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Interview with Gov. Ned Lamont (D-CT); Interview with Tybee Island Mayor Shirley Sessions; British Hospital Prepares for Second Wave. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired April 24, 2020 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: -- perhaps one in five residents has been exposed to this or previously infected. How much do you have to test to feel comfortable?

GOV. NED LAMONT (D-CT): Well, right now, we're testing people who are sick or showing symptoms. What we need is more randomized testing --

SCIUTTO: Yes.

LAMONT: -- you don't have to test everybody, but you have to do it broad-based enough that you know where the hotspots are.

SCIUTTO: OK, so you say you think you'll have, in a couple of weeks, the testing capacity that you're comfortable with. Does that mean that in a couple of weeks, you're -- and you've also said that you flattened the curve in Connecticut. Does that mean, in a couple of weeks, as we get into early May, that you may join governors in beginning to reopen some businesses?

LAMONT: Yes. We have said by May 20th, we're going to have a green light on what we can safely open. All right, you know, we've kept construction, we've kept manufacturing open. I'm getting them the masks, I'm getting them the testing so they can do that safely. Most of our retail is open, but some of it's only for delivery only. We're going to look at that and see when that can be opened in a scaled-back way to get going.

SCIUTTO: So tell us what -- because people at home, I know, are watching this -- they're eager, but they're also concerned, right? Because people are going to make their own health decisions ultimately as to what they do. Which businesses, what steps are you most comfortable with, early?

For instance, people ask a lot about restaurants. Can you do that with social distancing? Can you shop with social distancing? What are the rules going to look like for you?

LAMONT: In my mind, you can go to a toy store, you can go to a clothing store. You can do that, if you're careful, with social distancing. Perhaps masks just to protect you. My instinct is that crowded indoor restaurants and bars are going to be very risky for a long time.

SCIUTTO: Understood. And you think -- I mean, people are going to grocery stores, but of course they need to go but they practice a lot of the steps that you're talking about there.

I want to talk about -- I know you're not waiting for federal help on testing, but information is such an important part of responding to a pandemic. And we had a day yesterday where the president not only shared misinformation, but he shared, frankly, a dangerous recommendation about what to do, putting disinfectant into your body. Does that put lives at risk, when the president says things like that?

LAMONT: Yes, it does. It is irresponsible. Look, the White House Task Force is pretty thoughtful, we have a constructive relationship with them. As you suggested, we'll be meeting again today. But then, clank (ph), you get a mixed (ph) message coming out of the White House that suggests all is well, get back to work on May 1st, go to church on Easter. We've got to have a consistent message to make sure that we get out of this safely.

SCIUTTO: I want to, before we go, go to the issue of the next or coming bailout plans. As you know, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, has said that he would resist any money to go to states to help them meet budget shortfalls in the midst of the economic slowdown -- or really, economic stoppage here, even encouraging states to file for bankruptcy over getting federal money to help balance their budgets. What's your response to that argument?

LAMONT: Then you call up (ph) the McConnell bankruptcy in Kentucky, because Kentucky is hit pretty hard, they have a 24 percent unemployment rate, like we do in Connecticut. When you shut down stores, you shut down businesses, income tax and sales tax revenues go down dramatically. So if he really wants people to think about raising taxes and slashing services in states like his own, that's on him.

SCIUTTO: All right. Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, we wish you and the people of your state the best of luck, going forward.

LAMONT: Jim, nice to see you. Thanks.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we do have some breaking news in. Randall Stephenson, who is the current CEO of AT&T, the parent company of CNN, will step down as CEO after 13 years leading this company. He will step down on June 30th, he will remain executive chairman until the new year.

Replacing him will be AT&T's current COO and president, John Stankey. John Stankey has been with AT&T for 30-some years, he will replace Randall Stephenson. Of course, Stephenson oversaw just the huge transformation of AT&T over the last decade-plus, and led it through the mega-media merger with Time Warner, CNN's parent company. We with both of them luck and thank them for their leadership.

[10:34:35]

Right now, some businesses, back open in the state of Georgia as we've been talking about. Next, I'm going to speak with a mayor on Georgia's coast who's concerned about what this could mean for the people that live in her city.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Welcome back. When Georgia Governor Brian Kemp announced his decision to reopen some businesses across the state today, some people were happy and others were shocked, like my next guest. She wished the governor would have changed his mind.

Shirley Sessions is the mayor of Tybee Island. It's a small coastal community, it's also a major tourist attraction. Mayor, thank you. Thank you for joining me. So the -- what's happening now is that places like salons and bowling alleys, barber shops, nail salons, et cetera in your state can open. Are they in Tybee Island?

MAYOR SHIRLEY SESSIONS, TYBEE ISLAND, GEORGIA: Well, thank you for allowing me to be here.

[10:40:00]

Actually, Tybee doesn't have a lot of bowling alleys or a lot of some of the things that the governor has designated as being open. We do have a lot of restaurants. And of course, we do have a beautiful beach. The governor opened the beach after we closed it on March 20th, so the beach has been opened by the governor, only for walking and running purposes, only exercise. So the other businesses, our restaurants, continue -- most of our restaurants continue to offer takeout and delivery only

Because of the guidelines and the rules and restrictions that were set forth yesterday, I think everyone is trying to find -- you know, find out how to navigate those rules and restrictions, and enforceability of the rules that were put in place.

So while --

HARLOW: Well, I know -- I know some of your concerns have been, for example on the beach, those may be the parameters, but you've seen a lot of people bringing beach chairs, et cetera to the beach. And you've seen many more people coming into Tybee with tags on their license plates from, you know, out of the area or in hotspots. So it seems like you're pretty concerned.

SESSIONS: We do. Our residents are concerned. Our city council and staff, we're going to be meeting next week to really plan our phase one and phase two on opening the beaches.

Right now, we still have the crossovers closed to the public, and we have our public parking lots closed over the weekend. And we -- there are certain areas, people can access the beach. We do not have the resources to man the beach properly. Right now, we don't have lifeguards on the beach, so that's another big concern.

The governor did send down Georgia State Patrol and national -- the Department of Natural Resources to help man the beach, and we appreciate that. But we really have -- we don't -- we're not set up right now to offer a great beach experience. So we're going to be working those details out next week.

We've decided, rather than allow this to paralyze us, we've decided we're going to be empowered and we are going to sit down and decide what we can do to make sure that people have a safe experience, and to protect our citizens and kind of quit focusing on the areas that we have no control, which really is quite a lot.

HARLOW: Sure, right. And I mean, it sounds like you wish the governor had made a different decision, but this is the decision that was made.

Just finally for the senior citizens that you have a fair amount of, living in Tybee, what is your concern level for them, being more susceptible to having a serious impact of COVID-19?

SESSIONS: Yes, we do have a high-risk population on Tybee. And we do have two nursing homes, we have one way on and off the island, and we have no medical facilities. So of course, those are concerns.

Fortunately, our residents have taken a very aggressive approach, and they are staying at home and they are following the orders that Tybee -- that our Tybee council put into place before the governor overturned those. So we are all taking care of each other.

We've been very fortunate. We have had no deaths, we've only had two cases on Tybee, positive cases, and they're both fine now and back at work. So we've been very fortunate, but we're still very cognizant of the fact that we do have out-of-state tags and we're concerned about those people --

HARLOW: Sure.

SESSIONS: -- we're concerned about anyone who could possibly be in harm's way.

HARLOW: Wish you luck during this time, Mayor Shirley Sessions. Can't wait to visit --

SESSIONS: Thank you.

HARLOW: -- never been there, at some point, when this all turns the corner. Thanks again.

SESSIONS: Thank you so much.

[10:44:01]

SCIUTTO: Well, doctors and nurses at a U.K. hospital believe that a second wave of cases could be just around the corner. But are they ready this time? CNN goes inside an intensive care unit there, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: In the U.K., doctors and nurses still battling one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks right now are already on standby for a potential second wave of infections. The medical staff there fears that a resurgence could be just weeks away as they still face severe shortages of critical protective equipment.

HARLOW: Our Nick Paton Walsh joins us now, after spending 24 hours in the ICU at a hospital in Coventry, England. What was that like, Nick? What did you see?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Extraordinary, given how so much of the discussion and evidence of this disease is invisible to some degree. It is very real and urgent and palpable in the walls behind me there.

They do have, they say, enough protective equipment but they are dealing with deaths on a daily basis. Some recovery too. And as you said, the real possibility that if social restrictions are lifted, they could see the wave, like the one they've just seen behind them, come again in the weeks ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATON WALSH (voice-over): When, if ever, does it end? This vast hospital is in the U.K.'s second-worst hotspot, the Midlands, and has no easy answers. So while London mends, here, the living and the dying keep coming. And they fear the second wave may be near.

We look to numbers for comfort but in this ICU, the odds are about even with COVID, doctors say. During the 24 hours we were here, two patients died and two got out of ICU. As the virus rages through our ordinary world outside, in here, its power is in the quiet it imposes.

PATON WALSH: Standing here, you don't really see the ferocity of this disease, but the silence with which it kills, and also the helplessness of the people suffering.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): One doctor wore a bodycam during the life- saving procedure of proning (ph), turning a patient on their front to ease breathing.

ROGER TOWNSEND, CONSULTANT, UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL COVENTRY: We don't 100 percent understand why it works. Essentially, what it does it it changes the distribution of air within the chest, but also changes the way the blood is distributed within the chest.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It went really well. You keep going, yes? You're going to have some ice cream when that tube comes out?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If people pass away, it's more often because we've come to the conclusion that they're not going to survive whatever we do, rather than them dying suddenly.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): The hardest for staff? That isolation means patients die here without their family nearby. Masked doctors and nurses are the last people they see in life. TOWNSEND: I've held a telephone to the ear of a gentleman who was --

who was dying, so that his wife could speak to him. He was sedated, but we would always assume someone could hear you. Even the nurses looking after the patient will sit and hold their hand as they pass away as well. So they're always with someone.

When my colleagues confessed that they were scared, I confessed, I said I'm scared too. Now this has gone on, I think the best we can do is wear the PPE, keep our fingers crossed that we don't get it. Yes.

So am I scared? No, not scared like I was when I started.

NERISSA CITRA MANALAD, NURSE, UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL COVENTRY There's been really the fickle (ph) shifts we're in, I just cry in the shower. Cry in the shower, I cry at night. Oh, I'm going to cry again.

It's just very -- it's just very scary. I'm just scared, and I'm -- you know, I'm just basically like, oh, when am I going to catch this? You know, because you know, we're here, we're dealing with patients who are infected. Despite having all the PPE, you still don't know, isn't it? Even if you're -- if you go by the book, there are people still getting infected. So it's just really -- I'm just so scared.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): This is not over, and it's not even clear if this is the beginning of the end or a lull before another wave.

TOWNSEND: We need to continue with the lockdown that we have to stop it spreading. And so for the next six weeks, we're on standby.

PATON WALSH: For another wave?

TOWNSEND: For another wave, yes.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): Still, the sick some, worsening and improving. Jacqueline, who delayed coming to hospital because she feared catching there the virus she already had, is improving.

JACQUELINE SMITH, PATIENT: they called the ambulance three times, and I kept refusing to come in. I was scared to come in. Oh my goodness, it's so tight. You've got somebody sitting on your chest and you're trying to breathe and you're not getting anywhere, it's really frightening.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): This hospital has had over 170 patients die from COVID. It now has about 170 who have it, or possibly have it, a toll (ph) leaving them both ready and cautious about a second wave. In a pandemic so riddled with unknowns, it leaves us certain only of how much we need each other.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PATON WALSH: And it's startling to see doctors who have had such extraordinary exposure to this disease, still bravely go about their work every day but also accept there is a lot they do not know about it. They don't know why young people who seem in the prime of their lives and healthy, suddenly deteriorate and die from it. And so many, of course, of the victims here are elderly as well.

Shocking scenes, frankly, to see, that remind you how real this disease is, despite the noise about how quickly we need to get back to normal. Back to you.

HARLOW: You're so right, Nick. It's everything, to see those images and hear from them inside. Thank you for that reporting.

[10:54:12]

Well, a boy, bullied because his name is Corona, and a celebrity infected with the virus forged a new friendship through a letter. More on this heartwarming story, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Coronavirus, of course, hard on everyone right now. But listen to the story of a little boy named Corona DeVries.

HARLOW: Yes. So that's the case for this little boy in Australia. He's eight years old, and he says he's been bullied during this pandemic because of his name. But now, Corona's spirits are soaring thanks to Tom Hanks. Corona wrote a letter to the actor, wishing him well after Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson tested positive for the virus while in Australia last month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CORONA DEVRIES, BULLIED BECAUSE OF HIS NAME: Dear Mr. and Mrs. Hanks, my name is Corona. I heard on the news, you and your wife have caught the coronavirus. Are you OK?

SCIUTTO (voice-over): Well, what he didn't expect was for Hanks to write him back, and send him a Corona-brand typewriter as a gift. Hanks' instructions? Simple, ask an adult how to use it, and write me back.

DEVRIES: Yes, it's very special because I always feel like I'm famous. He said I'm a friend of him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Well, that makes my -

[11:00:00]