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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
U.S. Sets New Single-Day Case Record With 60,021 Confirmed; Mexican President To Meet With Trump At White House Today; Australia To Reimpose Six-Week Lockdown In Melbourne. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired July 08, 2020 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[05:31:52]
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think we are in a good place. I disagree with him.
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LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump contradicts his top doctor's warning that we're still knee-deep in the first wave of the pandemic as new cases hit a new all-time high.
Good morning, this is EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christine Romans. It's about 32 minutes past the hour here this Wednesday morning.
And the U.S. setting a new record -- the highest single-day count, so far, of new coronavirus cases. More than 60,000 reported Tuesday, bringing the total to nearly three million.
At least 56 intensive care units in Florida hospitals now at capacity. Hospitalizations in California have reached an all-time high. And the positive test rate for the virus jumped by more than two percentage points in Los Angeles. Georgia surpassed 100,000 total Covid cases, becoming the ninth state to cross that mark.
Yet, President Trump is pushing hard to reopen schools across the country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The schools will be open in the fall and 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. They think it's going to be good for them politically so they keep the schools closed -- no way. So we're very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: There's no evidence schools are closed for political reasons. Schools are closed because there's a coronavirus pandemic and 131,000 deaths in this country, trying to keep kids and teachers safe.
CNN's Nick Watt begins our coverage with the latest on that surge in Texas.
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NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Big Tex taking a break for the first time since World War II. The Texas State Fair just canceled as the military sends medical personnel to San Antonio to help.
GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R), TEXAS: The four days leading up to the Fourth of July combined with the four deadliest days that we've had, my concern is that we may see greater fatalities going forward.
WATT (voice-over): Florida still won't reveal how many Covid-19 patients they have in hospitals despite the governor's claims today.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R), FLORIDA: All the data that goes into this is all available.
REPORTER: The spreadsheet from that data, Governor, is not available.
WATT (voice-over): But, Miami-Dade County does release Covid-19 hospital numbers and they're up 90 percent in just two weeks.
Still, the state just issued an order for schools to reopen next month. There's pushback.
REP. SHERVIN 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 PUBLIC SCHOOLS: I will not reopen our school system August 24th if the conditions are what they are today.
WATT (voice-over): In California, the state's capitol now closed indefinitely after at least five lawmakers tested positive. Test lines are getting longer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of this just makes it so much harder to manage this disease.
WATT (voice-over): Quest Diagnostics says last month's results were taking two to three days; now, it's four to six. Quick results are key in effectively isolating the infected.
DR. PETER HOTEZ, DEAN OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: The cases are rising so rapidly that we cannot even do contact tracing anymore.
[05:35:03] 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.
GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D), MICHIGAN: 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.
WATT (on camera): "And we have no choice" is what the mayor of San Francisco said just after she announced that indoor restaurants and outdoor bars will now not be opening on Monday as planned. As Dr. Anthony Fauci says, bars are just a perfect set-up for spreading this virus.
Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
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JARRETT: All right, Nick. Thank you so much for that.
Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Fauci warning against a false sense of security after the president touted the falling Covid-19 death rate, in this tweet, as somehow proof that the virus is under control.
Right now, younger people are making up a larger percentage of cases but the top Covid-19 expert, Fauci, cautioned against misleading metrics.
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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: It's a false narrative to take comfort in a lower rate of death. There's so many other things that are very dangerous and bad about this virus. Don't get yourself into false complacency.
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JARRETT: President Trump rejecting Dr. Fauci's assertion that the U.S. is still, quote, "knee-deep in the first wave of the pandemic."
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TRUMP: I think we are in a good place. I disagree with him. You know, Dr. Fauci said don't wear masks and now he says wear them.
And he's said numerous things. Don't close off China -- don't ban China -- and I did it anyway. I sort of didn't listen to my experts and I banned China. We would have been in much worse shape.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: But, Fauci has conceded the president's point that experts' early waffling about wearing a mask, it didn't help matters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) FAUCI: We have to admit it that the mixed message in the beginning, even though it was well-meant, to allow masks to be available to health workers, that was detrimental in getting the message across right now. No doubt about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: Fauci also said Tuesday he doesn't think the federal government will mandate everyone taking an eventual vaccine for coronavirus. He said that would encroach on people's health care choices.
ROMANS: All right, President Trump and the president of Mexico meet at the White House today. There were numerous reasons, of course, for President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador not to make the controversial trip in the middle of a deadly pandemic.
CNN's Matt Rivers has more on why he chose to come anyway.
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MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You might think that President Donald Trump and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wouldn't get along. Demonizing Mexicans has been a key part of the Trump playbook -- build that wall, Mexican emigrants are criminals and invaders, and so on.
And for his part, Lopez Obrador was asked in 2017, is Trump a racist?
PRESIDENT ANDRES MANUEL LOPEZ OBRADOR (speaking foreign language).
RIVERS (voice-over): Yes, yes, he says, he incites racism.
But since he became president in 2018, Lopez Obrador, known here as AMLO, has, for the most part, refused to publicly criticize Trump. And when the two men meet this week, expect it to go well.
Trump has said he likes the Mexican president and AMLO said this last month.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOPEZ OBRADOR (speaking foreign language).
RIVERS (voice-over): I am going to the U.S. to thank President Trump for his support and solidarity.
The two presidents will mark the start of a new free trade deal that replaces NAFTA, and AMLO says he'll thank Trump for sending ventilators during the pandemic. But critics in Mexico have urged him not to go, saying an Oval Office visit gives Trump and his supporters a pass for their rhetoric on immigration.
TRUMP: How do you stop these people? You can't.
TRUMP RALLYGOER: Shoot them. TRUMP: There's not --
TRUMP RALLYGOERS (laughing).
TRUMP: That's only in the Panhandle you can get away with that stuff.
RIVERS (voice-over): Some have also argued Lopez Obrador could be used as a political prop, saying the Oval Office photo op could be used to demonstrate international support for an embattled president in a reelection fight.
Asked about that criticism, Lopez Obrador dismissed it and said the U.S. and Mexico have an essential economic relationship.
He says, "I'm not going to the U.S. for politics or elections issues. Politics is like walking a tightrope. You need to take risks and make decisions.
So, as Mexico's economy has been crushed during this epidemic, shoring up the country's most important economic relationship could be at the top of his mind.
LARRY RUBIN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MEXICO: Almost 85 percent of all exports go to states, which is obviously, a huge number. So, Mexico is highly dependent on trade.
RIVERS (voice-over): Plus, there's a lot the two men have agreed on recently. They both have routinely ignored scientific advice during the coronavirus pandemic, they don't wear masks in public, and pushed for an economic reopening, and aren't pushing for more testing.
A new free trade agreement is the reason for the meeting but it seems like there could be a lot of common ground.
[05:40:05]
Matt Rivers, CNN, Mexico City.
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ROMANS: Now, Canada's prime minister, Justin Trudeau, will not attend today's meeting in Washington with President Trump and Mexico's president. The meeting was meant to celebrate, of course, the start of the new USMCA trade deal among the three countries. There will be two in Washington today.
Let's bring in CNN's Paula Newton. Paula, the prime minister is citing scheduling conflicts for skipping the meeting.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Christine, good morning. Good to see you.
Yes, that's officially what his office told me, that he has scheduling conflicts. There is a cabinet meeting and fiscal update.
But, Christine, you've got to say this would have been an awkward meeting, to say the least. What you just heard Matt say was that President Trump and President Obrador do not wear masks in public. Justin Trudeau couldn't be further from that. In fact, he usually doesn't leave home without them.
And, in fact, Canada has handled this virus in a completely different manner than those two countries but especially glaring is the difference with the United States. If you look at this chart, Christine -- I mean, really, not much analysis needed there to see that through the last few weeks the United States has actually had per capita about 10 to 15 times the amount of cases as Canada on any given day.
They have been very careful in Canada in terms of how they treat people coming in. You have to quarantine for 14 days. And, Christine, that was also a big deal. Trudeau saying look, health and safety is our primary concern.
He might have been able to be exempt coming back in and not quarantined for 14 days, but his staff would have not been, unlike the Trump administration where we have seen staffers actually test positive and then having to quarantine. Trudeau's government seeming to say look, that's just a bridge too far for us.
You know, Christine, it's not like Canada hasn't had some of the same problems -- you know, some of the viral video that we have seen in the United States -- same thing in Canada. Young people going out and now beginning to test positive. And yet, the way it's handled is completely different.
We're having a few hundred cases -- much easier to contract trace. And, in fact, Canada should be coming out with a contact tracing app very soon. It is voluntary. But what it's designed to do, Christine, is to be able to ping you -- literally, let you know if you've come within six feet of anyone who has tested positive. A completely different trajectory there.
And in case you're wondering, Christine, back of the envelope calculation here. Instead of 58,000 cases today, it was like Canada and the United States, you've had somewhere between 2,500 and 3,000.
ROMANS: Wow. All right, Paula. Thank you so much for that from Atlanta for us this morning. Thanks, Paula.
JARRETT: All right, we move now to strict lockdown measures being reimposed in Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city. The restrictions are set to be imposed for six weeks as authorities scramble to prevent a potential second wave of coronavirus.
The border between the states of Victoria and New South Wales is also closing for the first time since the beginning of the outbreak amid record daily case numbers.
CNN's Anna Coren is live in Hong Kong with more on this. Anna, I'm curious, how are people receiving this reimposing of a -- of a lockdown? You know, over here in the U.S., there's been a lot of pushback when we've seen kind of these spikes to the government reimposing those strict measures.
ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Laura, it's interesting because this is deja vu for Melbournians -- five million of them.
They went through a lockdown with the rest of Australia back in March for two months and now they're having to do it all over again as of midnight tonight. It will last for six weeks. Obviously, you can leave your home to do that necessary shopping -- grocery shopping and for essential workers, but otherwise, you have to stay at home under law. People generally feel that it is their duty.
Australia, as we have been discussing, has aggressively tackled the pandemic from the get-go, which is why the numbers have been relatively low compared to the rest of the world -- certainly, compared to the United States.
At the moment, there are just over 900 active cases of coronavirus in Australia. Ninety-two percent of them are in Melbourne. So that gives you an idea of the surge that city has experienced in the last week, which is why it's being placed on lockdown.
And, of course, that border between New South Wales and Victoria has been closed as well. The aim, obviously, to stop the spread of the pandemic throughout the nation -- Laura.
JARRETT: All right, Anna. Thank you so much for that reporting.
And a quick programming note. Join Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta as the deepening crisis raises new questions. A new CNN global town hall "CORONAVIRUS FACTS AND FEARS" live tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. eastern.
ROMANS: All right.
Before the pandemic, Generation Z enjoyed the strongest labor market in 50 years. When the coronavirus hit, that disappeared in weeks. Generation Z will most likely experience permanent declines in earnings just like millennials who entered the workforce after the financial crisis.
[05:45:00]
But the setbacks are not evenly distributed. Black youth will bear one of the heaviest burdens.
Youth unemployment is at devastating highs right now. Data shows 19.6 percent of whites ages 16 to 24 were unemployed in June. The unemployment rate for blacks of the same age was nearly 28 percent.
On top of the jobs crisis, black youth and their families struggle with the high cost of student loan debt. A 2016 study by Brookings shows black college grads owe an average of $23,400 in loans when they finish a bachelor's degree compared to $16,000 for their white peers.
And persistent job discrimination and bias still exist. Studies have shown blacks are the last hired and the first fired, resumes with names perceived as black-sounding are less likely to receive an interview, and a college education is no guarantee. African-Americans with college degrees have less wealth than whites who didn't graduate high school.
Just another example of how this pandemic has really revealed some of the racial inequality in this country and unfairness, basically, in the economy.
JARRETT: Yes, and the loan issue, especially. People are just buried and now this is just making it even worse.
ROMANS: Yes.
JARRETT: All right.
Well, Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg met with organizers of that ad boycott. Apparently, it didn't go so well, according to some of those in the meeting. More on what happened, next.
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JARRETT: Welcome back.
The city of Jackson, Mississippi is removing a statue of President Andrew Jackson that has stood in front of city hall since 1822. Protesters have been calling for the statue to come down as Jackson, the nation's seventh president and, of course, the city's namesake, was also a brutal slave owner throughout slavery.
And the City Council approved the move but has not decided where the statue will be located once it is removed.
Activist groups behind a growing advertiser boycott of Facebook are blasting top officials at the company after a meeting yesterday about combatting hate on Facebook's platforms.
More now from CNN's Donie O'Sullivan in New York.
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DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN REPORTER: Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg met Tuesday with representatives from the Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP, and other groups behind a Facebook ad boycott. Some of the world's most iconic companies have pulled ads from Facebook, including Levi, Ford, and Ben & Jerry's.
The ADL and NAACP say they want Facebook to get a handle on hate on its platform, including shutting down Facebook groups that are full of hate and misinformation. But they were not impressed with the company's response when they spoke Tuesday.
I asked Jonathan Greenblatt, head of the ADL who took part in the meeting, how it all went. JONATHAN GREENBLATT, NATIONAL DIRECTOR AND CEO, ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: Well, I think the meeting was disappointing, to say the least.
You know, we had laid out an agenda weeks ago for Facebook. Our recommendations are simple and straightforward and transparent. They've been published on our Web site since mid-June.
Facebook asked us for this meeting and we expected them to share details and time frames to execute all those recommendations. Instead, we didn't get any details, we didn't get any time frames, no commitments, no outcomes.
O'SULLIVAN: Greenblatt added the ad boycott may need to be extended. It was originally -- it was originally only to take place for at least the month of July.
For its part, Facebook said it is working hard to combat the spread of hate on its platforms and said in a statement provided to CNN, "We know we will be judged by our actions, not by our words, and are grateful to those groups and many others for their continued engagement."
The big question now is what's next. Will brands like Ben & Jerry's continue their boycott or will they slowly begin running Facebook ads again?
And will we eventually see this affecting Facebook's bottom line? Facebook could be in for a turbulent few months -- Laura and Christine.
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ROMANS: All right, Donie, thank you so much for that. And I think you're right, a turbulent few months, indeed.
Let's get a check on CNN Business this morning. Taking a look at markets around the world, you can see Asian shares closed mixed and Europe opened lower.
On Wall Street, futures look like they're leaning a little bit down here. They finished lower Tuesday as worries about the rising number of virus cases weighed on investors.
The Dow closed 397 points lower. The S&P now one percent. That snapped its longest winning streak since December. The Nasdaq, which closed at an all-time high Monday, gave a little bit of that back yesterday.
All right, the coronavirus buyouts are here. Forty-five hundred employees have agreed to leave American Airlines, mostly for early retirement. At Boeing, 5,500 have taken buyouts.
And there are likely more buyout offers coming. Many workers are taking the buyouts now over fear of layoffs later. The ugly truth of the jobs crisis, thousands of jobs probably aren't coming back. Data shows 759,000 people were laid off from jobs that won't be coming
back. That's the second-largest increase the country has ever seen topped only by 805,000 -- that jump in January 2009 in the Great Recession.
Airline bookings are starting to decline again as the coronavirus cases soar here. United Airlines said near-term bookings at its Newark hub were only 16 percent of 2019 bookings as of July first. That's about half the level of demand just two weeks earlier. Delta said its booking trends in the New York area are similar to United's but didn't release its numbers.
Also hurting demand are regulations in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut that requires travelers from coronavirus hotspots to quarantine for 14 days.
Major airlines say it's going to take years for travel to recover to 2019 levels. And numerous reports this morning that many airlines are preparing for layoffs and job cuts because this is just not going to get back to pre-pandemic levels anytime soon.
All right, thanks for joining us, everybody. I'm Christine Romans.
JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.
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[05:59:18]
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ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Cases surging in the Sunshine State.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R), FLORIDA: We need to look at our younger population that had a tremendous spike in their positivity rate.
GOV. JAY INSLEE (D), WASHINGTON: Governors in southern states listen to Donald Trump and as a result, they've got massive surges.
TRUMP: I think we are in a good place. I disagree with him. Dr. Fauci said don't wear masks and now he says wear them.
FAUCI: If governors essentially mandate the use of masks when you have an outbreak, I think that would be very important.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's nothing to stop this train. There's nothing to stop this steep acceleration. This is a public health disaster.
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ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, July eighth, 6:00 here in New York.
This morning, the coronavirus crisis is getting worse in the United States. Cases have spiked again.
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