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Changes in Kids' Fall Education; Airlines Develop Safety Guidelines; Silver to Decide NBA Season; Russia Has Second Highest Virus Cases. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired May 13, 2020 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very long lines and the guests and the characters and cast will be required to wear masks. So in the Florida heat, we'll have to see how that goes over with guests going to the theme parks having to wear a mask to have some fun.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Our thanks to our reporters all across the country.

So it's often said, so goes California, so goes the nation. In-person college classes canceled there for thousands of students. So what does that mean for your kids all across the country? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: California State University, America's largest four-year college system, announced that they are canceling in-person classes for this fall. That's nearly half a million students who will have to take online classes. Is this what other kids and parents should expect?

Joining us now is Lily Garcia, she's the president of the National Education Association. Her organization represents teachers across all levels of education. And Dr. Juan Dumois, he's a pediatric infectious disease physician at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital.

Great to have both of you.

So, Ms. Garcia, Cal State, this is, I think, 23 different campuses.

[06:35:04]

They are the first ones to say that they are basically cancel all in- person instruction. Are they just the first ones to say it out loud? I mean is this what other parents and students should start preparing themselves for this morning?

LILY GARCIA, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION: Listen to what Dr. Fauci said yesterday, the thinking that this would all magically go away because we hit September was a bridge too far. I'm a sixth grade teacher. I'm not an infectious disease expert. So I

listen to the people who know what they're talking about. When they say, make plans to stay safe, that's kindergarten through -- preschool through graduate school. And we have to listen to what experts say so that we can get in front of this so that we can flatten the curve so that we don't hurt our own students.

CAMEROTA: And so, as a sixth grade teacher, do you think you're going back into the classroom this fall?

GARCIA: You know, the National Education Association, you said we represent teachers. We represent the whole village. The bus drivers, the lunch ladies, the school secretaries, the counselors, the school nurses. It really does take a village to raise those kids and to educate them.

I have 39 kids in my classroom one year. How are you going to socially distance 39 kids? We can be pretty creative and we hope that educators will be sitting at the table when governors and superintendents say that it's time to open schools, but that doesn't mean you open the doors and everybody just piles in the way they did before.

CAMEROTA: So --

GARCIA: It's going to look very different.

CAMEROTA: Yes. I mean that sound like a no. I mean it sounds like you're kind of bracing us for that that's a no. That you don't -- that you think it's beyond just college campuses and that maybe it's middle schools and maybe it's high schools and elementary schools, that maybe we're not going back to school in September

GARCIA: So -- so, to be very clear, I'm listening to the same news you're listening to. I'm listening to Dr. Fauci and others. I haven't heard anybody say that just because it's September we can expect to open those doors and my 39 sixth graders will be sitting in the classroom the way they were before.

One of the things we're offering, we've been offering every politician that gets to make these kinds of decisions, please listen to the medical experts. And when they say, under these circumstances we could begin in-person classrooms, in-person instruction, you have to have the educators who know those kids, who actually are going to be asked to teach in those buildings and keep those kids safe. You have to have us there deciding, how are you going to do social distancing?

Our fear is that people are just going to say, this is the date and we'll all rush in and we won't be prepared and that children will be put at risk.

CAMEROTA: Yes. OK. Sobering.

Doctor Dumois, let's play that moment yesterday because I think that the moment between Senator Rand Paul and Dr. Fauci was really telling. I mean they both represented each sides -- each side of this argument about whether or not kids should go back to school. So, let's listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): I think we ought to have a little bit of humility in -- in our belief that we know what's best for the economy. And as much as I respect you, Dr. Fauci, I don't think you're the end all (ph). I think we ought to look at the Swedish model and we ought to look at letting our kids get back to school.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I have never made myself to be the end all and only voice of this. I'm a scientist, a physician and a public health official. I give advice according to the best scientific evidence.

We don't know everything about this virus. And we really better be very careful. I think we better be careful, if we are not cavalier, in thinking that children are completely immune of the deleterious effects.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: So, Dr. Dumois, I mean, medically speaking, I thought that they both made a good point. Senator Rand Paul was basically saying, it's also unhealthy for kids to be out of school, but there all sorts of underserved communities where poor kids are slipping through the cracks. And then you heard Dr. Fauci saying that we're getting more information about how dangerous this virus could be for kids.

So, medically speaking, do you think kids should be going back in September?

DR. JUAN DUMOIS, PEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASES PHYSICIAN, JOHNS HOPKINS: Well, I think there are some interesting points that -- that you just brought up. There are a lot of benefits from school, and it's not just learning. School offers a lot of social development benefits for kids. It also helps people go back to -- their parents go back to work. And there are a lot of other benefits. There's some special needs kids who get special services at schools.

[06:40:00]

However, I noticed that Rand Paul put a lot of emphasis on the fact that maybe kids could go back to schools because not many kids die of Covid-19. But that really ignores the fact that children live with adults. We already know from flu that if you don't immunize kids against the flu, overall deaths from -- from pneumonia and flu of people of all ages goes up. So children do spread viruses among themselves at school and then bring those viruses home.

So if children go back to school with no precautions in place, the schools will become new incubators for the next wave of Covid-19 because they're going to be transmitting the virus, even if they don't get very sick themselves.

CAMEROTA: You know, also Dr. Fauci said, and the quote was, be very careful, that was his quote, of moving too fast to conclude that kids will be safe because we're now seeing some of these inflammatory responses with kids that it does seem to be very dangerous.

And one last thing, Doctor, he pointed out that we didn't see this in the research from China or Europe. We didn't see kids getting as sick as now we're seeing in small numbers, but certainly in New York I think there's 100 cases of this inflammatory reaction. So why didn't we see it in China and Europe? Why now are we seeing it here in the U.S.?

DUMOIS: I think the lack of reports of those cases from China do represent some of the problem we've had in the reports from China in that they are limited. And -- and I think that many of the reports from China, looking at overall cases and cases in children in particular, were focusing on certain types of information that were reported, but not focusing on the less common, relatively rare, more severe cases. That that just wasn't even included in those reports.

So now we're recognizing that these kids are getting, in rare cases, this severe manifestation that seems to be associated with Covid-19, really high fevers, rashes and sometimes drops in blood pressure causing shock.

CAMEROTA: Oh, boy.

Thank you both for all of the straight talk this morning. I'm not sure that we're making parents feel any better, but we are giving -- letting them at least get mentally prepared for what the fall could look like.

Dr. Juan Dumois and Lily Garcia, thank you both very much.

So this photo of a packed United flight went viral this week as passengers try to figure out how to fly while staying safe. So what you need to know before you book your next flight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:46:41]

BERMAN: New research shows people are starting to fly again. The numbers, not huge, but planes, they are beginning to fill up. There is concern about a lack of social distancing on these planes and just how far airlines will go to enforce it.

CNN's Pete Muntean joins us now live with more.

Pete, we've all seen these pictures. They're flying fewer planes. As a result, some of them are just jam-packed.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, you know, I obtained airline memos about new mask policies and they all say that flight attendants should avoid enforcing those policies once passengers are on board. The goal is to avoid confrontation. But without federal rules in place, airlines are trying to figure out how to keep you safe.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MUNTEAN (voice over): Packed in passengers might not be the norm right now according to major airlines, but more scenes like this are raising new concerns about whether you can maintain social distancing while flying. Change or cancel a trip because of coronavirus and you are not entitled to a refund according to new guidance just laid out by the Department of Transportation. It says you can get your money back within a week if it is the airline that cancels. But if you cancel, what you get back is up to the airline.

In the U.S., more than half of all airliners are now parked, but more passengers are stepping on board a shrinking fleet. The number of people passing through security has climbed to the highest level in six weeks.

BARRY BIFFLE, FRONTIER AIRLINES: So we're already seeing visiting friends and relatives, kind of our backbone of our business. We're already seeing that start to come back. But it's at a very small level.

MUNTEAN: United Airlines will now warn passengers if a flight is near capacity and let them rebook, even though it stresses that most flights are less than half full. All major airlines are now mandating that passengers wear masks but are not guaranteeing that every middle seat will be empty.

REP. PETER DEFAZIO, CHAIRMAN, HOUSE TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE: We need federal rules.

MUNTEAN: High ranking House Democrats say there is inconsistency and uncertainty in airline policies and want federal agencies to act.

DEFAZIO: I think that we should look carefully at whether or not we require distancing on airplanes, then that could require leaving middle seats open.

MUNTEAN: In a statement to CNN, the FAA says its authority lie in safe operation of aircraft and that it is lending aviation expertise to help officials and airlines. Airline workers want more intervention.

JOE DEPETE, PRESIDENT, AIR LINE PILOTS ASSOCIATION: There's a smart way to do this. We need to ensure that we're doing everything we can to prevent unnecessary additional preventable risks for our passengers.

MUNTEAN: Without federal mandates, industry groups say each airline is coming up with its own protocols. Frontier, for instance, will do temperature checks at the gate and may turn you away with a fever higher than 100.4.

BIFFLE: We believe you're safer onboard Frontier, and most airlines for that matter, than most -- most enclosed buildings.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MUNTEAN: Airlines want flyers back. And while fares might be low right now, they cannot stay that way for long. We know that industry groups say that if middle seats have to remain empty for a long time, airlines will have to raise fares by at least 50 percent just to break even.

Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Oh, it's so complicated because nobody wants that middle seat, but nobody wants their fares to go up by 50 percent.

MUNTEAN: That's right.

CAMEROTA: So, Pete, thank you very much for that report.

[06:50:01]

So momentum is building towards restarting the NBA season. Commissioner Adam Silver will reportedly make a decision very soon.

Andy Scholes has more in the "Bleacher Report."

What do we expect, Andy?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

You know, if all goes well, we could potentially have the NBA and Major League Baseball both back on TV by the end of July. Shams Charania of "The Athletic" reporting that the Players Association sent a memo to agents saying the players and the NBA, they want to resume the regular season and have the playoffs.

Commissioner Adam Silver, meanwhile, he held a conference call with the league's board of governors yesterday. According to ESPN, Adrian Wojnarowski, his sources say the discussion focused on the health and safety concerns. A big step to resuming play is going to be getting everyone comfortable with the idea that the league would not shut back down if one person tests positive for Covid-19. How many positive tests would shut down the league again? Well, that's still being discussed. According to Woj, Commissioner Silver and the league going to be studying a number of factors over the next two to four weeks before making a decision on restarting the season.

Now, CNN has reached out to the NBA and the union about these conversations but has not yet heard back.

Now, the one site idea seems to be the most likely scenario for the NBA's return. According to Woj, the focus continues to be on Orlando's Walt Disney World and Las Vegas. NBA spokesperson Michael Bass tells CNN, we have been approached by multiple properties regarding potential options for hosting NBA games, including MGM. We have not engaged in any substantive discussions.

And, Alisyn, I spoke with someone who travels with an NBA team. He said, man, it will certainly be tough to go to one of these sites, like Walt Disney World or Las Vegas for an unknown amount of time and just stay in a hotel and the arena. But he said, you know, if that's what it's going to take to get the NBA back online, he's willing to do it. CAMEROTA: OK, Andy, thank you very much for that reporting.

SCHOLES: All right.

CAMEROTA: So coronavirus is spreading fast in Russia. Now it is second in the world for confirmed cases. So what's causing this explosive growth? We have details for you in a live report, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:56:27]

BERMAN: New this morning, Russia now has the second highest number of cases of coronavirus of any nation in the world, surpassing Spain, the United Kingdom and Italy. There is just explosive growth there. And despite the soaring numbers, Vladimir Putin is easing a nationwide lockdown.

CNN's Matthew Chance joins us now with the very latest.

Matthew, any sense of why cases in Russia are rising so dramatically?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, it's partly because, I think, that they're increasing the amount of testing that they're doing. They're testing a lot of people every day. and, obviously, that's bringing to light the vast numbers of people inside Russia who are actually infected or positive with this virus.

I mean the other thing it's related to is the fact that early on this pandemic the Russians were pretty confident that this wasn't a problem that was necessarily going to affect them and perhaps they didn't take adequate lockdown measures, measures they should have taken to prevent the -- the spread of this virus.

But, I mean, what we now know is that for the past 11 days consecutively, Russia has been experiencing infection rates of more than 10,000 new infections a day. It's brought to more than 240,000, the total number of infections in the country officially, though the -- the real figure is probably going to be much higher than that. And that's the second highest toll in the world, as you mentioned, after, of course, the United States.

BERMAN: Now, in the United States, we're watching very closely as coronavirus has entered the White House. I understand there are cases now inside the Kremlin as well with a very high-profile figure.

CHANCE: Yes. Neither the White House nor the Kremlin are immune to this -- to this virus. And, you know, over the past couple of weeks there have been a couple of high-profile people in Russia who've succumb to the virus, including the prime minister late last month. And yesterday it was confirmed that Dmitry Peskov, who is the spokesperson of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has been hospitalized because of coronavirus.

Now that's important because, you know, this is the official that is the closest of all to Vladimir Putin. You never see Vladimir Putin in public without Peskov sort of next to him or very close to him. And so it's raised all sorts of questions about, you know, is Vladimir Putin himself safely secured and shielded from this virus? And would we even be told about if -- if he were infected?

BERMAN: Matthew Chance, thank you very much for your reporting. Please keep us posted.

All right, NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here in Los Angeles County they say we will have some restrictions on us for at least another three months.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We moved forward this weekend, opening up our trails. The beaches will open up this week for exercise and active recreation only.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: California State University system canceling nearly all in-person classes for the fall semester.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we look to the fall term, we see another wave coming.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These models are all over the place. We know that more people are going to get infected as a result of this reopening.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, they're certainly at risk and we need to understand that as we go through this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most of us feel that the number of deaths are likely higher. There may have been people who died at home who are not counted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

CAMEROTA: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY.

Parents, listen up, we have new information this morning that might be a window into what your September will look like and that of your children's. The nation's largest four-year public college, California State University, home to half a million students, announcing that campus will be closed this fall. Almost all of its classes will be conducted online.

[07:00:03]

And, overnight, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease doctor, and one of the most trusted voices on the coronavirus pandemic.

END