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Earth Day Sees Clear Skies Due to Stay-at-Home Orders; New Reports Show U.S. Must Test Millions Per Week; Rural Hospitals at Risk of Closing Amid Lockdown; Desperation and Hunger in Nigeria Amid Lockdown; Mother and Daughter Create "Street Safari" for Kids. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired April 22, 2020 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: CHURCH: Today is Earth Day, and although people are unable to celebrate together because of the pandemic, the important message to protect the planet is still being shared. Skies are clearer around the globe due to lockdowns and stay- at-home orders. Officials in Argentina say air pollution has been significantly reduced since the start of quarantine in early March.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wake up, honey.
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CHURCH: But climate change activist Greta Thunberg reminds us that the house is still on fire. A new campaign releases through her Fridays for Future movement, drives home the fact that the planet is in peril right now.
So, let's talk now with Denis Hayes, board chair emeritus of Earth Day Network. And Dennis was the principal national organizer of the first Earth Day back in 1970. He's also President of the Bullitt Foundation. Thank you so much for being with us.
DENIS HAYES, PRESIDENT AND CEO, BULLITT FOUNDATION: It's my pleasure, Rosemary.
CHURCH: And as we mark this golden anniversary of Earth Day, in the midst of a pandemic, one good thing may have come of this, a much- needed pause in the impact of humans on their own planet. What have been the significant changes since we all locked down to avoid this virus?
HAYES: Well, people who are able to work from home have in most places now been ordered to work from home, so that eliminates hours of commuting and congestion and pollution and energy consumption. Folks have started having more time to spend with their families, which has created a greater sense, in some cases, I hope, of warmth, and in some cases it may be troublesome. We are all doing more cooking at home now. We're not heading to movie theaters. We're streaming entertainment on television, or perhaps again learning to read. But it's been a series of kind of spectacular choices in the way that we spend our time.
CHURCH: And how likely is it that lessons have been learned about the impact we all have on our planet and the changes, perhaps, will be made? Do you have hope and expectation that that will occur?
HAYES: Well, when there's something that is a huge disruption -- if you think, for example, of 9/11 -- when there are institutional changes, such as security cameras everywhere and intensive checking of gates at airports and public buildings, that stuff tends to endure. Behavioral changes, much less so, unless they are advantageous over what you were doing before, unless it disrupted you into something you really enjoy. And I don't know anybody that really enjoys commuting.
And so, I think there will probably be pressure from the population, again on those folks who work in offices and can do much of their work from home -- that won't work for firemen and hospital workers -- but for people like me, we will be leaning on our employers to let us work from home maybe one or two days a week. And if everybody did that one day a week, that would reduce the amount of traffic by 20 percent, reduce the amount of office space needed by 20 percent, reduce the amount of gasoline consumed in commuting. So, those kinds of changes may well come, but I don't think, you know, if we're really talking about the climate issue, it's a few percentage points on the margins. I think any benefits are mostly to the enjoyment of the participants.
CHURCH: Yes, I wanted to ask you about that, because we have watched oil prices crash into negative territory with demand down, obviously, and supply up, which has certainly hurt the oil industry. But it's also made a big difference in the amount of pollution across the globe. But the blanket of heat-trapping gases around the planet still thicker than ever. What does that say to you about what more needs to be done?
HAYES: Well, that heat-trapping blanket of gases will never start to be less thick until we pass down through the point where we are making no net contribution at all to greenhouse gases, and then begin to make a negative contribution by planting trees and by having sensible agricultural practices and other things that take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and store it long term.
We are a very long way from being carbon-neutral, much less carbon- negative. In fact, as you suggest, every year, pretty much since World War II, we have produced more carbon dioxide and more greenhouse gases than the year before. Even over the last 30 years, when the true debate over climate change has been fairly well resolved. So, this will take some fairly wrenching changes.
[04:35:00]
We are talking about fundamentally restructuring the energy infrastructure of an industrial civilization. That's a big lift.
CHURCH: Yes, absolutely. And of course, as we mark this 50-year anniversary of Earth Day, what do you see the biggest challenges we face in the years ahead and what are your biggest concerns?
HAYES: Well, in the years immediately following Earth Day, both in the United States and in many other countries around the world, there was just almost a decade of environmental triumph, where we made enormous progress on air pollution. In this country, for example, the smog-causing pollutants that come out of automobile tailpipes have been reduced by 98 percent. That's an enormous accomplishment.
But all of those things were in fields where you could pass laws by national legislatures and enforce them through a department of justice and an environmental protection agency. When you're dealing with international issues, global issues, like climate change, like pandemics, like threats to the world's oceans, like migratory species that cross multiple borders, no one country can solve any of those by itself. It requires global cooperation. And in that, the world does not have a great history of success.
CHURCH: Yes, we shall see if there's any political will to do any of this cleanup work. Denis Hayes, thank you so much. What an honor to speak with you. Appreciate it.
HAYES: It's my pleasure, Rosemary.
CHURCH: As some U.S. states like Georgia and South Carolina move to reopen, two new reports say a major boost in testing is needed to get a handle on the pandemic. One calls for 3 to 30 million tests a week. The other says 20 million tests a day are needed.
CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is following new developments in testing and treatments and filed this report.
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ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Antibody testing. We can't get back to normal without it.
DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE: The antibody piece is critical.
COHEN: These tests show whether you've already been infected with COVID-19, have developed antibodies and might be immune. But this week, we are learning there are several problems. One, some of the tests don't work.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: The problem is that these are tests that need to be validated and calibrated, and many of the tests out there don't do that.
COHEN: Two, the test needs certain materials to make them work, and many officials say there's just not enough of these supplies.
ANDREW CUOMO, NEW YORK GOVERNOR: Those labs can only run as many tests as the national manufacturers provide them chemicals, reagents, and lab kits. The national manufacturers say they have supply chain issues. I'd like the federal government to help on those supply chain issues.
COHEN: Three -- even if you have antibodies, it's not clear what that means.
FAUCI: There's an assumption, a reasonable assumption, that when you have an antibody, that you are protected against reinfection, but that has not been proven for this particular virus.
COHEN: While work on antibody tests continues, researchers still looking for a drug that might fight COVID-19. Novartis announcing it will begin new clinical trials to study hydroxychloroquine. President Trump has touted this drug, and there are at least 25 other studies that are getting started. And the University of California San Francisco is recruiting 6,000 patients with COVID to see if the anti- inflammatory drug, Colchicine, might work. Its use now to treat gout. Hopes pin that some drug or another will say people from dying during the pandemic.
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CHURCH: Well, CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen with that report.
Well, you are watching CNN NEWSROOM. Still to come, extraordinary scenes in Nigeria as the coronavirus sparks a food crisis. We will have a report from Lagos, that's just ahead.
[04:40:00]
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CHURCH: As hospitals across the United States fight for masks, gloves, and ventilators, rural hospitals are facing a different crisis, how to stay in business. CNN's Leyla Santiago has our report.
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LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Among the rolling hills and the open fields, a laid-back community.
DANIELLE BAIR, RECOVERING COVID-19 PATIENT: To me it's one of the best places to live.
SANTIAGO: Rural America has largely been able to avoid the worst coronaviruses. No packed ICUs or morgues filling up. But there are people with COVID-19. 80 percent of rural counties across the country have now reported cases. And though it is nowhere near the spike seen in metropolitan areas, for doctors like Dr. Donovan Beckett in West Virginia --
DR. DONOVAN BECKETT, PHYSICIAN, WILLIAMSON MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: It's devastating. I mean having COVID on top of it an already struggling health care system has been quite burdensome.
SANTIAGO: The presence of a pandemic is just one more financial burden on struggling rural hospitals, already trying to stay afloat. 19 rural hospitals closed last year, victims of cuts to Medicare and Medicaid funding and reduced populations.
DR. RANDY TOBLER, CEO AND PHYSICIAN, SCOTLAND COUNTY HOSPITAL: It's just a perfect storm for Armageddon.
SANTIAGO: Dr. Randy Tobler is an OB/GYN and the CEO of Scotland County Hospital in Missouri which serves about 5,000 people. When elective procedures came to a halt in response to the coronavirus, their revenues dropped by more than half.
TOBLER: When we were already in a tremendously fragile financial situation, it has really put a tremendous burden on our ability to meet payroll.
SANTIAGO: Last month the hospital furloughed some staff and reduced pay across the board, desperate to avoid running out of money and having to close, which would be devastating to the community.
TOBLER: Yes, these are the vulnerable populations. They're older and they're sicker. And they're therefore more vulnerable to the coronavirus menace.
BAIR: It is critical for our area to keep the hospital here.
SANTIAGO: Tobler's patients, Danielle and Jake Bair, are both recovering from COVID-19 and said having a hospital with familiar faces closer to home, made all the difference.
BAIR: We are about an hour from any other healthcare facility. And there are times when people need emergency care and we need it now.
SANTIAGO: Back in Mingo County, West Virginia, Williamson Memorial Hospital will likely shut down any day.
BECKETT: We've obviously had to do away with having elective procedures done, on an already struggling volume level. So that creates a perfect storm and makes it difficult.
SANTIAGO: After filing for bankruptcy late last year, the hospital was hoping a future partnership could save it. Then came COVID-19.
[04:45:00]
BECKETT: It was the last straw and the current owners decided that they would go ahead and pursue closing the hospital.
SANTIAGO: The relief package Congress passed last month provided some temporary relief to rural hospitals with a $100 billion fund for hospitals and other health care providers. It's not enough, Tobler says.
TOBLER: We were a vulnerable and remain a vulnerable and are probably now a more vulnerable rural hospital because there's no foundational change.
SANTIAGO (on camera): And as for those elective procedures that so many of these rural hospitals depend on, lifting those restrictions, well that will be up to state and local governments, and that is a conversation that some states are already having.
Leyla Santiago, CNN, Rappahannock County, Virginia.
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CHURCH: Well, the global death toll from this pandemic is already more than 170,000, but that number could rise into the millions because of food shortages. The World Food Program is warning that without the necessary aid, widespread famine could see 30 million people starve to death. And by the end of the year, the number suffering from acute hunger could almost double to more than 265 million. The WFP's South Sudan director warns of a catastrophe for millions who are already struggling to survive before the pandemic.
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MATTHEW HOLLINGWORTH, WFP SOUTH SUDAN COUNTRY DIRECTOR: Nowhere else in the world has the level of food insecurity of South Sudan. Last year, we had to feed 5 million people due to fighting and flooding. Already in 2020, we've had locust invasions, and now there is the COVID-19 pandemic, which we predict could almost double the people in acute hunger by the end of 2020 across the world. The only way we can halt this trend is if generous funding for humanitarian crises like the one here in South Sudan continues.
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CHURCH: And food shortages in Nigeria are already causing a surge in crime, all made worse by government-ordered lockdown. Stephanie Busari reports from Lagos on those who are unable to work and can't afford to buy food.
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STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These extraordinary scenes show young men looting a truck, carrying bags of food in Nigeria's capital, Abuja. There's very little social distancing, and they are concerned only about getting their hands on the food. These are signs of the desperation and hunger that people feel here, as the country battles the pandemic.
ABDUSALLAM MORUF, NIGERIAN: Yes, if my job is permits me to go out, Allah, I would go out.
BUSARI: OK. So that means --
MORUF: Even though I hear -- I see army I'm in photos I don't care. See, I don't care the army will kill me. I prefer to die by coronavirus than to die by angry virus.
BUSARI: It's nighttime, and these men are patrolling the streets of a Lagos neighborhood, armed with machetes. They say they have seen a surge in crimes since the lockdown started.
OLUWASEGUN BALOGUN, PATROLS LOCKDOWN IN NIGERIA: We decided to use whatever we have to defend ourselves and our people in our community. BUSARI: Nigeria's police say it has dispatched extra forces to deal with the trouble and urges citizens for calm. But as hunger bites in the poorest communities, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered 70,000 tons of grain to be released from the country's reserves. And hundreds of bags of rice seized by Nigeria's customs are also being distributed to the country's poorest. But for the millions of hungry Nigerians stuck at home and not earning, this relief is not coming quickly enough. And there are fears that this country could soon be pushed to the brink in this battle of lives against livelihoods.
Stephanie Busari, CNN, Lagos.
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CHURCH: The world's most populous Muslim majority country is about to start a Ramadan unlike any other. Indonesia is banning citizens from traveling to their hometowns for Eid al-Fitr celebrations. Marking the end of Ramadan, the Eid homecoming is an important tradition for millions of people.
Well, keeping children busy while isolating is a full-time job. A new street safari in the U.S. is helping children see animals from around the world in their own neighborhood. That's next.
[04:50:00]
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CHURCH: Families at home are getting creative to keep children busy while under stay-at-home orders. A mother and daughter duo in Washington, D.C., rallied their neighbors to create a street safari where neighbors put toy animals in their windows for kids to find. Little did they know how popular it would become.
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JODI OVCA, GEORGETOWN RESIDENT: We're going to look for these.
CHARLOTTE OVCA: UNIDENTIFIED MALE CHILD: I see a penguin.
JODI OVCA: I'm Jodi Ovca, and this is my daughter, Charlotte, and she's 4 years old, and we live in Georgetown in Washington, D.C.
We are very fortunate that our neighbors that live a few houses down put together this safari. Do you see any? Where we see the ducks, that's houses that have agreed to participate and that have animals in their windows.
And then we're going to go left, and then I think there's going to be a lot of animals right there, OK? Do they go, woof, woof, woof?
CHARLOTTE OVCA: No, they don't make noise!
JODI OVCA: They don't? Because they're just stuffed animals, huh?
INDIA OLCHEFSKI, DESIGNER, GEORGETOWN STREET SAFARI: My name is India and this is my mom, Judy, and we designed and created the Georgetown Street Safari.
JODI OVCA: They created an incredible safari as something for the children to do, an activity so that they could walk and they could look for animals.
I would say definitely bears are probably the most highly represented species, followed quickly by dogs.
MONICA ROACHE, GEORGETOWN RESIDENT: I have seen so many adorable animals.
[04:55:00]
JODI OVCA: We have seen everything from antique stuffed animals that have been passed down through generations, we've seen beanie babies.
ROACHE: So, my grandfather lived in this home. He purchased this home in 1941, and he used to wear a bowtie. And so, I call this the pop-pop bear.
JODI OVCA: There is animals that have masks on.
CHARLOTTE OVCA: What is that?
JODI OVCA: That one looks like a skeleton.
OLCHEFSKI: Before we thought that this would be 20 houses and this would be a one-day, maybe a few hour, but the 270, I think we're at, 300, somewhere around there, it's going to take you a while.
KARA GETZ, GEORGETOWN RESIDENT: Katie has a lot of energy, and so that's why this is so important because it helps us to get outside.
JUDITH BUNNELL, CREATOR GEORGETOWN STREET SAFARI: Giving kids something to do is hypercritical, especially in a crisis. So, giving them a mission. And even if the mission is finding stuffed animals, wonderful. We're all for it.
JODI OVCA: That's right, honey. That's right. OK.
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CHURCH: What a gorgeous idea. And thanks so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. CNN NEWSROOM continues next with Robyn Curnow.
But before we go, a message of solidarity from the United Kingdom. The Five Brigades Union singing and playing "Bella Ciao" to firefighters in Italy and across the world.
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FIVE BRIGADES UNION, SINGING BELLA CIAO: Questa mattina mi sono alzato O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao Questa mattina mi sono alzato E ho trovato l'invasor O partigiano Portami via O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao
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