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U.S. Death Toll Surpasses 170,000 Ahead of Flu Season; Pelosi Calls House Back to Vote on Post Office Lockdown; Virtual Democratic National Convention Kicks Off Today. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired August 17, 2020 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The CDC says cases are steadily rising among children. Forty-five percent of those cases may be asymptomatic.

[05:58:33]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will be sending our kids back to school, and I have no fear in doing so.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As parents, our No. 1 task in life is to protect our babies, and I really felt like I was dropping mine off at a death trap.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The crisis over the U.S. Postal Service in the 2020 election is escalating.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is very serious. This has to have a fair election with every vote counted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to make sure that every vote counts but that only one vote counts.

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ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Monday, August 17, 6 a.m. here in New York. In the same actual room at the same actual time for the first time since March.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: I barely recognize you.

BERMAN: Have I changed?

CAMEROTA: No, you haven't. You haven't aged a day. It is so great to be back in the studio. It's just this moment of normalcy, it feels like.

BERMAN: Well, except I have to wear pants. I mean, the thing is -- I'm serious about this.

CAMEROTA: Are you?

BERMAN: I'm wearing suit pants for the first time in five months. The good news is they still fit. The bad news is they're desperately uncomfortable, compared to the jeans that I've been wearing every day without washing since March.

CAMEROTA: You haven't had the quarantine 15?

BERMAN: No. No, I've been managing to keep it off.

CAMEROTA: I can see that.

BERMAN: I find that light beer and vodka are not that caloric.

CAMEROTA: It's just great. I mean, it's great that the numbers in New York are such that we can do this. You and I are six feet apart. We've measured. And so I hope that this can last.

BERMAN: Yes. Well, I think that depends to a large extent on what happens in the country and what everyone in the country does over the next several months. So this morning, the coronavirus death toll in the U.S. has surpassed 170,000. It took just 18 days to add the last 20,000 deaths.

The U.S. is now averaging more than 1,000 deaths a day and has been for three weeks now. And the last thing you want to see is this. An actual decrease in testing. Fifteen states are conducting fewer tests in the previous week, and the seven-day average -- you just saw that -- of new testing peaked in mid-July and then dropped.

So why on earth do less testing? One thing that may help or that the FDA has approved a saliva-based coronavirus test for emergency use. This could give Americans a fast and inexpensive option to get tested, not to mention avoiding the discomfort of the swab that goes up the nose and scrapes the brain. This could be a major development.

CAMEROTA: Also developing overnight, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calling for lawmakers to return to Washington this week for a vote to block the Trump administration from defunding the U.S. Postal System.

The Trump-appointed postmaster general already enacting a series of changes that have led to slower mail delivery. And he's warning states that mail-in ballots will not be delivered on time for election day.

President Trump admits he is blocking Postal Service funding in order to stop mail-in voting. Several states are this morning considering legal action.

Meanwhile, it's day one of the Democratic National Convention, so we'll tell you what to expect in this unusual year. We also have a new CNN national poll to show you. It shows the race between President Trump and Joe Biden tightening up.

So let's begin our coverage with CNN's Dianne Gallagher. She's live in Atlanta with the new developments on the pandemic.

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Alisyn, more than 40,000 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed across the country on Sunday alone.

And while there were some places, like here in Atlanta, where they've got a brand-new testing site, up here -- overall, testing is down across the United States, leading many to believe that we still do not know the full scale of infection in the United States.

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GALLAGHER (voice-over): Growing concern that the U.S. is testing less for coronavirus, even as over 1,000 Americans die daily from the disease. The average number of coronavirus tests per day dropping by more than 68,000, compared to the last two weeks of July. That's according to the COVID Tracking Project.

DR. WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, PROFESSOR, DIVISION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES AT VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: It may be testing fatigue or a sense that why should I get tested if the results don't come back for a week because they're not useful. This virus is still spreading widely in the communities. It's not under control yet.

GALLAGHER: As testing has slowed, positive rates increased over the past week in 36 states as of Friday. According to Johns Hopkins University's Coronavirus Resource Center.

In California, nearly 8,000 new cases reported on Sunday alone. The seven-day positivity rate nearly 7 percent.

In Illinois, the state's governor announcing new restrictions will take effect tomorrow in an area across the border from St. Louis. The Metro East region showing an eight-day average positivity rate above 8 percent.

And Chicago's mayor warning her city is seeing a steady increase in cases, fueled by people ages 18 to 29.

MAYOR LORI LIGHTFOOT (D), CHICAGO: We've just got to break through the young people that they're not immune to this virus.

GALLAGHER: Meanwhile, as schools and universities continue working on their reopening plans, several reporting outbreaks.

DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE COORDINATOR: If we want to have everything working and football and schools, we need to get the community spread of this virus down.

GALLAGHER: In Arizona, one school district is canceling in-person and online classes, due to a large number of staff absences. The J.O. Combs Unified School District in San Tan Valley, Arizona, says it does not know when instruction will resume.

[06:05:04]

In Georgia, Cherokee County shutting down a third school due to a cluster of cases. More than a quarter of the students at Creekview High School in quarantine.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reporting a fourth cluster of cases, this one based in a residence hall.

And at Oklahoma State University, an off-campus sorority House locked down after reporting 23 cases.

This large gathering at an off-campus housing area near the University of North Georgia going viral, sparking concern, because no face masks are visible. Masks are not mandatory in Georgia.

School outbreaks not concerning White House senior adviser and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, who has young children.

JARED KUSHNER, SON-IN-LAW OF DONALD TRUMP: We absolutely will be sending our kids back to school, and I have no fear in doing so.

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GALLAGHER: Now a bit of potentially promising news on the testing front. The FDA has granted an emergency use authorization for a saliva-based test. It's the same one that the NBA has been using in the bubble to test asymptomatic people. The NBA helped fund the research on this.

And what's key here is that it is not only quick, but it is inexpensive, because it doesn't use any sort of proprietary items like the swabs or anything else making it easier to facilitate across the country.

CAMEROTA: And we are going to be getting much more information about that during the program, Dianne, thank you very much.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calling lawmakers back early from their August recess to vote on legislation that would block changes the Trump administration is making to the U.S. Postal Service.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is calling on Mitch McConnell to do the same with the Senate.

CNN's Phil Mattingly is live on Capitol Hill with more. What have you learned, Phil?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Alisyn. It's a move that underscores just how sharply the concern has risen amongst Democrats about operational changes within the U.S. Postal Service that have slowed deliveries over the course of the last several weeks and months.

The speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, calling the chamber back as soon as Saturday, according to House Democratic aides. That is nearly a month before they were supposed to return from their August recess in between two national conventions. And underscoring that Democrats right now believe and think that the White House, led by the president, are essentially rigging the Postal Service to try and slow down deliveries amidst the expectation of tens of millions of mail-in ballots of the next several months.

The speaker in a letter to her colleagues last night saying, quote, "Lives, livelihoods and the life of the American democracy are under threat from the president. At a time of a pandemic, the Postal Service is election central. Americans should not have to choose between their health and their vote."

Now the House coming back this weekend. The Senate, as you noted, Alisyn, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer calling on the Senate to do the same.

No answer yet from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on whether he is willing to consider that, but something to pay attention to. This is not just a partisan issue. Republicans, as well, including Senate Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, who faces a very difficult re-election campaign in November, coming out in a tweet last night, saying the Senate should return and should address funding shortfalls.

It's worth noting, guys, many of the operational changes if not all the operational changes that have been put into place are due to funding concerns, at least according to the postmaster general.

But when you mix those changes with what the president has said, much of which has been false or completely unproven up to this point, Democrats believe there are serious problems here. They are bringing the chamber back to vote on legislation to block those changes, and there will be an oversight hearing as soon as next week.

Still waiting to hear if the postmaster general and other USPS leadership will attend but they've been invited and Democrats making clear they are not going to change course any time soon. They view this as a serious concern, John.

BERMAN: Yes, Phil, and it puts it front and center during convention weeks. Phil Mattingly on Capitol Hill, thanks so much.

So it is convention day in America. The Democratic National Convention kicks off tonight in, well, wherever. Unprecedented doesn't even begin to cover this. In many ways, this will be the most unusual convention we have ever seen.

CNN's Jessica Dean is live in Wilmington, Delaware, with a preview. I just note that Wilmington, Delaware, is nowhere near Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, it is not, John. We can confirm we are nowhere near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We are in Wilmington, because that's going to be kind of one of the anchor areas of this convention, as you mention, that's taking place all across America. I'll get to that in just a moment.

First, let's talk specifically about tonight. What can you expect on this first night of this 2020 Democratic convention that is being produced remotely and across the country?

Well, some familiar faces: Michelle Obama, Bernie Sanders, John Kasich. Really explaining the spectrum of speakers that will be here, because tonight's theme is "We, The People." They're really trying to make this message come through that they welcome everyone to support the Biden/Harris ticket this year.

Now, we got some information yesterday about what this might look like logistically. I'm told there are four set stages. One here in Wilmington, as I mentioned; one in Milwaukee, as you mentioned, where the convention was originally supposed to be anchored, with thousands of delegates yelling in a convention hall; Los Angeles; and New York.

And in addition to that, there will be a number of speakers spread out all across the country. They'll be at historic sites that are going to be tethered kind of thematically to what they're talking about, I'm told.

And then thirdly, there have been production kits that have been sent to delegates, members of the party, people all across America who can set those up in their home, and they'll, I'm told, be using that for the roll call. Again, something we would typically see in a convention hall. They're going to go to 57 different live shots on that one.

And then also for reaction shots. So as the speakers are speaking, a truck that's located here in Wilmington will be able to punch up hundreds of feeds from across the country and get those reaction shots.

And to give us an idea of what this could look like -- could look like being the key word -- we did see that Biden and Harris had an all- staff meeting last week. One of the staffers tweeting out what that looked like. And if you take a look at this photo, you can see how they brought in dozens and dozens of people remotely with Biden/Harris in there.

Looking ahead for the rest of the week, John, again, speakers that we would expect at the convention. That includes President Obama -- former President Obama, former President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, last cycle's nominee, and then, of course, Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, who will be giving their acceptance speeches right here in Wilmington -- John.

BERMAN: Jessica Dean for us in Wilmington. Michelle Obama, Bernie Sanders tonight, but, of course, it's worth watching because we never see anything like this before. We have no idea how it's going to go.

CAMEROTA: It's our new normal of seeing that huge screen of just little dots of faces.

BERMAN: I have some experience in TV with signals coming in from different places.

CAMEROTA: How did that go?

BERMAN: Sometimes strange things can happen. Sometimes. So it's worth watching to see.

We have new video just in to CNN, showing this huge party near one Georgia college, just days before the start of the fall semester. New information on the impact of this, next.

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[06:16:15]

CAMEROTA: Developing overnight, the United States reporting more than 170,000 coronavirus deaths. This comes amid growing concern about a decline in testing nationwide. Why is that happening?

Joining us now is William Haseltine, who's the chair and the president of Access Health International and a former professor at Harvard Medical School. He's also the author of the new book, "A COVID Back- to-School Guide."

Professor, great to see you, as always. And we'll talk about getting back to school momentarily, but first, the testing. Why? Why is it down? Is this about capacity? Is it about lack of interest on patients' parts? Do we have any sense of what's happening?

WILLIAM HASELTINE, FORMER PROFESSOR, HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL : First of all, let me congratulate both you and John on being back in the studio. Must feel good to get back to work in a familiar location.

CAMEROTA: Thank you. It does! Everybody is congratulating --

BERMAN: Everybody is so happy that we're six feet apart. It's fantastic.

HASELTINE: It's good news. The testing situation is not good in the United States. What we're not picking up are people who are contagious. That's the right word to use, contagious.

We're probably missing eight out of 10 people who are contagious. And any decrease in testing is worrisome, because we're already not doing well.

And if you don't pick people out of a crowd who are contagious, the epidemic spreads, as you have reported and we have seen. It is during this epidemic. It is still spreading, and one of the reasons is we don't identify the people to help control their spread.

Now one of the reasons that testing is decreasing is that supplies aren't being shipped to places that can test. It's part of a strategy not to count how many people are infected. So that is one of the reasons.

Another reason that you mentioned is that people may becoming more reluctant to test, knowing that the results don't make much difference. If you don't catch people within a very short time of testing, they start going into a phase of the disease in which they're no longer as contagious. You really want to catch people right at the spot, not later.

BERMAN: It's embarrassing. It's embarrassing. It's the exact wrong time to see a decrease in testing. This far into a pandemic, to see a decrease in testing, it's embarrassing for the United States.

HASELTINE: Right. BERMAN: Now Professor, there is a development which some people look at and say may help in this, which is the FDA granting emergency use approval for this saliva test. We can get results back in as quick as three hours. It uses materials that are more accessible. How much hope do you put in this saliva test?

HASELTINE: Well, the first thing to say is promising, because the data now shows that you can pick up the virus during the contagious phase in saliva. That's really good.

The second thing is it makes it much less uncomfortable. You don't have to put a swab deep into somebody's nose. Saliva is something that we're familiar with all the time, and so it's not that difficult.

This test is one good step toward ultimately what we will and should have and could have now, which are very rapid tests available some places in the world, where all you do is put a little bit of saliva on something equivalent to a pregnancy test and within 15 to 20 minutes get a result. That is going to make a sea change. Because the actual cost to produce those is less than 50 cents. And they can be produced in massive quantities, hundreds of millions of quantities.

It can be used for testing at home, for testing at workplaces, for testing at schools. That is where we should be today. That technology has existed for a long time, and now we know that it can be used for saliva. This is all good news.

And I think by the end of the year, you're going to see a sea change in the way we test. You'll be able to test yourself --

CAMEROTA: To be clear, you don't have to process it. The way -- the one that was just approved by the FDA, you saliva test at home and you don't need to send it anywhere for processing. It can give you a result?

HASELTINE: No, that is -- that is what could happen. What is now happening is you need to -- I read it pretty carefully. You need to give the saliva sample under a licensed supervisor. And then give that sample over. They then give you back the result.

That's the first of the next step, which is to be hopefully a home test. That is available some places, not everywhere.

BERMAN: So let's take a look --

HASELTINE: Not -- place I've seen --

BERMAN: Professor --

HASELTINE: It is coming.

BERMAN: I'm sorry. I wanted to take a look at a picture which I know will frankly shock you as kids around the country are going back to school, and some universities are beginning to welcome students back on campus or near campus. This is what definitely appears to be a party. And this is near North

Georgia University, about an hour or so north of Atlanta. And, look, I mean, you can't see too closely but you see closely enough to see what's going on, which is a bunch of young adults.

I'm not going to say kids, Professor, because these are people who are in an age range where the virus can be transmitted. I don't see a lot of masks. I don't see any social distancing. I see a lot of shouting.

How concerned should we be about this, and what does this tell us about universities opening up?

HASELTINE: I think the first thing it says, we should be very concerned. Those people are definitely spreading the virus amongst themselves. Georgia is a high incidence. I would put it in the orange to red category, which is the most dangerous category for this virus.

The people who are now in the hospitals, a bulk of the people in our hospitals are people of just the age of the people you saw. The damage that they can do to themselves if they get this virus and don't even know they have this virus can be considerable to their future. And they're spreading the virus to older people and to younger people, as well.

I think it's very worrisome that, if we don't get the message to young people that they can transmit this virus. They can become ill from this virus. We're going to have a continued epidemic.

And when you hear the governor of Georgia tell you, you don't need to wear a mask, actually do your kids best to make sure nobody does wear masks, you're getting exactly the wrong message. And this is the kind of thing that can result.

BERMAN: Professor Haseltine, as always, thank you very much for being with us this morning. Appreciate it.

HASELTINE: You're welcome. Thank you.

BERMAN: All right. Breaking overnight, police in Seattle declare a riot after several officers were injured by rocks and fireworks during a protest overnight. At least ten people were arrested. Officials say that one of the officers suffered a significant eye injury.

Protesters in Seattle have been demanding racial justice and greater police accountability.

CAMEROTA: Also developing overnight, a tense standoff in Texas between police and a gunman who shot three police officers. It is continuing at this hour. Police say the gunman remains barricaded inside a home, holding three family members hostage.

Police say the suspect is in his mid-20s. He has mental health issues. The officers were shot after responding to a call from the gunman's mother, who said her son had kicked in a door and was acting aggressively. The three officers are expected to fully recover. CAMEROTA: House lawmakers are being called back to Washington to

address the growing crisis with the U.S. Postal Service. We're going to discuss how Democrats are trying to fight back against President Trump not wanting mail-in ballots.

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[06:28:09]

BERMAN: All right. Breaking overnight, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced she is calling back lawmakers from their summer recess to deal with the crisis at the Postal Service.

House Democrats have launched an investigation over whether the Trump administration is intentionally undermining the agency ahead of the presidential election.

Joining me now is Pro Publica reporter Jessica Huseman.

Jessica, thanks so much for being with us. This is your beat. You cover this. You're an expert, which is so important, because, frankly, there is so much bunk being spewed right now about the post office and mail-in voting that it's important to get the facts out there. I know it's August, but I want to start with Christmas.

Let's establish a base line here. Compare Christmas to election day in America.

JESSICA HUSEMAN, PRO PUBLICA REPORTER: You know, I think it's really important to remember that the post office handles literally billions of pieces of paper and packages every single year.

And so I think the most number of mail-in ballots that we're going to see across the whole country is about 100 million. And that's just registered voters, and that's just registered voters who choose to vote this cycle and every single person in the country sends far more mail than that on Christmas and even in Thanksgiving.

So the post office has the capacity to deal with this. That doesn't mean that policy issues between now and then won't affect their ability to do that job, but they certainly do have the capacity now.

BERMAN: As I say, this is your beat. Have you ever covered a political movement to cancel the ability to send Christmas cards prior to Christmas?

HUSEMAN: You know what? I haven't. But that is one that I would like to cover. It might be a refresher from -- from this very heavy political season.

BERMAN: Look, I'm making -- we're joking, but the reason I brought that up is because there's so much of this that is bunk. The system is in place and can handle it under the right circumstances. And, but. Talk to me about these sorters that are being taken offline and some of the boxes that had been removed.

Allegedly, the administration says this will stop.

END