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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Two Kamala Harris Campaign Officials Test Positive For COVID- 19; Trump Continues Holding Large Rallies; Coronavirus Cases Spiking Across Country. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired October 15, 2020 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:00]

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The ATP has ignited allege that this incident happened, and they call on all players to abide by coronavirus protocols or, of course, risk jeopardizing these tournaments being carried out -- Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: All right, Fred Pleitgen, thank you so much for that.

And our special coverage continues now with Jake Tapper.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: And welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

We begin today with the national lead and what certainly looks a lot like a second wave of the coronaviruses. As the United States enters the fall and winter months we are seeing a country on this pandemic map blanketed in red, 35 states showing an increase in new cases, all headed in the wrong direction.

This is up 16 percent from last week, new case average, more than 52,000 per day. At this rate, the U.S. will likely hit eight million cases of coronavirus by the end of the week, or even nine million by Election Day, November 3.

Even worse, hospitalizations across the country are also rising. Yesterday, that number was about 37,000, up nearly 10,000 from two weeks ago. And with nearly 1,000 deaths reported just yesterday, the death average also kicked up slightly to 724 dead Americans every day, 724.

Wearing masks in public and socially distancing remain the best way to stop the virus from spreading and to protect other people from getting COVID if you contract it. And yet President Trump continues to undermine that effort.

He completely misrepresented a CDC study just minutes ago, telling this to a crowd in Greenville, North Carolina.

And, again, let me reiterate before I show this clip, this is not true, what the president said. This is false.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: How about all the masks?

They keep saying, nobody wears a mask, wear the masks, although then they come out with things today. Did you see, CDC, that 85 percent of the people wearing the mask catch it, OK?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: That is not true; 85 percent of people wearing masks do not catch it. That is a falsehood.

The CDC study he's referring to was of people who had coronavirus, and a high percentage of them claimed they had worn masks. That's true. But, also, more than 40 percent of them had had close contact with somebody who had COVID, usually family members.

The study was looking at how people got COVID, and found that restaurants dining was a key risk factor, because it's a place where people who wear masks take off their masks.

It is distressing that the main source of false information about this pandemic continues to be President Trump, who took an oath to protect the American people and is doing the opposite.

A better source of information, Dr. Anthony Fauci, is warning, Americans may have to -- quote -- "bite the bullet" and sacrifice some Thanksgiving gatherings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NIAID DIRECTOR: Understanding that everyone has this traditional emotional, understandable, warm feeling about the holidays, we really have to be careful this time, and each individual family evaluate the risk/benefit of doing that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: In Wisconsin, where there is a 21 percent positivity rate, four times the national average, the state for the first time ever reported more than 1,000 people hospitalized.

CNN's Adrienne Broaddus joins us now live from West Allis, Wisconsin.

Adrienne, you're outside a field hospital right now. This is what -- part of what the state's doing to prepare for an onslaught of new cases?

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is part of the state's effort.

And just moments ago, we learned there are more than 3,700 new cases, more than 3,700, Jake. And 17 more people have died since we talked to you this time yesterday.

Listen, we talk a lot about the numbers, but those numbers represent people. And behind those people are families. And, today, health officials told us it's only going to get worse.

Now, Governor Evers has issued an emergency order allowing health care workers from other states to practice here in the state of Wisconsin, to help treat the surge. Another record Wisconsin didn't want to set, more than 1,000 people in the hospital. If you think about it, that's about a 25 percent increase of hospitalizations in the last seven days, compared to this time last week.

That's all information we got from DHS. The bottom line, the ICUs are strained. Every region of the state is reporting a current staff shortage or imminent staff shortages -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Adrienne Broaddus in Wisconsin, stay safe.

In Colorado, Democratic Governor Jared Polis is now warning, hospital capacity is in jeopardy.

CNN correspondent Lucy Kafanov is live for us in Denver.

Lucy, Colorado seeing some of its highest hospitalization numbers since May.

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Jake, to the point that officials are now describing this as the third wave of the virus, with hospitalizations and new cases surging across the state, Denver County leading that spike.

[15:05:05]

But we have had cases reported in every single county across the state at the moment. Officials reports 274 active COVID-19 outbreaks this week. That sets a new record. And these are largely concentrated around schools, day care facilities, bars, restaurants, churches, very concerning, as businesses continue to operate and folks keep sort of going out with these numbers spiking.

Now, in terms of the hospitalizations, that is a major concern that Governor Polis did indeed warn about, 317 confirmed COVID-19 patients across the state of Colorado right now. Just to put that number in context, that's nearly a 60 percent increase since October 1, less than the month being finished, effectively, those numbers continuing to rise, and 77 percent of the state's ICU bed capacity currently in use.

So, this is very worrying, considering the fact that we are heading into the winter. Flu season is just around the corner. And so that hospital capacity remains a very large concern, Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Lucy Kafanov in Denver, Colorado, thanks so much.

Joining us now to discuss, the chief of infectious diseases at Mass General, Dr. Rochelle Walensky. Dr. Walensky, I want to start with this complete misrepresentation of

a CDC study that President Trump said today. Again, it is not true that 85 percent of mask-wears get the virus. It is completely not true.

Explain how damaging this could be, because, obviously, wearing masks is the best way right now for us to get ahold of this pandemic.

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Good afternoon, Jake.

So, I want to be very clear. This was a CDC study, and they interviewed people who had gotten a disease and had not gotten the disease. And what they found in those interviews is that people who did not get the disease wore masks more frequently than people who did get the disease.

It is true that they report that some people who became infected with COVID were wearing masks in public. But it's also the case and the top-line results from this study was that, if you got COVID, you're 2.5 times more likely to have eaten in a restaurant the two weeks prior. And that is certainly a place where masks are taken off.

TAPPER: At President Trump's rally last night in Iowa -- let's put up some of those images -- the crowd was mostly maskless. There was obviously no distancing. Everybody was bunched closely together.

Fauci told me the other day that this is asking for trouble. This is the exact opposite of what the president and any campaign should be doing right now.

You, as an infectious disease expert, when you see images like this, when you see President Trump barnstorming the country, going from state to state holding these events, what do you think?

WALENSKY: You know, the Trump administration is now endorsing a plan that is moving towards herd immunity, that is, people can get infected and we will therefore then get more people who are immune.

I want to be very -- and these rallies sort of suggest that. I want to be clear that herd immunity is a vaccination plan. It is not a mass infection plan. And so, when I see footage like that, I worry.

And let me tell you why I worry. We know that there's been a massive amount of excess mortality over the last many months. A new study came out last week that demonstrated only about two-thirds of that excess mortality is actually even related to COVID. There's been a third of that excess mortality that is simply related to the fact that people can't access to medical care, hospital capacity is at its limits.

And so they can't even access medical care for routine things that really keep them well.

TAPPER: And so, if they're -- if the president's -- whether or not these rallies are part of a plot for infection, so as to create this deranged herd immunity idea, which would kill somewhere between one and two million Americans, or not, you're saying the idea of more infections means even more deaths unrelated to COVID, people who can't get medicine, can't go to the hospital, et cetera.

WALENSKY: It relates to deaths on -- massive deaths related to COVID. Some have called it mass murder. But it's more than that.

Even if you can protect yourself from COVID, if you can't access medical care when you need it, then you can't protect yourself from other things, heart attacks, strokes, and everything else.

TAPPER: And experts have been warning that the colder months will almost certainly bring a second wave or a resurgence of coronavirus. You're in Massachusetts. I'm sure that's a concern.

Now we're seeing at least seven states with record high hospitalization numbers. Is this the second wave, or do you think it's going to get even worse?

WALENSKY: I'm worried it's going to get quite worse, actually.

I mean, we are seeing numbers now that reflect infection rates that have happened about two weeks ago. Two weeks ago in many areas of the country, including the Northeast, we were still able to be outside.

[15:10:10]

I worry that this has just been sort of laissez-faire behavior. And that is going to get even worse in the weeks to come.

TAPPER: Dr. Fauci is asking Americans to reconsider any Thanksgiving plans that they may have for November. He says people who may be coming from out of town, who may have been on planes and airports may pose a risk.

Is there a safe way to do Thanksgiving? I mean, if everybody got tested ahead of time, a week ahead of time and a day ahead of time? I mean, is there a way to do it?

WALENSKY: I would agree with Dr. Fauci.

Certainly, I think if people can get a test a week ahead of time, stay quarantined during that week, then we can talk about how it might be safe together.

But, again, when you start thinking about how travel mixes in with that, it becomes complicated. And not everybody has the capacity or the ability to take all that time off to be able to quarantine to do it properly.

TAPPER: Can you explain how the risk of gathering with family also depends on what state you or your guests are coming from? What factors should Americans consider?

WALENSKY: Right.

So part of the issue is sort of the local community. We know rates of COVID and testing rates in, for example, Wisconsin are over 21 percent. If you had family members coming in from Wisconsin or from similarly high states, then you could imagine that you are -- you might be more likely to have more asymptomatic people at your dinner table than you would otherwise expect.

TAPPER: Fourteen public health organizations recently condemned what you just condemned, herd immunity, this deadly opinion that's proposed in this position paper that the White House has been praising.

Fauci this morning said this. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAUCI: If you just let things rip and let the infection go, no masks, crowd, it doesn't make any difference, that, quite frankly, George, is ridiculous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Why do you think this idea keeps getting traction?

WALENSKY: It's now an idea that's been endorsed by the administration. There have been numerous epidemiologists who have endorsed this position.

I want to be very clear that this is what Sweden did. This is what Sweden did and failed, that position that essentially says that you can take vulnerable people, you can take people in nursing homes and protect them, and that you can instead let young people who otherwise wouldn't have severe disease get infected and reach herd immunity.

The CDC has estimated that about 47 percent of our population is at higher risk of COVID. And how we would somehow protect those vulnerable communities is just destined to fail, as it did in Sweden.

TAPPER: All right, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Senator Kamala Harris' campaign staffers test positive. The V.P. nominee is now off the trail. Who were they in contact with? What could this mean for the homestretch run?

And people getting up before dawn and waiting hours to vote in one critical state, but the lines may be more than a sign of just voter enthusiasm.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:17:33]

TAPPER: In our 2020 lead today: President Trump holding yet another reckless campaign rally this afternoon ahead of his prime-time town hall, with little social distancing between the hundreds of supporters, in Greenville, North Carolina.

The president insisted the U.S. is doing fine with the coronavirus, questioned if wearing masks really works, and admitted he does not get tested for coronavirus every day, despite the fact that his staff has claimed the opposite.

CNN's Kaitlan Collins joins me now live from the White House.

Kaitlan, President Trump seems to be trying to lower expectations ahead of tonight's town hall.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it hasn't even started yet, and he's already claiming that he was set up by this town hall that his aides arranged and that the president obviously ultimately agreed to.

And there's been a lot of backlash on NBC for scheduling this town hall at the same time as Joe Biden's, but it will be a chance for viewers to see each candidate side by side, separately, of course, but taking questions from voters, which we know in the past has not always been a strong suit of the president, especially now that he's dealing with questions from voters on the pandemic, something that has affected every single American.

And the answers that he's been -- or the way he's been framing the pandemic today has really been downplaying the effect that it's had on Americans, like he just did in North Carolina a few moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Right now, I'm fighting to eradicate the virus, and we're doing really a good job. We're rounding the turn.

We have learned about this disease. Got to open up your businesses, open up your schools, get it going. We have incredible therapeutics. We have incredible drugs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: And, Jake, just a few hours before that, the president was saying that the U.S. was less affected than other countries by the pandemic, even though over 200,000 Americans are dead and, of course, many people have lost their jobs or are struggling to pay their bills.

So it'll be interesting to see how the president handles those kinds of questions that he's going to likely get tonight.

TAPPER: And, Kaitlan, in addition to hosting this potential super- spreader event in North Carolina, and lying about the efficiency of -- efficacy of masks, Dr. Fauci was insulted again by President Trump.

What did the president have to say?

COLLINS: Yes, we're now seeing the president go after the top infectious disease expert at these rallies, saying that everyone knows that Dr. Fauci is a Democrat, when, if you actually look up his party registration, it says no party under the D.C. registration for Dr. Anthony Fauci. And, of course, he is someone who's worked under presidents of both

parties throughout his many decades in public and the job that he's holding now, leading the NIH.

And, of course, Jake, it's just these continued sustained attacks the president has on Dr. Anthony Fauci that have been ramped up after Dr. Fauci objected to being featured in a Trump campaign ad and also criticized these events, saying that, basically, if you look at the numbers, you can guess what's going to happen if you put a lot of people in one place with no masks and no social distancing.

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TAPPER: Lies and smears and desperation.

Kaitlan Collins, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

With less than three weeks until Election Day, the Biden campaign has pulled Senator Kamala Harris off the campaign trail, after two people in her orbit, including her communications director, tested positive for the coronavirus.

CNN's Jessica Dean is covering the Biden campaign for us.

And, Jessica, how long is Senator Harris going to be off the trail?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they have suspended her travel through Sunday, Jake, which means she will resume campaigning in- person on Monday.

This all comes, as you mentioned, after her communications director, as well as a non-staff flight crew member, tested positive for coronavirus.

Now, we're told Senator Harris did fly on a plane with these two individuals on October 8, but they were all wearing N95 masks, and none of them -- she was never in contact with either of them for longer than 15 minutes or closer than six feet apart.

So they say this is out of an abundance of caution that they are pulling her off the campaign trail for these days. She was supposed to be in North Carolina today. That event has now become a virtual event. We have also learned she has since tested negative again today. She also tested negative yesterday and in a subsequent third test since October 8.

So she's now tested negative three times. We also know that Vice President Biden has tested negative as of last night. We're told that he was never in contact with these individuals. He's going to continue on as planned.

He's got that town hall in Philadelphia later tonight.

TAPPER: And, Jessica, ahead of the town hall, Joe Biden's campaign announced that it broke fund-raising records once again, raising -- it's just an unbelievable figure -- $383 million just in the month of September. Biden's campaign manager saying they have more than $430 million in cash on hand.

How do you even spend that much money in fewer than three weeks?

DEAN: It's just an incredible, as you say, amount of money in one month, and now to spend it in three weeks.

But their campaign manager, Jen O'Malley Dillon, saying that it is already working its way through the system. There are plans and programs. That includes voter education on making sure everyone knows how to vote, knows where to vote, battleground operations, obviously advertising.

This gives them a lot of money to play with to go up on the air in various places. And another signature of the Biden campaign, Jake, is that they have been working very steadily and hand in hand with down- ballot candidates in different states, so these Senate races, House legislatures, all the way down in the Democratic Party.

So you can imagine that that's going to get filtered through as well. But they're going to do their best to spend all that money.

TAPPER: Yes.

Jessica Dean, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

And Democratic vice presidential running mate Senator Kamala Harris, Democrat of California, will join CNN's Don Lemon on "CNN TONIGHT" 10:00 p.m. Eastern. You do not want to miss it.

A warning for anyone in your family who plays team sports. That game could theoretically become the next cluster that we will be talking about right here.

That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:28:04]

TAPPER: In our health lead, the CDC is warning, indoor sports games are potential super-spreader events, citing a hockey game in Tampa, Florida, this past spring as a prime example, one player infecting at least 14 others with coronavirus during a game of players ages 19 to 53.

CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins me now.

And, Elizabeth, this was a small game, 22 players. Does this mean even small scrimmages without spectators should stop until there's a vaccine.?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know what, Jake? No one's calling for a stop.

But, certainly, when you hear these numbers, it really makes you think. I mean, I know I wouldn't feel safe participating in something like this.

Let's take a look at the numbers, and you will see what I mean. So this was an ice hockey game, indoors, obviously, in Tampa, Florida, in June, 22 players between the ages of 19 and 53. So these were not elderly people. They were not wearing masks or not the COVID- protecting kind of masks; 14 of them became ill.

So, more than half of them became ill. And it started with one player who started getting sick, who started developing symptoms the day after the game. So, in other words, one guy, feeling fine, got 13 other people sick. He didn't know enough to stay home because he didn't get sick until the next day.

So, as you can see, one person can do quite a bit of damage without even knowing it -- Jake.

TAPPER: Does the type of activity and the fact of whether or not they're wearing masks make a difference?

COHEN: It certainly does make a difference.

And so the problem with athletic kinds of things is, it's difficult to wear a mask. I mean, it's difficult. You're going to be breathing very heavily. You're really exerting yourself, so it's difficult to wear a mask.

So there's something like tennis, where you're very far apart from the other person, you're outside, that's sort of a really good example of an activity that would be quite safe.

But, in hockey, you're inside. You're breathing heavily. You're smashing into other people. That is a whole different ball game, no pun intended.

TAPPER: Let's talk about vaccines, if we can.

Dr. Fauci said a safe and effective vaccine could be available by April.