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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Donald Trump Underplays Severity Of COVID-19 Case Rise; U.S. Formal Withdrawal From The WHO In 2021; Maryland Biotech Firm Gets $1.6 Billion To Develop Vaccine; Trump's Niece Calls Him A "Sociopath" In Tell-All Book; White House: The Assertion Pres. Trump Cheated On His SAT Test Is False; Brazil President Tests Positive For Coronavirus. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired July 07, 2020 - 20:00   ET

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

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Thank you very much. I appreciate your time, Bill Weir.

Thanks for joining us. "AC360" starts now.

[20:00:06]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Good evening. We are in a good place with this pandemic. A good place. We've done a good job. How does that sound to you? Does that sound like reality that we're in a good place? Because those are the words of the President of the United States today, even as the numbers and his own experts, scientists with decades of experience say otherwise.

The President says we are in a good place with the pandemic. Those are his actual words. I didn't actually believe it when I first heard it, but it's on tape. He was asked by Greta Van Susteren about Dr. Anthony Fauci's assessment that the country is still quote, "knee-deep" in the first wave of coronavirus. Here is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I think we are in a good place. I disagree with him. We have done a good job. I think we're actually -- we are going to be in two, three, four weeks by the time we next speak, I think we're going to be in very good shape.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: So this is a good place to be in a pandemic, in case you were wondering, and soon we're be in very, very good shape he said.

The President spoke of Florida and California, states that became in his words, hot, but even there, he said, quote, "We're going to be very good, very soon."

The same President who told Diamond and Silk that the virus would miraculously disappear by April, the one that keeps saying we have the best testing. Keeping them honest, it is remarkable how sunny things can look from inside a biological bunker at the White House where everyone has to wear masks around you and get tested just to come in contact with you.

It's a bunker so secure, apparently, not even the sound of your own leading experts can penetrate it. The President says we're in a good place. Dr. Anthony Fauci said just this yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: The current state is really not good in the sense that as you know, we have been in a situation where we were averaging about 20,000 new cases a day.

Two days ago, it was at 57,500. So, within a period of a week and a half, we've almost doubled the number of cases.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: So of course, the President doesn't have to take it from the Nation's most trusted infectious disease expert, he would listen to other top members of his own virtually invisible Coronavirus Taskforce who also acknowledged the situation today in a call with State Governors.

This is Vice President Mike Pence and Dr. Deborah Birx.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As you all have taken note, many southern states have seen a rise in cases as of this morning. I think Dr. Birx, if you want to give a brief summary, we have nine -- in the District of Columbia with rising cases, combined with rising percent of positives.

DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE COORDINATOR Clearly ((INAUDIBLE), California, Texas and, Arizona growing issues in South Carolina and Georgia. And then (INAUDIBLE) rally, jut want to put the alert out there of both rising percent positives and rising cases in Oklahoma, Iowa, Washington state, D.C. and Montana, along with our concern of increasing case numbers in Louisiana, Nevada, North Carolina and Tennessee.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

COOPER: Yes, that sounds good. I mean, that sounds like a good place to be, right? California, Texas, Florida, Arizona, South Carolina, Georgia, Oklahoma, Iowa, Washington State, Washington D.C. and Montana, Louisiana, Nevada and North Carolina and Tennessee. That's 14 states in the District of Columbia -- a good place.

By the way, what you heard the Vice President say on that call acknowledging the rise in cases and percentage of positives, he is without really actually saying it, acknowledging that when he said this just a couple of weeks ago, he wasn't being honest about what was already happening in states the administration pushed to reopen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PENCE: We slowed the spread. We flattened the curve. We saved lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: We slowed the spread. We flattened the curve. We saved lives. That was from the last coronavirus briefing last month. He was talking in the past tense, you might have noticed, but he wasn't then acknowledging the rise in cases that was already happening.

Now, he has no other choice. But the President wants you to believe everything is good and today, he talked about forcing schools to open and pretending that governors or school officials might be reticent to open because they think it helps them politically.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We hope that most schools are going to be open. We don't want people to make political statements or do it for political reasons. I think it is going to be good for them politically, so they keep the schools closed. No way.

So we are very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools -- to get them open, and it's very important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: The man whose every decision is based on what will get him reelected, what will energize his base and appeal to people's most primal fears is saying that governors and school officials don't want schools open because of politics. Because it benefits them politically.

We are so deep down into a well of lies, it is hard to even realize how dark this is. There is no political benefit in keeping schools closed, keeping kids upset and parents angry and parents unable to work because their kids are stuck at home.

Oh, yes, politically that is going to serve you really well by doing that.

[20:05:11]

COOPER: Right now, outside of a very few states, the entire country is dealing with the consequences going too fast too soon and the President is urging at the President's direction as Vice President Pence always says, but without his leadership on how to do it safely, without his basic encouragement to wear a mask and social distance while opening.

As of tonight, infections are rising in 31 states holding steady in 15 and dropping in just four. In comparing states that rushed to reopen to those that didn't only underscores the point.

Here is New York in green. Florida in pink. New York worked hard to get the cases down. It has been cautious about reopening. Florida reopened quickly and now, new cases rising. The number of people being hospitalized growing.

And in counties across the state, intensive care units operating at hundred percent capacity. No beds available.

Yet against that grim backdrop, Florida's Governor today ordered schools to reopen for in-person learning in the fall and the President praised him for it, of course, even as he said, the plans to hold the Republican National Convention in Jacksonville are now quote, "flexible,"

And even as new modeling from the University of Washington today forecast more than 208,000 people in this country may be dead of COVID-19 by Election Day, which the President still does not seem to think is all that bad because he is still repeating the same falsehoods as ever about testing and mortality which fell for a while, but is once again sadly sickeningly ticking up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Therefore we have more cases. Because we're doing more testing, we have more cases. If we did half the testing, we'd have far fewer cases, but people don't view it that way.

What they have to view, though, is if you look at the chart and maybe Mike has it, but we looked at it before, if you look at the chart of deaths, deaths are way down.

So what we want to do is we want to get our schools open. We want to get them open quickly, beautifully in the fall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Dr. Fauci calls the mortality claims quote, "a false narrative." In any case, those numbers, they have begun rising again. More than 600 fatalities today compared to about 250 a day over the weekend.

But the Vice President who briefly acknowledged the reality today then nodded of course and agreed and praised the President for his leadership because that's what he does and he tried to spin the President's lie about 99 percent of COVID cases being totally harmless.

Here is how the Vice President attempted to reinterpret that lie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PENCE: Look, the American people know President Trump is an optimists. He believes in this country, but he also believes the American people deserve to have the whole story.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: What does that even mean? The President doesn't want you to know the whole story. If he wanted you to know the whole story, he wouldn't have stopped the virus taskforce daily briefings. He wouldn't have silenced Dr. Fauci and others from appearing on

television like he used to. He wouldn't claim that we are in a good place.

President Trump is not an optimist, like the Vice President is claiming, who just believes so gosh darn much in our country. He isn't an optimist at all. He is a fabulist. And the Vice President can call a lie a hope, but it doesn't make it so. It is lipstick on a pig, Mr. Vice President.

The American people, they do deserve the whole story. They deserve the whole truth, as well.

In a moment, two public health experts in two hard hit states, Texas and Florida, but first more on the big picture from CNN's Nick Watt.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Big Tex taking a break for the first time since the World War II. The Texas State Fair just cancelled as the military sends medical personnel to San Antonio to help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): The four days leading up to the Fourth of July combined were the four deadliest days that we've had.

My concern is that we may see greater fatalities going forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT (voice over): In Florida, ICUs in 43 hospitals are now full.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLOS GIMENEZ (R), MAYOR OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA: Especially, we need to look at our younger population that we know had a tremendous spike in their positivity rate, which in turn has infected other people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT (voice over): Florida still won't reveal how many calls COVID-19 patients they have in hospitals, despite the Governor's claims today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): All the data that goes into this is all available.

QUESTION: I have spreadsheet from that data, Governor. It is not available.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT (voice over): But Miami-Dade County does release COVID-19 hospital numbers and they are up 90 percent in just two weeks.

Still, the state just issued an order for schools to reopen next month.

There is push back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHEVRIN D. JONES (D), FLORIDA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: We can't go on this on this path of putting our teachers in this petri dish of danger.

ALBERTO CARVALHO, SUPERINTENDENT, MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA, PUBLIC SCHOOLS: I will not reopen our school system August 24th if the conditions are what they are today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT (voice over): In California, the State's Capitol now closed indefinitely after at least five lawmakers tested positive. Test lines are getting longer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ASHISH JHA, DIRECTOR, HARVARD GLOBAL HEALTH INSTITUTE: All of this just makes it so much harder to manage this disease.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[20:10:05]

WATT (voice over): Quest Diagnostics says, last month, results were taking two to three days. Now, it's four to six. And quick results are key in effectively isolate the infected.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. PETER HOTEZ, DEAN OF THE SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: The cases are rising so rapidly that we cannot even do contact tracing anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT (voice over): Undiagnosed silent spreaders might be responsible for around half of all cases, according to one new study. And as cases climb, nearly half of states now slowing or rolling back reopening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): So, if they keep moving up, we're going to dial back if we have to. And that's the last thing any of us wants

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Nick Watt joins us now. So, the Trump administration made good on its previous threat to begin its formal withdrawal from the World Health Organization today. They says it will take place finally in 2021.

When is the withdrawal complete and is it, I assume, it is irreversible depending on the next election.

WATT: Right. So, Anderson, a State Department official confirmed to us that the letter was sent to the U.N. and the U.S. will formally leave the World Health Organization in a year from now, July 6, 2021.

Now, President Trump has long criticized the W.H.O. saying that they have enabled China's cover up of the origins of COVID-19.

But you know, plenty of lawmaker on both sides of the aisle have also been critical of the W.H.O., but they are also very critical of the President for leaving the organization in the middle of a pandemic.

Senator Robert Menendez tweeted this afternoon, "This won't protect American lives or interests. It leaves Americans sick and America alone."

But yes, a U.N. diplomat confirms to us that this is reversible. Remember, it doesn't kick in for another year, so long after the November election and just one more add, Anderson, I've just seen across now, the U.S. has set a new record for the number of COVID cases in a single day, 55,274 today.

COOPER: Yes. Nick Watt, I appreciate it. Thanks very much.

As Nick just said, that is breaking news. The today, the single highest day of COVID infections, 55,274 cases reported. That breaking just moments ago.

Joining us now, Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Houston's Baylor College of Medicine. Also, Dr. Aileen Marty, infectious disease specialist at Florida International University.

Dr. Hotez, I mean, a grim record number, more than 55,000 new COVID infections today. You hear President Trump saying we are in a good place. Is this a good place?

HOTEZ: Anderson, today we broke that record, 55,000, in two days we're going to break that record again, and then in two days from then, we'll break the record again, and then we'll break it again.

This is -- there's nothing to stop this train. There is nothing to stop this steep acceleration in the number of cases. So, next week we'll have this conversation, we'll be over 60,000 cases.

So we have to really reconcile with the fact that this is not going -- it's not even just a question of not going well, this is a public health crisis. This is a public health disaster.

People are piling into hospitals and emergency rooms in multiple states. And the other thing we're starting to see happen now, Anderson, in multiple states in the south is the healthcare staff are getting exhausted. It's exhausting putting -- taking on and off PPE every day and

multiple times a day. A lot of the hospital staff across these states now are getting sick, so we are starting to see staff problems. It is not just a question of everyone is focusing on the number of hospital beds that we have or ICU beds. It's not just that.

The staff -- we are starting to see the beginning of staff shortages because everybody is getting sick. This is a full blown public health crisis. We have to recognize it and we have to start dealing with it.

COOPER: Dr. Marty, the White House, you know, Vice President Pence is now saying that President Trump is being an optimist when he falsely claimed 99 percent of COVID-19 cases are harmless.

It certainly doesn't send a good message to anybody about how seriously they should they take the virus if people are being told 99 percent are harmless.

I am wondering just what your -- in terms of what you're seeing in Florida, it doesn't seem like harmless is certainly the accurate word. What is this situation that you are seeing?

DR. AILEEN MARTY, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST, FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY: What we are seeing is from the 26th of June until today, we've doubled the number of COVID admissions. We have doubled the number of COVID ICU beds. We are stressed tremendously. We are exhausted and a very significant percentage of the patients that we're seeing and admitting to hospitals are younger people.

So it isn't just old folks that are ending up in our hospitals and ICUs.

[20:15:06]

COOPER: And Dr. Marty, from what I understand in Florida what you are seeing in terms of when they do contact tracing on these cases, what is the focus of the spread? I understand it's kind of family interactions, groups, parties, social interactions; is that correct?

MARTY: That's what we've been able to determine with the tools we have. One of the problems that we have for managing the outbreak is that our contact tracing questionnaire doesn't give us the finesse to identify exactly many of the original sources of disease because they're not even part of the questionnaire.

So what we do know is that a very significant portion is, as you say, from personal parties, personal gatherings, graduation parties, et cetera. Those are things we're able to determine because that's what is in the questionnaire. We're trying to change that so we can get better data and therefore, a better action because that's what we do contract tracing for, to do the right action.

COOPER: This is an obvious question, but why is there a bad questionnaire for contact tracing at this point. We are four months or more into this pandemic? MARTY: So the entire process is managed out of Tallahassee and the way

that we do our contact tracing for this outbreak hasn't been tailored for this disease and the reality that we know that this is an infection where a very significant portion of individuals are transmitting when they are pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic and the questions don't ask details of where individuals were in certain situations, nor is it demanded that individuals have to answer, which they really need to.

Whereas, I don't want to force anybody to do anything, but the reality is, we need to help that -- let them help us to help them back.

COOPER: Right. Dr. Hotez, I mean, it's -- the idea that we're so far into this pandemic and I mean, the doctor there is saying the very questionnaires that they are asking don't even get to the critical information about this pandemic and I know we talked -- you and I talked last night. You're saying at this point in Texas, there are so many cases, contact tracing may not even be possible because there is just too many cases.

HOTEZ: That's right. We just don't know if the measures that have been put in place in the states where the cases are accelerating the most, mostly in the south, across the south but now we're starting to see cases climb steeply in Tennessee and the northern parts of the Midwest, whether the measures being under taken are going to be adequate.

This is the problem with the lack of strategy by the U.S. government. We are basically leaving it to the states to figure it out. We'll provide backup support, but the states just don't have the horsepower. They need the full force of the Federal government behind them.

And it's clear that we're not so far seeing significant and substantive action from the Executive Branch, the White House or the agencies.

We have to looking what other options that we have and if there is something Congress can mandate to get a Federal response underway and this is something that I'm hoping to start looking at as well because business as usual is not working and it's not a question of waiting for regime change in November.

There is going to be too much done -- permanent damage if we don't intervene over the next few weeks. Now is a critical period for us.

COOPER: Dr. Hotez and Dr. Marty, I really appreciate your time and I wish you the best in the battle ahead.

Coming up next, more on the new projection on more than 208,000 fatalities and the one simple step that could save tens of thousands of lives.

Later, what the book the President did not want you to see reveals about his character according to a psychologist who wrote it and because she is also his niece, who happened to see it all up close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:23:36]

COOPER: As we first reported before the break, this country has just reached a terrible new high for reported cases of coronavirus, 55,274 in a single day.

And as Dr. Peter Hotez just said, quote, "There is no way to stop this train." In addition to that, there is new modelling tonight from the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, and it projects more than 208,000 total COVID fatalities by the first of November.

Joining us now is the institute's director, Dr. Chris Murray. Dr. Murray, thanks for being with us. Your forecast -- what factors this time are affecting those numbers the most?

DR. CHRIS MURRAY, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON'S INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH METRICS AND EVALUATION: Well, the big increases that we are seeing in Florida, Arizona, Texas, California, we're also pretty concerned about South Carolina. We are seeing some increases turning the corner a little bit in Ohio. That's one factor.

The other factor is school openings that we expect in August and September. That's going to increase contact trace on current trajectories, and you know, the seasonality that will start to kick in in September and October, all of those come together to give us those numbers for the first of November.

COOPER: So just schools, kids going back to school, if that happens, that means more people will die?

MURRAY: Well, it's -- kids going back to school, but it is all of the other stuff around school. It is all of the interaction that happens when kids go to school. We have seen in the mobility data back in March when school closures came in, not just kids have less contact, but their parents, they are more likely to go to work when kids are at school.

There is all the after school activities and interactions around school, taken as a package, that is a big contributor to how much contact people have, unless of course, we're very careful about how school openings are managed.

[20:25:23]

COOPER: I mean, your figure now goes up to November. Is it still your expectation that once we're in November, December, January, that then, there is -- I mean, there is the seasonal flu and then there is likely to be a resurgence of just -- seasonally for COVID?

MURRAY: That's certainly our very strong expectation. So we think that it will be worse in November, December, and January. Those will probably be the worst periods for the pandemic in the U.S., if our understanding right now holds true. COOPER: How much do your projections take into account whether or not

state and local governments re-impose stay-at-home orders or business closures or mandatory mask wearing? Because obviously, some political leaders are wary of doing that. Some may have to consider that.

MURRAY: Well, we try to keep on top of the closures as they come in and then we try to build those into the models. So since we know that if people would wear masks, if we could get it up to that Singapore level of 95 percent of people wearing masks through for example, mandates, that can reduce the death toll by November by about 45,000 deaths.

So if states start doing that, then our forecast will definitely will come down. We keep on talking about that.

COOPER: So wait, if -- what percentage of the population started actually wore masks? You said 45,000 people would -- who might die would survive? What is the percentage?

MURRAY: So when you get people up to what Singapore has achieved on mask wearing, which is 95 percent of people wearing a mask when they are out in public spaces at risk of transmission, that's where we see that we can save 45,000 American lives.

COOPER It's amazing that you can look at just that one factor and equate that to 45,000 people being alive who otherwise would die. That's an extraordinary thing.

What is the current -- and 95 percent obviously that Singapore level, Singapore obviously has much more draconian legislation and rule than the U.S., what is -- do you know what the current percentage of people wearing masks outside is?

MURRAY: Well, the percent of mask varies a lot. So up in the northeast where the pandemic was very bad, mask use was very high. It was up in the 70 percent range or even 80 percent and then mask use is really low in some of the states that haven't seen a big epidemic yet.

We also do see that when states put in mandates, we're starting to see an uptick in mask use when they do. This is within the power of states to put those mandates and local government in place.

COOPER: You've been tracking the data on this virus from the beginning. We've been talking since the beginning of this outbreak, based on the data, did the U.S. ever actually experience an end to the first wave? Is this still the first wave?

MURRAY: I don't think -- people talk about waves when they're thinking about like the Spanish flu or the flu season where basically transmission goes to zero and so there is a very distinct first wave and then a next wave.

But COVID is not behaving like that. We're not seeing anywhere going down to truly zero. There is a few exceptions like New Zealand, but in general, what we're seeing is the transmission went down for a period. It didn't get down to zero. And now it's bouncing back in many places. So it's sort of an artificial distinction. We're just in the middle of

active transmission. It's expanding in a lot of states and it's likely to get worse.

COOPER: Dr. Murray, I appreciate you being with us again. Thank you very much. Thanks for all your work.

With projected COVID-19 death toll stretching to November, vaccine research is by all accounts becoming ever more paramount.

Coming up, I'll talk with a vaccine researcher who is not only focused on the short term, but what he calls a long war ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:33:59]

COOPER: Operation warp speed, the Federal Government's effort to fast track a coronavirus vaccine today awarded its largest single contract so far. Its $1.6 billion contract with a company called Novavax. The company's CEO told CNN in hopes to have a vaccine on the market by early next year.

And it's not the only company to receive grants from the government and scientists warn that marketing a safe and effective vaccine is obviously very difficult process. Tell me guide us -- to help us all guide us through the maze is Dr. Kayvon Modjarrad, who's a researcher on the operation warp speed team and the director of Emerging Infectious Diseases at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Researcher -- of Research.

Dr. Modjarrad, thank you so much for all your work and for being with us. How optimistic are you that a vaccine will be discovered that will work and that will be able to get out to people? And what sort of a timetable do you think is realistic?

KAYVON MODJARRAD, DIRECTOR, EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES, WALTER REED ARMY INSTITUTE OF RESEARCH: Thank you for having me on. It's a pleasure to speak with you tonight. I'm very optimistic that we will have a vaccine in the next near future, a safe vaccine, how effective that vaccine will be. Time will tell and I don't think there's going to be just one vaccine. There'll be multiple vaccines that we try to get across the finish line as quickly as possible. And we may need multiple iterations of the vaccine going forward season to season.

[20:35:23]

COOPER: Explain why the vaccine that you're working on is potentially unique.

MODJARRAD: Right, so I work at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, which is the largest and oldest research institute in the Department of Defense. And we've been working on other viruses and other coronaviruses like MERS. And one of our approaches has been to develop a vaccine that attacks all coronaviruses within that virus family. And, you know, if you think about all the vaccines out there that are

being advanced, it's essentially the same payload that they're delivering. If you think of sort of a chassis for a vehicle, what goes on the vehicle, that's the same. It's the spike protein of the virus that latches onto your lung cells. What's different with the different vaccines is that platform and our platform is like a soccer ball and it has multiple faces on it about 20. And the spike protein goes on those 24 faces.

When you present something like that to the immune system. The vaccine is basically teaching the immune system how to fight off the infection without getting the infection. When you present that spike protein multiple times around in a small space that tends to boost immunity.

And the benefit of this also is that you can mix and match different coronavirus proteins, so that if this coronavirus, mutates or we want to address other coronavirus is in known or unknown in the future, we can put the spike proteins from those other coronavirus is to make a pan universal vaccine.

COOPER: That's really fascinating because obviously there are other coronavirus is and there likely will be new coronaviruses that, you know, we as of yet do not know about. Dr. Fauci has said that given the circumstances he'll quote, settle for a vaccine that's 70 to 75 percent effective, but also raises the point that there's a large percentage the American population that's, you know, anti science, anti authority and anti vaccine. I'm using the words of Dr. Fauci. In order for a vaccine to work, how effective does it need to be and how many people or percentage of people actually need to receive it?

MODJARRAD: It all depends on what your purpose your intent is, are you trying to decrease the number of infections are you trying to mitigate the disease severity? There are different endpoints for different vaccines. Viruses that are transmitted more easily like SARS CoV-2 the virus that causes COVID-19, you need a higher proportion of people who were vaccinated to completely interrupt transmission.

We see with measles when vaccine coverage goes down just a little bit, you get these outbreaks. So we don't know exactly what coverage you'll need to completely stop transmission. But even a vaccine that is somewhat effective and even taken by a proportion of the population is going to have some impact. And it's better to have some impact than nothing in our tool shed at all.

COOPER: Yes, and you talked about the long war. It went by that you mean other coronaviruses that are out there and others that may are -- yet to come?

MODJARRAD: Yes, this is a seventh coronavirus that has been identified as infecting humans. Five of those seven have been identified since 2003 with SARS one. I don't -- you know there's no reason to think that things are accelerating, they're not decelerating. So there's no reason to think that another one is not coming or that this may not become a seasonal issue with this coronavirus.

COOPER: Yes. Dr. Modjarrad, I appreciate all you're doing, all you and your colleagues are doing at Walter Reed, thank you so much for all your work and thanks for being with us tonight.

MODJARRAD: Thank you for having me on.

COOPER: All right. Up next, breaking news, details on yet another tell all book about President Trump just went by his niece Mary. That the family unsuccessfully tried to block.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:43:28]

COOPER: Journalists today got their hands on a copy of the new book by President Trump's niece, Mary Trump, who has her PhD in clinical psychology and accuses her uncle of being a quote sociopath. The book is called Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man and his publication date was moved up until next week from a date in late July. You might remember the President's younger brother tried to stop publication of the book but an appeals court lifted the temporary restraining order issued by a lower court.

Among those who have read it reported on it Maggie Haberman, White House correspondent The New York Times and a CNN political analyst

So Maggie the -- this book you've seen it. There are a lot of sort of notable passages already online. One she writes that that Donald Trump hired and paid for someone to take his SAT's. For him writing that he listed, quote, a smart kid with a good reputation being a good test taker. We should mention that the White House has released a statement denying this. What did you make -- what is coming out of this book?

MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Look, I think a few things. Anderson, I think certainly the SAT anecdote is very interesting. And with any other president, it would be mind blowing. But in terms of the things that this Presdent has been accused of, or actually done over time, it is sort of smaller by comparison.

Look, she paints a pretty dark portrait of her uncle. She paints a pretty dark portrait of her grandfather and describes him as the person who made her uncle the way he is she describes her grandfather as a sociopath.

Here is a lot of telling and not showing there are some sort of sweeping statements that aren't always backed up by anecdotes. Clearly some of this was not her direct knowledge. She was hearing it from other family members. But she does talk about, for instance, a conversation she had with the President's sister, Maryanne, where Maryanne was very dismissive of her brother during the campaign described him as a quote unquote, clown gotten upset that her brother, the President was talking about their late brother Mary Trump's father, who died of alcoholism related illness. And who had combated alcoholism for a long time and was really sort of brutalized by their father, according to Mary Trump, and in part by the President.

[20:45:33]

She was very angry that President Trump was talking about the memory of Freddie Trump during the campaign saying essentially that he was using him. Overall, in the aggregate, it's going to be a pretty familiar picture to people who have read other books about this president. What's different is as a family member.

COOPER: It's also interesting, just the, you know, what she says about the relationship between Donald Trump and his father.

HABERMAN: Right.

COOPER: She writes at one point Donald's pathologies are so complex and his behavior so often inexplicable, that coming up with an accurate and comprehensive diagnosis would require a full battery of psychological and neuropsychological tests that he'll never sit for. You know, others have called him a sociopath. A lot of, you know, doctors, I think signed a letter saying, saying that, to that effect, she actually does have a PhD in psychology, but the relationship of how she says her grandfather kind of created Donald Trump in this image is fascinating.

HABERMAN: It is and look for people who have known that family for a while that is what everyone has said is that essentially, Fred Trump created his son that there was this competition for Trump's affection or in fact, affection is the wrong word, but for his attention.

And basically Mary Trump describes her uncle as you know, as in a state of arrested development emotionally, constantly, still trying to get love and attention from a father who couldn't do it or just was not able to and a mother who had a variety of illnesses and wasn't really able to.

Again, I think that for people who are interested in where the President comes from, there's a very New York feel about the book. She talks about a famous Steakhouse in Brooklyn, that the family would go to things like the --

COOPER: I saw you tweeted about it.

HABERMAN: Yes, (INAUDIBLE). But I think that there are people who are placing Donald Trump at a certain place in time in New York. I think we'll find this interesting. But again, I think in terms of the overall portrait of who he is, I think it adds to it a pretty broad group already.

COOPER: Mary Trump writes about how Donald Trump was able to avoid contempt from his father, which was by doing his bidding for him. And that Fred, Fred Trump Sr. we said, was, as she says, was so sociopath who co-opted his son to reach his own ends, which is pretty consistent as you said, what people have said about him.

It's also fascinating how, you know, that the father obviously had a lot to do with the son success early on and kind of funding it and how Donald Trump moved from, you know, Queens to, you know, he had his eyes on Manhattan from a young age, and that's where he wanted to kind of make his mark different from his father.

HABERMAN: He wanted to make his mark different from his father but he also remember part of Donald Trump's self portrait that is not true is that he is basically the self made man who got a quote unquote, small $1 million loan from his father, my colleagues, in reporting in 2018 demonstrated exactly how not true that was.

He is was heavily reliant on Fred Trump. And I part of the point that Mary Trump makes in this book is the whole family was they all were everybody's money in some way or another, descended from Fred Trump, and that is the portrait she paints.

COOPER: Maggie Haberman appreciate it. Thank you very much.

Up next, he downplayed coronavirus as a quote, little flu. Now Brazil's President admits he has tested positive for the virus. What else he revealed when we come back.

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[20:53:16]

COOPER: Despite his months of downplaying the virus, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said today he has come down with COVID-19. He made the announcement on Brazilian television he said he went to a hospital to receive a lung scan, he says will not hold -- he will not hold any in-person meetings in the near future. Not sure how this will affect his attitude toward the pandemic which has been ravaging Brazil.

Time now to check in with Chris, see what he's working on for "CUOMO PRIME TIME". Chris?

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: None of us is immune. I mean, that's the sad reality. The virus is the only constant and just wait until we find out how long the tail this tornado has. I'm telling you, I'm still not right. A lot --

COOPER: Right.

CUOMO: -- of people have had this virus unless it's a light case and they get lucky but even my wife she had a light case. But then her lack of taste and smell, not taste in men or lack of sense of taste. Coop, I know what you're thinking. But that just started coming back last week. Again, we don't know what we don't know about this virus. So we have to take it very seriously. And let's be honest, this country isn't doing it on the levels that matter most.

So tonight, with the President saying, hey, schools, they've got to open I'm going to pressure them. Now, we've seen this game before he did it with reopening. He did it with testing. He did it with PPE, I'm going to make it happen. Oh, but it's a state issue. Same thing with schools.

So we're bringing in teachers from Florida, because that's not just the biggest hotspot that we're tracking with cases. They want to reopen schools in like a month, just when they're getting at their worst in terms of cases, got the head of the teachers union to talk about the realities and what they need to go back to work. COOPER: All right, Chris, look forward to that. That's about five minutes from now. See you then.

Coming up next, we remember some of the victims of this pandemic including a doctor who was on the front lines.

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[20:58:32]

COOPER: Tonight, we remember more lives loss from the coronavirus. Stephen Cooper was in New Yorker who grew up in Queens on the morning of September 11, 2001. He was making delivery in lower Manhattan when the towers were hit. Police officer told everyone on the street to run. Stephen was captured in this famous photograph. He's on the left in the black shirt running away as the towers collapsed.

He was covered from head to toe and stood and ash after he ran but he survived and he never even realized he was in that photo until weeks later. His partner said for a long time he kept that photo in his wallet. He was admitted to hospital in March. He died five days later. It was only after his death that he tested positive for the virus. Steven Cooper was 78 years old and he will be missed.

Dr. Stephan Kamholz was the chairman of medicine and Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn. When the pandemic hit, the patient started flooding in doctors and nurses at his hospital were also getting infected. But Dr. Kamholz, he never even considered not going to work.

That's the kind of person he was. Because of his age, he was in a high risk group but his family says he would never ask a staff to assume the risk of catching the virus without assuming the risk himself.

In April, he tested positive and then became a patient in his own hospital. But he kept on working, teaching doctors and nurses from his hospital bed on how best to treat virus patients. He died eight weeks after contracting the virus. Dr. Steven camp Holtz was 72 years old.

Our thoughts go out to every family. It's been impacted by this virus.

[21:00:00]

The news continues now. I want to hand over Chris for "CUOMO PRIME TIME". Chris.