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Trump Downplays Virus Surge When Confronted with Data; Los Angeles Reports Most Single-Day Hospitalizations; Many Virus Survivors Deal with Long-Term Symptoms; E.U. Summit Stalls over Economic Recovery Fund; Sweden Pays Human and Economic Price for Staying Open. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired July 20, 2020 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Pushed beyond the limit. Hospitals in Florida overwhelmed. In some cases, they are out of critical care beds.
This as the U.S. president still claims the virus is just going to disappear.
And monsoon rains leave hundreds of thousands of people stranded in India and far beyond.
A warm welcome, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes, this is CNN NEWSROOM.
And we begin with the sharp contrast in which health experts and actual science reveals about the impact of the coronavirus and what the U.S. president is telling his people.
He suggests the pandemic has being blown out of proportion. But according to Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. is now home to nearly 3.8 million confirmed cases and no sign of improvement on the horizon. Far from it.
Each day, we hear new desperate tales from hospitals reaching and then exceeding their capacity. Nearly 50 in hard-hit Florida have no ICU beds left.
Now in the past week, all of the states there in orange and maroon suffered significant increase in their numbers of new cases.
But President Trump is blaming the upticks and spikes in increased testing, which it's not.
And on top of all of that, masks somehow still remain a hot button issue in the U.S.
To the astonishment of so many people all over the world, as well as American health authorities.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. FRANCIS COLLINS, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: Well, it is bizarre that we have turned mask wearing into something political. Imagine you were an alien coming to Planet Earth and looking around,
looking at the scientific data. Going from place to place and looking to see who's wearing masks.
You would be totally astounded, puzzled, amazed.
You'd wonder, what is going on here? How could it be that something as basic as a public health action that we have very strong evidence can help seems to attach to people's political party?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: President Trump meanwhile claims that he's a believer in masks and he thinks they're good. But at the same time he says they cause problems and he won't force people to wear them.
He also suggests that some day he will be vindicated in his handling of the pandemic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will be right eventually. I said it's going to disappear.
CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR, "FOX NEWS SUNDAY": But does that --
TRUMP: I'll say it again.
WALLACE: Does that discredit --
TRUMP: It's going to disappear. And I'll be right. I don't think so.
WALLACE: Right.
TRUMP: I don't think so. You know why it doesn't discredit (inaudible). Because I've been right probably more than anybody else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Fact check. No, he hasn't. Now during that interview with "FOX NEWS," President Trump reiterated claims that the U.S. is the testing capital and therefore the envy of the world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: But we have more tests by far than country in the world.
WALLACE: But, sir, testing is up 37 percent.
TRUMP: Well, that's good.
WALLACE: I understand. Cases are up 194 percent. It isn't just that testing has gone up, it's that the virus has spread. The positivity rate has increased.
TRUMP: Many of those cases -- WALLACE: The virus is worse than it was.
TRUMP: Many of those cases are young people that would heal in a day.
Cases are up because we have the best testing in the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: That fact check is important because it shows that while, yes, the U.S. is doing more testing than it used to, but still way less than it needs to, there are also more confirmed cases, as you can see here in recent weeks.
That positivity rate has clearly increased.
Now the United States has been vastly uncoordinated when it comes to responding to the pandemic.
From the start, New York, once the epicenter of the virus though is starting its final reopening phase this week.
Florida though, as we said, reported record high new cases.
We have correspondents in both states. Let's begin with Randi Kaye in West Palm Beach.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: More trouble in terms of numbers and coronavirus here in the State of Florida in the last 24 hours. Another 12,478 new cases here in the state, now more than 350,000 cases statewide.
Also, another 87 deaths bringing the total now to just under 5,000 deaths across the state.
Also, this is the fourth day this month that we have seen more than 12,000 cases in a single day reported of coronavirus here in the State of Florida.
Statewide, more than 9,000 people hospitalized. Those numbers do seem to be holding steady.
And in Miami Dade in Southern Florida, one of the hardest hit counties, still trouble with those ICU beds. Now at 127 percent capacity.
[01:05:00]
So they have no ICU beds left to give.
In fact, in Miami Dade, more than 2,000 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, 507 patients in the ICU and 286 patients on ventilators.
Also, dozens of hospitals, close to 50 hospitals across the state, are also without any ICU beds. So this is certainly a problem here in the State of Florida.
On a bright note, the governor has secured about 30,000 vials of remdesivir which we know is a proven treatment for COVID-19. Those should be arriving just hours from now. Those supplies will go directly to the hospital.
He went to the White House seeking that supply and apparently it will be coming here in just the next few hours or days ahead.
All right. Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, New York City will be reaching its major milestone this week with its phase four reopening. It will be the latest in a series of reopening phases that we've seen started since the beginning of the summer here.
This will be a fairly limited reopening which means some of the indoor spaces that were supposed to initially be open to the public again will remain closed.
Places like museums, malls, movie theaters. Gyms as well. Indoor dining in the city, that's also still banned.
But you can expect, however -- are some of those low-risk outdoor spaces to reopen like botanical gardens, zoos with limited capacity. And also, indoor exhibits still closed.
Professional sports without fans plus movie and TV production, also expected to resume.
So you'll see New York City look a little bit more like New York.
Also, schools would potentially be given the go ahead to reopen. Though a final decision, according to the governor, won't be made until August.
The reason why the phase four New York City looks very different from phase four from other parts of the state is because it's a much more densely populated area.
So the concern by health officials is that if you open some of these spaces then that would allow this virus to potentially spread.
Polo Sandoval. CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: CNN medical analyst, Dr. Celine Gounder joins me now from New York. Good to see you, Doctor.
Let's start with Florida, let's talk about that. A spike in terms of cases. Miami Dade's ICU 127 percent capacity.
What concerns you most about the virus landscape in the U.S.?
DR. CELINE GOUNDER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST & HOST, EPIDEMIC PODCAST: Well, what concerns me most, Michael, is that there continues to be head-in-the-sand kind of mentality about what's happening.
We had many states, Florida included, that lifted restrictions too early, that allowed people to go without masks -- still don't mandate masks in many of these states.
And that have allowed businesses to reopen in a way that's frankly really irresponsible when you have widespread community transmission these days.
So that really concerns me.
HOLMES: Yes, not surprisingly. We heard this -- on Sunday the president still downplaying the data, still blaming testing for the high numbers, even though that's not true on so many levels.
I think the testing's gone up about 30 percent and the positives are up 194 percent.
But regardless, in terms of public messaging, what does that sort of statement do?
GOUNDER: Well, it confuses the situation. And I think so much of this pandemic is also a pandemic of conspiracy theories, of mistruths. Of actual efforts to really misstate what the reality is for political gain.
And that's really concerning.
It's not the first time this has happened in the case of an epidemic. We saw some of the same behavior, including by our president, at the time of the West African Ebola epidemic and we've seen that with prior epidemics.
This is what happens. It's human psychology.
HOLMES: When it comes to -- one thing that I find bewildering when it comes to PPE, masks, gowns and so on.
It's just hard to comprehend how far we are into this pandemic and health professionals still say there are shortages.
In a country like the U.S., how can that be?
GOUNDER: Well, I think the problem is that there hasn't been a national strategy to this.
So when you are pitting states against one another to try to source these materials, one, it's going up drive up costs -- as Governor Cuomo in New York State has said it's like being on a big eBay where every state is bidding against one another.
And until now, you've only had a cluster of states that have been really heavily hit.
So in the beginning, it was New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, now it's the southern states. Once we hit the fall and then the winter, it's going to be the entire United States. It will come back to places in the Northeast, for example.
And then you'll have all 50 states bidding against one another for these scarce materials.
And that's really going to be very disastrous for everybody who's on the front lines like me.
[01:10:00]
HOLMES: Right, right. And what about the president's call for schools to reopen? Again, on Sunday, threatening funding which he can't do, but he did it anyway. He threatened it.
Many school districts saying, they just won't do it. The risks of students and parents and teachers is too great. And social distancing pretty much impossible.
When to you, is it going to be safe to reopen a school and crowd a bunch of kids into a classroom?
GOUNDER: Well, one comment about the federal funding is that that funding goes to the lowest income schools and schools that serve special education, disabled students.
So that's basically saying we're going to punish the communities that are already suffering the most.
Now when it comes to reopening schools, that's a non-starter. As long as you have generalized, widespread community transmission.
Now once you get things under control enough -- so in communities like New York City, like in Massachusetts, then you can start to talk about how do you reopen.
And there is data that would suggest whether it's basic science laboratory data, patient level data or population level data -- especially from countries that have had school reopenings -- that if you focus your in-person reopenings on the youngest of kids, so 10 and under, you're much less likely to see outbreaks and you're much less likely to see adults be infected by the children.
And that's really who, most of all, we're trying to protect in this situation.
HOLMES: Yes. It's not a one-size-fits-all, that's for sure. You touched on this and it's worth revisiting briefly.
The lack of a national coordinated strategy on everything from reopening to PPE, sourcing and distribution. And it's really hurt the U.S.
The president gave responsibility for pretty much everything over to the states and the politics that then comes along with that.
How has all of that hurt the fight against the virus?
GOUNDER: I think that's been tremendously damaging, Michael. And I think oftentimes in the United States we use national versus states rights really as a camouflage for a political agenda.
If you really wanted to turn things over to local control -- for example, in Georgia, you wouldn't have the mayor of Atlanta fighting the governor of Georgia. You would have the governor of Georgia saying, "You, mayor, you need to do what's right for the city," and back off.
But that's not how this is playing out at all.
HOLMES: Yes. You've got to wonder when bungling becomes a human rights issue.
Dr. Celine Gounder, appreciate it. Good to see you as always.
GOUNDER: Take care.
HOLMES: Now the intense debate over how and when to reopen schools has focused on how children might spread COVID-19 to others.
Well, now a new study shows children between the ages of 10 and 19 can transmit COVID-19 as much as any adult does. And younger children, well, they still do pose a risk.
Researchers in South Korea found that when the first patient in the home was under 10, a little over 5 percent of other people in the household tested positive.
When the initial patient was 10 to 19, that rate jumped to more than 18.5 percent.
The outbreak in Latin America and the Caribbean continues to accelerate with Brazil leading the way. So far, Brazil confirming more than two million infections, more than half of all the cases in the region.
Shasta Darlington with more on how Brazil's president is reacting as the virus reaches further into remote areas of the country.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brazil reported more than 20,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the country's total number of infections nearly 2.1 million.
The death toll neared 80,000 as the virus migrates to the south and less populated interior, regions that initially were spared.
Als, on Sunday, Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, greeted a crowd of supporters while he strolled around the grounds of the presidential residence. Bolsonaro tested positive for the coronavirus earlier this month and
has been in semi-isolation ever since.
On Sunday, he repeatedly lowered his mask and at one point supporters tossed him a yellow Brazilian soccer jersey.
Bolsonaro also raised what appeared to be a small box of medicine. Now on the same day that he confirmed he had tested positive for the coronavirus, he also announced he was taking the controversial malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine. And he says he believes it has helped him.
Shasta Darlington. CNN, Sao Paulo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Hong Kong reporting another record spike in new infections and officials warn the worst could be far from over. Ahead, their latest effort to contain the outbreak.
Also, monsoon rains inundating South Asia, causing flooding and landslides that are forcing millions of people to leave their homes.
We'll have more on that story as well when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:15:00]
HOLMES: Welcome back, everyone.
Hong Kong says it will further tighten its coronavirus restrictions as the outbreak there keeps getting worse.
On Sunday, officials reported 108 new infections, the most in a single day.
The government says it will now expand the mandatory use of face masks and will require all non-essential servants civil servants to work from home.
For more on all of this, let's join Will Ripley in Hong Kong.
A lot of places around the world would be thrilled to have 100 new cases a day. Hong Kong, though, they are concerned, obviously.
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, these are the highest numbers that Hong Kong has seen so far in this pandemic, Michael.
And three weeks ago, there were zero cases of community transmission consistently here, and now we have over 100 cases a day. More than -- well, over half of those cases are community spread, the majority of them are.
And of those cases, half or so cannot be traced. Contact tracing isn't working. So you have a situation here in Hong Kong where they're now trying to impose the strictest social distancing measures that we've seen so far in this pandemic to try to stop the numbers from increasing very rapidly.
Because what we've seen in other parts of the world would certainly ring true here in Hong Kong.
That if people walk around asymptomatic and the regular kind of way of life that we were enjoying here just a couple of weeks ago, if that were to continue the numbers would really skyrocket. And that could be a real problem here in Hong Kong.
Because they're already running short on hospital beds for COVID-19 patients. They're at something like almost 75 percent capacity with the current numbers as they stand.
The fear is, if the number of cases skyrockets and people need hospitalization, there might not be beds available for them.
And when you are dealing with a densely populated territory with seven million people and the border is essentially shut, you don't have excess room if there were to be a large number of patients.
So that is why the chief executive here in Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, is so concerned right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARRIE LAM, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF HONG KONG (through translator): The situation is really critical and there's no sign the situation is being brought under control.
That's why this morning I have called a high meeting level to consider our response and we know that later on today with these latest figures we've announced by the Center for Health Protection, there would be more than 100 confirmed cases.
That is a single day high since the start of the epidemic.
And we believe the public will be very much concerned and worried.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIPLEY: Plans are in the works right now to expand the number of available beds here in Hong Kong. And this week, all civil services who are deemed non-essential are being told to work from home. That could last even longer than a week.
That means that a lot of city services are either reduced or unavailable right now, in addition to a lot of businesses being closed.
Everything from gyms and bars. Hong Kong Disneyland close last week. Schools, of course, closed early for the summer. But also restaurants, they can't serve in the dinner hours, only take-away service.
Those businesses that do remain open, Michael, they have to check customers' temperatures at the door, they have to offer hand sanitizer and they have to make sure that social distancing is taking place inside their establishments.
So there's still a lot of traffic out on the streets. Life continues to go on as normal as possible despite this heightened state of lockdown.
But people here in Hong Kong almost everybody -- I haven't seen a single person outside that isn't wearing a mask today.
And people are hoping that these measures will be enough to contain this before it really escalates here in Hong Kong, Michael.
HOLMES: Yes. Real quick, Will. You live there, you know America well.
What do people in Hong Kong think when this is happening where they live for 108 cases -- which is amazing that they are doing this. But what do they think when they look at the U.S. and 70,000 a day?
RIPLEY: People who lived here during the SARS outbreak and who saw hundreds of Hong Kongers die during that terrifying time are very concerned about these numbers.
You talk to locals in particular and when they see the number up over 100 cases a day, people are genuinely -- they seem frightened about that.
Now you talk to expats, people like me from other countries that have a much larger number of cases, and they just kind of point out how different things really are here in Hong Kong compared to back home.
It's true that a lot of cities would be happy with the kind of numbers that Hong Kong is seeing right now.
But the reason why Hong Kong has such low numbers is because from the onset of this pandemic they shut this city down very quickly, Michael.
HOLMES: Yes. And they took it very seriously. Will Ripley, good to see you. Thanks, my friend.
Now, for the second straight day, India confirming a record number of new infections, the country is surpassing 40,000 daily cases on Monday.
That's the first time it has ever topped that number.
It comes just days after the country became the third to report at least a million infections overall.
CNN's Vedika Sud joins me now live from New Delhi with more.
Tell us about the growing case numbers and what's being done about it there?
VEDIKA SUD, CNN PRODUCER: Well, exactly, Michael, we have over 40,000 cases reported in the last 24 hours like you pointed out.
What's worth noting is also that in the last seven days, there have at least been six times that the numbers have broken the record. So this is really climbing in India.
Also, what we've seen here is a lot of people are not following the protocols put in place where the government has been appealing over and over again. Wear your masks, keep social distance from each other.
Because even when I went out over the weekend onto the roads, I did witness a lot of people without masks sitting together, eating together.
And that's the prime worry. Because this is no time to relax like the medical experts have said, this is the time to be vigilant is what they say.
Because from here on, despite the lockdowns in a few places across India, the numbers are rising. And that's what they're really worried about.
Interestingly, and ironically, the fatality rate of India remains very low compared to other countries.
Now one of the reasons according to the doctors for this is also because India has a high young population but, of course, there are other reasons to this is well.
Just a quick update on the Bachchans as well. Superstar Amitabh Bachchan is still in hospital along with his son, his daughter-in-law and actress, Aishwarya Rai, and her eight-year old daughter.
[01:25:00]
They have mild symptoms is what we heard last but they've asked for privacy so we aren't seeing any further statements being issued by the hospital as of now, Michael.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right. Vedika, thanks. Vedika Sud there in New Delhi for us. Appreciate it.
Almost four million people are being displaced by heavy flooding in Northeastern India and Nepal.
It is a problem many countries in South Asia experience every year during the monsoon season.
CNN's Paula Hancocks reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Houses made out of corrugated metal and thatch were no match for this deluge in Bangladesh.
Heavy monsoon rains that have been falling for several weeks have engulfed homes and farms and marooned hundreds of thousands of people across the country.
But even with so much hardship, life goes on in one village.
A table in a flooded room is dry enough to cook on. Water still flows from an outdoor faucet. A cow has found shelter on a patch of ground.
Local officials say nearly a third of the country is underwater with one calling the floods the worst in a decade.
There's little choice for the stranded except to endure the conditions and wait for the waters to recede.
The scene in neighboring India is just as dire. Nearly 50,000 people have been displaced in a northeastern state of Assam.
Dozens are dead. Makeshift relief camps shelter people who have lost everything.
This man says, "I am a poor man. I had a house of mud and bamboo. The floods destroyed it. I will have to rebuild my house."
The destruction is far reaching. Almost 90 percent of a national park in the region is underwater and several rare rhinos have drowned.
Other animals, including herds of elephants, were seen retreating to safety.
India's capital wasn't spared from the misery. A downpour in New Delhi inundated the streets, slowing traffic, trapping some vehicles. The spillover from the roads damaged nearby houses.
This man says, "There's water in my drawing room and my home office is flooded. Everything has been ruined, including my furniture."
Similar scenes in China where the Yangtze river continues to swell.
Forecasters say parts of the country will see significant amounts of rain over the next few days which could further strain the river banks.
A strain felt across Asia as countries weather the double blow of a powerful monsoon season and the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
Paula Hancocks. CNN, Seoul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And a developing story now from the Middle East.
The Saudi king is in hospital in Riyadh. The Saudi press agency says the king, King Salman, was admitted on Monday for gallbladder inflammation.
The 84-year-old monarch said to be undergoing tests. Were keeping an eye on that story for you.
And the United Arab Emirates says it successfully launched a space probe headed for Mars on Sunday.
It's the first time any Arab or Muslim majority country has set out for the red planet. The "Hope" probe is expected to reach Mars by next February and study the planet's weather and atmosphere for almost two years.
The UAE's vice president said the mission will help show young people that the impossible is indeed possible.
We're going to take a quick break.
When we come back, coronavirus cases surge in the U.S. as President Trump butts heads with science. His latest arguments about testing coming up.
Also, coronavirus patients filling up Los Angeles hospitals and the city's mayor is thinking about another shutdown.
We'll talk about that next as well. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. We'll be right back.
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[01:32:35]
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes.
And our top story, the growing divergence between the U.S. President and science. He is once again downplaying the spread of the virus and once again, blaming testing for the spike in cases. Health experts totally disagree because he is wrong and say the soaring case count signals an ominous trend.
But during an interview with Fox News, President Trump he repeated his claims that the U.S. has done, quote, "the most incredible job in the world when it comes to testing".
However, the botched testing roll out in the early days of the pandemic caused huge problems and there is still a major backlog in U.S. test results and not nearly enough tests are being done.
President Trump also went as far as to suggest that fast healing COVID infections should not be counted and that testing is just, quote, "creating trouble".
Jeremy Diamond with the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well coronavirus cases have been surging once again in the United States over the last month, month and a half. And yet President Trump seems to still be denying the reality of the situation. The reality that cases are indeed surging, that new records are being broken in terms of new case numbers every week, sometimes multiple times a week.
President Trump in an interview on Sunday instead focused much more on defending his administration, his handling of this pandemic, deflecting blame and once again making false claims, including the repeatedly debunked claim that the rise in coronavirus cases is related to increased testing in the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS CHANNEL ANCHOR: Do you still talk about it as, quote, "burning embers"? But I want to put up a chart that shows where we are with the illness over the last four months. As you can see, we hit a peak here in April, 36,000 cases a day.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's cases, yes. Cases.
WALLACE: Then it went down and now since June, it has gone up more than doubled. One day this week 75,000 new cases, more than double the old --
TRUMP: Chris, that's because we have great testing. We have the best testing in the world. If we didn't test, you wouldn't be able to show that chart. If we tested half as much, those numbers would be down.
WALLACE: But this isn't burning embers sir, this is a forest fire.
TRUMP: No, no. But I don't say -- I say flames. We will put out the flames. And we'll put out in some cases, just burning embers. We also have burning embers. We have embers, and we do have flames.
[01:35:04]
DIAMOND: Now, the reality of the situation is that while testing has been up about 37 percent, cases of coronavirus in the United States are up 194 percent. And the gap in those two rates of increase is even more startling when you look at some of the hotspots like Florida and Arizona and Texas.
And yet President Trump it seems continues to make this false claim. It was just one of several from the President in this interview. He also tried to favorably compare the United States mortality rates to other countries. He also tried to compare the situation in the United States more favorably to what is happening in the European Union, which has not seen this most recent surge of coronavirus cases like the United States. President Trump was also busy trying to downplay the advice of some of the government's foremost public health experts. The President once again undermining the credibility of Dr. Anthony Fauci even as he insisted that there is no campaign to undermine Fauci. But really it's about something broader because the President was also
disagreeing repeatedly with the CDC, disagreeing with the notion put forward by the CDC director, Dr. Robert Redfield, that masks, if every American wore masks for the next four to eight weeks, coronavirus could be in much better shape in the United States.
The President rejecting that advice out of hand. And again, just the latest instance of the President butting heads with the science.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN -- the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Some experts are saying the state of Florida is now the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic. The situation there, critical. Officials reporting more than 12,000 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday. And in Miami-Dade County, there are no ICU beds.
Confirmed cases have steadily risen all month. Florida now with more than 350,000 cases.
CNN spoke with Miami's mayor. He explains one reason why Florida is being hit so hard at the moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR FRANCIS SUAREZ (r), MIAMI FLORIDA: The biggest factor is that since we got out of THE stay-at-home order in April, we have seen just an incredible growth in terms of the virus.
You know, people have essentially behaved as if the virus didn't exist. And one of the things that this virus has proven is that it is incredibly efficient at spreading.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Texas, one of the biggest coronavirus crisis points in the U.S. right now as well. That state just reporting 7,300 new cases, at least 93 deaths on Sunday.
That is better than the daily case numbers for the past six days which all exceeded 10,000. But there are more than 10,000 people in hospital and health care workers warn things could easily turn worse.
Los Angeles health officials reporting the highest number of hospitalizations in a single day, more than 2,200 on Sunday alone. Positive test rates and hospitalizations on the rise in the country and in the rest of the state. And leaders are having to think carefully about their next steps.
Paul Vercammen reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One of the numbers Mayor Garcetti is most concerned with are the hospitalizations. They are now at a record in Los Angeles County jumping to 2,216 this weekend. What he has said is, he is going to track these numbers for about two weeks and if things do not improve, he will go ahead and issue more stay-at- home or closure orders.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: How much worse does it have to get in Los Angeles before you feel compelled to issue another stay-at-home order?
MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI (D), LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Sure. Well, I think we are on the brink of that. But as I've told people over the last week, the discipline and I think a lot of people don't understand, mayors often have no control over what opens up doesn't. That's either at a state or county level. And I do agree that those things happen too quickly.
But we are smarter, Jake, about this. It's not just what is open and closed, it is also about what we do individually.
VERCAMMEN: Now, about this notion of being on the brink of this again, he wants to marinate on the numbers over a couple of weeks. And he's also said he does not want to take a cleaver to everything in Los Angeles, more so a surgical strike.
For example, if he saw nursing home or let's say, a construction site or an apparel factory that he thinks needs to be shut down, he will go after it.
He says he well recognizes the need for people in Los Angeles to get back to work, but again he wants to see some of these numbers start to take a turn downwards.
One number he is more comfortable with, the positivity rate after testing for COVID-19. That now stands at 10 percent.
Reporting from Los Angeles -- I'm Paul Vercammen.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: The 20-year-old son of a U.S. federal judge has died after a gunman opened fire at the judge's home. U.S. marshals and the FBI are searching for the suspect.
[01:40:00]
HOLMES: Investigators say the gunman wore what appeared to be a FedEx uniform as he approached Judge Esther Salas' home in New Jersey. The judge's son and husband -- they opened the door and were immediately shot.
Law enforcement officers say they don't know the motive yet. They're not aware of any threats against the judge who was apparently elsewhere in the home and unharmed.
We're going to take a quick break.
When we come back, some COVID patients are facing long term symptoms, even their doctors can misunderstand what is happening. Coming up, the help one long hauler is giving to others online.
We'll be right back.
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HOLMES: Welcome back.
Many coronavirus patients who were diagnosed months ago are still suffering from serious symptoms. They face long term effects of things like fatigue, breathlessness and brain fog and there are no clear answers on when those symptoms might ease.
Hard-hit European countries like the U.K. and Italy are beginning to offer rehabilitation services for COVID survivors. And they will need to be wide ranging because research now suggests the coronavirus is a multi-system illness that can damage multiple parts of the body.
Now, these patients are so called long-haulers and Amy Watson is one of them. She had a fever for more than 100 days and she created a Facebook support group in the U.S.
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HOLMES: I spoke with her earlier about the many different symptoms patients can face.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMY WATSON, LONG-HAUL COVID FIGHTER: Pretty much any system of the body can be affected by COVID where we were -- initially, we were told that it was a respiratory virus. That is just not the case.
It seems to be more vascular in nature and is impacting pretty much every, you know, system in the body causing, you know, for me I have a chronic fever 127 days running, burning nerve pain, profuse sweating especially night sweats, intense fatigue, headaches, loss of appetite, pleurisy, other cardiac conditions like tachycardia, memory issues and brain fog, shortness of breath. You know, your regular --
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: And these things go on literally for weeks and weeks and weeks. Would you say 127 days of fever?
WATSON: 127 days today.
HOLMES: My goodness. What goes through your mind when you hear the President say that in 99 percent of cases COVID is no big deal?
WATSON: White rage perhaps. That, you know, he is ill informed. And he's not tuned into the reality of people -- real life people out here in the world who are living with this, you know.
It is not a matter of you either die or you recover. You know, many of us recover but never fully recover. And we are all wondering, is this permanent? Do I now have a chronic illness?
HOLMES: Do you fear you will have it forever? Do others in the group say they feel that they will have this forever?
WATSON: Absolutely. It is a fear. There are people in our groups who have recovered. And a lot of them will say about 95 percent, they're still having some symptoms and, you know, getting better day by day.
A lot of the progress is so incremental it is almost hard to notice until you look back a month or two months and realize, like, ok I can climb a flight of stairs now without having to stop and catch my breath. That's all (ph).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, E.U. leaders will soon begin their fourth day of negotiations. The clock is ticking to find the funds Europe needs to pull out of its deepest recession in years.
We will be right back.
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HOLMES: All right. Let's take a quick look at the U.S. futures. And you can see there, several red arrows, nothing too dramatic, about a quarter of a percentage point down for the S&P, the Nasdaq and the Dow.
Let's have a look at Asian markets now and a little bit brighter news there. Shanghai up 2.25 percent.
E.U. leaders have hit a wall trying to work out a recovery fund to kickstart Europe's economy. A deal may still happen when they come together Monday afternoon.
Let's bring in John Defterios in Abu Dhabi to break it down for us. Trying to close some pretty serious gaps, why is it proving so difficult and we look -- what fundamental differences are there?
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Well Michael, this is three days of grinding away. And as you suggested they called day four. This is a challenge because you have to have an absolute consensus to proceed ahead. And this is one of the challenges of the European Union structure itself and the European Commission out of Brussels trying to get 27 states to land on the same page. It's not easy.
And we're talking about serious money here, $2 trillion in terms of the budget but about over $850 billion dollars for the supplemental plan on the COVID-19 recovery.
And the fundamental issue we have here right now, they have the four frugal states as they call them -- Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark -- who want to have direct loans to the south, the poorer states, and not grants.
And then you have the other camp -- Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus -- that are saying we need direct support from the European Union to proceed.
And in the core you have France and Germany trying to bridge the gap here. Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, trying to unify everybody.
Here is Emmanuel Macron with the challenges they have on the table on day four.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT: Here are the major topics ahead of us and on which we have to find the right compromise in the next hours. I think it is still possible but compromise, I say it very clearly, will be done at the expense of European ambition.
This is not about the principle. It is because we are facing an extraordinary health, economic and social crisis and because our countries need it. And European unity needs it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEFTERIOS: Let us call it European disunity, Michael.
And there's another complex matter on the table. It is called the rule of law mechanism. This is again going to core values of the European Union. They're suggesting states like Hungary under Viktor Orban, are kind of trampling on the judicial system. And if they're going to do so, Brussels does not want to lend the money. And this is a sticking point, particularly for the Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte.
HOLMES: Yes. and just quickly, U.S. lawmakers trying to get that stimulus package done before the summer recess. A lot at stake for a lot of people out there. What are we looking at?
DEFTERIOS: Yes. This is crucial, Michael. They want to get it done before the August break and then have it ready for September. $3 trillion in the first round, $1 trillion is the Republican proposal. We have Mitch McConnell visiting Donald Trump this week along with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
One of the things the President has been insisting on is the payroll tax cut here to encourage companies to rehire individuals who have had better than $50 million ask (ph) for unemployment benefits right now and more funding for schools. Again he wants them to open, Michael, by the autumn. And they are looking at $70 billion on the table. Plus additional unemployment benefits.
HOLMES: John, thank you very much. Good to see you, my friend. John Defterios there in Abu Dhabi.
DEFTERIOS: Thanks.
HOLMES: Now, Sweden wanted to spare its economy from the impact of a hard coronavirus lockdown but things did not work out as intended.
Phil Black with that story.
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PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the image Sweden is recently famous for -- living well, while much of the world is locking down. But it is deceptive. Scratch the surface and you still find great economic pain. These boats would normally carry hundreds of people every day during summer.
HJALMAR LITZEN, DIRECTOR, FIORE RESTAURANTS: Enormous impact. Counting March, April -- our turnover went down 93 percent. And it is still around the same.
BLACK: This restaurant opened just weeks before the virus surged here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Looking at the numbers of course, it is minus, minus, minus.
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BLACK: And just like the hotels in heavily locked down cities around the world, those in Stockholm have sat mostly empty for months.
DAVID HALLDEN, CEO, ELIT 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 while many Swedish businesses could stay open the global crisis destroyed international demand for their products.
LEYLA PURSHARIF, COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR, ATP ATELIER: The biggest hit was obviously export. The biggest hit is obviously U.S. The U.S. is our second largest market.
BLACK: And Swedish manufacturers were also cut off from international supply chains. Carmaker Volvo shut down it Swedish plants for three weeks because it ran low on parts.
It all means (ph) 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: We have never seen a crisis hitting this broadly within the economy or this deep within the economy.
BLACK: That is 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 terms of lives lost has been too high. That is, of course, a value judgment but I think it is a rather sensible value judgment.
BLACK: Swedish officials have always insisted their key goals are protecting lives and the health system with economic considerations further down the line.
BAYLAN: A Very important part of our strategy to try to create awareness within an important population and to have it over a longer term because I think that is more viable than trying to shut down.
BLACK: Sweden's soft touch 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.
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HOLMES: Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company.
You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Robyn Curnow up next with more news.
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