And that is where CNN's Brynn Gingras is live.

And so, Brynn, explain for us with this containment zone means, because people are not under quarantine, but they're in this containment zone. And so what are the rules that specifically apply to them?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, really, they can go where they want, outside the zone, inside the zone, Brooke.

Essentially, the idea here is not to have large gatherings. That's how the virus spreads from one another. And that's what they're trying to limit inside this containment zone.

Now, listen, I'm a half-a-mile outside the perimeter of that one-mile radius. And I just want to give you quick look around me, where you can see sort of the -- one of the main areas right by city hall here in New Rochelle, where people are out.

You see a lot of traffic around this hour. There's a pizza place across the street, who I talked to the owner. He says, business has actually been pretty great for him, there hasn't been much of a change at all.

But, again, we're outside that zone. If you talk to businesses inside the zone, it's a different story. There are some that are choosing on their own to shut down because they're not getting much foot traffic, for example, like a local bagel shop that is right near the center of this zone.

So, essentially, it's going to be a different story here in the next coming days, the two weeks that this containment area is going to last, according to the state.

And tomorrow is where we really might see a big change, because that's when, as you mentioned, the National Guard is coming, where they're going to help out, give resources to this area where there is such a huge cluster of people infected.

And you talk about the governor and the numbers going up. Well, we -- he, we expect those numbers to continue going up and getting more updates, because a testing facility is also going to be inside that containment zone again for the next two weeks.

BALDWIN: And, again, National Guard, people say, ooh, policing situation? No. Again, just to reiterate, it's to give people food. It's to keep the area clean, that kind of thing. We will look out for them tomorrow.

Brynn, thank you in New Rochelle.

The president's national security adviser is now blaming China for the world being two months behind on battling the coronavirus, accusing Beijing of a cover-up. So let's talk about that. What's China's response?

And a shocking new number today out of Italy, the number of cases just skyrocketing again.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:28:33]

BALDWIN: The president's national security adviser blasted China today for the nation's initial response to coronavirus.

China has more than 81,000 confirmed cases, and more than 3,000 have died since the initial outbreak in the Wuhan province.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT O'BRIEN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: There's lots of open source reporting from China, from Chinese nationals that the doctors involved were either silenced or put in isolation and that sort of thing, so that the word of this virus could not get out.

It probably cost the world community two months to respond. And those two months, if we'd have those and been able to sequence the virus and had the cooperation necessary from the Chinese, had a WHO team down on the ground, had a CDC team, which we offered, down the ground, I think we could have dramatically curtailed what happened both in China and what's now happening across the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's go to Vivian Salama. She's the national security correspondent. She was in the room when O'Brien made those comments.

So, Vivian, help us understand why he is putting this all on China. VIVIAN SALAMA, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Trump

administration has really been building its case against China since this outbreak began a couple of months ago, Brooke.

And we have heard this coming from a number of officials now, where they even describe -- they have gone as far as to describe the virus as the Wuhan virus, calling it -- naming it after the town in which the outbreak first occurred in China, and so definitely a lot of criticism, both from the government and from countries around the world, in fact, about China's efforts to suppress some of the information