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States Post Record Deaths & Hospitalizations as Crisis Grows; Trump Demotes Campaign Manager Amid Sinking Polls; Oklahoma Governor Tests Positive for COVID-19; Visitors Lead to Explosion of Cases in Coastal Georgia; Alabama Implements Mask Mandate; 2021 Rose Parade Canceled Due to Coronavirus. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired July 16, 2020 - 06:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I believe we need to almost push the reset button. Let's stop this nonsense and figure out, how can we get our control over this now?

[05:59:10]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More theme parks opened up in Florida. ICUs are already full in 54 Florida hospitals.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are doing extremely poorly. It's a very dangerous situation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hundreds and thousands of people are dying in America today, because we are distracted by issues that are not the central ones to controlling this virus.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's really up to everyone who's out there. We all want to get back to our lives, but it requires that we all cooperate.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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 Thursday, July 16, 6 a.m. here in New York.

And this morning, much of the United States is near a breaking point with the pandemic. At least 12 states and Puerto Rico reporting record hospitalizations.

Yesterday afternoon, Florida's Miami-Dade County ran out of ICU beds.

Texas and two other states reporting their highest single-day death totals. Texas and Florida, both reporting more than 10,000 new cases on Wednesday. This morning, cases increasing in 39 states. School districts in Houston and San Francisco announcing they will

begin the new school year online, defying President Trump's call to get students back in the classroom.

Alabama will now enforce a mask mandate, but high-risk states like Georgia, Florida, and Arizona continue to resist a mask mandate.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: You know, it's way, way more than just resist a mask mandate in Georgia. The governor there just signed an order preventing cities from issuing mandatory mask orders. So cities that want to make masks mandatory, they can't. And that's in a state reporting record hospitalizations.

One hundred and thirty-seven thousand deaths in America now. Near record cases, near record hospitalizations. So what's the president's plan?

We have a new picture released by the president that might answer that question. Here it is. Beans! Beans and a smile. Beans and a smile of questionable legality, by the way, promoting a brand from the Oval Office, but that's beside the point. A hundred and thirty-seven thousand Americans dead. Beans and a smile.

This might explain new polls out overnight showing overwhelming disapproval with the president's response that show him trailing Joe Biden by double digits.

The president pushed out his campaign manager, but he still has the beans and 137,000 dead.

Meantime, Dr. Anthony Fauci is pushing back against White House efforts to discredit him. He says the bizarre behavior only hurts the president.

We're going to begin with CNN's Rosa Flores, live in Miami. And that state, Rosa, continues to see the strains pushed to the limit in terms of handling this outbreak.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, good morning.

You're absolutely right. And it's not getting any better. Here in the United States yesterday, another record day with at least 12 states reporting record hospitalizations.

Here in the state of Florida, the total case count now exceeds 300,000, as the hospital system here in Miami-Dade County gets pushed to the limit.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES (voice-over): In Florida, it's becoming more difficult to find a hospital bed for those who may need one, as the number of people testing positive for the coronavirus here keeps growing.

CARLOS MIGOYA, PRESIDENT AND CEO, JACKSON HEALTH SYSTEM: As we're weaning out of the elective surgeries, we're moving in COVID patients. Extremely stressful.

FLORES: Miami-Dade County has already run out of intensive care unit beds and is quickly converting other beds for use.

Healthcare workers asking Floridians to change their behavior.

DR. AILEEN MARTY, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST, FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY: Once we start running out of things, we -- you know, if we keep going on this trend, when we no longer have beds we can convert to ICU beds, that's very critical for each individual that needs that kind of care.

FLORES: With the surge, a massive demand for testing and a serious backlog. Governor Ron DeSantis pushing labs to provide results in two days.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): If you have somebody go through one of the sites, and then they get a result back ten days later, that is not really going to be very helpful.

FLORES: Florida, Texas, and California surpassing 10,000 new infections Wednesday.

BARBARA FERRER, DIRECTOR, LOS ANGELES COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH: These alarming trends reflect behaviors from three weeks ago. And it will take several weeks to see if our behavior now, including the rollback of previously opened sectors, slows the spread of the virus.

FLORES: Texas also recorded its deadliest day of the pandemic.

Many hospitals are becoming strained and medical military personnel deployed to help care for the sick. The governor says he's not planning to shut down the economy again.

GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): All we need is for people to wear masks. If everyone wears a mask, nothing will be locked down.

FLORES: Nearly 600 nurses will head to Arizona from out of state to assist hospitals overloaded with patients.

With new weekly coronavirus cases rising in at least 39 states this morning, some residents being warned they could be in the next hot spots.

GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): The tragedy that we see playing out on our television screens every day in Florida, Texas, Arizona, and California may well be our reality in just a matter of weeks. The good news is that this nightmare does not have to be our future.

FLORES: The nation's top infectious disease expert says it's time to press reset on handling the crisis.

FAUCI: So you can't think that you're operating in a vacuum. You've got to accept the societal responsibility that, if we want to stop this, everybody's got to contribute. You can't say, "I don't care." (END VIDEOTAPE)

[06:05:09]

FLORES: And the reality here on the ground this morning, the positivity rate yesterday reported by Miami-Dade County, 29 percent. The number of hospitalizations in the past 13 days have increased 48 percent.

by Miami-Dade County, 29 percent. By Miami-Dade County, 29 percent. The number of hospitalizations in the past 13 days have increased 48 percent. ICUs, 53 percent. Ventilators, 75 percent.

Now, we learned from Dr. Aileen Marty yesterday that Miami-Dade County was converting regular hospital beds into ICU beds. And according to the mayor's office, they have about 400 beds that they can convert into ICU.

But to give you a clearer picture of what's going on on the ground, here's this statement from Jackson Health. They said, quote, "Jackson Health System has continued increasing ICU capacity by converting beds and equipment and deploying staff. We are also not admitting new cases if their medical needs can wait. Our focus right now is on caring for COVID patients who require hospitalization and those patients with true emergencies."

John, when you hear they're not admitting new cases if their medical needs can wait, that's quite a dire situation here in Miami-Dade County -- John.

BERMAN: Indeed. They are at their normal capacity. They are going into their expanded measures now, because things are so bad. We're going to speak to the mayor of Miami coming up.

Rosa Flores, listen, thank you for your reporting there and holding officials to account.

Developing overnight, Dr. Anthony Fauci pushing back against White House attempts to discredit him. He calls the attacks bizarre and warns they only hurt President Trump.

Now, the White House is trying, as they might, to distance themselves from those attacks.

CNN's Joe Johns live at the White House. Man, these statements from Anthony Fauci, surgical. No pun intended.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely right, John. And you know, a really petty, counterproductive exercise playing out here at the White House over the last several days.

First, the president went out publicly, trying to discredit Dr. Anthony Fauci. Then the White House message machine weighed in with talking points behind the scenes.

And then Peter Navarro, the president's trade adviser, writes a hit piece in the newspaper, "USA Today," saying that Dr. Fauci has essentially been wrong about everything.

Dr. Fauci, as you said, weighing in for the first time forcefully overnight. Just listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAUCI: You know, it is a bit bizarre. I don't really fully understand it. I cannot figure out in my wildest dreams why they would want to do that.

But I mean, I think they realize now that that was not a prudent thing to do, because it's only reflecting negatively on them.

I can't explain Peter Navarro. He's in a world by himself. So I don't even want to go there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: So after all of this, the White House tries to distance itself from the Navarro hit piece. The president said it was a mistake. The vice president said it wasn't acceptable.

And even the White House chief of staff weighed in, Mark Meadows, saying the president did not sign off on the op-Ed that Peter Navarro wrote. A White House official tells CNN that Mark Meadows told Navarro to de-escalate, but Navarro violated those instructions. Meadows has been trying to cool things off.

The significance of all of this is that we've had a major amount of palace intrigue here at the White House while the country still has a pandemic to fight -- John and Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: I'll take it, Joe. Thank you very much for all of that reporting.

Also breaking overnight, a major shake-up at the top of President Trump's campaign. Brad Parscale is out as campaign manager. He's been demoted after a slew of new polling shows President Trump trailing Joe Biden by double digits.

CNN's Ryan Nobles is live in Washington with details. So what's the latest?

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, good morning.

This doesn't come as that big as a surprise. Brad Parscale out as campaign manager, replaced by Bill Stepien, a longtime political operative, the former White House political director, who was currently serving as the Trump campaign's deputy campaign manager.

And this move comes as a slew of polls, as you mentioned, Alisyn, show the president trailing Vice President Joe Biden by more than double digits.

And it also comes at a time where Parscale was given much of the blame for that failed rally that the president participated in at the end of June in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was Parscale who was telling everyone that there could be as many as 100,000 people that showed up to that rally. As you remember, that's less than 6,000 people were inside that venue, and there were many empty seats. And that was something that made President Trump very upset.

Now, while Parscale has moved out, and there's going to be a lot of talk today about what's happening across the river in Arlington, where the president's campaign headquarters is located, much of the focus from Republicans today is going to be on the White House, and in particular, Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law. He is the one thought to be the true architect of the campaign.

[06:10:09]

Stepien is very close with Kushner, and many Republicans say that now what happens with the campaign will all be on Kushner.

And then there is, of course, the president himself. And a senior White House official telling our Jim Acosta, quote, "Brad's not the one going off message. Brad's not the one refusing to wear a mask. He" -- being Trump's -- "not focused. Everyone has told him that, and nothing has changed."

So while the Trump campaign continues to move on today, now with a new campaign manager, the one thing that hasn't changed is the candidate himself. That remains Donald Trump, and that -- that is what has many Republicans concerned -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: We'll see if the new campaign manager can change the candidate at all. Thank you very much, Ryan.

Well, coronavirus cases in Georgia are on the rise, so why is the state's governor banning cities from mandating masks? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:15:18]

BERMAN: All right, this morning, coronavirus cases are rising in 39 states. Just look at that map for a second and see how much of it is red. And think about where we are.

In the middle of July, 39 states seeing an increase in cases.

Many states and executives now beginning to take action, planning for the future, canceling events well into the future, including now the Rose Bowl parade. CNN reporters covering all the developments from coast-to-coast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ed Lavandera.

On the day that Oklahoma announced its single highest day coronavirus case number, the governor says he has tested positive with COVID-19. Governor Kevin Stitt said he was tested on Tuesday and on Wednesday

received word. The governor says he only feels achy at this point but otherwise feels fine. He also says he is quarantining and separating himself from his family and will continue to work from home.

And the governor says, despite this news, he will not issue a mask mandate in the state of Oklahoma. He says that wearing masks should remain optional.

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dianne Gallagher in Atlanta.

The state of Georgia opened beaches back in April, but now officials on the coastline say that an increase in visitors are causing their COVID-19 numbers to explode.

A commissioner from Glynn County, which is home to the popular St. Simons Island, tells CNN that they've seen an increase in visitors outnumbering even the residents, all the way from Memorial Day through July Fourth. And he says that that coincides with the increase in COVID-19 positive numbers that they're experiencing in these much smaller counties.

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jacqueline Howard in Atlanta.

The state of Alabama is now requiring people to wear masks while in public. The new mandate requires most everyone in public and within six feet of a person from another household to wear a face covering.

Children under 6 years old are one of the few exemptions.

The mandate is part of an amended safer at home order issued by Republican Governor Kay Ivey. The order runs until the end of the month, and it now makes Alabama the 36th state in the U.S. to require face coverings while in public.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Sara Sidner in Pasadena, where the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade has done something they haven't done in 75 years or so since World War II. They are canceling the Rose Parade.

It is a huge disappointment for this and surrounding communities, because it does bring in millions of dollars. But it also brings in a lot of fun and beauty to the city. It is usually right down this boulevard here. That is not going to happen.

Why? Because organizers say, with COVID-19 around, they simply cannot guarantee the safety of the volunteers and the professionals and spectators who come to see it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: As you just heard, Alabama's governor announcing that all residents are now required to wear face masks in public as the state reports a record number of deaths.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KAY IVEY (R-AL): I always prefer personal responsibility over a government mandate. And yet I also know, with all my heart, that the numbers and the data over the past few weeks are definitely trending in the wrong direction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Thirty-five other states this morning have some form of a mask mandate. Twelve states and Puerto Rico are reporting record hospitalizations this morning. Coronavirus cases are rising in 39 states.

Joining us now to talk about all of this, we have Dr. Ali Khan. He's the dean of the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. He's also the former director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response at the CDC.

Dr. Khan, great to see you.

Every day that we've come on, every morning that we've come on for the past, I think, two weeks, things have gotten worse. Every morning, it is worse than it was yesterday.

So when we put up that map of the mask mandates now in all of those states, will that turn it around? Is that the key?

DR. ALI KHAN, DEAN, COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH, UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER: So, good morning. And yes, so let's make sure I stay in a hopeful mood today. Yes, we can turn it around.

So this is the worst public health tragedy ever in this nation, but if we increase everybody wearing masks, washing hands, and social distancing, we can turn it around.

Now, unfortunately, these 38 states where we are seeing these sort of mandates to wear masks, we have other states, for example, in Georgia, where the governor has said -- has sort of removed local mandates to wear masks.

So we need to do this collectively all over the United States to make sure that we're all wearing our masks. Masks on.

[06:20:06]

But that's not enough, right? We've talked about this a couple of times. We need the leadership. We need to drop that community transmission. And that's a job of government, with test and trace. And we need to make sure we're giving the best possible care to the people within hospitals. So all four need to come together.

BERMAN: Dr. Khan, I know you want to stay positive. I saw you shaking your head after we put that map up that had the states with record hospitalizations. And I want to put it up again so people can see. There are states

across the country, and it's not just in the south, that are experiencing record hospitalizations now. That means there are sick people filling their hospitals. In Miami-Dade County, we know it's filling them nearly to capacity. I'll leave this map up for a second, because we don't have the graphics made.

I also want to point out, in Florida, there are almost definitely record numbers, but we don't have that officially, because they only began just releasing them.

In Texas, which is white here, they're basically just under record hospitalizations.

And the most concerning thing to me is states like Ohio now, which had been doing better, but the graph there is now creeping up. Mike DeWine, the governor, spoke last night. They are at near record hospitalizations once again. It's happening around the country this morning, Dr. Khan.

KHAN: How can you not shake your head, right? Over 3 million cases, over 135,000 deaths, preventable deaths here in the United States. And we are the one outlier amongst all of our peer countries. All of Europe has contained their disease. And many parts of the world, not only have they contained, they've eliminated disease. So they've gotten to zero cases.

Even China, 1.4 billion people. I think today will be day nine or nine, ten with zero -- nine -- or day nine or ten with zero cases. And China just showed that they increased their economy by 3.2 percent in the last quarter. The only global country since the pandemic that has improved its economy.

So you have to shake your head. I mean, this isn't just a health issue. It's an economic imperative for Americans. We know we can do this. And we can't continue to have this dichotomy of save lives and save the way we live. So we need to get this under -- get this contained.

BERMAN: Just look at Ohio now. This is the one I just wanted everyone to look at. It was bad in May. No question about it. They had hospitalizations there, the seven-day moving average, but they're back up again there. And this is not one of the states that people have been talking about over the last few days.

KHAN: And we should expect this disease to continue to hopscotch across the United States, because over 90 percent of people are still susceptible.

So if you don't get this contained, what happens is the disease just hopscotches to another place. And even places that think they're doing quite well right now, they're not. Until you get this contained within your community, you are at risk of it coming back again and increasing, which is what we're seeing now, this bizarre staircase outbreak in America. CAMEROTA: I mean, the crazy paradox is that wearing a mask is the

easiest thing in the world. It's a minor inconvenience, but it is the easiest thing in the world.

And as a doctor has pointed out, if you don't like wearing a mask, you're really not going to like wearing a ventilator.

And so the idea that we're all for personal responsibility, and that's why some of these leaders didn't want to mandate a mask. Well, I mean, personal responsibility, yes, we're all in favor, but as we know with seat belts and helmet laws and drunk-driving laws and speed limits, it only gets you so far.

And so the idea that the governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, is trying to reverse the mask mandates of the local -- of the local elected officials, why?

KHAN: I have no answer for you here. And I completely agree with you. We need to just make it a social norm.

You know, we don't have mandates out there, but you know, people tend to wear pants when they go outside, right? They may not wear them on Zoom, but they tend to wear them when they're outside. So we need this social norm. Please, wear a mask.

And I think we keep talking about these numbers. We're in the state of surrender in America about this disease, that people think we can't make a difference, or it's the flu, or it's somebody else's fault, or don't worry about it, it will be gone. The summer is coming; the vaccine is coming. No.

The path to this uncertain future is paved in 600 to a thousand preventable deaths every day. So please, wear a mask. And please, our elected officials, test. Test and trace.

BERMAN: Dr. Fauci got a lot of press yesterday, commenting on the political infighting and the palace intrigue. I think one of the most important things he said, though, Dr. Khan, was what we need to be focused on is what do we do now? What do we do now? How can we fix this going forward?

Masks is part of it. It's part of it. But when you see the pace that things are moving in these states, including Florida and Texas, you know, what else do you need to do? What other arrows are in the quiver this morning?

[06:25:13]

KHAN: So, Dr. Fauci's quite right, and there's no doubt that how we've politicized this response, which is why we're the only outlier country amongst our peers right now.

So, you know, wherever these current cases are going on, correct. They need to think about, do they need to halt some of the reopening they've done? And that would help social distancing. We know it works. It worked in April for us. Unfortunately, we squandered that time when we had 20,000 cases now or

over 60,000 cases.

But, yes, this -- places where they have lots of cases, they're going to have to think about what additional social distancing they may need to do.

In addition to it, you can't contact trace all these people, but you can put some of these people into isolation, so at least you're not causing as many cases. So there's other tools we have available to us. We just need to do hard things.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Ali Khan, we really appreciate your guidance. Thank you very much.

BERMAN: Mask on, Dr. Khan.

KHAN: Mask on, everybody!

CAMEROTA: He's got it at the ready! That's a handsome one.

BERMAN: It is.

CAMEROTA: Thank you very much.

KHAN: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Thank you.

KHAN: Thank you, everybody.

CAMEROTA: All right. We have several new national polls that show the majority of Americans disapprove of how President Trump is handling the pandemic. The president and Ivanka Trump are responding by posing with beans. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END