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France Reports 1st Suspected Hantavirus Case in Person Who was Not on Cruise Shi; Frantic Race to Trace Origins of Deadly Hantavirus Infections; Source: Iran Expected to Respond to U.S. Proposal Today; Analysis: A.I. Cited as the #1 Factor in Job Cuts for 2 Months Straight 3-3:30p ET

Aired May 07, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: ... $1.7 billion dollars. Again, this is money that was congressionally allocated that they are not spending on a critical program to treat HIV AIDS. Brianna, one advocate says quote that the money taken away from that program will kill people. So, you've got that plus the people who could die of tuberculosis and malaria staggering.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: It certainly is. Brian, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

And a new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: A race to contain the hantavirus outbreak: Cruise passengers in several countries and five states here in the United States being monitored as the ship with nearly 150 people still on board is preparing to dock.

And a waiting game, Iran says it's still reviewing messages from the U.S. but it hasn't finalized a response to a proposal to end the war as shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz drops to near zero.

And later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in Rome on a mission to de-escalate tensions between Washington and the Vatican. What we know about his meeting with Pope Leo.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

The breaking news this hour. Health officials around the world are tracing and scrambling to contain the deadly hantavirus outbreak. Right now, American passengers who disembarked the cruise ship before the outbreak was detected are now being monitored across five states: California, Georgia, Arizona, Texas and Virginia. And we're learning that now in France, officials there are monitoring the first suspected case in a person who was not on the cruise ship and is now having mild symptoms. Let's go live to Paris with CNN's Melissa Bell.

What are you hearing about this suspected case in France, Melissa?

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What we understand from French authorities Paris is that these were eight passengers who were aboard that flight that went from St Helena to South Africa on which one of the passengers who then went on to die was traveled. These were not people who were on the cruise themselves simply on that ship. Remember that there are 30 people who disembarked in St Helena. They were on one of the flights with one of the passengers that we know had this particular strain of the virus.

Now, they're now being monitored here in France. One of them has what's being described as benign symptoms, so there's been no confirmed cases here. But, certainly, those eight people are now we understand being offered the possibility of quarantine and testing and being kept a close eye on.

And I think this is something we're going to hear a lot more of in the next few days given the incubation period of this particular strain and given how far many of those who left St Helena traveled and all of those people they may have traveled alongside of Boris.

SANCHEZ: Melissa, the plan for passengers once they disembark on the Canary Islands considering this has a long incubation period. What is the plan?

BELL: Well, there's been a lot of to and fro between authorities in the Canary Islands and Madrid. These are Spanish islands but they have their own locally elected government. The president of the Canary Islands held these long discussions about the way in which this boat could come into the port. Essentially, what they decided is it's going to be kept at arm's length. It's going to be kept away from the shore until everyone can be disembarked.

But you can imagine, Boris, the scale of this operation. There are some 23 nationalities on this ship. Once they disembark each of them is going to have to be taken through Tenerife authorities onto their onward destinations back home with an all of the practical arrangements that need to be made either for those who are showing symptoms and need to be very closely monitored or those who then need to quarantine for that period.

So, this is the beginning of what promises to be a fairly complex operation even as the World Health Organization says that it does not believe that this is the beginning of a major outbreak Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yes, Melissa Bell thank you so much for that reporting. Brianna?

KEILAR: We're joined now by Dr. Cameron Webb he's the Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Health.

Doctor, thank you so much for being with us as we've learned that a passenger from that stricken ship is now back in Virginia. Obviously, people from all over were on this ship and are on this ship. Is that passenger exhibiting any symptoms and how are they being monitored?

DR. CAMERON WEBB, COMMISSIONER, VIRGINIAL DEPT OF HEALTH: Well, thanks for having me. You know, we -- we certainly have been tracking this very closely. That passenger who arrived back in Virginia has been in touch with our local health district has been receiving guidance from the health district in terms of what symptoms to look for and what those contingencies are. But that individual, this time, is not showing any symptoms and we're continuing to -- to stay in pretty constant contact with them.

KEILAR: So, they are isolating in their home?

[15:05:00]

WEBB: They're not -- the recommendations that we got from CDC at this time, while they're not having any symptoms, isn't to necessarily isolate in their home but the nature of the communication with our health district is really making sure that we're keeping track of any symptoms that they can have and, of course, with hantavirus and with this Andes virus, specifically, those symptoms can be fairly nonspecific. It's fever, it's fatigue, it's muscle aches and so with all of that we're making sure we're tracking all those potential symptoms to stay in front of this. And at any point that there are symptoms that are identified, that's when we would make sure that they are isolating for sure.

KEILAR: Certainly. Okay, so, as they -- so they're not isolating and they are not symptomatic. But as we also understand, there is a two- to-six-week window, potentially, for displaying symptoms here. It is unfortunately rather long. In the course of that window, how are you in -- how -- how we -- are our state officials, health officials in touch with them? Is this a daily thing? What's the protocol?

WEBB: Yes, the protocol that we have in place, of course, under guidance from our colleagues at the CDC. We're in touch with them every day, so -- so we're reaching out to them, talking with them on the phone daily. We can communicate with them via text. And this particular individual has been really eager to stay in communication with us and so we're grateful for that.

I think from there, the recommendation is to -- to check their temperature twice a day and so that way we're monitoring those symptoms for fever, and then just going through that that checklist of potential symptoms that we tend to see with Andes virus so that we can stay in front of it.

KEILAR: And then, do they keep track of who they may have come into contact with in the meantime in case they do become symptomatic? What's the guidance there?

WEBB: Yes. So -- so, you know, some of this goes back to how this virus behaves and so typically they're the most infectious right at the onset of symptoms. And so, the way that we're approaching it again with our daily communication with them is at any point that they were to develop any of the enumerated symptoms with -- with this hantavirus that's when we were going to say, hey, let's make sure you're not having contact with other folks, isolate and then actually connecting them with healthcare providers pretty immediately.

So, we've already set the stage in that region, make sure that the health providers know that they're able to come to a facility that has that higher level of care for some of the worst outcomes we can see from hantavirus. But -- but, no, for that individual, specifically, the goal would be at the immediate onset of symptoms, that's what we would have them isolate.

KEILAR: Are you expecting any other passengers from the ship to come to Virginia?

WEBB: You know, our understanding from the passengers on the ship is that there's a small number of Virginians who are still on the ship. And so, you know, we're working with -- with authorities and other officials to coordinate their return and so you know when they when they are repatriated of course we're going to make proper -- proper precautions, put those in place make sure that we're communicating with the local health district, with the health care providers nearby.

And so, we're -- we're doing that work long in advance of when they return to the United States to make sure the infrastructure is in place to take care of them.

KEILAR: You were a senior advisor in the White House Office of COVID- 19 response during the Biden administration and one of the lessons from COVID that still kind of has ripple effects in public health today is that so much of this is about effective messaging and trust in officials. How do health authorities like yourself effectively communicate that the risk is generally very low, but also prevent panic because there will be people concerned?

Obviously, this is someone who's just kind of awaiting to see if they might be symptomatic. How do you do that while also being transparent about what's known about exposure and suspected cases?

WEBB: Sure, I think -- I think the key here is communicating early and often, getting the message out to the general public, but also specifically communicating with the affected individuals, with the health care and public health infrastructure around them. I think for the public's purposes, this is a -- a virus that most folks aren't familiar with. So, doing a little bit of that educating on the front end through conversations like the one you and I are having right now to make sure that folks understand when the infectious period is -- is you know believed to begin.

And -- and for those individuals who are coming back from -- from a -- from the MV Hondius, I think the key for us is making sure we're in touch early and often, right, as we're monitoring really closely. That way we're able -- able to really wrap the public health apparatus around them and do the work that we know how to do and that we're trained to do and that's to keep the public safe.

KEILAR: The U.S. formally withdrew from the WHO earlier this year. How much does that matter right now and do you believe that's having any effect on the overall response and the U.S. government response to this?

WEBB: Yes, I can't really speak to the U.S. government response, you know, from that perspective. What I can say from the ground and from here in the Commonwealth of Virginia is that we've had great coordination with our partners in CDC and it seems that they've been in really good contact with WHO and that work has -- has happened pretty seamlessly. [15:10:07]

And as was mentioned earlier, this is a pretty complex large-scale endeavor, and so it seems like all parties are operating at the top of their game, sharing information readily, taking it seriously so that we can all be appropriately prepared. So, you know, from our standpoint, it -- it feels like we've been able to have a thoughtful and -- and strong response alongside CDC and we're continuing to stay in close touch to make sure that remains the case.

KEILAR: And just real quickly before I let you go, you said a small number of Virginians are still on this ship. Do you know exactly how many?

WEBB: Yes, like we said, our -- our estimate is it's a small number, so I don't want to say specifically. But our, you know, we're saying less than five is what we've -- we've identified and so that's what we're preparing for.

KEILAR: All right, Dr. Cameron Webb, we appreciate you being with us thank you so much.

WEBB: Thanks for having me.

KEILAR: Still to come the White House waiting for Iran to respond to its latest proposal to end the war as Tehran imposes new transit rules for the Strait of Hormuz, ships going through there.

Plus, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in Rome and he's meeting with the Pope and Italy's Prime Minister after weeks of tensions between President Trump and the Vatican.

And then, later for the second month in a row, A.I. was the leading cause of layoffs in the U.S. We'll have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[15:15:48]

SANCHEZ: We're tracking breaking news in the Middle East. Iran's foreign ministry says it's not yet finalized a response to the U.S. peace proposal. Tehran says it's still reviewing messages from the U.S. through Pakistani negotiators, or mediators, I should say. Iran was expected to hand over a reply today, according to a regional source.

As diplomats wait for Iran's response, shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz is now basically frozen. Data reviewed by CNN shows near zero movement of commercial vessels over the past 48 hours. CNN Political and Global Affairs Analyst Barak Ravid joins us now.

Barak, I understand your latest reporting indicates that the expected Iranian response will come tomorrow. What are U.S. officials anticipating? BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: So, what I hear

from U.S. officials is that the -- they expect an Iranian response that will be actually several sets of answers, or amendments to the text. Some of them, one official told me, could come as early as tomorrow or Friday. And others can come over the weekend, Saturday, maybe even Sunday. And I think that we will know early next week whether this is going somewhere or not.

I think U.S. negotiators hope that this time around the Iranian responses will be such that will allow actually reaching this one-page memorandum of understanding. For example, I think White House envoy Steve Witkoff might not join President Trump on his trip to China, but will stay in order to deal with the Iran negotiations. But I think when -- if -- if you ask people in the White House, they would want to see a breakthrough by the time President Trump comes back from China.

SANCHEZ: I want to ask you about the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, which Iran launched earlier this week. It's this website, effectively, that forces traffickers through that area, shippers and merchants, to go online and register for permission to enter. And it asks a series of -- of questions of them, including the nationalities of the crews on board these vessels. How does the administration view this? Is -- is this something that they expect will continue on after the war ends?

RAVID: Well, I think that according to the deal that is being negotiated right now, the Strait is going to be gradually reopened. So, I'm not sure whether this -- website will ever be used. At the moment, in any case, there's a -- the U.S. blockade continues, and no ships are passing through the strait, not to Iran, not from Iran, and not to any of the Gulf countries or from any of the Gulf countries. So, I think that the status quo in the strait stays as it is, and the blockade stays as it is, at least at the moment.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Iran's president says that he sat face-to-face with the new ayatollah for over two hours. This is reportedly the new ayatollah's first meeting with Iran's political leadership since he took on the role. Is this a signal that the leadership in Tehran is now on the same page? Because there were indications, especially from the administration over the last few weeks, that there was some serious dissent among the ranks.

RAVID: So, I think one of the things that U.S. officials think changed is that the Supreme Leader gave more rope to his negotiators, especially when it comes to the nuclear issues. For some time, he refused to even allow them to discuss those issues. And I think that over the last few days, this has changed.

The problem is that the Supreme Leader is still hiding.

[15:20:01]

And there are very few people who know where he is. And the way he communicates with the outside world is through couriers. One courier gives a note to another courier, who gives a note to another courier, who gives the note to whoever is the address, and vice versa. So, every time, in order to, you know, get -- get things done, or to communicate, to make decisions, it's a very, very slow process. And it's not that you have, like, the 10 top officials in the country can sit with the Supreme Leader and have a discussion for two hours about what to do. If people see him, which is very rare, it's usually one- on-one or in a very, very, very small setting. And therefore, this is part of the problem, that in order to make decisions in Iran today, every iteration takes a lot of time.

SANCHEZ: To that point about this taking a lot of time, just to get to this one-page memorandum of understanding, the memo would start a 30- day period of negotiating the details of these very sticky issues, including the enriched uranium that is still buried underneath Iranian soil. So, I imagine that they would need a lot more time to figure out the details, not only because the Ayatollah is in hiding, but also because the JCPOA of 10 years ago took something like two years, 18 months or so, to -- to iron out.

RAVID: Yes, that's true. On the other hand, the negotiations between the U.S. and Iran did not start two weeks ago. It started last -- April of last year. Then it collapsed, and the -- the 12-day war broke. Then, there was another round of negotiations before the current war. So, I agree with you that much more than a month is needed to iron out a detailed agreement, but it's not that the parties are starting from scratch.

And I think that, overall, I don't think there's any -- there's a lot of ambiguity regarding what each side wants and what are the important things from both sides. I think, at the moment, when it comes to the, again, the big issues, not the details, but the big questions, we are now in the -- in a moment of political decisions, meaning a lot of those stuff are yes-no questions, okay? Do you agree to remove the material -- the enriched uranium from Iran? If you agree, do you agree to send it to the U.S.? It's -- it's a yes-no question. And those yes- no questions are political decisions for the leadership for -- of the Iranian regime.

SANCHEZ: Barak Ravid, always appreciate your analysis and reporting. Thanks so much.

RAVID: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: So, a new report says that A.I. was the leading cause of job cuts for the second month in a row in the United States. We'll talk about the industries hit the hardest when we come back.

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[15:27:50]

KEILAR: Layoffs are picking up speed in the tech industry, and for the second month in a row, A.I. was the leading reason, according to new analysis by an American employment research firm. This week, the crypto exchange Coinbase said it plans to cut 14 percent of its workforce, citing an inflection point with A.I. CNN Tech Editor Lisa Eadicicco has been tracking this trend closely. She joins us with more details on this. Lisa, what are you seeing here?

LISA EADICICCO, CNN BUSINESS TECH EDITOR: Yes, Brianna, I've been speaking with business consultants about this because we've seen, as you mentioned, a wave of layoffs, especially in the tech industry, throughout the past year. And what's really happening here, as I understand it, is not that A.I. is replacing individual jobs on a one- to-one basis. It's not like A.I. is replacing a certain number of specific employees. What's happening is that A.I. is starting to help with a few specific tasks spread across many different jobs. And that, in turn, is kind of changing job requirements and roles and responsibilities for a lot of people within those organizations.

And that's the challenge that these companies are grappling with now, is figuring out what their workforce should look like in the future when perhaps jobs won't be done entirely by people or entirely by A.I. And I think that's the challenge that you hear about often when you're talking about A.I. and jobs in the future of work. You hear this term, reskilling or upskilling, and that refers to this idea of assessing what skills are needed and how skills for specific jobs are going to change. And the tech industry has really been at the forefront of that. Even in the post that the CEO of Coinbase published this week, outlining the layoff plan, he talked about how they're thinking about changing some of their roles.

He mentioned, for example, that managers won't be able to just manage anymore. They'll have to be player coaches and really get more involved in the day-to-day.

KEILAR: Yes, really interesting stuff. Lisa Eadicicco, thank you so much for that.

After weeks of tension between Washington and the Vatican, Secretary of State Marco Rubio sits down with Pope Leo. But will it be enough to mend the relationship between President Trump and the Pope? We'll have that next.

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