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Patients Rapidly Filling Hospitals In South And West; Trump Briefly Mentions Pandemic In S.D., Focuses On Monuments Instead; Florida Leads Nation In Number Of New Daily Cases; Mayor Ricky Shelton Of Cookeville, TN Discusses The City's Plans For A July 4th Celebration While Keeping Residents Safe; Spain Orders Lockdown Of Region With "Significant" Spike In Cases. Aired 1-2p ET

Aired July 04, 2020 - 13:00   ET

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

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[13:01:01]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me on this fourth of July. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. And we begin this Independence Day with another huge spike in the number of coronavirus cases. Today Florida reporting its highest case count to date, more than 11,000 new infections in a single day. That number far surpassing any other state right now. And despite that many beaches there remain open this holiday weekend.

In Texas, ICU beds in at least two counties are reaching capacity. At least two severely ill patients were forced to be flown to other cities. New cases are surging across the country once again topping 50,000 the third straight day. It's a trend that has been growing in recent weeks.

And right now 37 states are reporting an increase in infections. But in the midst of the climbing case count, President Trump held a campaign style rally last night in the shadow of Mount Rushmore where there was no social distancing being enforced and not many people were wearing masks. Much more on what the President said, coming up.

Let's start now in Florida, however, where new cases have hit a disturbing new level. CNN's Boris Sanchez is in Clearwater Beach. So Boris, what are you seeing there?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fred. Yes. Families are still pouring into the beach this morning. I should tell you that we spoke with a local yesterday who told us that what he had seen on the beach, there were fewer numbers of people coming this holiday weekend. He believed that a lot of that had to do with visitors to the Sunshine State coming in fewer numbers this holiday weekend, in part because of coronavirus.

But the numbers are alarming. In the first three days of July the Sunshine State seeing more than 30,000 new coronavirus cases, they had 100,000 for the entire month of June. And as we're watching this spike in cases, we're also watching folks here on the beaches of Clearwater where there are no real restrictions as to access the beach. They're asking folks who are here to stay six feet apart if they don't live in the same household to not congregate and groups of more than 10 people.

The enforcement around that is still an open question because we've seen groups of more than 10 people coming to the beach. The attitude from people that I've spoken to here, there is a confidence that they are taking enough precautions to keep away from the risk of coronavirus. One woman I spoke to named Kathy actually moved to Florida from Alabama in the middle of this pandemic.

She says that she is taking precautions but she had an interesting disposition. She believes that at some point she is likely going to catch coronavirus. So she wants to at least have a good time while all of this is happening, listen to more from Kathy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATHY SALGADO, VISITING FROM ALABAMA: I just think that we all should you know wear a mask and protect ourselves as best as we can, you know, and keep, you know, the -- keep social distancing going on. And, you know, that's it, you know, if we're going to get it, we're going to get it. I'm happy to be here. I really am. I know that the numbers are going up and I hope that jobs but it doesn't seem like it is. So why stop enjoy in life?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: The big concern obviously, Fred, is weeks from now when we will likely see a surge in cases similar to what we saw after Memorial Day weekend, when folks were ignoring the social distancing guidelines, and we saw a spike in cases across the nation. The leadership here in Florida Governor Ron DeSantis leaving it up to local officials to install restrictions in their municipalities.

Effectively what that means is that here Clearwater Beach is open on the southeast part of the state, Miami Dade, Broward Palm Beach counties, all those beaches are closed this holiday weekend, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Boris Sanchez, thanks so much. All right. Onto Arizona now, the number of new reported coronavirus cases also continues to climb, hospitals are also getting dangerously close to capacity as the number of people requiring treatment sores. CNN's Evan McMorris-Santoro joining me now from Scottsdale, Arizona. Perhaps we've given you enough time for the town to open people are milling about. And what are they telling you?

[13:05:03]

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT Well, Fred, let's start with the situation here because here in Arizona, it really is very dire when it comes to this pandemic that has just been surging in this state for days now, we just have some new numbers that came in just recently 2700 new cases reported yesterday, just about that number here in Arizona. And that ICU bed number has been hovering around 90 percent full capacity for the past several days. And that came again in today. That means it's only 171 ICU beds left

in Arizona for people who might need them as this pandemic surges. Now, -- right now I'm in Old Town Scottsdale, which is sort of a tourist area that is sort of made to look like or perhaps is an old Western town, but today this morning, it's kind of a ghost town to be honest. There aren't that many people here right now.

People are still sort of maybe staying inside maybe not coming out yet. But I want you to give you a picture of what things look like in Arizona right now. Which is that this is an area where there's a lot of restaurants, a lot of shopping. And in Arizona despite the fact that there have been some new restrictions put into place by the governor in terms of things like trying to close gyms, movie theaters urge people not to congregate in big groups this weekend, restaurants are still open for in person dining.

Here in Old Town, one of the stores that we went in we bought with a store owner, she is required to have everybody who comes into our store, wear a mask. But other than that she's still open for business, you can come in and walk around. So Arizona is trying to deal with keeping businesses open, while also trying to impose some new restrictions. And that's really the story here, Fred,

WHITFIELD: Right. Or maybe Evan, people are staying away from where you are because they are alarmed at those numbers, you know, at the Arizona hospitals that many of them are nearing capacity. So how about if we talk about this world's oldest rodeo, there are plans for the show to still go on this weekend?

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: That's right. This is another story of the organized resistance to these new measures. Governor Doug Ducey last week, after keeping the state mostly open said, look, I'm going to close some of this stuff down. I want people to not congregate in big groups. But I'm going to leave the decision of how to do that and if to do that to local municipalities, and yesterday, I was in this town called Prescott.

It's about 100 miles here from the Phoenix Scottsdale area. And they have this thing every year called the World's Oldest Rodeo. It's a week-long rodeo and it culminates this weekend; they ran it anyway. We tried to bring our cameras in, they didn't allow CNN in, they gave us a statement saying, look, we're going to abide by whatever rules we can. But you guys can't come in, and you can't talk to us about it.

And you can see from some of the footage that we were able to obtain, that people inside that rodeo were sitting in grandstands and not wearing masks from what we could see. Now, part of that resistance factor here is that they made everybody who showed up to that rodeo signed one of these waivers that we've seen like from the President at his events and others things saying, look, I acknowledge that there's a pandemic and I'm assuming the risk of attending.

And that's what they had to do to keep that rodeo open, which they did decide to do, Fred.

WHITFIELD: And so that tape you're saying was provided by the rodeo. That was fresh tape, not necessarily file tape.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: That's taped from last night's rodeo. Correct. And that's from a broadcast of it. Yes.

WHITFIELD: Okay. All right. Evan McMorris-Santoro. Thank you so much. All right. Now, let's go to Alabama. We're just yesterday, the state recorded its highest number of new cases in a single day since the start of the pandemic.

And right now Alabama has more than 42,000 confirmed cases and over 1000 deaths. Joining me right now is Dr. Michael Saag. He's the Associate Dean for Global Health and a professor of medicine at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. Dr. Saag, good to see you again.

DR. MICHAEL SAAG, ASSISTANT DEAN FOR GLOBAL HEALTH AND PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE, SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA, BIRMINGHAM: Good to see you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. So, when you see these numbers, how concerned are you?

SAAG: I'm very concerned. We're getting an F all of us. The country --

WHITFIELD: You did say that last weekend when I asked you to get by and you said an F. So even now, even after the vice president even after surgeon general even, you know, the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, all of them imploring, do wear a mask. It's the smartest thing to do. That too hasn't even changed your national response grade?

SAAG: Well, it's a step in the right direction. We're trying to make the correction. So, let's say it's our first quarter exam, and we've gotten an F and now we're going to buckle down and start studying a little bit better. But for the moment, you saw the rodeo report. That's not good people crowding into Mount Rushmore. That's not good. We need to be in this together. And right now, what it feels like is that the grassroots of America is leading the leadership, if you will.

So, those who are older, those who are thinking about their health first are staying at home, they're going out in mass, they're very careful. There was a story in the Washington Post just a day or two ago, where some time epidemiologists were evaluated or gave their opinion about what we should do.

[13:10:60]

SAAG: The remarkable thing about it, Fred, is that everybody's saying the same thing. Wear a mask, keep distance, stay at home when you can. And if everyone starts to embrace that, I think then we have a chance to get a better grade in the next quarters exam.

WHITFIELD: Yes, so it is underscore, it's really going back to the basics, just reiterating the basics of protection because even though all of us globally have learned a little bit more about the pandemic, trying to keep one another safe still goes back to the basic principle things that you in so many have implore which is, you know, washing your hands, wear a mask, keep your social distancing.

But then what do you say to the folks, young people, particularly in your neighboring City of Tuscaloosa who are throwing COVID parties, saying they almost want to catch the coronavirus?

SAAG: Yes, it's just scary thing. And I, you know, I was young too at one point. And I kind of understand there's pranks that are done and different types of games. This is a deadly game, truly deadly. And even young people can get infected and end up in the ICU, it's not a large --

WHITFIELD: Does that underscore the mistake from the very beginning? The messaging about what we, you know, human beings known know about this pandemic is that young people are less at risk.

Was it a mistake to ever say that at such early stages of this pandemic, that it was the older, you know, folks over 50, who are most at risk and now fast forward a few months, we're all discovering young people are not necessarily immune? They too are at risk. Perhaps it's the degrees of risk are different.

SAAG: That's exactly right. And I don't know that anybody said there was no risk for young people but the emphasis was on the older folks, but at this point is Time I think the general public is mostly now brought up to speed on epidemiology. They could all probably pass the epidemiology one on one course on crowds and safe distancing. Here's the -- here's the tough news. This virus in my opinion is going to be with us for at least a year more, at least a year more.

And so we've got to create a new normal where we protect ourselves in our communities. And so far we're not doing so well. But hopefully in the next couple of months we'll do better.

WHITFIELD: OK. We're going to check back with you and see what kind of grade, you know, this nation is getting from your point of view. Dr. Michael Saag, thank you.

SAAG: Thank you. All right. It is a Fourth of July, unlike any other, an evening of fireworks, however, and an all-star musical lineup. Well, that could be familiar. You got to join CNN tonight with Jewel, Barry Manilow, Cece Winans, Don McLean and many more. Don Lemon and Danna Bash post, CNN's Fourth of July in America. Live tonight starting at 8:00 Eastern.

All right, coming up. President Trump marked the beginning of the Fourth of July weekend by stoking the culture wars and remaining largely silent on the pandemic that is intensifying across many states.

Plus, after recovering from a deadly tornado this year and now fighting the pandemic. The people in one Tennessee town are marking the holiday by honoring others.

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[13:17:34] WHITFIELD: President Trump will take part in a Fourth of July event at the White House later on today. This after delivering a divisive speech during an Independence Day celebration at Mount Rushmore last night, instead of delivering an inspirational message of unity. As the nation of battles a growing pandemic, the President chose to make an impassioned culture wars speech before a large crowd.

That was packed in there with no social distancing being enforced and very few masks were being worn. The President railed against the removal of statues and monuments that some believe are symbols of racial oppression and made a completely unsubstantiated claim about us schools.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history. Defame our heroes, erase our values and indoctrinate our children.

Our children are taught in school to hate their own country. And to believe that the men and women who built it were not heroes, but that were villains.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Sarah Westwood is at the White House for us. So Sarah, the President seems to be doubling down on this culture war rhetoric. Will there be more of this?

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Fred, clearly the President believes it is advantageous for him to come down on this side of the culture war. That's the type of speech that we give -- saw him give last night. He offered his most forceful defense of the preservation of monuments yet saying that images of America's founders will never be removed from Mount Rushmore or from anywhere else.

But that's what it was about so much more than statues. The President was also taking aim at the social justice movement in general. He argued that his opponents have tried to use that as a tool to silence dissidents and the President also took aim at cancel culture. He also blames Democrats for the unrest that we've seen in some cities has led to some statues already being toppled or vandalized.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Our people have a great memory. They will never forget the destruction of statues and monuments to George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, abolitionists and many others. The violent mayhem we have seen in the streets and cities that are run by Liberal Democrats and every case is the predictable result of years of extreme indoctrination, and bias and education, journalism and other cultural institutions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[13:20:19] WESTWOOD: The President is at the White House for what's expected to be a quieter day today. He gives remarks later this evening and watches the fireworks here in D.C. from the White House balcony. We should note that even though this public celebration of Independence Day is something that the President encouraged city officials did not want this to happen because of the risk of spreading the virus spread, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Except the governor was all for it. I mean, Sarah, you know, there was no social distancing at Mount Rushmore. Well, there may have been a handing out of masks, there was no encouragement to really do so. How is it? Why is it that the White House doesn't think that this is, you know, filled with risks?

WESTWOOD: Right. There are inherent risks to the event that we saw take place last night like you mentioned the Governor Kristi Noem had said that there would not be social distancing at that event and that came to fruition.

People were not standing six feet apart. Many of them did not wear masks. And that hit pretty close to home. Kimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of the president's son tested positive for coronavirus as the President was heading to South Dakota last night.

Remember that everyone who comes into contact with the President has to be tested for COVID. So her diagnosis was made during that screening process. She's asymptomatic and self-isolating. Sources tell CNN and luckily Donald Trump Jr. did not test positive for the virus, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you so much, Sarah Westwood. Let's talk more about this. Joining me right now to discuss Tara Setmayer, who is a former GOP communication director on Capitol Hill and a CNN political commentator. Good to see you and Happy Fourth. We've got a red white and blue on here all the way around.

TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: All right.

WHITFIELD: So let me start, you know, with that event at Mount Rushmore. No social distancing at a time when coronavirus cases are surging to record levels across the country, the President, First Lady showing up no masks and a member of their inner circle testing positive for COVID-19. So what is the message the president is gaining here and Was this an intentional portion of the message he wants to send?

SETMAYER: Well, it's clear that the message is the President doesn't give a damn about the health of the United States of America. He has gone out there and been intransigent when it comes to setting an example of wearing masks, which has been the unequivocal direction of medical experts including his own government, including now his own Vice President, members of the Republican Party have finally come around and are pushing that we need to wear masks.

There are hundred -- 125 plus thousand dead Americans now in this country. Definitely, it could have been avoidable if we had leadership from the top, from the very beginning so that people understood the risks of not being -- wearing a mask and not socially distancing. I just spent a couple days down the shore in New Jersey in my home state, and there was no social distancing on the boardwalks at the outdoor restaurants.

As a matter of fact, there were outdoor restaurants there that had Trump signs proudly displayed in their parking lot as a sign somehow of a political statement that wearing a mask -- not wearing a mask -- they're proud of this.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: So you see a direct correlation.

SETMAYER: Yes.

WHITFIELD: You see a direct correlation.

SETMAYER: Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: So then what did, you know, what's behind the President really digging in on whether it's don't wear a mask even though he said, you know, in a Fox interview that he -- where -- he's worn one, he looks like the Lone Ranger, he's OK with it. But, you know, he is digging in on the fear mongering, this divisive, factually incorrect information that we saw on display at Mount Rushmore and really under the auspices of being patriotic.

SETMAYER: It couldn't be any further from that. The way that that this President behaves is the antithesis of patriotism. When you're the president of the United States, you you're supposed to behave in a way where you represent the entire country where you are in a position where things are bigger than yourself. Donald Trump is incapable of that because he's a malignant narcissist. So everything is about him, even wearing a mask.

And the fact that he would even compare himself to the Lone Ranger and talk about his vanity about how it looked in the mask. There's something sick and off about that mentality that that's how he's approaching this. Hundreds of thousands of Americans are getting sick and will die because of the way the administration has botched this response to coronavirus. And the way the President has turned it into some type of political statement.

It's irresponsible, but it's indicative of the kind of character deficit of Donald Trump and why we need new leadership in this country.

[13:25:03]

WHITFIELD: And also in all seriousness, Native Americans had expressed just prior to and then protesters during the event were very upset about the President's visit to Mount Rushmore. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) NICK TILSEN, FOUNDER AND CEO, NDN COLLECTIVE: Indigenous people and my

ancestors fought and died and gave their lives to protect the sacred land. And to blow up a mountain and put the faces of four white men who were colonizers who committed genocide against indigenous people. The fact that we don't -- as America think of that as an absolute outrage is ridiculous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And this as now the Washington Redskins football team, Cleveland Indians baseball team all considering changing the team names, particularly because of this national reckoning but then you have the president who also seems dismissive, if not, you know, intentionally, you know, snubbing his nose to this national reckoning. Why does the President feel like this is going to pay off for him with election day, just four months or so away?

STEMAYER: You know, it's really a shame that we are having this discussion nationally and the President of United States and his enablers have made the decision to go and support monuments and symbols of the confederacy versus -- and talk about in code language about our culture and heritage and try to demonize the social justice movement. Instead of finding common ground and acknowledging the sins of our past.

That doesn't make you unpatriotic. This is the greatest country in the world. But we also have to reckon with some of the sins of the country and not whitewash that which is what the President's doing. He's trying to use this as a culture war and the language that he uses was almost like invoking the civil war again, I fear that. And on Fourth of July, instead of bringing a unified message, instead of using a tone the way that President Biden did in his ad where he acknowledged our founding fathers and those heroes and that proud heritage, but also acknowledge their flaws.

There's nothing unpatriotic about that. I come from a family where we celebrate Fourth of July very proudly, my grandfather was a World War II veteran, a police officer, a fireman, and he marched in every single Fourth of July parade from 1947 until his very last parade in 2016, where he passed away at 90 just 10 days later, which is the picture behind me where the police department wheeled him along the parade route because he was such a proud American.

There are many Americans like that, like me, who look at this holiday and look at our country and are very proud of it. But we also recognize the cause. The fact that this President can't do that is really disappointing and infuriating. You know, I'm biracial. And the country is changing, the dynamics and the demographics of this country are changing. And a lot of -- a lot more people are going to look like me.

And this President is stoking fear and cultural division, because the country's demographics are changing. So this message that he put forth and this -- the propaganda about us versus them, that is something that has a dying message. And it's shameful that the Republican Party has turned to this

messaging instead of taking this opportunity to find common ground and unity. And that's why like the Lincoln project, for example, we put out a -- we put out an ad called the flight of treason, when we were talking about how the symbols of the confederacy are something that we should not be proud of we should talk about them and condemn them.

And the President has decided that that's the hill he wants to die on. That's the cultural heritage that we need to protect. That's ridiculous. Nobody supporting pulling down statues and, you know, in a vigilante justice kind of way, we don't -- we don't do that. Let's do it. Find a way where we can have a conversation and take -- and take them down democratically. But he's using this long group of people who are doing that to try to turn it into some kind of national us versus them.

And that is not message to this country. We're better than that. We have a lot to be proud of in America and Independence Day. Donald Trump's presidency is not one of them.

WHITFIELD: All right. Tara Setmayer, we'll leave it there for now. Happy Fourth. And of course, we salute your granddad and all those who have served and continue to serve this great country. Thank you so much.

SETMAYER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: California was one of the first states to make the bold move to shut down to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. But now it's back to square one fighting a records surge in cases by closing the beaches this holiday weekend. Other beaches remain open today. Here's a live look at Ocean City, Maryland, where there are so many people swimming and sunbathing on this Fourth of July.

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[13:34:16]

WHITFIELD: Along California's coast, beaches are closed this Fourth of July weekend as coronavirus cases continue to surge in the state. Right now, there are more than 251,000 confirmed cases and more than 6,000 deaths.

CNN's Paul Vercammen joins us from Huntington Beach.

Paul, what's happening there?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We'll show you what's happening on the beach. Nothing.

WHITFIELD: Nothing.

VERCAMMEN: Look at these vast tracks of absolutely -- oh, that pure sand and nobody on it. It's really ripping their guts out here up and down the California coast. And look, here comes the patrol, lifeguards making sure no one comes out. What has happened here in California is somewhat remarkable because

the cooperation level. Santa Barbara County, Ventura County, Los Angeles County and here in Orange County, all beaches closed down.

[13:35:10]

And that was an important move that they made because that means that no one community had to bear the brunt of people flocking to their beach, except San Diego is open.

But let's listen to a spokesperson in Huntington Beach talking about this spirit of cooperation in the COVID-19 era.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELA BENNETT, SPOKESPERSON, HUNTINGTON BEACH POLICE DEPARTMENT: We're not the only one that's open. We're not the only one that's closed so the message is there. We're closing down. Let's do it for just a few days and try and flatten this curve again and make sure we can stay safe.

VERCAMMEN: Good vibrations up and down the California coast?

BENNETT: Big time. Let's keep it chill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: And in that spirit of keeping it chill, they have a huge parade here every Fourth of July in Huntington Beach. A half a million people come. This morning, they revamped it. They released a parade route very late and just sort weaved through neighborhoods with some V.W. vans and some dignitaries and some cars -- or replicas of cars, she said, from TV shows and it worked rather well.

It was their way to go ahead and honor the Fourth of July without having a, we'll call it, anti-social distancing parade. They had that smaller one.

Fred, back to you.

WHITFIELD: Everyone trying to do their part, right? Because it impacts everybody.

Paul Vercammen, thank you, in Huntington Beach, where nothing is happening.

All right. As Americans around the country celebrate the Fourth, my next guest has taken significant steps to help his city celebrate while keeping residents safe from the pandemic.

Mayor Ricky Shelton of Cookeville, Tennessee, has set up a social- distancing grid that utilizes all of the parking lots. This as the state's total caseload tops 48,000.

Mayor Shelton joining me right now.

Mayor, good to see you. Happy Fourth.

How confident are you --

MAYOR RICKY SHELTON, COOKEVILLE, TENNESSEE: Good to see you. Happy Fourth.

WHITFIELD: Thank you so much.

How confident are you that this setup will work and not contribute to spreading of the virus?

SHELTON: Well, we've taken great precautions. At our fairground site, that is in our main quarter of town, it would typically hold about 1300 vehicles and we have reduced that down to about 500, 15 feet apart and marked those spaces off. We have no on-site activities. And we have, you know, no vendors.

And so we've invited people to come. They can stay in their car or get out and put their chairs in front of their car so it will be at least 10 to 12 feet between each on-site person.

And we've worked wither other businesses in town as well to set up viewing partners in parking lots and suggesting that they do that as well to help make sure that we can celebrate the Fourth of July and Independence Day and do it safely.

As we have been preaching all along, personal responsibility and using common sense to keep yourself and your family safe.

WHITFIELD: And tonight's is being dedicated to the first responders and the work they did in response to the devastating tornado that ripped through Cookeville right before the pandemic in March. How did that decision come about?

SHELTON: Yes, Fredricka. So this is the sixth year of our Red, White and Boom Celebration. My wife and I started a nonprofit called Better Cookeville and raised this money to put this on each year.

As you said, on March 3rd, we had a devastating tornado that tore through our community. There was 26 people that died in Tennessee, 19 of them are right here in our city and county. And we had a tremendous outpouring of support and love throughout that.

And so we wanted to, as we went through that and then into the pandemic, we wanted to figure out -- we didn't announce anything early but we wanted to see what we could do.

Typically, our Fourth of July celebration has many components to it. We usually have a parade and patriotic ceremony honoring veterans at the courthouse and a downtown water slide. We had to cancel all of those this year.

But we wanted to do something that the community could rally around and we could be a community of unity and celebrate and support all those people that, you know, the tornado victims and survivors, the health care heroes who treated 98 people at our local hospital during that tornado.

And then also our first responders and the tremendous hundreds, over thousands of volunteers actually that came out and helped us during this devastating time. And we had 483 homes destroyed by that tornado.

WHITFIELD: So, Mayor, Tennessee is among those states experiencing the spike in new cases, 1,800 in Tennessee. That spike in just, you know, the last 24 hours alone.

So you mentioned and underscored the importance of personal responsibility. Do you feel like, if not in Cookeville, at least across your state, do you feel like people are embracing the personal responsibility that comes with trying to get a handle of this pandemic and how it's impacting people?

[13:40:16]

SHELTON: I can't speak for what other cities and counties are doing. I know what we're doing here. And the county mayor and I have continued to say use personal responsibility, use common sense.

Here in our county, we're a county of 80,000, a city of 35,000. Our county of 80,000, we have 200 -- currently, 242 active cases. We've had 853 total cases since testing began in March. That 242 active, as of today is, 0.3 of 1 percent of our entire population.

We've been fortunate that it hasn't been rampant here. And 71 percent of those that have tested positive have already recovered.

So we'll continue to ask our citizens to use personal responsibility and common sense and let's try to all get through this. Especially if you have underlying conditions, COPD, asthma, cardiovascular disease, diabetes. Those are the people that especially need to take care, use the face coverings, decide if they need to be out in places or not.

WHITFIELD: Absolutely.

Mayor Ricky Shelton, of Cookeville, Tennessee, we wish you and everybody there the best and happy Fourth.

SHELTON: Thanks for having me on. And just appreciate you and hope you have a blessed Independence Day and God bless.

WHITFIELD: Thank you so much. Appreciate that.

All right. It is, indeed, a Fourth of July unlike any other. An evening of fireworks and an all-star musical lineup tonight for you with Jewel, Barry Manilow, C.C. Winans, Don McLean and many other. Don Lemon and Dana Bash host CNN's "FOURTH OF JULY IN AMERICA." That's live tonight starting at 8:00 Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:45:04]

WHITFIELD: Authorities in Spain have ordered a lockdown in part of the Catalonia area after what's being described as a significant new coronavirus outbreak. Police say they have set up checkpoints in the area and about 200,000 people will have to stay put starting today.

Meanwhile, in Mexico, the outbreak continues to worsen by the day. The country now has more confirmed cases than Italy.

CNN's Matt Rivers is in Mexico City.

Matt, is the country still moving toward reopening?

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, here in Mexico City, Fred, it is reopening. It was kind of jarring after the first -- for the first time in months this week. We saw people out at restaurants this week. We saw people at markets. Salons have reopened in Mexico City. This, despite the fact that the outbreak is in its worst days.

You mentioned that Mexico has more cases than Italy. Mexico passed the death toll from Spain earlier this week. Probably going to pass the death toll of France as soon as today.

For months, while people here in Mexico watched as Europe went through the worst of this pandemic, now those roles have clearly been reversed.

Further south, down in Brazil, clearly, that's the worst outbreak in Latin America.

I want to show you the chart of newly confirmed cases recently. You can see the seven-day moving average continues to go up. Brazil recorded more than 40,000 cases again yesterday. That's the third straight time it has done so over the last three days. And clearly, 40,000 cases a day is the new normal in Brazil.

But let's finish on a good note, Fred. Let's look at the island of Cuba. The last time Cuba recorded more than 10 cases in a day was back on June 18th. Officials there have truly flattened the curve as a result. They are starting to reopen there with some international tourists allowed to come back in -- Fred?

WHITFIELD: OK. Boy, Matt Rivers, thank you so much.

The last few weekends, we've talked there from Mexico City, it has not improved. It only seems to worsen. Fingers crossed things will start to look up.

Thanks so much. Be safe.

Coming up in the CNN NEWSROOM, a lesson in resilience.

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GERRY SCHAPPALS, 102-YEARS-OLD WHO SURVIVED MULTIPLE PANDEMICS & MULTIPLE CANCER BATTLES: I never had any real problems in my life. Everything seemed to fall into place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Oh, she's amazing, 102 years old. This woman survived multiple pandemics and multiple cancer battles without losing a positive outlook.

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[13:52:57]

WHITFIELD: A 102-year-old New Hampshire woman is nothing short of a survivor. She beat the 1918 flu, cancer, and now coronavirus.

CNN's Gary Tuchman has her story.

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GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We headed to New Hampshire to meet this remarkable woman who just recovered from the coronavirus.

(on-camera): Do you feel lucky today?

G. SCHAPPALS: I always feel lucky. I'm lucky. I never had a real problem with my life. Everything seemed to fall into like.

TUCHMAN: An incredible attitude considering all that has happened in the life of 102-year-old Gerry Schappals.

Julia Schappals is her daughter. When her mother was a baby a little over 101 years ago --

JULIA SCHAPPALS, DAUGHTER OF GERRY SCHAPPALS: She had the -- what we call the Spanish flu, which was a huge pandemic during the First World War.

TUCHMAN: That's right. Gerry Schappals' family says she survived the influenza pandemic in the early 20th century, and the coronavirus in the early 21st century.

Back in 1918, little Gerry and her mother were both seriously ill.

J. SCHAPPALS: And the doctor told her father, they're both going to die, prepare yourself. But that's my medical opinion.

TUCHMAN: But daughter and mother survived.

Gerry went to college, got a bachelor's and master's, became a teacher and got married right after World War II. Her husband died almost four decades ago. But they had two children, and there are now three grandchildren and six great grandchildren.

After Gerry retired, she had breast cancer and colon cancer, and she beat both.

(on-camera): Can I call you Gerry?

G. SCHAPPALS: Delighted.

TUCHMAN: It's delightful to meet you.

G. SCHAPPALS: Thank you.

TUCHMAN: How are you feeling?

G. SCHAPPALS: Wonderful.

TUCHMAN: You're an amazing woman.

G. SCHAPPALS: Why?

TUCHMAN: I'm going to tell you why. You're modest, but you had coronavirus, and 101 years ago, you had Spanish flu. And you survived it twice. You're an amazing woman.

G. SCHAPPALS: I am.

[13:55:00]

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Gerry is a resident of the senior living community in Nashville for several years now.

J. SCHAPPALS: Hey mom.

TUCHMAN: On this day, her daughter came to pay a visit. Social distancing and masks still required.

J. SCHAPPALS: So how are you doing?

G. SCHAPPALS: Do we have to keep the masks on?

J. SCHAPPALS: Yes, we have to keep the mask on. Yes.

Do you recognize the top? You should, I stole it from you. Don't think you're getting it back.

TUCHMAN: The employees of her senior community were upset and saddened when Gerry tested positive for the coronavirus. But when they told her the diagnosis --

LISA VALCOURT, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, HUNTINGTON AT NASHUA: She had an incredible attitude. And she, you know, took every day and said, I guess I'm sick. They're told me I'm sick, but I'm not sick.

TUCHMAN: But like the Spanish Flu and the two bouts of cancer, 102- year-old Gerry Schappals managed to fend off the coronavirus as well.

(on-camera): Thank you for letting us meet you. Thank you.

G. SCHAPPALS: My pleasure.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Gary Tuchman, CNN, Nashua, New Hampshire.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Wow, Gerry is something else. What an inspiration to us all.

Thank you.

This Independence Day is unlike any before it. Celebrations are scaled down and many beaches are closed as the coronavirus spreads at record rates. Florida just reported its highest single-day increase of coronavirus cases.

Our special Fourth of July coverage continues right after this.

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