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Coronavirus Cases Surge Among Children in U.S. as Schools Reopen; Putin Claims Russia has Developed First Coronavirus Vaccine; Second NCAA Conference Postpones Football Season. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired August 11, 2020 - 07:00   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEW DAY: To talk about, coming up.

[07:00:01]

In Georgia's Cherokee County School District, more than 800 children and 42 employees were quarantined his morning. 50 students and staff have tested positive since reopening last week. Georgia's governor continues to oppose a mask mandate, which puts him in odds with Dr. Fauci, who says in an interview that masks should be universal to fight the virus.

And overnight, right here on CNN, one expert warned that children may be able to spread coronavirus as easily as the common cold.

ERICA HILL, CNN NEW DAY: And we know how easily kids do that.

Meantime, important, new developments involving college sports, the Mountain West Conference postponing all fall sports, that includes football. ESPN, meantime, reporting a decision about the Big Ten Season could come as soon as today. And also reporting, a rare heart condition has been found in at least five Big Ten athletes that could be linked to coronavirus.

And breaking this morning, Vladimir Putin now claiming Russia has developed the world's first coronavirus vaccine.

BERMAN: All right. Joining us now is CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta and CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Rochelle Walensky. She is the Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Mass General Hospital.

And, Sanjay, I want to start with you. When we learned that there's been a 90 percent increase in coronavirus cases among children the last four weeks, that is a lot. It is a huge increase. You saw the raw number of about 100,000 new cases the last two weeks of July, and it really does cause concerns as we are in some areas reopening schools.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no question about it, John. I mean, I think the number of children becoming infected is increasing and it's increasing at a more rapid pace.

I think there're two things that are happening here. I could just tell you a little bit from our reporting but also from personal experience. Up until recently, it's been harder to get the younger people tested at all. You had to be symptomatic to get tested. It was mostly adults who were symptomatic. So I think the increase in testing among younger people is driving some of this.

But I think another big part of this is just the fact that, especially young kids, since about middle of March, have largely been home. And now they're starting to get out and about more. You're seeing it, maybe getting ready for school, getting ready for sports, whatever it might be. And I think it's very clear that these kids are transmitting this virus amongst themselves to other people, whatever it may be. That's happening.

And a lot of people have gone back and they keep citing this South Korea study, saying, hey, look, kids under the age of ten really don't seem to transmit it that much. I went back and looked at that study carefully with a couple of sources. There were some 50,000 contacts that were traced across all age groups in that study. But for kids age zero to nine, it was about 57 contacts total. Point is, they didn't have a lot of contacts, there wasn't a lot of data there. We know kids carry this virus. We know they can spread it. And I think the numbers you're citing there are just more evidence of that.

HILL: And we also know that masks can help prevent that spread. I mean, this is something we've known for months at this point.

Dr. Walensky, as we hear from Dr. Fauci saying there should be a universal wearing of masks, what are the chances we actually see that happen when there's still so much resistance in many areas?

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Erica. You know, I think we're going to have to have universal masking at the local level because we're not getting it at the federal level.

I want to echo a bit of what Sanjay has said, and also note that, you know, over time, we have commented about how kids have done comparably well when you look at adults. So, adults over 80 have mortality rates of this disease of 15 percent. Children have mortality rates somewhere around 0.5 percent, 0.4 percent.

But when you look at the numbers, the sheer numbers of children who are now reported to be infected or have been infected, 100,000, we're talking about deaths of like 500, 600 young kids.

And so, I think when you start looking at the sheer volume of numbers, even very small death rates tally to a lot of children dying from this disease.

BERMAN: And, look, that's exactly what concerns me and what questions it raises for someone like me, without a medical degree, this morning. We know that this new spike in cases that we saw in June and July was fueled by younger adults, people in their 20s who were starting to go out and circulate. What I'm worried about, Sanjay, is now we could see a new spike fueled by kids again. And when you see the raw numbers, even if kids, you know, five to ten, don't spread it as much, if tens and tens of thousands of kids are getting it, that's more of them to spread it. GUPTA: Right. And, look, that first point, John, I think that they do spread quite a bit. I mean, you know, I think that historically, if you go back and even look at other infectious diseases, it was initially believed kids weren't that big a spreader of the disease. Take flu, even, for example. So, the inoculations, the vaccinations were primarily reserved for elderly people.

And then they realized, well, there's a lot of spread going on still, where is it coming from?

[07:05:01]

Oh, it's kids. We should vaccinate children as well, make them a priority for vaccination as well. So, that's something we have to certainly keep an eye on.

I think we're early days still in all this. We're making lots of conclusions based on very little data, very early data. I think, you know, kids carry this virus in their nose, they're likely to spread it. And you know, if you follow the demographics and look at the data very closely, it's exactly what you say. We're starting to see more and more that the largest group of people who are now infected with this virus are younger people, not super young kids, but younger people, and that's clearly a result of their increased mobility.

HILL: Yes, we saw those numbers and we learned in California alone in kids and teens, cases up 150 percent over the past month.

Some of the other data that really has me scratching my head this morning is when we looked at testing. So, the number of tests in both Florida and Texas has actually declined, and fairly significantly, down 29 percent in Florida, down 31 percent in Texas. But the positivity rates not only remain high in Texas, they jumped over the past month, now at 24 percent.

You know, the big question is, I know we need to look at the positivity rates because that tells us a real story, but the fact that we're seeing, Dr. Walensky, fewer tests, when we know that more tests are what can help move the country forward. I mean, look at where we've plateaued, almost, in Florida, how high that rate of positivity is.

WALENSKY: Right. It's a really good point. You know, there are lots of different metrics that we can use to see how we're doing with the spread of this disease. One of them is our positivity rate, as you know. And the fact that our positivity rate is four or five times higher than we feel it should be in order to demonstrate that we have control of this demonstrates we're doing about, you know, 20 percent of the testing that we should be doing.

Another one of those metrics is your cases per 100,000. And that is reported in both Florida and Texas, in some of these counties at 40, 50, 80 per 100,000. Schools that successfully opened in Europe did so at case rates of 1 per 100,000. So we're talking 20, 50, 80 times higher in some of these places. And then the real question is, why do we not have testing? Why is testing not going on? Is it because it's young people and young people are less prone to be symptomatic? Is it because they're feeling well? Is it because access is really a problem? Is it because they simply don't have the tests or don't have the public health infrastructure to conduct those tests? I think all of those could be a reason.

One other key point I want to make sure everybody knows and understands is we've talked about this golden vaccine that we sure hope is in our horizon, all four of the vaccine candidates that are being looked at and enrolling, we hope, in the next few months ahead, none of them enroll children under 18. So, while we're looking for these vaccines to be a real golden opportunity, we are not at a place where, even if we have one in the months ahead, that it will be -- we will have adequate data for children.

BERMAN: I didn't know that. I didn't know that they weren't enrolling kids under 18.

Sanjay, to the point that Dr. Walensky was just making, one of the things I do want to say about the Texas data -- and it's weird. I mean, hospitalizations in Texas are not going up, even as the positivity rate is going up, the hospitalizations are. So it's not that there are people so sick that we're not seeing that are going to the hospital, at least not yet. But, Sanjay, why do you think fewer tests are being administered in Florida and Texas?

GUPTA: I think testing's, you know, it's been a problem all along. We've talked about this for months on this program. I think when I talked to Admiral Giroir about this, he basically said they're going to surge testing in hot spots. And you know, if there's other places in the country where they need more tests, they're going to start surging them in those areas, so they may be surging away from Florida and Texas right now. They shouldn't be, because, obviously, these are still places that are of concern.

But we still have a testing infrastructure issue in this country. We're still doing basically symptomatic testing, mostly, very little surveillance testing, and even less what we call assurance testing, trying to give people the assurance they don't have the virus, that people around them don't have the virus. We're not in the position to be doing that kind of testing really at this point.

As far as the hospitalizations, you know, I think this all sort of fits, you know. Even though the tests are -- the positivity rate is going up, which means there's a lot of cases out there that we're missing, we know that, increasingly, it's in younger people. And, thankfully, younger people are less likely to get sick, but they can get sick, as Dr. Walensky was mentioning. If you increase the absolute number of infections, you're going to increase the absolute number, obviously, of hospitalizations as well. But it's a lower percentage than elderly people.

So we may see increasing cases, lower hospitalizations, but, ultimately, you know, the numbers will all continue to go up, unless we bring the overall viral load down in this country, which we're still not.

[07:10:06]

I mean, the virus is still spreading. Whether we're testing or not, it's still spreading.

HILL: Yes, whether we find the cases or not, they're still out there. It doesn't mean they don't exist, more than 20 million cases now globally, as we know, Dr. Walensky.

And as we sort of -- you know, you were pointing to what we were looking at in terms of cases per 100,000 for schools to open in different countries. As we look at what's happening around the world, how much can we take from other countries as a lesson at this point when we continue to see the rise globally?

WALENSKY: Right, it's a really good question. First of all, you look at countries that have started to see maybe what they're calling a second wave or a surge in cases. I want to remind people, their surge in cases we'd be lucky to be at.

So, I think, first, we have to look at what we're doing locally and realize we're not doing nearly enough. We haven't clamped down enough to get where we need to. We haven't taken the first lesson from Europe, which is how do you get this under control.

I do think that some of the lessons we can learn is that, you know, they have opened precipitously in some places. People are tired of this. There is fatigue out there. Travel has increased. Tourism has increased. Bars and nightclubs have opened. And those are all the places where they're seeing increased cases.

And I guess one of the real questions is, in the next phase of this, whenever we may get to the next phase of this, is it going to be possible to exert local efforts to put out local fires, or are we going to have to sort of go broader? Will we find those local fires quickly enough to be able to control them?

BERMAN: Dr. Walensky, Sanjay, thank you both so much for being with us. You know, we talk about this three hours a day every day, and I can still learn new things from you both. I really appreciate it. Erica?

WALENSKY: My pleasure. Thanks, John.

HILL: Breaking news this morning. Vladimir Putin claiming Russia has developed an approved the world's first coronavirus vaccine, a claim that is being met with heavy skepticism despite Putin announcing his own daughter is among the first to receive a dose.

CNN's Matthew Chance is live in Moscow. So, Matthew, we've also learned that the Kremlin has named the vaccine.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They have, indeed. They've named it Sputnik V, V for vaccine, sputnik after the first satellite that was sent by the Soviet Union back in 1957, astonishing the world into space. This is the first vaccine, of course, that's been launched into the global pandemic.

And so they kind of like that sort of parallel that it draws between the sort of symbol of Soviet technological excellence back in the '50s to the symbol of Russian medical science now. That's one of the reasons I think critics have been saying that Russia has been pushing so hard to get this vaccine out there, first of all, because it wants to show the world it's still a superpower when it comes to its scientific technology.

But within the past hour or so, Vladimir Putin has gone on national television, on a video conference with all his ministers, announcing that that first vaccine against COVID-19 has now been approved for use inside Russia. He said this, it's had all the necessary checks, according to Vladimir Putin. I know it's effective, he says. He said it forms a stable immunity. That's what he told his health minister. That's what he told the country, speaking on national television.

As evidence to that, he said this. He said, my own daughter -- one of my own daughters has had the injection. She had a slight temperature at first, he said, but now she feels well. It's an astonishing revelation, because in a decade, I have not heard Vladimir Putin mention any of his children.

And so, it just underlines just how much confidence the Russians want to show that they have in this vaccine, that Vladimir Putin would make it public that his own daughter -- he doesn't say which one -- but his own daughter has had this vaccination and seems to be doing very well. It is a huge contribution to the victory over coronavirus. That's what the health minister added.

But in terms of more technical details, the Russian director of investment fund, which is the sovereign wealth fund here, which is essentially bank rolling this coronavirus research, saying that they already had orders for a billion doses from 20 countries around the world. And so, that's pretty astonishing.

HILL: Yes.

CHANCE: Now, astonishing even more so given that there is such skepticism and such concern about this vaccine. Human trial was not complete. And, in fact, really, the third-phase trials only start tomorrow. And so there are big concerns about whether this vaccine is effective, and indeed, whether it is even safe, Erica.

HILL: Absolutely. Matthew Chance, wow, it will be interesting to see where this falls. I appreciate the reporting. Thank you.

College sports on the brink. Many star players and coaches say they want to play, but can they do it safely?

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[07:15:00]

BERMAN: A new football conference has put off its fall season. The NCAA's Mountain West Conference postponing all fall sports, including college football. It comes after the Mid-American Conference canceled fall sports on Saturday. So, will other major conferences follow suit?

Joining me now is Nicole Auerbach. She's a senior College Football Writer for The Athletic. Also with us is Dr. Leon McDougle. He's a member of the NCAA's Coronavirus Adviser Panel and the Chief Diversity Officer at Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center.

Nicole, I want to start with you. The Mountain West Conference, for people like me who watch way too much T.V. over the weekend, sports, that's Boise State. That's the blue football field. So these are teams that we know. What's the significance of Mountain West canceling yesterday?

NICOLE AUERBACH, SENIOR COLLEGE FOOTBALL WRITER, THE ATHLETIC: Well, it's absolutely significant because this is the second major conference to do this. The Mid-American Conference canceled, postponed fall sports on Saturday.

Now, we're not talking about the Big Ten or the Pac-12 or the SEC just yet, but these decisions put pressure on the schools and the leagues that are still trying to play because their medical advisory groups are telling them that it is not safe enough to continue with the testing and the protocols that are in place, with travel, without these athletes being in a bubble environment like the NBA or WNBA.

[07:20:02]

So, this is significant because it's just going to continue to put pressure on other leagues that have not yet made a decision about their fall football season.

BERMAN: So, Dr. McDougle, I know there are a lot of people, fans and otherwise, asking, what's going on here, what happened the last week? Why are college sports having this moment of self-doubt? And I know you point to the fact that, go back to the spring, go back to the very guidelines that the NCAA gave itself for reopening. These are the core principles of re-socialization of collegiate sport.

And number one on this list is a downward trajectory of COVID cases or positivity percentage. And all you have to do is look at a map around the country. You can see there are plenty of states, plenty of places with major college football or college sports programs where they're not passed door number one.

DR. LEON MCDOUGLE, MEMBER NCAA CORONAVIRUS ADVISORY PANEL: Yes, very good question, John Berman. And also, I'd like to say, today, I'm speaking on behalf of the National Medical Association as its 121st president, representing over 45,000 African-American physicians in the U.S., and as a member of the NCAA COVID-19 Advisory Panel. And you speak to the truth.

And with this COVID-19, it's a societal issue, and we need to be placing a full court press on COVID-19, and that involves invoking a national strategy to mitigate this deadly disease. That involves invoking the Defense Production Act to create opportunities to produce PPE, to produce testing kits. And this notion that governors are suing mayors because they're asking the citizens to wear facial coverings is a reflection of why we are having such problems with opening up college sports.

BERMAN: You want to play football in Columbus? You want to play for Ohio State? Get the rate down in Columbus. That is an argument you will hear.

Nicole, we have seen a number of prominent players and coaches from the most prominent programs come out over the last day and say, we want to play. Let's listen to Clemson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DABO SWINNEY, HEAD COACH, CLEMSON FOOTBALL: We cancel football, the virus isn't going to go away. And it is truly in my belief that these guys are safer here than without us. Not only are they safer here, mentally, it's better for them.

TREVOR LAWRENCE, QUARTERBACK, CLEMSON FOOTBALL: We feel safer here than anywhere else, honestly. And when you go outside of these walls and you go get food, you go do anything, you're at just as much, if not, more risk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: How universal or prevalent is this feeling among the athletes?

MCDOUGLE: John, can I just --

AUERBACH: Well, it's mixed because we've had a number of players who have spoken out in the last day or so, kind of a Hail Mary, 11th-hour push to make it clear that they do want to play, which we all expected that they did, but you've also had movements in other leagues, including the PAC-12, where they have threatened to withhold their services. They have threatened to boycott because of their concerns related to their health and safety, as well as the economic impact of the amateur model.

So, I think that it's hard to say that anything is a monolith. It's hard to say all college players feel one way or the other. But I do think it's worth pointing out here that, first of all, even if the season is postponed, they would be able to stay on campus and practice and have that environment that they feel safe in. And then also, that this has exposed how little a say college athletes have in what happens to them.

This is something that we have seen during the pandemic. They don't have a players' union. They didn't have representation or a seat at the table when they were determining health and safety protocols, like we saw in the pro leagues. So I do think, no matter what comes out of this, the fact that players were speaking up and using their voice collectively is something that is good and will continue.

BERMAN: Agreed. Agreed. I wish it didn't have to happen in a situation like this.

MCDOUGLE: John, can I speak to this?

BERMAN: Absolutely, Doctor. Go ahead.

MCDOUGLE: Can I speak to this? Feeling is not science. So, a feeling is not a protocol. So, those feelings should be used to advocate for testing and for PPE and for placing a full court press on COVID-19. So, that's what the feeling should be used for.

BERMAN: Dr. McDougle, I get the sense that you have questions about whether it's safe for these players to be on the field playing right now.

MCDOUGLE: We put forth a strong document through the NCAA Advisory Committee. It's a solid document. And provisions within that set parameters on being able to re-socialize and restart college athletics.

[07:25:07]

And as you pointed to at the very beginning of this show, the provision is, you're supposed to have at least a 14-day decline in infections in one's community. And people, they are just skipping over that.

And so, I would hope that this focus being placed on collegiate athletics allows our country to reflect on the importance of addressing COVID-19 from a national perspective. And our governors need to link arms and form a shield of protection against COVID-19 until and, hopefully, our national leadership will also put this at the highest level of priority. That's where we need to be.

So, sports is important, but it is not as important as 160,000 people dying.

BERMAN: I have to let you both go. But, Nicole, in five seconds or less, do you think that these conferences will announce the Big Ten, Big 12, SEC will announce that they're postponing this week?

AUERBACH: I think we'll see the PAC-12 is meeting today, its presidents and chancellor, so they can potentially make a decision, at the very least, to delay the season further and potentially postpone. It would be a huge domino if it falls today.

BERMAN: Nicole Auerbach, Dr. McDougle, I really do appreciate both your time, really interesting discussion.

MCDGOULE: Thank you, John Berman.

BERMAN: Erica?

HILL: We want to remember some of the more than 163,000 lives lost in this country to coronavirus.

58-year-old Greg O'Donnell died just one day after the memorial for his wife of 27 years, Gabby. Their son, Robert Garcia, is the mayor of Long Beach, California. Mr. O'Donnell owned a contracting business with his brothers and was, in Garcia's words, a goodhearted man and the best husband our mom could have ever hoped for.

Keith Johnson was a retired professor of Trumpet at the University of North Texas. His wife of 50 years told KXAS T.V. they met at a music festival in New Hampshire, where he was playing, and she was a maid at the hotel where he stayed. He was 77.

Gilbert Polanco was the first guard at San Quentin Prison in California to die of coronavirus. KGO T.V. reporting there's been a mass outbreak inside the prison, infecting 2,000 inmates. Polanco's daughter says her parents had been preparing to celebrate their 30th anniversary.

We'll be right back.

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[07:30:00]

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