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Dr. Sanjay Gupta Answers Your Questions About Hantavirus; Prison Inmates Who Did Time With Ghislaine Maxwell Speak Out; Search For Survivors Underway As Volcano Erupts Killing 3 Hikers; U.S. Economy Added 115K Jobs In April. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired May 08, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: That's the agency's lowest level of emergency. That's according to a person involved in the situation. The cruise ship stricken by the outbreak, is on its way to the Canary Islands, with more than 140 people on board, including 17 Americans.

Here in the United States, five states are monitoring several people, including some who previously got off the ship and returned home.

We've received a lot of questions from you about this deadly virus and joining us to answer them, CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Sanjay, our first question is from Emily from New Yorko asks, how likely is this to turn into a pandemic? The P word.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, this is the number one question everyone is asking this. And I think what people have heard, if they've looked into this at all, is that the chance of that is low. It's unlikely.

But two things, you know, just I want to preface this by saying, I think every day when we're reporting on an unfolding outbreak, we want to sort of bring you up to the most up to date information at this time. So, at this time, it looks very unlikely. But we're going to keep obviously a very close eye on things.

Why do they say it's unlikely? John, it really comes down to a few things. Number one, how likely is the virus to spread. And that's something known as the reproductive number. You may remember R naught a term that we use during COVID.

Overall, in previous outbreaks, it's been about 1.19. To give you some context, with COVID, it was well over two, maybe even close to four. The number of people one person can spread it to.

The second thing is that it's a pretty small window of spread. Again, with COVID, people could spread that virus before they even got sick. That was a big thing.

So, people didn't even know they were sick. They were spreading it. That was obviously a problem. With hantavirus, it appears that it's a very narrow window and someone's definitively sick at that point. They have fever, for example.

And then the third thing is, again, with COVID, there are lots of variants. We were talking about variants all the time. It could become more contagious as a result of mutations.

We know, at least over the last 30 years, we looked into this last night. If you look at the genome of this hantavirus, it really hasn't changed much over the last 30 years. So again, the answer to the question unlikely this is going to turn into a pandemic. We're going to keep up to date on the information.

But those are the three primary reasons why, John.

BERMAN: These are some big reasons and some excellent explanations that actually get to our next two questions here, Sanjay. A different viewer asked, how long is the incubation period really? And is the Andes virus contagious during this incubation period, or does it only become contagious once symptoms begin?

GUPTA: So, two terms here, incubation period and infectious period. So, incubation period. What that means is how long does it take for someone to get sick after they've been exposed, if they're going to get sick at all. And again, looking at the data, there was this outbreak back -- back in 2018 that a lot of people have looked at to sort of get some idea of how this virus really behaves.

And what they found is that most people, if they're going to get sick, typically that happens within the first couple of weeks. But there were some cases where it took as long as seven weeks. So again, the majority of illness in those first couple of weeks, but very occasionally there were people who got sick further out than that.

And that's why -- that's going to sort of dictate this, this period of isolation and quarantine. That's different than the infectious period. So, when someone gets sick with this particular virus, that is when they can spread it.

And that that window tends to be a day or two. When you look at previous studies. So again, unlike COVID, people could be spreading before they got sick and spread for many days after they got sick with this a day or two, and typically the persons very sick during that infectious period.

BERMAN: Interesting. So, a much smaller window than the -- than the incubation period, to be sure.

All right. And you got to this a little bit before, but went Winta from Arizona asks, could the hantavirus mutate and become more contagious?

GUPTA: Yeah. So, you know, again, I'm going to say that this is a story we're going to keep very much on top of. Follow any mutations that might be happening, any variants, but history may give us some indication here. When you look at the genome going back to 1996, and you compare what we're seeing now in 2026, it looks like it's a pretty stable virus.

The caveat is this, John, these viruses tend to mutate because they get into more and more people. And that's what we saw with COVID.

So really around the world, there may have been a few thousand cases of hantavirus, a few hundred where you actually got spread between human to human. So not very many. And that's the good news. The question will be over the next several days and weeks, as there's more spread, does it continue to mutate as a result of that?

Hopefully not for 30 years. That hasn't happened, John.

BERMAN: Hopefully not. But based on what you're saying here, this is a very, very different situation than some of the ones that we remember from not too long ago.

Sanjay Gupta, great to see you this morning. Really appreciate it.

Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you so much, John.

In a CNN exclusive this morning, special treatment for Ghislaine Maxwell and punishment for talking about her.

[08:35:03]

That is what some of the women say they experienced while serving time alongside Maxwell. Maxwell is, of course, a convicted sex offender and coconspirator of Jeffrey Eepstein.

One of these women who is serving time for financial crimes, asked to remain anonymous out of fear she will be punished, she told CNN's MJ Lee that a warden at the minimum security prison camp in Texas, where maxwell was transferred, screamed at another inmate for calling maxwell a pedophile and complaining about her. She and other inmates said they also quickly noticed just how differently maxwell was being treated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

INMATE: Within a day of her arrival, we had armed guards, marshals patrolling. If she had a visitation, she would get to -- they closed the chapel and the indoor rec and allowed her to use that building for her personal visits. When we had visitation that happened in the visitation building, which is good. We didn't, you know, no one wanted her around the kids or anything. She'd get bottled waters and clamshell meals delivered to her room.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Now, a Bureau of Prisons spokesperson told CNN they do not discuss details related to specific inmates, but did say in part that they are committed to the highest standards of integrity, impartiality and professionalism.

Joining us now, CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney, Joey Jackson.

First of all, what do you make of this? Not only are they saying, look, she was given special treatment in this minimum-security prison, but that they were punished for talking about her and also for talking to the media about her as well.

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Sara. Good morning to you.

I think it feeds into the narrative that many share that she has information, and that information could be very protective of a person who happens to be in the White House. Prisoners are not treated or given preferential treatment unless there's some imperative to do that.

And so, I think what people make of this is that when you have an interview with the deputy -- then deputy attorney general of the United States, now acting attorney general, that interview lasts for two days. You're asked softball questions, you give information pretty much to determine what you know about the president and his relationships, if any, with Mr. Jeffrey Epstein, now deceased, what they were doing, where they were, what, you know, can you clear him?

And then what happens is what a week later, you're transferred to a camp. And then not only you transfer to a camp -- highly unusual for deputy attorney general to be interviewing anyone. Highly unusual for you to be transferred to a camp. Highly unusual for you to be given special treatment, and everybody else punished.

And so, it just begs the question of what she knows and what she can do, and the fact that they are that, as it appears to be, federal officials treating her differently. Why? And so that's the issue. When the question and as long as she's pampered and others are punished, it's going to feed into the narrative.

Is there a pardon in her future? Is she going to have information that specifically exonerates the president? Is it going to be trusted?

And so that's what I make of it, Sara. She clearly has information that the United States government is interested in. She clearly has information that could be very protective of the president. And so as a result of that, I think she's given these special privileges and others are told to say nothing about it.

SIDNER: What kind of issues could that mean for where she is with these inmates, clearly upset about her preferential treatment, but also about being muzzled in some instances, not being able to say what they think about her?

JACKSON: Yes. So, what happens is that, of course, you have certain remedies in the event that you're a prisoner, you have First Amendment rights, you're allowed to talk to the press. You might have things that you wish to say. And naturally, those rights are limited by safety and security concerns, and they're subject to reasonable regulation.

But the issue is, is -- in the event that you're punished for speaking, yes, you can file internal grievances with the jail. Yes, you can file civil rights lawsuits. Yes, you can consult the ACLU, American Civil Liberties Union. Yes, you can contact your local congress person. But it's a chilling effect.

And so, I think the effect based upon the conduct, yes, you have all sort of legal remedies, but the practical effect is don't talk. Let us do what we want to do if we want to afford her special privileges, we will. And if you say anything about this, good luck. Because of the time that you get, your remedy or action is taken on your behalf, if you're a prisoner, it's too late. And you've borne so many indignities.

And so, I think that really is the issue. And it's really concerning to these particular inmates who are being treated unfairly for speaking up about what they perceive to be an injustice of gross proportions.

SIDNER: Joey Jackson, it is a pleasure. Thank you so much for walking us through that.

Kate?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Underway right now, an urgent search and rescue mission to locate multiple hikers that are now stranded in Indonesia after a volcano eruption.

[08:40:09]

This already -- this eruption has already killed three people.

Will Ripley is tracking all of this for us and watching this very closely.

Will, what are you picking up?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kate. So, we just got some new information and this is good news. The people who survived the eruption and are still alive, five of them injured, but thankfully still alive. They are now all safely off the mountain.

The bad news is the three hikers who were killed, their bodies are in a location that is so dangerous right now because of this falling ash and rock from a more than six-mile-high ash plume that resulted from this eruption. And they were right next to the crater when it happened. Their bodies are still there. They cannot be recovered right now. It's just too dangerous for search and rescue crews to get there.

Now, we also know that nine of these hikers, out of this group of 20 are from Singapore. The other 11 are from Indonesia. But the big unanswered question right now is what were they doing on this mountain in the first place?

Mount Dukono has been active, extremely active in recent months. It's been closed since March, and it's erupted nearly 200 times since then. They've put warnings all over the internet, as well as on every posted trail. Big signs saying you cannot get in there. So they're trying to figure out how these people, nine of them

foreigners, but 11 of them from Indonesia, presumably they're on the Internet. They see the warnings. And yet, how did they get on to the mountain?

One thing that officials are looking into is they say it could just be possible negligence. They're also thinking that the hikers may have been using unmonitored access routes because they don't have a central check in point for people when they want to go hike this beautiful mountain, which also happens to be an active volcano.

So authorities say actually these last two weeks, things have really been intensifying. So they've made sure to shut everything down. And now this ongoing recovery is being hampered by the fact that -- well, they still have lots of debris raining down, Kate.

So, a very scary situation, frankly, it's incredible that more of the hikers were not injured, considering how close some of them were to that eruption when it happened.

BERMAN: Absolutely. But great news that you're bringing us as it's just getting in that they've been at least those survivors have now been able to get to safety.

Will, were going to continue to follow this. Thank you so much.

Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Breaking just moments ago, the jobs report surpassing the expectation this morning. New data showing 115,000 jobs were added last month.

All right. CNN's Matt Egan joining us now.

Put this into perspective for us.

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Sara, look, the job market, it's slowed down in April, but not nearly as much as feared. This was a big beat for the job market. Look at this. So, the U.S. economy added 115,000 jobs in April. That's almost twice as much as the consensus from economists.

Again, it is a slowdown from March, which was actually revised slightly higher. But this was better than expected.

Also, February -- February was revised even lower. It was a negative number previously. It's an even bigger negative. You see that's that bar right there going straight down.

But the fact that its gone up two months in a row, that's going to really, I think, increase the confidence that perhaps this job market has stabilized after a pretty weak 2025.

Now, let's look at the unemployment rate. The expectation was that it would stay at 4.3 percent. It did stay at 4.3 percent. This is also reassuring because it shows that after this significant

increase in the unemployment rate in 2023, '24, '25, again it has stabilized and that is a good sign.

Now, when we look at the various industries, health care, that continues to be a major source of demand for workers in the U.S. economy that reflects this aging economy, this aging workforce as well. 37,000 jobs added there. Leisure and hospitality. That's bars, restaurants, hotels, adding 14,000. That's encouraging because people were really pulling back because of high energy prices, that's where you might see it first. It's not showing up, at least not yet.

However, other parts of the economy, Sara, are actually losing jobs. Manufacturing, obviously a key focus of the president's, losing 2,000 jobs. And look at these last two, finance and information, losing a combined 24,000.

That stands out to me because both of them have been early adopters of artificial intelligence. And there's all these concerns that ai could take away from jobs. And even if it's not taking people's jobs, companies are spending gobs of money on A.I., and that's taking away from some of the money that they could be spending on human workers. So that's something to pay attention to as well.

So, you put it all together. And I do think that this is reassuring, but we got to remember this is just a snapshot. This is telling us what the job market looked like back in mid-April. And we know that energy prices, gasoline, jet fuel, diesel have only gotten higher since then because of the war.

[08:45:04]

So, it does seem like its too early to sound an all clear for the job market. I think the trillion-dollar question is what happens next, right? Can the economy continue to just power through shock after shock? Or does this war in the Middle East and spike in energy costs start to slow the job market down?

SIDNER: You know, I think there's so much confusion. This has been a really confusing time because you're seeing, you know, for example, the stock market has been pretty much booming. I mean, it really hasn't lost, if anything it's grown. Then you look at this.

And then you look at what CEOs are saying about people not spending.

EGAN: Yeah. We've heard a whole bunch of CEOs in just the last few days warned about weakness from consumers, right? McDonalds, Planet Fitness, Whirlpool saying they're seeing recession like demand for appliances. And they were blaming the war.

So again, I think we still have to wait and see how the war plays out and whether or not all this pressure on consumers spills over into the real economy.

SIDNER: We will wait and see. I know you'll be here throughout all of it. Matt Egan, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

John?

BERMAN: Yes, with us now, senior A.I. reporter for "Axios", Madison Mills, who also has covered the markets for a long time.

What's your major takeaway to this report?

MADISON MILLS, SENIOR A.I. REPORTER, AXIOS: I mean, that -- that was a blow away number in some capacity. We were talking about closer to 60,000. But if you look under the hood, unfortunately not the best news, right? When you look at the revisions, we're still negative over the last couple of months.

And I think it's really interesting. We're starting to see maybe cracks in this K-shaped economy narrative. You have roles where you're not going to be getting paid as much being the ones that are growing, but the highest paying roles are still in the negative tech financials. Matt did a great job running through those numbers, and that makes me wonder whether we are starting to see a little bit of an A.I.-ification of this economy.

BERMAN: You know, it's interesting because the report was what we call a major beat of what was expected here.

MILLS: Yeah.

BERMAN: But I'm looking at the numbers added, and I'm old enough to remember when we would have looked at 115,000 jobs. That's okay. It's an okay month.

So, the expectations I think are just much lower now. And I should say the three-month average is 48,000, which is pretty low.

MILLS: Pretty low. And again, under the hood, the wage growth numbers very -- Matt, to your point, some of the numbers that are going to actually be powering consumer spending, which is two thirds of GDP, that's our economic growth indicator.

So those deeper numbers, things like underemployment, people struggling to get the amount of hours that they're working, those still looked negative. And when I talk to sources, especially economists, they say kind of what you're saying, John, that we maybe need to rethink how we look at these numbers that come out every month because our economy is changing so much.

I mean, this is the first back to back positive jobs print that we've had since May of last year.

BERMAN: Which is good, which is good.

MILLS: Of course.

BERMAN: Instability is something but stable but unspectacular. Yeah, I'm just curious what the impact of that could be if it continues this way for months longer. If we're at the end of the year and the rolling average is 48,000 with all these shifting currents, what would that mean for the average person?

MILLS: Well, it means that the Federal Reserve is going to be confused and not necessarily know what to do and how that impacts the average person is that you may not get a more what we call loosening of financial conditions. You want rates to be low enough that you can get a good rate on your mortgage, lower credit card rates, but you don't want them to be so low that they spike inflation and that the prices that we've already all been dealing with since COVID get even worse.

So, it's going to leave the federal reserve potentially in the dark, a little bit longer about where we're at in this economy, because the labor market is so choppy right now.

BERMAN: Look at the futures right now. Markets open a little bit less than an hour. They're pretty happy. I mean, you know opening positive. It's hard to tell how much of this is a reaction to the jobs report. How much of this is a reaction to the wild swings we've seen to the oil futures in the war and whatnot. But why might the market be fairly happy with this.

MILLS: Session highs after this jobs number dropped before the market open. And it's the -- you know, you want to see an economy that is holding up. You want to see that consumer spending. We're in the middle of earnings season right now. The companies that cater to higher income workers are having bang out earnings. The companies like Kraft, even Shake Shack are really struggling on their earnings report. Those lower income workers struggling to keep up.

So, you want to see that good economic report.

BERMAN: Stability. Good. We'll take stability. We'll take job increases. Got to wait longer to see if anything shakes this economy one way or the other.

Madison Mills, great to see you. Thank you very much.

Sara?

SIDNER: Thank you, John.

All right, ahead, a group of people rescued just in time as their boat started sinking into a lake. How they're all doing this morning.

And police tracking down and detaining a tourist caught on camera, apparently throwing a rock at an endangered seal. Why would you do that?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:54:14]

BOLDUAN: So, investigators are expected to give an update this morning in the case of Kristin Smart. She's the Cal Poly student who vanished after a party. This was back in 1996. Her body -- her body never found.

Now, 30 years later, investigators served a search warrant this week at a home linked to the man convicted of murder in 2022. But authorities have been tight-lipped about what exactly they were searching for at this new location.

CNN's Jean Casarez is following this very closely. She's here with us now.

What are you learning about this, Jean?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we know is that Paul Flores, as you said, is the last person she was ever seen with, and they have executed the search at his mother's home. The associated press was out there, and they said they witnessed them digging into the ground at the home with other things, obviously, also.

[08:55:00]

This is such a big case. It has been such a big case for so many years, and Kristin Smart was finishing up her first year at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, and she went to an off-campus party with her friends. They all came walking back. It was the beginning of a weekend, and Paul Flores was actually escorting her.

After that, she was never seen again. Gone, vanished out of thin air. They executed a search, according to trial testimony, because he was ultimately convicted immediately in his dorm room and a cadaver dog alerted to the mattress with her scent. But they couldn't find anything else forensically in his room. And so that was it.

Then in 2021, and here's what links this search now with 2021, they executed a search at Ruben Flores, who was the father of Paul, at his home. They went into the dirt. They found, according to the trial testimony, a void underneath the ground the size of a casket. They used ground penetrating radar and actually found biological material they believed was blood. But it was so degraded, Kate, they couldn't confirm that it was her DNA. Well, now we have the sheriff of San Luis Obispo on this second search four years later, and he spoke out yesterday. He is Ian Parkinson, San Luis Obispo County sheriff.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

SHERIFF IAN PARKINSON, SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY: We've been continually working the case since the conviction. This is not the first search. I'm not going to disclose the previous one, but very substantial. This is going to be an extremely thorough search. So, it could take, you know, two or three days. That's our plan. We're not going to walk out of there and not overturn every rock humanly possible.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

CASAREZ: They are not giving up. She's never been found. Her body has never been found. Yes. There was a conviction of Paul Flores. Ruben flores, the father

had been charged with accessory after the fact. Based on that dig at his home, he was out and out, acquitted by the jury.

They had a trial father and son together in 2022. But obviously, to get a search warrant, you have to have probable cause that you believe there is something there, that a crime was committed at that home. So they want justice for the family, complete closure. Right?

BOLDUAN: Yeah, absolutely. And now this is all unfolding as we speak. So we'll keep a close eye on this.

Thank you so much, Jean. Really appreciate it.

Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, Kate.

On our radar for you this morning. First responders in the Orlando area saved six people from the sinking boat. They received a 911 call about a vessel on a lake that was taking on water. A storm advisory issued earlier that day was beginning to create really hazardous conditions for these boaters.

As they waited to be rescued, some people had to jump into the water and the boat began sinking. The sheriff's office says everybody is okay in this incident.

All right, 37-year-old man was detained in Hawaii after officially -- sorry, after officials say he may have been the same person captured on video throwing a rock at an endangered monk seal. The man is a tourist from Seattle.

Listen to the reaction of a bystander when he throws that rock.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BYSTANDER: What are you doing? Why would you throw a rock at it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Our sentiments exactly. Hawaiian monk seals are protected under state and federal law. The case is being handed over to federal authorities, but at this point, no charges have yet been filed.

All right. A little bit of fun news. Perfect news, if you will, from the tornado destruction in Mississippi this week. Look at this. Hours after the storm, a storm chaser heard this little noise. This is a kitten trapped in the debris of the destroyed mobile homes.

Followed the meows for help, and we got to it. Oh, what a little cutie. The kitten wasn't hurt. It will be put up for adoption if its owners don't come forward. Some people want to name it tornado, though. Some people I feel like are John Berman.

But anyway, a new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now. (MUSIC)

BERMAN: We have breaking news this morning. The jobs report just released the numbers better than expected. So, what does this mean for the summer ahead?

A new update on the deadly hantavirus expected shortly from the White House. The states where they are now trying to determine if there has been spread.

And then major artists canceling tours because of empty concert seats. Why is that happening? Could it be the seats are just too expensive?

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(MUSIC)

SIDNER: We're starting with breaking news this morning. Surprising new job numbers just out. The data showing 115,000 jobs were added last month, blowing past expectations.

CNN's Matt Egan is joining us now to break down this report.

What does this tell us about the labor market right?