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Hantavirus-Hit Cruise Ship Heading to Spain's Canary Islands; Contact Tracing Underway After Three Dead in Hantavirus Outbreak; Source Says Iran Expected to Respond to U.S. Proposal Today; Trump Meets With Brazil's President in the Oval Office Soon; Marco Rubio Meets With Pope Leo Amid Growing Tensions With Vatican; 17 Hurt, Hundreds of Homes Damaged as Tornadoes Hit Mississippi. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired May 07, 2026 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Right now, officials are monitoring dozens of people who traveled on a cruise ship that's at the center of a deadly Hantavirus outbreak. Three people have died since this vessel departed Argentina last month. And now, cases are suspected or people are being monitored in seven countries including the United States, Canada and Singapore also just added.

The outbreak has been linked to the Andes strain of Hantavirus, a rare but potentially severe virus that could spread between humans. We're joined now by Dr. Seema Yasmin. She's a former CDC Disease Detective, also the author of "Viral BS: Medical Myths and Why We Fall for Them."

Doctor, thank you so much for being with us. So, this virus typically incubates for up to six weeks before symptoms appear. What does that mean for how far this could spread undetected?

DR. SEEMA YASMIN, FORMER CDC DISEASE DETECTIVE: Good morning, Boris. And let me start by sending my heartfelt condolences to those who have lost loved ones in this outbreak and those who were on the ship and are terrified.

The question you're asking about the incubation period directly impacts them because it talks about how long they need to be monitored and potentially quarantined for. So we talk about ranges when it comes to incubation periods. That's the time from when you're first exposed to a virus until you get sick. And with Hantaviruses, there's a whole family of viruses and we say it could be anything from two to four weeks, but actually, you're right, it could be anything from one week even up to eight weeks according to some of the data I've seen there.

That means public health has to really be on top of this. They have to have a coordinated, really collaborative response and as you mentioned, seven countries already responding, but those 149 folks who were on the ship actually represent 23 countries. So this is a big public health response that's needed.

SANCHEZ: How rare is it to see a strain of Hantavirus that transmits from human to human?

YASMIN: It's pretty rare. Although this Andes species of Hantavirus isn't brand new, we've known about it for decades. Outbreaks caused by it are pretty rare. There's one that happened in Argentina in 2018 and 2019. That one infected 34 people and 11 of them died. But I do want to reassure folks that, right now, we have experts from the World Health Organization on that cruise ship as well as infectious disease and public health experts and epidemiologists figuring out how to limit the spread from person to person as some people have already disembarked the ship.

And I'm talking to you live from California where we have some folks who've returned home, the same in Georgia and in Arizona too, so public health folks there are also part of this response.

SANCHEZ: What does contact tracing look like now when so many different countries are involved?

YASMIN: It looks like a gargantuan task. You are literally sat there with spreadsheets, with flight manifests, calling everybody that may have come into contact with somebody who was on that cruise ship. And one of the things that really concerns me, Boris, as much as I'm reassured by the response so far, is that the U.S. may not have a seat at the table in the way that we used to. We left the World Health Organization just a few months ago in January and we left behind a $260 million debt to that organization.

So when we think about contact tracing now, it is boots on the ground it is lots of people power, lots of resources are needed and we truly need the U.S. to not be dismantling and defunding public health, but actually building up that infrastructure. Outbreaks like this one remind us how globally connected we are and how much investment we need in public health.

SANCHEZ: Doctor, do you expect that we might see changes to travel medicine or how cruise ships like this one operate moving forward?

YASMIN: Certainly, we're seeing everyone is on high alert right now, but I will say, when they lost an older adult passenger on that cruise ship from a viral pneumonia, the first thing that crosses your mind is not Hantavirus. There are so many other much more common bugs that can cause a viral pneumonia, especially in an older adult.

But certainly, right now, cruise ships and those companies will be working closely with public health and, again, this just reaffirms how much communication we need between public health, between travel organizations, and we need to really keep our eye on the ball when it comes to infectious diseases and sometimes how quickly these outbreaks can spread globally.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. Dr. Seema Yasmin, thanks so much for sharing your expertise.

YASMIN: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Brianna? BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Back to the Breaking News now, White House officials are waiting for an answer from Iran to a new proposal to end the war. A source in the region says the Iranians are expected to respond today and if approved, this one-page proposal would trigger a 30-day negotiation period to resolve lingering issues, including Iran's nuclear program, frozen Iranian assets, and also the Strait of Hormuz.

[13:35:00]

What a gigantic list of topics that have to be resolved here in what is supposed to be 30 days, if they do move forward here. Kristen Holmes, are officials there optimistic that Iran will accept these new terms?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're cautiously optimistic. We have seen a change in the demeanor among these U.S. officials in the last couple of days, in which they seem to be in a better place when it comes to Iran accepting a deal than they were at the end of last week. But as you noted, these kind of sticking points that we're talking about, they are also things that haven't been able to be resolved in the entirety of these negotiations.

So what's unclear right now, is why they would be able to resolve them in these 30 days, these thornier issues. Now one of the things that we are expecting to be in this one-pager, although we have not seen it ourselves, is all of the conversation around enriched uranium, what happens with the enriched uranium that Iran already has and a moratorium on enriching uranium. Again, those have also been key sticking points.

President Trump, I am told behind the scenes, has been really fixated on this idea of what happens to the enriched uranium that Iran has. And when it comes to the moratorium, we know the United States had originally said 20 years for them not to enrich uranium, Iran had come back with five, and then they were never actually able to meet at a point. Now, sources said that in this one-pager, it would be more than 10 years, but again, we haven't been able to verify that.

So still a lot of questions here, but I can tell you from conversations that I had yesterday, with various White House officials, with various allies of President Trump's, he is eager to get out of this, to move on from this. He understands what this is doing politically, as does his entire team, and it was an understanding among these officials that they would be moving towards getting out of this, rather than moving towards more military strikes. But of course, it's President Trump and we know it could change at any time.

KEILAR: And the president is meeting today with President Lula da Silva, Brazil. What is he -- you know, what's on tab here? What is he hoping to achieve with this meeting?

HOLMES: Well, Brianna, this has been kind of a fascinating day actually, because we know that this was slated to potentially be an explosive meeting. It could have grown incredibly contentious. They want to talk about co-operation, they want to talk about trades, tariffs. One of the things that we've seen from President Trump is this kind of back-and-forth whiplash, in which he's been imposing some of the most extreme tariffs on Brazil, only to then take them off. They've exchanged barbs in public.

We know that Lula has been incredibly critical of President Trump, the rhetoric that he's had including against Pope Leo. But one of the things to note here is that we were expecting to see them sit down in this bilateral and we still haven't. We were expecting to see them around 11 o'clock today. It seems as though there's no indication that this is actually going to happen.

Now I want to be very clear, in the past, we have obviously seen these leadership meetings in which the pool, which is the White House reporters who are with the president that day, is told to wait and then a couple hours go by, things are on a delay. This point, we're not even really clear that this is actually going to happen. They're not waiting standing by. They're waiting to hear if the pool is actually going to see these two leaders at all and that is fascinating.

Again, given what we know about the contentious relationship between these two leaders, it will certainly be news if this doesn't open up at all to reporters.

KEILAR: Yeah, that would be very unusual. All right, we'll keep our eye on that, Kristen, certainly. Kristen Holmes live for us at the White House, thank you.

Still ahead, repairing the rift. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio heading to the Vatican after the president picked a fight with the Pope. We'll discuss next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:43:20]

KEILAR: We're getting a readout from today's meeting between Pope Leo and Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. The Holy See saying in a statement the two talked about "the regional and international situation" with particular attention to countries marked by war, political tensions and difficult humanitarian situations.

SANCHEZ: Despite being the first American pontiff, Pope Leo's papacy has been marked by tension with the Trump administration The Pope has criticized President Trump's immigration policy, calling it "extremely disrespectful." He's also been an outspoken critic of the Iran War saying, quote, "God does not bless war."

KEILAR: In return, President Trump has accused the Pope of wanting Iran to have a nuclear weapon and "catering to the radical left." We're joined now by Father Thomas Reese. He's the former Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedoms, and he's a Senior Analyst for Religion News Services as well.

This is a really interesting time for this meeting. I know the State Department, father, is downplaying that, but how are you seeing it?

FATHER THOMAS REESE, SENIOR ANALYST, RELIGION NEWS SERVICES: Well, I think Secretary of State Rubio went to the Vatican with two goals. One was a domestic goal, to tell American Catholics, Catholic voters that, oh, everything is fine with us and the papacy. This is important for Republicans running for office in November. But he also had an agenda with the Holy See itself, mending fences with them and frankly, looking for areas where they might be able to cooperate and work together.

SANCHEZ: And I wonder what you make of the overall picture between President Trump and the Pope, and whether this perhaps warms things on the White House's side.

[13:45:00]

(LAUGH)

REESE: Well, it's so hard to tell because you don't know what Trump is going to do tomorrow. Trump tries to treat the president like he treats other heads of states or people who oppose him. It's attack, it's a personal attack. He tries to bully them. But how do you bully the Pope?

Are you going to threaten to bomb the Vatican? Are you going to call for regime change? Are you going to impose tariffs on the Vatican? I mean, say, maybe on indulgences? We don't sell indulgences anymore.

I mean, so what, how does he do it? Well, he falls back on trying to bully him. And Pope Leo just, it's like water off a duck's back. He doesn't respond. He just says, I'm here to preach the gospel. I'm here to preach peace.

KEILAR: His considerations are different. And yet, American Catholics are such a big part of who he has to think about, right? I know he's not -- there's not going to be a papal visit to the U.S. in 2026. The Vatican has made that clear, largely due to the midterm elections. That's pretty customary.

But do you think that Leo might make a visit before President Trump ends his time in the White House?

REESE: I think it's quite possible, if for no other reason than to go to the United Nations. All the popes have visited the United Nations, because that's their opportunity to speak to the world. And of course, when you come to speak at the United Nations, you also come and visit the United States. I'm sure he'd like to go to Chicago to get a White Sox game in. There's all sorts --

KEILAR: And a hot dog.

(LAUGH)

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

REESE: And a hot dog. So there's opportunities. But he's going to make sure that it's not just a photo op with the president to advance some political agenda. They're going to be very careful to make sure that doesn't happen.

SANCHEZ: Talk to us more broadly about the Pope's role in foreign policy. You mentioned a visit to the United Nations. There's a lot going on around the world right now, right?

REESE: Absolutely. I mean, this Pope has, from the very beginning, said that one of his priorities is peace in the world. There's so many conflicts going on in the world, in Iran, in the Middle East, in Jordan, one of the places that the pope visited early in his pontificate, let alone Africa. So peace is very high on his agenda.

But he's also continuing the priorities of Pope Francis, you know, protection of the environment, dealing with global warming, care for the poor. I mean, with the USAID cuts that the United States has done, more and more is falling on the church and other groups to try and pick up the slack, and it's impossible. We don't have that kind of money.

So, he sees that the damage this is doing on people, of course, that's his focus. What's the impact of all these things on people?

KEILAR: There's been this recent tension over the issue of Iran. But immigration is also a big one. As you mentioned, we were saying in the commercial break, Pope Leo and Marco Rubio could speak in Spanish together, should they so desire to do so. Immigration has been a big issue for the Vatican in general, for this Pope in particular as well. What do you think might come of that?

REESE: Well, that certainly has been a strong issue of Pope Leo and also, of course, of Pope Francis, both of them with lots of experience in Latin America. Pope Leo was a bishop in Peru. So they're very sensitive to how the immigration policies of the United States are hurting families, are hurting people.

And our bishops in the United States are very concerned about this, too. It's their people. It's people in the pews. They hear about it from their pastors. They know the names of people who are picked up on the street and taken away. And they know these are not criminals. These are hardworking immigrants who are trying to make a living and advance their families.

And so, the Pope is going to say, this is not right.

KEILAR: To be a fly on the wall, indeed, in this meeting. Father Thomas Reese, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it.

And now to some of the other headlines that we're watching this hour. Today, hundreds of families in southern Mississippi are surveying damage like this after multiple tornadoes reportedly hit several communities. Officials say hundreds of homes were damaged. Seventeen people were injured in these storms.

The storm struck overnight. It forced first responders to sift through debris for hours in the dark. Thankfully and amazingly, at this point, no deaths have been reported.

Also, some new developments in the case of Kristin Smart, a California college student who disappeared 30 years ago this month. For a second straight day, investigators are searching a home with family connections to Paul Flores, who is convicted of killing smart three years ago, even though her remains have never been found.

[13:50:00]

Authorities believe her body was moved to another home they searched previously where Flores's father lived. The sheriff's office in San Luis Obispo says it's committed to finding Kristin and bringing her back to her family.

SANCHEZ: And police in Oklahoma have arrested a man linked to a deadly mass shooting at a party. The suspect is 18-year-old Jaylan A. Davis. He's currently charged with assault with a deadly weapon, but is expected to be upgraded to felony murder. One woman was killed, 22 others were hurt. Police believe at least one other suspect is still at large.

And still to come this afternoon, an A.I. theory that may become reality, a new report claiming that artificial intelligence systems could soon start improving at lightning speed. We're going to break down the implications when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:55:19]

SANCHEZ: Every new A.I. model gets a little bit better. One thing they all have in common, it's a human behind the tech. But what happens if humans wind up becoming unnecessary for the upgrade? That could be the future, according to the co-founder of Anthropic.

Jack Clark says that there's a 60-plus percent chance that that could happen soon, telling Axios, quote, "My prediction is by the end of 2028, it's more likely than not that we have an A.I. system where you would be able to say to it, make a better version of yourself. And it just goes off and does that completely autonomously."

It's a process known as recursive self-improvement and it requires a lot of questions about the role of humans in the world of A.I. In his substack, Clark warns, quote, "If that happens, we will cross a Rubicon into nearly impossible-to-forecast future."

Let's discuss this with Lance Ulanoff. He's the editor-at-large for TechRadar. Lance, thanks so much for being with us. I mean, how effective right now is A.I. at training itself?

LANCE ULANOFF, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, TECHRADAR: It's not necessarily -- I mean, it certainly can identify things. And as we know, A.I. is quite good at coding. We do something called vibe coding, where basically people who aren't programmers just talk to the A.I. and tell it what it wants. And then it basically spits out a program. So it's getting really, really good at that. But the complexity of the system itself, it is a big question mark about whether or not it can go in there and identify strengths and weaknesses, leave the strengths in place, fix the weaknesses, and not do something that we didn't want it to do.

You know, taking humans out of this loop is certainly not something anyone really wants. But I will remind you that everything is moving so fast that we could suddenly be at a place where it is able to do that. And of course, somebody tries it out, and then we have to be concerned about it being used in the real world.

SANCHEZ: So what are the risks? I mean, to use the example of Terminator, how close can it get to, like, Skynet, where it just decides --

(LAUGH)

SANCHEZ: -- hey, the easiest way to fix the problem is to go on a war against humanity?

ULANOFF: Well, you know, look, A.I. doesn't have an intent, right? It doesn't have a mind of its own, really. It's doing things based on what should happen next. That's kind of how A.I. works, how the large language models work. You know, what is the next logical thing?

So it is unlikely, but not impossible, for it to make bad choices. As we've seen when we have conversations with A.I., sometimes it tells you something, and you're like, really, that's what I should do? And then sort of like we back up, and it goes to a different place. And there are more and more guardrails you'll see in A.I. to prevent that from happening.

So the risks of humans being taken out of the loop is, to me, quite large. Not necessarily a looming threat this year or even next year, but possibly the year after that, or sooner, because things move so quickly. One thing I will point out is when I was watching a robot factory recently, the NeoBot, where they were building NeoBots, they had some of the NeoBot robots involved in building themselves.

So in a way, it's already happening, and that's happening because of A.I. So the question is, and this is why I appreciate the Anthropic Institute, is at least they're having the conversation. How do we prevent this? How do we get ahead of this? What do we do in the meantime?

SANCHEZ: Lance, you gave me some relief, and then you started talking about robots building themselves after I referenced Terminator. Earlier this week --

(LAUGH)

SANCHEZ: -- onto another question.

ULANOFF: I'm so sorry. SANCHEZ: It's all right. It's all right. We learned that Google, Microsoft, and xAI were going to be sharing some of the unreleased early versions of their A.I. with the government in an effort to combat cybersecurity threats. How important is it going to be for these tech giants to work alongside the federal government? Because I imagine that at some point, A.I. will need to be regulated.

ULANOFF: Yeah, well, there's the big problem. We still don't have a countrywide regulation. What we have is we're starting to see state- by-state things. But then sort of the Trump administration is kind of trying to insert itself in here.

I do appreciate the idea. After Anthropic and Mythos, which was the model that basically could find vulnerabilities in sort of any system, regardless of age, which scared everyone, so I appreciate that they're doing this. But we also want to make sure that they're not looking at it, this code, for something other than threats, if they're making sure that it aligns with some principle or some political principle that they want.

So I think it's a good first step. But we actually need real regulations that the American public can understand as they're using these tools and they can start to have some confidence that they can trust them.

SANCHEZ: Lance Ulanoff, thanks so much for sharing your perspective. Appreciate it. --