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Jalen Rose, Discusses NBA Superstars Teaming Up to Energize Black Voters; U.S. Passes 2 Million Cases as Some States See Spikes; Will Humble, Arizona Public Health Association Director, Discusses Maricopa County Seeing Spike in New Coronavirus Cases; Another 1.5 Million Americans File for Unemployment. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired June 11, 2020 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

JALEN ROSE, ESPN ANALYST & FORMER INDIANAPOLIS PACER BASKETBALL PLAYER: It's just a mobilization of urban environments, of inner-city people, of black and brown people to unite and be energized the same way were in 2008 to help Barack Obama get elected, in the same way in 2012.

We didn't have that same energy in 2016. And we feel like our country has suffered because of that.

So as you mentioned, the extremely long voting lines. We want to let people understand that you can mail-in vote if you need to.

How about living in a country that doesn't give us a day off to go vote. How about having a smart phone? Should we be able to vote on our phone? It seems like we're able to do everything else from it.

I think taxpayers and citizens and people with cell phones, the process should be more easier. But since it isn't, we're here to give confidence to those who have a little hesitancy to go out and vote and let their voices be heard.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Jalen, it's one thing to get people to register to vote. But Lebron's tweet gets at something bigger that we see in Georgia and across the country. Looking at, if and how we vote and how we tackle structural racism in voting. How do you tackle that?

ROSE: The power dynamic won't get changed between now and November. But what I will say is the oppression and the racism that has taken place in our country is systematic.

And there are a lot of people that are saying the system is broken. Actually, it isn't. It was built this way. Now it's up to us to help change it.

I get refreshed when I see young people, white people carrying signs that say, "Black Lives Matter." And unlike the '60s, when blacks were protesting for equal rights that 92 percent of the audience was black, now it's a mixed crowd, and I appreciate that. The America of those that are 50 and 55 years old that probably didn't

fall in love with rap music growing up, it's a lot different for people who live in your house 35 and under.

Athletes and entertainers, we moved to the suburbs and your kids started listening to rap music and wear baggy shorts and black socks and they fell in love with the black culture. They don't look at black people today the way you looked at black people 50 or 60 years ago.

BOLDUAN: You and Lebron, you're putting your name on this effort. Michael Jordan, he's committing $100 million over 10 years to racial justice organizations. And you're kind of toughing on it there. What do you want your role to be in this moment? And who are you doing this for?

ROSE: I applaud Lebron, because he's also been a social justice warrior, him and his team, Maverick Carter. They've done a terrific job putting this group together, Adam.

But here's why we're doing it, for mobilization and awareness and confidence. We're taxpaying citizens.

And what's going to happen is there are so many people that use coded terms, like Make America Great again, frankly, but there's certain terms, because I'm a former athlete, it's going to be like, oh, he thinks he's woke or just shut up and dribble, or stick to sports.

That's the problem. The people really don't want to have the honest conversation about things systematically of the changes that need to take place in our country.

And you're not going to see a lot of corporations, a lot of businesses with statements and letters and writing checks. But then they will look at their power dynamic and like, you know, we don't have many black and brown people in positions of power. So hopefully, those scenarios start to change.

But more than a vote is strictly about mobilizing those who may or may not have are the confidence based on their past experience to get out and vote to make sure they are heard this year the way they were heard in 2008.

BOLDUAN: You know, there's a big announcement in another sport overnight coming from NASCAR banning Confederate flags from all events that NASCAR is involved in. Let's be honest, where that flag is often omnipresent. Were you surprised by that move, Jalen?

ROSE: I was not surprised because the movement has become mainstream in a lot of ways. You can see the giants whose shoulders I stand behind me at the Ali Summit, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jim Brown and Bill Russell.

At a time when they were protesting racial injustices, you know what they were doing? Losing their championship belts, losing their reputation, losing sponsorship, losing their careers.

Tommy Smith and John Carlos, when they got back from the Olympics after raising the fist, could not find a job.

So for those sacrifices that led to Colin Kaepernick to take a knee and how eerily similar that imagery is of Colin Kaepernick taking a peaceful protest before a football game is to George Floyd and the officer who murdered him.

Let's call that what it is. Let's stop saying died when one of these situations happen at the hands of police. OK, that's not dying. Dying -- at 105 -- in your sleep is peaceful. These are murders. These are lynchings. These are killings.

So what we want people to do is to understand that they have the strength to make changes, prosecutors, judges, Senators, mayors, governors and, definitely, the president.

[11:35:05]

BOLDUAN: Jalen, I have to say, I said to you in the break, I always loved you on the court and I'm falling in love with you off the court. Thank you.

ROSE: Thank you very much. We appreciate the opportunity and the platform to spread this very important message.

BOLDUAN: Thank you for your leadership.

Coming up for us, more than a dozen states are now seeing an uptick in hospitalizations for the coronavirus as the number of cases in the U.S. surpasses two million. We'll focus on one of the states that's seeing real trouble, Arizona. That's coming up.

But first, for many, the coronavirus pandemic has taken a toll in many aspects of life, especially on mental health. In this week' "IMPACT YOUR WORD," the nonprofit Mindful Schools is helping families cope with free online classes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were days, I could see it in her face as a 1- year-old, being stressed and, of course, we don't want to see our children stressed.

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: I would get upset and then I would try and hold my feelings in but I can't.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So we've been taking mindfulness for kids. We try to do it at least three times a week.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's see if we can find a steady and still body, lifting our hearts and keeping our feet on the ground.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's bring in and take in your muscles and then just breathe out. You can just let yourself melt.

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: I feel stiff and then when I let go and I exhale I feel relaxed. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're learning how to pay attention to what's

happening in the present moment experience. We spend a lot of time lost in thought or thinking about what's happening in the future or past and paying attention to present actions like the breath that can help us move out of fight or flight mode.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So this is the butterfly in mindful breathing.

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: So like I was the butterfly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After a while, you'll feel how much stress you're actually relieving, and it becomes a part of your day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: To learn more, go to CNN.com/impact.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:41:27]

BOLDUAN: Do you remember the Coronavirus Task Force put together by the president to lead the national response to the unfolding dangerous and deadly pandemic? It has been weeks since they have updated the public on the course of the virus and the status of the national effort to increase and improve testing to contain the virus.

Now there's troubling signs in several states. Spikes in cases, and what's really trouble is spikes in hospitalizations. Right now, 20 states are trending in the wrong correction in terms of new cases. Are they paying attention?

CNN's Ed Lavandera is a state getting new attention, Texas, and Rosa Flores is in Lake Mary, Florida.

Let's start with Ed.

Texas is joining a number of states reporting the highest number of new daily cases. Ed, what are you hearing about this?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's definitely a trend that needs to be watched very closely. Remember, Texas is one of the states that started pushing the reopening of the economy here rather early, back at the beginning, late April, beginning of May.

And what we're seeing now is that if you look at the number of new cases over the courts of the last week, seven-day average is around 1,700 new cases a day. That is numbers that we have not seen since this pandemic started.

Now, the number of tests being done daily has also gone up. But if you really look at those two and the correlation between the two numbers closely, the number of new cases being added is higher than the number of tests being added. And then the more troubling part here and is of greater concern is the highest number of hospitalizations. More than 2,100 now being reported. We've not seen those numbers here in Texas since these numbers have been kept, so that is something that is of great concern.

The strategy here in Texas has been to contain the outbreaks in the various parts of the state where these cases are flaring up. But more than 2,100 hospitalizations are higher numbers that we've seen in some time.

The cause of this is really hard to pinpoint. Remember, there's been the reopening of the economy. You have the Memorial Day weekend and the large number of protests over the last couple of weeks. So all of that have could be playing a large factor into this numbers that we're seeing here in Texas -- Kate?

BOLDUAN: Thanks, Ed.

Rosa, Florida has also seen a recent increase in infections. What's happening there?

ROSA FLORES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kate. If you look at daily number of cases, it might seem alarming because, for multiple days, we've seen over 1,000 cases registered.

But if you look at the number of cases posted by Florida, you'll see sometimes 20,000, 30,000, 40,000 cases have been posted.

So a better metric is to look at the percentage positive. Just how many positive cases per day by percentage. And if you look at that graph, you'll actually see that the line is pretty steady for the past two weeks between 3 percent and 4 percent.

The other very important metric are hospitalizations. Right now, according to the state of Florida, 25 percent of beds are available. That's the key metric.

Governor Ron DeSantis has mentioned from the get-go that's one of the metrics that he'll look at and will continue to look at as the reopening of Florida continues.

Right now, we're in phase two. Elective surgeries were allowed in early May to resume. And so that, of course, increases the number of individuals taking some of those hospitalization beds.

[11:45:02]

But, Kate, I'll leave you with this. One of the concerns, of course, is lately we've seen thousands of people here in the state of Florida and around the country hit the streets to protest. And experts, of course, taking a look to see what effect that will have. We won't know immediately but it's something to look at -- Kate?

BOLDUAN: Ed, Rosa, thanks, guys.

Let's turn to Arizona. That the state is also seeing a very big surge, a massive surge in new cases.

I want you to look at the increase in Maricopa County alone where Phoenix is located. The medical director is saying 27 percent of all cases during the pandemic came within just the last week. We've been in this for three months, guys, just the last week.

Statewide officials are telling hospitals that they need to be activating their emergency plans as intensive care units, they are filling up. Right now, they are 79 percent full.

Joining me now is someone watching this very closely and is very concerned, the director for the Arizona Public Health Association, who previously served as the head of Arizona's Department of Public Health, Will Humble.

Will, thank you for being here.

WILL HUMBLE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ARIZONA PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION & FORMER DIRECTOR, ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: On this and these troubling numbers in your state, you said that it's not the state started reopening, it's how they did it that's the problem. What do you mean?

HUMBLE: We had a really successful stay-at-home order at the end of May. People complied with it. It was really effective. And you can see that we did, you know, slow down the transmission of the virus and it really worked.

But when the state opened, it replaced the stay-at-home order with basically nothing. I mean, it was a purely volunteer program. And so businesses could reopen, and they were asked to comply with CDC guidelines. But there was no criteria, no enforcement in play, so some places are doing it well, but a lot of places are just not doing anything at all.

In addition, the governor limited -- actually eliminated the city's ability to do anything at the local level, you know, in terms of putting mitigation measures in place, you know, for night clubs and really for anything. And so that limited the effectiveness of the post-shutdown order world.

Finally, I think -- and this is underappreciated. I think, nationally, there has been really limited effort to deal with assisted living and skilled nursing facilities.

And when you look at what's happening with new inpatient hospitalizations and total hospitalizations, a lot of -- I think the majority of those hospitalizations are coming from those congregate settings.

So without a real focus on those types of settings, we're really setting ourselves up for what we're seeing right now.

BOLDUAN: The governor and his office have continued to point to an increase in testing as part of what is driving the number of infections and cases up. But I'm also seeing, you know, increased testing doesn't increase infections. So why does that not hold water?

HUMBLE: Yes, well, that's exactly right. The previous reports were right on target in Texas and Florida. One of the things you look at is both new hospitalizations, total hospitalizations, and then hospital capacity along with percent positive on the tests. And, you know, we are -- we're actually in worse shape than Texas and Florida in terms of what's left in our capacity.

You know, one of the things the governor talks about is, well, we're going to go into a surge plan and increase the number of beds. And I don't think many people realize, when you talk about surge capacity and when you go to a surge plan for care, that impairs the level of care that people get. The standard of care decreases when you go into a surge and contingency plan.

So I think you need to be -- if that's your plan, to surge the number of beds, you should be straight with the people and tell them the level of care you're going to get, however, is not what you would have gotten under a normal state of affairs in a hospital. So that's where we are.

BOLDUAN: Yes. And we are in a really tough spot, and it is unclear what the path forward is because it doesn't look like Arizona and people across the country --

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: -- are ready to lock down. But there are ways to mitigate and turn the tide. It does seem you're at a pivotal point right now in Arizona.

Will, thanks for coming on.

HUMBLE: Thank you.

[11:49:10]

BOLDUAN: Coming up next, another week, another 1.5 million people have now filed for unemployment as the fallout from the pandemic continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: U.S. stocks -- let's check on this -- sharply down as America marks two million cases of the coronavirus and Fed Chairman Powell issues a sobering outlook and warning. A look at the big board, the Dow's down more than 1,000.

Add to that now that we learned this morning another 1.5 million Americans filed for first-time unemployment benefit last week. The good news is that the number of new claims each week is slowing down.

CNN chief business correspondent, Christine Romans, is here to break this down.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Kate, so many jobs lost in the past 12 weeks. Another million and a half workers filed for unemployment benefits for the first time last week. More than 44 million over the past 12 weeks laid off or furloughed.

Think of that. That is 27 percent of the labor force. More than one in four workers at the beginning of March has now filed for unemployment benefits.

Some states have been hit harder than others. In Georgia, it is 48 percent of a labor force. In Kentucky, 45 percent. In Hawaii, 38 percent. The numbers unprecedented. But the hope is this is the bottom.

If you look at what some of the states are reporting, you are seeing fewer layoffs in health care and social assistance. Few layoffs in retail.

Now first-time claims have been declining since the peak in that final week of March. We are finally seeing numbers under two million each week.

Another thing to pay attention to here, continuing claims. Those count workers who filed for benefits two weeks in a row. That number slipped to 20.9 million last week. Still a huge number. Economists are shifting focus to continuing claiming as a better indicator of the state of the market.

But concerns about a second wave is still the bigger risk to the recovery right now -- Kate?

[11:55:05]

BOLDUAN: For sure.

Christine, thank you.

Coming up for us, President Trump is heading to Texas to hold a roundtable with church and law enforcement leaders. Will he take executive action as calls for police reform grow louder or will he offer any indication of concrete steps to actually support?

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:00:03]

BOLDUAN: Top of the hour. I'm Kate Bolduan. Thanks for sticking with us, everybody.

This hour, President Trump is heading out of the White House on his way to Dallas, Texas, leaving a trail of controversy in his wake, quite frankly.