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COVID-19 Spike in U.K. Exposes Political Divisions; Thai Government Bans Gatherings of 5+; Biden and Trump Hold Dueling Town Halls; Melinda Gates: Disinformation Costs Lives. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired October 15, 2020 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are certainly seeing a very concerning situation across Europe.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNNI HOST (voice-over): This hour, out of control: 80 percent of Europe slammed by rising COVID cases. New restrictions,
disrupting millions of lives, once again.
Plus:
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the numbers are vastly inflated.
ANDERSON (voice-over): Trump voters shrug off the virus as cases surge in the U.S. Why there will be no debate about that issue tonight.
Then Thailand announces that emergency decree while pro democracy protests.
And Portugal's newest cheerleader, Ronaldo, supports his teammates from COVID isolation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: It is 3:00 pm in Liverpool. It's 4:00 pm In Bordeaux and 6:00 pm here in Abu Dhabi. I'm Becky Anderson. Hello and welcome to CONNECT THE
WORLD.
We connect you to the place on Earth this hour most badly affected by COVID-19, where fully 80 percent of the continent of Europe now seeing a
growing number of people getting infected and sick.
Have a look here. This map showing the red are the cases up drastically over pretty much all of Europe, with just a few countries trending steady
and almost nowhere in the green, as it were, going downwards.
With each passing day, report after report crosses my desk from multiple countries all reporting their highest daily numbers since this pandemic
began. America still has more cases in total than Europe.
But look at the blue line there, Europe adding far more cases. And a similar number of people live in both. Still the U.S. ticking up to nearly
60,000 cases on Wednesday alone, that's really bad news, it's the highest daily total there in more than two months.
And it's not just new cases that we are tracking. Sadly, more people died, for example, in Russia from COVID in the last -- in the latest numbers than
at any other point. And this list just goes on and on.
What are we to do?
It's hard to work it out, quite frankly. Let me get you back to Europe. You will remember the lockdowns a few months back. They worked. Since then,
cases had been trickling, then climbing, then soaring, unfortunately, back upwards.
The response, well, not nearly as robust as it was at the beginning of all of this. They have been bringing in a series of half-measures, countries in
Europe walking the fine line between not enough and too much. Clearly mostly not enough, given these cases. The World Health Organization's
regional director for Europe had this to say in response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANS KLUGE, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: And some countries, of course, which are at the top epidemiologically, have to go much more further than
the other ones. But we should not hold back. So the key message here to the governments is do not hold back with relatively smaller actions in order to
avoid the same very painful and damaging actions we saw in the first big round.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: I will be talking to Hans Kluge on Friday's program about this. But even the WHO knows this is a tricky dilemma. Have a listen to what the
chief scientist told me this time yesterday on CONNECT THE WORLD.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. SOUMYA SWAMINATHAN, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: It's a question that I think all governments are really struggling with. And it shouldn't be
health versus the economy, you know. We have to maintain health, we have to keep COVID under check and we still need to let people earn a living and go
about their normal lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: We need to lock down, they argue. But wait, that's not the answer because we also need to get out and make a living. That is the
dilemma.
Melissa Bell is in Bordeaux in France, Phil Black is in London.
Phil, London enforcing what are known as tier 2 measures, which means what in practical terms?
And how will these restrictions affect people's daily lives?
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Becky, it's not a lockdown but it is yet another significant increase, an increased restriction on people's personal
lives, on the quality of their lives, on their ability to maintain and draw support from close personal relationships, friends and families.
[10:05:00]
BLACK: As of Saturday morning people will not be able to mix inside with people they don't live with. So nowhere that's indoors, not in homes, not
in bars, restaurants, cafes. They can, for now, still mix outdoors, you can still socialize there in groups of up to six.
But the days are getting shorter and colder here so that's going to become a more difficult option to embrace for many as winter deepens. So this is
really affecting people's personal lives acutely while, in theory, businesses stay open as best they can under all the usual COVID-secure
conditions.
Why now?
The mayor says it's pretty clear, the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, that the virus is spreading rapidly in all parts of the capital. All the key
indicators are moving in the wrong way. The number of cases, the number of hospital admissions, those being moved into intensive care and, of course,
the number of deaths as well.
For that reason, he says, there was simply no choice but to do this. He is pushing for a tougher national measure, a short national lockdown, what
they're calling a potential circuit breaker, to buy some time and get organized.
But at the moment the national government isn't showing any interest in that. I should say it is not just London that is moving into these new
tougher restrictions on personal lives. As of the weekend, it's estimated that somewhere close to half the population of England will be affected by
this, tens of millions of people, Becky.
ANDERSON: How do people feel about it?
BLACK: I think this time around it is pretty clear that, on one hand, you've got people who still believe that it's everyone's responsibility to
do what they can, to do the right thing, to ensure that they are not responsible for spreading this virus.
On the other hand, there is, as we've been talking about for some time now, something close to lockdown fatigue; even though we are not going to be
locked down, people are going to be restricted from seeing the people they care about most.
And that is a difficult thing to stomach after so many months of restrictions on their lives already, Becky.
ANDERSON: Thank you, Phil. Let's get to France and to Bordeaux where Melissa is standing by.
What is going on in France?
What's the impact on people's lives and what is the feeling about whether these restrictions can put a lid on this thing, Melissa?
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, for the time being, really difficult to say. France has seen record rises over the course of the last
week to 10 days, several records broken. The figures just kept getting higher and higher.
We listened to the French president yesterday on French television, explaining that this second wave was even more dangerous than had been the
first because he explained it was widespread over the entire territory.
Back in March, when France locked down, the east had been particularly heart hit but it hadn't been all over the country as it is now.
The second problem, saying Emmanuel Macron, is this time there are no reserve beds. That's how serious the situation is. These measures, however
unpopular, have to be brought in because it's about protecting now fragile health care systems under the strain of what's happening with the
increasing number of cases.
You have an increasing number of people coming into ICU. Have a listen to what the French president who to say yesterday on the question of curfews.
That is the plan at the moment to try to see if those can bring the numbers back under control.
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EMMANUEL MACRON, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): If we stick to this curfew for six weeks, if we take collective responsibility for
reducing our contacts, we think that we will be able to progressively reopen at that stage.
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BELL: So what will it mean, Becky?
Essentially the greater Paris region, eight other French cities, will have a curfew from 9:00 pm to 1 am. Things will have to close -- restaurants,
bars, pubs, cinemas -- and people are going to be expected to be at home and they will be fined if they are found out.
ANDERSON: Melissa in Bordeaux, Phil was in London. To both of you, thank you.
Just a reflection, viewers, of the dilemma that these governments are facing. As we mentioned, 80 percent of Europe is once again seeing an
increase in COVID cases, governments oscillating between varying degrees of commitment over just how far restrictions should go.
But it's a big number, isn't it, 80 percent. Take it down to the scale of one city in England, that being Liverpool, which is among the worst
affected in Britain. It is now dealing with the highest level of restrictions.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just think that the lockdown shouldn't have happened like it did in March everywhere, shut down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it is the right thing, it is sensible to try to crush it.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you look at the lockdown that's been brought, the mini lockdown, it's not as severe as it could have been but it's probably
not as severe as it should have been two weeks ago.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At the moment it seems to be just a bit of a scattered approach to what is open and what's not open. And it is quite
frustrating.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Some of the voices from Liverpool. I want to get to one family. I want to bring in Geoff Broadhead and his wife, Pam. They live in
Liverpool for the last 32 years, Jeff is retired, Pam works for the NHS.
I know that area well, it's a wonderful part of the world. Thank you both for joining us.
Jeff, let me start with you. Tier 3 restrictions now in play.
How has and will that impact your daily life?
GEOFF BROADHEAD, LIVERPOOL RESIDENT: Well, tier 3 is really new here but it's quite restrictive. In practical terms, we won't be able to meet our
family, the immediate family that don't live with us, we won't be able to meet our friends in pubs and restaurants.
So it seems quite crazy that we can go to pubs and restaurants but we can't see how family there. So it's quite -- it's quite intimidating in terms of
the impact it has on your family life and your social life.
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: Do you support these restrictions, though?
G. BROADHEAD: Sorry?
ANDERSON: Do you support these restrictions?
G. BROADHEAD: Well, I think it's very strange, you know, if Liverpool is now in tier 3, which is the highest level, it's actually still quite open.
The fact that you can still go to a pub or a bar or a restaurant, it makes you wonder what we're going to go to beyond that.
I certainly would have favored that short-circuit, that quick circuit breaker, that says, let's just shut everything down for two or three weeks
and bring transmission levels down. At least we would go back to a bit more of a normality after that point.
ANDERSON: So much of this is about ensuring that the health service can cope with this rise in COVID cases.
Pam, you work for the NHS -- which for those who don't know, the U.K. is the National Health Service.
What's the reality on the front line, Pam?
PAM BROADHEAD, LIVERPOOL RESIDENT: I think it's very challenging. I think that we -- when we went into lockdown, there was lots of rule changes on a
daily basis, almost on an hourly basis, that we all got on.
And, you know, we supported it and we did what was right. I think we all firmly believed things were getting better, that actually to see the cases
now increasing again and to not be consistent in terms of that lockdown across the whole country, I think that is proving very difficult.
It's very long days that everybody is working and you do wonder how long we can all carry on working at such long hours, week after week after week, to
keep everybody safe.
G. BROADHEAD: I think there's another really serious point that I would make as well, which is what has not been done because of COVID. There is an
awful lot of operations that have been deferred. There's lots of serious illnesses like cancer that people just can't get their operations on. And
COVID is just taking away all of that capacity so that those things aren't being done. That will be a long-term effect for us overall.
ANDERSON: You make a very, very good point. The mayor of Liverpool told me that he was disappointed with some of Liverpool's residents. Have a listen
to this.
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JOE ANDERSON, LIVERPOOL MAYOR: Disappointed about people in the city of Liverpool that the residents that may have been ignored in my messages and
other people's messages. You're right, it is about personal responsibility.
It is about, you know, taking responsibility for your actions because, if you care about your community, care about your family, care about your
city, then you should help us try to bring this virus under control.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: And the mayor's response, Pam, was to a question that I put to him about the images of youngsters out and about, partying, raving, you
know, a sense of, you know, a lack of responsibility by some of those in Liverpool, which is sort of making things perhaps so much worse for
everybody else.
When you hear his words, how does that make you feel?
P. BROADHEAD: I think what Joe Anderson was saying is what the majority, 99.99 percent of people that live in the Liverpool city region, are
thinking. You know, that was a very small minority of people who did that, that they will actually have probably quite a large effect on the whole of
the Liverpool city region and people that live here.
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P. BROADHEAD: And I think that maybe they haven't been affected quite as much as some other people have, you know.
Fortunately, we don't up here have relatives, who live in care homes. But you can't go and see those relatives in their care homes. Both my parents
ended their lives in a care home.
And can you imagine not going to see those loved ones day in, day out?
And I think the people who maybe aren't as strict as perhaps we are, the people that haven't really been affected like that, and I think what hasn't
been shown to them is that effect.
And I have to say that I also think that some of those people who were out on those streets may well be -- and I don't know this for a fact -- may
well have been students who actually aren't from the Liverpool city region, who have come to university thinking they were going to be taught and
everything like that and have been locked down.
I mean, that must be horrendous, they're 18-year-old people, young adults, first time away from home in a strange city.
ANDERSON: Sure.
Geoff, I know that your son is down in London; his wedding, as I understand it, has been postponed due to COVID. Just finally, clearly these
restrictions now affecting your family and your kids as well.
G. BROADHEAD: Yes, absolutely. You know, the wedding was planned for May next year and that's how long we are looking ahead now even for May next
year. We have had to think of seriously, where will we be after this by then.
And he has deferred the wedding from 12 months from that point onwards. So these are real impacts and real difficult decisions for people to have to
make. It's not just about the fact that you can't go to the restaurant or to -- to the -- you know, to the cinema or whatever.
It may be but you can't have your wedding or you can't attend a funeral, you can't have funerals and big numbers of people. These are really
difficult and emotional decisions. It's getting really quite tough for a lot of people.
ANDERSON: And with that, we will leave it there but we do very much appreciate your time. We do hope that things improve.
We are reporting on a story that is, sadly, a blight across Europe once again, at present, and if it makes you feel any better, you are not on your
own as it were. But we know times are tough. Thank you both very much indeed.
G. BROADHEAD: Thank you.
ANDERSON: It's so important that we hear from, you know, the man and woman on the street as it were.
We put America into the global context for you at the start of the show. And I want to go through what is going on there in more detail for you now.
It has more cases in total than Europe but in the States you're also seeing a surge in cases just a fortnight out from what is America's election.
With nearly 60,000 people diagnosed with COVID-19 just yesterday alone, in all, 35 states, recording more cases this week than last, only three states
are showing green on our map.
American president Donald Trump, though, still out and about on the campaign trail and it seems his supporters are heeding his advice, not to
let the virus control their lives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's all kinds of other viruses out there that could jeopardize your health as well. So you can't stop living.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If I'm going to get sick and die, I guess it's my turn. But I trust God and I'm not scared.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I care about people, I don't want to give it to them if there's a chance you might be carrying it around. Myself, I'm not worried.
I figured the sooner we all get it, the sooner we will be done with it.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And you don't think that could lead to a lot of people, you know, dying perhaps from the virus?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the numbers are vastly inflated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Quick fact check for you, these numbers are not inflated. In fact, it is quite the opposite.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SWAMINATHAN: What we do know is that about 38 million people have been detected to have been infected or diagnosed to have been infected. But what
we also know is that, in actual reality, a far higher number, perhaps up to 10 times that number, could have been infected worldwide.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: In fact, the WHO say it could be as high as 800 million.
This pandemic is more than numbers. It is touching every aspect of so many people's lives. Let me take you to Arizona and one man who understands the
devastating cost of COVID way too well. He and his family have suffered unimaginable loss. CNN's Miguel Marquez has this man's story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICARDO AGUIRRE, RELATIVE OF COVID-19 VICTIMS: I don't want to cry just because I know God has something better for me.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ricardo Aguirre.
[10:20:00]
AGUIRRE: AGUIRRE: But it's hard not to just, you know, the --
MARQUEZ: The coronavirus killed his father and seven other family members he says. It took his business. It sickened him, his wife who was then four
months pregnant and two of his kids.
AGUIRRE: I'm feeling very incompetent. A man might want -- not at all. I'm not been able to go back to where it was. I lost my dad. It's very hard.
It's hard. MARQUEZ: He doesn't know how they contracted the virus. They wore masks and used sanitizers constantly. It swept through his family in
May, his father fought the virus for months.
AGUIRRE: My dad unfortunately, you know, he passed away in September 11, in my arms at 3:30 in the morning. It was very hard because we did
everything together -- 42 years being by his side.
MARQUEZ: His mother is home and still fighting the effects of the virus. Now he spends his days shuttling her to hospital visits. Helping his wife
now eight months pregnant dealing with an ever- increasing pile of bills. All this with little income and no health insurance.
(on camera): You don't have medical coverage.
AGUIRRE: I don't have medical coverage at all. It's just too much.
MARQUEZ: Even ObamaCare?
AGUIRRE: No.
MARQUEZ: You just can't afford anything.
AGUIRRE: No, I can't afford it. It's just too much. It's literally another house payment.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Aguirre and his family, built Tacos y Tamales Pueblo he had a food truck, a prep kitchen in downtown Phoenix and a long list of
corporate and wedding clients.
AGUIRRE: This is what is left of 10 years of hard work.
MARQUEZ (on camera): You were living the American dream.
AGUIRRE: Yes, I was.
Come visit us. As you can see, we are busy.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): When coronavirus cases in Arizona jumped and the economy shut down, Aguirre watched all his catering jobs scheduled for the
next year evaporate.
His food truck was repossessed. He couldn't pay rent on his prep kitchen.
(on camera): When did it all come to a halt?
AGUIRRE: March 17.
MARQUEZ: COVID?
AGUIRRE: Yes.
MARQUEZ: Overnight.
AGUIRRE: Yes, just like that.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Aguirre would like the President to understand just how devastating the disease is for some.
(on camera): When he says don't be afraid of, COVID don't let it dominate your life, what do you say to him?
AGUIRRE: May God continue to bless you and your family.
MARQUEZ: But how does the real-world deal with COVID?
AGUIRRE: It's bad. It's bad.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Aguirre is now looking forward to that big day in November, November 7th. The day his first daughter is due to be born.
AGUIRRE: We felt that we were ready financially and we were ready, you know, emotionally, you know, to take care of another human being. Now with
this going on, I just ask God for strength to get me by another day.
MARQUEZ: The real toll of the coronavirus on one American family -- Miguel Marquez, CNN, Phoenix.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Coronavirus numbers headed in the wrong direction here in the Middle East I'm afraid as well. In Iran, that means a new record. The
nation reporting more than 4,800 new cases on Wednesday.
That is on top of more than half a million infections that Iran already had recorded. Now new travel restrictions are kicking in Thursday for five
major cities including Tehran. The number of new cases also skyrocketing in Jordan, more than 2,400 announced on Wednesday, a new high there.
The nation was seen as the region's poster child for handling the virus early on in the pandemic. But last week it imposed weekend lockdowns.
Ahead on this show, with 19 days left until the presidential election in the United States, Joe Biden brings out the big guns.
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BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: One thing we know is that just basic competence can end up saving lives.
B. ANDERSON (voice-over): Barack Obama's scathing rebuke of Donald Trump's time in office -- coming up.
Plus live pictures here in Bangkok this hour, where it is after 9:00 pm, and thousands of pro-democracy protesters risking arrest by defying
Thailand's new emergency decree.
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B. ANDERSON (voice-over): We will get you a live report from Bangkok after this.
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ANDERSON: Let's get you up to speed on some of the stories that are on our radar right now.
And more than 1,000 prisoners are on their way home in what is the largest prisoner exchange between Yemen's warring parties in its conflict history.
The Saudi-led military coalition reached the deal with the Houthi rebels they are fighting.
Human Rights Watch says Russian President Putin and the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, should be held responsible for war crimes, for bombing
civilians in Idlib in Syria. In a new report, the rights group says the indiscriminate bombings may amount to crimes against humanity. Both
countries have said only militants were targeted.
The president of Kyrgyzstan calling it quits after days of protests in the central Asian nation. He announces his resignation Thursday, saying he
wanted to prevent bloodshed. The protesters rejected the results of an parliamentary election in which the president's allies claimed victory.
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ANDERSON: You are looking at live pictures of scenes of an unprecedented revolt in Thailand. Pitting the people against the king. Right now these
protesters defying and flouting the government's emergency decree, which bans gatherings. I just want to step away from these live images for a
moment to show you this.
Protesters surrounding the motorcade of the queen. Jonathan Miller is there in the Thai capital with a lot more, joining us by phone.
What is the very latest where you are, Jonathan?
JONATHAN MILLER, JOURNALIST: Well, Becky, there are thousands of mostly young Thais camped a few hundred meters from where I'm standing now,
brandishing their "Hunger Games" salutes, calling for the prime minister to go.
And this is an astonishing thing to happen today. It started early this morning with a prominent protest leader, the one who made the original
unprecedented calls for reform to the monarchy here.
She did a Facebook Live, calling for a protest in central Bangkok this afternoon. This is a pretty gutsy thing to do because, overnight,
protesters were cleared by riot police from another place. And, you know, two other protest leaders were arrested.
At 4:00 am, as you say, there was an emergency decree proclaimed which banned gatherings of more than five people. Now she has subsequently been
arrested and we weren't sure whether people would have the guts to go and protest in these circumstances. But, my goodness, we were surprised.
[10:30:00]
MILLER: There were so many people who flooded in by midafternoon, we really couldn't get over it. There was nothing, in fact, that the police
could really do. They blocked a huge intersection, blocking two major arteries through the middle of Bangkok.
On the way to the protest, we used an overhead walkway to try to gain access, which was then blocked off by the police. Right there I met this
woman called Pim (ph), and here is what she had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PIM (PH), PROTESTER: I think it's a time that our voices should be heard because, in this country, the voice of the people have never been heard.
They might hear us but they never listen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MILLER: So the protesters say that their government might have heard them but isn't listening. The former military leader who launched a coup here
six years ago and is still the prime minister, he has shown no effort at all to negotiate or compromise.
But it seems these young protesters have basically -- you know, they sense there are cracks in the edifice. And they are no longer scared. So they are
coming out in thousands and there's no sign at all that they're prepared to go home.
ANDERSON: All right, with that we will leave it there. Jonathan, thank you.
We are taking a break. Back after this.
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OBAMA: And the thing that, over the last four years, it's not as if Trump has been all that active internationally. I mean, the truth is, he doesn't
have the patience and the focus to really substantially change a lot of U.S. foreign policy. What he's done is he's systematically tried to
decimate our entire foreign policy infrastructure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Former U.S. president Barack Obama there, coming out swinging at Donald Trump in a podcast interview. His line of attack on foreign policy
could be a preview of what we will hear when the former president hits the campaign trail for his former vice president Joe Biden. That is starting
next week.
We were supposed to see Biden face President Trump head on in a Thursday night debate some hours from now; it could have been quite the rematch,
wouldn't it, after the school yard brawl that was debate number one.
But this debate was canceled when President Trump rejected the new virtual format. He said he wasn't going to waste his time on a virtual debate. So
instead what we're left with is dueling town halls.
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ANDERSON: Each candidate appearing alone at the same time on competing U.S. networks. Let's bring in John Harwood who is at the White House.
Just when you thought you couldn't make it up, it happens, John, debates are usually, of course, a way to swing undecided voters. But now that's
been nixed. I get it's probably unlikely that these town halls will do much with the swing voter.
What are we expected to hear and who are you expecting to tune in?
JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, it's not likely that anything will move many swing voters in the two weeks and a few days
before the election because voters are really locked in in the election.
The numbers of undecided voters is small; the number of voters who are temporarily, at least, parking their support with third-party candidates is
small. But it is the best opportunity that Trump has to try to change the situation that he's in.
There are competing town halls at exactly the same time -- Joe Biden from Philadelphia on ABC, Donald Trump with NBC from Miami. I would expect that
Donald Trump is going to get more viewers because people are drawn to watching him, for good or bad.
That's fine with Joe Biden. He doesn't need to do anything in this debate. He has a 10-point lead nationally; he's got a significant lead in more than
enough battleground states to win. It is Donald Trump who has to change the dynamic here.
You are clearly not going to see the kind of obstreperous behavior that we saw from Trump in the first debate with Biden, where he was hectoring and
ignoring; in a town hall format, you can't do that. So he will be talking to Savannah Guthrie, the NBC anchor, talking to voters.
And you are going to see a more sedate Donald Trump.
The question is, is there going to be a more effective Donald Trump?
Of course, he has had COVID-19; doctors say he's not infectious anymore. But he's been having these super spreader-type campaign events around the
country in defiance of public health guidance. He will be on the defensive for that.
He will also be on the defensive, Becky, for bad economic news, which is we got 898,000 new unemployment claims last week which has marked the 30th
consecutive week of more claims in a single week than we have seen in any week before the pandemic. It's a sign that the pandemic is continuing to
take a serious toll on the economy.
ANDERSON: John, it clearly won't be enough were Donald Trump just to get higher ratings and a bigger audience tonight, although that will be
incredibly important to him, we assume.
I just want to, before I let you go, the former president, Barack Obama, on the campaign trail next week, we've been listening to him on "Pod Save
America," which is a podcast.
I just wonder, given what you just said about voters being pretty much decided at this point, there is not much of a swing vote out there, why is
he going out on the campaign trail?
Could this backfire?
HARWOOD: I don't think it could backfire. The most important thing Barack Obama can do is to inspire Democrats who are for Biden to make sure they go
and vote. We saw four years ago that Hillary Clinton suffered from subpar turnout in certain key places, especially among younger African American
voters.
Barack Obama is popular with young people, popular with African Americans. He's broadly popular around the country, as is Michelle Obama. And what
he's going to try to do is supply the motivation and say, as Michelle Obama has said, vote like your life depends on it.
And what we've seen from these early voting states, these incredibly long lines, is that Democrats are, in fact, reacting this way to this election.
Barack Obama will try to keep that going this last couple of weeks.
ANDERSON: John Harwood is in the house. Thank you, sir, out of Washington for you.
The coronavirus pandemic front and center of the U.S. presidential race. Some experts say one thing that's making the pandemic worse everywhere is
disinformation.
Yesterday I spoke with Melinda Gates, who is the co-chair of The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She and the head of the IMF chatted with me as
part of a forum on post-pandemic recovery, question mark, as it were. Talking about a future coronavirus vaccine, Melinda Gates told me bluntly
that disinformation can cost lives.
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MELINDA GATES, THE BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION: Disinformation causes deaths. It just does. The truth is, I travel all over the world --
or I could before -- and if you talk to moms and dads who are in line at a health care facility and you say, why are you here?
They say it's vaccination day.
And I will say, OK, how far did you come?
They will often -- a woman will walk 15 kilometers in the heat. They know that vaccine saves their child's life.
[10:40:00]
GATES: So I think, Becky, during these very anxiety-provoking times, because of what's going on, both in terms of our health and our jobs,
people are at home. And they're watching this information. And so I think anxiety is up; I think that's to be expected.
I think there's a lot of disinformation being spread and shared but what I tell people is talk to your doctor.
When this vaccine is available, are you going to believe something on the Internet, that you read from somebody who is in politics or, you know,
somebody who doesn't know you?
Or are you going to speak to your pediatrician and your doctor and figure out if this is right for you and your family?
That's where you go and I believe, once that momentum starts and people see that it is safe, they have to know their body is safe when they put it in,
I think they will decide to take it so that their kids can go back to school and they can go back to work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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ANDERSON: Speaking of getting back to work, this just in: the president of the European Commission going into self-isolation over potential
exposure to COVID-19.
Ursula van der Leyen having to leave the ongoing European Council summit, where some of the continent's most powerful leaders are gathering, after a
member of her staff tested positive for coronavirus. This as Europe is knee-deep in what is a second wave.
Coming up, Ronaldo playing a new position for Team Portugal from his couch at home. More on that in "WORLD SPORT" after this short break.
(WORLD SPORT)
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