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U.S. Gas Prices Keep Climbing Amid Fragile Ceasefire With Iran; Oil Prices Drop as U.S. Starts Guiding Ships Through Hormuz; 150 Stranded on Cruise Ship Hit With Fatal Cases of Hantavirus; WHO Working to Evacuate Sick Passengers of Cruise Ship; New Study Finds Tiny Plastics Found in Oceans Likely Trapping Heat in the Air. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired May 05, 2026 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:32:27]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Every gas station across the country right now brings a harsh reminder of how much the Iran War is costing consumers. AAA says the national average for regular unleaded is just a shade under $4.50, $4.48 a gallon.

That's up $0.30 in just the last week. And that means you're now spending more to fill your tank by about 50 percent since the war started. But as gas prices keep rising, crude oil is actually down today for both the U.S. and international benchmarks. Still above $100 a barrel, though President Trump says that is a lot less than he expected. Listen.

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DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I also thought oil would go up to $200, $250, maybe $300. And I know it will be short term, but I thought it would go. I look today, it's like at $102. And that's a very small price to pay for getting rid of a nuclear weapon from people that are really mentally deranged.

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SANCHEZ: Let's discuss with oil industry analyst and President of Lipow Oil Associates, Andy Lipow. Andy, thanks so much for being with us. How impactful would you say Project Freedom has been in restoring confidence to shippers and insurers in the Persian Gulf?

ANDY LIPOW, PRESIDENT, LIPOW OIL ASSOCIATES: Well, they're still taking a wait and see attitude. We saw two U. S.-flagged merchant ships exit the Strait. But as far as the tanker fleet goes, they're still, for all intents and purposes, bottled up inside the Persian Gulf.

[13:35:00]

And what's more, we still need to get tankers that are outside of the Persian Gulf back into the Persian Gulf to load the crude oil that has been sitting in oil storage tanks.

SANCHEZ: Do you think, Andy, that there's going to eventually need to be a long-term presence in the Strait to protect against Iranian interference?

LIPOW: Well, it certainly seems that way in the near term. If Iran was able to shut down the Strait once, there's nothing that prevents them from shutting down the Strait in the future. And I think that's why the president is trying to get a coalition of many countries to come into the Middle East to show that this is really a worldwide issue.

SANCHEZ: So the United Arab Emirates is blaming Iranian drones for damaging a pipeline that it's used to bypass the Strait. Help us understand the significance of that line and why Tehran saw it as an important target.

LIPOW: Well, we've seen that the closure of the Strait impacted about 20 million barrels a day of crude oil and refined products. And Saudi Arabia, through their East-West pipeline, was able to divert about 4 million barrels a day.

But the Emirates, through their pipeline going to Fujairah, was able to divert another million barrels a day. So Iran, by attacking the Fujairah oil installation facilities and shutting down this pipeline, would again impact oil supplies to the rest of the world. And that's really what Iran wants to do.

While the U.S. is blockading Iran, Iran is blockading the rest of the world in order to put pressure indirectly on the U.S. to come to some agreement with Iran.

SANCHEZ: So given the fact that that agreement appears to be pretty far off on the horizon, at least given current conditions, the stalemate that we see, and also the lag time that it'll take for supply to come back online, what's your outlook on where you see oil and gas prices over the course of the next year or so?

LIPOW: Well, this is very concerning because in the near term, if the conflict were to go on through the end of May and into June, I think that you could see the national retail gas price go to $5 a gallon and WTI prices go up to $120 a barrel, because the world has been living off of government releases of strategic petroleum reserves, as well as a drawdown of commercial inventories.

And especially here in the United States, since early February, gasoline inventories are off 14 percent, while diesel inventories are off 17 percent. This is happening as we go into the summer driving season, increasing demand. And on the agricultural side, we're into the planting season, increasing demand for diesel. So in the near term, it's very concerning.

If the conflict were to end, I think it would take about a year to at least get crude oil production back to the market. But I don't see us returning to $67 a barrel. We're probably looking at around $80 to $85 a barrel. SANCHEZ: Wow. Andy Lipow, thank you so much for that analysis. Appreciate your time.

LIPOW: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Still ahead, the World Health Organization now says some human-to-human transmission may have taken place on that cruise ship hit with a deadly virus outbreak. Some 150 passengers are still on board. We're going to speak with the acting director for the WHO when we come back.

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[13:43:25]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Today, the World Health Organization says they now believe human-to-human transmission played some part in the first known hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship. Nearly 150 people, including 17 Americans, are stranded off the coast of Africa after three passengers died, including an older couple from the Netherlands.

At least four other suspected cases have been detected. An American passenger who shared an emotional message just 24 hours ago released a new statement today, saying he and everyone else who is not sick on board are doing well and they're in good spirits.

We're joined now by Maria Van Kerkhove. She is the World Health Organization's Acting Director of Epidemic and Pandemic Management. Thank you so much for being with us.

Can you talk to us about how likely it is that this was human-to-human contact?

MARIA VAN KERKHOVE, W.H.O. ACTING DIRECTOR OF EPIDEMIC AND PANDEMIC MANAGEMENT: First of all, thanks very much for having me on the show and to give you an update of the situation as we understand it. So we think there are multiple ways in which the six or seven individuals that have been showing symptoms may have been infected with the hantavirus. So putting in context, there's about 147 passengers and crew on board.

So far, there have been seven people who have been reported ill. Unfortunately, two patients have died, as you pointed out. Our working hypothesis is that the first two cases, the Dutch couple that you mentioned, perhaps may have been infected off of the boat before they actually boarded the boat through exposure through rodents, because hantavirus typically infects people through contact with rodents or their feces or their saliva.

[13:45:00]

But because they're such close contacts, it's possible that one of the couples infected the other. So we just can't rule that out. We also know that with the Andes virus, which has not yet been confirmed yet, but what we are assuming is the virus that has infected these passengers, there have been outbreaks in the past where close contact, like providing medical care, for example, could result in human-to- human contact. So that's what we're operating under in terms of assumptions so that we can ensure that the right protections are being used on board.

But there's full epi investigations that are underway for us to actually determine how each of the people, if they are in fact infected with the hantavirus, were infected.

KEILAR: So how long are you recommending that everyone else remain on the boat here?

VAN KERKHOVE: What we're doing right now is we have two major priorities. The first one is we have two symptomatic individuals who are on board and we are working with the ship's operators and we're working with the Dutch authorities to make sure that they are medically evacuated as quickly as possible back to the Netherlands for care.

The second major objective is to work with all of the people that are on board, the ship's operators and the countries of the nationalities of the people who are on board to make sure that they are safe and that they're well cared for. They're currently off the coast of Cabo Verde and we're making a plan right now with many different member states, many different countries who actually would like to be able to support the onward caring of those individuals to say where that ship will go, how we will do the full epi investigation, risk assessment, so that of course we can take care of them, we can monitor them and we can get them home.

KEILAR: So you said that one way the human-to-human transmission is possible is by someone providing medical care. So what I'm hearing you say there is prolonged exposure, someone is symptomatic, so there would be coughing, there might be some kind of fluids and surfaces nearby. If it is --

VAN KERKHOVE: Yes.

KEILAR: -- that, I mean are there someone on board, right, who is providing them this medical help? So how many people are at risk now on board and could other people besides those providing medical support be at risk?

VAN KERKHOVE: Yeah, that's a great question. So we do have -- there is crew that are on board that have been caring for passengers through the cruise. As you know, it started in Argentina and it's moved up the coast of Africa in the Atlantic, visiting different islands, and there are medical professionals that are on board. Since the boat has been off the coast of Cabo Verde, there have been medical professionals from Cabo Verde that have boarded the boat to do further medical assessments.

Now let me be really clear, we do have personal protective equipment like masks, FFP2 respirators that these medical professionals do wear to protect themselves. But of course, you may have couples and they may not know if they are infected. So we just want to make sure if anyone is symptomatic and as you had actually said, there are no further symptomatic people on board aside from these two individuals that we are trying to medivac and of course, the situation can change and that's why we need to provide that medical care. But there is protection that can be worn to minimize the risk.

KEILAR: So we don't know at this point then, it is unclear when this boat will be able to go into a port is what I'm hearing you say.

VAN KERKHOVE: We're hoping that the boat starts to move tonight to the next port and again, we're having active discussions with several different countries who want to be able to welcome that boat and make sure that the proper public health risk assessments are done, the environmental contamination. I should say that right now, on board, the crew is working to do disinfection on the boat as well.

So there are things that are happening on board to keep people safe, the passengers have been asked to remain in their cabins. There's food and there's water that's there, there's plenty of communication that's coming through. We have heard back and you reported yourself that, you know, the spirits are really up for the people on board but, of course, it's scary and of course, we want to get them to the next port of call as quickly as possible so that plan can be in place and, again, get them home.

KEILAR: As we are looking at how the WHO here is responding to this, we do have to remember that in not very long, the World Cup is coming our way and you're going to have people coming from all over the world, you know, bringing their germs as they come together in this wonderful event, but there are obviously going to be health implications here.

The U.S. has withdrawn from the World Health Organization. Would the U.S. normally be helping with this particular investigation and what is lost that it's not especially with this big global event on the horizon with health implications?

[13:50:00]

VAN KERKHOVE: Well, with the FIFA World Cup coming up and, yes, it's a very positive experience that many, many people are looking forward to. We actually work with FIFA. We've worked for many years in many different World Cups. We work with Olympic Committees to actually do risk assessments to go through all of the different planning.

And as you know, there's a huge amount of planning that takes place for any of these big events, looking at the different types of scenarios, looking at what needs to be in place for the people who are attending, for the athletes themselves, to make sure that they're happening as safe as possible. We do this for big religious events, like Hajj, for example. So there are many ways in which we do support. And of course, we're the World Health Organization and we work with everyone everywhere.

We continue to work with every country that's there, countries that are going to be attending the World Cup themselves. But again, it's an ongoing risk assessment, and that's happened over many years. So it's not something that we do to prepare for only a few weeks ahead of time. It's actually months and years of planning.

KEILAR: But Maria, would the U.S. normally be helping with this investigation involving the cruise ship?

VAN KERKHOVE: In this investigation, there are Americans on board, as you have said. So we have many different countries that we've been working with right now. Spain, I want to say a big thank you to Spain, to South Africa, who are treating patients. There's a patient in ICU in South Africa who is actually doing much better. The U.K., the Netherlands, Cabo Verde, of course. We do have people from WHO, who have been supporting in on the boat and who will be getting on the boat to provide even more support as the boat moves to its next port of call.

The U.S. typically will get involved in outbreak investigations, maybe not this particular one, but certainly, we have benefited from the incredible technical expertise in the U.S. on many different outbreaks over time, and we hope that that will continue.

KEILAR: All right, Maria Van Kerkhove, thank you so much. Obviously, a lot of people are watching this and there are implications, of course, for other cruise ships and other events. So we appreciate you being with us to update us.

VAN KERKHOVE: Thank you so much for having me.

KEILAR: Still ahead, a floating garbage patch twice the size of Texas is creating new problems, one that could affect us all. We're going to bring that to you next.

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[13:56:59]

SANCHEZ: Today, a new study finds that an enormous swirling patch of plastic garbage in the Pacific Ocean could be contributing to global heating. It turns out when those plastics break down and become tinier and tinier and become airborne, it could impact all of us. CNN Chief Climate Correspondent, Bill Weir joins us now.

Bill, walk us through this new research.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Well, to start with, we should understand the source of the problem. Every day, humanity creates about 1.3 million metric tons of plastic. That's new plastic. And then at the same time, about a million tons of plastic waste a day. And then as bottles and packaging and old fishing nets breaks down in the Pacific, there's a gyre of sort of circular currents that keeps them in one spot twice the size of Texas.

It evokes sort of like a floating dump. When you hear Pacific garbage patch, you can't walk on it, but more like a soup in some places, you know, sort of thick with little bits of plastic. And we've long been concerned about what that does to marine life, the turtles, the whales, the fish, birds that have to swim through and eat from that. But this study, it was actually a joint venture, Chinese and American scientists looking at the climate impacts of that plastic. It really breaks down to the nano and micro particles gets up into the sky. And they wondered, does it reflect sunlight and as a result, slow down global warming or does it absorb it?

Well, it turns out the darker colored plastic absorbs 75 times more solar energy into the atmosphere over the seas than clear plastic and whatnot. And so that adds another sort of manmade warming force into the oceans which are already at just record shattering highs. It's not even summer yet. It's not even El Nino fully yet.

And already, we're seeing off-the-charts global warming. But right now, it's also worth noting that last year, over 100 countries from around the world came to the table hoping to sign a global plastics treaty, which was in the end killed by countries like the United States and Russia, Saudi Arabia, big petro states. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Bill Weir, thank you so much for that reporting. Actually, I do have one more question for you, Bill. You mentioned that China and the U.S. worked on this research together. Is there a next step that perhaps involves doing more to get rid of the actual plastic that's out there of the garbage patch?

WEIR: That is a policy problem, Boris. As we know, not a lot of environmental policy on the global level is getting done. It is good that these -- that researchers are still working on these problems together. This is more of an awareness thing.

What is the extra unintended consequence of all that plastic floating in the oceans? It does add a little bit of warming as well. But that's just one on a laundry list of other main concerns.

SANCHEZ: All right. Bill Weir, thank you so much for that.

A new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

KEILAR: Straight strategy. Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth says the mission to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz is temporary and separate from the war. --