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Swine Flu Outbreak Hits Texas High School; Flu Fears on Wall Street: Airline Stocks Drop, Pharmaceuticals Up; Mexico City Rocked by Earthquake
Aired April 27, 2009 - 11:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: All right some airlines are letting passengers already booked on flights to Mexico change their plans for free. CNN's Christine Romans is in New York for us.
And Christine, this is obviously in response to concerns that customers might have about the outbreak and their travel plans.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's right, and the airlines are being pretty flexible, Tony. If someone, unlike you, decided they wanted to postpone that trip to Cancun, they're going to allow them. Most of them are going to allow them to do that without any penalties, without any fee to waive those.
So, let me run through here what some of these airlines are doing. American Airlines says it's closely monitoring the situation. It's going to allow people to waive the fees, change their flights without penalty if they're flying to Mexico through May 6th.
For the record, they say that they're told, on the ground in Mexico, that the authorities there are closely monitoring passengers who are leaving as they go through security. They haven't received a large number of phone calls yet of people trying to change their flights.
Continental waiving the change fees through May 6th. Travelers have the option of rescheduling or rerouting their travel.
Delta waiving those fees through May 4th.
United Airlines and US Airways are allowing these changes without fees through the end of this month. So, a little bit shorter period of time, but I would suspect, as the news develops, you might see changing dates from some of these companies.
Here is the situation: It's coming at a time really when, gosh, the whole global economy is already suffering from a lack of confidence. Trying to get back to a sense of at least stability, if not growth. So, it comes kind of at a tough time. These airline stocks are all down, Tony, and the drug stocks frankly are moving up. Any company that has anything to do with a drug that is a vaccine or a treatment for the flu is doing quite well today - Tony.
HARRIS: La Roche is the big pharmaceutical company that makes Tamiflu and that's one of the stocks seeing a serious uptick today, correct? ROMANS: That's right.
HARRIS: Christine appreciate it, thank you.
The swine flu outbreak, new developments unfolding. This hour we expect a news conference any time now from Mexico's health secretary.
In this country, swine flu fears have shut down some schools in Texas, California and New York. We expect to get an update from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg at the bottom of the hour.
This morning we were at 20 cases of swine flu, but now we're learning there are 40 confirmed cases in the United States. CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joining me now.
Elizabeth, I guess the obvious question is why this big jump?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Because they did some testing in New York. Remember the kids in New York at that high school in Queens? They tested a bunch of them and they just got the test results back, according to a federal official I was speaking to. He said all 20 of these new cases are from the outbreak at that school in New York.
This is, in many ways, not terribly surprising. We knew that they were going to continue to test these kids. When you have eight kids with swine flu at a high school and you have others who have symptoms of the same illness, not surprising they turned out to actually have that illness.
HARRIS: Can we do some nuts and bolts work here now.
COHEN: Sure.
HARRIS: For everyone watching, how dangerous is this swine flu virus?
COHEN: In the U.S. it has not proven to be terribly dangerous.
Now, the original 20 cases - we don't know about the 20 new ones - but the original 20 cases they have all been mild. Nineteen of the 20 didn't even end up going to the hospital, so only one person went to the hospital. All 20 we're told recovered without the use of antiviral medications. That's very important. That's very different from 20 people who were near death. That's very different.
These people all have the kind of illness that you and I have had probably many times. Fever, chills, you feel awful, body aches. This is not anything, it's caused by something out of the ordinary but the symptoms are not out of the ordinary.
HARRIS: Can the virus be contained?
COHEN: You know what, they're not even talking about containment at the CDC. I mean, they're very clear this cannot be contained when you have it popping up in various states and the number doubles in you know one day. They're not talking about containing it. People are moving throughout the country and people are going from Mexico to the U.S. and moving within the U.S.
They're just talking about prevention at this point. If you are sick, you should go to your doctor and tell them if you happen to have just come back from Mexico.
HARRIS: Before I ask you this last question, I'm just getting information that we're going to actually talk to one of the students in Texas who has swine flu and we're assuming, feeling much better at the half hour. So that's at 12:30 Eastern time.
All right, so if - we're not talking about containment right now, there's no real way of knowing when we'll be in the clear of this thing, is there?
COHEN: That's right. I mean I don't think we're anywhere near the clear. When you see numbers rising like this every single day, we're quite a ways away from being in the clear.
HARRIS: Elizabeth, appreciate it. Thank you.
Mexico appears to be the epicenter of the swine flu outbreak, as many as 103 deaths there are blamed on the outbreak. The World Health Organization is now reporting 40 confirmed cases, as Elizabeth just mentioned, here in the United States. Six cases confirmed in Canada and one in Spain. Suspected cases under investigation from Europe and Israel to South America and New Zealand.
What exactly is swine flu? It is a strain of influenza that's usually found in pigs, typically people get it after coming into direct contact with an infected animal. Although with this particular strain the concern is over person-to-person transmission.
Authorities in Mexico are still searching for the source of the swine flu outbreak. Our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports from Mexico City.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, if Mexico City is the epicenter of the swine flu outbreak, then the hospital behind me is sort of the ground zero. This is where some of the earliest patients were taken. Doctors were mystified when these patients, who were neither elderly nor very young but rather in the prime of their lives, started to come in, becoming very sick and many of them dying.
These patients developed symptoms very, very quickly. And over the past few days, doctors have been trying to figure out exactly where this swine flu came from. What we can tell you is that it's a flu virus that the world has never seen before, a combination of several different flu viruses.
The mayor told me, the mayor of Mexico City told me that he believes this particular swine flu started at a pig farm somewhere outside Mexico City, and patient zero, or the first patient, made his or her way here. Now, how this is going to progress is hard to say. There are around 100 deaths now, 102 to 103 deaths here in Mexico City.
But we have no idea how many people have become sick in any way. About 1,300 people have become seriously ill, but there may be many more with mild illness. And that could be a very good sign. It could mean the fatality rate is very low.
And just to give you a frame of context, the regular flu, the flu that many people are familiar with, kills about 36,000 people every year in the United States alone. So, that's a little bit of context. The city is trying to understand how best to deal with this. I had a chance to sit down and talk with the mayor about that very issue.
Have you been wearing a mask?
MAYOR MARCELO EBRARD, MEXICO CITY, MEXICO: Yes. I'm wearing mask all the day.
GUPTA: You're wearing it all day.
EBRARD: Yes, in order to promote to the people to use the mask, which is a very important thing to do.
GUPTA: How worried are you?
EBRARD: Very worried.
GUPTA: Very worried.
EBRARD: Since Thursday that we received the information that this virus is in no way, no kind of virus, a new one. So it's - the potential damage for the city's very, very high.
GUPTA: What we now know is that the mayor is going to meet with officials here in the city of Mexico City to determine whether or not people should stay home from work as well as over the next couple of days. Already the churches and schools are closed. They may also consider shutting down public transportation, which would include buses and subways, very important in this congested city of 20 million people.
A lot of people asking, how do I know if I have the swine flu? It can be very similar to the regular flu, some of the same symptoms, including fever, which can be one of the first symptoms. We're checking our temperature often to see if we have that early sign. But also the body aches, the runny nose, the cough.
Two symptoms seem to keep coming up that the doctors tell me about: sudden onset of dizziness and a lot of the gastrointestinal symptoms, including nausea and vomiting. Your best protection, same thing we're using, a mask like this. We are outside the hospital. This is one of the higher risk areas. I wear the mask when I'm not doing television. And simply washing your hands with a hand sanitizer. This is a virus that can live on inanimate surfaces like keyboards, on money, it can live on your hands. So, not shaking hands, and washing your hands as frequently as possible. People appear to get sick about three days after they get exposed to the virus. There are many clues here.
We're going to search for more in the days to come, and we'll have it for you as it comes to us. Back to you for now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: All right Sanjay appreciate it, thank you.
President Obama making his first public comments on the swine flu outbreak this morning. White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux live from New York with that part of the story.
Suzanne, what did the president have to say?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Tony, he went before the National Academy of Sciences and he renewed his commitment to scientific research. But also he addressed this swine flu crisis. I've been talking with White House aides who says they admit, they certainly did not expect this coming. His administration's focus really has been on Iraq, Afghanistan, of course tackling the economy. So let's take stock when it comes to public health here.
President Obama has yet to choose a surgeon general. He does not have a head for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He does not yet have a confirmed secretary of health and human services. Having said that, Tony, the president came out today and is trying to reassure the public that he is responding swiftly to this potential crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are closely monitoring the emerging cases of swine flu in the United States. This is obviously a cause for concern and requires a heightened state of alert, but it's not a cause for alarm. The Department of Health and Human Services has declared a public health emergency as a precautionary tool to ensure that we have the resources we need at our disposal to respond quickly and effectively.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: The question Tony, what is he doing?
Yesterday was a rare Sunday afternoon briefing at the White House. You saw the acting CDC director along with the secretary of homeland security. They announced that the government would be releasing 25 percent of its stockpiles of flu fighting drugs, Tamiflu, Relenza, that type of thing. They say they're obviously keeping the president updated on developments.
And you know, Tony, you may recall that President Obama recently traveled to Mexico City. I traveled with him. We have learned that his host on a museum tour died the day after that tour from what they believe could be at least Mexican officials say, flu-like symptoms.
But press secretary Robert Gibbs said that the president's health was really never in any danger. The flu has a 24 to 48-hour incubation period. President Obama left Mexico more than a week ago, shows no signs of illness. Again as Mexican health officials say, they don't believe that this guy died of the swine flu. Perhaps a pre-existing condition or something.
HARRIS: All right, so we have this outbreak now. I'm wondering if the administration is moving any more quickly to fill the vacant slots that you just mentioned, the CDC, the surgeon general slot.
MALVEAUX: Certainly. There's greater motivation to move quickly on this, to move faster. As far as the secretary of health and human services, Kathleen Sebelius, that is a process that's been held up in congress, the confirmation process. But lawmakers are telling me today that she could be confirmed as early as tomorrow. That is a position that the president had a tough time filling. You may recall his first choice was the senate leader Tom Daschle. But now it looks like that's on the fast track - Tony.
HARRIS: Absolutely. All right, our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux. Suzanne, thank you.
New York City's mayor planning to update the swine flu outbreak there. At the bottom of the hour we will carry those comments for you live. You'll hear from one Texas student who is recovering from swine flu.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: So the banks are making profits, but are they healthy? And why aren't they lending more money? The challenge to prevent waste and fraud get the banks healthy and hold back the populist outrage that may be overshadowing those efforts. Here's CNN's Christine Romans.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mr. President, your challenge - to heal the banks, fix the economy, keeping it all transparent and accountable. Good luck.
NEIL BAROFSKY, BAILOUT CZAR: Never so much money has been pushed out in such a short period of time.
ROMANS: Neil Barofsky is the bailout czar, tracking the billions spent on the banks that made terrible bets.
BAROFSKY: We're now charged with overseeing 12 separate programs, involving by our calculation up to $3 trillion.
ROMANS: Billions for bad assets to boost lending for student loans and cars, for small businesses and homeowners. But at the core, a belief held by two administrations, America can't recover without healthy banks. A belief not shared by many Americans outraged by executive bonuses, lavish corporate jets and retreats, and their own mounting bills.
PROFESSOR ELIZABETH WARREN, CHAIRWOMAN, CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT PANEL FOR TARP: People are angry that even if they have consistently paid their bills on time and never missed a payment, their TARP assisted banks are unilaterally raising their interest rates or slashing their credit lines.
ROMANS: TARP, of course, is the much maligned Troubled Asset Relief Program, the bank rescue. But economist John Ryding says that anger against TARP is holding back the recovery.
JOHN RYDING, RDQ ECONOMICS: That whole populist issue is providing a roadblock to the plan to work more effectively.
ROMANS: Now, banks are reporting profits, sort of.
DIANE SWONK, MESIROW FINANCIAL: That is the oxymoron out there. They're making money because we gave them money, but they also want them to make money to pay us back.
ROMANS: So, Mr. President, is the bank bailout working?
KENNETH ROGOFF, HARVARD ECONOMIST: I'd say it's a modest success but it's not enough.
ROMANS: Kenneth Rogoff is among those economists who believe if anything it may take more tax dollars.
ROGOFF: We may end up spending more. The recession may end up lasting longer.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Christine Romans joining us now from New York.
Christine, a couple of questions raised out of that report. We've seen really some major surprises in the banks' earnings reports, but how healthy are these banks?
ROMANS: They are alive, Tony. That's what the whole point of this TARP program was, to keep them alive so that they could try to build up their balance sheets and move forward and start lending money.
But the big concern when I talk to these bank analysts and I talk to these top economists, these noted economists, is that there are more losses to come for the banks in the form of commercial real estate and probably credit card losses, too. So it's one of the reasons why they're using the TARP money to cushion for future losses and not to maybe lend every penny that they're getting.
HARRIS: You know, we haven't talked nearly enough about what could be coming in the way of a commercial real estate, well, issue. Let's just call it an issue. But maybe we can do that in the days ahead, Christine.
I'm wondering, so much money, as was mentioned in your report, is being pushed into this system. What are the risks for waste and fraud?
ROMANS: The risks are huge. Neil Barofsky, the bailout czar, said there are 20 criminal investigations and six audits going on right now. They're going to try to follow every penny of that money and get payback for the taxpayers what they can.
But when you look at how much money has gone out the door in such a short period of time, Barofsky and his office have an awful lot of work to do.
HARRIS: Good stuff, Christine, thank you.
ROMANS: Sure.
HARRIS: We want you to join us on President Obama's 100th day in office for the "CNN NATIONAL REPORT CARD." It is a primetime event that gets started this Wednesday night at 7:00 Eastern.
In the middle of it all, President Obama holds a news conference.
Then, Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, the best political team and you, give the final grades for the first 100 days. You elected them, now you grade them, this Wednesday beginning at 7:00 Eastern on CNN and CNN.com/reportcard.
Swine flu, what the CDC recommends to keep safe. It's pretty simple stuff.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Protecting yourself from swine flu. Experts say mom's advice holds up pretty well. Wash your hands frequently and stay home if you think you're sick.
In the CNN NEWSROOM this morning Heidi asked the CDC's Dr. Anne Shuchat about other steps to avoid the virus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, so do these masks that we keep on seeing today really work?
DR. ANNE SCHUCHAT, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL CENTER FOR IMMUNIZATION AND RESPIRATORY DISEASES, CDC: You know masks can sometimes give a false sense of security.
COLLINS: Yes.
SCHUCHAT: And we really think it's important to think about a combined effort here, to think about the hand washing. I think it's so basic people don't think it's going to be effective but it is one of the most effective ways to reduce infectious diseases. COLLINS: And what exactly happens next now? You know we keep on hearing everybody's monitoring, monitoring, monitoring. What is the next step? And if we go to -- I don't even know if we can get to a higher level of alert here but I'm just wondering a plan of action begins with step one, which is what?
SCHUCHAT: Well, what we're doing now, as you said, is monitoring. We're looking for cases and we're getting them into diagnostic testing so that we can understand whether the respiratory symptom somebody is having might be due to this particular new virus.
We're working on evaluations of the severity of the infections, and the epidemiologic pattern, how it's spreading, who's at higher risk. How transmittable is it. Our laboratory scientists are working with this new virus, the strain itself.
COLLINS: Right.
SCHUCHAT: Preparing a strain that will be handed off to industry if we decide to go forward and make a vaccine, which would take many months to be produced. But that's a big decision that will be coming up in the near future. And, of course, we're working with Mexico and the international authorities to understand what's going on there.
COLLINS: Yes.
SCHUCHAT: Because we think the situation there sounds like it's more serious than what we've gotten here so far.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: So U.S. health officials stress there's no reason to panic about swine flu. But people at risk who have the symptoms should certainly see a doctor. Those symptoms include a high fever, 101, 102, overwhelming fatigue, a lack of appetite and coughing. Officials also emphasize that you cannot get swine flu by eating pork.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: All right, we're standing by waiting for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to give us an update on the swine flu outbreak in his city. Pretty much confined to the one school we've been telling you about throughout the morning. When the news conference begins we will of course take you there.
While we wait for that, let's get an update on the situation. Deborah Feyerick who is at the New York Health Department is joining us now.
Deborah, the number of confirmed cases at that Queens high school I mentioned just a moment ago has certainly shot up. Was that expected?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was. As a matter of fact, it's really not a big surprise.
We spoke to the head of infectious diseases and he said you know when you have got eight, chances are you likely have more. And also some people may have been sent home yesterday who didn't have active symptoms but they've been told to monitor how they're feeling and to just keep a pulse on it basically.
HARRIS: Yes, and Deborah, what are we expecting to hear - I think one of the questions that we have and it's one that I asked you just last hour, is there any evidence to suggest that the virus has spread outside of this cluster at that school?
FEYERICK: You know, that's one thing that everybody is really watching very, very closely. We know that researchers right now are trying to map out the spread, how it is traveling. That is really, really important. Because in order to contain any sort of outbreak, they really have to figure out just how it is moving, very much like you would track a passenger, for example, on a plane. Right now they are keeping an eye on that.
We're also being told that New York City hospitals, all of them, are taking stock of their inventory, what they've got. They're bracing for an onslaught of people who maybe really concerned if they develop flu-like symptoms and sort of race to the emergency rooms. That's one thing that officials do worry about, that emergency rooms across the city will be overwhelmed simply by people who aren't feeling well. That does happen in these kinds of cases but the hospitals they're gearing up for all that.
HARRIS: Yes, it's interesting that so far if I remember you reporting last hour correctly, no one has actually gone to the hospital with these particular symptoms.
FEYERICK: And no one has been hospitalized. And I think that that is a major point in all of this.
Health officials are looking at why did people in Mexico City die? Did they present when they were very far into the disease? Were they older? Because older people are always more susceptible to this. The students, all on spring break, all very young, very healthy. So their body will have a greater ability to ward off the swine flu.
That's why a number of them were sent home really and just told to take aspirin. It is always better to do more at the start of these kinds of things than less. So that's why you're seeing this gearing up worldwide just so people take the necessary precautions. Even the state department now saying, well, if you're going to travel, you may want to be careful. They're not telling people not to travel. They're just saying, take precautions - Tony.
HARRIS: Yes, the potential worldwide impact of this.
Deborah, appreciate it so much.
Let's take you to Mexico City now, which, in many ways, is the epicenter of this outbreak. Mexico's health secretary, Jose Angel Cordova Via (ph) Lobos (ph), is speaking.
JOSE CORDOVA, MEXICAN MINISTER OF HEALTH (through translator): One thousand, one hundred and ninety-five people have come into our hospital over cases of grave pneumonia. Seven hundred and seventy-six patients remain hospitalized. One thousand 1,070 patients have been discharged. Fifty-three percent of the cases have been discharged. One hundred and forty-nine people have died. And we are investigating - we're investigating to - on confirmation on those cases to see if they are, in fact, swine flu cases.
We are working with all sectors of the Mexican community. I would like to thank for the mature - mature attitude of the public and everybody coming together.
First of all, as a precautionary measure, we have suspended all activities, all school activities in all levels of education, including nurseries in the entire country after - starting tomorrow until May 6 - 2nd. In accordance with the canawa (ph), we are suspending the maintenance of the programs cosomal (ph) programmed for May 5th. And support with the sanitary measures in the metropolitan zone.
Third, we have requested various permits to facilitate the coming into the country of various medicines, such as the Astelta Mevich (ph). We will be keeping strict controls of this medicine. The prescription of this medicine will be controlled, just as any prescription will be for a treatment.
Four, we will continue all the preventive measures and the recommendations given to the general public and to the businesses and we will continue informing the citizens across the different media we have implemented, such as our call lines we have established.
Five, we must recognize that this is the highlight - the high point of this epidemic and the number of cases will likely increase, for which we are reinforcing all the preventive measures to contain this illness.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Alonso Lujambio, Secretary of Education.
ALONSO LUJAMBIO, MEXICAN SECRETARY OF PUBLIC EDUCATION: Thank you.
The determination last Thursday to suspend all school activities in the state of Mexico and the federal district and in (INAUDIBLE) has allowed us to protect the populations at more risk. The past 5th of April there was announced that we would be stopping all school activities until May 5th. All other schools - other school organizations have added themselves as a preventive measure. In Chiapas (ph), Quagila (ph), Navarrone (ph), Pavalone (ph), Cedateros (ph), Samolisa (ph), (INAUDIBLE), they have decided to stop all activities, all school activities. The decision of the secretary of health to suspend all school activities in the entire country, this is a preventive measure that we must all support. We all feel sorry about this, suspending the school activities, but there's nothing more important than the health of the Mexicans. Everybody in this education department will continue the work in the school year. We will return to schools in May 6th. And we will be using holiday and it will give us time to gather more information.
And we will be working on social protection and the use of new preventive measures in which we are - we will be using this time so that we can all learn what we all should know to protect our health and the health of the others. The measures are important for everyone. Everyone in the country. Because we will - the entire country requires this process of social knowledge.
We are looking to prevent the territorial movement of this virus. We will be working with sanitary authorities that when we return to the schools, to schools, we will have care and we will be protected. Again, all the measures are aimed to protect all the health of their children and youth. Aim (ph)matters of health that there's no more important priority.
HARRIS: The critical statements were made just moments ago by the Mexican health secretary, Jose Angel Cordova Via Lobos, who updated all of us, his country and certainly the world, on this outbreak in Mexico, which is still very much the epicenter for this outbreak.
He told us that 776 patients remain hospitalized, 1,000 have been discharged, 149 people have died now. Most telling here, all schools and nurseries, all school activities in the country, the entire country, will be suspended into the first week of May, until May 5th. The secretary also saying that the number of cases will likely increase.
And we will continue to monitor that news conference for additional news.
And you know, just across the Mexican border, in Texas, there are two confirmed cases and potentially a third all at the same high school.
Here is Chris Sadeghi from affiliate KENS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have also learned of a third case that is a probable case also of swine flu.
CHRIS SADEGHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): And that third case is Hayden Henshaw. Earlier in the week, he was feeling a little under the weather, but it didn't scare him as much as it has some others.
HAYDEN HENSHAW, MAY HAVE SWINE FLU: No, just a lot just from getting the flu, you know? It's crazy.
SADEGHI: And he certainly didn't expect these side effects. Steele High School has now been shut down for at least a week and the Department of State Health Services was down the road urging everyone to stay away from large gatherings. Meanwhile, Hayden and his father say he's almost cured.
H. HENSHAW: I'm doing pretty good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, HAYDEN HENSHAW'S FATHER: He feels a lot better now, yes.
SADEGHI: The Henshaw family has been staying close to home and wearing masks and the whole family has been taking medicine just as a precaution and they say the headlines out of Mexico barely fazed them at all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd like to think that our healthcare system's a little better.
SADEGHI: And even DSHS says worries about a pandemic in Schertz are a little premature.
DOUG MCBRIDE, TEXAS HEALTH DEPARTMENT: They should be concerned. But as far as fear, danger, panic, no.
SADEGHI: All you have to do is take a look at a healthy Hayden Henshaw.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You could see just from overnight just a huge - just a huge difference and such. And so it's just - it's a flu.
SADEGHI: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: So the other two students from that high school who got sick have now fully recovered.
Swine flu fears are even hitting Wall Street. But concern for investors, how the outbreak will affect the global economy. Let's check in once again now. Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange with details.
Good to see you, Susan.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, Tony.
And, you know, this is not unprecedented if you thing about like about five years ago when we had the SARS epidemic.
HARRIS: Yes, absolutely.
LISOVICZ: You know, you see this short term - and hopefully that's all it will be, is a short-term disruption. But a disruption at a very bad time. You think about the damage already to the travel and tourism industries, as we head into the summer season, already crippled by the global recession.
Well, airlines are trying to keep people on flights and many are waving penalties, though, for changing reservations to and from Mexico. American, United, Continental, U.S. Airways, all waiving those. In the meantime, though, those stocks are getting hammered.
I'm checking out Delta and Continental. They're down at least 12 percent.
Starwood, the big hotel operator, down five percent.
Carnival and Royal Caribbean down nine to 13 percent.
You get to, you know, see very quickly the kind of concerns that it has for that industry at a very sensitive time.
HARRIS: Yes. Yes.
LISOVICZ: In the meantime, check out the Dow. It's flat right now. It's just doing nothing. The Nasdaq as well. A lot of information today and investors just sitting on their hands, I guess.
HARRIS: Yes, you know, Susan, swine flu and pork, the pork industry. I'm wondering what the potential impact is there.
LISOVICZ: Well, actually, good question because we are seeing a very dramatic response there as well. You know, pork bellies are a commodity, Tony, just like orange juice, just like coffee, just like oil. And we're seeing pork belly futures down 18 percent. No surprise, I guess, China and Russia are already banning some U.S. pork imports.
And if there's lower demand for pork, well, maybe there will be lower demand for things that pigs eat. Corn prices, we're seeing those down sharply. And pork producers like Smithfield, the nation's number one pork producer, its shares right now are down 12 percent. Hormel shares down two percent.
In any case, you're seeing, you know, you're seeing the damages there as well - Tony.
HARRIS: Yes, we know all about pork bellies from that Eddie Murphy movie "Trading Places."
Do you remember that one? Yes, you remember that one.
LISOVICZ: Yes. Oh, yes. That's a classic.
HARRIS: Oh, sure you do.
You know, the other side of this is that when you go through these difficult times and you find yourself in a bit of a crisis, there are always losers on Wall Street. But there are also winners, Susan.
LISOVICZ: That's capitalism at work. HARRIS: Yes.
LISOVICZ: Yes, we're seeing a big rally in the pharmaceutical sector, Tony. GlaxoSmithKline, its shares that trade here in the U.S. are up 7.25 percent. That's a company from the U.K., Roche and Baxter International, three percent. They make flu vaccines for Tamiflu and Relenza. And well, it's understandable that the government's likely to increase orders and they will be beneficiaries of that. And so you're seeing a rally there - Tony.
HARRIS: All right, Susan, appreciate it. Thank you. Good seeing you.
LISOVICZ: You're welcome. Likewise.
HARRIS: Leaders around the globe are issuing some warnings due to swine flu. We're bringing you the latest information right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: So a live shot now of New York City. We're waiting for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to update the assembled media and all of us really on the situation with the swine flu outbreak in his city. Confined at least right now to that one school we've been telling you about.
But as we await the news conference and the start of it, we want to get you back to ground zero for this outbreak. Our Ted Rowlands is in Mexico City. The health ministry holding a hearing this hour, announcing 149 deaths.
Ted, so much to talk to you about. We understand the mayor is considering an extraordinary step of actually closing down the city. What are you hearing?
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we haven't heard definitive word one way or the other yet, Tony. What we are seeing on the streets here is a much different scene than we did over the weekend. People are out of their homes. It is not business as usual by any stretch of the imagination, but there are literally millions of more people on the streets in Mexico City than were over the weekend.
So the concern is, is that if they populate, get together, they start to see more cases, what they'll do is they'll shut down the city. We just had kind of a dramatic demonstrations here at one of the hospitals here, the Institute for Respiratory Health here in Mexico City. Staff workers came out and staged a demonstration because they're upset they're not getting what they believe are the proper supplies to keep themselves safe. Not getting the masks they need, not getting what they believe is the medicine they need. Some of them saying they're actually sick.
Carolina's one of the physical therapists that took part in it. There are nurses and others.
Carolina, in a nutshell, real quickly, basically you're scared that you're going to be exposed to this virus, is that right?
CAROLINA MORENO, PHYSICAL THERAPIST: Yes, we are scared. We're afraid. We are very - we don't know what's going on. I think no one actually knows exactly what's going on. That's why we're afraid.
ROWLANDS: That really is the problem throughout the city and, you know, realistically, the world, if you stretch it out, Tony, is, what really is going on here? You know, it's obviously not the plague. It's the flu. But there are deaths. So a lot of mixed messages, especially here in Mexico because there are the deaths and there are the - along with the sickness. But then again, the government saying we're in good control, we can handle any cases.
HARRIS: Well, Ted, I'm a little confused. If that health professional doesn't quite understand what's going on, how on earth are we supposed to know what's going on? What is her real concern?
ROWLANDS: Well, basically I think that you could extend that and say, well, who does, if anybody, know exactly what's going on right now? And I think that's probably the most accurate assessment. It's a very fluid situation. You've got (INAUDIBLE) . . .
HARRIS: Well, let me stop you. Can I stop you - can I stop you for a second.
ROWLANDS: Yes.
HARRIS: What I'm trying to understand is, we're dealing with a swine flu outbreak in the entire country. That health professional understands that that's what we're dealing with or is there an additional concern that we're not aware of at this point?
ROWLANDS: Well, here's what's different here is that this healthcare professional, Carolina just told us, yes, it is the flu, but she's seen people die in this hospital and she's concerned for herself. So they're concerned that they're not getting - they want Tamiflu. They want to be given the drug that they say some doctors are getting.
HARRIS: I see.
ROWLANDS: And they also want masks. She went and bought this mask on her own. That's their concern.
HARRIS: I see.
ROWLAND: Now the other question is, for the people outside of this hospital, you have a bit of that same fear. And you can extend it out to everywhere because when you're talking about young healthy people dying of the flu, it's different, you know, and this is a different strain.
That said, most of the cases are being treated and most of the people afflicted are going home. So I think it's safe to say it's a very fluid situation and people like Carolina, she just wants to be protected, along with the other workers here. But, you know, where this is going, I think it's a wait and see.
HARRIS: Yes, yes. OK. All right, Ted, just a little - what she's saying and she's a health professional that, look, I've got these concerns and I'm not being taken care of, then I need to understand what's on her mind.
All right. Ted Rowlands in Mexico City for us.
Ted, appreciate it. Thank you.
Want to - as we await the news conference from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, we'll get an update from New York City's mayor in just a moment on the outbreak in his city. Want to check in - before we go to New York City, with Chad Myers and get a quick check of the weather,
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: Hey, Chad, you want to see something?
CHAD MYERS: Go ahead.
HARRIS: Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Waits till the last second and picks (ph) him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here he goes again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE). Oh, no.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) turns him. No. No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Did you see this over the weekend?
MYERS: Saw it on tape because I was in an airport.
HARRIS: Oh, man, that is amazing. Carl Edwards going airborne, 190 miles an hour. And he hits the fence. Talladega, right?
MYERS: Yes, they have the roof flaps on those cars to stop them from flying like that, but that car got hit twice.
HARRIS: Yes.
MYERS: It got hit by Keselowski and then actually got hit again by Ryan Newman. And that second hit even pushed it higher into the sky.
And then, it actually had injured eight spectators there in the stands. Although, I hear none of it - nothing is life threatening. Just, you know, obviously debris flying off that car into the stands. I watched that tape over and over and over, Tony, and I think, I think that Carl Edwards in the 99 car tried to block Keselowski on the outside and he moved up when Keselowski tried to go outside. And then Keselowski said, no, I'm going back toward that yellow line and he did and Carl blocked him again. That second block is what caused that wreck.
HARRIS: And there you go. We're back after a quick break.
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HARRIS: You know, it's hard to believe sometimes, we are affording all of our resources certainly in Mexico, Mexico City in particular, covering the outbreak there at the epicenter of the swine flu virus outbreak. And now we just received word that Mexico has been rattled by an apparent earthquake.
CNN's Lonzo Cook is on the beeper line with me.
Lonzo, what can you tell me?
LONZO COOK, CNN INTERNATIONAL PRODUCER (via telephone): Well, about 10 minutes ago, there was - we started to feel a vibration throughout the entire building. Lasted about 30 to 45 seconds at which point everyone started to (INAUDIBLE), in very good order, head for the exits.
I was really surprised at, you know, the lack of any agitation or crying. As soon as we reached the ground floor level, we noticed that people in neighboring office buildings, themselves quite a majority - a majority of some of them wearing masks, were piling out into the street. There's now noticeably more traffic.
But, you know, a sense of anticipation, but no panic. And, more importantly, no damage visible to the buildings. There were a few humorous people on the stairways saying, oh, is this finally the apocalypse. First the swine flu and now this.
HARRIS: Sure.
COOK: But basically high spirits.
HARRIS: OK. So, and again, the initial wire that I just saw said Mexico - and didn't identify a city - but obviously we're talking about Mexico City. And you haven't come across a magnitude figure yet, have you?
COOK: I'm sorry. What - I couldn't hear that. Could you repeat the question?
HARRIS: Lonzo, sure. You haven't come across a magnitude figure yet for this earthquake, have you?
COOK: No, not at all. Not at all. We haven't had any Internet access though. But, you know, it was a fairly strong vibration. We could feel - it was certainly noticeable. Everyone sort of held their breath for a little bit and then started heading rather automatically for the exit ways and the stairways.
HARRIS: OK. Lonzo Cook is in Mexico City for us.
I want to bring in Chad Myers.
And, Chad, you're so good at helping us understand this.
OK. So we've got an earthquake in Mexico City. And at this point, we don't have a magnitude figure on it. But what can you tell us? What are you finding?
MYERS: I'm finding 5.6 but not in Mexico City. That's the latest shake. And that's probably going to be typical because we have reporters, they felt the shake, they weren't standing over the epicenter. It was probably shaking a lot more over this Guerrero (ph) area in Mexico.
We're kind of digging it up. This has not even been reviewed by the seismologists yet. And that means it's going to go up, it's going to go down. It's going to be deeper, it's going to be shallower. They have to focus all of their triangulation, so to so to speak. Kind of GPS by the seismographs to where this actually was, how deep it was, and was it really a 5.6.
This means basically at this point in time, because it's only 10 minutes old, this could be anywhere from a 5.8 to maybe a 5.4. They will keep moving it around. But that's a big shake anywhere, especially in buildings that aren't really equipped with the shake sensors and, you know, the damping systems that we now build in all of our newer high-rises in, let's say, in California and so on.
HARRIS: Boy, what a couple of - what a set of events for Mexico.
MYERS: Yes.
HARRIS: And particularly the Mexico City area right now. We just had a news conference that we brought you from the Mexican health secretary who was talking about the number of people who have died of this swine flu outbreak there at 149. And then here we go, Chad, we get this earthquake, probably not centered there in Mexico City, but certainly being felt there.
MYERS: It's hard for me to figure out - now we've just bumped this up to 5.8. See, I told you this was going to go up and down.
HARRIS: Yes, you did. Sure did.
MYERS: There it is, 5.8. Mexico City. Look at that, way up here. I'm literally - I don't even know how far that is, but that must be at least 120 miles away. Which means, that if you get down - there's Acapulco. If you take you look where the city is and where Acapulco is, you're kind of in between. I would suspect that we would have shaking all the way to the coast and then, obviously - I mean, you know, Mexico City. This place is like 8,000 feet high.
HARRIS: It's huge, yes. MYERS: This is in a mountainous area. And you start to get - you got a - can you get a distance there, Dave? One fifteen? A hundred and fifteen miles. Kind of what I thought but it's just hard to tell on a map that kind of turns back and forth. That means there's a lot of shaking. There's damage to the south of Mexico City. If they felt it here, they certainly felt it right above the epicenter.
HARRIS: Well, Chad, appreciate it. Thank you so much. Going to turn you over to T.J. Holmes. CNN NEWSROOM continues right now. We're pushing forward with T.J. Holmes.
