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New Day Sunday

Trump's Doctor Clears Him To Leave Isolation; Trump Speaks To Supporters Packed Into White House Event Despite Rising Number Of Coronavirus Cases; Confirmation Hearings For Trump's SCOTUS Pick Amy Coney Barrett Start Tomorrow; Trump's Stimulus Proposal Faces Opposition From Pelosi And GOP; Biden Hosts Campaign Event In Battleground Pennsylvania; More Arrests In Wisconsin On Fourth Night Of Protests Over Alvin Cole's Death; Key Model Projects 395,000 U.S. COVID Deaths By February. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired October 11, 2020 - 06:00   ET

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


[06:00:14]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a brand-new statement from the president's physician, Dr. Sean Conley, about the president's health.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is essentially clearing President Trump to return to public activity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very good that we're finally getting some information. It's just not clear to me why they haven't been transparent with this all along.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Science, medicine will eradicate the China virus once and for all. It's going to disappear. It is disappearing.

DR. MEGAN RANNEY, EMERGENCY ROOM PHYSICIAN: We are all seeing increasing numbers of COVID-19 patients who are coming into our ERs, who are getting really sick, requiring hospitalization and even intensive care.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Confirmation hearings for Trump's Supreme Court pick Amy Coney Barrett start tomorrow.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MAJORITY LEADER: We have a process to get through that nomination, and we intend to put her on the Supreme Court in the next few weeks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY weekend with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Looks like a fall sky out there, doesn't it, behind the Capitol building. As we said, we're getting ready to see Amy Coney Barrett in her hearings tomorrow. President Trump, meanwhile, his doctor is speaking. And he says that the president can end isolation, and he can get back to an active schedule. He also says the president hasn't had a fever in well over 24 hours. However, we still don't know if the president has tested negative for the virus.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Now, the president hosted a pretty big crowd at the White House yesterday. He delivered a highly political speech to the supporters you see. This is on the South Lawn. The president has at least three in-person rallies scheduled this week, and as we know, these large crowds could put thousands of people at risk for contracting the coronavirus.

We're going to start this morning with CNN's Sarah Westwood. She's at the White House. So what do we know this morning? Because we know the statement came out late last night about the president's health.

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, good morning, Victor and Christi.

And, yes, we heard from Dr. Sean Conley, the president's physician, for the first time in a few days last night. There was an open question as the president headed into that event last night whether he was still positive for the virus and whether he was still contagious. But this memo from Dr. Conley seems to pave the way for President Trump to return to the active life, the public life that we know he's been eager to reprise since he's been sort of sidelined with the virus.

I want to read you just a chunk of this letter in the doctor's own words, "This evening I'm happy to report that in addition to the president meeting CDC criteria for the safe discontinuation of isolation he is no longer considered a transmission risk to others." And then he goes on to say, "Now at day 10 from symptom onset, fever- free for well over 24 hours and all symptoms improved, the assortment of advanced diagnostic tests obtained reveal there is no longer evidence of actively replicating virus."

Now, what that means is it's not necessarily true that President Trump is still shedding live virus, but that memo didn't go into everything that we would have liked to know about the president's health. For example, is he still testing positive for the virus? And we don't know what kinds of tests the doctor is basing that assumption on.

But nonetheless, the president did hold that event here at the White House last night. He spoke from the White House balcony to a crowd there on the South Lawn. And despite being less than a week out from his own hospitalization from the virus, President Trump continued to downplay it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We'll get rid of it all over the world. You see big flare-ups in Europe, big flare-ups in Canada, very big flare-up in Canada. You saw that today. A lot of flare-ups, but it's going to disappear. It is disappearing. And vaccines are going to help, and the therapeutics are going to help a lot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WESTWOOD: Now, this memo seems to give Trump the clearance to go ahead with the campaign schedule we know he is planning on for this week starting, Victor and Christi, with that rally in Florida on Monday.

PAUL: I want to get to some new information, new details we're getting this morning, Sarah, from "The New York Times" regarding the president's departure from Walter Reed Hospital. What are we learning there?

WESTWOOD: "The New York Times," Christi, is reporting that President Trump during his hospitalization told some of his confidantes on the phone about a plan he had for leaving, getting some attention as he was leaving the hospital, that he wanted to walk out of the hospital appearing maybe feeble at first and then unbutton his dress shirt to reveal a Superman t-shirt underneath his button down.

That seems to be springing from this desire that we've seen the president have to project the sense that he's fine. The virus hasn't handicapped him at all in his attempts to get back on the campaign trail. But clearly, the president did not go through with that. He returned to Walter Reed via Marine One in a normal way, Victor and Christi.

PAUL: You have to wonder what those conversations were like, who had that conversation with him and enticed him otherwise, let's say.

[06:05:05]

Sarah Westwood, so good to see you this morning. Thank you.

Now, Dr. David Shulkin, the former secretary of Veterans Affairs under President Trump, says we still don't have enough information about the president's condition.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. DAVID SHULKIN, FORMER SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS UNDER TRUMP: We still should know when the president tested negative. Was there a test just yesterday that had been positive? Did this just turn negative?

So it would be a good idea I believe for the White House and for Dr. Conley to be as transparent as possible about what all these test results mean so that the American public can understand what we're dealing with.

While technically the PCR test shows that he doesn't have active virus, 72 hours is a safe recommendation. The president has been symptom free for 24 hours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Last night Vice President Mike Pence see rally supporters in Florida. And one of these events was at the largest or one of the largest retirement communities in the country. Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh tweeted 3,000 people were there. CNN team there said the campaign was not following CDC guidelines. A lot of people there were not wearing mask or maintaining any safe social distance.

With me now, CNN political analyst and White House reporter for the "Washington Post," Seung Min Kim. Good morning to you.

Let's start here with the president and his return to rallies, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. It seems that this will be now central to the campaign, his -- you know, with the reporting from "The New York Times" that he wanted to rip open his shirt to show the Superman logo, that this will be how he's going to run the next 23 days.

SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. I mean, he has been -- ever since the pandemic really sidelined his campaign travel, he had -- the president had really been looking for different ways to replicate kind of the political power of his rallies. But his rallies are a unique event for him, for his supporters, for a way to get his base excited.

So, there was really no way to replicate that besides having the rallies itself, which is why you saw the president so eager to get back on the campaign trail, having a very aggressive travel schedule just a week or so after he tested positive for the coronavirus, going to Florida, Pennsylvania, Iowa, just in a matter of three days. And it really does come at a crucial stretch for the president here.

Polls show him clearly lagging vice president -- former vice president Biden both nationally and in these key swing states. So, that's why you see him traveling so aggressively. I expect barring any future, you know, health issues that he'll keep up this aggressive travel from now until Election Day.

BLACKWELL: One of the narratives that he will offer undoubtedly there as he's campaigning will be the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett which is scheduled, the hearing scheduled for tomorrow. You know, immediately after Justice Ginsburg died, Democrats said that they would use every tool available, whatever they could, to stop the confirmation of a justice before the election. A lot less talk about that now.

Have Democrats appeared to resign themselves to the very likely confirmation and then the question of what happens next, or should we expect some delays, some effort starting tomorrow?

KIM: Well, Democrats are clearly going to try every procedural maneuver that they have to delay the confirmation as close or beyond Election Day as possible. But even with -- even factoring for all those procedural endeavors, there's very little that Democrats can do to stop this from happening before November 3rd, provided that all Republicans are there, that they're healthy which is a key point to emphasize, and that they are able to fully participate in these proceedings. So that's why while Democrats have still continued to decry the process and vowing to stop -- vow to do as much as they can to hold the nomination, they've really been focusing kind of on the broader issues at play. So, you're going to hear at the confirmation hearings this week a lot of talk about health care.

Remember that the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a very important case on the fate of the Affordable Care Act a week after the election. And you're going to hear a lot of talk from basically every member on the -- every Democratic member on the Senate Judiciary Committee about how important the Affordable Care Act is.

How important it is to keep the protections for pre-existing conditions. Because they know that this is their election play. Health care is where they thrive, they thrived back in 2018, and they're looking at this as a way to energize their voters in these key battleground states for the presidency and for the Senate.

BLACKWELL: Quickly before we go, Republicans in the Senate have pushed back against the president's suggestion of $1.8 trillion stimulus bill, rescue coronavirus bill. Still $400 billion short of where Pelosi and the Democrats are at $2.2 trillion.

[06:10:05]

Any more likely, any indications that's this is going to happen at all before the election?

KIM: It looks pretty -- it looks pretty dark. The chances of a big stimulus deal before the election because the proposal that the administration has put forward led by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin is not making anyone happy on Capitol Hill. You have House Speaker Nancy Pelosi coming out against it, and yesterday morning you have a very feisty, very contentious conference call between Senate Republicans, Secretary Mnuchin, and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, where more than 20 Republican senators spoke, mostly in opposition to what the administration was doing.

The feedback was so tough that Mark Meadows told Republican senators on this private conference call that -- quote -- "you're going to have to come to my funeral when he has to take this information back to the president of the United States." But Republicans are worried. They don't like the high price tag, they don't like the policy provisions that were being proposed by the administration, they don't like the fact that this will take away focus, that these decisions over the stimulus package take away focus from the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett in the next couple of weeks.

BLACKWELL: Very, very busy week. Seung Min Kim, thanks for helping us start if off right.

KIM: Thanks for having me.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: So presidential candidate Joe Biden spoke to supporters in the battleground state of Pennsylvania yesterday.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Jessica Dean is on the trail with the Biden campaign for us -- Jessica.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Victor and Christi.

Former Vice President Joe Biden back in the critical battleground state of Pennsylvania. He traveled here to Erie, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. It is located in a Pennsylvania county that President Trump won narrowly back in 2016. It's a place with the kind of voters that the Biden campaign really thinks they can win back with Joe Biden's economic message which is the one he delivered right here on Saturday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The top 100 billionaires in the middle of this pandemic, they made $300 billion additional dollars. Here me now? One hundred individuals made $300 billion this year.

What did the bottom half get? They got -- they got to slide down. Because the fact is the president can only see the world from Park Avenue. I see it from Scranton. I see it from Claymont, for real. You all know what I'm talking about. You all see it from Erie.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: In the meantime the campaign reports that Vice President Biden underwent PCR testing, the gold-standard COVID test on, Saturday and that it came back negative. They say he will continue to be tested regularly and always when he travels -- Christi and Victor.

PAUL: Thank you so much, Jessica. Appreciate it.

BLACKWELL: Jake Tapper has a strong lineup for you this morning on "STATE OF THE UNION." He will be joined by White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow, also Kate Bedingfield from the Biden campaign. He has interviews with Democratic senator from Hawaii Mazie Hirono and Arkansas Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson. Starts at 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

PAUL: Well, the president again says that the virus is going to disappear. He said that back in February, as well. The reality is very different.

According to the numbers that are out there, across this country more than two dozen states are seeing a rise in cases. And key coronavirus model predicts close to 400,000 people here in America will die by February 1st. We have more on that clarity just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:17:41]

BLACKWELL: We saw protesters occupy city hall on the fourth night of protests in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. The demonstrations, they started this week after the news that a police officer would not face charges for the death of 17-year-old Alvin Cole. Cole, African-American, shot in February outside a mall in a Milwaukee suburb.

PAUL: Police say demonstrators threw rocks and bottles at officers trying to enforce a 7:00 p.m. curfew. Now police responded by firing teargas, pepper balls, paint balls. It's not clear how many protesters were arrested.

BLACKWELL: Now for some time now, health experts have been forecasting that we would see a rise in coronavirus cases when the fall set. Well, we are now seeing that.

PAUL: We are. As many as 30 states are showing an uptick in new cases from this week to last week. Only two are showing cases trending down. And a new estimate suggests the U.S. could see nearly 400,000 COVID- related deaths by February.

CNN's Polo Sandoval has been looking at this. The question, Polo, is if they're saying we could see 400,000 cases, how do they expect we're going to get there? Is there anything we can do to fend that off?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And that's key here, Christi. Is this new influential model that is predicting a death toll that could potentially double by next February, that can be avoided. And authorities making that very clear if some of those measures continue to be implemented, and if the nation does not ease off on things like social distancing and mask wearing, that we may actually be able to avoid that prediction.

But also when you consider hospitalizations alone, Wisconsin recently reaching its highest ever number of hospitalizations, and then add to that yesterday, one ER doctor telling CNN that he's seeing more COVID patients in his hospital, and many doctors fearing that that could signal the start of this dreaded second wave.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL (voice-over): Across the United States, a rise in coronavirus cases.

RANNEY: We are all seeing increasing numbers of COVID-19 patients who are coming into our ERs, who are getting really sick, requiring hospitalizations and even intensive care.

SANDOVAL: Over 54,000 cases reported on Saturday making it the fourth day in a row of 50,000-plus cases, and one day after health officials reported the highest number of new cases in a day since mid-August.

[06:20:05]

The current death toll, over 214,000. Former CDC Director Tom Frieden says that number could be even higher.

DR. TOM FRIEDEN, FORMER CDC DIRECTOR: So, if you die from cancer and you also have diabetes, you still died from cancer. If you died from COVID and you also had diabetes, you died from COVID. COVID does affect older people much, much more than younger people. And many older people have lots of other health problems. So that ends up on the death certificate.

SANDOVAL: The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation out of the University of Washington predicting that the U.S. death toll could reach almost 395,000 by February, with daily death hitting 2,300 by mid-January.

DR. CHRIS MURRAY, DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE OF HEALTH METRICS AND EVALUATION, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: We're expecting both cases and, unfortunately, deaths to really surge as we head into late November and December. And probably peak sometime in January.

SANDOVAL: And with cold weather months approaching, health officials stressing the importance of wearing a mask.

MURRAY: Every little bit of increased mask wearing is going to save lives.

SANDOVAL: As a vaccine is still in development.

FRIEDEN: For a vaccine to actually work, it's got to not only be safe and effective but also be accessible and trusted.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Many of those increases in infections, death rates, and hospitalizations being seen in parts of Midwest and here in the northeast including right across the river of New Jersey where authorities are monitoring several areas of concern. In fact, the governor yesterday, Victor and Christi, saying they are watching multiple specific areas after they're noticing what they're describing as sobering numbers there.

BLACKWELL: All right. Polo Sandoval for us in New York. Thanks so much.

Next hour we're going to talk about the rise we're seeing across the country. We'll talk about the president's condition with public health expert Abdul El-Sayed. How he could be cleared from isolation especially after the president's recent diagnosis. We'll talk about that. So, stay with us.

PAUL: A tornado touched down west of Atlanta last night. One person was injured, and it did damage a homeless shelter. I want to show you the shelter here. There it is.

Up to 30 people were displaced because of that damage. This tornado was part of a series of strong storms across north Georgia that were caused by Hurricane Delta. Powerful winds toppled trees onto homes, heavy rain, flooded streets. Atlanta Fire Rescue says they responded to more than a dozen calls for vehicles that were trapped by the floodwaters.

BLACKWELL: This is an historic week in the Senate. Key hearings begin tomorrow for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. We will talk about what you should expect and what you need to know about this nominee. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:26:59]

BLACKWELL: In Denver, the fatal shooting of a person near two opposing protests is being investigated as a homicide. I want you to listen closely because it's -- it's faint in the background. This is the video that you can hear a few of the gunshots, a few seconds in while this TV crew was interviewing someone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The importance of being here today?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's important to be able to show -- all right --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought that was fireworks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So this was yesterday in an area near a police support rally and counterprotest. Police say there was an altercation before the shooting. Police say that the suspect is a private security guard. No affiliation with any specific group.

Television station KUSA says the suspect is a private security guard that it hired. The station has been contracting guards to accompany staff at these protests.

PAUL: It is a big week ahead on Capitol Hill. Tomorrow the Senate Judiciary Committee holds their first hearing for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. Now Republicans promised a quick confirmation to put Barrett on the high court before Election Day. Democrats plan to call out Barrett's possible impact on issues from health care to reproductive rights.

Ariane de Vogue is with us right now. She is an expert on all things SCOTUS. So we wanted to talk to you, Ariane, to see first of all what is the expectation for what we'll see tomorrow?

ARIANE DE VOGUE, CNN SUPREME COURT REPORTER: Christi, good morning.

You can expect a firestorm tomorrow. Republicans are doing everything they can to try to push this through as quickly as possible. Democrats are trying to move things more slowly. They wanted the vote to have -- had to happen after the election. And, of course, they don't have many tools in their toolbox to slow things down. And, of course, the stakes are enormous.

Think about it in the long term. Things like abortion, LGBTQ rights, the Second Amendment. Even last term when there were five conservative justices the liberals has got a couple of unexpected wins because one here or two conservatives sided with the liberals unexpectedly. That's not going to happen so much when there are six solid votes. And then think about the short term. A week after the election the Supreme Court is going to hear a case about the future of the Affordable Care Act. The Trump administration is arguing that the entire law should fall during a pandemic. And her critics are looking at the fact that she did when she was a law professor expressed some skepticism about the legal underpinnings of that law. So they're worried there.

But this is how it's going to play out tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. Lindsey Graham, who's the chair of the committee, he's going to gavel in the proceedings. And then Dianne Feinstein, the ranking Democrat, she will speak and then each one of these members is going to have 10 minutes to give their opening statements, and then Coney Barrett will be introduced by home state senators.

[06:30:01]

And then, finally, only near the end of tomorrow's proceedings will we finally here from this judge on her opening statement. So that's how it's going to play out tomorrow, Christi.

PAUL: OK. So, Democrats, we know, are fending off these questions about packing the court right now. The Biden/Harris campaign is -- and it's made some people wonder why are there nine Supreme Court justices. What is the intention there?

DE VOGUE: Well, that's a good question. You're right. I told you that Democrats don't have many tools in their toolbox, so they're beginning to think about adding another justice to the Supreme Court. Because the Constitution actually doesn't says how many members there should be. It's always been left up to Congress. There has been six. There has been seven. At one point, there was ten. Finally, they settled on nine decades and decades ago.

But, remember, even back in 1937, President Roosevelt with his court- packing plan, he was trying to get new deal policies through. So he suggested changing the numbers of the Supreme Court justices and that met a lot of criticism. That didn't happen. But now, Democrats are looking at it again.

But two things, Christi. First of all, the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the liberal icon, was once asked about there should be more members on the Supreme Court, and she said something like, I think nine is fine. And then, as you said, Joe Biden was asked about this on the campaign trail. He's been pushed on it hard by Republicans. And he basically said, I am not going to talk about this until after the election. So that's where things stand, Christi.

PAUL: All right. Ariane de Vogue, I always learn from you. Thank you so much.

DE VOGUE: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: So the pandemic has had a huge impact on generation Z and millennials, not just from a financial standpoint but also when it comes to their health and the loss of so many. We're going to bring their stories, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:35:00]

PAUL: 36 minutes past the hour, welcome. One big moment that you might have noticed from the vice presidential debate this past week, that infamous cameo from a fly hanging out on Vice President Mike Pence's head. Victor I saw this all over Twitter, and everything the day before, I thought this is our takeaway.

BLACKWELL: I have never seen a fly stay so long even with the movement. Well, Saturday Night Live had to fun with this. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right to interrupt, Vice President Pence, there's a --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: War on police in this country, I couldn't agree more.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, no. There's a -- there's a giant --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lack of respect for militias, you're darn right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. Senator Harris, help me out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, no. I'm good. Looking real good, Mike. Keep it up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me at him. Let me at him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: CNN's Chief Media Correspondent and Host of Reliable Sources Brian Stelter is here with us. Stelter, I knew when the fly landed that it would show up on SNL.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: And in some ways, the fly is the most memorable thing about the debate. And that's not just because, you know, it went viral on social media. I think if you ask a random viewer, they'll say the fly was one of the highlights or one of the lowlights. Two minutes is a long time for any fly to sit on anybody's head. So I can understand why SNL went there.

I also think this whole Jim Carrey playing Joe Biden thing, this is the second week that Carrey has played Biden, it is a risky choice by SNL. I think it's one of these you love him or you hate him sorts of thing. It's a brilliant casting choice or it makes no sense to you. And SNL is live for five weeks in a row this month because of the election. So we're going to see a lot more Jim Carrey.

But back to the debate, here are some more moments from the debate as seen through the SNL lens.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now, you were in charge of the coronavirus task force. And since you took charge, over 200,000 Americans have died. How do you explain that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, Susan, I'd like to begin by stalling hard. We're in Utah. Wow. What a magnificent state. Even though their basketball team is named after my greatest fear, Jazz.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'd like to hear the vice president's response and while he speaks, I'm going to smile at him like I'm in a T.J. Maxx and a white lady asked me if I work here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look, I promise you, the president has taken this virus seriously since the very beginning of last week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STELTER: I do think Beck Bennett is having a lot of fun playing Pence and will get a lot of time to do so in the weeks ahead. I'm still bummed there will be no debate this coming week, you know, this fracas with Trump not wanting to debate virtually. I think it works just fine in these boxes. But the president didn't want to, no debate this week. So SNL will have to do something different in the coming week.

Now, there's going to be competing town hall -- in real life there's going to be competing town halls instead, Biden on one channel, Trump on another. So that's going to be the substitute for the debate this coming week.

PAUL: It is going to -- yes, well, I wonder if SNL will go ahead and have a debate anyway, what could have happened.

[06:40:00]

Who knows?

STELTER: Right. Maybe that's what they should do.

PAUL: That could be good. That could be good. Stelter, always good to see you, thank you.

STELTER: I appreciate it, thanks.

PAUL: And be sure to join Brian for brand new "RELIABLE SOURCES." It's today at 11:00 A.M. Eastern right here on CNN.

BLACKWELL: So a lot of young people in the U.S. should be starting, you know, getting off to their lives now. But they're stuck at just trying to find themselves, and they're at this holding pattern, a lot of us are, because of the coronavirus. And as they wait for the end of this pandemic, they're also seeing the virus take a toll on family and friends.

PAUL: Yes. CNN's Kyung Lah has more now on what some hard-hit members of generation Z are going through right now. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hannah and Joseph Kim knew growing up would be tough, but the siblings never imagined it would be like this.

HANNAH KIM, LOST BOTH PARENTS TO COVID-19: Towards the end of April, they consecutively went to the hospital. It was my grandmother first and then my dad the next day, and then the next day, it was my mom.

LAH: COVID-19 took them one by one over just a few months, leaving the 22-year-old and 17-year-old Joseph alone.

KIM: My parents are gone. And for the last three months, we didn't even have the capacity to think about our futures. You know, we were just scrambling to save our parents.

LAH: She has no time to grieve, no time to show her loss. Hannah is in college now, Joseph in high school, with no extended family nearby or a clear path for how to make a living.

KIM: This is a memorial that we made for our parents so we could just remember them and, you know, look in every day.

LAH: They're part of the hardest hit age group in the COVID economy, young people. Generation Z and millennials have America's highest rates of unemployment. About half say they or someone else in their household have either lost a job or had a pay cut since the pandemic began.

JOSUE MARTINEZ, SURVIVED 45 DAYS IN COVID-19 COMA: You don't have a choice. Like I work, get sick or I end up in the streets.

LAH: 29-year-old Josue Martinez is the sole breadwinner in his household, paying the rent for this small converted garage he shares with his mother and girlfriend. He kept working at his job at CVS during the worst of the virus in California. Martinez says, employees were notified that a COVID-positive patient had visited the store in March.

MARTINEZ: That's when I started getting all the symptoms. That's when I started getting the fever, the cough. And at the end I was like -- I couldn't breathe at all.

LAH: This is what happened to Martinez. For 45 days, he was in a medically induced coma, nearly losing his life in intensive care. Weeks later, he survived, but he's dependent on a walker before the age of 30.

LAH: Do you think that this will impact your ability to make money or to work in the future?

MARTINEZ: Yes, I do. So, yes, any activity I would have been -- I was doing normally like now I'm like, demitted like I can't do it.

LAH: Young Americans with no choice but to deal with the hand they've been dealt.

KIM: I am still alive and my brother is still alive. And we're healthy. And so, you know, I think that's just pockets of joy is what I'm looking for and is what keeps me going.

LAH: Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: It's one of those things that you just have to see to really understand what people are going through right now. COVID-19 is also impacting so many different segments of the country, including sports and the NFL Sunday schedule. A couple of games have been postponed. Teams are reporting new positive cases. We'll have an update for you. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:45:00]

PAUL: Well, a New England Patriots player says he thinks the NFL and the Players Union are not making decisions that are in the best interests of the players.

BLACKWELL: Coy Wire is with us now. So, Coy, both New England and Tennessee, they've been dealing with coronavirus cases. Are. they going to be able to play in the next few days?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: It's looking to be the case as of now, Victor, good morning to you and Christi. A leaked source told me that the protocols mutually agreed upon by the NFL and the Players Association allow teams to quickly identify new cases, prevent the spread of the virus and hopefully keep games on schedule, he said.

But Patriots Team Captain Jason McCourty, said yesterday he doesn't think players can trust the protocols in place. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON MCCOURTY, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS COMERBACK: People that don't have to walk in the building, whether it's the league office, whether it's the NFL P.A., they don't care. I mean, we're trying to get games played and trying to get the season going. So for them, it's not about what's in our best interests, our health and safety, it's about what can we protocol-wise that sounds good and looks good, and how can we go out there and play games.

So I think what I kind of learned personally throughout this situation, it's going to be up to us as the individuals in this building to just really take care of one another.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Now, the Patriots had more players opt out of this season due to COVID than any other team. They returned to the team facilities yesterday for the first time since Stephon Gilmore's positive test on Tuesday. Head Coach Bill Belichick wouldn't say whether Gilmore or quarterback Cam Newton would play in tomorrow's Broncos game. League protocols say players who test positive can return to play if they're asymptomatic after receiving two consecutive negative tests at least 24 hours apart.

The Tennessee Titans returning to team facilities yesterday, as well, after being shut down for 11 days. 12 Titans players are on the NFL's reserve COVID list ahead of their game against the Bills on Tuesday.

It was another wild Saturday in college football. Fans packing Kyle Field for number 21, Texas A&M hosting number four, Florida.

[06:50:01]

And the Aggies shredding the (INAUDIBLE) defense all game, including this 51-yard strike from Kellen Mond to Caleb Chapman, tying it late in the fourth.

Next possession, Gators trying to retake the lead and driving, but it is a fumble. Malik Davis stripped by Buddy Johnson, a huge play when the Aggies' defense when they needed it most. And it sets this up. The game-winning field goal as time expired -- take note of the fans in the stands there. A&M wins 41-38, the first win against a top-five team at home since 2002.

Afterwards, Florida Coach Dan Mullen said he wants to see a full house at the Gators' next home game. Florida's governor, Ron DeSantis, lifted attendance restrictions last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN MULLEN, FLORIDA GATORS HEAD COACH: Crowd was certainly a factor in the game. I will certainly say that. I know our governor passed that rule. So, certainly, hopefully, the university administration decides to let us pack the swamp for LSU next week.

REPORTER: You're saying 90 -- you saying you want to see 90,000 --

MULLEN: I absolutely want to see 90,000 in the swamp last year. There were -- I don't think the section behind our bench, I didn't see an empty seat. It was packed. The entire student section must have been 50,000 people behind our bench going crazy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Texas A&M listed their attendance at nearly 25,000 fans for that game yesterday.

In Florida, Miami Dolphins officials said that they will continue to limit their capacity to 13,000, given the positivity rates where they are, despite the governor's decision to reopen the state.

PAUL: All right. Coy Wire, I mean, seeing those people in the stands, it's just -- it's what we've been hearing about college, right? It's what they say -- kids are just -- they're doing their thing. We'll see how long it lasts. WIRE: That's right.

PAUL: Coy Wire, thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: Thank you, Coy.

PAUL: So there's a new episode of the CNN original series, First Ladies. It airs tonight. The latest episode explores the life of Jackie Kennedy, how she took control of President John F. Kennedy's legacy in the days following his assassination. Here is a quick look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three years ago, I introduced myself in Paris by saying I was the man who had Mrs. Kennedy to Paris. I'm getting some of that same sensation as I travel around Texas.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's no question that he was thrilled that she wanted to come to Texas with him, that she wanted to campaign with him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a very dangerous and uncertain world. We would like to live as we once lived.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a bright, sunny day, and Jackie put on her sunglasses. And Jack said, please take them off. I want them to see you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As they're in the motorcade, Nellie Connally, Governor Connally's wife, turns to JFK and says, well, you can't say that Dallas doesn't love you. And the president says, you certainly can't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: First ladies airs tonight at 10:00 P.M. only on CNN. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:55:00]

BLACKWELL: Staying active is more important than ever. And for people recovering from addiction, it can really be a life saver.

So, 2012 CNN Hero Scott Strode and his non-profit provide free athletic coaching to thousands of people.

PAUL: Yes. When COVID-19 forced him to close his gyms, he found ways to stay connected online.

Here is CNN's Phil Mattingly who joined a class to see how they're still going strong.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Keep moving, everyone. Let's try to get two or three more. You got 20 seconds. Nice job, Phil.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What was your thought when coronavirus first started to spread and lockdowns really started to kick into gear?

SCOTT STRODE, FOUNDER, THE PHOENIX: I just knew that that social isolation was going to be a big risk for relapse for a lot of people. So, pretty quickly, we pivoted to offering virtual programs. We knew we had to keep people connected in this sort of uncertain and stressful time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Three, two, one, and down for the sit-up.

STRODE: It just always lifts my heart to log into a Phoenix virtual class and meet somebody in recovery who is doing the workout in their basement somewhere in Tennessee where we don't even have in-person programs, but they can come to the Phoenix anyway.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nice job, everyone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: To learn more about Scott's program and to see if Phil made it through that class, go to cnnheroes.com.

BLACKWELL: Your next hour of your NEW DAY starts right now.

[07:00:00]