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U.S. Hits New Record with More Than 50,000 Cases in a Single Day; Atlanta Airport Checkpoint Closed After Worker Tests Positive; New Jersey Casinos, Amusement Parks Reopen Today; Arizona Gym Stays Open, Defying Governor's Orders. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired July 02, 2020 - 06:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have now, in a single day, seen the highest number of cases, more than 50,000.

[05:59:45]

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: If your state is going up in numbers for five days in a row, you need to go into some sort of stay-at-home mode again.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think we're going to be very good with the coronavirus. I think that at some point that's going to sort of just disappear, I hope.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This president has essentially gone AWOL from the job of leadership.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bars, dine-in restaurants and movie theaters will also now close again in 19 Californian counties.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do not take your guard down, please.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Thursday, July 2, 6 a.m. here in New York.

Breaking overnight, for the first time, the United States reported more than 50,000 new cases of coronavirus in a single day. Fifty thousand. It's a record. An alarming record, but likely a fleeting one, because all signs are it will be shattered soon.

One top doctor warns we're approaching apocalyptic levels in places like Texas, Florida, and Arizona, all states that just reported record cases overnight.

Arizona and South Carolina reported record deaths. Several states reporting record hospitalizations. In a new interview, the president says when he looks at all this, how

the U.S. is doing, he thinks we're going to be very good. Very good. Thirty-seven states, all the states you're seeing in red there, are seeing a rise in new cases. Very good.

Nearly half the country is now rolling back plans to reopen businesses.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: All of this, of course, as doctors are now warning about a perfect storm this holiday weekend. With people gathering to celebrate the Fourth at beaches, at parties. And while many cities have already canceled their fireworks to keep people from gathering, the White House has plans for a celebration on the National Mall, which could attract hundreds of thousands of people.

The mayor of D.C. is worried, but the event is on federal land, so it's out of her control.

President Trump will actually kick off his holiday weekend tomorrow in South Dakota with a fireworks show at Mount Rushmore. And just a reminder: masks and social distancing won't be enforced there, though for the first time Mr. Trump is suggesting he has no problems with masks. In fact, he even said he thinks he looks good in one, though he hasn't worn one in public and still insists it's a personal choice.

The president is also repeating his claim that the virus will disappear on his own.

Let's begin in Sarasota, Florida, with CNN's Boris Sanchez where, Boris, the virus is clearly not disappearing.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Erica. In the month of June, we saw a rise of more than 800,000 coronavirus cases across the country, more than 100,000 of them coming from right here in the Sunshine State of Florida.

Despite warnings from health officials and these surging numbers, President Trump continues to suggest it will all soon simply disappear.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ (voice-over): As the U.S. marked a new high, reporting more than 50,000 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, President Trump predicted the days of the disease will soon be over.

TRUMP: I think we're going to be very good with the coronavirus. I think that, at some point, that's going to sort of just disappear, I hope.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You still believe so? Disappear?

TRUMP: I do, I do.

SANCHEZ: But health experts say that is simply not true. WILLIAM HASELTINE, FORMER HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL PROFESSOR: This

pandemic is not disappearing. This pandemic must be disappeared. And it can be, without a drug, without a vaccine, if you have leadership, governance, and individual responsibility.

SANCHEZ: New infections increased in at least 37 states over the past week. Dr. Anthony Fauci says it is not too late to turn the surge around.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES (via phone): It does not have to be 100,000 cases a day. I use that number, because I want to jolt people. If you leave the virus to its own devices, it will take off on you.

SANCHEZ: Five states marking their highest daily number of new cases. In response, California Governor Gavin Newsom announcing he is tightening restrictions, closing indoor businesses, including restaurants, bars, museums, movie theaters, and zoos within 19 counties, making up 72 percent of California's population.

Newsom also asking residents to think twice about having family gatherings this holiday weekend.

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): This is about keeping you safe, about keeping them safe. Your friends, neighbors, and family members.

SANCHEZ: Texas adding almost 8,100 new cases. And in Houston, the mayor fears hospitals could reach capacity by mid-July, if people don't act soon to change the current trajectory.

MAYOR SYLVESTER TURNER (D), HOUSTON: Unless the behavior changes and people will engage in social distancing and wear their masks and proper hygiene, there could reach a point where they are really at their limit.

SANCHEZ: Despite repeatedly refusing to wear masks in public, President Trump showing signs of pressure from his allies.

TRUMP: I'm all for masks. I think masks are good. I would wear -- if I were in a group of people, and I was close -- I mean, people have seen me wearing one.

SANCHEZ: But Trump stopping short of endorsing a mask mandate.

TRUMP: I don't know if you need mandatory, because you have many places in the country where people stay very long distance. You talk about social distancing.

[06:05:03]

SANCHEZ: Facial coverings still aren't required statewide in Florida or Arizona. Both governors leaving it up to local officials, despite calls for them to step in before the situation gets even worse.

MAYOR REGINA ROMERO (D), TUCSON: The virus just can't tell from one town to the next city whether they can step over -- whether the virus can step over that particular jurisdiction. The crisis is everywhere, and we need swift action by Governor Ducey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: And because of the surge of cases, Miami's Jackson Memorial Health system, one of the biggest hospital systems in the state, John, is warning that they're running out of Remdesivir, that key anti-viral drug, the only one that's been approved by the FDA to treat coronavirus.

They're hoping that the public will heed their warnings come July Fourth weekend. On top of that, Vice President Mike Pence visiting the Sunshine State today. He's going to be meeting with Governor Ron DeSantis in Tampa. Potentially, masks, hopefully, will be part of the conversation, John.

BERMAN: We'll see. All right. Boris Sanchez for us in Sarasota.

The line is long for testing, supplies of Remdesivir running low. Gives you a sense of the situation in many states around the country.

With that, the July Fourth weekend could be a perfect storm for new infections. That's the warning from one leading health expert. So what can be done to get this under control? Next.

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[06:10:32]

BERMAN: A top infectious disease expert says he is very concerned about the surge in coronavirus cases heading into this holiday weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JOSHUA BRAROCAS, INFECTIOUS DISEASE PHYSICIAN, BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER: It's set up a perfect storm. The combination of travel, the combination of opening, reopening, perhaps in some cases, too early. And the combination of -- of people not necessarily following some of these preventative guidelines. I will say that I -- I'm very concerned, especially given this coming weekend.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: I want to bring in Dr. Ali Khan, dean of the College of Public Health at The University of Nebraska, and the former director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response at the CDC.

And William Haseltine, he's the chair and president of Access Health International and author of CovidFamilyGuide.com.

You both, I think, look at the current situation with more trained expert eyes than the rest of us.

So Professor Haseltine, when you see a record number of new cases, 50,000 new cases in one day in the United States. Five states, including the two most populous states in the country; Texas and California, hitting a record number of new cases; Arizona and South Carolina hitting record deaths, when you see all these statistics, what's the most important thing to you?

HASELTINE: Well, the most important thing is to stop it. And the good news is people can stop it through their own actions.

It's helpful to have great leadership. You need government to have the tools to help us. But ultimately, it's up to us to make sure we take care of ourselves, our families, those people around us.

And we know how to do that. We wear masks. We keep social distance. We don't mix in large group. And especially over this weekend, when things are so out of control.

You know, people say, maybe this will go away. Well, it might go away with over a million Americans dead. That is what everybody in public health is worried about. Yes, it can go away, but the cost will be so high, nobody wants to pay it. And nobody needs to pay it.

HILL: Nobody needs to pay it. You talk about the holiday weekend, Dr. Khan, I'm wondering, do you think that, in most areas of the country where we're seeing these surges, people have the will to do, just as we heard from Professor Haseltine, to -- to really take it upon themselves to look out for both themselves and for those around them.

DR. ALI KHAN, DEAN, COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH, UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA: I think that's part of the solution. So when I look at these, you know, 50,000 cases a day, I like to remind Americans that many countries in Europe have all contained their outbreak. New Zealand has eliminated the outbreak. They have zero cases. And China is near elimination, three cases a month, 1.4 billion people.

So it's time to go back to first principles. So we need integrated leadership at the local, state, and national level. All of government responds.

As Professor Haseltine said, we need community engagement, and that's our part of wearing masks, social distancing, and hand washing.

We need to drop deaths by using dexamethasone.

But the primary strategy is getting rid of cases in the community, and that is a governmental responsibility to test and trace. So we are forced to shelter in place and wear masks, because government is not doing what it's supposed to be doing, which is test and trace and get these cases down.

BERMAN: And also, I think, acknowledging the problem. I think acknowledging that the cases are going up. Acknowledging that there are some places where it is near out of control has to be part of leadership.

And Professor Haseltine, to you. You said, it's not going to just go away, or if it does just go away, it's going to go away with more than a million deaths. Control room, I want to play S-6 here. The president of the United

States repeatedly, over months of this pandemic, has gone in with a strategy of, it's just going to go away. So listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away.

Just stay calm, it will go away.

It's going to go away. This is going to go away.

Eventually it's going to be gone. It's going to be gone.

It's going away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Well, it didn't go away in March when he said it was just going to go away. It didn't go away in April when he said it was just going to go away. Not in June, and now we're in July, Professor.

HASELTINE: Yes, it's -- it's not going to go away by myself. We need, as I said -- my colleague has said it very eloquently, we need individual action. We need government action at all levels. This is not going to go away.

[06:15:10]

People have to realize that them, themselves, their children, and everyone they love at this point is in danger.

It can be controlled. That's the good news. It can be controlled. Even today, there are countries that do it. There are counties in California. The Bay Area has controlled it pretty well. Other places in California have not.

If you look at a county-by-county map, it's really interesting. Some places do it really well, and in the same state, some other people don't do it very well.

HILL: When we look at what we need, Dr. Khan, you just -- you just mentioned, too, the need for testing and tracing. Admiral Girard saying, we can't -- it's critical, but we can't test our way out of the current outbreaks, during a briefing on Wednesday. He says testing can't do it all.

KHAN: He's absolutely right. Testing can't do it all. And I think we should no longer be counting the number of tests. The real issue is action on those tests.

So what I want to hear every day is how many cases have we isolated? How many days did it take to isolate those cases?

I mean, talking about testing now, it's probably adequate. Yes, we could use more testing in the United States. But talking about testing is so January 2020 at this point. I want to know what public health action was taken on the basis of these tests that's getting cases down.

And that's not a count of tests. That's like if I ask somebody how my deck is doing, and they tell me how many nails they bought. No, I want to know how my deck is doing, not how many nails you bought today.

HILL: Can I follow up on that really quickly? Just to your point about you want to know what -- you know, which cases are being isolated and how they're being handled. We've seen over and over that that's one of the major issues. There are not enough contact tracers. We don't know where they are.

And when you're looking at more than 50,000 cases in this country added in one day, I mean, realistically, can you isolate all those cases? Can you contact trace all of those people, 50,000 people?

KHAN: So you can do the first step, right? You can definitely isolate -- you can identify those people quickly and get them into isolation. I will be the first to admit it's very hard to do contact tracing on that many cases.

But remember, there's 333 million people in America, right? So -- and these cases are across the United States. So every city, state, and county should be working on their own cases and getting them into containment, because if they don't get it into containment, they are liable to get this new spike. Ninety percent of Americans are still susceptible to this disease.

HILL: All right. So stay with us for -- for just a moment, because we're going to talk just ahead about vaccines. Where do we stand on a vaccine? There is some hope this morning. The latest results in one leading trial. But that hope also comes with some caution. We'll discuss that, next.

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[06:21:59]

HILL: A new study finds the number of deaths from coronavirus could be nearly 30 percent higher than the official count. We're back with Dr. Ali Khan and William Haseltine.

As we look at this, the fact that the number of deaths could be 28 percent, almost 30 percent higher, Professor, is that surprising to you at all?

HASELTINE: No, we've known for a long time that we're undercounting deaths. The way you measure that is excess deaths over the previous period last year. And it's always been almost 50 percent higher.

Part of that is attributed to people not going for medical care, but part of that has got to be due to the coronavirus. It tracks almost exactly with the death figures, so it's not a surprise. It's disappointing; it's sad; but it's not a surprise. BERMAN: Professor, the president obviously continues to be hopeful

about a vaccine. Pfizer released new information about its vaccine trials, saying that in the most recent trial -- I think it was with, what, 45 people -- that the people it was tested on, they did develop antibodies after two doses. What's your take on these results and what it might mean?

HASELTINE: Well, it would be very disappointing if they didn't develop antibodies, but that doesn't mean protection, and it doesn't mean it's safe.

I want to make a point, though. The questions that people have, like I have, about the safety and efficacy of this vaccine should not redound to other vaccines. Other vaccines that are out there are safe for your children.

And one of the things that I'm very worried about is, in this epidemic, many children aren't getting the vaccines they need. They are very important, and they are safe, and they are effective.

Now, what can we do about this disease? People are racing all over the world to find a vaccine. And I'm pretty sure that there will be one approved by the end of the year. Will it be as effective as we want it to be?

And more importantly, if we're going to give it to a billion or three billion healthy people, will it really be safe? We're not going to know by 2020. We will know eventually.

But there is something that can be done. There are drugs being developed that can act like mini vaccines to protect you if you are exposed, and can treat you and cure you if you're infected.

So that's the good news. We will have a space between the time we have effective ways, like mini-vaccines, to protect you before we actually have a vaccine that is safe and effective.

HILL: Things -- and there are things, of course, that we know, that we can do every day, all of us.

When it comes to what we're learning about some of these vaccines, some of the caution that a lot of people have, Dr. Khan, is the fact that, you know, we're sort of learning about them by press release, as people have said, but we haven't seen the data. It's not peer- reviewed.

Just put that into context for us, if you could. How important are those two points when it comes to data and a peer review?

KHAN: So let me put it in bigger context for you, which is countries have eliminated this disease and contained this disease without vaccine; and the path to an uncertain vaccine is paved in death. So that's the bigger context of these vaccines.

And, yes, there's not a whole lot of data available. But the honest truth is, this data of what's happening in people with their antibody levels is really immaterial. We have -- we would have hundreds of vaccines. What really matters is the final data that shows a vaccine saves lives. And that's the only data that really matters.

[06:25:17]

BERMAN: Could I ask both of you, as we head into this holiday weekend, Dr. Khan, I'll start with you, since you're in Nebraska. A lot of great coastline there. How comfortable would you be going to the beach this weekend?

KHAN: John, there's a lot of wonderful things to say about Nebraska, including the lovely sand hills, I'll tell you, OK? Chimney Rock. Come visit me one day.

So, again, I'd like to make sure that I'm not alarmist, OK? So any time you bring people together, there's an increased risk of infection. There's an increased risk of super-spreading events. But let's, you know, look at what we've seen recently with the Black Lives Matter protests. They were outside with lots of masks, very little evidence of increased disease. So most of these events are problematic inside in bars, in closed spaces.

But still, my recommendation to people is, when you have this many cases in a community, please stay home, social distance, and put pressure on your government to get cases down.

HILL: As John said, you both answered that one, Professor Haseltine. I mean, being a Connecticut native, I know how beautiful the beaches are there. But again, your advice for this weekend for people?

HASELTINE: Well, my advice is to do what you can to keep your social distance, to wear your mask. And even if you're having close friends over, let's say for a barbecue, keep them outside. And even if it starts to pour rain and we have thunderstorms all the time in the late -- late afternoons, don't go inside, because that's where the danger is greatest.

So be sensible, with the way -- assume, you have to assume at this point everybody is infected. You have to assume that for your own protection.

BERMAN: Professor, you both said that things can get better, if we do behave this way. But as you look across the country and you see the numbers, do you see the evidence that people are doing right now what they need to be doing?

HASELTINE: No, they're not. In some places, they are. I was just in -- walking the streets of Manhattan, and over 80 percent of people were wearing masks and keeping their distance. But that isn't true everywhere, and it's particularly difficult for young people who've been cooped up for three -- three months.

But you know, we went through the AIDS epidemic, and we understand the need for people to get together. But you have to be careful how you get together. That's a lesson we all learned during HIV/AIDS. Yes, you can control it, but you've got to control your behavior. And

if you have an imperative to get together with somebody, you've got to understand whether they're infected or not infected. It's really important for young people to get that message. Know who you're going to be with.

BERMAN: Professor Haseltine, Dr. Khan, we look forward to many beach weekends with you in Nebraska. Thanks so much for being with us this morning.

KHAN: And remember, John, Erica, mask on.

BERMAN: Excellent. Good example, we appreciate that, for sure.

So with more people traveling this weekend, there is concern about the virus spreading in airports. Now the main TSA checkpoints of the world's busiest airport, it has been closed after a worker tested positive for coronavirus.

CNN has reporters covering the pandemic across the country.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Pete Muntean in Washington.

And this is the start of what would typically be one of the busiest holiday weekends for air travel. But the TSA had to close part of security at the world's busiest airport in Atlanta.

Security at the main domestic terminal closed for deep cleaning after a worker there tested positive for coronavirus. TSA numbers show that more than 860 TSA workers have tested positive for coronavirus since this pandemic began.

The head of the TSA says the agency is opening more lanes at all airports across the country to keep wait times low and to limit exposure.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jason Carroll in New York.

New Jersey casinos are set to reopen today. New Jersey's governor says that the casinos will self-monitor. Also adding, there are, quote, "enormous amounts of protocols" being put into place, including social distancing, sanitization and hygienic barriers.

Face coverings required by people entering. Anyone not wearing one will not be allowed inside.

Some of the other spots set to reopen include amusement parks, bowling alleys and water parks.

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Evan McMorris-Santoro in Scottsdale, Arizona.

We are inside the debate over the pandemic in Arizona. This is one of 18 locations of the Mountainside Fitness gym chain, which is currently suing the state over new regulations calling for gyms to shut down as cases and deaths rise in Arizona.

People, as you can see, are still working out, and the gym is remaining open, despite an order from the governor.

END