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New Day

Deaths as Pandemic Surges; Hurricane Takes Aim at Florida; Hong Kong Lawmakers Resign Amid Crackdown; Death Threats At Philly Election Office. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired November 11, 2020 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Just won't be able to keep up. And with that, Sanjay, I do want to take a pause here. I know you filed a report for us. One, I'll let you set it up here on exactly what has changed with how we treat coronavirus over time.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean one of the questions that comes up over and over again is, look, OK, a lot more people are becoming infected but are a lot more people dying? Well, the answer is, of course, yes. I mean 1,400 people died yesterday. We should never get used to that. But as a proportion of cases, what's happening here. Well, we wanted to take a deeper look at that and we -- so we decided to investigate what's happening in hospitals and how the care has changed.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (voice over): New York City, the epicenter of the pandemic this spring.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Code 99. Code 99.

DR. ROBERT FORONJY, CHIEF OF PULMONARY AND CLINICAL CARE, SUNY DOWNSTATE: Code 99 could means someone that still has a pulse, a blood pressure, but is struggling to breathe.

GUPTA: Dr. Robert Foronjy was in the thick of it in March with very few tools at that time to manage a new respiratory disease.

FORONJY: Imagine trying to treat severe bacterial pneumonia without antibiotics. We're basically relying on a machine and the patient's own immune system to recover.

GUPTA: Other area hospitals also overwhelmed, like Morristown Medical in New Jersey, where Dr. Lewis Rubinson works.

DR. LEWIS RUBINSON, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, MORRISTOWN MEDICAL CENTER: And our numbers went up pretty dramatically, pretty quickly. We ultimately had 20 units with COVID patients. Our maximum census was over 300 patients concurrently. GUPTA: One study of a New York City health system found that in March

25.6 percent of hospitalized COVID-19 patients would end up dying. Imagine that, one in four.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a terrible -- a very terrible virus. It is killing my people.

GUPTA: But by June, that mortality rate had dropped by more than two- thirds to 7.6 percent.

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK CITY: The number of deaths has not been increasing markedly.

GUPTA: And it's not just New York. In England, the fatality rate was around 6 percent in June and by mid-August it was 1.5 percent.

One thing has become clear, if someone is infected with the novel coronavirus now, they are more likely to survive than back in the spring.

But why? After all, the virus itself hasn't changed, but it turns out we have.

For starters, about 75 percent of the people hospitalized were over the age of 50 back in March. Almost 40 percent had at least one underlying condition.

RUBINSON: We were seeing, as many centers were seeing, more mature patients being impacted and having severe disease.

GUPTA: Today, more than half of all newly infected people are under the age of 50 and they are significantly less likely to get sick. But even if patients do end up in the hospital, their care is now very different. We have an expanded tool kit, drugs like Remdesivir and monoclonal antibodies to stop the virus from replicating, the steroid dexamethasone, we are using blood thinners to help reduce clotting associated with COVID-19.

GUPTA (on camera): You know, there was a lot of discussion about ventilators, Doctor, in the beginning. And patients who went on ventilators at one point the mortality rate for them was approaching 50 percent. What was going on there?

RUBINSON: Well, for someone who's breathing is so bad that we can't get enough oxygen in them or carbon dioxide out, the ventilator helps but it comes at potential costs. The pressures and the strategies that we're using mechanical ventilation can actually worsen some lung disease.

GUPTA (voice over): Take a look here. With COVID-19 the lungs can quickly fill up with mucous, making it difficult to take in oxygen. Also, damaged lung tissue can sit next to healthy tissue. And if too much oxygen is forced on to the healthy tissue, it can cause leaks and swelling and other damage. It's why doctors started to wait longer to move patients to ventilators, utilizing strategies like having patients breathe on their stomachs, known as proning, and just monitoring patients with low oxygen levels with as few interventions as possible.

RUBINSON: We're driving on the road that we're paving at the same time with COVID.

GUPTA: Evolving standards of care to match are evolving understanding of this disease.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Sanjay, that's terrific news and we really have learned so much and the science over the last eight months has done extraordinary things, but -- but we are entering this stage, again, where the number of new cases and the number of hospitalizations, even if we're reducing the percentage of people who die, it's still going to be, I think, alarmingly high.

GUPTA: Yes, I mean the absolute numbers, regardless of the proportion, to your point, is still going to be very high.

[08:35:03]

They're going to probably hit some similar level peaks as we saw back in April at a time when we really didn't know how to manage this disease really at all. It was a brand-new disease. So that's really unfortunate.

And there's something else, again, reflecting on Omar Jimenez's piece, you know, when you start to add hospital capacity, you're looking at convention centers and tents and things like that, that's really important, necessary. You've got to build that surge capacity. But as you might imagine, being able to take care of patients in those new sorts of settings, understaffed, under resourced, even if you have the space, also leads to a higher death rates. We've seen that before, you know, even within this pandemic, but also in other situations.

So, you know, look, hospitals have got to do everything they can to prepare right now. And I talk to them on a regular basis, administrators, and they -- you know, it's going to be challenging. And not only is it the space, but they've got to find enough respiratory therapists to take -- to manage these ventilators, manage these patients. And I, you know, I don't want to keep beating that drum, but this is a -- it's a dire situation right now for many of these places.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, we know. And it sure looks like it. And thank you, Sanjay, for showing us all of that. That was really interesting. I mean modern medicine is incredible, but, obviously, we often do our own part by wearing masks to protect ourselves and others.

GUPTA: Right. Exactly.

CAMEROTA: Thank you very much for all of that, Sanjay.

All right, we do have some breaking news right now. A tropical storm in the Gulf has strengthened to a hurricane. This is just off the coast of Florida and Chad Myers has been tracking it. He has our forecast, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:40:34]

BERMAN: You're going to wait until the entire music stops.

CAMEROTA: I saw that.

BERMAN: It's not a storm until they get through the second measure of music.

CAMEROTA: It's not breaking news till they tell me it is.

BERMAN: Exactly.

CAMEROTA: And we do have breaking news. A tropical storm just off Florida's coast has just intense into a hurricane.

CNN meteorologist Chad Myers is tracking it for us.

You thought this was about to happen, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The blow up in the colors overnight really indicated that this storm, Alisyn, was intensifying. No question about it.

A hurricane hunters just flew through it and did find hurricane force winds. So a hurricane now has been issued. It is no longer a tropical storm.

We still have hurricane watches. They didn't update the warnings yet here north of Tampa, but that could happen at the 10:00 advisory.

Winds we're seeing now somewhere in the 40s. This storm is still offshore. I do expect, though, that every time one of these storms, a part of these bands, comes by, every one of those storms could actually rotate and that's why there is a tornado watch in effect as well for portions of Florida. Every time a storm comes on shore, it's already rotating, so that's why it produce a water spout and that water spout could come on shore.

It will turn to the right and make landfall for the fourth time Nicaragua, Cuba, The Keys and now the west coast of Florida, the storm that just will not go away.

There is the center of the storm coming on shore later on tonight. I think the worst for Tampa will be tonight, maybe 8:00, 10:00, 12:00 tonight, even though the eye or the center of the storm will go to the north of Tampa, you will be right in the eyewall.

And then look at the heavy rain, all the way up the East Coast. Part of a cold front that's coming down, going to mix with the tropical moisture that's already here, and that's going to cause some flooding, I believe. All along the Carolina coast there will be a lot of heavy rain in Florida but more rains in the Carolinas due to this interaction with the cold front.

John.

BERMAN: I -- you know, I just can't believe we're still talking about more storms. We're going to have Christmas hurricanes at the rate we're going, Chad.

MYERS: Right.

BERMAN: All right, thanks so much.

MYERS: Right. And there's Theta in the Atlantic and there's Iota that will probably develop in the next couple of days in the Caribbean.

BERMAN: I should have played much closer attention to Greek. All right, thanks so much, Chad.

MYERS: I know.

BERMAN: More breaking news this morning.

Pro-democracy lawmakers in Hong Kong have resigned enemas to protest the expulsion of four fellow legislators. This move comes after China passed a resolution giving local authorities the power to silence dissent.

CNN Ivan Watson live in Hong Kong with the latest on this.

This is a big move, Ivan.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

That's right, the space for political dissent got dramatically smaller today here in Hong Kong. This former British colony is supposed to enjoy a certain degree of autonomy and democratic freedom as part of its handover from Britain to Chinese rule in 1997.

But this week the Chinese central government announced a new resolution. It gives Beijing's hand-picked leader of Hong Kong the authority to remove any elected lawmaker from the Hong Kong legislature if that person is deemed essentially not to be loyal enough to mainland China. And as soon as she got this new power, Hong Kong's chief executive used it. She stripped four opposition elected pro-democracy Hong Kong lawmakers of their seats. They have no right to appeal, no chance to go to the courts.

In response, the rest of the opposition pro-democracy lawmakers all announced their resignation on mass in solidarity with their colleagues and in protest against what they say is the ruling communist party in mainland China basically crushing autonomy and democratic freedoms here.

Now, the Chinese central government, it defends what it's doing. It says it's upholding rule of law here in Hong Kong. But if you look at the pattern here, this has been part of a much broader crackdown since last year's increasingly violent street protests. You had over the summer the authorities here postpone legislative elections that were supposed to take place in September by a year on public health grounds citing the pandemic. We've seen opposition activists and journalists who criticized the government one by one facing a number of different prosecutions, some fleeing overseas seeking asylum.

Street protests, which used to be allowed, the moment anybody tries to wave a flag or chant in the streets, riot police pretty much shut that down immediately. So put it all together and it's part of a pretty broad crackdown.

[08:45:04]

I've lived here for years, Hong Kong is lot less free today than it even was six months ago.

Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Those are really dramatic developments, Ivan. Thank you very much for bringing all of that to us.

Back here, votes are still being counted in Pennsylvania and unproven claims of fraud by President Trump have led to death threats for election officials. So we're going to speak with Philadelphia's Republican city commissioner about this, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: This morning one election official in Philadelphia says his office has received death threats as employees do their job and count the votes there. This as President-elect Joe Biden's lead in Pennsylvania stands at more than 45,600. That is outside -- outside the margin to have a recount.

Joining me now is Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt, a Republican we might add.

[08:50:03]

Commissioner, thank you so much for being with us and thank you so much for the work that you've been doing. I know these have been long days, sleepless nights and you're under a lot of pressure.

Before I get into the nonsense of the death threats, let me just ask you about your job. How many votes do you have left to count in Philadelphia and when can we expect those results?

AL SCHMIDT (R), PHILADELPHIA CITY COMMISSIONER: Well, we are in the -- in the final stages of counting remaining votes here in Philadelphia. We have about 18,000 mail-in ballots yet to count and about 18,000 provisional ballots yet to count. Not all those ballots -- if the ballot -- provisional ballots are cast by someone who is not an eligible voter, those votes won't count. So we're in the stage that requires just a lot of attention, ballot by ballot, to get this completed.

BERMAN: When will we get our next dump of results, do you think?

SCHMIDT: Well, we reported our unofficial results to the Pennsylvania Department of State yesterday, as required by law, to ensure that we keep on track for the certification coming later this month. It's important that we all stay focused on our job, which is counting votes, cast on or before Election Day by eligible voters, which is something that should not be controversial.

BERMAN: But it is. Well, you're right, it shouldn't be controversial and anyone who knows anything about the way elections work, and this election as it works knows is not controversial. But there are those who are trying to exploit the situation and say it's controversial. And you have received death threats. Talk to me about the nature of those threats and the pressure you've been under.

SCHMIDT: Well, it's really important for us here at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, where our election operations are centered, to remain focused on our job. The Philadelphia Police Department, the Philadelphia Sheriff's Office and a constellation of other agencies have really kept us secure here so that nothing disrupts, nothing slows down or gets in the way of us certifying this election.

On a personal level, I'm sure it's not easy for any of us here. There's a real disconnect between, you know, the job that we're doing, which is a good thing. We just had the most transparent and secure election in the history of Philadelphia. And the people here work night and day to do our job to count those votes.

BERMAN: And I ask you this not just as a city commissioner but as a Republican city commissioner given what we -- where are right now, what evidence of any widespread fraud have you seen in the count in Philadelphia?

SCHMIDT: I have not. If evidence of widespread fraud or evidence of any fraud at all is brought to our attention, we take a look at it and we refer to it -- refer it to law enforcement as we always do in every election.

I have seen the most fantastical things on social media, making completely ridiculous allegations that have no basis in fact at all and see them spread. And I realize a lot of people are happy about this election and a lot of people are not happy about this election. One thing I can't comprehend is how hungry people are to consume lies and to consume information that is not true.

BERMAN: What information is not true, to be clear?

SCHMIDT: Just the other day I saw something that had -- it was a long list of people that they said were dead voters who voted in Philadelphia. So when we took a break between everything else that we're doing, we looked it up, each one of them, to see what their vote history was. Not a single one of them voted in Philadelphia after they died. It's one of these things that kind of bounces around out there, that echoes around, that people say from one to another, they heard something or they heard from someone who saw something that they think might have been x, y or z. And it's really -- it's really impossible to keep up with those.

BERMAN: You shouldn't have to. Honestly, you shouldn't have to. It's like big foot findings (ph), you shouldn't have to waste your time keeping up with stuff like that. Your time, your energy should be devoted in counting the votes. And from what you say, you've seen no evidence at all that anything untoward has happened in that process.

So what's your expectation about what happens in Pennsylvania in the next two weeks? When do you -- when do these votes from Philadelphia have to be certified and what's your expectation for what happens then?

SCHMIDT: Well, my expectation is that Philadelphia County, and all the other counties in Philadelphia -- in Pennsylvania complete counting the votes and report up to the Pennsylvania Department of State, I believe it's by November 23rd, what our certified election results are so that Pennsylvania can certify this election.

[08:55:04]

BERMAN: And once that happens, it's done, and it means that the electors, when they meet on December 14th, will vote accordingly.

Finally -- and I -- you know, look, I don't want to put you in a tough position and I have noted you are a Republican here, but you also don't live in a vacuum and you know what's going on and you know who is stirring the pot. The president and people who work for him are accusing people in Pennsylvania of widespread fraud and they are the ones who are spreading this misinformation. So, this morning, I want to give you a chance to speak directly to them. So what would you say to the president and those who work for him?

SCHMIDT: I think people should be mindful that there are bad actors who are lying to them and they need to turn to people that they trust and to sources of information that they trust and not rumors and not nonsense included in lawsuits or anything else like that to make sure that they have confidence in this system and that their vote, regardless of who they voted for, is going to be counted.

BERMAN: Al Schmidt, we appreciate your time this morning. Thank you for talking to us. Thank you for the work you are doing. Please thank the people who are working with you as well counting the votes. Appreciate it, sir.

SCHMIDT: Thank you, John.

BERMAN: All right, our coverage continues right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:00:00]