Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

W.H.O. Says 106,000 New Cases is Highest One-Day Total So Far; Columbia University Says Quicker Action Could Have Saved Thousands; Sources Say Fate of CDC Director in Question; Pence Flouts Guidelines at Florida Restaurant; Interview with Dr. Margaret Harris, World Health Organization Spokesperson, Largest New Confirmed Coronavirus Cases and Deaths in One Day; Brazil Reports One-Day Record of Almost 20,000 New Cases; U.S. Sends First Shipment of Ventilator to Russia. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired May 21, 2020 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world, you are watching CNN NEWSROOM and I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, global coronavirus cases reach another grim milestone, and the World Health Organization says four countries including the U.S. have contributed to that stark number. But a new study suggests the U.S. could have prevented the rise in cases much earlier.

And children with coronavirus are seeing disturbing symptoms. We will speak to a doctor in New York who's experienced those cases firsthand.

The coronavirus pandemic has now infected more than 5 million people globally, that is according to Johns Hopkins University. And the World Health Organization reports the biggest one-day spike yet in new cases with the U.S., Russia, Brazil and India leading the way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: In the last 24 hours there have been 106,000 cases reported to W.H.O., the most in a single day since the outbreak began. Almost 2/3 of these cases were reported in just four countries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The United States has more confirmed cases and deaths by far than any other country. It's followed by Russia, Brazil, and the United Kingdom. Now researchers at Columbia University in a study not yet peer reviewed found that issuing stay-at-home orders just one week earlier could have saved about 36,000 American lives. As all 50 U.S. states ease restrictions and take steps to reopen, the human toll keeps climbing. California on Tuesday reported more than 100 fatalities. The second highest single day death toll in the state since the pandemic began. Well as we just mentioned, the delay of mitigation efforts in the U.S.

was costly in terms of human lives. New modeling from Columbia University suggests if Americans started staying home just two weeks earlier, 83 percent of the deaths in the U.S. could have been prevented. The lead researcher says it's not too late to learn from their findings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFREY SHAMAN, ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES PROFESSOR, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: As we loosen these restrictions it's possible, we could start to have the growth of the virus in a lot of these communities if we're not careful, if social distancing practices laps, if people don't wear facemasks as they start to go to businesses and restaurants and theaters. If we don't monitor this and if we don't recognize it really early and jump on it, it's going to jump out of control again. We're going to have problems again. We're going to have growth that's beyond our expectations and we're going to see surges of people coming into hospitals again.

Our estimates are that a majority of deaths would have been prevented. Just over 50 percent of them would have been reduced for the total numbers that see by May 3. If we had acted just a week earlier. And it really speaks to how sensitive this virus is or how sensitive the control of the virus is if you can get out in front of it really early. That exponential growth phase that it was going through in early March in New York City is devastating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And it's important to note that Columbia University findings have not yet been peer reviewed. The U.S. state of Florida which relies heavily tourism did not report its first coronavirus cases until March. But the "Miami Herald" newspaper has found state health officials were quietly warning about the pandemic weeks earlier even though very little was being said publicly. The state announced its first cases on March 1st but a memo shows it was following 67 people two weeks earlier on February 15th. And according to the "Herald," other internal memos reveal Florida health officials were actually tracking about 500 suspected cases three days later on February 18th.

The U.S. President Trump travels to Michigan in the coming hours. Publicly he's expressed confidence in the leadership of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention saying Dr. Robert Redfield is doing a very good job.

[04:05:00]

But behind the scenes there are troubling signs that Redfield's job may be in jeopardy. CNN's Jeremy Diamond has more from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's important to clarify this. JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Questions

about Dr. Robert Redfield's future as head of the Centers for Disease Control. With tensions raising between the White House in the CDC, a senior administration official telling CNN's Kristen Holmes there are informal conversations about Redfield's fate. Another source said Redfield who privately dismissed concerns about his job security last week is now worried he may have a target on his back after a top White House official took the in-fighting public.

PETER NAVARRO, WHITE HOUSE'S TRADE ADVISOR: Early on in this crisis the CDC, which really had the most trusted brand around the world in this space really let the country down with the testing and that did set us back.

DIAMOND: President Trump echoing that criticism behind closed doors taking a swipe at the CDC during a lunch with Senate Republicans but publicly --

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think they worked very hard. I will say they originally, they had no tests and one of the tests had a problem very early on, but that was quickly remedied.

DIAMOND: Other officials pushing back saying there isn't an appetite for a major shakeup amid the pandemic. The question mark over Redfield coming after they released 60 pages of detailed reopening guidelines without a word from the White House which initially shelved those guidelines.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO U.S. PRESIDENT TRUMP: You're saying how come the White House isn't talking about this? That's just false. As opposed to what? I mean, the CDC guidelines are posted. They're accessible to everybody. That is a White House product because it's a CDC product.

DIAMOND: A lack of fanfare for the CDC guidelines but not for reopening.

CONWAY: As for the rallies -- there will be a campaign, there will be rallies. I sure hope so because people want to do that. I would just say, if you are socially distancing at a rally, if you had 2 out of every 10 seats filled at a Trump rally, it would look like a Biden or Clinton rally. So that would be odd.

DIAMOND: Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence traveling outside of Washington for the first time since the day that his press secretary tested positive for coronavirus. The Vice President heading down to the battleground state of Florida where he had lunch in a restaurant with the Florida Governor, Ron DeSanctis. And as you can see in this footage from the Pence's visit down there, nobody wearing masks. Not very much social distancing going on. That's despite the recommendation from the CDC that if you are not able to stay six feet apart from somebody, you should be wearing a mask to protect other people from yourself in the event you are potentially infected.

And we should note, of course, that it's been 12 days since the Vice President had traveled, since the Vice President's press secretary tested positive for coronavirus. That's less than the 14 days that the CDC guidelines say you should self-isolate for, if indeed you are in close contact with someone who tested positive for coronavirus.

The President, meanwhile, we'll see if he decides to wear a mask or not on Thursday when he heads to a Ford manufacturing facility in Michigan. Ford has said that masks are required at that plant. The President though noncommittal so far on whether he will wear a mask for the first time.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Demonstrators gathered across from the White House on Wednesday to protest the Trump administration's handling of the pandemic. They staged a mock funeral lining a nearby park with body bags to symbolize people killed by the coronavirus. Some had signs criticizing President Trump. One read how many graves can one President dig? The so-called day of mourning protest was organized by multiple activists and political action groups.

Well, Dr. Margaret Harris is spokesperson for the World Health Organization and joins me now from Geneva, Switzerland. Thank you so much for being with us.

DR. MARGARET HARRIS, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION SPOKESPERSON: Good morning, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So the W.H.O. announced Wednesday the largest single day increase in worldwide COVID-19 cases, 106,000 in a 24-hour period. What do you think that increase indicates, better testing or something more ominous?

HARRIS: Well you're quite right to mention the testing. What we're seeing is many, many countries have really ramped up their testing and that's very much a positive thing. Because the way to deal with this is to test, track, treat, isolate. But indeed we're also seeing very large outbreaks in many parts of the world. So, yes, in the U.S. but also in Brazil, also in Russia, also in India. Those are the four countries with the largest increase in that period. And we are seeing concerning outbreaks in India's neighbors. And as you know, they are also facing another threat, a huge cyclone.

[04:10:00]

CHURCH: Absolutely. And of course, the countries with the highest cases of COVID-19 are led by leaders who initially or perhaps even now dismiss the seriousness of this new virus and they delayed action to fight it. Let's bring up -- I think we've got the pictures of all of those leaders, the United States, Russia, Brazil and the U.K. Is there a link between slow response and high infection cases here?

HARRIS: Certainly, countries that had experienced big outbreaks and what it really takes to shut it down were in a better position. We've seeing countries like Taiwan and Korea, and also Hong Kong really understood what a respiratory pathogen that can spread through your population looks like because they experienced SARS in 2003. So indeed, certainly getting ready was crucial. Many, many countries had not had that experience for generations.

CHURCH: Yes, and meantime, President Trump has increased his attacks on China after initially praising its response in late January and February. Let's just listen to what he said back then.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And now we're friends with China. In fact, maybe we've never had a better relationship, and we're working with them very closely on the coronavirus.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you concerned that China is covering up the full extent of the coronavirus?

TRUMP: No. China's working very hard.

We've been working very much with China. I've spoken, as you know, with President Xi. They went through hell and their numbers are starting to look very good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Mr. Trump now accuses Beijing of mass worldwide killing. You can see that in the tweet we have on the screen. So what's your reaction to Mr. Trump's attack, to his rhetoric now directed so strongly towards China? Not a mention of Xi Jinping, the President, but specifically the country.

HARRIS: So all countries are working tremendously hard to fight the outbreak. And what we want to see is that continuing massive effort to test, track, treat. I think my director general put it clearly, we need national unity, international solidarity. Those are the things that are going to get us through this huge pandemic.

CHURCH: It does have to be said though that China got everything it wanted at the World Health Assembly this week. Which gave the impression the W.H.O. is under its thumb. Why allow those optics especially when China donated $2 billion to W.H.O. and given this novel coronavirus did originated in Wuhan, China. Should they not be held accountable in some way?

HARRIS: We actually saw a fantastic demonstration of international solidarity at the World Health Assembly earlier this week. Country after country spoke and explained what they were doing, what lessons they were learning from other countries. And at the end they had a resolution on how to take forward the global response on COVID. So this was about all countries working together.

CHURCH: And just finally, I do I want to go back to the very high death toll of the United States. I think that has surprised a lot of Americans. They live in this country. They're very proud of their country. A lot of them are very surprised that somehow, they've become the leader in the highest death toll in the world. How is that possible, do you think? CHURCH: Well, Americans have every right to be proud of their

country. It's a wonderful country and it's got some of the best scientists in the world and it's full of people who have done so much for global health. When you look at death rates, we really won't understand what's underneath that until we do deep analyses. And this really will happen after the outbreak. It may be the age structure of the population. It may be the underlying diseases. Remember actually if you have a strong health system, people live with underlying conditions for longer than they might live in another country. So all those factors will come into it.

CHURCH: All right, Dr. Margaret Harris with the World Health Organization. Thank you so much for talking with us.

Well, the Trump administration has approved a potential $180 million arms sale to Taiwan. It includes advanced technology, heavy weight torpedoes and related equipment. The announcement is bound to anger Beijing with abuse Taiwan as a renegade territory. This is not the first time the U.S. is selling arms to Taiwan. Past arm packages have included tanks, fighter jets and Stinger missiles. And this news comes amid heightened U.S./China tensions over the coronavirus pandemic.

[04:15:00]

Well the latest evidence of economic disaster from the coronavirus will come in just a few hours with new U.S. unemployment figures. Analysts expect as many as 2.3 million Americans filed for benefits last week. That increase would push the total claims to 39 million since the pandemic began.

Meantime, a new census survey shows that among U.S. adults 18 and older, almost half either lost employment income or another adult in their home had lost employment income since March 13th. 39 percent of adults expect they or someone in their home will lose income during the next four weeks. And about 10 percent of adults say they did not always get enough food.

Well the U.S. aid shipment heads to Moscow as Russia battles and escalating COVID-19 crisis. The latest in a live report when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: A surge of new virus cases in Brazil has set another daily record. The country's health ministry on Wednesday reported almost 20,000 new cases of the virus.

[04:20:00]

And now it's approving the use of a controversial unproven drug to try to stop the virus. CNN's Matt Rivers has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well another day and another new daily record for the country of Brazil in terms of its newly confirmed cases. The government Wednesday evening reporting nearly 20,000 newly confirmed cases. That brings Brazil's overall case total to more than 291,000. That number is third highest in the world. Although if we see the trend line that's been going on in Brazil for the past two weeks or so continue, then it is very likely that we will see Brazil soon pass Russia for second place on that list. At which point it would trail only the United States in terms of newly confirmed cases.

The death toll in Brazil is just shy of 19,000 at this point. And as a result of all of this, the lower house of Brazil's Parliament passed a proposed law that would make it mandatory for everyone to wear a mask when out in public.

Meanwhile, Brazil's health ministry is passing requirements, new regulations that are a bit more controversial. It was Wednesday that Brazil's health ministry authorized the use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine to treat patients who are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. The latter of which of course is the controversial drug that President Trump himself has said that he has been taking. Despite the fact that in the United States the Food and Drug Administration has said that both of those drugs should only be used in hospitals and during clinical trials because they both pose grave risks of serious side effects and even have the possibility to kill.

Matt Rivers, CNN, Mexico City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: The United States has now sent dozens of ventilators to Russia as that country battles a health crisis caused by COVID-19. U.S. officials say 50 ventilators were sent in the first shipment loaded on to a military transporter Wednesday. Another 150 are expected to be sent out soon.

Russia now has more than 300,000 coronavirus cases. It's only second to the U.S. when it comes to the highest number of infections worldwide. And our Matthew Chance is tracking all the developments and joins me now live from London. Good to see you, Matthew. So what's the latest on those U.S. ventilators being sent to Russia and of course on President Putin's battle with this pandemic?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well those are places that have been winging their way from a military base in the United States for the past several hours. They include at least 50 American made ventilators, apparently another 150 will be off on their way to Russia shortly afterwards. But it marked a big turnaround, of course, when the situation just a month ago when it was Russia that was sending medical equipment and medical aid to the United States when New York was at the heart of the -- epicenter of the American pandemic over there. Russia sent medical supplies there.

And so it's a recognition, I think, in a sense that since then Russia's pandemic has really spiraled to the extent the number of infections has been increasing dramatically. And it requires this additional help from outside countries, in this case the United States. The latest figures -- you've already referred to them -- but they're just come into us from the coronavirus headquarters in Moscow. Saying that the total number of positive cases in the country has now risen to over 317,000, with just over 3,000 deaths. And of course, with all of the caveats that have been put on Russia's way of adding up its death toll. The expectation is that that figure in reality is going to be much higher.

CHURCH: Yes, that is the grim story here, isn't it? Matthew Chance, many thanks to you bringing the latest on what's happening in Russia.

And be sure to tune in for all of the latest developments of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. and around the globe. Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta host a CNN Global Town Hall, CORONAVIRUS FACTS AND FEARS. See it at 8:00 Thursday evening in New York. That is 8:00 Friday morning in Hong Kong. Only here on CNN.

And you're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Still to come -- some churches in the U.S. are pushing to reopen their doors while others weigh the risks of letting parishioners back in. What health experts recommend. That's ahead.

[04:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: If people mail in ballots there's a lot of illegality. They send in ballots that they harvest ballots. You know all about harvesting. And they do lots of bad things. There's forgeries. There's frankly duplication where they print ballots on the same kind of paper with the same kind of machinery and you can't tell the difference and they send in thousands and thousands of fake ballots. And I'll tell you what, this nation can't be going down that path. Because that's a very dangerous path to go down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: That's President Trump lashing out at officials in Michigan and Nevada. Those states are trying to protect residents from the coronavirus by offering them the option of voting by mail in November. The President tweeted on Wednesday. He had threatened to hold up funding for Michigan over that move. The language in that post was later deleted and replaced with a message that accurately described the states absentee ballot initiative.

In the U.S. states have the legal authority to make changes to their elections as Michigan's top elections official pointed out to CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOCELYN BENSON, MICHIGAN SECRETARY OF STATE: We've got provisions in place to ensure just like in states that have been doing this for decades. That the vote by mail system is secure verified by a voter's signature. So really as we know the data shows voter fraud is infinitesimal. When it happens, we catch it through our security protections in place. What we also know is dangerous to our democracy is misinformation, chaos and confusion about citizens' rights. How they can exercise their right to vote. And that's really what we're trying to cut through today as we've responded to clarify the President's misinformation about how elections work in Michigan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And by the way, President Trump's insistence on broadly attacking vote by mail has perplexed many Republicans who see no advantage to either party in the vote by mail system.

And right now Michigan is under increased pressure handling the virus and a natural disaster. Days of heavy rain caused breaches in two dams.

END