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NBA Suspends Season After Player Tests Positive for Coronavirus; Coronavirus Casts Shadow Over Summer Olympics; Tom Hanks and Wife Test Positive for Coronavirus in Australia. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired March 12, 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]

SEAN MORRISON, CHAIR, DEPARTMENT OF GERIATRICS & PALLIATIVE MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI: Analysis. So, yes, they should because they need the help at home. We don't want them abandoned, and we don't want them to not eat, not get out of bed, and we don't want them to fall. What should they do? When they come in the door, they should wash their hands really carefully.

They should wear gloves and to throw them out afterwards, and wash their hands when they leave. And ideally, it should be one person coming in and out.

JOHN BERMAN, CO-ANCHOR, NEW DAY: And the same person, so you can keep track --

MORRISON: Exactly.

BERMAN: Look, many of us have older parents or grandparents who one of the things we want them to do is not drive like at night or ever! So take public transportation we often tell our parents or grandparents. What about public transportation for older people?

MORRISON: We should be -- they should be avoiding it if they can. Again, if you have to be somewhere for a doctor's appointment that you need and there's no other way to get there, then public transportation, yes. But take a bus that's not crowded. If you have to take the subway, wait for a car that's not crowded. If you have to touch the pole, wash your hands afterwards.

BERMAN: What about gloves?

MORRISON: Gloves are effective. Again, put the gloves on before you come on to the subway. Touch the pole. Take -- peel it off after you get off, throw it out.

BERMAN: I have had this question from people I know. A lot of people have been preparing over the last few weeks, stocking up on supplies. But they're still going about their daily lives wondering when it's time to hunker down? Is it time to hunker down?

MORRISON: I don't think so, not yet. I think what we need to be doing is listening to the CDC, listening regularly and following the recommendations. Older adults should not be going out unless they have to. If they need to go to a medical appointment, if they need to go to the grocery store, but now is not the time to go to the movies. Now is the time to stream it at home.

BERMAN: Travel restriction from Europe. This will impact older people -- first of all, if you're traveling and you say they shouldn't be traveling.

MORRISON: Correct.

BERMAN: So, if you're 75, 80 years old, just cancel the trips to Europe.

MORRISON: Absolutely.

BERMAN: You probably can't get a flight now anyway.

MORRISON: Yes --

BERMAN: If you have a child or a grandchild who has been traveling around the country or around the world.

MORRISON: Well, what we're recommending is limiting visitors. And again, this virus appears to be spread by droplets. We know that it affects children, have it, can receive it, adults. But limit visitors, and so probably it's not the time for lots of grandchildren to be visiting.

BERMAN: The gym. Again, one of the things we always tell our parent or grandparents to do is stay physical, go to that gym class. What do you think about the gym?

MORRISON: Physical activity should continue. If you can be active at home, that's ideally where you should be active. If you need to stay active at the gym, go to the gym, but go when it's very quiet, go when it's not crowded. Make sure that you wipe everything down very carefully with the alcohol wipes or bleach wipes that are there. And don't spend a lot of time there.

BERMAN: What about sweat? Sweat is gross on gym equipment, but that's not what you're most concerned about.

MORRISON: That is not -- right now, what it appears is it's spread by droplets from the nose and the mouth. So, we're less concerned about sweat from what we know now than we are about droplets from the nose and mouth.

BERMAN: This is a grim subject, but something that's part of older people's daily lives. They have a lot of friends who are aging and pass away. Funerals, wakes, shiver.

MORRISON: Again, any large social gatherings we should be avoiding right now. The answer is very straightforward. If there are a lot of people there, you probably shouldn't be there as well.

BERMAN: You're using the word probably. I get the sense though, that for some of the questions I'm asking, there's a very clear-cut answer. Basically the answer is no. If you're 75, 80 or older, if you have underlying medical conditions, if you have any doubts, the answer is no.

MORRISON: The answer is no. And this is a physician hedging because we just don't know a lot about this virus yet. We're learning more every day. But yes, the answer should be no.

BERMAN: What about surfaces? In a sense, do we know yet because I've seen some CDC reporting it every day, there's new reporting about how long and where the virus will sit on surfaces?

MORRISON: I don't think we know that yet. And again, our advice to our patients, my advice to my patients is to assume it's there and clean them as much as you can.

BERMAN: I've noted you've been getting a lot of e-mails and calls from your patients. When should you be calling your doctor? When is the time to pick up the phone and say, hey, I've got this specific concern?

MORRISON: When you're worried. That's why we are there. What we would much rather do is answer a simple question over the phone. It's nothing, you should stay in and have somebody make a judgment or a bad judgment and say, I'm feeling OK, I'm a little bit sick. I'm going to go out. No, you shouldn't. Just stay home until you feel completely better. But that's why we are there, is to help answer those questions.

BERMAN: I asked you this yesterday, but I think it's so important I want to reiterate it. What about your doctor's appointments? If you have appointments -- apart from coronavirus --

MORRISON: Yes. If you have a regularly-scheduled appointment that's just for checkup, best to postpone it. If you have an underlying serious medical condition that needs to be followed, call your doctor first because it could be handled over the phone or by a televisit.

[06:35:00]

If you have something new, if you have a new symptom, that's the reason to call and see if you should be checked out. If you have a cough, shortness of breath or a fever, let your doctor know about that right away.

BERMAN: Listen, Dr. Sean Morrison, I thank you so much. A lot of the questions I asked you were from viewers, some were questions you're getting, some were questions that I have in my daily life that relate to me. So, I really appreciate getting these answers.

MORRISON: Thank you.

BERMAN: All right, we'll talk to you again soon. Alisyn?

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CO-ANCHOR, NEW DAY: John, super helpful, thank you both. The NBA has suspended its season over coronavirus fears, we discuss what that means next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:00]

BERMAN: All right, developing overnight, what a scene in Oklahoma City. The NBA suspended its season after a player on the Utah Jazz tested positive for coronavirus. Joining us now is Christine Brennan; CNN sports analyst and a sports columnist for "USA Today", and Andy Scholes, CNN sports anchor. Andy, just lay out for us what happened and what it means --

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS REPORTER: Yes --

BERMAN: That the NBA has suspended playing games.

SCHOLES: I mean, John, it was certainly a wild scene. I mean, thinking about this, the players were out there on the court ready for tip off for the game between the Thunder and the Jazz, and then you have a member of the Jazz personnel running on the floor basically to inform everyone that one of their players had tested positive for the coronavirus.

And then the PA announcer coming on and telling all the fans there that the game was postponed. Everyone was safe, but the game was postponed and to leave in an orderly fashion. It's just something we've never really seen before. And the NBA really had no choice at that point, John because you know, the player tested positive for coronavirus -- and think about it like this.

The Jazz had played the Raptors on Monday, Shams Charania of "The Athletics" is reporting that the Raptors are being told to self- quarantine for 14 days --

BERMAN: Wow --

SCHOLES: And then last week, the Jazz were on a four-game road trip at Detroit, at Boston, at New York, at Cleveland. Then all those teams went out and played other teams. So, pretty much the entire NBA coming into contact with someone who had been in direct contact with the coronavirus, leaving the NBA really no choice but to suspend play.

CAMEROTA: Christine, what does this mean moving forward? It's impossible to know how much in jeopardy any one player orphan is if one person has been exposed and tested positive.

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: What it means is we have no idea. And what seemed illogical, Alisyn, and just unthinkable a few days ago is now the reality. So, we're here on Thursday morning. What does the weekend look like? What does next week look like? And of course, the NBA, I think that was a shock to so many people that this is what we're talking about with this league that is such a part of our culture.

And really, sports are a bellwether for our nation and our community. So, as sports go, we kind of have that feeling, so goes the civic feeling in an area, in a state or a city or county, whatever. So, what's next? The NBA suspended, they didn't cancel. There's certainly speculation, could they pick up games again? Could they go right to the playoffs or in fact is the season over?

I think we'll get more clarity on that. And then, as the dominos fall, all these other leagues, people that are still playing, either spectator-less or not, be it of course, the NCAA tournaments or other things moving forward, they're looking at what the NBA did and saying how in the world can we keep playing? And those are the questions we're going to see now, NHL, Major League Baseball --

BERMAN: Right --

BRENNAN: The Masters, and then ultimately the Olympics.

BERMAN: Look, and they all went to sleep with this. This happened so late last night, they're waking up this morning, we're beginning to see some statements, MLS says they're going to play without fans for now, but they're reassessing. Same with the NHL, March Madness plays without fans. Andy, I asked you this, because you are a ball boy, right? You --

SCHOLES: Yes --

BERMAN: Hang around a stadium for a lot of years, not just as a reporter but as an employee --

SCHOLES: Yes --

BERMAN: There are going to be hundreds if not thousands of people who lose their paychecks.

SCHOLES: Yes.

BERMAN: I mean, this is going to have a big impact not just for those of us who like to watch, but for those people who for whom it's their livelihood.

SCHOLES: Yes, it certainly would. And you know, I knew a lot of the people that just worked at the Toyota Center, you know, for the Houston Rockets, you know, they count on those events and those jobs to make a living. And you know, we saw just last night, you know, one of the first things Mark Cuban said, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks was, those people came to right to the top of his mind and how this is going to affect them and they're not going to be getting those paychecks and he's going to start to put a program in place for them to still be able to earn while this is going on.

But you're right, John, I mean, this affects so many thousands of people in so many ways without these games going on. And even if they are able to continue sometime in the future, say they just start with the playoffs in late April or in May at some point, they probably will be doing that with empty arenas, which still affects a lot of people's bottom lines and their livelihoods.

CAMEROTA: Christine, you just brought up other sports, the ripple effect of this decision last night can have, making everybody question what their best practices should be today. Shouldn't they wait until somebody tests positive? I mean, this is the question today, is how preemptive should we all be? Should sports teams be or reactive?

BRENNAN: Alisyn, the NCAA decided to be preemptive. No one as far as we know, NCAA men's or women's basketball has tested positive, and yet, they went with these spectator-less tournaments, which is also extraordinary. Just the men's tournament alone last year in marketing revenue and TV rights, $867 million just last year. And the fact that it's going to be spectator-less.

[06:45:00]

I think the positive here is so many of these things are TV stories, right? The -- for most, it's television. And so the fact that even if there aren't fans in the stands, people will be able to watch on TV. That saves a lot of these events. But moving forward, the NHL, it's right on their plate now. And as we've said the Masters, you've got tennis tournaments, Indian Wells was canceled --

BERMAN: What about Olympics?

BRENNAN: Well, and that of course, the only good news here if there's any good news at all is the Olympics start July 24th in Tokyo. And what that means is that according to a top IOC official a couple of weeks ago, the drop-dead date, John, to make the decision will be late May. Now, can they wait that long? You think of all these athletes preparing, once in a lifetime opportunity once every four years.

Probably for most people, it's the one and done. That the indecision, the uncertainty in these athletes' lives right now is extraordinary, pales in comparison to the actual concerns and deaths that we're seeing with the coronavirus. But I would think the Olympics can wait a little longer and look at this entire landscape before they have to make what will be the sports decision of the year.

BERMAN: Right, that's a life decision more than this -- you know --

BRENNAN: Right --

BERMAN: Ultimately, that's what it will come --

BRENNAN: Yes --

BERMAN: Down to. Christine Brennan, Andy Scholes, thank you so much for talking through this with us this morning.

CAMEROTA: It's the uncertainty that everybody has to live with. I mean, obviously higher stakes for some people. Meanwhile, actor Tom Hanks announcing that he and his wife, Rita Wilson have coronavirus. We have more details for you, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:00] CAMEROTA: Developing overnight. Academy Award-winning actor Tom Hanks announcing that he and his wife, Rita Wilson have both tested positive for coronavirus while filming a movie in Australia. CNN's Chloe Melas joins us now with more. Do we know how this happened? Do we know if they're sick, Chloe, what?

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Thanks Alisyn, good morning! So, Tom Hanks actually took to social media and actually announced this news yesterday evening like you said. And this is part of his statement. He says, "we Hanks will be tested, observed and isolated for as long as public health and safety requires. Not much more to it than a one-day at a time approach. Know, we'll keep the world posted and updated."

This is what we do know. He and his wife had traveled to Australia where Tom Hanks was doing pre-production on a Baz Luhrmann's movie about Elvis Presley. Tom Hanks was going to play Tom -- Elvis Presley's manager. So, as of right now, they're retracing their steps, trying to figure out how and when they contracted the coronavirus working with public health officials to kind of figure out whether they contracted this in the United States on their way over to Australia or while they were there.

So, production on this Warner Brothers movie has been temporarily suspended. But also, keep in mind that Tom Hanks and his wife, they came into contact with several people while in Queensland actually doing several interviews with television shows, and those television stations, those people now are in quarantine for 14 days.

So, again, this is a developing situation. Both of his children have taken to social media to thank fans for the outpouring of support and our thoughts are with the family right now.

CAMEROTA: Chloe, there's such an everyman quality to Tom Hanks. If the idea that he of all people has tested positive and watching how he's handling it is really interesting this morning and striking because everybody knows Tom Hanks.

MELAS: Well, I think that you know, if you go and read what everybody is saying on social media, Alisyn, people are saying, oh, my gosh, if Tom Hanks could get this, then so could I? I think that the fact that Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson have contracted the coronavirus, have been so open about it on social, it's made everybody -- it's made it feel very much more real for so many people, and especially his fans.

CAMEROTA: Agree, Chloe, thank you very much.

MELAS: Thank you.

BERMAN: So, this morning, the travel industry is taking a huge hit as the crisis grows. How bad could it get? We'll discuss next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:55:00] CAMEROTA: President Trump failed to call investors after his prime time address on coronavirus. U.S. stock futures are down sharply at this hour, and the travel industry is taking a major hit. Chief business correspondent Christine Romans is here. Should we start with the travel agencies and what that looks like clearly?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I just want to show you what the airlines look like. I mean, this has been -- you know, this has been the worst moment for the airlines since September 11th when air travel basically ground to a halt for months. American Airlines stock down 43 percent -- look at United, look at Delta. These companies have had to man the phone lines and really try to help people cancel travel, waive fees.

A lot of these airlines are letting you -- waiving the change fees for now and saying, you have up to a year to reschedule your travel. And they're trying to keep their customers happy and get them -- when this thing is over, they want you to be flying and traveling with them, and so they're trying to make these policies so that you can come back in the Fall and do those trips.

CAMEROTA: Cruise lines, I would imagine are in an even bigger threat.

ROMANS: It's just been unbelievable. If you're an investor in these cruise ships, down 57 percent for Carnival, Royal Caribbean, look at Norwegian down 74 percent. These -- this is why you're -- here and so many people in Washington talk about -- is they're going to have to be a bail out or some kind of special aid for some of these companies.

Now, the president, a couple of times has mused in front of the -- in front of the cameras that he is looking very strongly at doing something for these -- they're talking about deferring some tax payments that these companies need to make so they have a little more cash cushion in the near term. But you're talking about travel industries that have been really decimated here.

CAMEROTA: Well, I'm just wondering how long can they survive in this anemic state?

ROMANS: And that's why the stocks are down so much because investors are saying they don't have any clarity about when this is going to be over. You know, this isn't like a financial crisis where we don't know what's on the other hand, we know what's going to happen. They're going to figure out when this will taper off, we don't know when that is.

We don't know how big the death toll will be or the cost the American public health system. There are just so many uncertainties. But we know that there will eventually be a vaccine and this is going to be something that we can treat and plan for. So there is, you know, another side of this story and maybe late this year or next year. In the meantime, they don't know how bad it's going to be for those industries.

Looking at stocks right now, really ugly night. And I have to say the president's speech did not soothe or calm investors. In fact, you had stocks hit their lows overnight when he said that he was going to ban cargo and trade between the United States and Europe. And that really unnerved investors. And then when they walked that back and said no, this is people, not goods that were going to be banned, then there was more unease about the dysfunction of message.

CAMEROTA: Because he was very clear in the -- in the speech. That was a scripted speech. He was very clear that it involved cargo.

ROMANS: He said prohibitions would not only apply to the tremendous amount of trade in cargo, various other things as we get approved. That really concerned markets. Also they want to hear more about testing, and they want to hear more about how hospitals are going to be able to handle all this and what the treatment looks like, and they did not get that last night.

CAMEROTA: Christine Romans, thank you very --

ROMANS: You have a tough day this morning, it's going to be another bad day on the markets.

CAMEROTA: Thank you, we'll check back. John?

BERMAN: All right, if you're just waking up, you're no doubt learning ways that your life has been altered or changed because of coronavirus. So much has gone on in the last few hours, NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is the worst yet to come, Dr. Fauci?

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES AT THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: Yes, it is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The coronavirus continues to spread across the country.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will be suspending all travels from Europe to the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A really important clarification in a statement later on, saying that he was going to suspend the entry of most foreign nationals. This did not apply to legal permanent residents.

END