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Coronavirus Reaches White House West Wing; Lifestyles May Change until Cure Found; U.K. Prime Minister to Announce Next Phase of Pandemic Response; Spain's Contradictory Restrictions; U.S. Posts Worst Jobs Report in History; Questioning Accuracy of Tests; Two Men Jailed in Death of Jogger; Experts Warned of Pandemic for Years; South Korea Baseball League Returns; Victory in Europe Day. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired May 09, 2020 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The U.S. president presses for workplaces to reopen as his own workplace reports another case of coronavirus. We get the latest from the White House this hour.
And more states are loosening restrictions but cases are on the rise in some parts of the United States.
And empty streets but packed airplanes: CNN's team in Spain finds that social distancing doesn't always translate to travel. We're live in Madrid this hour.
Hello, everyone, we're live from CNN headquarters in Atlanta. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Natalie Allen, CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
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ALLEN: 5:00 am here on the U.S. East Coast. We appreciate you joining us.
The coronavirus is spreading across the United States at an alarming rate. Johns Hopkins University reports almost 1.3 million cases, yet most of the country is moving to lift restrictions.
And one reason, the huge toll this pandemic is taking on the U.S. economy; the government reports now more than 20 million jobs were wiped out in April.
The virus is now inside the Trump White House. Two staffers have tested positive in the past two days. Both the president and vice president are being tested on a daily basis.
The two infected White House staffers had close contact with the president and vice president. And there is growing concern the White House could become a virus hot spot. Our Jim Acosta reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the second straight day, the White House is confirming that a staffer has contracted the coronavirus. This time, a senior official. Vice president Mike Pence's press secretary Katie Miller.
TRUMP: She is a wonderful young woman, Katie, she tested very good for a long period of time, then, all of a sudden, today, she tested positive. She has not come into contact with me.
ACOSTA (voice-over): With the potential that the West Wing has become a hot spot for the virus is now real. Miller is married to one of the president's top aides, speech writer and domestic policy adviser, Stephen Miller.
Word of Katie Miller's test results came one day after the president acknowledge that one of his military valets came up positive, too.
TRUMP: We know who he is, a good person but I've had very little contact. Mike has had very little contact with him.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Yet, the White House seems to be stubbornly avoiding some precautions like masks.
The president greeted World War II veterans on the National Mall without wearing one.
TRUMP: We were very far away, you saw. Plus, the wind was blowing so hard and in such a direction that if the plague ever reached them, I would be very surprised. It could've reached me, too. But you didn't worry about me, you only worried about them and that's OK.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Neither were Republican members of Congress meeting with the president, though one lawmaker noted that they were tested for the virus before the event.
The virus is hitting home at the White House as the president is grappling with a staggering new unemployment rate, 14.7 percent. The highest on record since the Great Depression. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow noted that Wall Street does not seem to be too worried.
LARRY KUDLOW, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: If you had told me that I would go on the air, on a day where we lost 20 million jobs and the stock market would go up 400 points, I would've been very interested.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Another economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, says more devastating numbers are on the way.
KEVIN HASSETT, WHITE HOUSE COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: I'm just want to say how heartbreaking it is to see a report like this. Probably the next number will be higher than this.
ACOSTA: What is the president's plan to get this country out of this ditch? KAYLEIGH MCENANY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN SPOKESPERSON: Yes, you know, this president is the jobs president. This president got us to the lowest unemployment rate in the country.
ACOSTA: What's the plan?
MCENANY: There are a lot of proposals to entertain. I don't want to get ahead of the president.
ACOSTA (voice-over): The administration has another big problem as a federal investigative office found that a top vaccine official, Dr. Rick Bright, may have been retaliated against, raising questions about the White House response to the virus.
Rights lawyers say that they've been informed that the Department of Health and Human Services violated the Whistleblower Protection Act by removing Dr. Bright because he made protected disclosures in the best interest of the American public. The president brushed off the Bright case.
TRUMP: To me, he looks like a disgruntled employee.
ACOSTA (voice-over): But the president is not trying to deny what has become painfully obvious, that the number of dead in the U.S. from the virus will keep climbing, perhaps, by the tens of thousands.
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TRUMP: We may be talking about 95,000 people, ultimately, we may be talking about something more than that.
ACOSTA: As for the vice president's press secretary testing positive for the coronavirus, a senior White House official said other staffers who are in contact with Katie Miller have been tested and, so far, all of those tests have come back negative -- Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.
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ALLEN: After weeks of being confined in their homes and apartments, many Americans, understandably, are eager to get back to their normal routines. And state governments are under enormous pressure to let them do it with limitations.
But California's governor warns how these that do not abide by the state guidelines could lose federal disaster funds. We get the latest from CNN's Athena Jones.
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ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): California may be getting a phased reopening even though it's one of 28 states where new cases are still on the rise.
The first state to issue a stay-at-home order will now allow stores that sell books, clothing and others for curbside pickup. Also manufacturers, construction and car dealerships with proper distancing and sanitation protocols. But some 30 percent of businesses still remain closed.
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GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): I know 70 percent is not 100 percent. And I deeply recognize with modifications means with restrictions. With those restrictions means the struggle for businesses to get back to where they were prepandemic.
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JONES (voice-over): By Sunday, 48 states will have begun lifting restrictions. A new study from the University of Maryland, based on cell phone data, showing more people from surrounding states rushing to Georgia as it began to reopen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're seeing major, major reduction in social distancing. It's almost as if people were staying at home for too long and couldn't wait for it to go up.
JONES (voice-over): As meat plants begin reopening, local officials report Tyson's Waterloo, Iowa, plant has more than 1,000 employees testing positive for the virus.
Next door in Nebraska the governor says they'll stop reporting cases at specific plants unless they have the company's permission and can verify the employment status.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not disclosing that on a company by company basis.
JONES (voice-over): And states continue to grapple with the high toll on nursing homes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just about half of the fatalities in our state are related to long term care facilities.
JONES (voice-over): States that haven't begun to reopen, laying out plans they hope to do so safely.
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): We haven't killed the beast. But we are -- we're ahead of it.
JONES (voice-over): New York mayor Bill de Blasio announcing the city will form a test and trace corps.
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D-NY), NEW YORK CITY: By early June, we'll have 2,500 public health foot soldiers in this corps. So to take an entity that didn't even exist, in the course of just weeks, it will be ramped up to 2,500 people to begin. A big number but a necessary number to be able to build what we need to build. That number will grow.
JONES (voice-over): And there's more evidence of unequal policing of social distancing rules. The Brooklyn district attorney's office confirming 35 out of the 40 people arrested for violating guidelines were black.
Bill de Blasio tweeting that, "The disparity in numbers does not reflect our values. We have to do better and we will."
JONES: In a heartbreaking development, Mt. Sinai Hospital saying two children have died from what it called extremely rare COVID complications, a 5-year-old boy in New York City and a 7-year-old boy in Westchester County.
The boys' deaths come as the state health department is investigating 73 reported cases of children with the virus, who have become ill with inflammatory symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease and toxic shock syndrome -- Athena Jones, CNN, New York.
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ALLEN: Health experts warn relaxing restrictions too early could backfire and cause a resurge. It is a stern message repeated Friday by the World Health Organization.
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DR. MICHAEL RYAN, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: We need to go back to where we should have been months ago, finding cases, tracking cases, testing cases, isolating people who tested positive, doing quarantine for contacts.
We've seen time and time again, in countries that contain this virus and brought it under control without the need for massive lockdowns, have done it through the application of principles, human rights driven, but sometimes quite aggressive public health surveillance.
And I think we sometimes I think this is something we do in society. We sometimes look for the answers where they're not. We need to go back to the basic principles of how we control this disease.
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ALLEN: Let's talk about it with molecular virologist Sterghios Moschos of Northumbria University in England.
Good to see you again.
STERGHIOS MOSCHOS, NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY: Good morning, Natalie..
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ALLEN: What do you make of what the WHO just said?
We need to go back, tracking people, isolating people, testing positive, doing quarantine. Instead, we see so many countries opening without all the processes in place.
MOSCHOS: It goes to further say we should have never stopped or even abandoned the concept of the basic method, which is test, trace and isolate. In fact, they've been saying this from day one, this is the mechanism that works.
So it's looking almost inevitable, with the decisions made worldwide, with the lack of appropriate approaches in place, that we will have a second wave.
ALLEN: Well, in the meantime, before there is a second wave, it's becoming evident that it is more than a respiratory problem. We just saw the report, where two children died in New York. Other aspects, blood clots, strokes, COVID toe, digestive problems.
Are you surprised with the mysteries this virus has revealed?
MOSCHOS: As (INAUDIBLE) probably say this is a wily little fellow. He's got many ways of damaging the body and we're still learning. Reading (INAUDIBLE) who discovered Ebola virus, he actually suffered from it himself and he's recovering from it.
He's concerned specifically on the coronavirus and the long-term impacts on the survivors, are actually quite poignant. The diseases and the manifestations are actually just brushing the surface of the problem.
We have to separate what it does in the beginning, which is basically giving you pneumonia, to what it does afterwards. This afterwards is a complication of the really lack of oxygenation for a prolonged period of time. The fatigue that people feel is because of hypoxia. Their oxygen levels going down and they go into distress mode.
Over a long period this will cause problems to the kidneys, your toes, et cetera. It's not an easy virus to work with.
ALLEN: And also, we've learned that cardiovascular disease, not a lung issue, that is a pre-existing condition that causes most of the deaths.
MOSCHOS: Yes, we've known this for a while now. The Chinese, from the early days, were quite clear that people with cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, diabetes are at a high risk of dying of the coronavirus.
With the elderly, aged which tend to have multiple of these conditions at the same time, their risks compound and grow greater and greater and greater. So it's not surprising that the heart and lungs are intricately related. If you've got one organ not working properly, they're the ones that start straightaway. So it's not surprising that we're having problems.
ALLEN: You know, we've seen video from inside emergency rooms, where teams are trying to save people. And just now this knowledge that this virus is presenting to them makes it all the more, you know, just horrendous what they're up against, to try to save people's lives.
I want to ask you, Sterghios, do those complexities hinder the search for a cure and/or a vaccine?
MOSCHOS: A vaccine should prevent all of these complexities. We've had some news in the last 24 hours of a study, of a very simple vaccine that seems to work with primates. But that doesn't mean it will work with humans.
Again, it's not the first report that a vaccine seems to be working. We can all hope and thank the scientists that are working day in and day out to try and solve the problems. Treatments, yes, it's very different because treatments can target specific things.
If we can stop the infection from taking hold, that's a different story, but if you have the infection and it's causing all these complications, you really need to monitor the patient for which complication will show and try to mitigate them without causing damage elsewhere, which is always the problem with medicine and why people always say, no, we you need to protect yourself in the first place. You need to prevent transmission from happening. And we need to be sober about it. It may never happen.
ALLEN: We thank you for your expertise. And we hope for the best, of course, for everyone in this pandemic.
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ALLEN: Sterghios Moschos, we appreciate it so much. Thank you.
MOSCHOS: You're very welcome.
ALLEN: Europe is a living example of how leadership and sheer luck can lead to different outcomes in the pandemic. We'll get a sense of how the strategies are, coming up in the U.K. Also --
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SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are on the plane. We've got our goggles on and our masks because there is not a lot of social distancing going on.
ALLEN (voice-over): Mixed messages in Spain over pandemic dos and don'ts, as the country prepares for the next round of eased restrictions. We'll go live to Madrid. Much more ahead here. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
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ALLEN: British prime minister Boris Johnson is expected to speak Sunday about the next step to deal with the pandemic, he, of course, as he recovers from the coronavirus. The U.K. is reporting the most coronavirus deaths in Europe.
Boris Johnson said he will outline which restrictions the government is going to lift. But some ministers are trying to tamp down expectations. For more what we may expect, CNN's Hadas Gold is live for us in London. [05:20:00]
ALLEN: Good morning, Hadas.
HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Natalie. We are expecting Boris Johnson to give that address, tomorrow evening, 7:00 pm local time. As you noted, ministers are trying to tamp down expectations that this is somehow an announcement that the U.K. is reopening. Thursday there was a flurry of headlines and cover pages claiming that Monday was the day that the lockdowns would be eased. But that doesn't seem to be necessarily the case.
What we're seeing in reports so far is tomorrow's announcement will be piecemeal and very slow reopening. Things like gardening centers might be opening. People might be allowed to go out more than once a day for exercise. We might hear guidance on face masks and whether or not the government does recommend wearing face masks.
We're not expecting a sort of requirement for face masks. But it's possible they may make a comment on that.
One of the biggest change is we see reports that the U.K. is considering requiring people entering the United Kingdom to self- isolate and quarantine for 14 days. Something that has not been a requirement until now.
This will be a new change and something that the U.K. airline associations are worrying because their industry has been hurt and this would only further discourage people from traveling to United Kingdom.
But if people are hoping tomorrow's address would be the beginning of the end to the lockdown in a meaningful way, as of now, it seems to be a very slow process out of the lockdown, Natalie.
ALLEN: Hadas, we'll wait for Sunday.
Most of Spain will take a step towards easing its strict lockdown. The health minister says half the country is clear to enter the next phase of reopening on Monday. But the most popular cities of Barcelona and Madrid will have to wait longer. Scott McLean joins me from Madrid.
Good morning, Scott.
MCLEAN: Good morning, Natalie, the lucid restrictions apply for half of the country, but Madrid, Barcelona, as well as large swaths of the country are stuck in stay-at-home orders that still apply. That's because they're not satisfied the number of new cases.
And also not satisfied with the ability to track new cases nor with the hospital systems' ability to deal with a second wave of cases.
For the rest of the country, as Spain starts to ease its restrictions, well, a lot of people, well, they might get lost in the maze of restrictions. On a recent trip to one of Spain's islands, we found that the rules, at least when it comes to travel, are plainly contradictory.
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MCLEAN: There's less than 300 miles between Madrid and the Formentera Island but in the age of coronavirus, it took our crew two flights, a ferry and a lot of bureaucracy to get there.
LAURA PEREZ MAESTRO, CNN PRODUCER: These are CNN authorization forms that we've got to be able to take this flight.
MCLEAN (voice-over): It asked if we had any coronavirus symptoms. Amidst the worst outbreak in one of the strictest lockdowns in Europe, walking alone at the wrong time of day will surely get you fined. Yet cramming yourself onto a hot airplane next to strangers is still perfectly OK.
So we are on the plane. We have our goggles on, we have our masks because there is not a lot of social distancing going on.
The real crime, we found out, was documenting it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Spanish).
MCLEAN (voice-over): After we landed, a flight attendant gave my producer, Laura, and I a choice, to leave the videos or he would call the police.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Spanish).
MCLEAN (voice-over): Sure enough, a uniformed Spanish civil guard officer was waiting for us on the tarmac. A major airline lobby, the IATA, says there is little evidence of COVID-19 spreading on aircraft, though there is also very little research.
The airline, Air Europa, said there are no regulations applicable to all airlines that require flying with capacity reductions. That is true. Spanish transport ministry told us that it merely encourages airlines to ensure the maximum possible separation between passengers, failing that, everyone else must wear a mask.
On a ferry trip to the island, the paperwork was the same, the rest could not have been more different.
MAESTRO: We have just been told that we have to go to the main port again to get some kind of test.
MCLEAN: Me and the team (sic) just got the coronavirus test, it was just a finger prick and they drew a bit of blood.
Moments later, the results.
Negative. Perfect, thank you.
As Spain slowly moves towards the new normal, the rules seem wildly inconsistent.
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MCLEAN (voice-over): For now, it seems like safety first on the streets and on the water and a much different experience in the sky.
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MCLEAN: So in places that are reopening come Monday, stores, churches and restaurant terraces will be allowed to open in limited capacity. Even gatherings of 10 people or less will be permitted.
And there will be special times set aside for senior citizens to go and shop. If you're in area stuck in phase zero, if you're thinking I wouldn't mind going for a drink on a phase one terrace, think again. Travel is still not allowed, regardless of what phase you're in -- Natalie.
ALLEN: What a report on air travel, which we know will be severely impacted for years because of this pandemic. Thank you for that report, Scott McLean for us in Madrid.
So how effective are coronavirus tests?
That's what experts are asking. Coming up our own Dr. Sanjay Gupta will tell you about that.
And people around the world pay tribute to a jogger, a black man, gunned down in Georgia. More on that and the latest developments in a very disturbing case, coming up.
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ALLEN: Welcome back to our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world. I'm Natalie Allen. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Atlanta.
U.S. president Donald Trump is touting the inherent strength of the economy just as the latest report from the Labor Department shows pain not seen since the Great Depression. It says more than 20 million Americans lost their jobs last month.
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ALLEN: But Mr. Trump said he expected those figures and he has no doubt things will bounce back.
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TRUMP: We had the strongest economy in the history of the world, the strongest economy we've ever had, and we had to close it, which is artificial.
We artificially closed it. Those jobs will all be back, and they'll be back very soon. And next year, we're going to have a phenomenal year. People are ready to go.
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ALLEN: That rosy outlook does little for millions of Americans who now find themselves in dire need. And for the newly unemployed, getting food on the table can be a challenge. Our Kyung Lah shows us the impact on families who, just weeks ago, were prosperous.
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ARMAN SARIAN, SMALL BUSINESS OWNER: It is hard, emotionally, financially, everything. Our life has changed 180 degrees.
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): And it happened overnight.
SARIAN: Overnight. It happened overnight.
LAH (voice-over): Arman Sarian tells a story you hear again and again at food banks across today's America. He pulled up for free food in his BMW, until coronavirus hit his Los Angeles printing shop more than supported his family of four. (on camera): Are you scared?
SARIAN: Yes, but as a household of the family, I don't show it. I have two teenagers to raise up. We have to keep up the good spirit, but we're all scared.
LAH (voice-over): The lines of the needy and the numbers of unemployed all harken back to the darkest time in America's economy, the Great Depression. Like then, this downturn touches millions upon millions. Entire industries halted, like air travel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I miss you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I miss you.
LAH: Cruise ships, tourism and theme parks and retail and restaurants. From Las Vegas to main streets across the country, gutting jobs.
PROF. LARRY HARRIS, USC MARSHALL SCHOOL OF BUSINESS: Think about five fingers, 20 percent is one of the five. One out of five people in the United States who wants to be working is no longer working. And that's jaw dropping.
LAH: But there is a difference with today's economy.
HARRIS: We know exactly what's causing the job loss. At the -- in the Great Depression, people understood there wasn't enough money but they didn't really understand why.
LAH: A vaccine, a medical breakthrough, could help put this father back to work.
(on camera): Have you ever had to do anything like this before?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, it's first time for me. LAH (voice-over): He's a writer and actor in Hollywood. An estimated 750,000 jobs in California have been impacted as the entertainment industry suddenly stopped. Driving up with his son, he said he wanted to talk in support of the L.A. regional food bank, but only if we didn't use his name.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's difficult for a lot of us to try and provide for our families and, you know, still maintain some dignity and so on. You know, once you realize you're not going back to work for a while, it's pretty heartbreaking.
LAH: Kyung Lah, CNN, Glendale, California.
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ALLEN: Since the start of the coronavirus, testing has been a problem. One of the issues now, even if tests are available, they may not always be accurate. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains.
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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If you've heard anything lately about tests, it's that we haven't performed enough of them in the United States.
MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH AND POLICY: Today, everyone is so focused on getting tested, they miss the point that a bad test is worse than no test.
GUPTA: And that may be another more fundamental problem. Just how good are the tests in the first place?
OSTERHOLM: The FDA basically has created a Wild, Wild West environment for this testing where under their approval process on an emergency basis, they've let tests on the market that basically have a very, very wide range of results.
GUPTA: Michael Osterholm is director for the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy in Minnesota.
OSTERHOLM: The quality of these tests right vary a great deal. And that's the challenge in terms of understanding, if you get a negative result, is it really negative?
GUPTA: A molecular diagnostic test can determine if you have actual virus inside of you, by drawing a sample from your nasal pharynx, or from your saliva by spitting into a vile like I did and then testing it for genetic traces of the virus. How well the test can find those genetic markers is known as
sensitivity. If a test has poor sensitivity, it will result if too many false negative results. That means too many people testing negative for the virus when they are actually infected.
DR. GARY PROCOP, DIRECTOR OF MYCOLOGY AND PARASITOLOGY, CLEVELAND CLINIC: We undertook a study where we looked at over 200 specimens and tested them by all five methods and there are differences between these tests.
GUPTA: Dr. Gary Procop is head of virology at the Cleveland Clinic. He and his team found three tests that have sensitive over 95 percent, the ones from the CDC, Cepheid and Roche.
[05:35:00]
GUPTA (voice-over): Meaning they caught nearly all but 5 percent of cases.
But the now highly touted Abbott ID Now test which can give results in minutes missed up to 15 percent of infected patients. Another study found that it potentially missed 25 percent of infections. And that's a concern because despite their negative test results, those people are actually infected and can still spread the virus.
PROCOP: You would never want to use that test to screen somebody in the hospital, to put them into a COVID negative unit, because in that case, you can't afford to make a mistake.
GUPTA: In a statement, Abbott said that the type of viral transport media, the chemical used to carry the virus sample, could be diluting samples. We immediately communicated with our customers that they should use the direct swab method.
The findings of Procop study are still yet to be peer-reviewed.
PROCOP: Just because we need something put out emergently doesn't mean we should put out things that don't work effectively.
GUPTA: When asked if accuracy was sacrificed at the expense of speed, an FDA spokesperson told CNN FDA oversight doesn't end with an EAU or emergency use authorization. We will continue to track these tests and take action if required.
Obviously, testing is important, we've been talking about that for a long time. But not getting the infection is still the ultimate goal. So you want to do everything you can to protect yourself. We know in the White House now, they're getting tested every day. That may in fact be too many tests. Every day may be too frequently.
But actually doing everything to slow down the spread within the White House, people wearing masks, coming up, I think that's something that we're going to have to see.
Now with regard to the tests themselves, there's a lot of people in the public health community that say the FDA needs to be making sure these tests are accurate, that they're validated. A bad test can be worse than no test at all.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: Sanjay Gupta for us there.
Legendary Las Vegas performer Roy Horn has died. He was 85. He had coronavirus. Horn was part of the Siegfried & Roy magic act, which featured wild animal illusions. It ended in 2003 when a tiger attacked Horn during a show, horrifying the audience. He survived but never fully recovered. His partner called Horn one of the greats of magic.
Two white men accused of killing a black jogger appeared in a South Georgia court Friday; 64-year-old Gregory McMichael and his 34-year- old son, Travis, are being charged with murder and aggravated assault. And it's possible there could be another arrest.
Martin Savidge has the update on the case that is being watched around the world.
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MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Gregory and Travis McMichael, the father and son arrested in the death of Ahmaud Arbery, had their first appearance in court today done by video link from the county jail. It was a pretty simple affair.
Their rights were read to them, the charges were also read against them. And it was also said that there was no bond at this particular time. They were done individually and each one took less than two minutes. And they really didn't have anything to say other than to acknowledge when their names were called.
Outside of that very same courthouse earlier in the day had been a huge protest. In fact, one of the largest that has taken place in this tragedy. Many of the attempts to try to have protests before had, of course, been limited due to the pandemic and the limitations put on crowd gatherings.
But today there were hundreds of people and it was a very mixed crowd that represented the diverse nature of the Brunswick community. This had been planned before the arrests and no one was saying that this was the time to celebrate. In fact, they said this is just the first step.
And there is still a great deal of frustration. Many are still deeply troubled by the fact that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation can come in and, in less than two days of looking at the evidence, determine that an arrest is warranted on the charge of murder; whereas the local authorities spent over two months investigating and did nothing.
There is also a frustration about the potential for a third person that may have been involved and whether or not they will be brought to justice. That person is William Bryant. He is the person taking the video. Interestingly enough the fact that, of course, without that video, many people believe we wouldn't be where we are today with the arrest.
But at the same time in police reports, he has been depicted as either a witness or a participant. And so it was asked of the GBI what is his status, could he be arrested.
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SAVIDGE (voice-over): The head of the GBI said at this time their investigation continues and there is the possibility of more arrests -- Martin Savidge, CNN, Glynn County, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: Well, Ahmaud Arbery was honored all over the world Friday, which would have been his 26th birthday. People ran 2.23 miles to symbolize the day he was killed, February 23rd.
They documented their runs and then posted to social media, using #IRunWithMaud, his nickname. His high school football coach organized the event. He posted his own message Friday.
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JASON VAUGHN, AHMAUD'S HIGH SCHOOL COACH: Maud, I'm standing in the same spot the last time I seen you take a run. I will not get tired until we get justice, until your family finds peace. I want you to know this morning, Maud, that you got a whole community behind you. #IRunWithMaud."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: Next here, they saw a pandemic coming but were they warning seriously enough to properly prepare? What experts say should have happened and what still needs to be done.
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ALLEN: The coronavirus pandemic seems to have caught much of the world off guard, especially here in the United States. But health experts have been sounding the alarm for years about the need to be prepared for such a possibility. And they're still not convinced the message is getting through. Our Brian Todd reports.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The prediction was daunting, quote, "This is a critical point in history.
[05:45:00]
TODD (voice-over): "Time is running out to prepare for the next pandemic. We must act now with decisiveness and purpose."
That was in 2005 and the author was Dr. Michael Osterholm, one of America's top epidemiologists, who issued those warnings in an article in "Foreign Affairs" magazine.
DR. MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, EPIDEMIOLOGIST: I think everyone has ignored them. The media ignored them. The government ignored them. The private sector has ignored them. They just didn't believe that an infectious agent could do to us what this one is doing. TODD (voice-over): Dr. Osterholm wasn't alone, listen to what Dr. Larry Brilliant, another preeminent expert on diseases, said in a TED talk in 2006 about what a similar pandemic could do.
DR. LARRY BRILLIANT, EPIDEMIOLOGIST: The world as we know it will stop. There will be no airplanes flying.
Would you get in an airplane with 250 people you didn't know, coughing and sneezing, when you knew that some of them might carry a disease that could kill you?
TODD (voice-over): Dr. Brilliant painted such a vivid picture of the danger he was tapped as a consultant for the 2011 thriller, "Contagion."
Brilliant and Osterholm both say that, at that time and for a few years, America was better prepared than it was for this coronavirus pandemic.
What happened?
BRILLIANT: I think we dropped the ball in forgetting about science. Anyone who looked at that cadence, those outbreaks coming, would never have reduced our pandemic preparedness the way we have done in the United States.
TODD (voice-over): Other crises in America seemed to take priority. But for years, the warnings kept coming from America's top scientific minds, warnings chronicled in a recent "Vanity Fair" article.
In 2015, Microsoft founder Bill Gates wrote in "The New York Times," our preparedness for the pandemic was like "taking a knife to a bazooka fight. We know the cost of failing to act."
This past January, as the threat was barely registering in the U.S., infectious disease expert Luciana Borio wrote in "The Wall Street Journal," if public health authorities don't interrupt the spread soon, the virus could infect many thousands more around the globe."
DR. LUCIANA BORIO, NSC MEDICAL AND BIODEFENSE PREPAREDNESS: It was thought that a pandemic was inevitable at the point but that there were steps we take to contain it if we took measures early.
TODD (voice-over): It didn't happen. And Osterholm says he's still in the same position, now worried that Americans and their leaders are not taking the next stages of coronavirus seriously enough.
OSTERHOLM: Many people think all we have to do is get over this hump right now going into the summer and this pandemic is gone. We're in the earliest stage of this pandemic.
TODD (voice-over): Larry Brilliant worries about how we'll handle the vaccine when it arrives.
BRILLIANT: I worry that when we get that vaccination program, it won't go fast enough, there won't be enough funding for it. It will last many, many years and the virus will have a chance to hide someplace and then ping pong back into New York or Chicago.
TODD: Dr. Brilliant and Dr. Osterholm and others also worry how America's leadership will handle future pandemics and the rest of this one. Osterholm believes it's time for something like Franklin Roosevelt's fireside chat during the Depression in World War II, a leader with consistent, unvarnished, clear guidance for the nation, telling us exactly what it's going to take to get through the next 12 to 18 months of this pandemic -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
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ALLEN: A sobering report to be sure.
Next, here, baseball is locked down due to the pandemic but fans are getting their fix from overseas. Next, Korean baseball scoring big in the U.S.
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[05:50:00]
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ALLEN: Baseball's opening day in North America was supposed to be 44 days ago but the season, of course, now going through a lengthy pandemic delay. But baseball is being played elsewhere. In Taiwan, it's even allowing fans inside stadiums to watch professional games.
Some 1,000 fans were allowed in a game in New Taipei as it began relaxing quarantine measures. Fans had to wear face masks and sit in seats that kept them apart based on social distancing guidelines. And even more bad news, fans, of course, can't eat hot dogs or drink a beer because concession stands are closed.
Fans are not allowed in stadiums in South Korea but, as Don Riddell reports, it's not stopping those from watching and providing some relief for those quarantined in the U.S.
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DON RIDDELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It may be America's pastime but with Major League Baseball still on hold, U.S. fans of the sport are tuning in to the start of the new KBO season in Korea.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would say it is best summed up as being really joyful. It's a ton of fun.
There's dancing, there singing, there's cheerleaders, cheermasters, it is a very raucous party atmosphere.
RIDDELL (voice-over): Unfortunately, Korean baseball lost much lot of its razzmatazz because of the coronavirus. There aren't any fans right now. But the hype is real. So much so, sports channel ESPN struck a deal to broadcast the games live, back in America. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it's gone, home run.
RIDDELL (voice-over): Korean baseball has become known for its culture of bat flipping, considered taboo in Major League Baseball.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In Korea it's just normal. There is no retribution, it's just a thing that happens and it's fun and they're happy and everyone continues on with their business.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a flip.
There is our first bat flip.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I suspect that the Korean players, they know it's taboo in the U.S. and a part of me wonders if they are aware it's being broadcast here, which is tremendously exciting to them and they're trying consciously to not do it, knowing that we are looking for it. I hope that's not the case because it is so fun when it actually happens.
RIDDELL (voice-over): Bat flips or not, enjoy Korean baseball while you can, because right, now there is no other sports to flip the channel for anyway -- Don Riddell, CNN.
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Friday was Victory Day. The 75th anniversary of World War II.
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ALLEN: The Red Arrows display team in London. Two minutes of silence. And Queen Elizabeth went on television. She compared British resolve in the Second World War to how the country is fighting the coronavirus.
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ELIZABETH II, QUEEN OF ENGLAND: Today may seem hard that we can't mark the special anniversary as we would wish. Instead, we remember from our homes and our doorsteps.
But our streets are not empty. They are filled with the love and the care that we have for each other.
And when I look at our country today and see what we're willing to do to protect and support one another, I say with pride that we are still a nation those brave soldiers, sailors and airmen would recognize and admire.
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ALLEN: God save the Queen. "Our streets are not empty." They are filled with love. Nice words to hear.
Finally, this hour, it is being called a Hobbitathon, after Andy Serkis who played the character Gollem in "The Hobbit," is reading the entire look by J.R.R. Tolkien online for charity. Take a listen.
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ANDY SERKIS, ACTOR: "The entrance to the path was like a sort of arch leading to a gloomy tunnel made by two great trees that leant together, too old and strangled with ivy and hung with lichen to bear more than a few blackened leaves."
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ALLEN: The goal is to reach over $300,000 to donate to help health care workers in the U.K. It's expected to take him 12 hours to finish the book. He said he'll only stop the story for bathroom breaks.
Yet another clever idea to help out the world. Thank you so much for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Natalie Allen. "NEW DAY" is just ahead.
