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British PM Boris Johnson Delivers Address On COVID-19 Restrictions; White House Officials: A Fourth Economic Stimulus Package "Premature;" Hassett Says, Working In White House Can Be Risky During Coronavirus Pandemic; Eighty-Five Children Infected With Illness Potentially Linked To Coronavirus; Official Calls For Federal Probe Of Ahmaud Abery's Murder. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired May 10, 2020 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST: Thanks to all of you for being part of this "GPS" special. I will see you next week and every week at 10:00 a.m. Eastern on Sundays right here on CNN.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me and Happy Mother's Day.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin with the world attempting to get back to normal in the midst of a coronavirus health crisis. Moments from now British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will address the U.K. It's expected that he will discuss easing restrictions somewhat. His nation has been one of the hardest hit by the coronavirus. He himself survived the disease.

We'll bring you his comments once they begin.

But as nations try to get back to normal the coronavirus pandemic is far from over. Right now there are more than four million confirmed cases globally and over 280,000 deaths. And those numbers are only expected to rise.

One of the key models used by the White House now projects 137,000 U.S. deaths by August. That's 3,000 more deaths than the previous projection. The revised number due to what researchers call, I'm quoting now, "an explosive increase in mobility," end quote, among Americans in states that have reopened.

Meanwhile several of the top U.S. medical officials may have been exposed to the virus. Dr. Anthony Fauci, CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield and FDA commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn are all going under quarantine after coming into contact with White House staffers who recently tested positive for coronavirus.

All right. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is speaking right now about his country's response to the coronavirus.

Let's listen in.

[INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT]

BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: It is now almost two months since the people of this country began to put up with restrictions on their freedom, your freedom, of a kind that we have never seen before in peace or war. And you have shown the good sense to support those rules overwhelmingly.

You've put up with all the hardships of that program of social distancing because you understand that as things stand and as the experience of every other country has shown, it's the only way to defeat the coronavirus -- the most vicious threat this country has faced in my lifetime.

And though the death toll has been tragic and the suffering immense, and though we grieve for all those we have lost, it is a fact that by adopting those measures we prevented this country from being engulfed by what could have been a catastrophe in which the reasonable worst case scenario was half a million fatalities.

And it's thanks to your effort and sacrifice in stopping the spread of this disease that the death rate is coming down and hospital admissions are coming down. And thanks to you we protected our NHS and saved many thousands of lives.

So I know, you know that it would be madness now to throw away that achievement by allowing a second spike. We must stay alert. We must continue to control the virus and save lives.

And yet we must also recognize that this campaign against the virus has come at colossal cost to our pay of life. We can see it all around us, in the shuttered shops and abandoned businesses and darkened pubs and restaurants. And there are millions of people who are both fearful of this terrible disease and at the same time also fearful of what this long period of enforced inactivity will do to their livelihoods and their mental and physical well-being, to their futures, and the futures of their children.

So I want to provide tonight for you the shape of a plan to address both fears. Both to beat the virus and provide the first sketch of a road map for reopening society. A sensible way ahead, and when and how and on what basis you will take the decisions to proceed.

I'll be sending out more details in parliament tomorrow and taking questions from the public in the evening.

[14:04:38]

JOHNSON: I consulted across the political spectrum, across all four nations U.K. and though different parts of the country are experiencing the pandemic at different rates and though it is right to be flexible in our response, I believe that as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland there is a strong resolve to defeat this together.

And today a general consensus on what we could do -- and I stress could because although we have a plan, it is a conditional plan. And since our priority is to protect the public and save lives, we cannot move forward unless we satisfy the five tests.

We must protect our NHS. We must see sustained falls in the death rate. We must see sustained and considerable falls in the rate of infection. We must sort out our challenges in getting enough PPE to the people who need it. And yes, it's a global problem but we must fix it.

And last, we must make sure that any measures we take do not force the reproduction rate of the disease, the R back up over 1 so that we have the kind of exponential growth we were facing a few weeks ago.

And to chart our progress, and to avoid going back to square one, we're establishing a new COVID alert system run by a new joint biosecurity center. And that COVID alert level will be determined primarily by R and the number of coronavirus cases and in turn that COVID alert level will tell us how tough we have to be in our social distancing measures. The lower the level, the fewer the measures. The higher the level, the tougher and stricter we will have to be.

There will be five alert levels. Level one means the disease is no longer present in the U.K. And level five is the most critical, the kind of situation we could have had if the NHS had been overwhelmed.

Over the period of the lockdown we've been in level four. And it's thanks to your sacrifice we're now in a position to begin to move in steps to level three. And as we go, everyone will have a role to play in keeping the R down. By staying alert and following the rules.

And to keep pushing the number of infections down, there are two more things we must do. We must reverse rapidly the awful epidemics in care homes and in the NHS. And though the numbers are coming down sharply now, there is plainly much more to be done.

And if we're to control this virus, we must have a world beating system for testing potential victims and for tracing their contacts. So that all told, we're testing literally hundreds of thousands of people every day.

We've made fast progress on testing, but there is so much more to do now and we can. When this began we hadn't seen this disease before, and we didn't fully understand its effects. With every day we're getting more and more data. We're shining the light of science on this invisible killer. And we will pick it up where it strikes because our new system will be able in time to detect local flare-ups in your area as well as giving us a national picture.

And yet when I look at where we are tonight, we have the R below one, between 0.5 and 0.9 but potentially only just below one. And though we have made progress in satisfying at least some of the conditions I have given, we have by no means fulfilled all of them.

And so, no. This is not the time simply to end the lockdown this week. Instead, we're taking the first careful steps to modify our measures. And the first step is a change of emphasis that we hope that people will act on this week. We said that you should work from home if you can and only go to work if you must. We now need to stress that anyone who can't work from home, for instance those in construction or manufacturing, should be actively encouraged to go to work. And we want it to be safe for you to get to work.

[14:09:43]

JOHNSON: So you should avoid public transport if at all possible because we must and will maintain social distancing and capacity will, therefore, be limited. So work from home if you can, but you should go to work if you can't work from home.

And to ensure you are safe at work we've been working to establish new guidance for employers to make workplaces COVID secure. and when you do go to work, if possible, do so by car or even better by walking or bicycle. But just as we have workplaces, public transport operators will also be following COVID-secure standards.

And from this Wednesday, we want to encourage people to take more and even unlimited amounts of outdoor exercise. You can sit in the sun in your local park. You can drive to other destinations. You can even play sports, only with members of your own household.

You must obey the rules on social distancing. And to enforce those rules we will increase the fines for the small minority who break them. And so every day with ever-increasing data we will be monitoring the R and the number of new infections, and the progress we are making.

And if we as a nation begin to fulfill the conditions I have set out, then in the next few weeks and months, we may be able to go further.

In step two, the earliest by June the 1st, after half term, we believe we may be in position to begin the phased reopening of shops and to get primary pupils back into schools, in stages beginning with Reception Year One and Year Six.

ambition is that secondary pupils facing exams next year will get at least some time with their teachers before the holidays. We'll shortly be setting out detailed guidance on how to make it work in schools, in shops and on transport.

And step three, the earliest by July and subject to all of these conditions, and further scientific advice, if and only if the numbers support it, we will hope to reopen at least some of the hospitality industry and other public places, provided they're safe and enforce social distancing.

Throughout this period of the next two months, we will be driven not by mere hope or economic necessity. We're going to be driven by the science, the data and public health. And I must stress again that all of this is conditional. It all depends on a series of big ifs. It depends on all of us, the entire country, to follow the advice, to observe social distancing and to keep that R down. And to prevent reinfection from abroad I am serving notice that it will soon be the time with transmissions significantly lower to impose quarantine on people coming into this country by air. And it's because of your efforts to get the R down and the number of infections down here that this measure will now be effective.

And, of course, we'll be monitoring our progress -- locally, regionally and nationally. And if there are outbreaks, if there are problems we will not hesitate to put on the brakes. We've been through the initial peak, but it's coming down the mountain that is often more dangerous.

We have a route and we have a plan and everyone in government has the all-consuming pressure and challenge to save lives, restore livelihoods and gradually restore the freedoms that we need.

But in the end this is a time that everyone must make work and when I look at what you've done already -- the patience and common sense you've shown, the fortitude of the elderly whose isolation we all want to end as fast as we can, the incredible bravery and hard work of our NHS staff, our care workers, the devotion and self-sacrifice of all those in every walk of life who are helping us to beat this disease -- police, bus drivers, train drivers, pharmacies, supermarket workers, road (INAUDIBLE), bin collectors, cleaners, security guards, postal workers, our teachers and a thousand more.

The scientists who are working around the clock to find a vaccine. When I think of the millions of everyday acts of kindness and thoughtfulness that are being performed across this country and that have helped to get us through this first phase, I know that we can use this plan to get us through the next.

[14:14:48]

JOHNSON: And if we can't do it by those dates, and if the alert level won't allow it, we will simply wait and go on until we've got it right. We will come back from this devilish illness. We will come back to help and robust help.

And though the U.K. will be changed by this experience, I believe we can be stronger and better than ever before -- more resilient, more innovative, more economically dynamic, but also more generous and more sharing.

But for now, we will stay alert, control the virus and save lives.

Thank you very much.

[END OF LIVE EVENT]

WHITFIELD: An impassioned plea coming from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson there. Pleading for people to be patient and have common sense. He says the U.K. is not ready to end its lockdown this week but he does spell out a conditional plan.

With me now, CNN's Max Foster who's outside 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister's headquarters. CNN international anchor Bianca Nobilo, and CNN global economic analyst Rana Foroohar. She's also a global business columnist and associate editor at "The Financial Times". Good to see all of you.

Max -- to you first, this conditional plan that Boris Johnson spelled this out. And he said much of it predicated on a lowering of deaths and infections.

MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Yes. What he's looking at and he's very focused on, is this infection rate and whether or not it's going up or down. So what he's done is created this alert system.

If the infection rate increases then he will lock down further. If it stays low we could potentially see schools starting to reopen next month, and shops and potentially hospitality as well in July.

But he's very, very focused on the fear of a second spike trying to balance that with opening up the economy and allowing people to get back to normal.

Still though, Fredricka, some mixed messaging here. He's come under a huge amount of criticism about the sort of language he's using. You'll notice, he's got rid of this language stay-at-home, which was his slogan as being seen as very successful. He's replaced it with stay alert to control the virus and save lives which doesn't make sense to a lot of people. Not immediately, anyway.

And it certainly caused some conflict within the union as well. Because you know that Scotland and Wales are keeping the stay-at-home messaging. whilst he's saying that they're working very well together, it's pretty clear behind the scenes that England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland aren't necessarily working as well as seems to be the case.

They feel, Nicola Sturgeon of Scotland -- she could say about how she doesn't feel necessarily involved in the process as much as she should be involved.

We've also got him saying -- Boris Johnson, if you work in manufacturing, if you work in construction, you should try to get back to work if you can. But that's millions of people. At the same time, he's saying you can go out as much as you like as well for exercise, go sunbathing if you want as well.

So in effect, you're going to see something that looks like lockdown hasn't been lifted but he's telling people to stay at home. I think that creates some confused optics for the British nation. It will be very interesting to see how it plays out.

WHITFIELD: Right. So Bianca -- yes, there was some confusion there. He says, you know, you've got to do the right thing. If you can work from home, do so. If you can't, you know, make your way to work but don't use public transportation. Do get some exercise, be outside, respect social distancing. But he also comes from a very personal point of view with his own, you know, bout with coronavirus even though he didn't make, you know, great reference to it.

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, he has. And there's been a very tumultuous public (INAUDIBLE) school, the government for the Prime Minister. The entire government response has been plagued by confused optics and mixed messaging.

And today that seems even more pronounced. This entire week, Fredricka -- there's been great expectations that lockdown might be significantly lifted when the Prime Minister was to make this address today. In fact, many newspapers in Britain led on that very concept. But that seemed to be watered down and the government led with the language of extreme caution throughout the week.

And now, as Max said we have this revised messaging to stay alert. Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister of Scotland called that vague and imprecise and Max alluded to the fraying of the union, potentially on this matter. And Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland are going to continue with their lockdowns as-is, even if England was to do something else. So that may also be weigh on the Prime Minister's mind and how he addresses these next steps of revising the lockdown. He doesn't want to be out of step wit the other parts of the union.

But the key message coming from him today was conditionality. And you mentioned the experience, his own (INAUDIBLE) -- the suffering that he's been enduring with coronavirus. He did sound like a man much changed when we heard from him after he'd been discharged from the hospital. Obviously you don't go through that without being changed by the process.

[14:19:54]

NOBILO: So the Prime Minister is now saying that all of these measures that he tentatively outlined do depend on keeping that infection rate really low. A sustained fall in deaths in hospitals, that all health service in Britain remains at capacity, that there is sufficient PPE. All these things are so important because any of them being out of whack could risk that second peak.

He also announced that even though there will be some relaxations in the lockdown in Britain, little ones, that the fines for violating the lockdown would be increased. So that's obviously an incentive there for people to obey this messaging.

But I think it is fair to say I've asked several people today exactly what "stay alert" means to them and how they'll interpret it and the answers have been completely different. So without question, there is some confusion over the message.

WHITFIELD: Ok. And Rana -- you know, this is a national plan. It's a conditional plan, but the Prime Minister was conveying that, you know, the conditions are not set just yet to try to resume to some normalcy especially not this week. And while he was very, you know, candid about that, do you see that while there is some clarity at least on not lifting the lockdown, that in some way that might impact kind of the forecast economically at least for Great Britain?

RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: Yes. It's interesting because the fortunes of Great Britain, like every country, are connected with the rest of the world. And what I heard the Prime Minister doing is hedging his bets a little bit. He's saying, look, we have a tentative plan. We understand that there are trade-offs to be made between public health and the economy and keeping both of those things in balance but that we don't know the perfect formula yet.

And it's interesting because when you look at other countries in Europe, for example, there is no perfect formula. So Germany, for example, had some strict lockdowns. They had really strong investment in public health over the last few years which helped them to have better public health outcomes.

Now that they're loosening their restrictions and allowing more mobility, they're seeing that R rate start to go back up. So it's a very delicate balance. And what I heard the Prime Minister saying is look, we are ready to put the brakes on if we see that the balance is not right.

Another lesson you can take from Europe. You look at a country like Sweden which had no lockdown. They said it's going to be too tough for the economy to handle this. We're going to let people move around but they may not end up doing as well economically as they thought because they're export dependent.

We are living in a global economy. And so controlling what happens in one country is only one piece of that puzzle. I think we're about to see all of these interactions playing out.

WHITFIELD: And, Max -- something very interesting in the graphics that he was using, you know, taking a page perhaps from the New York Governor Andrew Cuomo who's been using graphics. But seeing from the Prime Minister, he, by use of a graphic, making reference to levels -- very similar to how many nations treated threat levels. National, you know, terrorism threat levels. He was using these levels to talk about now a health threat, you know, that is a global threat.

FOSTER: He is. And it's interesting because earlier in the week he was being accused of not handling the crisis particularly well, because the death rate in the U.K. is now highest in Europe, and the second highest in the world. He batted that back saying these sort of international comparisons just aren't helpful because we need more data to really make sense of these comparisons. But every day actually at the Downing Street briefings here in Number 10, they've been using graphs, comparing the U.K. death rate to other countries.

So again, back to what Bianca was saying, lots of mixed messaging, can't quite keep up with it which is very damaging because you have to trust your government and what they're saying in order to follow their advice. So behind the scenes there's concern. We talked about the concern in the nations. There's also the concern within the cabinet that they haven't been fully involved in the decisions. Most of the decisions here apparently and seemingly being taken outside the cabinet in Boris Johnson's very tight circle.

So some concerns about democracy here as well, but obviously the overriding concern is number one about health and death rates but also secondly about the economy, which is dying a slow death if it's not going to open up soon.

WHITFIELD: And Rana -- I want to get your reaction to Friday's U.S. unemployment report where we learned that more than 20 million people lost their jobs in April. But then today we're hearing the White House top economic advisers say a new stimulus deal may be premature. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVEN MNUCHIN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: What the President and I are now saying is we spent a lot of money. A lot of this money is not even into the economy yet. Let's take the next few weeks, I'm having discussions with both the Republicans and the Democrats to understand these issues. The President and I are having conversations with outside people, with business.

[14:24:57]

MNUCHIN: We just want to make sure that before we jump back in and spend another few trillion of taxpayers' money that we do it carefully.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KUDLOW, WHITE HOUSE ECONOMIC ADVISER: I do think there are issues here and there are probably going to be some agreements and disagreements. Each side has its own positions.

So it's not that we're not talking. We are. It's just informal at this stage, and really after all of this assistance, let's have a look at what the impact is in at least the next couple of weeks for the economy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN HASSETT, SENIOR ECONOMIC ADVISER TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: This is the biggest negative shock to an economy that we have ever seen in our lifetimes. And it hit an economy that in January was about the strongest economy we'd ever seen.

And so when you've got two giant forces like that colliding, then any economist that tells you they know exactly what's going to happen, you know, is feeding you a line. The fact, though, is that with all of the aggressive bipartisan action to toss maybe as much as $9 trillion at this sort of bridge to the other side, that we see things like in the jobs report on Friday almost everybody who declared themselves unemployment said they expect to go back to work in the next six months.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Rana -- do you think there ought to be another stimulus package? Or is more federal spending potentially dangerous?

FOROOHAR: I think we're definitely going to have to have another stimulus package. The question is, who gets it, and how they get it? I mean we've already seen a lot of complaints that large companies that spent a lot of their cash doing share buybacks in the good boom days were first in line to get federally bailed out, and that small businesses that create the majority of jobs in the U.S. and in many other countries are having trouble getting that money.

I think that we're about to move from a consumer crisis to a corporate crisis. I think you're going to start to see many companies going under. I mean already J. Crew, Neiman Marcus -- big grands. You're going to see a lot more of that in the next few weeks and months.

But what we need to do as a nation is make some priorities. Make sure that individuals that are unemployed and really -- and this is unprecedented. We have to go back to the Great Depression to see anything like this. There's no doubt that people are going to need more aid but we've got to make sure it's getting into the right hands and that the right people are getting this on the line.

WHITFIELD: All right. Rana Foroohar, Bianca Nobilo and Max Foster -- thanks to all of you. Appreciate it.

All right. More problems with the virus inside the White House as some top task force officials go into quarantine. Now at least one White House adviser admits working there can be risky.

A live report, next.

[14:27:29]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:30:00]

WHITFIELD: Welcome back.

Several members of the coronavirus task force are now going into quarantine, including Dr. Fauci and the heads of the CDC and FDA, after being in close contact with a staffer or staffers who have tested positive for the disease.

Today, President Trump's economic adviser says everyone in the White House is at risk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN HASSETT, SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: I knew when I was going back in that I would be taking risks, that I'd be safer sitting at home at my house than going into a west wing that even with all the testing in the world and the best medical team on earth is a relatively cramped place that we set up a big data operation in the basement when I got there and were interacting constantly with people who are going to and from FEMA right at beginning when we're there. There were people some who caught COVID at FEMA.

So we've all been exposing ourselves to risks under the best guidance we could possibly to keep us safe but we're willing to take that chance because we love our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Jeremy Diamond is at the White House. So, Jerry, so, again, three top members of the task force are self-quarantined many times when we saw them publicly. They weren't wearing masks. But what do you know about word of anyone else?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, as of now the White House is not confirming whether any other officials will be self-quarantining or working from home for the next couple of weeks after Katie Miller, vice president's spokeswoman, tested positive for coronavirus on Friday.

What we do know though is that in the 24 hours after that positive test, three of the top doctors on that coronavirus task force, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Robert Redfield of the CDC and Dr. Stephen Hahn of the FDA, all entering some form of quarantine for the next two weeks. In fact, the three of them were set to testify on Capitol Hill this coming week, but instead they will be testifying via videoconference as a precaution.

So what we are seeing here, Fred, is really quite a piecemeal approach from this White House from this administration to how to deal with individuals who have had contact with others inside the White House who have tested positive for coronavirus.

Again, we know that Katie Miller, who is not only a spokeswoman for the vice president's office but also for the coronavirus task force, she regularly interacted with senior staff at the White House, including many of those medical experts, but so far we have only heard of three of those doctors on the coronavirus task force entering this quarantine.

We do know though that after that military valet to the president earlier this past week tested positive, the White House began instituting daily instead of weekly tests for anybody close to the president. And that was actually how they found out that Katie Miller tested positive, because just a day earlier, she had tested negative for the virus.

And, again, this just goes to show, just like Kevin Hassett, one of the economic advisers at the White House, is talking about. Even at the White House which -- where there are all of these precautions, there's testing of anybody who comes into close contact with the president. Even here, we see that the virus has indeed taken hold and has the potential to spread further. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right. Jeremy Diamond at the White House, thank you so much.

All right. Joining me now, Dr. James Phillips, a Physician and Assistant Professor at George Washington University Hospital. He's also a CNN Medical Analyst. Good to see you, Doctor.

DR. JAMES PHILLIPS, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Likewise.

[14:35:00]

WHITFIELD: All right. So, your thoughts? Three of the top doctors on this task force self-quarantined? Precaution or are you very concerned?

PHILLIPS: Well, first, Happy Mother's Day to everybody out there, to my wife upstairs. Thanks for having me on. Of course, there's cause for concern. We have cause for concern for anybody who comes into contact with someone who has this virus right now.

What the CDC has been able to do for us through their analysis of the science and data is try to provide guidelines for people across the world on how worried or concerned they should be and what exposure means to someone.

So within the healthcare setting, we regard exposure a little differently than in the general public. Due to the high-risk nature where we were. Now, these three members of the task force were, we presume, not exposed in a healthcare setting, were exposed to a person in the general public who has the disease. So it's treated a little differently, as a little bit lower risk.

WHITFIELD: So what do you mean? What will they endure or how will they be observed under self-quarantine?

PHILLIPS: Right, that's a good question. So I'm a physician, right? So if I was to get exposed to someone without wearing the proper PPE, it matters how close I was, what I was doing with that patient and who was wearing what type of PPE to help determine if it's a low, medium or high-risk exposure. And I would act accordingly based upon that category, whether it means staying home 14 days and checking my own temperature, or even fewer restrictions than that.

Now, for the general public, the CDC has guidelines that also depend on the type of exposure. But what gets kind of difficult is understanding what prolonged exposure means. We don't know how long you need to be in proximity with someone without a mask on to transmit the virus.

So my assumption would be that the reason we're seeing maybe two different approaches to self-isolation or to quarantine by the different doctors on the task force, my guess would be that two of them who are quarantining the full 14 days were probably in a bit more of a prolonged exposure, like a 10-minute or more time, whereas Dr. Fauci probably had more of a glancing or a minimal reaction with that person.

WHITFIELD: So while those doctors, including Dr. Fauci, will take their own temperatures, they'll, I guess, check their own personal vitals, will it be the case? Because they are, you know, high-profile doctors on the coronavirus task force, will someone be administering tests on a regular basis, whether it'd be every day or every other day to see if they test positive for coronavirus?

PHILLIPS: It's a good question. I suspect that they would be tested quite regularly, if not every day, every few days. It sounds like from the reporting that the White House is doing daily testing on particular individuals, which having just been swab today myself, it's quite uncomfortable and I don't wish that upon anybody. But it is necessary in particular cases if you're going to be near world leaders or other people that are high risk.

So I do imagine they'll be getting tested regularly throughout that 14-day period so that if they do turn positive, perhaps precautions can be taken.

WHITFIELD: And today, a key coronavirus model often cited by the White House predicts more deaths in the U.S. now that more states are dropping the shelter-in-place orders and reopening. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER MURRAY, DIRECTOR OF INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH METRICS AND EVALUATION, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: What's driving the change is simply put the rise in mobility, and that's the key driver. We're seeing in some states, you know, a 20 percentage point increase in just ten days in mobility. And that will translate into more human contact, more transmission.

And then the other thing that we're seeing in some states is, which is why we like to revise the forecast on a very regular basis, is that we're just seeing more cases in deaths than expected in certain places. But it's mostly mobility that's driving up the numbers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So, Dr. Phillips, that model is predicting more than 137,000 deaths by early August. You know, should that update force some states to rethink their reopening plans?

PHILLIPS: Well I hope there's a lot of rethinking taking place in our country right now, and I fully acknowledge the unbelievable difficulties that people are going through economically, and socially, and even with their mental health. You know, as a physician, my first thoughts are about the medical safety of people. So I'm obviously going to lean more towards protecting people with isolation.

When it comes to relaxing guidelines, there's no doubt that it's going to cause an increase in the number of cases and the transmission of the virus around the country. It's certainly not going to make it go down. And so those models will definitely be revised.

[14:40:02]

And what we're seeing, I think, is that the main variable that's playing in to those it changes is the social distancing measures, what we call non-pharmaceutical interventions that people are being requested to take.

I have particular fears about days like today. It's Mother's Day. And I'm worried, are people going and seeing their elderly mothers that they wouldn't normally see? So if you're going to do that, please, continue to do some social distancing, wear a mask, protect older folks, because as those people come back out into the public, we're at risk of transmitting the virus to them.

WHITFIELD: Indeed. All right, Dr. James Phillips, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

All right. Coming up, 85 cases and counting. New information on a mysterious illness in children potentially linked to coronavirus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): You want to talk about Mother's Day. This is every mother's nightmare. This is every parent's nightmare.

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[14:45:00]

WHITFIELD: New York Governor Cuomo announced today, the state saw a continued drop in new cases with 521 cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours and 207 deaths. While those numbers are still as Cuomo called them terribly high, they continue the downward trend in New York. Over the past 14 days, there's growing concern about illnesses in children that may be COVID-related.

CNN's Polo Sandoval joins me from New York. So, Polo, what do we hear from the governor today and his promise looking forward?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we heard from the governor and other New York officials, Fred, they're highlighting this information that essentially undercuts what many parents across the country have been told before this pandemic really broke out, which was that perhaps children would not be as vulnerable.

But now, what's happening now here in New York, at least 85 pediatric hospitalizations. These are toddlers or elementary school-age children that have come in with what doctors are considering as a COVID-related inflammatory illness, known as pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome. And it has already been deadly for at least three children in New York State, possibly two more that are being looked into right now.

And not only did we hear from Governor Cuomo address this today but we also heard from New York Mayor Bill de Blasio sending this message out to parents across the state, really, and across country. Take a listen.

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MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK CITY, NY: As a father, I am feeling the concern. I know other parents are feeling. Our health leadership is deeply concerned.

Doctors are now calling this pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome. And what it does is, basically, in a child's body, triggers intensive almost overwhelming immune system response, and that actually causes harm to the body. So as the body is fighting, it fights in such a manner that it actually starts to cause other problems.

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SANDOVAL: Now, in those 85 cases, here's that COVID link. According to Mayor Bill de Blasio, a majority of those cases either tested positive for COVID or at least had been exposed to the virus. So that is really why they're sort of putting two and two together. As for the symptoms that some of these children showing up in emergency rooms with fever, rashes, abdominal pain, vomiting, those are all things that parents should be on the lookout for.

But at the same time, officials here, Fred, making it very clear, it's certainly not a time for parents to panic, simply stay informed and be on the lookout for those kinds symptoms and to continue to exercise those kinds of precautions that we've already seen, not just children take but adults as well.

WHITFIELD: Yes, still scary, nonetheless. All right, Polo Sandoval, thank you so much.

All right, still ahead, a celebration leads to a coronavirus cluster. A birthday party in California triggers a Mother's Day warning.

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WHITFIELD: As people across the nation celebrate Mother's Day today, officials in California are reminding people to continue social distancing. This as health officials trace a cluster of cases in Pasadena back to a birthday party that took place in March after a stay-at-home order was issued.

CNN's Paul Vercammen joins me from Toluca Lake in Los Angeles. Paul, what more can you tell us?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're here in Toluca Lake, and this is not where the outbreak occurred. We're seeing good social distancing here. But in Pasadena, a cautionary tale, they're telling people, you need to observe Mother's Day virtually because of what happened at this party. In short, a woman goes to a birthday party. She's joking that perhaps she has coronavirus, and she's coughing. Well, she did. So Pasadena officials started contact tracing and they found five cases of COVID-19 traced to this party, but these are only a Pasadena resident. They also found there were five other partygoers who could have COVID-19. Those people live outside Pasadena. They want them to socially quarantine and be tested.

Also emerging in this story, librarians, they are heroes in this. They enlisted the help of librarians in the city of Pasadena because they're well-known for being calm listeners, good at data collection and good at extracting information from people. So these five librarians got on the email and the phone and began quizzing partygoers.

This party may have ended up infecting ten people. And what they're saying in Pasadena right now is the last thing you want to give your mother or your grandmother on mother's day is coronavirus. They say all the guilt that you might deal on the front end by not seeing them today would be much worse on the backend if you infected grandma or mother.

It's a fascinating unfolding story with many permutations, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Wow, it sure is. All right, virtual visits for sure today, people. Paul Vercammen, thank you so much.

All right, coming up, it's a case that has shocked the nation, a jogger chased and killed by a father and son. Now, new surveillance video of what happened before the shooting.

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WHITFIELD: An official in Georgia is now calling for a federal investigation to the handling of the Ahmaud Arbery murder case. A county commissioner telling CNN he wants to know why it took 74 days for the suspects to be charged in the death of an unarmed black man.

The two white suspects, a former police officer, and his son, were charged only after video of the deadly pursuit surfaced, and the third district attorney was appointed to the case. Arbery was out for a jog back in February when the suspects in their truck chased him down then shot and killed him. The suspects claimed Arbery looked like a suspect in a series of recent break-ins despite no robberies or break-ins being reported in the area.

CNN's Martin Savidge joins me with more on this now. So, Martin, what more are you learning about this?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fred, yes. We have some new imagery that's come to light. I should point out, this really is not new, it is additional footage. The investigators have had this for some time and the GBI admits that they saw this footage even before they went out and made the arrest of the McMichaels.

And what this video shows is Ahmaud Arbery on the day he died inside a house under construction. It's surveillance video. You see it briefly. Walks around and then he goes out and continues his run through the neighborhood. He doesn't take anything. And the most trouble he would be in, I guess trespassing's not a felony offense and would not justify the citizen's arrest law or hot pursuit being applied in this particular case.

So let's talk about that other vide, the cell phone video that was captured by Roddie Brian. This is the one that actually captured the struggle and death. I spoke to his attorney and asked him, what was Mr. Brian doing making that video? Did he actually help or try to apprehend the young man? And just what was going on? And here is what the attorney said to me.

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SAVIDGE: He was trailing behind or he was trying to get up close to get a really good image?

KEVIN GOUGH, ATTORNEY FOR WILLIAM ROODIE BRIAN: Well, he certainly wanted to get as good a picture as he could.

You would have to meet him. And that's difficult in these situations. This is not Rambo. This is not somebody who's going to knowingly put himself in harm's way.

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SAVIDGE: Now, it has been suggested by many people that this is a third suspect in the case. The attorney says, again, he was only a witness. He was not a participant.

And, lastly, I should point out to you, Fredricka, that the GBI now says that it's investigating threats that have been made against any future protests on behalf of Ahmaud Arbery. As you know, on Friday and Saturday, there were two very large protests in this area, and apparently now some threats have been made if there are going to be any further protests.

WHITFIELD: And, martin, with your opportunity to talk to the attorney there, did the attorney explain or respond to why would his client be videotaping anyway if not for the fact that he was expecting to capture something on video?

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SAVIDGE: Right, and we did have this conversation.