Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

GA Gov: Gyms, restaurants, other businesses to reopen; Intel Suggest Kim Jong-un In Grave Danger After Surgery; Sources: Deal Reached On Emergency Small Business Money. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired April 21, 2020 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00]

GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): -- nightclubs, operators of amusement park rides, and live performance venues will remain closed.

In the days ahead, we will be evaluating the data and conferring with public health officials to determine the best course of action for those establishments.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: That's George's Republican Governor Brian Kemp there, announcing his plan to reopen the state. So how exactly will this work?

Joining me now, Adam Zeitsiff, he's the president and CEO of Gold's Gym. And Bob Goldin, the partner and co founder of Pentallect, the food industry consulting and business improvement firm based in Chicago.

Adam, let me start with you. The gym is an up close and personal experience. The gym is the place where you finish with a weight rack and I come in behind you. There's a general culture of cleaning up after yourself, but what is going to have to be done in this environment to keep people apart and to keep things clean and safe?

ADAM ZEITSIFF, PRESIDENT & CEO, GOLD'S GYM: Yes, thanks for having me, John. You know, I think we've been working on this for a number of weeks. I think you've really got to communicate with people number, one, and you've got to show them number, two, right?

So we are repositioning team members, showing them that we have the ability to clean the gyms a lot more than we used to. Personal trainers will be focused on cleaning gyms and helping clean equipment. Our team members will be wearing masks and gloves and showing our members that it's a safe place. And really trying to get them comfortable and get them back in the environment that they love so much and they used to feel comfortable in.

And we've got to adjust and we've got to learn from what we're doing. And we got to make everyone feel comfortable that this is a good place that can be again. KING: And Bob, it's the same thing in a restaurant. I mean a gym, you're going to exercise. Restaurant, you're going to spend time with friends and family. You tend to be in close settings. You're packed into a booth. You're around a table. Your waiter comes over and offer the best restaurants. That's a great conversation. That's part of the experience. A lot of that has to go out the window, right?

BOB GOLDIN, PARTNER AND CO-FOUNDER, PENTALLECT INC.: Yes, it really will. And we're going to see mandated by the public health officials, city, county, plus we're going to see a lot of voluntary initiatives much like Adam is talking about. But it is going to definitely affect the restaurant experience.

And I -- we certainly think that restaurants are going to be really challenged on the one hand to reassure consumers about the safety and sanitation. And on the other hand, many of these changes are unfortunately going to have some pretty significant operational and financial challenges for the restaurants and other food service establishments.

KING: Let me stay with you there, Bob, on the financial part of it, because, you know, maybe the big chains can afford this, a lot of restaurants or small family run operations, or maybe only one or two. If you're telling a restaurant you have to go to 25 percent, if you're lucky 50 percent, if you can spread things out. Who's doing the math on how many people are not going to be able to survive this? I assume that's a big worry.

GOLDIN: It's a huge worry and it goes beyond reduction in capacity. To the extent that the industry for example, continues to move towards takeout and delivery, those are can be less profitable orders due to packaging and fees associated with delivery services, their sanity, we expect there to be dramatically increased surface cleaning costs, which I think Adam will agree, additional labor to do a lot of these things to reassure consumers, many of whom are just very scared about going back into restaurants.

Not all of course, it's situational and market specific. There's an anxiety that I think we all feel about going back to these kind of establishments. This is uncharted territory. But it's -- it is real headwinds for the industry, John.

KING: Right. It very much is. And I get the headwinds part. So Adam, a lot of people who are anxious that's why they might go to the gym, they go to work off their frustration, and the like. You talked earlier about the responsibility here, more team members. You also have to tell the people go into the gym, you have to be part of the solution here. Think about this clearly.

But how do you get through that from a staffing and an instruction standpoint? And is it just a fact of life that, you know, a Gold's Gym on a Friday night might be packed, you're going to have -- that's going to be limited as well. And what does that do to the business equation?

ZEITSIFF: Yes. It's again, as Bob said, it's uncharted territory. I wish we had a playbook for this, but we didn't. And I don't think anybody did. But for us, it's a matter of a couple things. It's certainly about the social distancing of equipment. So to the same thing with restaurants, we will have cardio equipment, separated, strength equipment, separated, shutdowns, so people can feel comfortable, they won't be too close to somebody else.

And then you've really just got it with just in terms of getting your members on board. Like you said, we're going to have a new member code of conduct, and the members are going to have to agree that I will abide by social distancing. If my state tells me I need to wear a mask or gloves to go to the gym, I will do so. If the state says you need to clean up after yourself and we will say that of course. I will do so.

And you're right, it's the members, it's the team members. And then, you know, we do have to adjust. Some team members' jobs will be different for a while until we figure out what the new normal is going to be.

KING: Adam Zeitsiff and Bob Goldin, keep in touch with us as this plays out when you get some anecdotal evidence of what's working maybe what's not, help us all get through this. We'll be happy to have you come back and have a conversation as we all go down this bumpy road and see, hopefully what works and fewer, what doesn't. But please come back to us.

[12:35:10]

ZEITSIFF: Thank you, John.

KING: Thank you both.

Coming up, some serious questions today about the health of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Some questions today about the health of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. United States monitoring intelligence had suggests that Kim could be in quote, grave danger following surgery.

One of the telling signs that something is wrong, normally front and center, Kim, missed a ceremony honoring his grandfather's birthday on April 15th, his grandfather of course, the founder of the nation. It is one of the country's biggest events of the year.

[12:40:04]

Our senior national correspondent, Alex Marquardt, with us now. Alex, this would be a giant development if the North Korean leader is in bad health or worse.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It would, John. And that day that you mentioned, April 15th, the biggest celebration in fact, on the North Korean calendar, it's called the Day of the Sun. And Kim Jong-un wasn't there, which is really remarkable. At the same time experts and officials are warning to not read too much into that. The last time Kim Jong-un was seen was on April 11th. And he has been relatively visible throughout this coronavirus crisis. Now of course U.S. officials are closely monitoring both reports, media reports, as well as intelligence.

One U.S. official telling CNN that they are monitoring intelligence that, as you mentioned, he is gravely ill following surgery at the same time. A U.S. military official saying that there's no indication that he's incapacitated. John, we should note, all of this latest round of speculation came about because of a report yesterday in an outlet called "Daily N.K." for North Korea. That's out of South Korea. It's run by North Korean defectors.

And they said that Kim Jong-un was recovering after cardiovascular surgery on April 12th. The bottom line here is that there is extremely little visibility into North Korea. It is very difficult for the intelligence agencies to gather intelligence on Kim Jong-un and his inner circle. And in fact, the National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien spoke to those difficulties earlier today. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT O'BRIEN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: You know, we're watching the reports closely. And well, we'll have to see. As everyone here knows, the North Koreans are parsimonious with the information that they put out about many things especially when it comes to their leaders. And so we'll keep a close eye on it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Another country of course that is keeping a close eye on it is South Korea, North Korea's direct neighbor to the south. And they have said that there is no indication that anything has changed when it comes to Kim Jong-un's health. They said that there are no unusual signs.

Of course, John, at the end of the day, Kim Jong-un is not a healthy man. He is large. He smokes. He travels a lot. So there are going to be these questions of succession. We know that U.S. officials have reached out to North Korea experts to ask who would be a successor to the dictator. One name that is consistently floated to the top is his sister who has taken on an increasingly visible role.

But John, again, it is very difficult to assess what exactly is going on with Kim Jong-un's health inside North Korea. John?

KING: It's a critical strategic mystery. Alex Marquardt, appreciate the reporting. We know we'll stay on top of it. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:47:29]

KING: Some important breaking news now especially if you run or work for a small business trying to stay afloat in the coronavirus pandemic. Sources telling CNN, there is now a deal in place to add new money to that emergency, small business loan program.

Let's get straight to CNN, Phil Mattingly. Phil, what do we know?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. This is what negotiators have been working on for days now. Late into last night, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Mark Meadows, the White House Chief of Staff, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin trying to hammer out the final details that bled into today. They've been working over the course of the last couple of hours trying to trade proposals.

And it does appear according to sources right now that there is a deal. Now, there is no final text yet. So I'd always caveat with nothing is final until everything' is final. But the expectation at this point is there is an agreement, there will be text soon, and there will be a vote in the Senate at 4:00 p.m. when they gavel into session.

Now, one of the contours of this deal, obviously, $310 billion to replenish funds for the Paycheck Protection Program. That program for small businesses that ran out of money last week, lawmakers have been pushing to refill those coffers. Republicans have been trying to do it just on that money, not adding anything else.

Democrats have held out trying to add more things to this package and they have gotten some of those things. This will also include $75 billion for hospitals, $25 billion for a testing regime, and testing funding. And this was one of the major holdups over the course of the last day or two. Democrats wanted a national testing strategy run at the federal level.

Republicans and the Trump administration pushing for more of a state- based strategy kind of splitting the difference is my understanding of where they are now, the construct being states would lead in the report nationally, also money for national testing process and programs as well.

I think it's also important to note with some of the concerns you've heard about the small business program, the Paycheck Protection Program, parts of that $310 billion will be segmented off for smaller institutions, earmark directly for smaller institutions, trying to hit underserved communities, maybe underbanked communities as well. So those are the basic contours of this agreement.

Again, this has been something that's been lasting and negotiated over for the better part of the last week. Something Republicans have been furious that it's taken this long to refill the coffers of that small business program. But it does appear that they're there. It does appear there will be a Senate vote to move forward on this, to pass this, this afternoon.

At this point in time, the House plans to vote on Thursday. Interesting wrinkle on that one, John, the entire House is going to have to come back. There were Republicans who weren't going to let this go through unanimously. So the House will actually reconvene, come back into session on Thursday. But at this point in time, it looks like there's a deal. It looks like there's going to be votes today. It looks like this should be passed and money should be flowing back into this program by Thursday evening, John?

[12:50:07]

KING: Progress. Phil Mattingly, appreciate the update. We'll watch the Senate today and then see if those House members enough to make their way as many as can back to Washington. Phil Mattingly, appreciate the breaking news update there, very important especially for small businesses and their employees.

Up next for us, some fascinating new research that shows among other things, Republicans and Democrats acting a little differently when it comes to complying with those stay at home orders.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:55:04]

KING: We are at a little more than a month since the country shutdown amid the coronavirus outbreak. We want to show you this timeline here, look to us. This is provided by SafeGraph. Back in February, the country was open, normal business as usual for that time of year. But in March, things begin to change as the coronavirus outbreak spreads.

And you can see a dramatic shift. A state's instituted sweeping restrictions by the middle of March, much of the country staying at home, drastically changing the way people interact with their surroundings. Let's take a closer look at some of this data. This is to look at the states, the darker you see on the map, that's the higher percentage of people staying at home. So you see New York is darker, Colorado here, out in California, they're darker.

Some of these southern states, a bit lighter, this is by state. Look at it by county here. Again, New York City right here, Detroit, Michigan there, you see L.A. out in the west, the Denver area there is highlighted pretty deep, a lot of light, a lot of light, lighter, fewer people staying at home there.

Now, let's take a look at foot traffic, right? This is the San Francisco Oakland area. This is your cell phone data. It's being tracked if you go out and walk around. This would be last year. This is now. This is New York, New Jersey. This is last year high foot traffic. This now, this is -- you see March 31th through April. You see the big drop. People not out and about because they're staying at home.

The movies, this is 2019. This is the new normal, people not going to the movie theater. Look at the size of that gap. Shopping malls, this is where we were last year. You see, spiking up in April, down. Here we are right now, supermarket traffic as well. Notice this spike, there was a big spike. This is right around the declaration of the national emergency, people panic, go out and say, it's time to stock up because we're going to be told to stay at home. Since then, concerns about safety. This is where it was last year. This is where it is now. Again, this big spike coming around the time the President said, we have a problem.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To unleash the full power of the Federal Government that this effort today, I am officially declaring a national emergency, two very big words.

The action I am taking will open up access to up to $50 billion of very importantly, very important and a large amount of money for states and territories or localities in our shared fight against this disease.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Joining me now to discuss is Ryan Fox Squire. He's a product and data scientist at SafeGraph. They've been crunching these numbers on stay at home rate foot traffic pattern. Thank you for joining us, Ryan.

The data is incredible. And you just see the drop. And I'm just going to put up on our screen, two others. Costco, you see a spike at Costco right around the declaration of the national emergency, then a huge drop. Then you go over and you look at Starbucks, just a drop. Nobody is out and walking about.

This is, correct me if I'm wrong here, this is essentially a compilation of cell phone data when people get out and move about. What else are you saying that you find interesting?

RYAN FOX SQUIRE, PRODUCT & DATA SCIENTIST, SAFEGRAPH: Yes. So thank you for having me, John.

I think the first thing to clarify that's important to understand is that the state has anonymized GPS data from smartphones. So what that means is that we're able to measure in aggregate, on average, how people are moving around, leaving their home, and visiting businesses, but we're not able to identify individual devices or individual people.

Now, as you said, there were a couple of key findings that we've seen in the data that just jump out. The first one that you already mentioned is that March 13th seemed to be a pivotal point for the country. We're following that national declaration of an emergency. We just see across the country, people start staying home more and more.

KING: And let me show, I'm going to put a graphic here on the screen. You categorizes Republican vote share. What does this tell you when people look at this graphic and they see the Republican vote share? Blue areas are people staying at home, I assume read not so much, it goes through. What this tells you?

SQUIRE: Right. So this was a study that was done by a group from NYU, Harvard, and Stanford. What they wanted to know was how do people staying at home behavior vary with political affiliation? So they looked county by county to see what is the decrease in visits to businesses in those counties. And how does that correlate with how much that county voted for Trump in the 2016 election.

And so what you're seeing on this map is that the blue spots are the people that stayed home the most, have reduced their visits the most. And the red areas are the places that have reduced their visits the least. And that's correlate strongly with the Republican voters share from the 2016 election.

KING: It's pretty striking as you watch that play out. Ryan Fox Squire, let me ask you one quick question before we go on, we still have time. Can you -- you're going to watch this now, I assume as states start to reopen?

SQUIRE: Yes. So that's one of the most important things is that we found that the shelter in place policies across states have affected different businesses different ways. As you showed, some businesses are affected much more than others. We think that one of the most important things to understand --

[13:30:04]

KING: I need to stop. I'm sorry I need to stop you there because we're out of time. But I'm going to bring you back to talk more about this. I want to bring you back as a place to start --