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Mayor Shon Harris (D-CA), Yuba City Discusses Defying California Stay-at-Home and Reopening Businesses; Update on Coronavirus Response Across the Country; Ryan Browning, Commissioner, Cass County, Indiana, Discusses Nearly 900 Workers Infected at Tyson Food Plant; Bill Gates Warns Number of Virus Cases Unknown Due to Current Way of Testing; New Mexico Governor Locks down Small City of Gallop over Virus Outbreak. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired May 01, 2020 - 13:30   ET

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


[13:30:00]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: We were just talking about this with a doctor there. Some rural, less populated areas of California are balking at Governor Gavin Newsom's stay-at-home order and say there needs to be an alternative.

Modoc County, which borders Oregon, and home to fewer than 9,000 people, they plan to defy the governor and reopen businesses, schools and churches starting today.

And that's not happening yet just south in Sutter County, but calls there are growing. The mayor of Yuba City says, as a direct quote, "Businesses are dying on the vine."

Yuba City Mayor Shon Harris is with me now.

Mr. Mayor, thank you so much for being with me.

Listen, my heart goes out to all these counties trying to figure out how to balance all of this. What is your plan because I know you want to reopen? Tell me why. And how would you go about doing that?

MAYOR SHON HARRIS (D-CA), YUBA CITY: Well, why is because our business is struggling, our economy is struggling. Folks are trying to feed their families and they're worried, and they should be.

So we want to find the balance, a balance between the medical approach. We want to defy anything.

But with a statewide order, the numbers are quite different than they are here locally. We would like to have mobile control and make our decisions for our local folks here.

If the statewide numbers like they are here in Sutter, we would not have the strict regulations like we are having now.

We want to have that. We have a bi-county health officer in Sutter. We have an officer who covers two counties. So we're working together with the country and all the cities to come up with a plan to get ourselves phased-in reopened.

We don't want to ignore the science. We're not doing that. We don't want any part of that. But we think we have room to start getting people gradually getting back to work.

Many people we came across, many literally knocking on my front door, wanting to know what they can do for their business --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I want to hear about those conversations you are having with small business owners.

Firs, let me back up a second. Let me play this clip of Governor Newsom from earlier this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): The reality is we are a few weeks away, not months away, from making measurable and meaningful changes to our stay-at-home order. That is a very optimistic point to emphasize.

However, that's driven by data. It's driven by behavior. And as we change our behavior, we can impact the science and the health and the data.

This virus does not take the weekends off. This virus does not go home because it is a beautiful sunny day around our coast.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So I understand and Yuba City's is not Los Angeles or San Diego. Your numbers are very different. To the governor's point, the virus does not take the weekends off. How do you respond to that?

HARRIS: I completely agree. The folks that are making it a political issue are misguided. The virus does not discriminate, socio- economically, borders or states or counties, anything at all. I do agree with that.

We have to be taking a smarter approach and consider the science, the verifiable science. If people are taking proper precautions that we have outlined and what we are currently working on the final details of our plans, we'll lower that risk and, at the same time, allow people to get back to work.

BALDWIN: To your point, you told our producer that a hair salon owner was knocking on your door and came to your doorstep and wants to reopen. And I know that reflects other small business owners in your neck of the woods.

So we'll stay in contact with you and see how this all goes moving forward.

Mayor Shon Harris there, thank you very much --

HARRIS: Thank you.

BALDWIN: -- in Yuba City, California.

Here is the question we're all asking: Can you go to the beach this summer? The former head of the CDC has an answer for you.

Plus, nearly 900 workers have been infected at a single Tyson plant as the president of the United States orders them to remain open.

[13:34:05]

And Florida deploys the National Guard at food banks as the demand continues to rise.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Today, in New York, Governor Cuomo announced all schools across the state will remain closed for the rest of the academic year. Kids in kindergarten and all the way to students in college will not return to classrooms now.

For parent and students wondering about fall semester, good question. The governor says no decision has been made but added the decisions on summer schools would come this month.

More now from our CNN correspondents.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dan Simon, in San Francisco. California trying to connect hundreds of pop-up daycare centers with parents across the state. The goal is trying to get childcare easier for essential workers. Governor Newsom saying there are now over 400 pop-up childcare centers in the state of California.

And now there's a web portal where you have to go in, put in your address and zip code, and it will present a list of daycare centers in your neighborhood. All of them according to Governor Newsom, have been vetted by the state of California.

Getting childcare has been difficult throughout the crisis as more than 60 percent of them have been impacted in some fashion.

[13:40:09]

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Martin Savidge, in Georgia. Now that the state has relaxed its stay-at-home order, people can go to places like the mall here. This one will hope on Monday.

As will Macy's, which is going to open 68 of its stores in those stores that have relaxed stay-at-home orders. In March, the company furloughed 125,000 of its employees. Now they hope to bring some of them back.

But the question is: Do shoppers want to come back amid fear of coronavirus and a tumbling economy> ROSA FLORES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I am Rosa Flores, in Miami,

where the Florida National Guard has been deployed to food banks. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, they have seen a 600 percent increase in demand for food assistance in south Florida.

To keep up with demand, 45 members of the Florida National Guard have been deployed to help sort and pack family meal boxes. The food bank says it's been serving about 265,000 people per week in Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: I am Barbara Starr, in Alexandria, Virginia. Starting today, customers shopping at military commissaries face limits on how much beef, pork or poultry they can buy. Two items per person, according to the part of the Pentagon that runs the commissaries.

The reason is they are anticipating food supply disruptions in the United States due to food processing plant closures because of the impact of the coronavirus.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Thanks to all of you.

And nearly 900 workers at a Tyson food plant in Indiana tested positive for coronavirus as the state moves to reopen its stores. That's nearly half of the 2,200 employees who work at the processing plant in Logansport. It joins other meat processing plants that have had to temporarily shut down because of this COVID outbreak.

With me now is Ryan Browning, a commissioner at Cass County, Indiana, where this plant is located.

Ryan, thank you so much for being on with me.

When I ready 900 workers testing positive. Have you wrapped your head around that number?

RYAN BROWNING, COMMISSIONER, CASS COUNTY, INDIANA: It's a big number. It's about half of the work force that works the floor there.

We went through testing last week to see where they actually stood and how many sick people there was so we can figure out a game plan going forward.

BALDWIN: At least you had the test.

I know today Tyson announced the facility will reopen next week for limited production. How much pressure is on the plant right now to reopen and where is the pressure coming from?

BROWNING: The pressure is all the way down. They are a vital part of the food chain.

We are an agriculture community and a lot of our local hog producers here, that's where their hogs go. There is a lot of pressure. Last thing we want to do if have to euthanize hogs in the community.

So they have been working close with our health department to get a medically cleared staff to get the plant back open.

BALDWIN: I was just talking to a hog farmer the other day and he was saying the exact same thing. He would have to start euthanizing hogs this week which, of course, he did not want to do. He's running out of room. If he can't take them to the next step in the food chain.

Back to the pressure though, Ryan, are you feeling any pressure even from indirectly or directly from the White House because we know the president wants these plants rolling, open?

BROWNING: When I got word the other day that an executive order is coming down, we have been in a lot of talks with Tyson and we had a plan moving forward. It did have some concerns to what it might have been with that plan.

We stayed with the plan we had, working with Tyson and health department to get the plant back open.

That took that pressure off. But more is just knowing what it can do to the community. Not just your local community, but the hog producers in the state. And the plant here brings hogs in from nine states. So it is regional.

There was a lot of pressure. There some talks with some Senators and congressman and stuff about if we had a good plan going, if we had all the help we needed to get this done. So, yes, it --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Do you feel like you do, Ryan?

BROWNING: No, we're in good shape. We've got a plan -- (AUDIO PROBLEM). They have additional medical companies coming into help and keep an eye on employees to screen them as they come into work each day, to be looking for signs and symptoms throughout the day. So we can --

(CROSSTALK)

[13:45:11]

BALDWIN: If I can jump in. What are employees saying to you? What are you hearing from them?

BROWNING: (AUDIO PROBLEM): They know that their job is vital.

They are bringing them in to do more education. And they do have several different languages in the plant. And they got additional translators and every help with that and get the message out to them that it is safe to go back to work.

BALDWIN: All right. We'll follow you and see how these folks are doing there. Indiana commissioner, Ryan Browning. And I hear you, this isn't just an Indiana thing. This is a regional thing.

Thank you so much for coming on. I appreciate it. Good luck.

BROWNING: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Bill Gates reveals why it is impossible to know how widespread this pandemic is. You will hear from him next.

And with more than 100 potential vaccines in the works around the world, hear what happens when one becomes successful.

The new White House press secretary gives her first White House briefing just a short time from now. And if you're keeping track, the last full-fledged briefing they gave was March of a year ago.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:50:48]

BALDWIN: A new warning about coronavirus testing here in the U.S. Bill Gates, on CNN's coronavirus town hall last night, raising red flags, saying we don't know the full extent of the outbreak because we're getting false numbers from the way we're currently testing.

Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL GATES, CO-CHAIR, BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION: The United States does not prioritize who gets tested. And the United States does not make sure you get answers within 24 hours. You know, we haven't authorized kiosks or home testing. That's still a regulatory think that's tied up.

So our testing numbers should never be compared. If you're a high- income person, you can get tested a lot of times. If you're low income, you're not likely to get tested at all.

So our system fails to have the prioritization that would give us an accurate picture of what's going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Right now, in the U.S., the testing estimated 200,000 people per day. And Gates said the number has to go way up in order to be effective.

Dr. Celine Gounder is with me. She's an epidemiologist, an infectious disease specialist, and a CNN medical analyst.

Dr. Gounder, good to see you.

This disease is hitting the Latino community, African-American communities disproportionately hard in this country. Why does diversity in testing matter so much right now?

DR. CELINE GOUNDER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: We want to make sure the people who are most likely to transmit the infection on to others are prioritized for testing. And the other group you would want to prioritize is anybody at high risk for disease or seems sick already.

Unfortunately, in the U.S., who gets access to something has to do with money, has to do with your insurance, has to do with your connections. And that's not really the best way to prioritize testing right now if what we're really trying to do is stop transmission.

BALDWIN: Here's a question that I know a lot of people would like an answer to in terms of can we go to the beach this summer.

We've heard from the former CDC director, Dr. Thomas Friedman, saying this as far as whether we should be able to go to the beach. Here he was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. THOMAS FRIEDMAN, FORMER CDC DIRECTOR: In fact, outdoor places are much safer than indoor places. So beaches, parks, bicycling, hiking, these are great things to do. Great for the spirit. And outdoors is a great way to reduce risk.

Now, we have 100,000 people on Huntington Beach, that's a little different. But with sensible precautions, the great outdoors is a great way forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, Dr. Gounder, this sounds optimistic. But we just got a report from the CDC saying this summer will be -- their word -- "critical" in the fight against COVID-19. So should we go to the beach this summer?

GOUNDER: I think if local officials were approaching this cautiously, they would have restrictions on how many people could go to the beach at one time to make sure you don't have more than a certain number of people in a crowded space. It is important, even if you are outside.

In New York City, our beach is Central Park. So I think a similar kind of situation applies there where we love to go out and sunbathe in Central Park in the summers. Then you'll have to see control over the numbers who could do that so closely together.

BALDWIN: Dr. Celine Gounder, thank you very much. We'll wait and see what they tell us to do this summer.

In the meantime, this is the drug that Dr. Fauci said may be the key to making people better once they fall ill with coronavirus. We'll talk live to one of the first patients who received this drug, Remdesivir.

Also ahead, CNN returns to the Spanish hospital that showed so much horror weeks ago. See what we found. [13:54:38]

And the new White House press secretary will give her first White House briefing just a short time from now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Breaking news out of New Mexico, where the governor ordered the lockdown of the small city of Gallop because of a coronavirus outbreak there.

So let's go back to Ed Lavandera.

Ed, I know about 22,000 people live there. We're talking about the entire town lockdown.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Starting at 5:00 today, all roads leading into Gallop will be locked down. There will be severe limitations on people's movements in that town in terms of how many people can be in a car. And all businesses must shut down from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 a.m., between those hours.

[14:00:04]

And this is because there are more than 1,000 cases of coronavirus in that city of 22,000 people.