Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
President Trump Aims to Get Rid of Coronavirus Task Force; Pfizer Starts U.S. Trial of Potential COVID-19 Vaccine; Johns Hopkins: U.S. Death Toll Now Tops 71,000; Trump Lobbies World Leaders Against China; U.K. Surpasses Italy's Death Toll; Russian Police Investigate How Doctors Fell from Windows; Potential COVID-19 Vaccine Begins Human Trials in U.S.; Weighing the Economy Against Protecting Public Health; South Korea Moving to Reopen Schools by End of Month; New York Closing Subways for Daily Deep Cleaning; Pizzerias Back in Business as Italy Eases Restrictions; 12-Year-Old Sports Commentator Takes His Skills Online. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired May 06, 2020 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[00:00:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause.
Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, life versus livelihood. The decision facing governments around the world on when and how quickly to restart the economy.
What is the value of a human life?
Blame game: the U.S. ramps up diplomatic pressure on China, enlisting support from foreign allies for a united response against allegations Beijing could've done a lot more to prevent this pandemic.
And on the pandemic front lines and Russia, for one doctor to fall from a hospital window is heartbreaking, for two to fall is tragic but three in two weeks?
(MUSIC PLAYING)
VAUSE: The United Kingdom has overtaken Italy in the number of people killed during this pandemic. The death toll now close to 30,000. The worst in Europe, second only to the United States. Around the world, the number of deaths stands at a quarter of 1 million people and against an unrelenting and steady climb in lives lost.
Researchers in the U.S. have begun human trials of an experimental vaccine. If successful, the German and American drugmakers say millions of doses could be ready by year's end. More than 100 possible vaccines are in the works right now worldwide.
With predictions of the number of people that will die from the coronavirus could nearly double by August in the United States an official tells CNN that the White House is planning to wind down the task force advising the president. Donald Trump says the time has come to look to a new phase.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: With the doctors saying that there might be a recurrence of coronavirus in the fall, why -- can you just explain why is the time to wind down that task force?
TRUMP: Well, because we can't keep our country closed for the next five years. You can say there might be a recurrence and there might be and most doctors or some doctors say that it will happen and it will be a flame and we're going to put the flame out. We have learned a lot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The White House model forecast is staggering. 3,000 coronavirus deaths each day by June. As Nick Watt reports, the push to reopen the economy persists, despite the warning from the president's own health experts.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): The faster we reopen, the lower the economic cost. But the higher the human cost.
NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At least 42 states have now taken steps towards reopening. Today in Washington State, you can fish, hunt and play golf again. In Arizona, barbers can open this weekend. Restaurants, with distancing, can open their doors Monday.
MAYOR KATE GALLEGO (D-AZ), PHOENIX: You very shortly will be able to get your nails done here in Arizona. That's not something I would do. I would encourage people, if you can still stay home, please do so.
WATT (voice-over): In California, three counties are defying the governor. Governor Gavin Newsom says some retail can finally reopen Friday after 50 days, but the state's two biggest cities say they might take it slower.
MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI (D-CA), LOS ANGELES: Our timing on opening may vary from other parts of the state.
WATT (voice-over): One national model has now near doubled our number of projected deaths to nearly 135,000.
CUOMO: Because now they're factoring in the reopening plans, the faster we reopen, the lower the economic cost, but the higher the human cost.
WATT (voice-over): And we're still waiting on some much needed tools.
GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): We can't resume normal life until we have a vaccine. WATT (voice-over): Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech just began human trials here in the U.S. of a potential vaccine. But a safe working vaccine is best case still many months away. And some researchers say we'll also need 100,000 contact tracers as we reopen, to keep track of the virus.
CRYSTAL WATSON, SENIOR SCHOLAR, JOHN HOPKINS CENTER FOR HEALTH SECURITY: We don't do this I believe what we're going to see is large surges and cases large epidemics that may send us back under social distancing measures.
WATT (voice-over): Now, new case counts are dropping in New York.
CUOMO: There's no doubt that we're coming down the mountain.
WATT (voice-over): But they're still putting new precautions in place. 1:00 a.m. Wednesday morning, the City Subway will stop, the first suspension of 24 hours service in 115 years.
[00:05:00]
CUOMO: Why? Because they have to be disinfected.
WATT (voice-over): Meatpacking plants across the country have also closed for cleaning after outbreaks. Nearly 800 employees were second at Smithfield plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, it's now reopening.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what these plants are having to try and figure out is where do they get to a point where they can say to their employees with confidence? Yes, it is safe for you to return to work.
WATT (voice-over): The President has ordered plants open the supply chain is suffering Costco and other retailers now essentially, rationing meat. And according to one analyst, one in five Wendy's is now out of fresh beef, no longer serving burgers.
WATT: It struck me today that The Disney Corporation is almost a microcosm of this entire situation. They just announced first quarter profits dropped 91 percent. They have tens of thousands of workers right now out, furloughed. But a light at the end of the tunnel.
They just announced that Disneyland Shanghai will be the first Disney park to reopen next week. But guests must wear masks, they will have their temperature checked and they are training staff in what they are calling contactless guest interactions, a look into our future -- Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Dr. Esther Choo is an associate professor of emergency medicine at Oregon Health and Science University and she's with us from Portland.
Thank you for taking the time to talk with us. There's this impression that, as a whole, the outbreak has peaked. But if you look at this graph, the number of new cases in the U.S. bounced around at a level that can be described as a plateau, since the end of March.
And this is how the United States compared to other places like Italy and Germany and Spain. They went through this bouncy plateau period before case numbers started to fall and then came the lifting of restrictions.
So I can only assume those countries had good reason for waiting until there was a real trend line in other cases dropping.
Does that mean in terms of ending a lockdown, the U.S. is heading into uncharted waters?
DR. ESTHER CHOO, OREGON HEALTH AND SCIENCE UNIVERSITY: We're doing an amazing experiment. The disease hit all 50 states but at different times. So when you take these aggregate numbers that show that it plateaus, it means a lot of different things.
In some states, it has really flattened and in other states it is going down and in other states they're entering their peak. So a single curve for the entire country means very different things for different states. The decision making would be variable as well.
But the best practice that is put out there by people who know pandemics is to wait until the case rates are falling before you open. We are certainly not taking that as a uniform approach. Some states are opening up, less because of where we are in case rates and trajectory and more because of economic necessity or simply impatience.
VAUSE: Some of those states where there has been impatience and they are moving quickly before this, part of the strategy has been for hospitals to deal with the increase in cases?
How does that strategy, cure over prevention, how does that sit with you?
CHOO: It's tough. First of all, when we rely on what's happening in hospitals to dictate our policy, we are looking at an endpoint that is a 2-week delayed picture to decide what we are doing today. Some states are really talking about hospitalizations and death rates. And they are saying that is an indicator of what we should do.
But we have to remember that this disease in particular has this indolent course, where your exposure does not really show up as a case in the hospital until two weeks later and we don't see the death rates until 2-3 or more weeks after that.
So we are looking at a very downstream endpoint to dictate what we are doing upstream. And then you don't really know, again, if you are relying on that in a point, not only are you really leaning on the health system to be able to have that kind of capacity.
But you are looking at something that should not really tell you whether or not what you are doing is safe. It is too delayed.
VAUSE: It seems an unfair burden on health care workers, people are dying from it because they're at the front lines of this. But these are the heroes.
CHOO: I appreciate that. I don't wear the term "hero" very well, I mean, we are going to do what it takes.
Is it ideal for people to have to come to us?
No. We are still lacking in things like that personal protective equipment that makes it safe for us to take care of people at large volumes.
[00:10:00]
CHOO: So in this setting in particular when there's a lot to do upstream to prevent disease before it gets to us. It's a shame that people have to get to us when this is manageable and preventable outside of the hospital. So I think that is what it is. There are safety things. It is a lot on their shoulders.
But more than that, it is always sad and stressful when you see things in the emergency department that never needed to be there because we could have done a better job. There is always a psychological stress and a sadness to that that is really what is casting a shadow on our work every day.
VAUSE: It seems a deliberate strategy to put all the stress on the health care system. In this discussion about how and when to restart the economy, the Democratic governor of New York laid out in very stark terms, saying that this is a discussion of human life. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: A human life is priceless, period. Our reopening plan does not have a trade-off. Our reopening plan says you monitor the data, you monitor the transmission rate, you monitor the hospitalization rate. We will monitor the death rate. If it goes up, you have a circuit breaker. You stop.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The counter argument came from Chris Christie and here he is.
CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), FORMER NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR: We sent our young men during World War II over to the Pacific knowing that many of them would not come home alive and we decided to make that sacrifice because what we were standing up was the American way of life. In the very same way now we have to stand up for the American way of life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Is that what this comes down to?
For doctors who swear to do no harm above all else, it seems to put them in a very difficult position.
CHOO: Yes, it is. And it doesn't have to be black and white. It's not either open the economy or choose life for people. You know?
It doesn't have to be that stark. What we are talking about is having a smart approach to this and having enough testing that we know exactly where the hotspots are, having a nimble approach so that, when we do reopen, where we are testing and doing so much surveillance that we know when it's not working and we know it early before people go into the hospital or are dying.
And then we ask people to pull back. So this can be a sophisticated approach. What we are hoping for at this point, and I'm injecting a dose of reality, realizing that reopening is happening.
What we are hoping instead we can do it cautiously and smartly rather than putting a blindfold around our eyes and marching out there without any information.
So we don't want to do this in a setting where we are doing it ignorantly and without an understanding that -- an approach to testing and surveillance that's very responsive to what we are doing so that we can pull back when we need to.
VAUSE: Doctor Choo, thank you for being with us. I appreciate your experience and insights. Thank you.
The government official who was overseeing the development of a vaccine in the U.S. has filed a whistleblower complaint after he was demoted last week. Dr. Rick Bright says he was warning about the dangers of this virus as early as January, he cautioned about a treatment push by president Donald Trump and says that led to his removal.
He was demoted to a new position at the National Institutes of Health. He is expected to testify on Capitol Hill next week.
The Trump administration seems to be trying to isolate China diplomatically over the outbreak of the coronavirus. Two sources have told CNN that President Trump has spoken to dozens of foreign allies about ways to collectively respond to what the administration says was Beijing's deliberate efforts to conceal the severity of the crisis.
In recent days, Mike Pompeo upped the stakes by publicly declaring that there was an enormous amount of evidence proving the virus was manmade and escaped from a lab in China.
On Tuesday, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, America's most senior general, Mark Milley, he sided with an earlier assessment from the intelligence community, saying that the evidence is inconclusive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. MARK MILLEY, USJC CHAIRMAN: Did it come out of the virology lab in Wuhan?
Did it occur in the wet market there in Wuhan?
Did it occur somewhere else? And the answer to that is, we don't know. And, as mentioned by many people, various agencies, both civilian and U.S. government are looking at that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Live now from Beijing, CNN's Steven Jiang, standing by for us.
There was this bomb throwing between Beijing and Washington that has been going on for a while now. At the same time, there has been a significant increase in military activity in Taiwanese waters and airspace.
[00:15:00]
VAUSE: Also, intrusions over Japan. So there was some kind of military flashpoint; presumably, Taiwan would be targeted by China.
What can you tell us about these recent military exercises and is this where this could be heading?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER, BEIJING BUREAU: John, a lot of these muscle flexing activities are to send a message to the domestic Chinese audience and the international community that the People's Liberation Army is capable of defending its sovereignty, as they describe, it despite the ongoing global pandemic and the increasingly tense relationship with the U.S.
Remember, from their perspective, it's the U.S. that has been increasing its freedom of navigation operations, as well as to send warships through the Taiwanese strait in recent months.
So they feel compelled to respond in kind. The other thing, this is a huge propaganda opportunity for the Chinese, of course. So far, according to the PLA, miraculously, they have not seen a single case of coronavirus in its 2 million strong troops in contrast of the several thousand cases in the U.S. military.
This is how they are trying to project their strength and confidence at a time when the U.S. is pushing a lot of its buttons, especially on sensitive issues. Interestingly though, John, a retired Chinese air force general just told an interviewer that this is not the right time to take back Taiwan by force because it is going to be too costly.
So this shouldn't be the government's top priority. The timing of all of these is both strategic but unpredictable because we have also seen a report prepared by a government think tank, for example, first revealed by Reuters News Agency, that the anti China sentiment is at an all-time high globally, the highest since 1989's Tiananmen Square crackdown.
So that report says the government here should be prepared for growing anti China sentiment and that could potentially lead to a worst-case scenario of armed conflict between China and the United States.
So a lot of different assessments and scenarios. But one thing is for sure. This relationship is not going back to its pre-2017 days. This relationship is getting worse by the day. It is different not only compared to several years ago but different compared to several months ago.
One consensus is this decoupling process between the two major powers, economic, political and cultural, that started before the outbreak, it was a conscious decoupling process and now it looks increasingly like a messy breakup -- John.
VAUSE: You also raised a lot of questions about that trade deal which was recently signed by the two countries and whether that will see the light of day. Thank you for being with, us Steven, live in Beijing, Steven Jiang.
Let's go to Bob Baer, a former CIA operative and CNN intelligence and security analyst.
Bob, it has been a while. Good to see you. Right now, the only aircraft carrier in the region is one which belongs to China. The U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan are at port. China is making aggressive moves around Taiwan.
Is there a chain of events which could realistically lead to this diplomatic crisis escalating to a military one?
BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: Oh, John, I think absolutely. I have never seen relations this bad, under this much pressure, really since the Vietnam War. We are talking about 50 years.
No one is planning on going to war. But the Chinese, as they come under pressure, as they are more and more isolated and as this administration leads a propaganda war against China and blames it for our problems, I don't see this going anywhere good today.
The South China Sea -- and let's not forget that China has a lot of influence over North Korea. That is a wild card. It could pull out at anytime. But the Chinese are not going to sit still for this beating they are getting from Washington.
VAUSE: Earlier, we heard from the U.S. Joint Chiefs, saying there is no conclusive evidence one way or the other about this virus. They are leaning towards this virus being natural is opposed to man-made but it is still inconclusive.
But the secretary of state spoke with confidence in an interview with ABC News over the weekend. Here is part of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC NEWS CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Mr. Secretary, have you seen anything that gives you high confidence that it originated in that Wuhan lab?
MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Martha, there is enormous evidence that that is where this began.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: There is a big difference between enormous evidence and we don't know, which is what's coming from the joint chiefs. Explain just how difficult would it be and what is needed to gather enormous evidence.
You need intercepts, human intelligence, people on the ground.
What do you need?
BAER: You need to have someone in the laboratory, someone inside the Chinese government.
[00:20:00]
BAER: And Pompeo, as far as I can see, is circulating a conspiracy theory that has been going around the White House for some time in right-wing circles. He is clearly not relying on the U.S. intelligence community, which has come out and said, look, the Chinese did not release this on purpose.
And as far as the lab goes, the Chinese will have to tell us whether it escaped or not but there is no evidence for that, either. And John, this is what's particularly bothering the Chinese. We are just making this stuff up as we go and it is not helping relations, especially since we need China to fight the coronavirus. This can't come at a worse time.
VAUSE: There are a couple different threats to all of this. Listen to Mike Pompeo on ABC News. The allegation here is that China delayed releasing information to give it time to hoard vital supplies. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POMPEO: We can confirm that the Chinese Communist Party did all that it could to make sure that the world did not learn in a timely fashion about what was taking place. There is lots of evidence of, that some of it you can see in public. We have seen announcements. We have seen the fact that they kicked journalists out.
We saw the fact that those trying to report on this medical professionals inside of China were silenced. Those are all the kinds of things that authoritarian regimes do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: This almost rings true. China delaying informing the world to stockpile what was needed. But he refers to the Chinese Communist Party. I won't replay it but that sounds like an attack on the party's legitimacy. That seems to be playing with fire when it comes to Beijing.
BAER: You are trying to undermine the regime, of course. You say it is not you, the Chinese people. It is the Chinese government, the Chinese military but the party and the Chinese leadership. But that's a game you don't want to play with the Chinese, to undermine their authority in that country, because they will lash out.
There is no doubt about it. We have to start talking ourselves down off this shelf, very quickly.
VAUSE: The problem is, Trump has been looking for someone or something to blame and China seems to be working with the American public. The U.S. is following his lead in anti China sentiment, blaming China for all of this. Take a look at these campaign ads for Republicans running for office. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: China must pay. America must rebuild.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: China is killing our jobs and now killing our people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: China lied about the virus, delaying response, causing unnecessary American deaths, costing us trillions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Chinese lied to us. They tried to cover up coronavirus. When I am your congressman, we will make China pay.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: This may be a great strategy in terms of domestic politics and getting elected. But as you mention, this is a time the U.S. needs to be working closely with China to develop a vaccine. Their economy is set to recover long before the U.S. They seem to be holding a much stronger hand right now.
BAER: And don't forget, they have more than $1 trillion worth of American debt that they can play havoc within the Treasury bond market. They can do a lot of damage to the United States.
But again, you are absolutely right. It is the science. We need to be in Wuhan. The CDC needs to be back into China. It needs to work with the Chinese in a very polite way because this is not the end of the virus. We don't know about mutations there. We don't know a lot of things.
And only if there is global cooperation can we beat this. And I understand why Trump is doing this. He is in a lot of trouble. He has got to blame someone else. He certainly can't look at his own White House, which also withheld information, so he has to blame somebody and the nearest opponent that he can go after is China.
VAUSE: With incredible consequences, though, it would seem. Bob, thank you. Good to see you. Bob with some good insights.
Soon to come, the United Kingdom has reached a grim new coronavirus milestone. The new death toll is placing renewed pressure on the government. Also ahead, working conditions and Russia under scrutiny after the mysterious deaths of three doctors. What doctors are and are not saying about these incidents.
[00:25:00]
VAUSE: With the U.K. now overtaking Italy with the highest number of dead in Europe in this pandemic, prime minister Boris Johnson and his government undergoing scrutiny, with the foreign secretary warning the next steps will not be easy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOMINIC RAAB, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: And as we consider the decisions that we will take next to protect life but also to protect our way of life, it's now clear that the second phase will be different. We will need to adjust to a new normal where we as a society adapt to safe new ways to work, to travel, to interact, and to go about our daily lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: They are set to reopen the country. Widespread testing is needed but they are struggling to meet the target of 100,000 each day.
German chancellor Angela Merkel will meet with leaders to discuss the next steps in easing lockdown measures. They will look at schools, restaurants and sports. Germany has moved cautiously and slowly. The number of new cases has declined there for five days now.
The Spanish prime minister expecting to ask parliament to extend the stay at home for the next two weeks. Leaders say a fourth extension just does not make sense.
In Russia, police are investigating three separate incidents where doctors mysteriously fell from the windows of hospitals. Two of them have died. One remains in hospital. Matthew Chance reports. These incidents have raised questions about working conditions.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Behind the face masks two stressed out Russian doctors struggling in this country's coronavirus pandemic. We haven't got enough protection gear, the one on the right complains on social media. Now he says Russian police are accusing him of spreading fake news.
The other doctor says he is tested positive for coronavirus, but was forced to work anyway. Now, he is fighting for his life after falling mysteriously from a hospital window. This was him, Alexander Shulepov, shortly before his unexpected plunge. With a video statement completely retracting his allegations of mistreatment.
"I was just overwhelmed with emotion," he explains, "and scared of my condition. But of course, I was taken off shift and didn't treat any other patients."
Now, he is dealing with severe head injuries and can say no more. But he is not the only Russian doctor recently silenced by a suspicious window fall. In fact, he is the third. Earlier this month, the acting head of this hospital in Siberia died after plunging out of a window during a meeting with health officials. Local television reported she opposed plans to convert her hospital into a coronavirus facility, citing lack of protective gear. I asked a colleague what happened.
"It's all very strange," he says. "She was a kind woman. Maybe with all this coronavirus, they pressured her with requirements," he suggest, "do this, do that."
One Russian doctor who knows about the current pressure is Anastasia Vasilyeva, head of the doctors' union, who has become an outspoken critic of Russia's coronavirus response, accusing the Kremlin of underplaying the pandemic.
This is her being manhandled and arrested last month, trying to deliver protective equipment. She says the strange case of the three Russian doctors in suspicious window falls, including another last month who worked at the main cosmonaut training center, is more about psychological stress on frontline staff than any sinister plot to silence critics.
[00:30:19]
ANASTASIA VASILYEVA, DOCTORS' ALLIANCE: No, I don't think that somebody is targeting -- targeting doctors, no. The destruction of the healthcare system, and of course, this means that it's very difficult to treat in such conditions a lot of patients with coronavirus.
CHANCE: We've seen the strain on Russian medical staff already. like these workers with coronavirus symptoms in southern Russia, crammed into a laundry cupboard with no space on the wards.
Elsewhere, complaints abound, with shifts lasting days, or 10-hour waits in ambulances to admit patients.
Russia may not be murdering its doctors, but the pressures of its pandemic may be what's really killing them.
Matthew Chance, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: An unprecedented global effort is underway right now to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus, and as human trials began in the U.S., a pharmaceutical company says millions of doses could be ready by year's end, but how realistic is that? Details in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Right now, according to the World Health Organization, more than 100 viable vaccine programs are underway. One has now started human trials in the U.S. on a much accelerated schedule. And as CNN's Fred Pleitgen reports, if successful, the vaccine could be ready by the end of the year. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A simple injection that some hope could help bring an end to a global pandemic. Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech announcing today they dosed the first participants in the U.S. with a vaccine candidate in a clinical trial.
Twelve study participants in Germany received doses last month. BioNTech CEO saying preclinical data showed good results.
UGUR SAHIN, CEO, BIONTECH: We see vaccine responses. We see some vaccine response at even low dose. And we believe that this vaccine was, since we've seen that in different animal models, but we're also translating into vaccine responses in human subjects.
PLEITGEN: The program is called BNT-162, and it's actually a group of four trial vaccines using what's called an mRNA approach, or messenger RNA, approach, which causes the body to produce a protein that triggers an immune response.
Pfizer and BioNTech claim, if the certification goes smoothly, they could have millions of doses ready by the end of this year, hundreds of millions of in 2021. BioNTech CEO saying he believes regulators will move fast.
[00:35:14]
SAHIN: The benefit of a vaccine and pandemic situation is much, much greater, and therefore -- therefore an approval and authorization of a vaccine, pandemic situation has to follow other rules than what we have seen in the past.
PLEITGEN: But there is a long way to go and a lot that can go wrong.
Pfizer and BioNTech are only two of a flurry of companies and institutes trying to develop a coronavirus vaccine ASAP.
The World Health Organization says there are currently more than 100 vaccine candidates under development, though only eight have been approved for clinical trials.
The first was an experimental trial vaccine spearheaded by the National Institutes of Health.
In the U.K., researchers at the University of Oxford are also in clinical trials with their own vaccine candidate, the chief researcher telling out front they are hoping to make the vaccine ready for use by fall.
ADRIAN HILL, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD: We'll probably enroll as many as 1,000 people into this trial, partly because we've used this type of vaccine before for other immunizations, and partly we -- because we believe the safety protocols should be very good. PLEITGEN (on camera): While some of the early indicators seem
promising, there are also a lot of experts around the world who warn there probably isn't a quick fix when it comes to a coronavirus vaccine. Many of the candidates currently under development around the world probably won't be ready anytime soon, and many won't be certified at all.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: U.S. job numbers will be out on Friday. They're expected to be the worst in decades. Even the Trump White House can't spend what's expected to be an horrendous unemployment rate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN HASSETT, SENIOR ECONOMIC ADVISOR TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: My guess is that it's going to be north of 16 percent --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Worse, wow.
HASSETT: -- maybe as high as 19 or 20 percent. So we are looking at probably the worst unemployment rate since the Great Depression.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow. Well, then --
HASSETT: It's a tremendous negative shock. A very, very terrible shock.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Kevin Hassett initially expected a 20 percent rate for June but revise that after 30 million Americans filed for unemployment last month.
A jobless rate not seen since the Great Depression is the major factor in this rush to reopen businesses. It's forced a debate on the need to revive the economy versus public health. Some say the cost of lives is necessary.
Here's Brian Todd.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The images make it clear. People want to get out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Open Texas now!
TODD: And millions are desperate to get back on the job.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Constitution says we have a right to life and liberty. I have a right to work.
TODD: But the rush to get back to normal brings a stark warning from America's top infectious disease expert.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE: How many deaths and how much suffering are you willing to accept to get back to what you want to be some form of normality sooner rather than later?
TODD: The jarring choice offered by Dr. Anthony Fauci comes as new models project a possible sharp increase in coronavirus-related deaths in America through August. Those models tied to recent reopenings of businesses and public spaces across the U.S. and relaxed social distancing.
But the president was adamant again that people have to be allowed back to their jobs, and he believes keeping them away could kill them, too.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If they held people any longer with the shutdowns, you're going to lose people that way, too, and you already have, I'm sure. But between drug abuse, and I mean, they say suicide, a lot of different things.
TODD: Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, whose state has been hit harder than most, told our Dana Bash as many lives as possible should be saved. But he asked if Americans could come to an acceptance of certain levels of death in order to get the economy moving again.
CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), FORMER NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR: We've got to let some of these folks get back to work, because if we don't, we're going to destroy the American way of life in these families.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: But will people be able to swallow the notion, if these projections are right, up nearly 3,000 deaths a day?
CHRISTIE: They're going to have to.
DR. SEEMA YASMIN, FORMER CDC DISEASE DETECTIVE: Some of this language from Chris Christie and other politicians just lacks basic humanity, I think. In the long run, we will be able to replace some jobs. We're not going to be able to replace the lives that are lost.
TODD: That debate between America's political leaders and its top doctors over the human cost of reopening, over the kind of carnage Americans could be willing to accept is intensifying.
YASMIN: You can't have a strong economy when people are dying or are dead. How will you reopen offices and factories and schools if people have died?
TODD: But one public health expert says Chris Christie's message is an important one that Americans need the unvarnished truth that reopening, whenever it happens, will come with a human cost.
DR. AMESH ADALJA, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR HEALTH SECURITY: The fact that you're now admitting that there are going to be increased deaths, I think, is a step to actually being honest with the American public that that's -- that's what the stakes are here. That's what -- that's what the trade-off is going to be. The costs of having an economy functioning are going to be increased cases and increased deaths.
TODD (on camera): And despite the projections for an increase in deaths tied to early reopenings, two Trump administration officials have told CNN those numbers are not expected to affect the White House's plans for reopening the country.
It could set up an excruciating, drawn-out debate between America's political leaders and top doctors, which could extend maybe into next year.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: After being closed for more than three months, Shanghai Disney will reopen on Monday. It's the first of 12 Disney parks to restart operations since the beginning of the pandemic.
The company has seen a 91 percent drop in profits last quarter. So masks will be mandatory for guests. Their temperatures will be taken. They must consent to the government's contact-tracing system. The number of guests will be limited, but there will be an increase in the number of sanitation stations.
Disney Park's chief medical officer says in the U.S., parks will reopen in phases but so far, there has been no official date on that announcement, when that will take place.
Still to come, South Korea moving to reopen schools. So after the break, we'll look at the measures they're taking to keep classrooms safe and students healthy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: A massive fire engulfed a residential high rise in the UAE. Flames tore through the Abbco Tower in Sharjah Tuesday evening. The cause of the fire is still not known. Seven people suffered from minor injuries.
Venezuela's embattled president says the country has detained two Americans for taking part in what he called a coup attempt. Nicholas Maduro released this footage, which appears to show the capture of the men -- or the captured men, I should say.
He says they're mercenaries who launched a failed attack over the weekend. He also claims both had American passports and says the U.S. government was involved, but the U.S. president is denying this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I just got information, nothing to do with our government, but I just got information on that. So we'll find out. We just heard about it. But whatever it is, we'll let you know. But it has nothing to do with our government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Meantime, opposition leader Juan Guaido, whom the U.S. considers the legitimate leader, also denies any involvement, calling Mr. Maduro's allegation a trick to confuse the public.
In Wuhan, China, where the outbreak first began, another step towards normality. Officials say they're reopening more than 100 schools across the region, now expecting near than 60,000 students to return to class after spending months under lockdown.
China claims to have the outbreak under control. They have not reported a single death from the virus in 3 weeks.
As South Korean coronavirus cases slow, schools are gearing up to open once again. Now, the country's education minister says students will gradually return next week, with high school students taking first priority.
[00:45:07]
Meantime, over 70 South Korean universities are among those planning to offer in-person classes this month. That's a big deal.
CNN's Kristie Lu Stout live this hour for us in Hong Kong. So, Kristie, it's not just, you know, South Korea. Across Asia, schools are starting to reopen, and kids are starting to go back to school. And that's really important, to have these classes on campus, in person, you know, one-on-one with teachers and professors.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And it's actually a positive milestone in this ongoing saga that is the pandemic. You know, across Asia, schools have been closed since late January.
And finally, they are starting to reopen. And let me tell you. Parents, teachers, students, administrators, everyone is ready and, critically, the individual places, as well.
For example, here in Hong Kong, which just reported 16 consecutive days of zero local infections. That is why the government here has announced starting from May 27, schools will start to reopen. It will be done in stages. First the secondary students and then the primary students.
School in Vietnam is already back in session. In fact, students returned to the classroom on Monday, according to Vietnamese state media. We know some 22 million students have returned to the classroom after, what, three months of school closures.
Elsewhere in the region, South Korea, we know the schools there are going to reopen starting from May 13, that also in a stage-like process, starting with the secondary students than with the primary students.
Singapore schools will open on May 19. In Thailand, schools will remain closed until July. In Japan, it's a bit of a mixed picture there, with schools in the major cities like Osaka and Tokyo, they will remain closed. The government there taking sort of a watch, wait- and-see approach as the state-of-emergency measures remain in place.
But today, as you mentioned, John, a very, very critical day, May 6 in Wuhan, the epicenter of the pandemic.
Finally, the final year secondary students can go back to the classroom. This is a critical time for them as they study for the pivotal and punishing Gaokao college entrance exam, which because of the pandemic, the date has been postponed by a month, till July. But at least now they can cram alongside their peers -- John.
VAUSE: Yes. And so many kids, too, in the U.S. have missed their graduation because of the schools being lockdown. That's something they won't get back, which is, you know, a small point, but a sad one, as well. Kristie, thank you.
Kristie Lu Stout for us, live in Hong Kong.
It's taken a global pandemic and horrendous death toll, but New York subway might actually emerge from this crisis clean. It will close for several hours each night for deep cleaning. This is to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
CNN's Bryn Gingras breaks down what is an historic undertaking.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRYN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's an eerie scene underground in New York City's subway system. Platforms and trains are mostly empty, the pandemic slowing the country's largest transit system to a crippling pace.
As New York gears up to slowly reopen, the Metropolitan Transit Authority, or MTA, which runs the system, is strategizing how it will handle an eventual boost in ridership.
ERIK WEINBERGER, COMMUTER: Of course, yes, I think that there's -- there's some fear involved with going back.
GINGRAS: And assure passengers it's safe to return.
It's starting with a never-been-done-before effort of shutting down the 24/7 operation for four hours a night to disinfect every single subway car top to bottom, and every station twice a day.
SARAH FEINBERG, INTERIM PRESIDENT, NYC TRANSIT AUTHORITY: That might not feel like a big deal, but we have almost 500 stations. And we're disinfecting every touch point, every place where a rider might touch a railing. The next step is, as ridership starts to come back, making sure we're keeping up with it.
GINGRAS: Disinfecting is the priority. What comes next isn't yet on paper. The MTA says it's getting ideas from other countries and medical professionals, like how to achieve social distancing. FEINBERG: And the advice we've gotten from them is, be vigilant about
mask use, and give as much space as you can.
ERIC LOEGEL, VICE PRESIDENT, TRANSPORT WORKERS UNION OF AMERICA LOCAL 100: Ideally, in terms of social distancing, you have a poll right here, right, that could be one person. The next person really shouldn't come into play until at least here. And then maybe you have another person over here.
GINGRAS: Eric Loegel drives the trains. He's lost nearly 100 colleagues to COVID-19 in the last two months. Pre-pandemic, he says he'd carry nearly 1,000 passengers on a single train, about 150 people per car.
(on camera): How many people do you think you can fit on a car with social distancing?
LOEGEL: Oh, boy. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine -- maybe, say, less than 30?
GINGRAS (voice-over): The MTA plans to hire new people to man the platforms, direct riders to less crowded subway cars.
Random temperature checks of passengers is being considered, and decals on the platforms is also a possibility.
Since the pandemic started, ridership across all public transit is down more than 90 percent. The MTA estimates it will lose more than $8 billion this year and recently asked for nearly $4 billion in federal aid.
[00:50:09]
FEINBERG: We want ridership to come back, but we know that we have to make people feel safe and secure.
GINGRAS: For Weinberger, he says he'll be back, reluctantly.
WEINBERGER: For me, there really is no other option than taking the subway.
GINGRAS (on camera): It's going to look like a different subway, isn't?
LOEGEL: It's going to be unlike anything we've seen before.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thanks to Brian Gingras for that report from New York.
We'll take a short break. After nearly two months of a harsh lockdown, pizzas back on the menu in Italy, showing a little hope for the beleaguered nation.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:52:18]
VAUSE: Well, the wood-fired ovens are back in business in Naples and in Italy. The birthplace of pizza is back in business. The country is continuing to ease restrictions, allowing restaurants to reopen and offer to-go orders.
CNN's Ben Wedeman got some takeout.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dario (ph) is busy, busier than he's been in more than 50 days. Monday, Italy's nationwide lockdown was eased, and L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele is now back in business, but only for takeaway and home delivery.
"A year ago, the restaurant would be full, and there'd be maybe 20 people waiting outside," Dario (ph) tells me.
It was here that Julia Roberts ate pizza in "Eat, Pray, Love." But, today, she'd have to do her eating outside.
(on camera): This pizzeria opened 150 years ago. In that time, it stayed open during a cholera epidemic and the entire Second World War. It only shut its doors when coronavirus came to town.
(voice-over): Elsewhere in Italy, pizzerias continue to provide home delivery, but the no-nonsense governor of the Campagna region, where Naples is located, wasn't willing to take risks in this relatively poor, crowded city, and ordered all pizzerias to close.
He famously threatened to send police with flame throwers if students gathered for graduation parties.
That, fortunately, never happened. And the outbreak here has been mild.
Now, Napolitani can be reunited with their beloved pizza, which local lore insists was invented here.
Juliano Francesca (ph) got by on homemade pizza during the lockdown, but it just wasn't the same.
"For us Napolitani to go without pizza for this long is almost impossible," says Juliano (ph).
Bruno (ph) is happy to get this pizza again but worries people, especially the young, are letting down their guard.
"Everyone is together," he says. "It's more dangerous now than a month ago as far as I'm concerned. But the pizza is getting cold, so goodbye."
This pizzeria has been in the same family for five generations. Closure came with a cost.
[00:55:05] "It was depressing," says Sergio Conduro (ph). "We have 17 workers, which means 17 families, and then there are producers of tomatoes and flour and mozzarella. Lockdown created pockets of poverty."
Now, some stomachs, and pockets, can be filled again.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Naples.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: With almost all professional sports on hold, postponed or canceled because of the pandemic, diehard fans have had to get a little creative. CNN's Anna Stewart looks at a soccer fan using his talents online and on the streets.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Twelve- year-old Hazem al-Hossain has a budding career in sports commentary.
HAZEM AL-HOSSAIN, AMATEUR SPORTS COMMENTATOR (through translator): I love commentating more than playing. For me, it's my interest.
STEWART: Like many soccer fans around the world, he's missing the game, suspended due to the outbreak of coronavirus.
AL-HOSSAIN (through translator): I don't support anyone team. Any commentator should be neutral.
STEWART: And staying neutral is, of course, critical when you comment on your friends' alleyway matches.
He also does play-by-play for online games at home in Damascus, with his big brother, Mulham.
MULHAM AL-HOSSAIN, HAZEM'S BROTHER (through translator): When I play PlayStation, he always sits next to me and starts commentating on the match. I wish him luck and wish to see him as a famous commentator one day.
STEWART: Hazem has a few followers on his Facebook page.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His videos are very nice, and he has a beautiful voice. We have to remember that he's only 12 years old.
STEWART: Plenty of time to finesse his skills for the big leagues.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. Please stay with us. I'll be back after a very short break with a lot more news. You're watching CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Hello, everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Studio Seven, CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta.
Ahead this hour, life versus livelihoods. The decisions facing governments around the world on when and how quickly to restart their economies. What is the value of a human life?
Blame game. The U.S. ramps up diplomatic pressure on China, enlisting support from foreign allies for a united response to allegations.
END
