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New Day Sunday

Worldwide Coronavirus Death Toll Surpasses 600,000; Trump: I Would Not Consider a National Mandate on Mask-Wearing; America Mourns the Loss of Civil Rights Icon Rep. John Lewis; Momentum Grows to Rename Bridge in Selma in Honor of John Lewis. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired July 19, 2020 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:07]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Was that her wedding dress?

PHILLIP: Apparently. It must be pretty nice. I would take it.

BLACKWELL: I mean, she's kept it that long.

PHILLIP: I would take it.

BLACKWELL: All right. Next hour of your NEW DAY starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another day, another incredible surge in coronavirus cases across the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a lot of frustration, a lot of anger that we're in this place. We shouldn't have been in this position. We are the example of why masks are important.

GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R), GEORGIA: Mayor Bottoms' mask mandate cannot be enforced.

MAYOR KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS (D), ATLANTA, GEORGIA: The people in our state are dying. And perhaps didn't know anyone who've lost a loved one to COVID-19. I do.

REP. JOHN LEWIS (D), GEORGIA: We cannot give up now. We cannot give in. Keep the faith. Keep our eyes on the prize.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he is probably one of the more greater titans of the last century.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His youthful spirit and his fight was very contagious and filled everyone up that was around him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Top of the hour now. It's always good to be with you on a Sunday. I'm Victor Blackwell.

You're watching NEW DAY. It is July 19th.

PHILLIP: And I'm Abby Philip, in today for Christi Paul.

The coronavirus pandemic has now killed more than 600,000 people all around the world. But the global epicenter is right here in the United States of America. COVID-19 is killing hundreds of Americans every day.

BLACKWELL: And for a fifth day in a row, Texas reported more than 10,000 new cases. In a try to speed up testing, the FDA has approved pool testing. That means that the samples from -- up to four people can be tested at once.

PHILLIP: And in an interview set to air today, President Trump says he will not consider a national mask mandate, citing personal freedom.

BLACKWELL: And a new Senate bill is creating some strife between the White House and Senate Republicans. A source tells CNN that the Trump administration wants to block funding for the CDC for contact tracing and testing in the next round of stimulus spending.

Let's go to Florida first, though, where two counties, at least two counties are under a curfew to fight the spread.

Governor Ron DeSantis, though, says that he's not going to implement that statewide mask mandate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL (voice-over): There are alarming new coronavirus numbers coming from Florida. The latest from state health officials on Saturday. More than 10,000 new infections and 90 deaths in one day.

MAYOR DAN GELBER, MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA: All the mayors and commissions and managers are obviously troubled and we're all consulting with one another to figure out what the next step will be that will help us tamp this down and reduce the trajectory.

BLACKWELL: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told reporters Saturday that the state will not prosecute people for not wearing masks.

Texas is also reporting shocking numbers. More than 10,000 people tested positive in that state again on Saturday and health systems are being stretched.

MAYOR STEVE ADLER, AUSTIN, TEXAS: There are parts of the state that are seeing so many cases with intensive care units so stressed that are asking for the ability to exert some local control and make choices that are the right choices for their city and I wish my governor would give that to them.

BLACKWELL: Coronavirus cases are rising sharply in Georgia, too. The governor and the mayor of Atlanta are fighting over how to handle the pandemic.

MAYOR HARDIE DAVIS, AUGUSTA, GEORGIA: With the governor's efforts around trying to mandate that, we couldn't enforce our local executive orders. Many of our cities across the state of Georgia exacted them anyway out of an abundance of caution and concern for our cities.

BLACKWELL: The CDC is offering new guidance for people who have tested positive for coronavirus, whether they have symptoms or asymptomatic. The CDC now says that those people may quit isolating ten days after symptoms first appeared as long as 24 hours passed since the last fever without use of fever medication, or if a fever has passed without use of meds and two tests taken more than 24 hours apart come back negative.

DR. ABDUL EL-SAYED, EPIDEMIOLOGIST: The CDC is giving us a better sense of the calipers around when that period is. The same point that the public should understand remain clear. Number one, everybody ought to be masking and staying socially distant because you may not know that you're spreading it even before or without symptoms. If you have symptoms, after they subside, we have a better sense of when you can assume that you're not shedding virus. This is really what the CDC is explaining to the public.

BLACKWELL: With the surge of cases over the last few weeks, models now predict more than 150,000 deaths linked to COVID-19 by August 8th, according to an ensemble forecast published by the CDC.

[07:05:01]

And coronavirus is spreading around the world. The World Health Organization reported Saturday more than a quarter million new cases.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Kristen Holmes is up next. She's live at the White House.

So, we heard Governor Ron DeSantis will not be enforcing a statewide mask mandate and we know the president won't be enforcing one either.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Victor. And that's not surprising, Ron DeSantis and the president are very close and they have been really in lockstep for most of the response of this pandemic. Now, what was shocking about President Trump's remarks was not necessarily that there was not going to be a mask mandate. I think he has been clear on his feelings when it comes to masks. It was the reasoning why.

He said that people need to have certain freedoms. The reason why that conflicts with what we've heard from the administration, that's why it's striking. I went to Louisiana with Vice President Pence this week. He wore a mask the entire time. He took it off to speak in front of people when he was socially distanced and then put it back on. He has encouraged wearing masks.

All of the top health officials, part of the coronavirus task force, are encouraging wearing masks. But the president is still not on board. In fact, the director, Robert Redfield, of the CDC, he this week, if all of us would just put on a face covering for four to six weeks, we could drive this epidemic into the ground. Now, it was this remark that President Trump was responding to when he said there wouldn't be a mask mandate.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want people to have a certain freedom. I don't believe in that, no. And I don't agree with the statement that if everybody wears a mask, everything disappears.

Hey, Dr. Fauci said, don't wear a mask. Our surgeon general, terrific guy, said, don't wear a mask. Everybody was saying, don't wear a mask. All of a sudden, everybody has got to wear a mask. And as you know, masks caused problems too.

With that being said, I'm a believer in masks. I think masks are good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: So he ends with "I'm a believer in masks", but almost all of the context before that would suggest otherwise.

I want to say two things here if there are viewers who are watching unsure of what to believe. Health experts have said that masks cannot cause problems. If you are breathing normally anyway, you can breathe normally with a mask on.

Dr. Fauci and the surgeon general did, in fact, say not to wear a mask early on. It's important to note that. There are two reasons for that. There was not enough information about how the coronavirus actually spread. They didn't know that's how it spread. The other part, they were trying to reserve masks for medical professionals because there was a shortage of masks.

So, two things to note. They're very important. And again, top medical experts in the country continue to say that people should wear a mask every single day, try to maintain social distancing as we try to get through this pandemic and continue to see cases surge across the country.

PHILLIP: And we'll talk to a couple of those experts just in a few minutes. Thank you, Kristen Holmes.

And joining me now to talk about this is Dr. Raj Kalsi, board certified emergency medicine physician, and Dr. Bernard Ashby, a cardiologist in Miami and Florida State, lead for the Committee to Protect Medicare.

Good morning to both of you.

Look, I think you were both able to hear that clip from President Trump on this interview airing later today. He made a couple of claims. First of all, claiming that there were potentially problems associated with mask-wearing and also that, you know, that these doctors, Dr. Fauci and others, were wrong about mask wearing.

We're seeing these numbers going all in the wrong direction. Dr. Kalsi, what do you make of the fact that President Trump continues

to be so resistant to not just a mask mandate, but even just clear mask messaging at this stage in the pandemic?

DR. RAJ KALSI, BOARD CERTIFIED EMERGENCY MEDICINE PHYSICIAN: I think we need to resort now, America, to listening to science and local governance that is supporting our safety. I'm struggling in the emergency rooms that I work in. I work in several. I'm trying to convince people who are nonbelievers. They're listening to leadership that are telling them that masking is an issue of politics and freedoms in this country.

You have the freedom to die from COVID, the freedom to be with this disease for weeks and months. That's also your freedom. And all of us in health care will fight for that freedom to keep you alive and well. But unfortunately, we're running out of steam. We need help.

PHILLIP: Yeah. It doesn't seem to be coming from the federal government.

Dr. Ashby, I want to talk to you about what's going on where you are. We're seeing some of these numbers in Miami-Dade County. Forty percent increases in a couple of weeks in coronavirus patients. ICU beds are filling up. More patients on ventilators than have been all month.

What are you seeing in your practice and are these patients -- I'm curious about what you think about where we are in terms of the cycle between illness and hospitalization and then mortality.

[20:10:05]

DR. BERNARD ASHBY, CARDIOLOGIST: So, great question. Thanks for having me on.

Florida, in general, is doing poorly when it comes to controlling this virus, Miami-Dade in particular. We are at a point where there's a rapid rise in the virus, a rapid rise in the virus. The hospitals are overwhelmed at this point. The ICUs are over capacity.

My hospital in particular is at capacity. And this virus spread is going on unchecked. We're doing piecemeal approaches to try to reduce the transmission. But it's not nearly enough. We need more backing from our federal, state and local officials to bring this virus to heal. But that's not occurring right now.

So, the medical professionals, we're doing our jobs. The case fatality rates are decreasing because we are actually much better at treating the virus. We're using methods such as early use of remdesivir, dexamethasone, trying to avoid folks getting on the vent and using high flow oxygen. But we can only do so much.

And so, now, you are starting to see an uptick in the death rate. So, over the past few days, we've been well over 100 until yesterday. And that's an ominous sign. The fact that we have no definitive plans to decrease the spread of the virus is very concerning to say the least. PHILLIP: Yes, at the same time, back in Washington, we're reporting

this morning that President Trump and the White House are at odds with Senate Republicans over this issue of whether the CDC and the states need more money for contact tracing and testing.

We've been hearing these reports for days and weeks now. Testing in particular seems to be at an acute problematic level right now. People are waiting long periods of time for tests.

Do you think there's more money needed, federal funding to go towards both of those issues? Will it help you at this point in time, Dr. Ashby?

ASHBY: The fact at that that we're having the conversation is a problem. The answer is yes. We need resources and support. We need to treat this like a FEMA level disaster response.

I'm a Florida boy. America is or at least Florida, we're in the eye of a hurricane right now. So, we need to have disaster relief kind of mentality. And the fact that we're talking about or debating whether or not we need funds and resources to support our ability to control the virus is, to me, is just, you know, insane.

So, my message to the leadership is just do your job. Leave medical professionals to doing our job. Just do your job, have our back, have your communities back or have our community's back so we can bring the virus under control and people can go on with their lives and not worry about literally dying, because many of my patients, especially my clinic, they're literally worried for their lives and they've been on lockdown since February.

PHILLIP: Yes, Dr. Kalsi, just this weekend, the CDC put out some new guidance for what people should do if they're treating themselves at home. I know this is a real issue for so many Americans who are maybe not hospitalized but they've been diagnosed with the coronavirus.

The -- what's key about this is they're saying after ten days of first showing symptoms and at least 24 hours have passed since your last fever, you can leave isolation, or if your fever passed without medication and you've taken into negative tests, and then for people who are asymptomatic, which we also are seeing a lot of, you can see people can discontinue isolation after ten days after their first positive test if they haven't had symptoms and they can also leave isolation if they have taken two negative tests.

Dr. Kalsi, are we learning more about how -- you know, the duration of the virus, how contagious people are. It seems we went from 14 days to ten days. Is that significant? And do you agree with these guidelines based on what you're seeing in your practice?

KALSI: You know, I trust that the CDC is using good judgment and good clinical data to make the decisions. But boots on the ground, this is entirely arbitrary to me.

When they put out statements like this, that -- what's sort of imperative to making this happen is that people can get rapid tests. Rapid tests means same-day results or even same-hour results. We're just not getting results for days.

So that breaks down the entire component of 10 to 14 days. It's a moot point for me because what's happening is that in that same household, if we don't know who is infected. Other people are getting infected. If people are waiting for this result and going on about their lives, they're infecting other people in the same time.

So, 10 to 14 days doesn't make a lot of change for me. Boots on the ground, I'm still seeing people co-infecting other people in the household. People at work, and the blue collar community, my -- my community in particular, they're the ones coming in, getting admitted and having the worst symptoms of this disease.

PHILLIP: Yeah. It all does seem to come down to this issue of testing. Can we get people test results quickly enough that they can actually isolate themselves and not infect others?

Dr. Raj Kalsi, Dr. Bernard Ashby, thank you both for joining us this morning.

ASHBY: Thanks for having me.

KALSI: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is in the hospital. Department spokesperson says he has a minor non-coronavirus-related issue. There's no more information about his condition provided by that spokesperson. But they said that he, 82 years old, is doing well and should be released soon.

All right. Still ahead, there's a growing push to rename the site of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, in honor of Congressman John Lewis.

Up next, we're going to hear from a leader of this effort to rename the Edmund Pettus Bridge and the message from the great, great, great granddaughter of the Confederate general and KKK leader on the real legacy of the Confederacy.

PHILLIP: Plus, millions of families all across the country will have to decide soon if they are going to send their kids back to school or continue with virtual learning. We've got the executive director of the National Home School Association with us this morning on advice for turning your home into a classroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:33]

PHILLIP: As we await official word on the funeral arrangements for the civil rights icon John Lewis, people across the country are making time to say their own final farewells.

BLACKWELL: Take a look at this mural of the longtime congressman, several stories high here. This is in Atlanta's Sweet Auburn neighborhood. It's a place where people are coming to. You can see under the banner

there, they've come to place flowers and gathered to discuss the late congressman. We know that the Georgia Democratic Party executive committee will meet tomorrow to discuss who will run for his seat in November. He held that seat for more than 30 years.

And today, take a look at the front page of the "Washington Post" featuring the congressman, calling him a faithful saint of civil rights.

PHILLIP: One way to pay tribute to John Lewis is gaining momentum is to rename the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, in his honor.

BLACKWELL: Now, the bridge is the site of the brutal crackdown by police on Lewis and other civil rights foot soldiers in 1965. It carries the name of former Alabama senator, Confederate general, KKK leader.

Michael Starr Hopkins is the founder of the John Lewis Bridge Project. With us also, Caroline Williams, a poet and author and descendant of Edmund Pettus.

Michael, let me start with you. I just want you to make the case for changing the name of the bridge.

MICHAEL STARR HOPKINS, FOUNDER, JOHN LEWIS BRIDGE PROJECT: You know, it's time to take down the name of Edmund Pettus. Edmund Pettus was a Confederate general and was a senior member in the Ku Klux Klan. If we ever truly want to wipe away the scene of bigotry, we have to wipe away the names of men like Edmund Pettus.

To honor Edmund Pettus by keeping his name on a bridge is antithetical to everything that this country should represent. So, if we want to live up to obligations, live up to who we say we are, then we can start by removing his name and putting up the name of someone who has been a hero, someone who has stood for what's best in the country. Not what's worst.

PHILLIP: And a couple of weeks ago, Caroline, you wrote an op-ed that got attention. It was entitled in part, my body is a Confederate monument weighing on this issue. I just want you to read a little bit of this op-ed where you explain your connection to Edmund Pettus and to this bridge.

CAROLINE RANDALL WILLIAMS, POET: I would love to. Thank you so much for having me.

My blackness does not put me on the other side of anything. It puts me squarely at the heart of the debate. I don't just come from the South. I come from Confederates. I've got a rebel gray blue blood coursing my veins. My great grandfather Will was raised with the knowledge that Edmund Pettus was his father.

Pettus, the storied Confederate general, grand dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, the man for whom Selma's Bloody Sunday Bridge is named. So I am not an outsider who makes these demands. I am a great, great granddaughter.

PHILLIP: What do you make, Caroline, of this push to rename the bridge?

WILLIAMS: It's honestly exactly what I, you know, wanted, hoped would be an outcome of having the conversation the way that I meant to have it when I wrote the article because the whole point was people who are related to the people that are honored in these monuments, they have to be part of helping tear them down. I was sort of feeling an absence of white voices doing that work, but I thought I know I'm related to one.

So I will model the behavior that I'm hoping to see and learn that from teaching and be my role as an educator. So, I am so excited that I know my roots enough to be able to help with the charge to rename something named after the ancestor that I don't wish to honor.

[07:25:00]

BLACKWELL: Michael, let me ask you. Joanne Bland, there are some people who disagree with the move to rename them. Joanne Bland was 12 years old when she watched her sister be beaten there on Bloody Sunday.

An she opposes the renaming. We spoke with NPR. Here's ha she said -- what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOANNE BLAND, CO-FOUNDER, NATIONAL VOTING RIGHTS MUSEUM IN SELMA, ALABAMA: I loved him with all my heart. A great man, who loved (INAUDIBLE). I don't think it should be named after John either. One of the events that changed America happened on that same bridge of a Klansman, named after a Klansman. If that's not transformative, I don't know what is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: What's your response? The juxtaposition of his name being there and what happened there that the world saw is the reason to keep the name.

HOPKINS: At the end of the day, this should be up to the people of Selma to make this decision. But what is the most important thing is taking down Edmund Pettus' name. That's what I believe.

And so, we're trying to work hand in hand with the Selma community to move this forward, because honoring Edmund Pettus is the first step in the problem. But taking down his name, then the community, in tandem with the country, can talk about how we best move forward. Whether it's the John Lewis name or whether it's other names.

But I think fostering this dialogue, communities having reconciliation is so important. It's why that article is so moving. When I started this process, I said I wanted to see John Lewis one last time be able to walk under that bridge and see his name. Unfortunately, that won't happen. But I do know he's watching us from

above and hoping that we will continue his work. By continuing that work, that means working to improve Selma, to build it up, to build tourism, to build education, and to bring our country together, because this has been a hard year.

And the best way that we can serve 2020 is to find a way to come together and rebuild this country.

BLACKWELL: So, quickly, before we move on, you -- although you lead the John Lewis Bridge Initiative and started this petition with 450,000 signatures now, I checked this morning, you are OK with it being named with more than just John Lewis. Because there are some in Selma, descendants of people who were there and people who are actually foot soldiers that day who think it should be more inclusive than just the congressman.

HOPKINS: I support the people of Selma and what they decide the name should be. I put forth a name as a suggestion. I think the John Lewis Bridge is a great name. But the people in Selma are the people whose voices need to be heard the most.

And this can be a collective effort. This doesn't need to be one where people who aren't from there are coming in and tell them what to do. This is one where we can have our voices heard. As we continue to have that dialogue, we're going to come together and really shock the world.

BLACKWELL: OK.

PHILLIP: And, Caroline, one of the things that's at the epicenter of this debate, what do you do with the bad parts of history? I mean, what do you think should -- is the value of removing a name of someone like Edmund Pettus? Do you think there's any risk of losing the context even if it is awful and negative and nobody wants to be associated with it?

WILLIAMS: I'm so glad you asked that question. I think the word context is critical to the answer. I think that I'm so excited by Michael's initiative. I actually put my petition during the commercial break before we came on this morning.

I want -- I think that when we take the name down, we have to know what's going up, because I think that taking -- leaving just gaps that can be filled in with something innocuous or something that feels maybe not attached to the point at all is always a risk if we don't have a plan for what's going up when we take it down. I do feel urgently, that if and when the name comes off, because we know how swiftly and efficiently erasure has worked in the past in this country.

I think some markers saying it was the Edmund Pettus Bridge but that in a step toward progress, we renamed it. And I think about the woman who spoke about not wanting to rename it because how transformative that social justice happened because it was named that and John Lewis, you know, made his life's work about rectifying some of the wrongs that were part of the groundwork of things that Edmund Pettus did.

I think that that is so visceral and complicated, but I also think that part of the next step of that transformation is to find a way to not have to live walking under the name of a man who committed those kind of crimes against humanity is what I'd call them.

[07:30:12]

And so, I do want the name to be revised. I do think that we need to have a plan about what the name will be before we move forward.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, this initiative is certainly getting a lot of support. South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn, Terry Sowell there in Alabama, Senator Doug Jones supporting it, several celebrities.

Thank you so much for the conversation, Caroline Randall Williams and Michael Starr Hopkins. Good to have you this morning.

MICHAEL STARR HOPKINS, FOUNDER, JOHN LEWIS BRIDGE PROJECT: Thank you.

WILLIAMS: Thank y'all.

BLACKWELL: And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:35:01]

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: You're looking at images from the streets of Portland, Oregon, where protesters clashed with federal police officers.

BLACKWELL: The protests have gained some strength over the last few days after videos posted online showed masked and camouflage federal agents detaining protesters.

PHILLIP: Later this morning on the CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION", Jake Tapper will be speaking with Portland's Mayor Ted Wheeler, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves and Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley. That is coming up at 9:00 a.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

BLACKWELL: So, several countries are weighing whether to reopen businesses and work to strengthen their economies amid the pandemic. But a lot of them are seeing what's happening in Sweden as a bit of a caution to those pushing to ease restrictions.

PHILLIP: Yes, the country is suffering from a high death toll after reopening and many are now wondering if it's all worth it.

Here is CNN's Phil Black.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the image Sweden is recently famous for, living well while much of the world is locking down. But it's deceptive. Scratch the surface and you still find grave economic pain.

These boats would normally carry hundreds of people every day during summer.

HJALMAR LITZEN, DIRECTOR, FLORE RESTAURANTS: Enormous impacts. Counting March, April, our total, we went down 93 percent. It's still around the same.

BLACK: This restaurant open just weeks before the virus surged here.

DOROTEA MALMEGARC, DOMA RESTAURANT: Looking at the numbers, of course, it's minus, minus, minus.

BLACK: And just like the hotel, the heavily locked down cities around the world, those in Stockholm have sat mostly empty for months.

DAVID HALLDEN, CEO, ELITE HOTELS OF SWEDEN: We are actually bleeding and everyone in the hospitality industry in Sweden is bleeding heavily at the moment.

BLACK: And it's many other industries, too. Nearly 50 percent of Sweden's economy is, like this designer shoe brand, largely built on selling stuff to people in other countries. So, even one, many Swedish businesses could stay open, but the global crisis destroyed international demand for their products.

LEYLA PURSHARIFI, COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR, ATP ATELIER: The biggest hits were export and the biggest hit is obviously U.S. the U.S. is our second largest market.

BLACK: And Swedish manufacturers were also cut off from supply chains. Carmaker Volvo shut down its Swedish plants for three weeks because it ran low on parts.

It all means Sweden's economy is predicted to contract this year by more than 5 percent with hundreds of thousands losing jobs.

IBRAHIM BAYLAN, SWEDISH MINISTER FOR BUSINESS: I've never seen it hit this broadly in the economy or this deep within the economy.

BLACK: That's on top of a disturbing COVID-19 death toll. More than 5,500 in a small country of just 10 million. So, some Swedes are now asking, was staying open worth it?

LARS CALMFORS, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS, STOCKHOLM UNIVERSITY: I think the price paid in lives lost has been too high. That's, of course, a value judgment. But I think it's a sensible value judgment.

BLACK: Swedish officials have always insisted that they're protecting lives and the health system with economic considerations further down the line.

BAYLAN: Very important part of our strategy to try to create various within the population and to have it over a longer term because I think that's more valuable than trying to shut down.

BLACK: Sweden's self taught experiment pushing personal responsibility and social distancing is still being watched around the world as governments desperately try to find the right balance. But the early results suggest an obvious conclusion. There is no pain-free solution to living with COVID-19.

Phil Black, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Do you have kids? Are they going to start the school year learning from home? And you do not know what to do to get ready?

We have some expert advice coming for you. What to do, how to do it and when to do it to make sure you set your kid up for success on the other side of the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:43:47]

BLACKWELL: So, there's a new study that suggests that reopening schools to in-person learning may lead to an increase in coronavirus cases. The reporting from "The New York Times" and studies from South Korea had found that children 10 and older spread the virus as much or as often as adults. Other studies suggest that children are less likely to be affected or spread the virus. But the South Korea found that to be only true for children under the age of 10.

Now, virtual learning will be, I mean, reality for millions of parents and kids this year. But home-schooling has already been the norm for millions of American children before the pandemic started.

So what can everyone learn from those families?

Well, joining me now is Allen Weston, executive director of the National Homeschool Association.

Allen, good morning to you. Thank you for your time.

ALLEN WESTON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, HOME LEARNING ASSOCIATION: Good morning.

BLACKWELL: So, I want to first say that, and you tell our producers that home-schooling is different than schooling from home. I want to wrap on that point. But let's start with specifics for families that have to school from home at the start of the year. How much structure should there be? Should we see kids getting up and getting dressed for school and having the normal breakfast at the same time as if they were going off and going to work?

[07:45:02]

WESTON: Well, if the kids have been in the public school system and that's what they're familiar with and they're planning to go back to the public school system, then maintaining some semblance of a structure and schedule is probably a good idea. It would be a nice -- let them have a say in how the structure goes down because it just tends to work better and less resistance at the end of the day.

But they also need to understand that when you're doing true homeschooling, it takes far less time in a day, maybe two hours to get the same amount of learning accomplished as it would eight hours in a school setting.

So, structure is a little bit different from the standpoint of not having to spend nearly as much time at it.

BLACKWELL: For families that have the space or the luxury, is there a setting that works best? Should the students or children be working in their bedrooms? Should they be working where the parents are, at the dining room table, if you have siblings? Should they all be together? What works best?

WESTON: Well, again, it's kind a personal preference. It would kind of depend on where do the kids do their homework? Do they feel more comfortable at the kitchen table, do they stretch out on the floor. Wherever they feel most comfortable would be the ideal place for them to be able to do whatever kind of work that they're doing.

I know that a lot of schools are putting kids in front of screens and they have to be in front of those screens for hours at a time. And there's going to be a lot of burnout that's going to occur with that because you can only do that for so long.

So if the kids can move around and maybe take laptops outside where there's still Wi-Fi or something and can have a little different environment, that's going to help a lot with the burnout problems that we're going to see in probably two or three weeks down the road.

BLACKWELL: Yes. How much involvement should we see from parents and continuing to communicate with teachers? I mean, it's going to be difficult with the teachers having their students virtually. But I imagine it's still important to have virtual parent-teacher conferences if you can have them.

WESTON: Well, I mean, in an average school setting, the teachers only have a couple of minutes to be able to spend with each child on a one- on-one as it is. The more involved the parents can be in working with the children, the better off they're going to be. And relying on the teacher, especially in a time where they're going to be trying to deal with even more students on a remote basis is just a situation that's not going to be very good for them.

So, the parents really need to step up and try and fill in the gaps as much as they can. If they don't know something or they feel uncomfortable teaching something, then look it up together. You learn it together. That's a --

BLACKWELL: Let me ask you this as we wrap up. There are some families who enjoy this. Some people said after this, they want to transition from schooling at home to home-schooling. So that people are not confused, how different from what is happening with schooling from home is actual home-schooling and what should they do or know to prepare?

WESTON: Yes. Schooling at home is completely different from home- schooling. Home-schooling is more of a mindset. It's really more of a lifestyle. It's dedicated to either maintaining or restoring the joy of learning that the children have naturally when they're born.

And oftentimes you lose that after you've been in school for a couple of years. Home-schooling is about making school an adventure as opposed to a chore. It's all about the freedom that comes with doing that. And as far as preparing for it, it will take time to switch over from being motivated by grades and gold stars and getting back to learning because learning is fun. And that's going to be tough for some kids to do.

BLACKWELL: It is before 6:00 a.m. out there in Lone Tree, Colorado. I really appreciate you waking up for us this morning, executive director of the National Homeschool Association, Allen Weston. Thank you so much for being with us.

WESTON: Thank you. Appreciate it.

PHILLIP: So, with everything we've got going on, everybody is stressed out. There's a global pandemic going on. But Iceland thinks they have the remedy for spiking stress levels. We will tell you all about it when we come back.

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[07:54:09]

PHILLIP: So we know you're feeling a little stressed by the pandemic and this isolation is making you a little bit crazy. But Iceland says it's got the antidote.

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BLACKWELL: So let me explain this. The Icelandic tourism board set up a website, lets you, wherever you are, record yourself screaming and then they're going to play that scream back on loudspeakers in a remote part of the country.

Now, this is the part I don't really get. The website allows you to hear other people's screams in your house. I don't know why we want to hear somebody else's screams, but thanks, Iceland.

PHILLIP: Yeah, if you really want to let it go, go to lookslikeyouneediceland.com. I will stick with my sourdough, ice cream.

BLACKWELL: Yes, yes.

PHILLIP: And I'll handle it that way.

BLACKWELL: Folks certainly have been baking. Abby, good to have you back a second weekend.

But, let me explain, Christie is at home caring for her husband who has coronavirus. We are all thinking about you and Pete. Pete is getting a little bit better. The girls and Christie have tested negative, but we'll certainly keep you all in our thoughts.

"INSIDE POLITICS" with John King is up next.

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