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NOAA Warns of Rare "Extremely Active" Hurricane Season; CNN: Trump Administration Leveraging Control Over U.S. Postal Service; Coronavirus Pandemic Disrupting Health Services Across Latin America. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired August 07, 2020 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We have a lack of El Nino out there, so we really anticipate that the sea service temperatures will be above normal. The yellow color you see here, that is showing where the sea service temperatures are above normal. You've got that little area of blue around the Bahamas and the eastern coast of Florida, likely having been churned up from Isaias that just hit a few days ago.

But again, John, the focus here is, September 10th is historically the peak of hurricane season. So we really haven't even gotten to that point as of yet.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A month away. There have been 25 what? Named storms already. What happens if we run out of names?

CHINCHAR: Right, so it is possible. It happened back in 2005. That's the only time in history we've ever run out of numbers. But now in the hurricane alphabet, there's only 21 letters in the alphabet, not the normal 26, we don't have names for letters like "U", "X", "Y" and "Z". But the forecast calls for 24-named storms, which means in theory, we will run out of letters if that happens.

If that does happen, we then switch to the Greek alphabet. And based off of these forecasts, John, after we run all the way through the names, the next name on the list by the way would be Josephine, after we run all the way through it, we may get all the way into the Greek alphabet to the name Gamma.

BERMAN: Wow, all right, Allison Chinchar, thank you very much. I misspoke and said we're 25 already, we're not there yet, but we could easily get there at the pace we're going, thanks so much for being with us. Erica?

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: The Trump administration is finding new ways to exert control over the U.S. Postal Service. The agency is under close scrutiny ahead of a surge -- expected surge for mail-in voting for the November elections. CNN's Jessica Dean is live in Washington. So Jessica, we learned the Treasury Secretary was briefed by top brass at the Postal Service as they went through this process of selecting the new Post Master General. What more have you learned?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erica, we have some new reporting that has come out, that shows that Steve Mnuchin was being briefed by the board of governors at the U.S. Postal Service.

They went through this process of selecting the new Post Master General Louis DeJoy. Now, what is weird about this, that's not a common arrangement for the Treasury Secretary, I'm told, to be that involved in the operations of the U.S. Postal Service, typically, this is a decision that would just be made by the board of governors because the U.S. Postal Service remember is technically an independent agency.

It does have congressional oversight, but it is supposed to act as its own independent agency. So for the Treasury Secretary to be briefed, I'm told, was a very odd arrangement. Now, they ended up selecting Louis DeJoy, the board of governors did. And as we reported last week, Louis DeJoy, of course, a Trump ally, he was a fundraiser for President Trump. He's certainly a Trump loyalist.

He came in on June 15th. And now, by the beginning of August, the U.S. Postal Service has seen a slowing of mail. They have seen what the union tells me is a degrading of service across the Postal Service in this country. We got our hands on an internal memo last week that explains some of these new steps, which were explained as cost-cutting measures. But the bottom line, what was actually happening was that some mail and even the memos said would be slowed down.

Now, the memo said it was temporary, but others worry this could impact mail-in voting as we get towards the Fall, if the Postal Service isn't allowed to do extra trips or overtime, what's going to happen. So those are some of the questions that are surrounding this new Post Master General. And now, we're learning again, that the Trump administration is having more and more influence over the U.S. Postal Service, which again is supposed to be an independent agency, Erica.

HILL: And in terms of that influence, the Trump administration can actually look at the financials from the Post Office, which again, as you point out is supposed to be independent. So that is raising eyebrows.

DEAN: Right, that's certainly raising eyebrows as well. If you remember, earlier this Spring, the Postal Service went to Congress and said, look, COVID has sped up our already-dire finances. And we are going to be in real trouble by the Fall. They said they would be out of money by September if they didn't get emergency funding. They were asking for $75 billion. Well, at that time, Congress tried to work that into the initial COVID relief bill.

But our reporting shows that the Trump administration shut that down and instead offered $10 billion in loans. Now, with those loans came strings attached. The Treasury Secretary, the Treasury negotiating with the U.S. Postal Service over what those terms would be. So we'll loan you the money as the Treasury, but what will we get in return? What are the conditions of those loans? Well, we've learned now that part of the conditions of the Postal

Service getting that much-needed money is that they have to open up their financials to the Treasury Department, so they can look and see the top ten contracts they have. Those are things like Amazon. And we've seen President Trump over and over again attacking Amazon, Jeff Bezos, and wanting the Postal Service to raise its rates.

[07:35:00]

So, again, to your point, they're getting into the financials of an independent agency as the Treasury. The Treasury saying, we're loaning you the money, we deserve to get to look at that.

HILL: Meantime, all of this happening as Democrats met with the Post Master General on Wednesday, and then they actually sent a letter to him yesterday, and that letter was pretty blunt.

DEAN: Yes, it was very blunt, as you recall, Louis DeJoy meeting with congressional leaders and meeting with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer on the Hill earlier this week. We've heard from Congress, from members of Congress who are oversight and leadership, they've had a hard time getting in touch with him, that he hasn't answered a lot of their questions.

So we showed up on the Hill, they had a closed-door meeting, now we have a letter from Pelosi and Schumer demanding that they get answers to why the mail is slowing. And also, there was a letter to Congress from the Postal Service, saying, oh, no, this is not an official policy that this mail is slowing and these changes are happening.

This is the -- these are cost-cutting measures. Well, now in the letter from Pelosi and Schumer, we have learned that Louis DeJoy did confirm that they are doing some of these new policies that are leading to a slowing of mail and a degradation of service across the U.S. Postal Service, which is what we're hearing from customers and also Postal workers, Erica.

HILL: It is fascinating and it certainly raises a lot of eyebrows. Appreciate the reporting, Jessica, thank you. Up next, media mogul Tyler Perry talks about protecting lives and livelihoods during the pandemic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TYLER PERRY, ACTOR & PRODUCER: Shooting television shows, you work very closely with people. You're -- I mean, you're pretty much one-on- one with them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: We'll go behind the scenes of Tyler Perry's camp quarantine studio, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:40:00] BERMAN: New seasons of television shows can't arrive soon enough in

this era of coronavirus. We've seen how officers and sports team are implementing new pandemic protocols. So what's the entertainment industry doing? Dr. Sanjay Gupta talked to his friend, Tyler Perry, as Perry gets his productions up and running in Camp Quarantine.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PERRY: I was all ready to go, it was March 16th. I'm watching, I'm reading, I'm paying attention to all that's happening with the numbers and I go, OK, we have to shut down.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Prolific media mogul Tyler Perry was getting ready to go into production for his new Fall TV season when coronavirus changed the world.

PERRY: When you're shooting television shows, you work very closely with people. You're -- I mean, you're pretty much one-on-one with them.

GUPTA: Located in Atlanta, Georgia, a state that's been a hot spot during the pandemic, Tyler Perry's studios is facing the same challenges as any other business. How to most safely reopen.

PERRY: But a few weeks in, I realized, you've got to figure this out if you're going to do it.

GUPTA: And here is how he did it. Welcome to Camp Quarantine. You're getting a behind-the-scenes look at Perry's audacious effort to bring more than 300 cast and crew as safely as possible back to work. It might not be a camp where everyone wants to attend, but Perry did do his best to make it feel like home. Here at what used to be former army barracks, people eat, sleep, and live together during the two- week filming period.

K.J. Smith is one of the stars of "Sistas", Perry's first show to return to production.

KHANESHIA SMITH, ACTRESS: And I tell people all the time, I 100 percent trust Tyler Perry. He treats us like we're his relatives, so I knew that we would be fully protected.

GUPTA: And that's thanks to Perry's 30-page plan, which essentially is designed to keep everyone in a bubble every step of the way. Cast are first tested and then asked to quarantine for 16 days in their hometown. Then they travel to Atlanta via private plane. Once they arrive, it's more testing for cast and crew, and that continues every four days. Masks are mandatory, except during scenes.

SMITH: I felt like the process was -- it was very -- there were no loopholes. There was no way around it. Everyone was holding each other accountable.

GUPTA (on camera): I think this is a microcosm of how society might be able to return to normalcy overall. And again, just your thinking on that. Did you -- when you started thinking about that, did you -- were you confident it could be done?

PERRY: So once I started to get the information and understand this virus a lot more, I thought maybe this is possible. We all moved in and we just finished our first television show successfully with no positives throughout the quarantine bubble.

GUPTA (voice-over): But of course, this is no ordinary operation. It's one that came with what Perry says was a hefty price tag of approximately $18 million. And of course, access to thousands of tests.

(on camera): You were able to get enough testing, ultimately, for the bubble, but what will you do if there's not enough testing?

PERRY: So let's be clear about what we're doing here. I'm trying to have people -- protect them, keep their lives healthy and safe, but also to protect their livelihood. And that is not as important as people out in nursing homes and other places trying to get COVID tests. If that happens, we would -- we would step back and shut down because the important thing is that people are able to get the testing that they need.

GUPTA: Eleven days in the bubble, and no positive cases. What happened at Camp Quarantine is an example of how it can be done. There was no magical vaccine. There was no groundbreaking therapeutic. It was just the basics that we have seen work around the world.

PERRY: So masks work. They absolutely -- masks work and testing works. Contact tracing works. We were able to manage it just doing that. Testing, isolation, and contact tracing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[07:45:00]

BERMAN: And Sanjay joins me now. Sanjay, as you mentioned, you're friends with Tyler Perry and you've been advising him on this project. What was your biggest worry in the process?

GUPTA: Well, you know, in the beginning, I think it was just this question of, look, we're in the middle of this pandemic. Is Hollywood getting production back, is that really that essential right now? You know, Tyler made the point, look, I'm trying to get people back to work here. I think the second thing was what would the triggers have been? How many people would test positive in order for this to shutdown?

And I think that's an important question even as schools start to return as well. OK, you're going to start this, but be very clear and transparent about what may require you to pull it back as well. And then finally, John, the biggest issue, testing, right? So in part, I want to show this piece, because you think that seems like a fantasy land to get that much testing to be able to do all the things that Tyler did and it cost a lot of money.

That shouldn't be the way that it is right now. And the idea that all of us or most of us are people who are returning to work could have that level of assurance because the testing that Tyler was able to provide for his employees, we should all have that. So you know, we're still not there yet, but it shows what is possible --

BERMAN: Yes --

GUPTA: And no one in either the first production or the second production now has tested negative so far.

BERMAN: It shows what's possible if you lean into it, Sanjay. Insignificant question, but who plays you in the shows or do you play yourself?

(LAUGHTER)

GUPTA: Just myself, that was it. That little purple background and -- from my little basement here.

BERMAN: That's fantastic. All right, Sanjay, thanks very much, we'll talk to you again in a little bit. Some big new Senate poll is just out, what do they tell us? And a brand new look at where the president stands in polling. This may surprise you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:50:00]

HILL: There is concern that coronavirus is disrupting a wide range of health services across Latin America as much of Europe begins mandatory testing for those entering from high-risk zones. CNN has reporters all around the world to bring you the latest developments.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Matt Rivers in Mexico City. We've talked a lot on the show about the number of cases and deaths from this virus throughout Latin America. But what the W.H.O is also worried about is the collateral damage from all of this.

So consider that just this week, we heard the Pan American Health Organization say they're worried about the management of chronic conditions like diabetes or infectious diseases like HIV, TB and malaria, that services treating all of those have been severely disrupted or worse yet, halted entirely.

Also consider that throughout all the countries in this region, more than a quarter of those countries have suspended routine vaccination campaigns. We know that the coronavirus itself has been horrific for this region, but the collateral damage is also of severe concern to health experts.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm David McKenzie in Johannesburg. There are now more than a million confirmed COVID-19 cases across the African continent according to several accounts. Now the actual number is likely much higher, says the W.H.O. because of a significant lack of testing. More than half the confirmed cases are here in South Africa.

This country is experiencing a surge, and the W.H.O. is sending in a surge team, more than 40 public health officials to help this country cope.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Fred Pleitgen in Berlin. As Europe is dealing with another spike in new coronavirus infections. Germany saw more than 1,100 new infections in a single day, and the country is taking drastic measures to fight back. As of tomorrow, anybody entering this country from a high-risk area will have to take a mandatory coronavirus test, and those tests are going to be free.

Now, it's not just Germany, it's also France, Spain, the Netherlands and also Belgium, who have seen steep rises in cases, and all those countries are fighting back with new hygiene and quarantine measures.

VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER: I'm Vedika Sud in New Delhi, India has surpassed 2 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Friday. It remains the third most affected country across the world. The death toll stands at over 41,500, the fifth highest across the globe.

According to the Indian government, about 32 percent of the total cases are active. It took India close to six months to get to the 1 million milestone, another 12 days to add half a million additional cases and more than nine days to get to the 2 million mark.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: New polls in three high-profile Senate races, what do they say? Let's get the forecast with CNN senior politics writer and analyst Harry Enten. Three new polls just out, Harry, in seats held by Republican senators, and?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL WRITER & ANALYST: Yes, I mean, look, here's the key thing. They polled in -- Quinnipiac University polled in Maine, South Carolina and Kentucky. And what those poll show is that in the state of Maine, which is what most of the poll shows, the Democrats here again is up by 4, not a big surprise, that's going to be a key Senate race.

But the biggest shocker here is in South Carolina where Democrat Jaime Harrison is trying to defeat incumbent Lindsey Graham, and what we see there is tie, John. A tie. And I've seen a number of polls that suggest that perhaps a race in South Carolina, which hasn't elected a Democratic senator since Fritz Hollings was re-elected in 1998 might actually be a competitive race. You see Kentucky, Mitch McConnell ahead by five, my guess is looking at the average, the gap is probably a little bit wider than that.

BERMAN: Now, in terms of the Democrats' goal of retaking the Senate, where does that stand?

ENTEN: Right, so basically I took a look at all the close races and took an average of those polls recently. And if you look on your screen right now, Democrats need to win four to five of those races. Five, if Joe Biden loses, four if Joe Biden wins and they get the vice president to break the tie in the Senate. And what you see is Democrats hold a clear lead in three of those races. Three of those, Maine, Iowa, Montana are close, and then Alabama, the Democratic Senator Doug Jones is well behind at this point.

[07:55:00]

But right now if Democrats need four to five of those seats that are on your screen right now, they're in position to do so. But keep an eye on the polls in Maine, Iowa and Montana. If Democrats can win at least one of those, they will be in a strong position to take back the Senate.

BERMAN: So Harry, you've been watching presidential polling very carefully, and I think you were the first person to point out at least to me that there's a trend as far as the president goes, that is worth noting. What did you see?

ENTEN: Yes, so you know, look, I should start off by saying that Joe Biden is still well ahead in the polls. That being said, if you were to squinch your eyes and look pretty closely, what you do see is maybe there's been a slight tightening, maybe a slight tightening in the average of polls with Biden up closer to 8 than closer to 10 as he was say, a little bit more than a month ago.

But it's a slight tightening, but I think the one thing we can definitely say, John, is if the race was expanding, Biden's lead was expanding from say May to June and even into July, that lead is no longer expanding. Trump is certainly stabilizing at this particular point. Still down significantly though.

BERMAN: One thing I will note is Joe Biden is still over 50 percent, and that is a number -- Hillary Clinton was never there --

ENTEN: Yes --

BERMAN: And that's a very important number for a challenger.

ENTEN: That's exactly right. Joe Biden is in a significantly better position than Hillary Clinton ever was, even post the convention when she had a huge bounce, she was never close to 50 percent.

BERMAN: Still, as you said, the president's slide appears to have stopped. Now, there is an interesting phenomenon. Kanye West trying to get on the ballot in some key swing states with the help of Republican activists. And Kanye West said himself in an interview yesterday, he said this is to hurt Joe Biden. But what is the evidence in history tell us in terms of this type of an effort?

ENTEN: Yes, I don't really quite understand it. You know, look, I get, you know, perhaps you're trying to take votes away from Joe Biden. But the fact is third-party candidates this year or potential third-party candidates, Jo Jorgensen, Kanye West, Howie Hawkins are polling well below where the third-party candidates were back in 2016.

Gary Johnson at this point was averaging 7 percent. Remember, he ended up with well less than 5 percent. Third-party candidates tend to fade as you go down the stretch, this is going to be a year -- in all honesty, John, where I don't expect the non-major party candidates to play any sort of significant role, especially for someone like Kanye West who to be perfectly honest is struggling to get on a lot of ballots nationwide.

BERMAN: All right, Harry, if the election were held today -- and I want to issue the disclaimer, it is not being held today, what would the electoral map look like?

ENTEN: Right, the election is not being held today. It's still about 90 days out. But if you were to take an average across the polls in all the different states, you do still see that Joe Biden holds a significant edge. He is leading in states that contain 353 electoral votes, some of those leads are small. But at this particular point, looking at the electoral college map, Joe Biden still holds a significant advantage. We'll see obviously if that advantage begins to diminish, if the national polls start to shrink a little bit more. But at this point, Joe Biden is certainly in the driver seat.

BERMAN: I'm interested, I'm looking at this map right now, it's not even that aggressive, Harry, it doesn't include Texas or Georgia, for instance, which some people are watching right now.

ENTEN: No, it's not that aggressive. I mean, Georgia is basically tied, Texas is basically tied, they're basically a point margins either way. This to be honest with you is just really where the race is. Joe Biden is ahead! I know that's perhaps difficult to, you know, comprehend, given where we were four years ago when all the polls were messed up. But the fact is, he still holds significant edges, especially in states like Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

And if he wins those and adds those to the states Hillary Clinton won, he doesn't need to win a single other electoral vote to win.

BERMAN: Does it mean we'll be there in November? But it is where we are today. Harry Enten, thanks so much for being with us. Have a great weekend, my friend.

ENTEN: You as well, my friend.

BERMAN: NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Researchers are projecting that the U.S. death toll could reach nearly 300,000 by December 1st.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Consistent mask wearing starting today could save about 70,000 lives.

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES: If we pay attention to the fundamental tenets of infection control, we could be way down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lawmakers continue to spar over another stimulus package.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Nothing for housing in terms of rentals, a moratorium, that's nice, but it's not money for rent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Perhaps some of our Democrats are not serious about compromise and are not serious about trying to meet the needs of the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, good morning, everyone, welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY, and this morning really alarming new projections that predict just how deadly the coronavirus pandemic could become. An influential model from the University of Washington predicts deaths could hit nearly 300,000 by December. That's nearly double where we are today.

It is worth noting that it doesn't have to be this way. The model projects that number could be lower by nearly 70,000 if everybody wore a mask. As of this morning, the nationwide death toll higher than 160,000, 1,200 new deaths reported overnight. That I think is the fourth consecutive day with more than 1,000 deaths, if you think about that.