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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Nationwide, New COVID-19 Cases Are Now Rising In 38 Out Of 50 States; Moderna Vaccine To Enter Stage 3 Trials This Month. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired July 15, 2020 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[20:00:00]
BURNETT: Thanks for joining us. And as always, you can watch our show anywhere and anytime on CNN Go.
"AC360" with Anderson starts now.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Good evening.
We begin tonight with what a self-proclaimed war-time president looks like with 137,000 American lives lost in the war. And we should point out, what you're about to see is how he wants to look. It's no accident.
We're not about to show you some kind of unguarded, unflattering, behind the scenes moment. No, this is a picture the President of the United States pose for and put out on his Instagram page.
It's the image he chooses to project to the families and the friends and the children and neighbors of 137,000 of his fellow Americans. This is our wartime President today.
And while there's plenty more, that could be said about the idiotic way it came to be, the pettiness behind it or the political calculations, if any that went into it. The truth is, any attempt to explain or contextualize this grotesque photo only adds the insult, so we'll let it speak for itself.
We'll let it be exactly what it is, a picture of the most powerful man on Earth, facing the most serious challenge on Earth right now in the Oval Office behind the famed Resolute Desk, and a can of beans plus a few other items from aisle nine.
Thumbs up, orange grinning like he has just won a prize, 137,000 Americans dead. And this is our self-proclaimed wartime President's answer to it.
He hasn't been to a Coronavirus Taskforce meeting since April. We're told he has been doing everything he can to undermine our nation's scientists. He ignored for crucial weeks the spread of this virus. He has lied about it and thinks that it just will magically disappear.
And given the death toll and the spread of the virus, you might think he might be spending every waking moment trying to combat it, talking to victims' families, rallying Americans to be patriotic by wearing a mask, washing their hands, protecting their neighbors, but no. This is what he wants the world to see: the infected, the recovering, the newly grieving. Anyone on Instagram, the more clicks for this President, the better.'
So we want to just hold up this picture. We want to give the President what he is so obviously craving. We're going to keep this ridiculous picture up while we tell you about what is happening on his watch starting with this assessment today from the nation's top infectious disease specialist and senior member of his own Taskforce, the one he has been undermining that is when he is not posing with canned beans.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: The problem is, since we started off our baseline so high, as we tried to open up, and what we saw was it went from 20,000 cases a day to 30,000, 40,000, 50,000 and now we're hanging around 60,000. That's untenable. We've got to turn that around.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
COOPER: In fact, as we left you last night, new data came in from the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health showing another 67,417 new cases -- that's the most ever in a single day anywhere on Earth. The majority of whom will develop symptoms, many will be hospitalized in just a matter of weeks.
By current mortality estimates, of those 67,000 people, about 2,700 will die. Nationwide, new cases are now rising in 38 out of 50 states. They're holding steady and nine and dropping in just three, Maine, Delaware and Arizona.'
Arizona though, which has been hit so hard lately, this may not be a sign the worst is over. A record number of people are hospitalized and as Dr. Quinn Snyder from Mesa, Arizona told us last night, there's no room left for more. Patients he said are being transported elsewhere, even out of state because ICUs are simply out of capacity.
Also, as you might imagine, deaths are turning upward and positivity rates remain above 20 percent. That is when people can get tested, which many still can't.
For the first time in the outbreak, Houston's death toll is in double digits for a single day; and hospitals, they are full.
Miami-Dade County Today reported it is now out of ICU beds. Dr. Aileen Marty who has been on the program several times recently said today quote, "On a scale of one to 10, we are at a maximum urgency, we need to turn this thing around right now."
Florida's governor has still not even issued a statewide mask mandate. Alabama's Republican governor today did. Oklahoma's governor who attended the President's rally in Tulsa, he has now tested positive. Walmart, the nation's largest retailers now requiring all customers to wear face coverings in their store.
The President though having shown that he can wear a mask once again refused to during his trip to Atlanta today. He did not wear a mask, did not mention the lives lost, did not mention the record case count or how to get those numbers down, but he did once again say that he thinks there are 21 different names for what he calls the China virus because apparently that line sounds funny to him despite the fact that comments like that stoke racist sentiment against Asian-Americans.
He also blamed others for the campaign he has been heading lately, not against the virus, but the man fighting it, Dr. Fauci. He threw his Trade Adviser, Peter Navarro under the bus after Navarro who has zero knowledge of viruses or epidemics, but likes to talk about how he went to Harvard and understand science because he is a social scientist, wrote an op-ed criticizing the nation's foremost expert in the field.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're all on the same team, including Dr. Fauci. I have a very good relationship with Dr. Fauci.
Well, that's Peter Navarro, but I have a very good relationship with Dr. Fauci.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: The President doesn't even have the courage to publicly attack Dr. Fauci. That's how weak he is. He has his hangers on do it like Peter Navarro and he winks at them and nods approval, but publicly when the cameras are rolling, everything is great with Fauci, but he is undercutting him every step of the way.
They don't allow Fauci on our Town Halls, on a lot of television programs anymore. They don't want you to see him. They send him to other meetings when the few times the virus taskforce is holding an actual briefing, or at least the last time they did. That's our Wartime President. The guy is sitting behind his desk with cans of beans.
And that's what the President is doing, in addition to endorsing cans of beans with 137,000 Americans dead and many more dying. He is trying to do damage control the damage that he himself has done.
In a new Quinnipiac poll, only 30 percent of people surveyed said they trust the information the President is providing on the outbreak. Frankly, it's startling that it's that high. Sixty seven percent say they just trust it. For Dr. Fauci, that figure is reversed. He is trusted by a margin of 65 to 26 percent.
Which may explain why he has been marginalized, kept off national television. It may explain why the President has retweeted "Fire Fauci" memes about him and undercut him in public.
According to reporting of "The Los Angeles Times," the President himself approved that Peter Navarro op-ed. The paper citing one administration official who said, quote, "Not only was he authorized by Trump, he was encouraged." That's the way this President works. Publicly denies it; privately, he encourages.
But the President apparently did not have the guts to admit it publicly and we shouldn't be surprised by that, or to tell the public why he disagreed with Dr. Fauci. The man who claims to know more about the military and the nation's top generals apparently has nothing to say now, but Fauci thankfully does.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
FAUCI: They are really, I think, taken aback by what a big mistake that was, and I think if you talk to reasonable people in the White House, they realize that was a major mistake on their part because it doesn't do anything but reflect poorly on them.
And I don't think that that was their intention. I don't know, I cannot figure out in my wildest dreams why they would want to do that. But I mean, I think they realize now that that was not a prudent thing to do because it's only reflecting negatively on them.
I can't explain Peter Navarro. He's in a world by himself. So I don't even want to go there.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
COOPER: The fact is, though, Dr. Fauci is wrong. He's not in a world by himself. He works in the White House. He works for the most powerful man in the country and there's a reason for that. There's a reason he is in the White House because the President wants him there.
So Dr. Fauci is trying to ascribe good motives to a lot of folks in the White House who maybe are talking to him and privately are saying, gosh, that was a really terrible thing. We don't know why you would do that. We feel terrible about it. But they won't say that to the President's face.
They'll say that to Fauci privately. They won't say that publicly. They don't have the guts either. And that's why they work for that Commander-in-Chief, because he has no guts either.
Whatever the answer the administration today put out this picture of Dr. Fauci at today's Taskforce meeting, they're following the lead of the President. Publicly again, they pretend everything is fine. So here they put out very intentionally a picture of him talking with Vice President Pence.
But again, behind his back, they try to destroy the man who has more credibility than any of them.
None of this would matter. It wouldn't amount to a hill of beans, but this is our President and people are dying, people are sick and more will die and more will get sick and our economy is in shambles.
We're in a public health battle for our lives and our futures and the President is sitting there behind the Resolute Desk, resolutely clutching at beans. Joining us now, CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta,
also William Haseltine, former Harvard researcher and recent author of "A Family Guide to COVID: Questions and Answers for Parents, Grandparents, and Children."
Sanjay, so another day goes by. Americans dying, still no plan from President Trump and the Federal government. I mean, does it -- I mean, we've had this conversation over and over again and with the good Professor Haseltine as well, but without Federal engagement, I mean, you know, Professor Haseltine in the past has said, you know, the answer is, you know, each of us doing all we can and citizens and everybody else, stakeholders being involved, but without Federal government, does this get better?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT I think it's very hard for it to get better. Clearly, the status quo is not working, Anderson. The numbers continue to get worse.
I think what we're seeing now is we're seeing a pattern. The reason that the Federal sort of guidance is so important is because what happens in so many communities now in states is that things get into a real crisis situation before action is taken.
I mean, people know what to do. The public health sort of strategy is actually not that complicated here. We've seen it work in certain states in this country for periods of time. We've seen it work in countries around the world.
I mean, we don't have to remind people that there are countries around the world who have had -- you know, they've had fewer people throughout this entire pandemic who have gotten infected then has happened in certain states in just one day in this country.
So the public health strategy is obvious, but you know, what's happening is these states basically are redlining and then the virus makes the decision for them. They've got to either go into some sort of shutdown mode because the hospitals are becoming overly full, or they're going to have these terrible situations where people can't get care when they need it.
[15:10:23]
COOPER: Professor Haseltine, seen has there been a country in in the industrialized world that has ever responded to a pandemic or a national health emergency as badly as we are right now? I mean, I'm trying to think of other examples of -- I mean, I can understand the countries that that lack resources, have totally corrupt leadership not responding.
But it's hard to kind of imagine anyone else handling this the way the United States has.
DR. WILLIAM HASELTINE, CHAIR AND PRESIDENT, ACCESS HEALTH INTERNATIONAL: Well, we're in a small select unfortunate group of countries that includes Brazil, Russia, and India. Those are different kinds of countries, but certainly some of them have well-developed economies and are a mix of developed and developing nations. So, we are doing extremely poorly.
It's a very dangerous situation and it's getting worse. We desperately need Federal guidance. And the southern states, as we've discussed before, need Federal help. They're running out of resources and they're shipping people to hospitals that aren't necessarily well prepared to deal with them.
They will be shortly turning away people for lack of facilities. It's a dire situation in some parts of our country and is crying out for Federal intervention.
COOPER: Sanjay, part of what Dr. Fauci told "The Atlantic" Magazine today was he said quote, "We've got to almost reset this and say, okay, let's stop this nonsense. We've got to figure out how can we get our control over this now?" That certainly sounds that makes sense.
But again, without the President buying in and all the people around the President, I'm not sure how any of that changes.
GUPTA: Yes, I mean, you know, I think that the guidelines that were set out were pretty straightforward, pretty easy to understand.
I mean, if you want to do a reset, it doesn't even necessarily mean that you have to shut down the whole country again, although some parts of the country would likely need to be shut down.
If you're living in a community where the case numbers have gone up five days in a row, you've got to go back a phase and that might mean shutting down. You need to get the numbers down 14 days in a row.
If you start to do that, there is a path out of this. I mean, this is not an inevitable situation that's unfolding right now. Create a tsunami of activity around testing. It was, you know, two and a half months ago that Ambassador Birx said we need a breakthrough on testing. We still don't have it. People in nursing homes often can't get tested.
In Arizona, it might take you 11 days to get your test results back. We're in the middle of July now. So, the reset involves basically doing all the things that we know how to do that we said we were going to do that people promised we would do. We just need to actually do them now at this point.
I mean, I don't know what else it takes, Anderson. We come on every night and talk about this. My parents live in Florida. People are really frightened down there because of what Dr. Haseltine is saying. They're worried that, you know, somebody is going to have shortness of breath, they're going to call for an ambulance, they're going to be told, hey, look, we'd love to come get you, but we don't know where to take you because there's so many ICU beds that are full, so you're going to have to ride it out at home.
I mean, it's unbelievable. You know, we just keep saying it. I don't know what else to say at this point.
COOPER: It's so strange, Professor because, you know, I remember you talking in the past on this program about when you were a kid and polio was something where there was a concern and people just knew how to behave by not going out. And, you know, young kids wouldn't go out in groups of more than three. You knew not to do a lot of community activities.
You know, when you think back to World War II when there was this national effort to fight the war and beat back fascism, which was an extraordinary, you know, nationwide effort. I am not even talking about globally, but just in terms of this country alone. And, you know, mask wearing could be a patriotic thing.
It's protecting our country. You know, social distancing could have been sold as a patriotic effort to get our country back on track and yet, all of that has just been squandered.
HASELTINE: Well, you know, I think what may happen is over the school, reopenings, I hear and I'm working right now on understanding this movement more, but I can tell you, everybody who listens will hear a scream of anguished parents.
They don't know what's going to happen. And parents are vocal. They have a real have passion for protection of their children and I think that they may be the tipping point that convinces even the most recalcitrant amongst the administration and our Congress, that it's really time to get serious.
[20:15:14]
HASELTINE: When the average mother is terrified for her child to send that child to school, you have a political force of significant magnitude, and I think if the politicians are listening to what I'm hearing, they'll pay attention. It's what we need now.
COOPER: Sanjay, Dr. Fauci made a comparison this week to the influenza pandemic of 1980. I know you talked to him about that today. What did he say -- excuse me, 1918.
GUPTA: 1918. Well, the comment that he made was that, look, he was very worried that there was a lot of similarities between what was happening now and 1918. And the comment was sort of perceived as this could have the same sort of impact and magnitude of that pandemic a hundred years ago.
When we talked today, he wanted to make it clear that, you know, he's obviously very worried about this pandemic, as we all are. But the idea still that you know, you had anywhere between 50 and 100 million people died during that pandemic and if you do the math now and account for the change in population, that could mean 200 to 250 million people would die from this pandemic. He did not want to suggest that.
As bad as this is, as gloomy as these numbers are, and the entire situation is that you know, we are still a different world than we were a hundred years ago.
This is a contagious virus, very contagious and it is circumnavigating the globe. It is far more lethal than the seasonal flu. But we do know how to take care of people in the hospitals if they can get there; intensive care units, the intensive care as much better. We possibly have therapeutics that are coming along, and maybe even a vaccine.
So I think he wanted to be careful in terms of as bad as this is, we still need to not overstate how bad this could be.
COOPER: Right. I certainly agree with that. Professor Heseltine, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Sanjay, we're going to talk to you a little bit in just a moment. I want to get your take on when we come back on some promising vaccine news. We'll be joined by the Chief Medical Officer of the company behind it.
And later, why vaccines and prevention are so important. We'll speak with a COVID survivor. His story is extraordinary. He's still coping with the after effects months later. You really need to hear what this man and his wife went through.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:21:40]
COOPER: We've been talking tonight about some of the obstacles in the fight to contain the pandemic. Right now, a potential sign of hope as you know, Dr. Fauci and others have been expressing optimism lately about the prospect of a vaccine.
Our next guest's company one reason why, Tal Zaks is Chief Medical Officer at Moderna and first published experimental data on Moderna's COVID vaccine candidate has just come out in the "New England Journal of Medicine."
Dr. Zaks, thanks so much for being with us. Can you just walk us through exactly what the latest trial found? And was it what you expected?
TAL ZAKS, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, MODERNA: Good evening, Anderson. Happy to be here. Yes, this is the first trial in which we -- our colleagues at the N.I.H. actually have tested the ability of our vaccine to generate an immune response in healthy volunteers and what was done here was to expose three groups of individuals to a low, medium and a high dose and then measure in their blood how much antibodies did they produce and whether those antibodies could indeed inhibit the ability of this virus to infect cells.
And of course, the first thing you look for is always safety and tolerability. So, that was an important measurement as well. And what we've found here and described is that in every one of the individuals exposed, even at the lower dose, we can see antibodies and we can see antibodies that have a neutralizing activity.
And in fact, if you look at the medium and the high doses, the levels of those antibodies exceed on average the levels of antibodies that you see in people who've actually been sick with COVID-19.
On the other side, the safety and tolerability profile was pretty much what you would have expected from this vaccine consistent with what we've seen with other similar vaccines with our technology.
And so the good news is that no surprises there, what we do see is the expected mix of sort of local and systemic side effects, which means you might get a little bit of pain in the injection site and you may feel transient flu-like symptoms on the day or the day after of having received the vaccine and I don't want to make light of it.
We had seen a couple of individuals, three to be exact at the high dose that even had severe manifestations. The important thing is that these are solicited reactions and are expected. They're graded according to F.D.A. guidance for this purpose, and they're transient and self-limited.
At the end of the day, when we stand back and we look at the data, we think that at the medium dose, we have an optimal dose that should be safe and well tolerated to further develop and a very clear evidence of the ability to elicit antibodies -- neutralizing antibodies -- in everybody who got it.
COOPER: I want to get to the development of it and sort of the timeline of that in moment, and Sanjay is going to join us in just a second. But, do you have a sense of how long those antibodies might be effective for?
I mean, obviously, that's an unknown with people who have had COVID- 19. It's not clear, you know, what level of immunity they have and for how long?
ZAKS: That's a great question, and let me give you three parts to answer. First, we don't know the duration of antibodies as you state yourself, our entire history of knowing this vaccine or this disease and studying it has only been about six months long.
It is clear though, there are emerging data that people who have very mild disease and maybe are asymptomatic will have lower levels of antibodies and those levels tend to wane quicker. So, it seems that the higher the antibody level you have, the longer the duration.
And I think finally in that context, the ability to generate neutralizing antibodies at levels that on average exceed what you see in sick people, and by and large, from what we know today, somebody who has been sick is very unlikely to get sick again in the near term future, it hasn't been described.
[20:25:21]
ZAKS: And so by reaching or exceeding those levels, we believe that the durability of the vaccine effect should be measurable in months. Now, how long is it? It is going to be a year? Is it going to be two years? Of course, we're going to have to follow subjects for longer to figure that out.
COOPER: Yes. Sanjay is with us. Sanjay, I know you have a question.
GUPTA: Yes. So thank you for being here. A couple of things. One is that, it was two shots that the participants received, right? Separated by about a month. With regard to the side effects, you mentioned what they were, but these were all healthy people, 45 healthy people between the ages of 18 and 55.
Everybody did have a side effect, it sounds like, even in that mid dose group. How worried are you about this, especially as you start to, you know, include older people, people who might have preexisting conditions? How big a concern is this for you?
ZAKS: So look, I'm the Chief Medical Officer and my first concern is always the safety of our products, and in this case, obviously, we're about to embark on a very large Phase 3 trial. So, we have to be sure that we're doing it carefully and I'll come back to that.
In terms of what we've seen, the interesting point about the safety is if you look at the side effect profile, after the first dose, you don't see much. You see most of these adverse events come in after the second dose, and they are self-limited and transient.
And so what it teaches me is that a component of this adverse event profile is that you're actually activating the immune system specifically to recognize something and if that's something is the spike protein, the hook, if you will that this virus uses to attach itself to cells, then, I suspect that it's the yin and yang of having an effective vaccination.
And so we're left with the question, is it worth, you know, an evening or two of flu-like symptoms for the sense that you will then be protected possibly from being ill with COVID-19? I think that's, you know, like for any medicine, be it a drug or a vaccine, it's ultimately a question of benefit risk.
I think the potential benefit of protecting people from this vaccine, seeing what this disease and this pandemic is causing around us is quite significant.
COOPER: Sanjay, explain why you are concerned?
GUPTA: Well, you know, I mean the risk reward relationship here is really important. So you know, you have 80 percent of the population who will have minimal or no symptoms after exposure to this virus. That statistics have sort of held up since the original Wuhan data.
So if you're giving something like this to healthy people, unlike a medicine, which you're giving to somebody who has some sort of problem, here, it's healthy people.
So, I think the bar by which you look at side effects has to be, you know, has to be higher. Right, Doctor? I mean, I think -- and I think there is a concern, you know, older people, are they going to have the same immune response? The same amount of neutralizing antibodies? Might they have more of the risk of the side effects? Obviously, we don't know that. And that's what has to be decided.
If I could just say, Dr. Haseltine was just on. He, yesterday was saying he gives this a -- he's a bit of a skeptic. He gives this a 50/50 chance, he says right now of carrying all the way through and I'm just wondering what you think the likelihood of this is actually translating into a vaccine that's workable for people?
COOPER: And also what's the timeline on this Dr. Zaks?
ZAKS: All right. So, there's a lot of questions there to unpack. So let me try and do them one at a time. Let's sort of come back to the safety question. I completely agree. The bar for any vaccine should be very high. It's not the same as a medicine. We do intend to give it to healthy people and we have to be very sure that indeed we understand that adverse event profile and that it warrants it.
And you ask a question about older adults. That is absolutely correct. In fact, this Phase 1 trial has already enrolled cohorts of older and elderly people. We haven't disclosed the data yet, but obviously, we're looking at that carefully to make sure that both the ability to generate the immune response as well as the safety profile warrants further development. And I can tell you that we're looking at that closely as are our colleagues at the F.D.A.
In terms of understanding that safety profile. Look, at the end of the day, this was a Phase 1 trial and the question is, do you have enough to continue development? I think the answer is absolutely yes.
But the next steps should and must be careful evaluation in the context of a very large randomized trial. That's a trial in which you give half the volunteers the vaccine, and the other half you give placebo and that is the right and proper way done in a large randomized control trial to ensure you have a full understanding of both the ability of this vaccine to prevent disease and the understanding of the safety profile.
[20:30:06]
Now, we're doing that, actually in quite a conservative manner. If you look at the statistics, we've disclosed them today, they're all of that design is public and transparent. This study will be monitored by an independent body of expert at data safety monitoring board. Those are experts that are appointed by the NIH, and it's part of the harmonized efforts to look at other vaccines concurrently. And so, I feel very confident, you're not going to have to trust me on this. There will be the right appropriated body of experts that will look at the data as it emerges to ascertain that indeed, the benefit risk profile warrants deployment.
Now, you asked me in terms of probability of success.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Yes.
ZAKS: Look, I'm spending every day of my life me and the very dedicated team of colleagues on whose behalf I'm here speaking tonight, to do our very best in our part so that we can leverage this technology that we've been spending years of our life developing just towards this application. We believe that the chances of this working are pretty good. And the reasons are that the neutralizing antibodies to mediate the right immune response I think has been demonstrated for other similar viruses and in preclinical models. We've shown now that this vaccine can induce levels of those antibodies and the levels that can even exceed what you see with natural infection. And so on balance, we're both cautiously optimistic, but fully dedicated to seeing this through.
COOPER: Dr. Zaks, I really appreciate all you're doing and appreciate your time. Thank you very much. We wish you the best on this obviously. Sanjay, thanks.
Up next, long lines for testing California even longer wait times to get the results, were the first state to impose a statewide shelter in place orders, now seeing a sharp spike in cases and deaths.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:36:15]
COOPER: Pandemic only gets worse in the West is California. Today, reported second highest single day increase in new virus cases and deaths 11,126 new cases, 140 additional lives lost. The increasing cases and subsequent lag and processing results as far as health officials to issue new guidance and who can be tested immediately and who may have to wait? Our Nick Watt is in front of a testing center Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles with more on the surge. So what's the latest on testing in California?
NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson right now if you are asymptomatic, but you really think there's a strong risk that you may have the virus. You can't get tested in California right now. And the reason is the overwhelming demand, the backlog in the labs and the state wants to get the time between a test and a result, down to 48 hours or less, and right now it is over that. So they are prioritizing the testing.
The problem is, you know, the people who've been taking a lot of the blame for the spread of the virus right now are the young, the asymptomatic, the out and about. So right now, if you are one of those people and you want to do the right thing and come and get a test, just in case, well right now in California, you can't.
COOPER: Nick Watt, appreciate it. Thank you, Nick.
Joining me now to talk about the surge of cases in California, San Francisco Mayor London Breed who issued one of the first shelter in place orders back in mid-March. Mayor Breed, thanks for being with us.
The public health director in San Francisco is saying there's now a surge in cases there. What do you attribute that to? And right now what are your biggest concerns and needs?
LONDON BREED (D) MAYOR SAN FRANCISCO: Well, the fact is from the very beginning, our public health director made it clear that as we begin to move around and come and close contact with one another, there's a real possibility that we may see more cases. So I think it's attributed to the fact that we are reopening, we are seeing more people out and about. And we know that people are tired of really sheltering in place. But the fact is the virus is out there. We're living with it. So we need to make adjustments, so that we can keep one another safe.
COOPER: Do you know, though, where the, you know, the big spread is taking place? I mean, you know, in other places, bars have been an issue, a lot of indoor activities. Obviously, there were huge demonstrations in the streets and a number of places. Do you have a sense of where the spread has taken place?
BREED: Well, just so you know, San Francisco is a second densest city in the country. And what we're seeing in more dense parts of our city like the southeast sector and the east side of San Francisco, we see more cases and we also see a huge surge with our Latino population, which represents over 50% of the cases and many of them are working in various industry. So I think that our strategy has been outreach and dealing with challenges around equity and making sure people feel comfortable with testing.
It's been a real challenge to get to various populations. But we are committed to doing that. So, I wouldn't attribute it to one thing. But we do see more people out and about, we do see people who feel the need to go to work. It's been a real challenge.
COOPER: In terms of contact tracing, things like that. How, what are your capabilities in San Francisco? Obviously, it's been a huge issue across the country.
BREED: Yes, we have increased, we were one of the very first cities to actually implement a strong contact tracing program. We use disaster service workers, people who work throughout the city to come and be trained through the University of California, San Francisco to begin that process. And so we're contacting about 80% of people who have been in contact with someone --
COOPER: Wow.
BREED: -- who is COVID positive. It has been an incredible program. So I think our capacity there is doing OK, but of course, we can always do better.
[20:40:00]
COOPER: I talked to somebody in Florida I think in Miami, I think they were saying they're around 17% which is, you know --
BREED: Wow.
COOPER: -- 80% is that's really extraordinary. In terms of stay at home orders, obviously the Los Angeles County Public Health Director warned that another stay at home order may be possible, what would it take for you to implement another one in San Francisco?
BREED: Well, we've already had to put a pause, I went out and told the public one day that we were going to open hair and nail salons and I had to go out the very next day and say, we have to put a pause on it because we saw a significant surge, if we are on the watch list for the state of California, and we see these numbers continue to creep up. And our reproductive number has exceeded 1.5 at one point, so we know that that means we are in a situation where there could be a significant surge, we are looking at the possibility of rolling back some of the things that we've already allowed to do, that we allow the public to do.
So it's really up to everyone who out there that wear a mask, to follow social distancing, to be a part of the solution. You people want their children to go back to school. We all want to get back to our lives, but it requires that we all cooperate.
COOPER: Yes, certainly does. Mayor Breed, really appreciate it. Thank you very much. Good luck to you.
BREED: Thank you. Anderson.
COOPER: Just ahead, a harrowing tale of survival and reminder of just how deadly and dangerous this disease is and why everyone, including President Trump should never take it lightly.
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[20:45:05]
COOPER: Earlier in the program, we showed you this photo of President Trump published on his Instagram account, sitting the Oval Office where previous presidents have addressed the nation on the greatest of issues and this is certainly one of them. Here's the President surrounded by some beans and coconut milk smiling and giving him the thumbs up, showing just what he is spending his time thinking about and doing, forgetting to pay in the countries in, his people are dying in hospitals across the country.
Or in the case of our next guests coming very close to it. Eddie Case has been through hell and back, infected with a virus then on a respirator as well as a ventilator, even in a coma. He survived narrowly, thankfully, still not completely has been through a lot of rehab. He joins us now along with his wife Anne Costa Case. I'm so sorry for what you both have been through.
Eddie, just the story of you, even being able to get tested ultimately, I know it took about I think seven days in multiple tries. I heard you say that if it wasn't for your wife, you probably would have just stayed at home on a critical day and gone to sleep and died.
EDDIE CASE, RECOVERED FROM COVID-19: Absolutely Anderson, the one of the things that that struck us was the regulations in place. But the unavailability when we went to the first urgent care, kind of went through the questioning and basically said, hey, well, listen, we can't test you. It's under the government guidelines. We'll have to check back in a couple days. And then when we did back, there wasn't tests available. And then we were referred to another urgent care or went through the questioning again, and then ultimately we're denied any ability to or any availability of testing simply because we didn't know someone with COVID or hadn't been out of the country. COOPER: And finally, Anne, you both were sick. You had a milder case, thankfully. But you insisted that he go to the hospital and thank goodness you did.
ANNE COSTA CASE, WIFE OF EDDIE CASE: Yes, it was a -- when he started reporting the shortness of breath that that was when we decided, that's it, we need to go to the ER. So that's what we did.
COOPER: And Eddie, I mean, you were transferred to different hospitals. You were on a ventilator. I know you weren't aware of what was happening. And I understand that when you woke up, you had no idea what had happened and took you for a while to kind of really sink in that you actually had COVID What was it like? I mean what do you remember about all that time? And how long were you in a coma for?
E. CASE: Well, I was in a coma for 20 days, medically induced was transferred from one hospital over to the top trauma unit, because they believe they couldn't receive care. Unless you got to Chandler, Arizona. So, essentially, went through a series of hallucinations, but most vividly, I remember waking in this room, and it took quite a while to get my senses together. But it became very apparent that I was I was hooked up to machines. I had a ventilator in and essentially didn't know what happened. I really thought that I had been involved in an accident or some sort of mishap and it wasn't until they were ventilator and gave me a couple days to get my vocal cords back because at this point I was paralyzed from the coma. It was and that had to break it to me that this was COVID and not an accident.
COOPER: And can you just talk about what life after you get out of the hospital it's like? So I know you went from a hospital I think to -- I don't know if they call it a rehab facility, but explain what you have to learn, because I mean, your body had atrophied?
E. CASE: That's correct. Yes, Anderson, it was scary because I had to learn how to stand again, had to learn how to write, I couldn't even write on an ink for to convey what it was I needed. That took about three or four days to finally get on a walker. And then after a few days, I was able to walk on assisted. The biggest concern was basically interacting with all the other doctors and most of the doctors not knowing what permanent damage would remain. And that still stands today. There's not a -- most medical professional do not know what the outcome will be, this is going to take some time, the data is just not there.
Thankfully, I have -- my lungs are good, I'm breathing, normal, I'm on assisted in every which way. It's just my endurance. And then, you know, it's tough, wake up in the middle of the night and have to remind myself, I'm not in the ICU and kind of go through those coping mechanisms that way.
COOPER: And if you forgotten how to do those things, why, I mean, is it something it does to your brain? Is it just that -- why does it do that?
E. CASE: That's the question, that that's the million dollar question there. Every doctor I asked, wasn't certain except that the uniform idea seems to be that COVID attacks the brain but in -- when mixed with the anesthesia, and the other drugs to sedate me, your body will go into atrophy especially I'm laying there in the same place for 20 days and basically nurses come in and move me around or just check my vitals and, you know, give me plenty of antibiotics. So by that I mean, I was literally paralyzed when I woke up.
[20:50:03]
COOPER: Wow. And Anne, I mean, I know, you -- you knew what was going on. You couldn't be with your husband. What -- I know you tried to stay connected with him, you got nurses to play I think his favorite jazz music. And, you know, was in consultation with doctors. I think he spoke to him on a speakerphone. When you saw him again, I mean, I understand. I can't remember how much weight you had lost Eddie. But I remember when I read about it, it was stunning to me. What was it like to see him again Anne?
A. CASE: It was the probably the most emotional day of my life. Not being able to see him for almost five weeks. And then there he was. And I just couldn't stop staring at him because he looked like a different person. But I also hadn't seen him for so long. So, it was just, it was a great day.
COOPER: Well, Eddie and Anne, I know it's not an easy thing to talk about. But I just think it's so important because a lot of folks who still aren't taking this thing seriously, and I got to say, when I first heard about it, I thought, oh, I'd rather get it fast. And that way, I'll just get over it. But, you know, we've actually talked to people who've gone through it. This is no, this is no joke. And even people who, you know, the President says 99% of cases are totally harmless. You know, that's just ridiculous. And even people survive. You know, it's life changing forever.
So, I really appreciate it. And I wish you continued strength in the days ahead.
E. CASE: Thank you, Anderson.
COOPER: Yes.
A. CASE: Thank you.
COOPER: Yes. Eddie and Anne Costa Case. Thank you so much.
We got breaking news right now, a major shake up in the President's 2020 reelection effort campaign manager for the Trump campaign Brad Parscale is been demoted. CNN John Harwood joins us now with the lead details and implications of what the President just announced on Facebook.
This is really fascinating, because I mean, he was really -- he was elevated for this run to be campaign manager. Talk a little bit about what this means what happened.
JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, we had two polls today out that show the President with the double digit deficit, Quinnipiac had him down 15 points, The Wall Street Journal/NBC had him down 11 points. Those aren't the only causes obviously, he's been behind consistently for several months now. That's not necessarily Brad Parscale's problem, but somebody's got to pay a price for it. You also see the President behind in swing states. Another poll out today showed the President down 13 points in Pennsylvania, one of the three Midwestern states that Trump narrowly won, that put him in the White House. So, you need to have a consequence to that, they've been grumbling.
The President had been complaining that Brad Parscale was making too much money off of the campaign. People were saying he was calling into Zoom meetings from his pool in Florida. And so now, the President's put Bill Stepien in charge of the campaign, and we'll see whether that makes a difference. Most of the President's assets and liabilities flow from himself Donald J. Trump, and his behavior as president, his behavior as a candidate. But you get shakeups like this when somebody is traveling very badly.
COOPER: Yes. John Harwood, appreciate it. Thanks very much.
Oh, so we have a little bit more time, John. Although, there I thought we lost you there for a second. Just in terms of -- what's -- what happens to Brad Parscale now? I mean, it says he's been demoted. Is he still with a campaign?
HARWOOD: Yes, I think he's still with a campaign and his skills, that data analysis or something that President valued in 2016. I imagine he will put him to work on that basis in 2020. Not getting thrown entirely out of the tent, but clearly a big change in status.
COOPER: Yes. John, thanks again. Really appreciate it. John Harwood.
I want to check with Chris, see what he's working on for "CUOMO PRIMETIME" at the top of the hour, Chris?
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: How you doing my friend? We are hoping that the President we can be taking him at his word finally that he is not trying to run Fauci out, Fauci is on the team. They have a good relationship. We saw the VP take a picture with Fauci showing that he was at the taskforce meeting. Good. So, they can get on the same page. A little bit of accountability for the President ducking the idea that these were his henchmen going after Fauci, which we all know is true. All the reporting reveals it. Common Sense reveals it. The idea that Navarro was freelancing, and then they say, well, he was violating protocol. What are they going to do about it? Mr. You're Fired. Let's see what he does. We won't hold our breath.
But looking through that lens, what does that mean about what they'll do next Anderson? We have experts tonight to take a look at what has to be done right now to give us a fighting chance to get our kids in school.
COOPER: Yes. Interesting about the Brad Parscale being out.
CUOMO: Yes. Here's what I hear. Parscale is still very much in the loop. He did not have this skill set. Campaign manager is a funky position Coop. It sounds like you're the guy who was making all this decisions. That's not really it. You're actually making the trains run on time and getting people to do their jobs. It's much more administrative and managerial than it is strategic.
[20:55:11]
Kellyanne Conway is a rare combination of someone who could keep the trains on time and think strategy. She was invaluable to them the last time around. So Parscale is still in the loop. He has been moved because of a skill set. That's what I'm being told. The question is who steps in? People who are raising money for the President are not happy?
COOPER: Yes.
CUOMO: They believe it does not look like a winning effort right now.
COOPER: Chris, I will see about four minutes from now.
Still more to come, an update on the killing of George Floyd and went newly released police officer body cams show about the final sickening moments of his life.
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COOPER: Tonight, we want to end with an important new development in the case against Minneapolis police officers charged in the killing of George Floyd. As you may remember Floyd was killed after an officer put a knee on the neck of Floyd from eight minutes.
Today, judge made the -- excuse me, it was nine minutes. A judge made the body cam footage for two of the officers available it's not been released to media outlets yet to broadcast whoever seen it has seen it. For its final words, I can't breathe. The video shows the officers response to the call yelling at Floyd later removing him from his car, shows Floyd sobbing then walk to the squad car. That's when the video shows a big struggle between two of the officers and Floyd and about 11 minutes and 23 seconds. The video shows one officer's knee applied to Mr. Floyd's neck. And it's later, we hear what appear to be his final words again, I can't breathe.
[21:00:04]
The news continues. I want to hand over to Chris for "CUOMO PRIMETIME". Chris?
