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White House Predicts Vaccine This Year, Experts Skeptical; U.S. Does Not Have Enough Syringes; United Kingdom Scientist Working on Unconventional Vaccine; Questioning Online COVID-19 Data; Restrictions Eased in Parts of New York, Maryland, Virginia, 48 States to Phase in Reopen Plans by Monday; Sanofi CEO Walks Back Vaccine Priority Comments; Arbery Killer Says It Wasn't Racism; TikTok Popularity Soars. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired May 16, 2020 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello, everyone and welcome to Studio 7 here at CNN Center in Atlanta. I am Michael Holmes.
Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM, Operation Warp Speed: President Trump says his team is on pace to deliver a vaccine in record time.
But does this latest White House claim have credibility?
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shut the (INAUDIBLE) up.
HOLMES (voice-over): Viral video of police using force to impose social distancing on a black man. And this isn't the only video making the rounds.
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HOLMES (voice-over): Also, forget Netflix and chill. It's all about TikTok and quarantine these days. A look at how people are coping with staying at home.
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HOLMES: Welcome, everyone.
Unbridled optimism and sobering reality both on full display from the Trump administration. The president on Friday unveiling an ambitious and, some think, likely to be an unsuccessful effort to have a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year.
And, even if that goal isn't met, he proclaimed, in his words, "Vaccine or no vaccine, we're back." We'll have much more on that, in just a moment.
Meanwhile, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, later, said that every model the CDC tracks forecasts 100,000 deaths in the U.S. by the 1st of June. Now that comes as 28 states have seen downward trends in their rates of new cases, even though the country still adds roughly 1,500 deaths a day, sometimes more.
Meanwhile, the U.S. House passing a $3 trillion coronavirus aid package that went mostly along party lines. And Republicans say the bill is dead on arrival in the Republican-controlled Senate.
Also, word that U.S. Retail sales dropped 16.4 percent in April. And, also, the retail icon JCPenney, well, it has filed for bankruptcy.
The White House Coronavirus Task Force, meanwhile, is adding five new members, including America's Agriculture and Labor secretaries. And that is a clue to where the group will be putting its focus, the economy.
But the most pressing issue, of course and the biggest challenge to safely opening up businesses again is developing that vaccine. Here's Kaitlan Collins.
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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Unveiling his vaccine effort in the Rose Garden today, President Trump said the country would return to normal with or without one.
TRUMP: I just want to make something clear. It's very important. Vaccine or no vaccine, we're back. And we're starting the process.
COLLINS: Asked what he meant by that, the president offered this explanation:
TRUMP: We think we're going to have a vaccine in the pretty near future. And if we do, we're going to really be a big step ahead. And if we don't, we're going to be like so many other cases where you had a problem come in, it'll go away. At some point, it'll go away.
COLLINS: The president was formally announcing the leaders of Operation Warp Speed, his administration's effort to develop and distribute a vaccine.
GOV. GUSTAVE PERNA, U.S. ARMY MATERIEL COMMAND: It is going to be a Herculean task.
COLLINS: But, at one point, the president seemed to downplay how critical a vaccine would be.
Though many health experts have viewed an effective vaccine as the only way life can truly return to normal, the president made clear he doesn't agree.
TRUMP: No, it's not solely vaccine-based. Other things have never had a vaccine and they go away.
COLLINS: He also repeated his hope that a vaccine can be ready by the end of the year. Some health experts have said that's unrealistic. And, yesterday, the administration's former vaccine chief, Rick Bright, who was pushed out of his job, said he's doubtful it could happen soon.
DR. RICK BRIGHT, FORMER DIRECTOR, BIOMEDICAL ADVANCED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY: I still think 12 to 18 months is an aggressive schedule.
And I think it's going to take longer than that to do so.
COLLINS: The president said he's hopeful a full vaccine will be ready by the end of the year and available to the general public, not just for emergency use.
(on camera): Do you mean a fully approved vaccine for everyone, the full public, or a partially approved vaccine with emergency use?
TRUMP: No, we're looking for a full vaccine for everyone that wants to get it.
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TRUMP: Not everybody's going to want to get it. But we're looking at a full vaccine.
COLLINS (voice-over): Nearly all of the guests in the Rose Garden today were wearing masks, but on stage some of the president's top officials were and some weren't, including the president.
TRUMP: I told them. I gave them the option they could wear it or not. So you can blame it on me.
COLLINS: Sources say Trump and his aides have questioned whether the coronavirus death toll is being overcounted. Today, the president said he assumes the numbers are correct.
(on camera): Do you think that's accurate, or do you think it's higher than that?
TRUMP: I don't -- or lower than that. I don't know. I don't know. Those are the numbers that are being reported. I assume they are correct.
COLLINS: You may have noticed the vice president was not in the Rose Garden today with the president. That is because he has been keeping his distance from Trump this week after one of his top aides tested positive for coronavirus. He has been on White House grounds but instead of being in the West Wing, in attending these meetings or of it's in the Rose Garden he is instead remained in the executive office building, next door, which aides say is just out of an abundance of caution -- Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.
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HOLMES: Joining me now is Dr. Saju Mathew, CNN medical analyst, primary care physician and public health specialist.
Always good to see you. Thank you so much. We heard at the White House, Friday, that early data suggests vaccine doses by the end of the year, fully approved. How -- how likely is that, given the history of ,vaccines is that they take way longer than that if full trials are done.
Are you confident that sort of optimism is justified?
DR. SAJU MATHEW, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, Michael, we're all waiting for a vaccine. That's really the only way out of this pandemic. But if you look at the history of vaccines, it takes, on average, five to 10 years to develop a vaccine.
And, even after you develop a vaccine, by going through three trials, you know, you've got to go through phase one, phase two and phase three clinical trials, you, then, have to mass produce this vaccine, for billions of people not to mention, how do you distribute this equitably?
Who gets the vaccine first?
Lots of questions. SO I would say we're already moving at a lightning speed, Michael, 12 to 15 months would be -- would be my estimate.
HOLMES: Yes. Probably not the end of the year. At the same time, though, you know, it was -- it was fascinating to listen to. You almost had the president playing down the importance of a vaccine. I mean, I was just going to read a couple of lines that he said today.
He said there are diseases that just don't have a vaccine that, sometimes, go away. Then, he said, not everybody is going to want to get it. And, then, he said, I don't want people to think this is all dependent on a vaccine. And he said we're back, vaccine or no.
Now how much of a strategy is that?
Do those sorts of comments worry you, from a medical standpoint?
MATHEW: I think we need to be clear with our message, Michael. I think that is so important in the midst of a pandemic that just hit us like lightning. We're all waiting for some direction. And I think the direction needs to come from, you know, high up and should, also, include states and counties, all, being on the same page.
Look, Michael, this virus is not just going to disappear. I wish that would happen. We would all be absolutely ecstatic but it's not. You know, I have talked to so many virologists and public health specialists.
Even if we do have an effective vaccine and that is an if, Michael, remember there have been diseases for which we have not developed a vaccine, like malaria, TB and HIV; 30 years later, with HIV, we have good antivirals but we still don't have a vaccine.
So this virus is not going to go away. And if we don't have a vaccine and we don't have good antivirals,
guess what we have?
The good, old-fashioned public health strategies of mitigation, social distancing and everything else that we are -- we've been talking about a lot.
HOLMES: Yes. And that is a good point about those other illnesses. Now the president, to that point, again, you know, he said the infection numbers are low. He says staying home causes death, suicides and drugs and so on as if that's comparative.
I mean, do you feel the president is playing down the risk to Americans when he pushes schools to reopen in the fall, when he wants states to reopen when they haven't met the administration's guidelines and so on, do you think he's playing it down?
MATHEW: You know, it's tough, Michael, when again, like I said, we're in the midst of a pandemic. We don't know a lot about this virus. What we do know is that it's killing a lot of people. We know the virus is 10 to 20 times more dangerous than the flu. And we also know how easily contagious this vaccine is.
So you know, again, I think it's going to be key for us to have a consistent message to the American public. And we also have to realize that we can't just open back up.
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MATHEW: We have to, you know, we have to let science lead the way. With schools opening back up and teachers and students, you know, eager to get back, you've got to realize that this disease is not discriminating. It affects pretty much every age group. It is killing so many people with comorbidities.
But remember, this is also killing young people, 30- and 40-year olds. So once again, I think what's key is we need to be clear about our message and let people know that it is going to be extremely -- we have to do it very carefully before we just decide that it's time to open states back up again.
HOLMES: Yes. You mentioned something that I just want to touch on briefly before we go. You know, this inflammatory syndrome we're seeing in growing numbers of children and young adults, multisystem inflammatory syndrome.
How much of a concern is that?
MATHEW: It's a big concern. You know, we've been talking about, for the past few weeks and months, as to how kids are, in some way, protected from COVID-19. But unfortunately, with a cluster of cases, where a few kids have actually died, there is a lot of concern as to whether this will keep appearing.
And everybody's now vigilant. You know, Kawasaki disease, Michael, is the disease that this is closely resembling, the multisystem inflammatory syndrome. And, as a primary care physician, I've taken care of a lot of kids with Kawasaki syndrome. It's an inflammation of the vessels of the heart.
And, typically, patients with Kawasaki syndrome, they do well. The problem is we're noticing that kids, who have actually had COVID-19 and who have had antibodies, who you think have recovered from the disease, are presenting to the emergency room with this inflammatory condition.
And, like I said, it's affecting the heart. A few kids have actually gone into cardiac arrest. So it is -- it is quite concerning. And we need to be vigilant about this.
HOLMES: Indeed. Dr. Saju Mathew, I appreciate it. Good to see you again. Thank you.
MATHEW: Thank you, Michael.
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HOLMES: Well, once a vaccine is developed, it, then, has to be administered of course. Most vaccines are delivered using a needle or syringe. But right now, the U.S. is not making as many syringes as needed for a national vaccination program. Senior investigative correspondent Drew Griffin takes a closer look at that.
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DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: If the vaccine for COVID-19 were to come today, there would be no way for all of us to get it. There are just not enough needles and syringes.
SEN. GARY PETERS (D-MI): I don't want to be in a situation where we can't deliver those doses because we don't have syringes and we don't have needles and we don't have the basic supplies to deliver that many doses of the vaccine.
GRIFFIN: Michigan Democratic Senator Gary Peters first sounded the alarm last year. The pandemic only heightened his fears. And last week he sent a letter to Vice President Mike Pence and HHS Secretary Alex Azar, urging the federal government to take immediate steps to ensure America is prepared to administer a coronavirus vaccine.
PETERS: Time is not our side here. We need to get this done as soon quickly as possible.
GRIFFIN: In a similar warning, a whistleblower complaint by Rick Bright, the demoted leader of a key federal agency developing vaccines, said his warnings about the shortage of needles and syringes had been ignored and that the U.S. needs between 650 million and 850 million needles and syringes. Bright may have been pushed aside but in testimony before Congress yesterday, Bright suggested someone in the federal government may have been listening.
RICHARD BRIGHT, FORMER DIRECTOR, DHS BIOMEDICAL ADVANCED RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY: I learned that they placed an order, the first order for needles and syringes on May 1st.
REP. ANN MCLANE KUSTER (D-NH): And were the amounts adequate?
BRIGHT: I believe they asked for 320 million needles and syringes.
KUSTER: And could you describe the situation if every American doesn't have access to the vaccine due to a supply shortage?
BRIGHT: That situation would be catastrophic, honestly. The decisions have not been made yet, who to vaccinate first, how to identify those individuals and how to stretch those limited supplies appropriately.
GRIFFIN: Three contracts for vaccine supplies awarded in the past few weeks totaling nearly $250 million. The largest by the Department of Defense for the U.S.-based production of 100 million prefilled syringes by year end 2020, with the ultimate production goal of over 500 million pre-filled syringes in 2021.
Chaun Powell, in charge of disaster response for one of the country's largest medical logistics companies, says it all adds up to enough.
(on camera): Makes it sound like, unlike PPE, we're going to be in a much better position.
CHAUN POWELL, PREMIER INC.: We learned a lot of valuable lessons through COVID with PPE and with that, we are preparing for the worst for the vaccination and being able to administer the full population, if necessary.
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GRIFFIN: That comes with one big caveat: the unknown.
POWELL: Until we have something that is approved by a particular supplier or manufacturer in pharmaceutical space, it will be very challenging for us to be able to prepare for potential shortages on vials or in syringes or in needles.
GRIFFIN: If estimates are correct, if the contract is fulfilled, the U.S. could have the supplies needed to inoculate the population when and if a COVID-19 vaccine is approved -- Drew Griffin, CNN, Atlanta.
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HOLMES: Well, across the United States, police are being asked to help enforce social distancing rules. But now, posts on social media are raising concerns about how some officers are treating certain communities. CNN's Ryan Young with those details.
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RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's viral videos, like this, that highlight some troubling interactions between minorities and police officers enforcing social distancing guidelines.
In this video, NYPD officers approach several men sitting on a stoop. Police say one of the men tried to enter a police cruiser and struck an officer. As they arrest him, the situation escalates.
The NYPD tells CNN that the officers' use of force was in the act of gaining compliance from a subject who was resisting arrest.
As parts of New York enjoyed the sun and nice weather recently, officer interactions with the public seem to vary by neighborhood. In this video, you can see an NYPD officer taking an aggressive stance in New York's East Village.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Move the (INAUDIBLE) back.
What you flexing for?
YOUNG (voice-over): With a stun gun in hand, he engages with 33-year- old Donnie Wright (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look. Look.
YOUNG (voice-over): This is after police say one suspect became aggressive toward officers and resisted arrest. The officer has been placed on desk duty, pending an internal investigation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I couldn't believe that it was happening.
YOUNG (voice-over): In Chicago, Illinois state representative Cam Buckner decided to go shopping wearing a mask, when he says an officer approached him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Asked me some questions and then, eventually, asked to see my receipt. He said, you know, people are using the COVID virus to do a lot of bad things and to get away with them. You got a mask on, man, I can't see your face. Looks like you may be up to something.
YOUNG (voice-over): Chicago police tell CNN, based on the limited information supplied to the Chicago Police Department, we are currently unable to authenticate that this incident involved a CPD member. Popular radio host and best-selling author Charlemagne believes this epidemic is push forward longstanding distrust between communities of color and authorities.
CHARLEMAGNE, RADIO SHOW HOST: It's about the underlying condition that exists in black America because of systemic racism.
YOUNG (voice-over): The radio host believers more officers need to be part of the solution, bridging the gaps with the community.
CHARLEMAGNE: When you are a police officer, you can't be silent on these issues. You got to point out and say that is wrong.
YOUNG (voice-over): The NYPD says 80 percent of New York's social distancing summons between mid-March and early May have been issued to blacks and Hispanics. The videos have gotten the attention of NYPD's top cop.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we've seen on some of those videos is incredibly disheartening. It's not what we want to see. But I will push back, strongly, on any notion that this is business as usual for the NYPD or that this is quote-unquote "racist policing."
CHARLEMAGNE: You know your environment impacts your emotional and mental wellbeing. They don't care. And I would probably take they don't care for 500, Alex.
YOUNG (voice-over): Ryan Young, CNN, Chicago.
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HOLMES: When we come back, the spread of COVID-19 creating a hunger for real-time information. When we come back, data sites have seen a surge in activity since the beginning of the pandemic.
But are they reliable?
Also, new videos come to light related to the killing of that unarmed jogger in Georgia. What they do and what they do not appear to show -- when we come back.
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HOLMES: Welcome back. The U.K. is still seeing a rise in coronavirus casualties. According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 34,000 people have died, so far. That's out of more than 238,000 confirmed cases.
The British government trying to lessen the threat for some of the country's most vulnerable populations, people living and working in care homes. The U.K. health minister says all care home residents and staff will be tested for the virus by early June.
Now let's turn our attention to Spain, where the country is further easing restrictions, expanding its first deescalation phase to almost 70 percent of the population now. That's going to allow for larger stores and other businesses to reopen, in some capacity.
However, Barcelona and Madrid, still, have not been given the greenlight to move forward just yet. The government, also, issuing a 14-day mandatory quarantine for international passengers arriving in the country.
The fast-moving coronavirus pandemic has spawned a global race for up- to-date statistics on cases, deaths and testing rates. With every country reporting data differently, aggregation websites have surged in popularity.
One in particular, Worldometer, was relatively unknown prior to the pandemic. It's since been cited by governments, academics and news outlets, the British government calling it well respected; the Spanish government trusting it because Johns Hopkins does. But in reality, almost nothing is known about how it operates, where
it's based and who is really behind it. CNN's Scott McLean investigates.
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SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's not uncommon for politicians to use statistics to their advantage. But in late April, the Spanish prime minister went a lot further than that.
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PEDRO SANCHEZ, SPANISH PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Today we found out about another study, from the Johns Hopkins University, that does not place us in eighth pace as the OECD did yesterday but ranks us fifth in the world in total tests carried out.
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MCLEAN (voice-over): Turns out not only had the OECD already revised Spain's position down to 17th, Johns Hopkins never published such a study.
MCLEAN: After initially claiming that their data came from Johns Hopkins University, the Spanish government put us on to a website called Worldometer.
We wondered, what is Worldometer?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not one I'm familiar with.
MCLEAN: You've never heard of it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
MCLEAN (voice-over): Worldometer aggregates COVID-19 data into slick tables and charts. It does actually rank Spain fifth in overall coronavirus testing but it is not exactly apples to apples. The table also includes both PCR and antibodies test for Spain but not for most other countries.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think it makes much sense to add those tests together. They present different things. In one case, you're testing people currently infected; in the other, you're testing who've been infected in the past.
MCLEAN (voice-over): Worldometer's owner seems to run 27 similar websites but has little online presence himself. The parent company, Data X LLC was once registered to a post office box in Delaware. CNN has made several unsuccessful attempts to reach Worldometer for comment.
The site relies on users to upload the latest government figures. It sounds like Wikipedia but even some Wikipedia editors decided that it was not good enough for them.
It was, though, for the British government, who cited Worldometer in televised press conferences for more than 2 weeks. Sanchez's office has not acknowledge his error, because Johns Hopkins tracker cites Worldometer as a source.
MCLEAN: Should they?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not sure. That's a great question. I had the impression that Worldometer was run by Hopkins.
MCLEAN (voice-over): Johns Hopkins says its COVID-19 tracker uses mostly automated scraping from designated, credible sources that are manually verified. One of those sources is Worldometer. Asked to explain why it trusts a website it knows so little about, the university would only explain that it is a process of continual cross checking and refinement to ensure that the data we are presenting is as accurate and timely as possible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are saying that people should be wary and especially media and (INAUDIBLE).
MCLEAN (voice-over): Scott McLean, CNN.
HOLMES: Well, you will, soon, be able to eat inside a McDonald's. But it may look a little different from what you're used to. Coming up, how the fast food giant is beefing up its safety measures.
Also, Brazil's health minister quits after just weeks on the job. We'll look at what happened as the country reports the worst coronavirus numbers in Latin America. We'll be right back.
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HOLMES: And welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Michael Holmes.
The United States, topping the list for the most coronavirus cases in the world, by far. State and local governments took the lead on the coronavirus lockdowns to fight the virus. Now as CNN's Erica Hill shows us, without a vaccine or a nationally coordinated plan, states are opening up again.
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ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A nationwide experiment, shifting into high gear.
A nationwide experiment shifting into high gear.
JEAN-FRANCOIS FLECHET, OWNER, TASTE OF BELGIUM: The one thing that we know is that tomorrow will be different than today. That's the only certainty we have.
HILL (voice-over): Restaurants in Ohio and Virginia can now offer table service outside. Florida's hardest-hit counties, Miami-Dade and Broward will begin seating customers on Monday. In Maryland, barbershops, salons and churches can reopen at half capacity. Casinos are back in Louisiana as stores large and small adapt.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am excited. But it's -- you know, like I said, it's just nerve-wracking.
HILL (voice-over): Consumer spending, the lifeblood of the American economy, has taken a massive hit. Retail sales plunging more than 16 percent in April. The largest drop in nearly 30 years.
NICOLE FORD, PITTSBURGH BUSINESS OWNER: I'm sinking. The cavalry never showed up as promised. It's either open or close my doors for good.
HILL (voice-over): The number of new cases is trending lower. In 28 states, including Colorado, Georgia and Oklahoma, which started lifting restrictions weeks ago. New cases each day in Texas, however, are 20 to 30 percent higher than they were when stay-at-home orders were relaxed on May 1st. So, what do those numbers tell us about the impact of reopening?
DR. JENNIFER LEE, EMERGENCY MEDICINE ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: These numbers that we're looking at are not real time. What we're seeing is actually a reflection of what's probably the virus was doing a week or two weeks ago.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Open your business now!
HILL (voice-over): Protests continue in Michigan where the stay-at- home order was extended through May 28th.
GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): When people are showing up with guns, when people are showing up with things like, you know, confederate flags, it tells you that this really isn't about the lockdown or about a perception of a stay-at-home order. It's really an organized political statement.
HILL (voice-over): Resistance is also brewing in North Carolina, where some restrictions were lifted last week, though not for large gatherings, including religious services.
SHERIFF STEVE BIZZELL, JONSTON COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA: How long is this going to last? They didn't build sanctuaries to sit in their cars in the parking lot and look at.
HILL (voice-over): Several regions in New York state moving into phase I of reopening on Friday. Still, the stay-at-home order extended for the most populated areas including New York City until May 28th. Though there is some relief in sight. Governor Andrew Cuomo announcing a multistate plan to reopen beaches in time for Memorial Day.
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): What one state does will affect other states. That is probably nowhere more clear than when it comes to opening beaches. One state doesn't open beaches, another state does open beaches, you will see people flood to that state.
HILL (voice-over): New Jersey, Connecticut and Delaware all part of that effort, but not New York City.
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D-NY), NEW YORK CITY: We would all love to be able to go to the beach with the hot weather. That's something that we're just not ready for. We're -- we're going to look at it, constantly. We're going to be in close touch with the state. And the day may come but we're not there yet.
HILL: One of the reasons Mayor de Blasio says this city is not ready to open its beaches involves transportation. Getting there would require most people to get on a bus or on the subway, which the mayor has said, very clearly, is nonessential travel.
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HILL: And he just doesn't want people doing it. There is a lot of concern, too, about the weather. In New York City this weekend, it is supposed to be beautiful. The mayor saying they will be limiting capacity at some of the parks around the city to make sure people are safe. Back to you.
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HOLMES: Erica Hill, thanks.
Now on Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the largest relief package in the country's history. It's now going to go, of course, to the Republican-dominated Senate, where it seems doomed to fail. Here is just a little bit of what's in it, though.
It includes $500 billion in aid to struggling state governments; another round of direct payments to individuals and families, to help stimulate the economy and hazard pay for healthcare workers and others on the front line of the pandemic.
The numbers you see there tell a story. This was, largely along party lines. Virtually all Republicans voted against it. Trump administration officials have said they don't believe a fourth economic stimulus package is needed right now.
The next time you order a Big Mac and fries from a McDonald's, your dine-in experience could look a lot different than it did just a few months ago. The fast-food giant has released a lengthy list of new safety measures, as more stores look to reopen. Brian Todd with those details.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): McDonald's is planning to reopen its restaurants for people to dine in -- a bold step for America's oldest fast food icon. The McDonald's experience may never look the same again.
Some tables will be closed. A table will be sanitized after each customers use. The bathrooms cleaned every 30 minutes.
And you won't be able to tap your drink from those famous self-serve beverage fountains with the free refills, an employee will port for you. Experts say these days, even that simple tap and pour fountain is a risk.
PROF. ANNE RIMOIN, EPIDEMIOLOGIST, UCLA SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: You are stepping over people, you are topping talking in line, that's a problem. Also, any area where you are going to have multiple people touching something is problematic.
TODD: The McDonald's reopening playbook, a nearly 60-page document obtained by CNN, also says, employees have to wash their hands every hour. Touch screen pay kiosks have to be cleaned after each use. Other restaurants opening for dining in our taking additional creative measures, like the federal American Grill in Houston.
MATT BRICE, OWNER-OPERATOR, FEDERAL AMERICAN GRILL: Disposable men use, masks, gloves, we have different color linens on our tables. So if it has a black linen on it right now, that we're not seating it.
TODD: McDonald's internal guidelines first reported by "The Wall Street Journal," don't say that every McDonald's restaurant has to reopen for dining in services right away. Each franchise operator gets to make that call as they weigh the reopening guidelines of their local governments. But public health experts say, all restaurants in America are getting ready to throw open their doors have to think about even more stepped up measures, like what one expert says restaurants he went to in Hong Kong did recently, where servers gave how to instructions for customers.
GAVIN MACGREGOR-SKINNER, DIRECTOR OF TRAINING, GLOBAL BIORISK ADVISORY COUNCIL: Every time I went to a restaurant, they would take my temperature for me. When I sat down, they would explain, here is the knife, fork and spoon that is used to pick up the food, this is the separate knife fork and spoon that is going to be used to put the food in your mouth.
Even with all the safety measures McDonald's is taking, some health experts are not comfortable with reopenings at this stage of the pandemic.
RIMOIN: We know that current transition is spread through small droplets and so it makes it very difficult to be bringing people into small, enclosed spaces, like a McDonald's restaurant and to be able to say to people it's OK to eat, to take your mask off, top.
DR. CELINE GOUNDER, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST, NYU SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Who is going to enforce? This and how do you enforce that employees adhere to this, how do you make sure that they are indeed sanitizing surfaces, tabletops, bathrooms, as often as outlined in his plan?
TODD: Then, there is the matter of McDonald's employees having to enforce healthy behavior on the part of customers. The McDonald's playbook instructs employees how to gently tell customers to distance and stay clean.
But that can be dangerous. Recently, a woman in Oklahoma was arrested on suspicion of shooting a McDonald's employee, when she was asked to leave a restaurant because of coronavirus restrictions -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
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HOLMES: The French drug giant Sanofi is trying to fix its relationship with the French government after its CEO sparked a row with his comments. Sanofi executive Paul Hudson had said that the U.S. would get any potential coronavirus vaccines that the company develops there, first, something France calls unacceptable. CNN's Cyril Vanier with the story.
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CYRIL VANIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sanofi tried to deescalate its row with the French government saying it had been misinterpreted.
The row started earlier this week when the CEO of Sanofi, Paul Hudson, was quoted as saying that the United States would be first in line to preorder any potential coronavirus vaccine that Sanofi might succeed in developing.
As you can imagine, a French pharmaceutical giant saying it will prioritize the U.S. markets caused a furor here in France and President Emmanuel Macron summoned the Sanofi CEO, Mr. Hudson on Tuesday. They will be meeting at the Elysee Palace.
Mr. Macron said that the coronavirus vaccine should be a common good available to all regardless of financial considerations.
But even though Sanofi has softened its rhetoric, the substance of its argument remains the same. They argue that developing and fast tracking a coronavirus vaccine is a risky and financially costly endeavor and they want countries to share the financial risks.
Now the U.S. has done that by putting tens of millions of dollars on the table earlier this year to help Sanofi with production costs. Europe and France for the moment have not -- Cyril Vanier, CNN, Paris.
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HOLMES: Brazil's health minister stepping down at what, of course, looks like the worst possible time. The country's reported its daily COVID case record the same day. Now he did thank the president Jair Bolsonaro for the opportunity but he did not say why, exactly, he was leaving. Shasta Darlington takes a closer look for us.
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SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Brazil has lost its second health minister in a month. Nelson Teich stepped down on Friday after clashing with president Jair Bolsonaro over how to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.
His resignation came with the number of cases rising by a record 15,305 in one day; the death toll by rose by more than 800. At a short press conference on Friday afternoon, Teich thanked his colleagues and health professionals but didn't give a reason for his sudden departure.
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NELSON TEICH, FORMER BRAZILIAN HEALTH MINISTER (through translator): Life is made of choices and today I choose to leave. I tell you that I did my best in those days that I was here in that period. It is not a simple thing to be in charge of a ministry like this in such a difficult period.
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DARLINGTON: Teich also thanked Bolsonaro for the opportunity. But in recent days the two have clashed, as Bolsonaro pushed to expand the use of anti malaria drugs to treat COVID-19 and opposed quarantine measures, arguing that unemployment and hunger will kill more people than the virus itself.
Teich was appointed just a month ago on April 17th after his previous minister, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, was fired, also after repeatedly clashing with Bolsonaro.
Brazil has seen Latin America's worst outbreak of coronavirus. Officials say it is far from peaking. Now a new health minister is expected to be announced in coming days -- Shasta Darlington, CNN, Sao Paolo.
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HOLMES: When we come back, the latest on the killing of an unarmed jogger in Georgia. We have videos that have been made public for you to see. We'll have the latest on that, when we come back.
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HOLMES: Attorneys for one of the men charged with killing Ahmaud Arbery, a black man in Georgia, says, it wasn't, quote, "just another act of violent racism." Gregory McMichael and his son are charged with assault and murder for Arbery's death. Saying they believed he was trespassing.
But Arbery's family says a newly released video shows that while he may have entered a house under construction, it was only for a drink of water. Martin Savidge reports.
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MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These latest to be released videos come from inside the home under construction in the neighborhood where Ahmaud Arbery was chased and killed while jogging according to his family, February 23rd. Three of these videos are from two months before the shooting, all from the same night December 17th. The cameras appear to capture a black man wearing a T-shirt and shorts. In the last segment, you can see the individual take several steps in the direction of the road and then set off on a run.
In a statement released Friday, the Attorney for the property owner says the individual depicted appears to be the same young man captured on video inside the house on February 11th. This is the February 11th video from the same place in cameras showing an unidentified person walking in and out of view inside the construction site. That night the visitor who the property owner says he cannot identify didn't just trigger cameras, but also a 911 call from none other than Travis McMichael, who reported seeing a young black male by the home side.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 911, what's the address of your emergency.
TRAVIS MCMICHAEL, SUSPECT: We've had a string of burglaries. I was leaving the neighborhood and I just caught a guy running into a house being built.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): Police arrived on scene and joined by neighbors search for the person Travis said he saw, but find no one.
Attorney Elizabeth Grady says the property owner and legal team have spent considerably more time viewing the clips and say they had discovered what was attracting the visitor. It now appears that this young man may have been coming into the property for water.
There is a water source at the dock behind the house as well as the source near the front of the structure. The attorney says though you can't see the water source on camera, in security video from December 17th that they have studied the young man appears to wipe his mouth or neck and at one point what sounds like water, he's heard before the person heads off at a jog.
And additional videos obtained by CNN from the construction site show that the home was visited by a number of different unidentified individuals and people on a number of different days. The property owner says there was never any damage or theft.
Ahmaud Arbery was seen inside the same house under construction the day he died. His presence that day triggers the chase captured on video and the confrontation that would lead to his death. As Arbery lay dead on the ground, killed by three gunshot blast from Travis McMichael's gun, Gregory McMichael tells authorities he thought Arbery was the person seen on video in the house under construction, describing Arbery as a suspect in a series of break ins.
The property owner never use the word break in or suspect. And now says the only thing taken was a drink of water. SAVIDGE: The legal team for Gregory McMichael spoke out on Friday in a news conference. They pointed out that the truth, as they put it, will eventually be told inside of a courtroom. If it gets to that.
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SAVIDGE: They, also, point out that what they plan to tell in court is a very different narrative -- Martin Savidge, CNN, Glenn County, Georgia.
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HOLMES: Welcome back.
Social media playing a big part in our lives and the newest trend is becoming TikTok famous. Hundreds of millions of people have downloaded the TikTok app in recent months, with the user base spanning far beyond teenagers. Our Max Foster explains the latest viral sensitization after becoming a little TikTok famous himself. You've got to admit, he is pretty good at it.
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MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When a guy drops off shopping for his grandmother during lockdown, he asks her to do a TikTok dance with him. The same dance has been done many times before. But the secret to TikToking is making it your own and if the lockdown had an anthem on the platform, this is it.
The platform's biggest star, American teenager Charlie Demelio (ph), garnering 8 million likes with her take on the sound.
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FOSTER (voice-over): Demelio's (ph) profile reveals she has an astonishing 55 million followers and getting over 4 billion lights on her videos, dwarfing any of the celebrities that joined the platform after her.
Like Demelio (ph), Australian Dante Moeller (ph) found stardom dancing and lipsynching in his bedroom. His mother getting in on the act in this video, which has been viewed nearly 5 million times.
DANTE MOELLER, TIKTOK STAR: Beforehand, I think everyone was kind of just doing it for fun and now it's kind of a way to escape. But now I think everyone is doing it, everyone and their grandma, just because they are bored sitting at home and they might as well do something creative.
FOSTER (voice-over): The power of the platform lies in the fact that anyone can go viral if they hit the right vibe. British psychologist Julie Smith (ph) has gained hundreds of thousands of followers with educational videos like this.
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JULIE SMITH (PH), PSYCHOLOGIST: Your brain can read a word faster than it can label a color. It's a lovely lighthearted platform and that's partly what drew me to it in the first place, things that just give you that little lift, that bring your a moment's joy or make you laugh for a moment. So those little moments are not to be dismissed because that can help you to get through a day.
FOSTER: Don't do it, it's not worth it.
FOSTER (voice-over): Even journalists are finding the joy on TikTok, trying to make sense of lockdown like everyone else -- Max Foster, CNN, in social media's Wild West.
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HOLMES: Told you he was good at it.
Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. The news continues after the break with the one and only Natalie Allen. You won't want to miss it.
