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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump Administration Admitting Defeat on Controlling COVID-19?; White House Faces Another Coronavirus Outbreak. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired October 26, 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]

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He said, We are very, very, very, very, very worried about what is coming our way, because they know exactly how dangerous this virus can be.

And they're not looking forward to a repeat of this second wave.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yes, they know full well.

All right, Ben Wedeman, thank you so much for that report from Rome for us.

And our special coverage will continue now with Jake Tapper.

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

We begin today with the 2020 lead. There are only eight days until Election Day in the United States. And in terms of the spread of coronavirus, we are right now in the worst phase of the pandemic ever.

Over the last week, the U.S. has added almost half-a-million new cases of coronavirus. That's the most this nation has ever seen in one single week. Hospitalizations and deaths are also going up.

Yet, today, President Trump is holding three large campaign rallies in Pennsylvania. Instead of trying to contain the virus, the president is holding potential super-spreader events, no masks required, no distancing, crowds gathering in tight circles.

And the president is also complaining about restrictions put in place in Pennsylvania, guidelines initiated by the governor and others to try to save lives.

These rallies come during a new second outbreak at the White House itself, this time hitting the inner circle of Vice President Mike Pence. At least five people in Pence's orbit have tested positive for the virus in recent days, including Pence's chief of staff, Marc Short.

And, yes, the vice president who is the head of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, D.C., is not quarantining, even though he's had close contact with Marc Short. Instead, the vice president is defying the CDC guidance, claiming he is an essential worker. That essential work is apparently holding a potential super-spreader event of his own, which is set to start at any moment.

The behavior is stunning and contradicts all the guidance being offered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the White House's own Coronavirus Task Force.

And yet perhaps even more stunning is the admission from the White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who told me on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" yesterday that the goal of the Trump administration is not to contain the virus from spreading throughout the country. It is to help those who get the virus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK MEADOWS, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: We're not going to control the pandemic. We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigation areas--

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Why aren't we going to get control of the pandemic?

MEADOWS: Because it is a contagious virus. Just like the flu, it's contagious.

TAPPER: Yes, but why--

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: There are 8.6 million Americans infected as of right now, 225,000 Americans killed by this virus.

A reminder, this is more than any other nation the planet. Other countries have leaders who are trying to control the pandemic through aggressive testing and contact tracing, masks and distancing.

But, apparently, President Trump does not think that he can do the same to protect the American people. The president of the United States has apparently given up on that.

CNN's Kaitlan Collins is at the White House.

And, Kaitlan, President Trump today once again repeating this complete lie, that the country is rounding the corner on the pandemic. I wish we were. We are not.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No, Jake. We're not even close.

And the president has only got eight days left to make this final pitch to voters. And it's really -- it really couldn't be worse timing for the president, who for months has predicted that, by the time we got to the election, the numbers would not look the way they are now. He said they'd be going down. In fact, now we are seeing them go up.

But, Jake, I do want to note that, as the president is making these three stops in Pennsylvania today, he pushed back on what Mark Meadows told you yesterday when it comes to being able to control the pandemic.

And, instead, the president praised his efforts so far.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) control of the virus?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, not at all, in fact, the opposite, absolutely the opposite. We have done an incredible job.

We're doing a great job. We are absolutely rounding the corner.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: So, once again, saying we are rounding the corner, Jake, though we should note he did not mention the new numbers of cases in the United States at the rally so far today.

But he did put out a new line of attack on the media, saying that we are only talking about the pandemic, we're only going to do so to hurt him politically, and will stop after the election, which, of course, isn't true, because we have been covering this pandemic for at least 10 months now.

TAPPER: Yes, that's crap.

Kaitlan, not only is President Trump failing to contain the spread of the virus in the United States. They can't even contain it in the White House. There's now a new outbreak in the administration, this one in the inner circle of the vice president.

How are they handling it? How are they doing? Are they OK?

COLLINS: Well, it depends on which staffer you're talking about.

The chief of staff to the vice president does have COVID. He's experiencing mild symptoms. He's quarantining at home, as is -- are the other aides who came into close contact with the people who have tested positive for coronavirus.

But the vice president himself is not quarantining, despite being one of those people who came into contact with the others. And, of course, it's more ironic, because he's the head of the Coronavirus Task Force.

And they're justifying this travel that he's doing today, yesterday in North Carolina, today in Minnesota, Jake, by saying he's an essential worker, though, of course, there are serious questions about whether or not going to a campaign rally is considered essential work by the vice president.

[15:05:15]

But it doesn't appear the White House has learned anything from those measures. They're letting him continue to go on the road. And they are planning a another in person event tonight for Amy Coney Barrett. And, of course, everyone knows the last one is the one where several of those cases of the West Wing outbreak were tied to that event in the weeks that followed.

TAPPER: That's right. Chris Christie had to run to the hospital and stay in the intensive care unit for about a week or so.

Kaitlan Collins, thank you so much.

With the election just eight days away, Joe Biden is not on the campaign trail today. Instead, he's at home in Delaware preparing for a last-minute swing through states he is hoping to flip from red to blue.

CNN's Jessica Dean joins me now live from Wilmington, Delaware.

Jessica, there's no debate to prepare for. Why on earth would Joe Biden not be on the trail today eight days until the election?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, here we are eight days before the election, Jake.

And the Biden campaign says, look, they are aggressively campaigning, but they are doing so safely. That's the line that's coming from the campaign in these final days. They point to the rallies, like we just saw a few minutes ago, that you showed, where there's no social distancing, where people aren't wearing masks, and they say they don't want to be doing what President Trump and Vice President Pence are doing right now.

They want to campaign aggressively, but they also want to do it safely. And they're betting that the American people will understand that and appreciate that they're making that effort.

But, as you point out, it is definitely out of the ordinary that the Democratic nominee for president is not on the campaign trail eight days before the election. Typically, they would be barnstorming the country, going to battleground states. And we're just not seeing that right now.

They would say this is not your typical year. There is a pandemic gripping the nation and we are seeing record numbers of cases.

It is worth pointing out, Jake, Biden heads to Georgia tomorrow. That is a state of Democrat hasn't carried in a presidential election since 1992. He's also going to Florida on Thursday.

TAPPER: Yes, but it's not as though Pennsylvania is sewn up. I mean, I think that's why so many people are scratching their heads about this.

DEAN: Yes. TAPPER: You have some brand-new reporting about Joe Biden's plan to

give a speech laying out his closing argument tomorrow in Georgia. Tell us more about that.

DEAN: Right.

So we're learning he's going to be in Warm Springs, Georgia, which you know, Jake, and so many remember FDR's close association with there. That's where his Little White House was. We're told that tomorrow is really going to be a closing argument of sorts. It's going to weave together what we heard from Biden in Gettysburg, what we heard from Biden at his DNC acceptance speech.

It's a lot about unity, about coming together to overcome the vitriol and the polarization that's gripping America right now, and that Biden will lean back into that imagery that we heard from him to be an ally of the light.

I also spoke to a campaign aide who told me that there's an obvious parallel with him and FDR, making the case that Joe Biden, if he's elected, will be going into office under unprecedented economic conditions that we haven't seen since the Great Depression, and that he's proposing bold new options and movement forward, like FDR did to get America out of the Great Depression.

But, again, we will hear that from Joe Biden in Georgia tomorrow.

TAPPER: All right, Jessica Dean in Wilmington, Delaware, thank you so much.

I want to bring Dr. Anand Parekh, the former deputy assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services during the Obama administration.

Dr. Parekh, thanks so much for joining us.

What was your reaction when you heard on "STATE OF THE UNION" yesterday White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows say that they're not going to control the pandemic? It's a contagious virus.

DR. ANAND PAREKH, BIPARTISAN POLICY CENTER: Jake, it was really concerning to hear that, because the implication, essentially, is that, other than vaccine production and vaccine distribution, there's nothing to do here. And that's simply not the case.

There are so many things we could be doing right now to save lives, whether that's universal masking, whether that's limiting gatherings, whether that's restrictions on high-risk establishments or venues where transmission can occur.

And the reason to do this, as you just reported, is that hospitalizations are really increasing across the country. So, what we do now, the impact will be felt in the coming weeks. And the faster that we do the correct things, the less the likelihood that we will be facing some sort of shutdown this winter. TAPPER: I guess Meadows was suggesting that they can't do anything to stop it from spreading, but they -- that's why they're focusing on a vaccine, and also therapeutics, ways of dealing, of helping people who have the virus.

And, certainly, the medical community knows more now than it did in March and April and is able to save more lives. But why would this be dangerous? Because, obviously, you think the idea of what Joe Biden says, the White House has given up on trying to protect the American people, you think this is a bad thing.

Why is it dangerous?

PAREKH: Yes, clear and consistent communication from leadership is exactly what the American public needs right now. And that's the way to actually fight pandemic fatigue as well.

[15:10:00]

So, clear guidance, universal masking, Jake, we know can potentially save tens of thousands of lives over the next couple of months, physical distancing so important as well, the restrictions that we talk about.

All of these can save tens of thousands of lives. A vaccine is really, really important. And I think Operation Warp Speed is doing tremendous work. But that's still a couple of months away. And in the interim, we have an opportunity to save lives. And the White House really needs to be focused on that, working with states to ensure all the evidence- based practices that public health experts have called for are really put in place.

TAPPER: What do you make of all the rallies that Vice President Pence and President Trump continue to have, no masks required, no distancing, lots of people grouped together?

They're having them in Minnesota, Pennsylvania, North Carolina. Just as a public health expert, what do you think of them?

PAREKH: Yes, beyond sort of the potential risk of super-spreading events here, it comes back to role modeling.

What we really want for our elected officials is to really role-model the public health recommendations. And when you see the president or the vice president or others without masks, the audience without masks, no physical distancing whatsoever, large gatherings, it makes transmission of the virus that much more possible.

And so I think this is really concerning, and in many cases can be sending the wrong messages to the very public that we're trying to partner with and build trust with.

TAPPER: Vice President Pence was exposed to somebody who has coronavirus, Marc Short, his chief of staff. He is now calling himself an essential worker, which is normally a term that one would use for a governor, a mayor, I guess a president working in the White House, per se, trying to keep the trains running on time, et cetera, or a health care worker.

Do you think the vice president campaigning for reelection is essential work?

PAREKH: Well, Jake, he's had close contact.

And I think that's what has been reported. And so, by definition, like any of us, if we're a close contact, we ought to be quarantining for 14 days, irrespective of testing.

Now, actually, sort of the essential worker, critical infrastructure personnel definition by the Department of Homeland Security, there were 16 categories there, by definition, the vice president actually wouldn't fall into any of those categories.

So, I think the White House is making a case here. He's going to be to be -- have to be extremely, extremely careful here of ensuring that he's wearing masks, he's being -- he's physically distancing, because he could very well have coronavirus. And I think we're going to have to watch that very closely.

But -- so, I am concerned. I'm very, very concerned. It also goes back to role modeling. Anybody who is in close contact, irrespective of a negative test, you need to be quarantined for 14 days.

TAPPER: That's right. We hope the vice president doesn't have coronavirus. And we certainly hope he doesn't spread coronavirus.

Dr. Anand Parekh, thank you so much for your time today. We appreciate it.

Talk of a national mask mandate and overwhelmed hospitals warn of rationing care. How did we get back to where we were months ago?

Plus: a new coronavirus curfew -- how one Texas town is taking serious action, as funeral homes are preparing for the worst.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:17:36]

TAPPER: In our health today: Every single state in the United States is trending in the wrong direction, as a massive surge of coronavirus cases sweeps the U.S.

The average number of new daily cases is the highest it has ever been in this pandemic, with more than 68,000 added daily. The death toll is also taking up across the country, almost 800 people dying every day from the virus. Several states are now reporting record high hospitalizations. And across the country, more people are being admitted to hospitals for COVID each day than are leaving those hospitals because of COVID, a troubling change from just the last two months, when more people were checking out than in.

And, as CNN's Erica Hill reports for us now, this flood of patients is overwhelming hospitals, forcing some to consider rationing their care. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More Americans hospitalized, more new infections, more lives lost, the average number of new cases in the U.S. now nearly 69,000 a day.

DR. WILLIAM HASELTINE, INFECTIOUS DISEASE EXPERT: We are looking forward to a number of record weeks in the very near future that will drive this daily rate above 100,000.

HILL: Thirty-seven states reporting an increase in new cases over the past week, 21 posting their highest seven-day averages to date.

DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Literally, we have never given up on a virus like this before.

HILL: With no national plan, experts are working overtime to fill the void.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NIAID DIRECTOR: If people are not wearing masks, then maybe we should be mandating it.

HILL: Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb pushing for a temporary nationwide mandate in a new op-ed, noting, states should be able to choose how to enforce a mandate, but the goal should be to make masks a social and cultural norm, not a political statement.

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: We actually have a narrow window of opportunity right now to stop the explosive spread that is coming.

HILL: Four confirmed cases at this Arizona middle school prompting a two-week quarantine for hundreds of students and staff.

Chicago adding a new curfew, as numbers there rise. Illinois' director of public health breaking down over the weekend.

DR. NGOZI EZIKE, DIRECTOR, ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH We are reporting 3,874 new cases, for a total of 364,033 confirmed cases since the start of this pandemic. Excuse me, please.

[15:20:00]

HILL: The Utah Hospital Association warning it may soon need to ration care.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That would affect not just people who have COVID, but people who need to go to the ICU for other medical purposes.

HILL: El Paso, Texas, adding a two-week curfew, as hospitals and ICUs reach capacity.

DEE MARGO (R), MAYOR OF EL PASO, TEXAS: We have had significant spikes, to the point that our hospital capacity is really tapped. We're probably at the end of our rope there.

HILL: The Convention Center being converted to a hospital to help manage the surge, which shows no sign of slowing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: Twenty-seven states so far in the month of October have reported their highest single day for new cases. That's according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

And, Jake, so far, 11 states have reported their highest number of daily deaths.

TAPPER: All right, Erica Hill, thanks so much.

There is only one state in the United States averaging more than 5,000 new coronavirus cases every day. And that is the Lone Star State, Texas.

And, yesterday, 1,500 of those cases were in El Paso alone. Because of that surge, today, the University Medical Center of El Paso started using a nearby children's hospital as an overflow for non-COVID patients.

Let's bring in Jacob Cintron. He's the president and CEO at the University Medical Center of El Paso.

Thanks so much for joining us. I'm sorry it's under these circumstances.

Today, a spokesperson for your hospital said that you're overwhelmed with patients at this point. Tell us more about what that means. Do you have enough staff and hospital beds to handle this surge?

JACOB CINTRON, PRESIDENT AND CEO, UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER OF EL PASO: Well, I will tell you that we knew there'd be a surge coming at some point.

So, a lot of the area hospitals, including our own, had already had contingency plans to expand a number of beds. We had already done so. The increase in the number of COVID positives was much higher, obviously, than expected.

But, nonetheless, the area hospitals, along with ourselves, have added approximately 250 additional beds on our own, and we're still looking at adding some more. Additionally, the state has provided us resources with the tents that will allow us to be able to off-load some patients that are needing some follow-up care.

Then the Civic Center Hospital will be able to handle some COVID- positive patients as well. So, it caught us, but we're in a much better position today than we were back in April.

TAPPER: I wouldn't call it a bright spot, but one thing that is at least positive news, or not negative news, is the fact that doctors and nurses know a lot more about the virus now than they did earlier in the pandemic. So the death rate is not as high.

Is that knowledge helping at all right now in terms of keeping the death rate low?

CINTRON: Certainly, it is.

I mean, today we're using remdesivir. We have adequate inventory of it and access to more. And that helps lengthen -- or shorten the length of stay. We're also using steroids to be able to help our patients recover faster.

So, really, the mortality rate is lower than it was initially. When you look at the number of patients that are coming in that COVID- positive, vs. those that are being exposed as COVID-positive, over 50 percent of those are under the age of 30. And in among that age group, there's only been 10 mortalities of our total mortality.

So, really, the purpose then, for example, with a curfew that the county Judge Samaniego implemented yesterday should help try to reduce the community spread that's occurring right now in El Paso.

TAPPER: Although I should point out that it has been consistent in this pandemic that, first, you get a surge in new cases, then you get a surge in hospitalizations, then you get a surge in deaths.

So, as the cases are surging right now and the hospitalizations, do you expect that the death rate in El Paso will increase as well?

CINTRON: Well, certainly, I think the higher the number of people that are COVID-positive, there are a certain percentage of those that will require hospitalization.

For example, since October 16, our hospitalization rate citywide has doubled. A percentage of those are going to need critical care. And then there's always going to be a percentage of that that will not be able to make it.

And so our funeral homes, for example, have brought in additional support to be able to handle additional deaths, if that were to occur. And so, yes, we would expect that, as this continues to trend, absent slowing down the spread, we're going to see an increase in hospitalizations and deaths.

TAPPER: And, obviously, El Paso set a new record yesterday with more than 1,500 new coronavirus cases.

Health officials say that 52 -- I'm sorry -- that 92 percent of these cases are in the Latino population of El Paso. And the mayor of El Paso said that it may be that some members of the Latino population have let their guard down.

What activities do you see contributing to this surge?

CINTRON: Well, I think -- I think, among the younger population, this feeling that they -- it really hasn't hit them as hard, so, we do see some cases of that.

[15:25:07] I do get concerned when you see so much in terms of activities. I think the public health department mentioned that a lot of the spread is occurring at the retail shops, as well as restaurants. And so, really, the -- is it limited to an Hispanic population?

You know, I think that the border does offer some opportunity for spread, as there's still some traffic going back and forth. But I also think it's a lot of other things. It could be school starting up. Certainly, I think there's a COVID sense of exhaustion, and so the lack of masking as much as we would like, the social distancing.

And so I think this year ordered by the -- our county judge is really going to help in terms of not only the curfew, but also imposing penalties if you're not wearing your mask or maintaining a social distance that's adequate and safe.

TAPPER: All right, Jacob Cintron, best of luck. Stay in touch with us. We want to keep covering what's going on in El Paso.

CINTRON: Thank you.

TAPPER: Really appreciate it. And good luck to you and with all your hard work there.

President Trump is accusing him of hiding in the basement. So, why is Joe Biden not out on the campaign trail today with just eight critical days left to vote?

Stay with us.

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