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US Deaths Surpass 1,200 In A Day For Third Day In Row; All New York School Districts Authorized To Open For In-Person Learning; 1.8 Million Jobs Added In July; Stronger Than Expected; American's View Of The Virus Depends On What They Watch; Biden Under Fire For Remarks Suggesting Of Black Diversity. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired August 07, 2020 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Top of the hour, I'm Brianna Keilar. And in the pandemic, amid a staggering loss of life, there have been some signs of improvement. The rate of new coronavirus cases is showing some decline in parts of the country. But for the third day in a row, the US is reporting more than 1,200 people dying from the infection. In fact, the average number of daily deaths has surpassed a thousand for the last 11 days, and that means that more than 11,000 lives have been cut short in less than two weeks.

Plus, a new key model often cited by the White House is projecting that deaths in America will climb to 300,000 by December 1st. But the model from the Institute of Health metrics also says 70,000 lives could be saved if more Americans would wear masks.

In New York, a major announcement from Governor Andrew Cuomo just a short time ago that all school districts are authorized to reopen for in-person learning.

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GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): Today is the deadline to look at the infection rates and make a determination. By our infection rates, all school districts can open everywhere in the state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: That includes New York City Schools, the largest public-school district in the country, and CNN's Alexandra Field is joining us now on that. Alexandra, tell us what all you're learning about this decision?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, look, the governor is saying that the infection rate is low enough across the state of New York that schools can open everywhere. But if that infection rate starts to creep up or spike, depending on what region your school district is in, that region could have to close their schools. So this is very much a fluid situation. They'll continue to assess the numbers as they go. But this is big news because we're talking about New York City as well here, that is the largest district in the nation with 1.1 million students. The city had unveiled a plan to send students back a few days a week with a mix of online learning. This makes New York City the only school among the top 10 largest school districts in the country that will be starting out the school year with some in-person learning. And that is, of course, because the infection rate in New York is so much lower than in so many states across the nation.

Cuomo is saying though, that it's going to be incumbent on everyone to work carefully and closely in order to keep students in schools. He says each school district across the state will have to post online, their plans for contact tracing, if necessary, COVID testing if necessary and remote learning if necessary.

He also says that all of these districts are going to be required to have meetings, and those can happen online, with parents to discuss what will happen over the course of this new kind of school year, and meetings with teachers as well. We know in the end of the ground that this is all about whether or not the teachers feel comfortable going into the school buildings, and whether or not parents feel comfortable sending their kids there.

KEILAR: Yes, Alexandra. Thank you so much, Alexandra Field. Six months into the pandemic, the coronavirus testing situation is actually getting worse, not better, not only our results taking too long, more than a week in some cases, 29 states are doing fewer tests this week than they were last week. And that is more than half the country.

CNN's Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is joining us now to discuss this. I mean, this is, you know, this isn't what we would expect at this point, Elizabeth. So what's behind the decline in the number of tests being given here?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, Brianna. I mean, we can't test our way out of this pandemic, but we should be doing more testing, not less. But these numbers tell us that it looks like we're doing less. So let's take a look at these numbers.

If you take a look at the daily average from July 31st to August 6th, there were 715,000, a little over 715,000 tests done per day. That is almost a 10 percent decrease over the previous week. Now, some of this had to do with some electronic reporting issues, there were some kinks in that system. It also has to do with the hurricane that affected Florida. But still we want to be seeing these numbers come up, not down.

[14:05:10]

KEILAR: Certainly. All right, Elizabeth, thank you for that update. And now to the mix news on the economy, 1.8 million jobs added last month. That is a little bit stronger than expected, but it is a vast slowdown from June when a net 5 million jobs were created. This is the first report that we have seen without the shock absorber of an extra $600 a week and federal unemployment benefits. And today is the deadline for a deal on the next stimulus bill that would restore that money. Lawmakers are nowhere close to meeting this deadline. And that is cold comfort for many families who are close to losing everything.

CNN Economics Commentator and Washington Post Opinion Columnist Catherine Rampell is joining us now. Catherine, just put these numbers in context for us.

CATHERINE RAMPELL, CNN ECONOMICS COMMENTATOR: Well, in isolation, 1.8 million jobs sounds pretty good, right? I mean, it's very rare that we have a job, a monthly job growth figure in the seven digits. It seems less good when you realize that it's actually quite a big slowdown from the previous month and that we had an eight-digit loss in jobs earlier this spring.

So as a result, we are very, very deeply in the hole. We are nowhere near having recovered the ground lost during the recession itself, which may, of course, still be ongoing. And it's cold comfort, given how many tens of millions of Americans are struggling to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads.

KEILAR: Yes, they're worried. I mean, they're worried about very real things. And one of the sticking points that we're seeing on the stimulus deal, this $600 for federal unemployment benefits that would supplement state unemployment benefits. Tell us about this because the White House and many Republicans say that the money is actually a disincentive for working.

RAMPELL: In normal times, that would be a totally valid concern, right? You're paying people more money to stay home than to go to work, of course. At least on the margin, you're going to have people decide not to return to work.

But these are not normal times. And in fact, there are five studies by different groups of economists, people at the University of Chicago, at Yale, at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, et cetera, that have all looked at what is the consequence of this higher benefit. And they have found that in fact, it does not appear to be discouraging work, it doesn't have -- it doesn't seem to have any effect, in fact, on hiring or unemployment at this point, and that kind of makes sense when you consider how many, how few jobs there are relative to how many people are out of work, and all of the other reasons why people might not be able to go back to the previous jobs that they had, including infection risk, lack of childcare, et cetera.

So that amount of money does not actually seem to be doing what you would expect it to do in normal times. However, it does help people continue to pay their bills, continue to buy groceries, avoid eviction, defaulting on their mortgage payments, et cetera. So on net, it seems as if this is actually helping keep consumer spending afloat, and potentially helping employers keep more people on their payrolls because they have more customers who can actually go out and spend money.

So there's a very big risk that now that this unemployment benefit supplement has expired, that it will be a huge drag on the economy going forward. And you could imagine that people are going to just stop being able to buy stuff, which will hurt the small businesses that they patronize.

KEILAR: Yes. And I think, look, we've heard stories of people who are in really vulnerable categories. And they're actually scraping by with these benefits. But it works for them barely, just for this moment, because they actually feel like going back to work is a likely death sentence for them. And that's a very big concern for some people.

There's also this new report published by the Aspen Institute, and it's got some frightening predictions in it, Catherine. There's up to 40 million Americans who could be evicted by the end of the year. And I think what is also stunning here is that 80 percent would be Black or Latino.

RAMPELL: Yes. I mean, if you look at the consequences of the pandemic, both health wise and economically, there's no question that minorities, ethnic and racial minorities have borne the brunt of this downturn and of these jewel crises. So I think that's not at all surprising. And it just underscores the fact that Congress needs to get its act together and come to an agreement about the number of financial lifelines that households need, that businesses need in order to again continue, or at least in some semblance, resume some of the normal economic activity that they were engaging in before.

Because if not, you're just going to have this cascade of bankruptcies, evictions, hunger, and all sorts of other negative consequences. Congress has the power to bring some relief even if they can't fix everything. I mean, until the pandemic is under control, that's in-charge of the economy. But at the very least, Congress can provide some relief to tie people over until the economy normalizes.

KEILAR: Catherine, as always. Thank you, Catherine Rampell. We appreciate your perspective here.

[14:10:07]

Dr. Fauci says division is one of the things that's actually holding America back right now. We're going to take a look at how some Americans view the pandemic and how that really depends on what they watch. Plus, it's slated to be America's largest event since the pandemic. It's huge, 250,000 people at a biker rally starting today, musical performances, gatherings. We're going to take you there. Plus, just in, a reversal in the suspension of a student for taking pictures of that crowded hallway at her school in Georgia, standby.

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[14:15:00]

KEILAR: In his wildest dreams, Dr. Anthony Fauci says he could never have imagined the attacks against health experts in the middle of a pandemic. He says it's ridiculous that things like masks are being politicized. So why is there such a divide in this country over the virus?

Well, much of it can be explained by what a person watches or listens to. For example, Americans may be more likely to dismiss the severity of the virus if they listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO HOST: You're dead right on this. The coronavirus is the common cold, folks.

MARC SEIGEL, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: This virus should be compared to the flu because, at worst, at worst, worst case scenario, it could be the flu.

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KEILAR: And it's no wonder that some Americans see the World Health Organization as a villain.

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BILL HEMMER, FOX NEWS HOST: There's a quote from the head of the World Health Organization today. He said this is not a drill. This is a time for pulling out all the stops.

SEIGEL: They are a bunch of alarmists. They are saber rattlers.

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KEILAR: And if you wonder why the vice president and others have dismissed the idea of a second wave.

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SEIGEL: Regarding this fall, the 1918 second wave I've been monitoring Australia and so as Dr. Fauci. You know how many cases are in Australia today, Tucker, 11, only 11 new cases. That's the southern hemisphere. That's our, essentially, our November right now. It predicts that we're not going to have a big second wave.

When our children go back to school, there's going to be plenty of testing. We're going to test teachers. We're going to test students. We have very mild, mild cases among our young and/or asymptomatic, but we're going to keep an eye on them.

KEILAR: Well, let's now back to school time, millions of students are not back and, no, we don't have adequate testing. Still, the President recently said that Fox News doctor was his guide through the pandemic.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: I what you all the time and I watch you're almost like my guide to this because, frankly, you really have a good take on it. You know how important it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Early on, and even in recent months, some of the President's defenders have cast doubt on the US death toll.

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ROCHELLE "SILK" RICHARDSON, FORMER FOX NEWS PERSONALITY: Now watch the numbers of death go up.

LYNETTE "DIAMOND" HARDAWAY, FORMER FOX NEWS PERSONALITY: Right.

RICHARDSON: Watch everything increase because they want it to make it, want to make it look bad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now in May, CNN reported the President himself privately questioned whether deaths were being over counted, well, Dr. Fauci said it was actually the opposite.

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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: The number is likely higher. I don't know exactly what percent higher, but almost certainly it's higher.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now, the virus was even discounted as a political ploy by Democrats to keep the President from getting reelected. The President retweeting a NewsMax voice that said, "Do you really think these lunatics wouldn't inflate the mortality rates by underreporting the infection rates in an attempt to steal the election?" And, of course, remember his former chief of staff.

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MICK MULVANEY, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF: The reason you think -- so you're saying so much attention to it today, is that they think this is going to be what brings down the President. That's what this is all about.

What I might do today called the markets is tell people turn their televisions off for 24 hours, but it's not a death sentence. It's not the same as the Ebola crisis. This is something we deal with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now, former chief of staff, we should note, that was when Mick Mulvaney was chief of staff and he had a voice in the White House. Five months after that, he wrote an op-ed criticizing the nation's response because it personally impacted him when his children could not get tested or couldn't get their results back quickly. And with the help of the President, somehow the models that the White House uses were even under attack.

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BRIAN KILMEADE, HOST, "FOX AND FRIENDS": One thing is pretty certain, the models that we have been told to deal with have consistently been wrong. TRUMP: These models have been so wrong from day one. They've been so wrong. They've been so out of whack.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Well, that was May when the models forecast 135,000 deaths by August. Unfortunately, they underestimated the heartbreak that we are seeing now. And we have fact checked hydroxychloroquine enough, but it's no surprise why it's still in the bloodstream, even after studies and doctors all over the world say it is not an effective treatment for COVID.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Donald Trump was right, had a very effective rate.

SIMONE GOLD, EMERGENCY MEDICINE SPECIALIST: I'll come close to saying, I'll come more than you, it is a cure.

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: Why did the FDA even inject itself in a debate over a drug it approved decades ago?

RAMIN OSKOUI: Well, I think the obvious answer increasingly is the FDA is corrupt to the core.

INGRAHAM: Well, it's amazing that we have CNN anchors out there proclaiming on this drug as if they've reviewed all the peer-reviewed studies on this. I actually know the science on this, I think pretty well at this point.

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KEILAR: Hmm, CNN anchors?

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ADMIRAL BRETT GIROIR, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE: At this point in time, we don't recommend that as a treatment. There's no evidence to show that it is.

DR. DEBORAH BIRX, RESPONSE COORDINATOR, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE: There's not evidence that it improves those patients outcomes, whether they have mild-moderate disease or whether they're seriously ill in the hospital.

FAUCI: All of those trials show consistently that hydroxychloroquine is not effective in the treatment of coronavirus disease or COVID-19.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Just to be clear, those are not CNN anchors, those are the President's top health experts. And if you wonder why the nation's leading infectious disease doctor has been vilified in the middle of a pandemic.

[14:20:06] TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: When it comes to making long-term health recommendations, this guy, Fauci, maybe even more off base than your average epidemiologist.

LIMBAUGH: Look at this, there's a Rose Garden ceremony right now and Dr. Fauci standing behind Trump for the first time wearing a mask. The mask is a symbol of fear.

RON PAUL (R), FORMER REPRESENTATIVE: The people have to fire him, and they have to fire him by saying he's a fraud. The most important thing is people have to quit listening to him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Keep in mind, Fauci has served under six different presidents of both parties. Sinclair ended up scrapping a segment, the question whether Fauci created the virus, but that was after it was widely shared already. And it's worth noting, it's not even something that a guest said in passing, it's literally in their Chiron (ph). Instead of embracing Fauci, the President promotes a doctor who falsely says hydroxychloroquine is a cure, which is not, and claims that sex with demons is responsible for gynecological problems.

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TRUMP: I thought she was very impressive in the sense that from where she came, I don't know which country she comes from. But she said that she's had tremendous success with hundreds of different patients. And I thought her voice was an important voice, but I know nothing about her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: All right. Well, here's something about her. She believes in alien DNA. Seriously, she believes in that. One congressman who refused to wear masks and is taking hydroxychloroquine floated this.

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REP. LOUIE GOHMERT (R-TX): I know, you know, moving the mask round get just right. I'm bound to put some virus on the mask that I've sucked in. That's most likely what happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: All right. That is most likely not what happened according to doctors that we have spoken to. Often when the President lies or makes a completely false claim, his defenders will keep peddling it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: If you look at children, children are almost and I would almost say definitely, but almost immune from this disease. So few, they've got stronger, hard to believe.

LIMBAUGH: They pulled Trump's tweet down in his Facebook post claiming these campaigns post because he said when children are almost immune from the disease, they say that Trump posted false information. The Trump campaign is exactly right when they said that kids are almost immune.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: They're not, and that is just a small snapshot. It's not just a deadly virus that is spreading here. It is deadly misinformation as well.

I want to bring in Michael Smerconish, Host of Smerconish, to talk a little bit now. Michael, there are several studies on this subject that have produced some findings. It seems possible in these same findings to fight the pandemic when everything is really, it's red and blue.

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN HOST: Well, it's very sad that the virus has become the stuff of political polarization. I think that's very clear. I don't think it's the full story, though.

You know, Brianna, I was watching "Last Hour," and you were covering Sturgis and a quarter million bikers who are arriving in South Dakota. And one of the individuals who was interviewed cast this lack of masks as the stuff of freedom. And I think, you know, freedom and self- determination here is a banner under which many people are choosing not to wear a mask, but it's really not a function of freedom or self- determination.

Your failure to wear that mask, as you well know, I don't mean to direct this to you, is really about a lack of responsibility toward me. You know, you can go out and let your freak flag fly, but just don't do it in close proximity to others because you may be carrying COVID-19, might give it to me, and I might carry it back to an elderly parent. That's the shortcoming.

The reason that I say that it's not just coming from conservative outlets, and the president, and so forth, I just see plenty of carelessness out there that defies all political labeling. For example, that house party on Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles a couple of days ago, four people shot, one of them fatally gang activity. I don't know their politics. I don't think they were Republicans, all those kids in that Georgia school in close proximity. There are just a lot of people out there who are awfully careless toward their fellow man or woman.

KEILAR: Yes. Look, I think people especially in cities, where there have not been major surges, but things are headed in that direction are also feeling that. We can just we can see that looking around our city here in Washington.

Michael, if you can standby for me, because there is something I want to get to. Joe Biden is trying to clean up a gaffe. And this is something that happened during an interview Thursday with Black and Hispanic journalists. Biden seemed to say that the African American Community lacks diversity. Let's listen.

[14:25:03]

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: And by the way, what you all know, but most people don't know. Unlike the African American with notable exceptions, the Latino community is an incredibly diverse community, with incredibly different attitudes about different things. You go to Florida. You find a very different attitude about immigration in certain places than you do when you're in Arizona.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Well, the Trump campaign jumped on those comments, calling them an insult to the Black community and trying to limit the political fallout of this suggestion that the Black community is monolithic. Biden took to Twitter Thursday night saying that he wanted to clarify the remarks that he made earlier in the day. He said in his tweet, "In no way did I mean to suggest the African American community is a monolith not by identity, not on issues not at all. Throughout my career, I have witnessed the diversity of thought background and sentiment within the African American community."

You heard I know, Michael, a lot of this, a lot on this from your listeners today. How are they seeing this?

SMERCONISH: Not the way I expected them to. First of all, from my perspective, it just wasn't a misspoken word from the former vice president. There was a thought process there, and it was several sentences long. I think he meant what he was saying at the time, and then recognize the political incorrectness of it.

Brianna, the part that surprised me today on Sirius XM taking telephone calls from several people of color, African Americans self- described because I can't see them, or Latino Hispanic Americans who said to me, there was something logical about what Joe Biden was saying. They didn't take umbrage to it, and several questioned why he walked it back. I thought that was really remarkable.

KEILAR: That is remarkable. It's just in the approach here though, not even the content, just kind of the approach here. You notice there's one candidate who is doing -- it's kind of a thing that normally candidates do, right? They apologize, they clarify quickly. And then when you look at President Trump, of course, we know he never does apologize or clarify.

SMERCONISH: Right. And so, you know, half of the country looks at the President and says, my god, why didn't he apologize for that? But the lack of apology, and I'll say it differently, the lack of a filter is exactly why those who support him do support him.

KEILAR: That's a very good point, right? They love it. Michael, thank you so much. And thank you for sharing. It's so interesting, you know, you're talking to real folks as they call in and we appreciate you sharing their voices with us. Thank you. We'll see you on TV tomorrow morning of course. Georgia student says that she was suspended after her photo of a crowded hallway went viral. But this just in, the school is now reversing course. Plus, more than a quarter of a million people are expected to attend a motorcycle rally. And I'll speak to one business owner who says that even though he's concerned about the coronavirus, he wants this event to go on.

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