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Study Finds Hydroxychloroquine Linked to Higher Risk of Death; Trump Demands Governors Reopen Churches; U.K. Announces 14-Day Quarantine for Incoming Travelers; Thousands Recovering from Virus Sent to NY Nursing Homes; Violent Confrontations Erupt across U.S. over Face Mask Rules; Worst Week for Mexico; Pakistan Plane Crash; TV Personalities Have Decor Criticized. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired May 23, 2020 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Bianca Nobilo and you are watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Potentially deadly consequences: another major study shows that the drug President Trump has been touting and taking doesn't cure coronavirus. New data shows that it could be deadly.
Plus, travel restrictions for those flying into the U.K. Be prepared to go into self-isolation. We'll take you live, to London, on those new quarantine rules. And --
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DR. ELAINE HEALY, VICE PRESIDENT OF MEDICAL AFFAIRS, UNITED HEBREW OF NEW ROCHELLE: The focus was really 100 percent on the hospitals. And the nursing homes, I always feel that we're sort of an afterthought.
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NOBILO (voice-over): Thousands of patients were sent to nursing homes in New York as they recovered from coronavirus.
But could it have been prevented?
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NOBILO: While many parts of the world look to reopen, the number of new infections is soaring in others. There's now more than 5,200,000 reported globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. remains the worst hit country and is fast approaching 100,000 total deaths.
It's Memorial Day weekend in the states. Many beaches have been reopened for the holiday, leading to fears that increased activity could cause more infections. More people could also return to church pews this weekend, after a demand from President Donald Trump that houses of worship be allowed to reopen.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I call upon governors to allow our churches and places of worship to open right now. If there's any question, they're going to have to call me but they're not going to be successful in that call.
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NOBILO: Meanwhile, a new study finds the unproven drug Mr. Trump often touts is linked to a greater risk of death. President Trump hasn't just been one of the hydroxychloroquine's vocal cheerleaders, he's also claiming to be taking it. Kaitlan Collins reports from the White House.
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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A new study shows that an anti-malaria drug championed by President Trump may harm coronavirus patients.
TRUMP: Hydroxychloroquine.
COLLINS: This study is the largest analysis done to date. And it reveals that coronavirus patients who were seriously ill and given chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine were more likely to develop abnormal heart rhythms or even die.
DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE COORDINATOR: First, this -- I think the FDA has been very clear on their Web site about their concerns about hydroxychloroquine.
COLLINS: Trump has been taking the drug, in hopes of preventing himself from getting coronavirus, despite a warning from the FDA that it hasn't been proven to be safe or effective at treating the virus or preventing it.
TRUMP: Hydroxychloroquine, try it. If things don't go as planned, it's not going to kill anybody.
COLLINS: Trump didn't address the study today, but he did announce that the CDC will issue new guidance declaring places of worship as essential.
TRUMP: In America, we need more prayer, not less.
COLLINS: Trump says he wants churches and other places reopened immediately and claimed he will overrule governors who push back.
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TRUMP: Some governors have deemed liquor stores and abortion clinics as essential but have left out churches and other houses of worship. It's not right. If they don't do it, I will override the governors.
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COLLINS: The new guidelines encourage religious houses to promote good hygiene like handwashing, wear cloth face coverings, intensify cleanings and encourage social distancing, while minimizing the use of shared worship materials like prayer books or hymnals.
He left questions about his statement to Dr. Deborah Birx and his press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany.
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Boy, it's interesting to be in a room that desperately wants to seem to see these churches and houses of worship stay closed.
QUESTION: I object to that. I mean, I go to church. I'm dying to go back to church.
BIRX: Maybe they wait another week.
COLLINS: Today marked Dr. Birx's first appearance in the Briefing Room since late April. Lately, she and other officials like Dr. Fauci have largely disappeared from the airwaves, something Dr. Fauci told CNN will change soon.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We have been talking with the communications people and they realize we need to get some of this information out.
COLLINS: has most traditional Memorial Day activities have been postponed or altered, Dr. Birx encouraged Americans to maintain distance, but spend time outside this weekend.
BIRX: You can play golf. You can play tennis with marked balls. You can go to the beaches.
COLLINS: The president ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff in honor of those who have lost their lives from the virus.
Now the White House hasn't clarified which authority it is that the president is citing when he says he can overrule these governors when it comes to opening up these houses of worship.
But we should note that the governor of New Hampshire was asked about the president's comments. He said, no, it's the governors who will make those decisions about when those places can reopen -- Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.
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NOBILO: We find out, just a little technical issue we were having there. So this weekend will be a big test for the U.S. as more restrictions loosen, more places open and more people emerge from weeks of isolation for the holiday. CNN's Erica Hill has more.
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ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Signs of summer falling into place. Beaches, parks pools open across the country.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We got some counters, so we can count people coming in.
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HILL (voice-over): Bars in Houston getting a head start Thursday night as Texas lifts more restrictions heading into the holiday weekend.
In Florida, all children's activities, including camp can now resume.
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GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Our kids have been out of organized activities for a couple months now and I think that we need to have a pathway to get it back.
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HILL (voice-over): Officials nationwide creating playbooks.
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MAYOR PAUL KANITRA (R-NJ), POINT PLEASANT BEACH: Nobody wants to be the mayor from Jaws who lets everybody back in the water a little too soon, right?
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HILL (voice-over): Social distancing, the new mandate. Masks the must have accessory.
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GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): It is mandatory that you wear the mask within six feet of another person in public. You don't have a right to infect another person, you don't.
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HILL (voice-over): As states ease limits on how many can gather and where, President Trump on Friday declaring houses of worship essential, calling on states to let them open.
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TRUMP: If they don't do it, I will override the governors.
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HILL (voice-over): Rhode Island's Governor adamant, it won't happen in her state this weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. GINA RAIMONDO (D-RI): Honestly, that would be reckless. It's Friday. They're not ready.
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HILL (voice-over): Montgomery, Alabama emerging as a new hotspot.
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MAYOR STEVEN REED (D-AL), MONTGOMERY: I think that we've been a little
bit premature in our reopening of the economy. In Alabama, I think, that's led to the spike. We've seen our numbers consistently go up.
DR. JEANNE MARRAZZO, UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM: It's been smoldering. We've had a lid on it but it is now really having the potential to get out of control.
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HILL (voice-over): New cases in the city nearly doubling since the beginning of the month. Another reminder that as the rules change across the country, the virus has not.
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BIRX: You can see the top three states are Maryland, the District and Virginia. And so there is still significant virus circulating here.
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HILL (voice-over): Minnesota, Nebraska, Chicago and Los Angeles also on the task force radar. Just nine states showing a decline in new cases over the past week, as the CDC now estimates 35 percent of infections are asymptomatic.
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CUOMO: I know the weather is warmer. I know people have been cooped up. I know there's tremendous energy to get out. You have to remain vigilant.
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HILL: Of course, New York state is one of those nine states that were green. Trending down, as you saw. But the state, itself, is not fully reopen. A number of regions have moved into phase one. Not here, in New York City.
Mayor Bill de Blasio saying on Friday, however, if social distancing continues and if the numbers continue to move in the right direction, meaning down, then this area could, in fact, move into phase one in the first or second week of June. Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE) NOBILO: The U.K. is planning to enforce new quarantine rules, starting
June the 8th. And they've already come under fire. The rules will require most travelers, including British citizens, to self-isolate for two weeks upon arrival.
But there will be some exceptions. The British prime minister, meanwhile, may soon have to travel himself. A spokesperson says Boris Johnson could head to the U.S. next month for a potential G7 meeting. So all eyes on that. Nic Robertson joins me live now from London.
First off, Nic, good to see you, socially distanced, of course. So it seems the British government is already being criticized for this quarantine that would be implemented on the 8th of June and that's coming from two quarters, those that think it's going to be really problematic for tourism and for business.
And then those that are saying, why on Earth did you wait so long to do this?
Why not do it prior to the peak in the country?
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: That does seem to be sort of one of the underlying factors here that has pushed the government. There's -- there's a lot of sense within the country that, you know, when you talk to people, one of the issues they point to is the frustration that the government didn't do more, early on, to -- to screen people coming into the country when there were still lots of people coming in.
And what the government is saying is, it was important before. The level of infection was so high in the U.K. that the people coming into the country wasn't the key issue. But now, the infection rates are down. This is a -- this is a possible way that the coronavirus can, perhaps, push towards a second wave in the U.K.
So, screening people coming in makes sense. Now by having said that, Priti Patel, the home secretary, who was giving the press conference yesterday, was asked, well, why if it's so important and the government at that press conference had just talked about the R rate being between 0.7 and 1 being a critical number, why wait until the 8th of June?
So, there is pushback there. There seems to be pushback from the police as well, saying, essentially, we're really stretched and this should be an issue for the border authorities.
So, the question will be how is this realistically going to be enforced?
And then, of course, these concerns from the business community, who say this is absolutely going to damage business in the U.K. So, yes, there are pushbacks and concerns about -- about this, at many levels, as you say. NOBILO: And, Nic, as if the prime minister didn't have enough
problems, the scoop dropped in the last sort of 12 hours that his chief aide, Dominic Cummings, may have broken the lockdown rules, that the government he works for had been encouraging -- not encouraging -- mandating -- the entire country to follow.
What do you know about that?
ROBERTSON: Well, what's been reported here is that Dominic Cummings, at the end of March, when the prime minister and the health secretary were both self-isolating because of coronavirus symptoms, left Downing Street and was living in London.
But according to the reports, he traveled to County Durham, 250 miles away, to where his parents were. Ostensibly, it appears, to drop off his son so his wife and he could self-isolate back in London. And of course, this was against the advice the government was giving at the time, that people should stay at home and self-isolate if they're infected, that they shouldn't be visiting family members elsewhere in the country.
And, on top of that, his parents are both over 70. And, at the time, the government was saying that there should be special shielding for people over 70.
So at many levels, Dominic Cummings appears, from these reports, to have broken this very firm guidance that the whole country was adhering to. Police, apparently, were called to his parents' house in County Durham, when reports emerged from neighbors that they spotted Dominic Cummings at the house there.
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NOBILO: Very dramatic. And, of course, Nic, that does follow, as well, doesn't it, one of the most influential and prominent scientific advisers here, in the United Kingdom, also stepping down from his role because he was revealed to have broken the rules as well. So not great optics for the government there.
Nic Robertson in London. Thank you very much for joining us.
A new report says thousands of people suffering from coronavirus were moved to New York nursing homes.
How did that happen?
A closer look, coming up next.
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(MUSIC PLAYING) NOBILO: A new report shows thousands of people were moved to New
York's nursing homes as they recovered from coronavirus. Nearly 6,000 have died in nursing homes across the state.
Could some of those deaths have been prevented?
CNN's Jason Carroll reports.
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GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): Nursing homes are the single biggest fear in all of this.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the midst of the coronavirus crisis last month, New York's Governor said the medical evidence showed where people were suffering and dying the most in the state.
CUOMO: Vulnerable people in one place, it is the feeding frenzy for this virus.
CARROLL (voice-over): Despite those words, critics say one of the Governor's executive orders ended up hurting rather than helping those most in need. That former directive asked nursing homes to take recovering COVID patients even if those patients had not first been tested to see if they were clear of the virus.
Now The Associated Press reports more than 4,300 recovering coronavirus patients were returned to nursing homes in the state following the march 25 executive order. The State Department of Health says they're still trying to verify their numbers. CNN has not been able to independently confirm the number of patients discharged from hospitals to nursing homes. Stuart Almer is the CEO of the Gurwin Jewish Nursing Home in Long Island.
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STUART ALMER, PRESIDENT AND CEO, GURWIN JEWISH: It might have been more of a rush to find a solution during a crisis.
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CARROLL (voice-over): Almer says under the Governor's directive, his facility had to take in 58 recovering COVID patients from hospitals.
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ALMER: The mandate came and it just took things to another level. It was almost a cascading effect of events.
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CARROLL (voice-over): Palmer says 53 residents from his nursing died from COVID-19 but he says it's unclear if any of those deaths were a direct result from accepting recovering patients.
Others in the long-term care industry not surprised so many recovering COVID patients ended up in nursing homes.
HEALY: The focus was really 100 percent on the hospitals and the nursing homes.
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HEALY: I always feel that we're sort of an afterthought.
CARROLL: Under intense criticism and almost two months after the governor initiated that controversial directive, he reversed it on May 10th and required testing of nursing home residents once a week and staff twice a week.
CUOMO: We're just not going to send a person who is positive to a nursing home after a hospital visit. Period.
CARROLL: According to the state health department, over the past two months, there are more than 3,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths among residents at care facilities in the state.
This week, the governor responding to critics saying the former mandate was partly based on not only a critical need for hospital beds at the time but also on federal guidelines which advised nursing homes should accept COVID-19-positive patients if they could care for them.
CUOMO: Anyone who wants to ask why did the state do that with COVID patients and the nursing home, it's because the state followed President Trump's CDC guidance.
CARROLL: The administration today showing troubling numbers of COVID cases at care facilities nationwide and again asking states to do more testing.
BIRX: To encourage governors that test 100 percent of the nursing home residents and staff because many of our outbreaks that we have seen over the last two months have started in nursing homes.
CARROLL: But some health care experts say looking forward, what is needed are more than CDC guideline but a national policy addressing COVID-19 at nursing homes.
PROFESSOR DON TAYLOR, DUKE UNIVERSITY: What concerns me most is that the country hasn't learned enough from the mistake and we don't have a national testing strategy for nursing homes.
CARROLL: And another important note. Those that we spoke to in the nursing-home industry, tell us that going forward, whether it be at the state level or at the federal level, what would really be helpful is to have more of a seat at the table when policies about the industry is being made. And they just simply say, at this point, that is just not happening enough -- Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.
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NOBILO: Let's go deeper into these findings. Earlier, I spoke with Dr. Armand Dorian, the chief medical officer of USC Verdugo Hills Hospital. Take a listen.
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NOBILO: Dr. Dorian, it's being widely reported now in the United States, incidents of elderly patients suffering from coronavirus being taken back to care homes when they are still recovering from the disease and potentially still contagious.
It's a problem we've also had where I am, in the United Kingdom.
What is your assessment of how that's been handled?
DR. ARMAND DORIAN, USC VERDUGO HILLS HOSPITAL: Well, the initial part probably was not handled as well as it could have been. But a little bit of it is we didn't know enough about the virus.
There is no question, the epicenter of this illness, the epicenter and the major problem and those who are going to suffer, is in the nursing homes. If we just take my hospital as an example, every person who's passed away in my hospital from COVID-19 came from a nursing home.
All of this surge effect that we had in our hospital was from nursing homes. As soon as one person got infected, we knew we were going to get 10-20, from that same nursing home. We have to put things in perspective.
A nursing home has, on average, 100 to 120 people, residents, there. The other interesting fact that we learned was the number of residents that were infected actually correlated, almost evenly, with the number of healthcare workers that were infected.
This is not the same for hospitals. You know, hospitals, for example, my hospitals, we have very few people that were infected. It's -- it's -- part of it is just the way nursing homes are set up and the way that they cared for people were -- were -- were without the same standards, I would say, that we have in a hospital. And that is going to change.
The second part to your question, about sending patients back to nursing homes, that's very complicated. And what ended up happening was the testing capabilities were so lack (ph) and we did not really know exactly what the tests really meant. To this day, we do what's called the reverse PCR testing. The PCR testing, that can actually test positive when people are no longer infectious.
But we don't know because what ends up happening is that test tests for bits and pieces of the virus. Even though the virus may be dead and cut apart inside your body, it still tests positive.
So we have to create criteria for when we believe the patient is no longer infectious. So you have to think of all these things happening at once. So that's why part of the problem was difficult.
What do you do with the patients even after you care for them in the hospital? NOBILO: I do wonder, though, you make the point that this, perhaps, wasn't well handled at the beginning. And I think all the evidence suggests that is the case when we look at the death tolls and we look at, as you say, where the epicenter is.
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NOBILO: But how -- how could that element have possibly been overlooked?
Surely, the elderly are the most vulnerable to most diseases that would arise in the population. And, certainly, even in the early days, when we knew that COVID-19 was respiratory in nature, that it was affecting those who had weaker immune systems.
How do you think that was missed in the early handling of this?
DORIAN: I think we did not have enough information. The key factor, besides the fact that everybody talks about it's very infectious and it spreads, is the asymptomatic spread.
Everything else, even with SARS and MERS, their infectivity happens when they have -- when the person has symptoms.
Here, I just mentioned that approximately 30 percent of people will not have symptoms; yet, they could infect others.
So now, let's go back to a nursing home. The people who are caring for those nursing home patients may feel perfectly fine. And, unbeknownst to them, they're going into an area where it's the highest likelihood that they're going to die from this illness.
So that's where we missed the ball and that's where we should have got that information from China. We should have gotten that information from Italy and we didn't get that information. And we didn't act appropriately.
Instead, we blanketed it as a problem for everyone. Yes, anybody can get it.
But who's really going to suffer from this?
It's those patients in the nursing home.
NOBILO: And why -- why didn't the U.S. get that information from China or Italy?
Was it just not available yet?
Surely, there were indications about the path of transmission by that point.
DORIAN: That's a good question. I don't know why we didn't get that information from China, from Italy, I think we all knew, at that point, that the elderly were the ones that were having the significant high mortality. We started discussing things like Italy's demographic is a higher age
group. That's why they have more people suffering from this illness. Some of these things will, hopefully, be flushed out and we'll figure out why this information wasn't provided.
But the other thing is, our healthcare system in the United States is not -- let's just say it's not ideal, specifically when it comes to the elderly, specifically when it comes to nursing homes. There is a lot of change that needs to happen there. And it's -- it's happening, whether we like it or not.
NOBILO: Dr. Armand Dorian, thank you, very much, for joining us today and giving us your insights. We appreciate it.
DORIAN: Thank you for having me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: Health officials are advising people to wear face masks when out in public. Why that's sparking some clashes in the U.S., coming up next.
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NOBILO: A warm welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Bianca Nobilo, outside London.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases continues to tick upward, even as much of the world makes moves towards reopening. Data tracked by Johns Hopkins University shows cases have soared well past 5.2 million globally.
Many of them are in the U.S., the hardest-hit country. Its virus restrictions are being put to the test this weekend as people venture outside for the Memorial Day holiday. And its total deaths are quickly approaching 100,000.
U.S. president Trump is declaring places of worship essential during the pandemic and called on governors to open them back up in their states. This comes as government health officials issue new guidance to help religious institutions keep their congregations safe. CNN's Nick Valencia has more on that.
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NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After weeks of anticipation, the CDC finally released what they call interim guidelines for faith-based institutions. The guidelines goes into great detail as to what churches can do to safely reopen, things like modify methods for financial contributions, considering a stationary box or collection methods.
Other things include considering whether physical contact, for example, shaking hands, hugging or kissing, can be limited among members of the faith community.
One of the more interesting things that we noticed in reviewing these recommendations was how they began. The CDC saying that this is information considered nonbinding public health guidance. And we hadn't seen, in the draft or really any of those final documents that the CDC has published, language that is, in any way, similar to that.
We know that part of the holdup for the CDC releasing their 68-page draft document, which eventually came out in a 60-page published report, had to do with a holdup over language specifically that the HHS office of civil rights thought to be restrictive of religion.
References to hymnal books, references to also communal cups or communion cups, sharing those. It's interesting because those details still exist in these interim guidelines.
This comes a day after President Trump spoke to a crowd in Michigan, saying that he had put pressure on the CDC to release these recommendations. And now, they're finally out for the public to know -- Nick Valencia, CNN, Atlanta.
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NOBILO: Some Americans are refusing to wear face masks, defying safety rules. And, in a disturbing trend, enforcing mask usage has led to some violent encounters across the country. CNN's Brian Todd has the details on this story.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A confrontation over wearing masks gets deadly at a Family Dollar store in Michigan. Three people charged with killing a security guard who police say had asked a customer to wear a state- mandated face mask. It's unclear if the three defendants have entered pleas. The guard's uncle couldn't make sense of it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My nephew lost his life trying to help save lives.
TODD (voice-over): At this waffle house in Aurora, Colorado, police say a man threatened a cook who he refused to serve him because he wasn't wearing a mask. Police said the man returned later wearing a mask and shot the cook after the cook refused to serve him again. The man is charged with attempted first-degree murder. He has not yet entered a plea.
At a Publix grocery store in Miami Beach earlier this month, this was the scene when a man was not let in because he wasn't wearing a mask.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A violation of my constitutional rights and my civil rights!
TODD (voice-over): Miami Beach police tells CNN this video was captured on a code enforcement officer's body camera.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is no pandemic. I'm filing a (BLEEP) lawsuit.
TODD (voice-over): The sign on the store's front door clearly says customers have to cover their mouths and noses. CNN reached out to Publix for comment and more information on the incident, like what precipitated it.
[02:35:00]
TODD (voice-over): We didn't hear back from them. Miami Beach police did not have information on what started the confrontation but told CNN no arrests were made.
Tension, confrontation and violence seem to have escalated in recent weeks as businesses have opened up and customers have brushed back on the rules requiring face masks.
JAMES GAGLIANO, FORMER FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT: And it's frightening. A lot of these stores are trying to follow the rules and regulations that have been placed out there but without additional security it's become very difficult for them. People are angry. People are frustrated. What this means for individual businesses, it puts them and their employees at a greater risk.
TODD (voice-over): We asked a psychiatrist who has worked with law enforcement, what is it about being asked to wear face masks which might set off confrontations.
DR. LISE VAN SUSTEREN, FORENSIC PSYCHIATRIST: The face is a very personal - our most personal space. When we're telling people you to cover that up, it really kind of invoke a very primitive sense about the fact that you're trying to dominate me, you're trying to humiliate me, you are trying to control me and I'm not going to do it.
TODD (voice-over): Some who have resisted wearing masks have said they have a right not to wear one. And many people have been confused over mask wearing because so many jurisdictions have different ordinances about them. But health experts are unequivocal about why they're important.
DR. PETER HOTEZ, DEAN OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: As you go into the workplace or as you're going into any area where there's significant numbers of people, it's lifesaving. You're actually saving other people's lives by wearing that mask and preventing aerosol release of COVID-19 virus.
TODD: But law enforcement analysts are worried tonight that as more businesses and public spaces reopen, that the confrontations over wearing face masks will only escalate, stretching the resources not only of law enforcement agencies but also of businesses, which may have to hire extra security now -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: Brazil now has the second highest number of coronavirus cases in the world, behind the United States. The country has reported more than 330,000 confirmed cases and counting. On Friday, its health ministry reported more than 20,000 new infections.
And, as our Nick Paton Walsh reports, cases are surging in places where social distancing is nearly impossible.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR (voice- over): Brazil has always had the haves and the have-nots but in Sao Paulo, coronavirus has the poor of its favelas going it more than ever alone.
We follow emergency workers through the dense streets that fuel the fire they're fighting. This is the place people don't want to live in. Yet poverty means it's packed all the same.
(on camera): It's in these densely packed alleyways you can tell the real risk of a high infection rate.
(voice-over): In these tiny rooms, a sickness means kids must look on at those who would care for them.
Renata says she tests only when her patient has three symptoms. And even those tests are paid for by private donations. Mostly, the test is done, she tells me, when the person is already in an advanced stage of the disease. Cases can be tough.
One obese woman needed eight people to carry her to an ambulance and a man with Alzheimer's, well, we had to ask the family if we could physically remove him from his home. It's hard.
Up above is Maria, 53, who caught the virus, despite being masked up in the market, she says, so she's distancing from up high. Even yesterday, the owner of the pharmacy died, she tells me. Many are losing their lives due to someone's carelessness. Renata is part of a wide operation, medicine but masks here too,
teaching people how to make them and giving them machines to do it and also food, 10,000 meals a day, sent out in small numbers into the community, because lockdown means they can't put food on their own tables.
This is a community, in some ways already isolated economically, saving itself. They have a place where the sick are sent to isolate in, a former school. We can't film patients inside. Everything here is done at a distance and says that the worst is yet to come.
(on camera): It's pretty likely these beds will, sadly, soon be full, a school given over to this purpose by the government but an operation here funded by private donations.
(voice-over): The bigger test here, how this amazing spirit of community holds up when the peak makes these streets seem even deadlier -- Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Sao Paulo.
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NOBILO: Peru is extending its state of emergency through the end of June, as its case numbers continue to climb. The government has reported more than 111,000 confirmed infections so far.
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NOBILO: That's the second highest total in Latin America, behind Brazil. On Friday, Peru reported an increase of nearly 3,000 cases. Journalist Guillermo Galdos has a look at how Peruvians are coping with this.
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GUILLERMO GALDOS, JOURNALIST: For the last two months, hundreds of thousands of people in Peru have been leaving the cities to go back to the land in the Amazon. Entire families have been walking through the mountains, escaping coronavirus but also hunger.
Peru was one of the first countries in the region to declare a forced lockdown. And with 70 percent of the economy being informal, the effects were brutal. I spoke with people here that have been camping for weeks, waiting for the buses to take them home.
Peru has now more than 100,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus and more than 3,000 deaths. It's the second most affected country in the region after Brazil. And that has forced the president to extend the state of emergency until the 30th of June.
The internal migration is spreading alarms about spread of the virus into areas, into rural areas, where medical services have practically nonexistent. Initially, the government was registering all those people who wanted to travel. But desperation forced thousands to leave without being tested.
Today, we are seeing the numbers of infected people in all the regions of the country raise at a huge rate -- for CNN, Guillermo Galdos, Lima.
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NOBILO: The situation is similar in Mexico. Since recording its first case back in March, both number and the rate of infections have steadily risen there. Mexico now has more than 62,000 confirmed COVID- 19 cases. This past week has been the worst since the outbreak began. Friday, alone, nearly 3,000 new cases were confirmed.
CNN's Matt Rivers reports on just how bad it is right now in Mexico.
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MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yet another new daily record recorded here in Mexico. After Friday evening, Mexican health officials reported an additional 479 deaths as a result of this outbreak. That is the largest single-day increase in the death toll since this outbreak began. And, remember, it was just two days ago that the previous daily death
toll increase record had been set. That number was 424; clearly eclipsed, just 48 hours later, by today's figure of 479.
As for the confirmed number of cases, Mexican health officials reporting nearly 3,000 additional confirmed cases of this virus. That brings the overall case number to more than 62,500.
But that is just a lot of numbers. And I want to put into context just how bad the last week has been here in Mexico. Consider the overall death toll, right now. 6,989. Of all those deaths, nearly one-third of those deaths have been reported in just the last seven days.
When it comes to the case total, the case total has increased by nearly 40 percent in just the last week. It is without question that we are seeing the worst days of this outbreak in Mexico so far. And no one really knows exactly where it goes from here.
What we do know, for sure, is that, at least at this moment, the government says it is continuing with its plan to begin to slowly reopen certain sectors of its economy by June 1st -- Matt Rivers, CNN, Mexico City.
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NOBILO: Still ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, tragedy in Pakistan. A plane carrying many home for religious celebrations crashes into a crowded neighborhood. The latest, next.
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NOBILO: This was the scene in Karachi, Pakistan, Friday, where a passenger plane crashed in a residential area. After an hours-long search for survivors, local health department officials say all 99 people on the plane are accounted for; 97 bodies have been recovered, two people survived. Pakistan's army is searching for anyone in the rubble.
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NOBILO: Joining us now is CNN producer Sophia Saifi. She is in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Sophia, what is the immediate priority now in the investigation?
SOPHIA SAIFI, CNN PRODUCER: Well, Bianca, what's happening at the moment is, is that, according to information released by the military this morning, when they confirmed that all 99 passengers and crew were accounted for, there's now going to be a process of identifying the bodies.
Now we do know that two survivors have miraculously survived that horrific crash that took place in a residential area. So there is a process of families traveling to Karachi. There will be DNA testing to figure out and identify the bodies of the deceased, the identities of the deceased.
We know that, as of right now, there is an inquiry that will be put into process. But that has not happened yet. We're expecting a press conference by the CEO of Pakistan International Airlines, as well as the aviation minister, later on today. So hopefully, there will be some clarity on that.
What we do know is that the crash was caused by a technical issue. We do have audio of the mayday call of the pilot before the crash happened, which was shared with CNN by the -- by aviation officials. So we have some information.
But there's, again, not much clarity on what caused this A-320 plane to crash in a very highly congested residential area of Karachi, which happens to be the most populated city of the country.
The hospitals were on high alert. And this plane, this flight itself, was a special flight that had started -- that had been added to the roster of flights, which had only just resumed a couple of days ago, actually, just last week, after the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown.
So you had hospitals that were already on high alert because of COVID- 19. Karachi is the city which was most affected by coronavirus. It has the highest number of deaths in the country.
And now, you have another emergency situation yesterday for those doctors, which were already under a lot of pressure because the ongoing crisis, medical crisis, in the country -- Bianca.
NOBILO: Sophia Saifi in Islamabad, thank you very much.
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NOBILO: You will continue to follow the story for us as we learn more about the investigation, the passengers who lost their lives and those two miraculous survivors, as you say. Thank you.
We'll be right back, after this quick break.
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NOBILO: With almost everyone working from home now, viewers are paying extra close attention to home decor in those live shot backgrounds. I don't know if you are as well. Actually, don't, because these are my cerebral books and my foliage that's very casually placed there. Jeanne Moos looks at the good, the bad and the heavily criticized as just about everybody indulges in a bit of "rate that room."
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Whether it's a cat on a weather forecaster's lap or wallpaper so loud it makes your head hurt, these dispatches from home give viewers plenty to read into.
STEPHEN COLBERT, CBS HOST: There you've got the books. You seem very smart.
NATHAN LANE, ACTOR: We're going for prison library.
MOOS (voice-over): Even a prison library wouldn't put up with Bill Kristol's messy books.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at that, color-coded books.
What should I read tonight?
How about something blue?
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MOOS (voice-over): A Chicago weatherman was caught reading with his hairy knee exposed, nabbed at home wearing shorts.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Try to get to Paul in just a little bit and we'll be right back after this.
MOOS (voice-over): And viewers aren't just watching. Room Rater @ratemyskyperoom is judging.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's unhinged.
MOOS (voice-over): The Room Rater gave Tom Friedman's backdrop four out of 10, saying it's like panic room meets after-hours club. He gave Governor Christie zero.
"Repaint. Burn the furniture. Make masks from the drapes."
Rater Claude Taylor has no interior design credentials. He is just creating --
CLAUDE TAYLOR, BLOGGER: Lighthearted, social distancing content.
MOOS (voice-over): He picks up on toilet paper and crooked lampshades, advises "reposition plant to block vent," after he suggested to Peter Baker, "For God sake, man, hang something on that picture hook."
Baker hung two somethings, one of them, on a door. And when the rater gave Ken Burns a nine for his attic.
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KEN BURNS, HISTORIAN: It's certainty.
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MOOS (voice-over): Ken Burns himself let the rater know it's a barn.
Everybody's a critic.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wait.
Does this guy have a framed picture of himself?
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MOOS (voice-over): Yes, Chris Cillizza tells us it's a photo of his first appearance on CNN some 15 years ago.
All of the home judging is enough to drive a reporter outside to clown around. But even outside isn't safe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not exactly clear. It's a little windy out here, Andrea.
MOOS (voice-over): We give the lights a 10 for falling so symmetrically -- Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
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NOBILO: Well, you're welcome that you didn't see my knee. And feel free to rate mine, if you so wish.
Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo. Stay with us because Michael Holmes, my favorite Australian, will be back with you, with more news, in just a moment.
