Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Trump Baselessly Claims 99 Percent of Cases Totally Harmless; Video Captures Large Crowds of Partygoers Not Wearing Masks in Michigan; Interview with Mayor Dan Gelber (D) of Miami Beach about Florida's Coronavirus Cases; California Closing Down Again as Cases Spike; Inside Texas Hospital Overwhelmed with COVID-19 Patients. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired July 05, 2020 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:03]
ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.
It is a weekend with two definite sides in this country. One, the celebration of America's independence, normally an upbeat holiday, overshadowed this year by the flip side, the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
Let me show you the parts of the country right now where the number of new infections is on the rise. A lot. 34 states in all, some of them with a more than 50 percent spike in new cases. Beaches and parks are open and busy in places where the disease is running less rampant. Health officials everywhere begging people to avoid large gatherings, to cover their faces, whatever they can do to keep the virus from spreading.
President Trump, we're learning, is planning to hold another in-person reelection campaign rally. This one is scheduled for next Saturday in New Hampshire. A campaign source telling CNN the rally will be held at an airplane hangar at the Portsmouth International Airport. Now remember at last month's campaign rally in Oklahoma, multiple campaign staffers tested positive for the coronavirus.
And in cities around the country this weekend, some mayors are calling the president's seemingly cavalier attitude toward the pandemic dangerous and wrong.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR KATE GALLEGO, PHOENIX, ARIZONA: President Trump was in my community, chose not to wear a mask and he's having large events while I am trying to push people that you need to stay at home and that events with more than 10 people are dangerous per the Centers for Disease Control.
MAYOR DAN GELBER, MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA: How do you tell somebody they have to wear a mask and be socially distanced when the president doesn't and hosts a rally where they're almost celebrating the lack of those simple countermeasures? So, really, we're not on the same page. MAYOR STEVE ADLER, AUSTIN, TEXAS: We need everybody wearing masks. And
when they start hearing that kind of ambiguous message coming out of Washington, there are more and more people that won't wear masks, that won't social distance, that won't do what it takes to keep a community safe and that's wrong and it's dangerous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: And while those mayors are struggling to contain the coronavirus surge in their communities, the president makes a baseless claim about the virus. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now we have tested almost 40 million people. By so doing, we show cases, 99 percent of which are totally harmless.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: Nearly 130,000 Americans have died from the coronavirus. That's thousands of families suffering right now.
CNN White House correspondent Jeremy Diamond joins us.
Jeremy, while the president claims 99 percent of cases are totally harmless, how are health officials in his administration handling this?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Ana, the president's claim about 99 percent of coronavirus cases being harmless not only defies reality, but it also contradicts the messaging from public health experts including the government's own public health experts who are trying to get Americans to take this new surge of coronavirus cases much, much more seriously.
Look, while the World Health Organization has estimated that the mortality rate for coronavirus is less than 1 percent globally, they also estimate that about 20 percent of people diagnosed with coronavirus are going to require oxygen or hospitalization. So certainly people who need to go to the hospital because of their symptoms, those are not harmless cases. But this is how the FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn responded when he was pressed with the president's claim. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. STEPHEN HAHN, FDA COMMISSIONER: So I'm not going to get into who's right and who's wrong. What I'm going to say, Dana, is what I've had said before which is that it's a serious problem that we have. We've seen the surge in cases. We must do something to stem the tide. And we have this in our power to do it by following the guidance from the White House Task Force and the CDC.
(END VIDEO CLIP) DIAMOND: And, Ana, you can see there, Dr. Hahn, who's a member of the Coronavirus Task Force, saying this is a serious problem. But of course he was reluctant to directly contradict President Trump on this. And that is the difficult conundrum that you're finding several of the administration's public health officials finding themselves in. A few days ago it was the Surgeon General Jerome Adams who struggled to say whether or not it was wise for Americans to attend large gatherings, and that is because the White House and the president are forging ahead.
The event that they had at the White House last night, Ana, I was attending it, on the South Lawn. We saw most people there, of the hundreds who were attending, not wearing masks and there was very little social distancing actually happening here. So certainly as some of these mayors across the country that you just showed there are trying to urge people to take this more seriously, public health experts as well, the president and the White House setting the complete wrong tone -- Ana.
CABRERA: Jeremy Diamond for us at the White House. Thanks.
Health experts are warning the July 4th holiday weekend could trigger even more spikes in coronavirus cases. This as we're getting reports of large gatherings with many people not following social distancing guidelines.
[19:05:06]
I want to bring in CNN's Polo Sandoval.
Polo, you're reporting on large crowds of party goers without masks in several midwestern states. Tell us more.
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And look, the reality is, if the weather cooperates, Ana, a lot of families would have found it very difficult to resist that urge to actually go out and enjoy the weekend. And for the most part health officials have said, look, that's OK, as long as they can adhere to those recommendations that we've heard from the very beginning, the social distancing, the masks.
But there are those incidents that you mentioned that are certainly at least concerning health officials in some parts of the country and such as the case on Diamond Lake in southwest Michigan. Social video that's actually been circulating on social media shows a large party in that lake. People in close proximity. Even though masks are required in Michigan, it would be very difficult to -- you can actually find anyone wearing a mask in this video here, at least in this footage.
Local health officials saying that they're fully aware. This is actually an annual party that takes place on Diamond Lake organized by residents for residents. However, their hands are tied in terms of jurisdictions as one top health official told CNN is they did speak to the organizer of this event but they can't really enforce any social distancing mandate in -- like they would be able to do in more formal establishments like bars, for example. If they don't see that social distancing that they can find or
potentially even close that place down. You can't really do that here. So all they can really do is educate not just organizers but also those who attend and it's ultimately up to those who attend these events to exercise those precautions, to try to keep that from actually -- you know, to try to prevent any potential virus spread and then of course there's also one more incident to talk about in Wisconsin at a waterpark.
However, according to conversations that we actually had with the general manager, it seems that they actually took precautions like temperature checks, masks being worn by not just employees and also guests. But in the long run, really, Ana, it's not just this weekend, but in the weekends ahead. Officials are recommending people simply be careful and to try to avoid these kinds of situations to begin with.
CABRERA: OK. Polo Sandoval, those are just snapshots of different events happening around the country. We can only imagine there are others out there.
Today Florida hit a grim new milestone. The state now has more than 200,000 coronavirus cases with nearly 10,000 of those cases reported just today. And that's on top of yesterday's huge number which set a daily record for all states with more than 11,400 new infections. Again that was reported yesterday.
CNN's Boris Sanchez is joining us from Miami Beach. And Boris, yesterday's numbers surpass New York now on its worst day. How are officials explaining this surge?
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, local officials have effectively said that they believe that people ignoring social distancing has led to this surge in numbers and the numbers are staggering. In the first four days of July, the Sunshine State eclipsing 40,000 new coronavirus cases. There are roughly 100,000 for the entire month of June.
Here at the Miami Beach Convention Center, we saw a large crowd. We saw the demand for testing, in effect. People lining up, filling up the entire block, effectively waiting to get their coronavirus tests. We actually had to -- they actually had to shut down early because they administered some 1200 tests and they ran out and could not meet the demand. They actually had to shut down more than an hour early.
That brings up questions about demand and just how many tests are available. Fortunately to answer those questions, we have the mayor of Miami Beach here with us, Dan Gelber.
Mayor Gelber, thank you so much for sharing a part of your Fourth of July weekend with us.
GELBER: Sure.
SANCHEZ: I'd shake your hand, but obviously social distancing. The first question, is there enough testing? GELBER: There's not enough testing. The people who want to get tested
are not going to be able to get it in the time that they need. I mean, we -- the demand has become awesome. There are lines around the block. So we're seeing that. And that's a good thing. We're in the middle of a hospitality industry and I think a lot of the people here who are in service and, you know, interact with the public, they want to be tested as do their employers. So this is very healthy and we'd like to have more tests. And they've been pretty good. We're going to ask for more and they've usually given us more than we ask.
SANCHEZ: You mentioned the hospitality industry. The Fourth of July weekend, a huge one here in Miami Beach. You shut down the beaches, there's a curfew, there's a mask mandate, obviously. What more could be done to get the message out to keep people socially distant?
GELBER: Well, we've had ambassadors handing out free masks. We're doing everything we can. And there's more that's going to have to be done. Because these huge spikes we're seeing right now, obviously, mean that in a week or two we're going to see even, you know, bigger people -- you know, more people showing up to hospitals and intensive care and on ventilators. So we know that's going to happen. So we're going to have to do more because it's just not working at this point. We're not stopping this virus from spreading viciously in our community.
SANCHEZ: And I've heard you say that one of those problems has to do with convincing the public to make the sacrifices necessary to avoid the spread of the virus.
[19:10:06]
Why do you feel that the message is not getting across to so many?
GELBER: Listen, I've lived here my whole life. So I've prepared for hurricanes with the entire public as an official and as a resident. I've seen other officials do the same thing. We know how to respond to that. Everybody is on the same page. People sacrifice, they do what they're asked to do, they help their neighbor, they help people they don't even know. But right now they're getting mixed messages.
How do -- you know, I got to convince people to sacrifice and wear this and separate from people they love and not go to the beach and stay home, you know, until 10:00. So the point is that what we're hearing from Washington is something totally different than what we're trying to tell people right now and that mixed message can be awful because if you're out there and you want to wear a mask, and you say, well, it's hot and it's odd, and I don't want to do it, then the president of the United States has a big rally Friday night where nobody is wearing masks and nobody is socially distant from one another, why should I do it?
And it's up to us to let people know. Because people will respond to that kind of request to sacrifice. People will do it. They always have in our country. It's July 4th weekend. It's not about celebrating freedoms. It's about celebrating sacrifices that people have made for those freedoms. So let's just get everybody to do a little bit of sacrificing and I just hope that in Washington they get on this same page and we local folks know we have to be on. We must explain to people how important this is.
SANCHEZ: All right, Mayor Gelber, thank you again for the time.
GELBER: Yes. Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Ana, I'll go ahead and send it back to you.
CABRERA: OK. Great interview. It's loud and clear, even with the mask on, the message from the mayor there about the importance of taking care of ourselves and each other.
Boris Sanchez, thank you.
California's Gavin Newsom was the first governor in the nation to issue a statewide stay-at-home order. He was determined to avoid the worst of the pandemic. Initially, that approach seemed to be working. California was even able to begin a gradual reopening. But in recent days, dramatic COVID surges have turned California's early success into a bit of roller coaster of new cases and more deaths. And much of that state is starting to lock things down again.
And CNN's Paul Vercammen joins us now from Santa Monica.
Paul, what went wrong? Why is California seeing such a large spike in its numbers?
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, most state health officials will tell you that they think in certain counties, in certain instances, they reopened too soon. So they rethought things. They said holidays also contributed to some of these spikes. So on this Fourth of July weekend, look behind me, or look over here, Santa Monica Beach completely empty. People are cooperating.
And we talked about those state health officials at point clearly they targeted bars and very populous counties. They said that contributed to a lot of the problems, young people letting their guard down, not socially distancing, not wearing their masks and the fact that talking loudly in a crowded bar, well, you can project that goes ahead and releases the virus into the air.
We talked to some people here in Santa Monica and here's their view of what might have gone wrong -- Ana.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHANIE CASPIAN, SANTA MONICA RESIDENT: I do think too quickly perhaps. I'm going to say young people and perhaps the marches and protests and so forth I think increased the number of COVID cases, people probably were not wearing masks.
AMIR CASPIAN, SANTA MONICA RESIDENT: Yes. There's going to be many more Fourth of Julys coming up, so I think, you know, as long as we can protect those that are the elderly and those with underlying conditions, that's what we're doing it for. And so if we keep that in mind, we'll enjoy the 2021 Fourth of July.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VERCAMMEN: And also both of them saying that the economy needs to get going again here in California and we should note there are many counties where they feel that mask wearing is not important. Other people saying that we need to get that economy going no matter at what cost. So back to you -- Ana.
CABRERA: Paul Vercammen in Santa Monica, California, thanks for your reporting.
Look, I can sit here all night and take you state to state. I can show you the graphs where every number of cases, deaths, hospitalizations are trending in the wrong direction. But honestly, you need to see it. You need to see what this virus is doing to those it infects, to our health care workers, to our ability to turn things around.
Right now two counties in Texas say their hospitals are at capacity and we're going to take you inside one on the front lines of this fight. Doctors there faced with choosing which patients get potentially life-saving treatments and which do not.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:18:48]
CABRERA: Nearly 130,000 Americans are dead from the coronavirus. Nearly three million have tested positive that we know of and 34 states, more than half the country, reporting an increase in cases. Some overwhelmingly. But take a look at this party in Michigan yesterday.
How about this pool party in Missouri?
Joining us now, former disease detective for the Centers for Disease Control, Dr. Seema Yasmin.
Now, Doctor, when you see videos like this, how concerned do you get about our ability to contain this virus?
DR. SEEMA YASMIN, FORMER CDC DISEASE DETECTIVE: We're already beyond our ability to contain the virus, Ana, and what I'm concerned about is you see videos like these ones and they are terrible predictors of what's to come. Because, of course, there's a lag between when someone is exposed to the virus to when they test positive, when they get sick. There's a lag between them getting sick and getting so sick that they need an ICU bed, and of course there's a lag between somebody getting infected and dying.
[19:20:02]
So we're seeing these images now. But what they point to are future weeks, future months where we continue to see some health care systems in some states completely overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients. It shows that we might continue to see these record-breaking case counts on a day-by-day basis and even increasing deaths.
CABRERA: I mean, in fact, Arizona says 91 percent of its ICUs are already full and officials in Texas say some cities are just days away from having bed shortages. What needs to be done in order to turn this around? I know some people want to see a national mask mandate. But is that enough?
YASMIN: Quite basic things actually still remain to be done. Firstly, we need to stop politicizing the pandemic response, stop politicizing public health. Give people clear guidance about what they need to do and just ramp up the basics, Ana. We're still not seeing testing available in a way that it's available to everybody quickly. We're seeing people lining up for 12 hours in Texas, 13 hours in Arizona just to get a test.
Last week I interviewed an infection preventionist at a hospital in Phoenix who said to me PPE is still a concern for health care workers but she also said that getting a handle on disinfectant wipes to clean her Phoenix hospital is also an issue. So at this very basic level, we're seeing America lag behind and that's exactly how you wind up with the virus being out of control.
CABRERA: I have a friend who, you know, got tested several days ago and still hasn't gotten results back yet. So to your point about testing it's still not where we need it to be.
I want to ask you about the "New York Times" reporting that 239 scientists from 32 countries have written an open letter to the World Health Organization calling on the agency to revise its recommendations. They argue this virus doesn't just transmit in droplets that fall to the ground in a six-foot area, but that it can linger in the air infecting people nearby.
What have we learned in the past several months now about the kind of environment this virus thrives in?
YASMIN: So the World Health Organization is saying that when we cough, talk or sneeze, the virus emerges from our mouth and nose in droplets that are five microns big. Now that's tiny. One micron is one millionth of a meter but in biological terms, five microns is quite heavy. And that's why we believe that a five-micron droplet will fall to the ground within about six feet of you coughing or sneezing or talking.
But these scientists are saying hold on, there's evidence that actually when we cough or sneeze the virus particles are emerging in much smaller particle sizes. Not five microns, less than that. And smaller than that is bad news, Ana, because smaller particles can travel farther, they're lighter, they may travel more than six feet. If that is the case, if it's smaller than droplet transmission, then we need to increase the distance between people, the physical distancing.
We'd need to make sure that people have well-fitting N-95 masks. The World Health Organization is saying the debate is strong but that the evidence is not. And this is not a new debate. In fact it's been going on since at least early April. I foresee it continuing. In the meantime I think what's important to remember is that your risk of transmission does increase the closer in proximity you are to somebody. If you're indoors, if you're close to people for a long time, if you're not wearing any kind of mask.
So the debate will continue. I will continue to update you. But in the meantime, let's be aware of what we do agree on in terms of virus spread.
CABRERA: We're lucky to have your expertise and your ability to share what you know, what we all need to know about this virus.
Doctor Seema Yasmin, thank you for being here.
YASMIN: Thank you.
CABRERA: Coming up, as more than 30 states experience a surge in new cases, hospitalizations are also on the rise. We'll take you inside one Texas hospital that's overwhelmed as it fights this pandemic.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:28:17]
CABRERA: Welcome back. As we see images like these this weekend of people ignoring social distancing rules, not wearing masks, enjoying their summer, it's easy to forget that we're in the middle of a pandemic that is still surging across the country this weekend. In fact, hospitals in at least two Texas counties say they're now at capacity after a record number of new cases in the state.
And CNN's Miguel Marquez gained rare access to go inside one of the hospitals on the front lines.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): San Antonio Methodist Hospital, the lungs of a 29-year-old badly damaged by the coronavirus need a CAT scan. Patients so critically ill, what should be easy takes enormous coordination and a small army just to get them from A to B.
ADAM SAHYOUNI, COVID ICU NURSE MANAGER, SAN ANTONIO METHODIST HOSPITAL: We are having an explosion of COVID. We aren't overrun yet, but it's overwhelming.
MARQUEZ: Overwhelming now and expected to get worse in the days ahead.
San Antonio's Bear County has seen a sharp rise in the percent of those testing positive for the virus. In just the last 30 days, the weekly average of those testing positive has gone from 3.6 percent to more than 20 percent.
So many infections increasingly moms-to-be infected with the coronavirus. Methodist Hospital now has a dedicated unit in its NICU for babies born to mothers who have it. (On camera): That picture that every mom wants of the baby being born
and holding the baby, does that happen with babies in COVID?
MEAGAN VANDEWARK, NICU CHARGE NURSE, SAN ANTONIO METHODIST HOSPITAL: Unfortunately, no. We have to -- as soon the baby is born, they do bring them right to us outside of the door. So it's just a very brief moment that the mom might get a glimpse.
[19:30:00]
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the womb, the virus isn't typically transmitted from mother to child, but during the birthing process, the risk of infection goes up, and treating newborns with a coronavirus, much more complicated.
Though these babies have tested negative, they are treated as suspect positive. Healthcare workers wear full PPE, and these babies born to moms with the coronavirus are kept separated from others, just in case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ (on camera): You have five babies in here right now?
VANDEWARK: Yes.
MARQUEZ: You have room for 16.
VANDEWARK: Yes.
MARQUEZ: Do you think you're going to be full up?
VANDEWARK: I do. The way things are going, we're admitting pretty frequently, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Christy Labastida, only 36-years-old is expecting her fourth child. Both she and her fiancee, have the coronavirus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTY LABASTIDA, COVID-19 PATIENT: Mainly the thing that really hurt was my bones were just -- I couldn't lay down, it was just hurting.
MARQUEZ (on camera): Your bones?
LABASTIDA: My bones. It just --
MARQUEZ: Like your entire skeleton, your body.
LABASTIDA: Like my bones -- yes, even to my pinky of my toes.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MARQUEZ (voice-over): Pregnancy hard enough without that. She took
precautions and isn't sure how she got it, now only hoping she recovers and she, her three kids and fiancee are coronavirus free, by the time she gives birth in about a month.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LABASTIDA: I'm extremely stressed. I'm a very strong woman, I tend to do a lot, and now that I can't and I need that help, it's taking a toll.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ (voice over): Methodist Hospital maybe seeing the beginning of a sharp increase nationwide of moms with coronavirus giving birth.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. KELLY MORALES, OBSTETRICIAN/GYNECOLOGIST, SAN ANTONIO METHODIST HOSPITAL: There's actually some literature out there to support it to a 30 percent asymptomatic rate. So that means --
MARQUEZ (on camera): Thirty percent?
MORALES: Thirty percent asymptomatic rate.
MARQUEZ: Of moms coming in?
MORALES: Of moms coming in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Pregnancy and coronavirus only one piece of the pandemic. Methodist Hospital treating a rising tides of critically sick patients.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. JEFFREY DELLAVOLPE, PULMONARY PHYSICIAN, SAN ANTONIO METHODIST HOSPITAL: The last few weeks has just been overwhelming is how I would describe it. There's been more and more patients than we really know what to do with. The patients are getting younger and they're more sick. And --
MARQUEZ (voice-over): How much younger?
DELLAVOLPE: It's gone from, you know, probably 50s and 60s for the first wave to -- I lost track of how many 20 -- people in their 20s.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ (voice-over): This is Methodist's COVID Unit II. It's one of three specialized COVID units at the hospital. Patient rooms sealed off, each one turned into negative pressure chambers, so staff only need to don PPE if they go into one of the bays.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ (on camera): So you have 14 rooms, how many are filled?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADAM SAHYOUNI, COVID ICU NURSE MANAGER SAN ANTONIO METHODIST HOSPITAL: Fourteen.
MARQUEZ: Wow.
SAHYOUNI: With a waiting list.
MARQUEZ: How long is that list?
SAHYOUNI: It's long.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ (voice-over): The hospital is creating more beds, but for now this is where the sickest of the sick are treated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DELLAVOLPE: Yesterday was probably one of my worst days that I've ever had.
MARQUEZ (on camera): Why?
DELLAVOLPE: I got 10 calls, all of whom young people who otherwise would be excellent candidates to be able to put on ECMO. They're so sick if they don't get put on, they don't get that support, they're probably going to die. I had three beds.
And making that decision, being able to figure out who really is going to benefit. It is a level of decision making that I don't think a lot of us are prepared for.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Those calls coming from other hospitals across South Texas with patients so sick that Methodist may be their last hope.
Methodist Hospital uses a procedure to oxygenate the blood and keep patients off ventilators. It's called ECMO or Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation.
Today, Dr. Dellavolpe is inserting large tubes in the veins of a 33- year-old. They run from the groin all the way to the heart, the blood comes out of the body, it is mechanically oxygenated, then returned back to the heart almost immediately.
The Methodist team has had a lot of practice, the procedure taking only a few minutes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DELLAVOLPE: It involves being able to take large cannulas. They're
almost like small garden hoses is how I would describe them. They have to be able to pump about two or three gallons of blood per minute through them. So, one is draining blood out, and the other one is returning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ (voice over): The blood coming out of the patient is dark. It just looks unhealthy. The blood returning is bright red, loaded with oxygen. Almost immediately, oxygen level in the patient's blood goes back to near normal. Their chance of survival now better than if they were on a ventilator.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DELLAVOLPE: I think the ventilator really causes a lot of harm. We're finding that it causes harm in general, but it certainly causes harm when we're talking about patients with COVID.
MARQUEZ (on camera): Because their lungs are so weak to begin with?
DELLAVOLPE: Because their lungs are so weak and because probably there's other reasons why patients are having trouble.
MARQUEZ: The ventilator is pushing oxygen into the lung.
DELLAVOLPE: That's right.
MARQUEZ: Into damaged lungs.
[19:35:01]
DELLAVOLPE: That's right. So not only are you having all of the problems with the blood vessels and the clotting in your blood vessels, not only are you have having all of the problems of oxygen not being able to get to your organs and your organs shutting down from that.
But now, you're artificially pushing air into your lungs and causing more damage that way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Another hard lesson that the pandemic and the virus healthcare providers everywhere are still struggling to understand.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAHYOUNI: We don't quite understand why one person with lab values of X does well, while a person with lab values that appear to be better doesn't make it. And a mask is not a big ask to help save your life.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MARQUEZ (voice-over): The work and stress for healthcare workers
everywhere crushing with rates of infection rising, they expect more work and stress ahead.
Stressful for patients as well, who are sick, isolated from everyone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ (on camera): How tough is it to be in your room all day just sitting there?
MICHAEL VASQUEZ, COVID-19 PATIENT: Oh, man, if you could just hear that unit in the room, it will drive you nuts at first, but you get past it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Twenty eight-year-old Michael Vasquez works in a warehouse. He isn't sure how he got sick. He's part of a new program here to get patients up and walking as soon as possible, even a little bit helping both physically and mentally.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ (on camera): What has it done to your lungs?
VASQUEZ: Really made them fatigue, really bad, with the -- sorry--
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Vasquez isn't sure if there will be any long- term effects to his lungs. Right now, he is focused on getting home to his wife and seven-year-old son.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VASQUEZ: I just miss, you know, their presence there. You know, miss holding your wife, kissing your son goodnight, going to his room, making sure he is okay. I miss that a lot.
DR. MISHA PETER, PULMONARY CRITICAL CARE, SAN ANTONIO METHODIST HOSPITAL: We know that when people walk, when people sleep better, when people see bright light, they get better sooner. We know all of this.
I think on some level, we're having to re-learn it with COVID, because of our response to it. You know, obviously, our need to keep ourselves safe, to keep staff safe.
So, it's not unexpected that we kind of ended up isolating people, whether we meant to or not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ (voice over): Another lesson of the pandemic trying to reduce recovery times and free up beds badly needed for an expected growing surge of people seriously sick with the coronavirus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. JENNIFER GEMMILL, EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT PHYSICIAN MEDICAL DIRECTOR: Right now, we are so full upstairs that we are having some delays in getting the patients upstairs because there just aren't beds that are prepared and ready for COVID patients.
So, we are holding a lot of them in the emergency department right now. Some for hours, some for days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ (voice over): What's driving the surge here? Doctors aren't entirely sure, but based on what they hear from patients, there was a sense that the worst was behind us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEMMILL: I don't think that there was one specific incidence that really let to this spike. I think people after March and April were extremely frustrated with being inside and as soon as those restrictions lifted, they wanted to get out, some protected themselves, some didn't, and now we're just seeing the results of that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ (voice over): With the holiday weekend coming up, the fear now the surge of patients will become a tidal wave.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAHYOUNI: I don't think I've seen anything like this ever. And I would say that if you want to see August 1st, then maybe you should stay indoors and isolate on July 4th.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ (voice over): Miguel Marquez, CNN, San Antonio, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Some breaking news into CNN. Remains of this missing Fort Hood soldier have been identified, a tragic end that so many feared, her family attorney joins me live, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:42:54]
CABRERA: Breaking in -- very disturbing news tonight, the tragic end that so many had feared in the search for U.S. Army Specialist Vanessa Guillen as the family believed she was murdered. Her family's attorney confirms to CNN that Army investigators have positively identified the remains of the soldier who was stationed at Fort Hood. On Thursday, that attorney said the family was told Guillen was
bludgeoned to death with a hammer and that the killer then moved her body off the base.
Now, the suspect, Army Specialist, Aaron David Robinson took his own live on Wednesday when police confronted him in nearby Killeen, Texas.
Natalie Khawam is the attorney for Vanessa Guillen's family. I am so sorry to have to talk to you under these circumstances, but I greatly appreciate you joining us.
I want to offer our deepest condolences to all of Specialist Guillen's loved ones. I understand, the Army met with the family today. What were they able to tell them about how this happened and why?
NATALIE KHAWAM, ATTORNEY FOR VANESSA GUILLEN'S FAMILY: Well, unfortunately, you know, it was the news we didn't want to receive. I got a call on Friday from the Army telling me that it was confirmed. They wanted to meet with the family and tell them. The family was on its way leaving D.C., so I told them to wait until Sunday and that, you know, Miss Guillen is a very Catholic person. I wanted their priest to be with them so that way, they could go through this a lot less difficult for her.
So, actually, as we speak right now, they are in prayer at the house. The Army, I think, is about to leave their house from this visit that they had. And, you know, it's just been a very sad morning and weekend for us.
The family did not know on Friday when I found out. I was waiting for them to get home and meet with their -- have a priest come over and make sure he was there when this happened so we don't lose the mother to a heart attack or anything like that.
CABRERA: I can only imagine how devastating it has to be, as a parent to get the news like this. Has the family said anything to you about today's confirmation that you can share with us in terms of what happened?
[19:45:10]
KHAWAM: Yes, so they were there. They brought a chaplain with them, too. It was a Major that came over, a female officer, and they were going through everything as far as when family gets informed about when a soldier that passes.
I understand when they did the identity, they couldn't identity with her dental examination. They couldn't confirm her -- whether it was her with the dental because her -- Vanessa's face was bashed in so badly, there was no teeth for them to identify.
So, that's why they had to send her body to Dover Air Force Base to get examined in that fashion and confirmed that it was her. That's why it took a lot longer than they expected.
CABRERA: That's all so horrible to hear. We understand Specialist Guillen was about to file a complaint against the suspect. What can you tell us about that?
KHAWAM: So, we understand that she had threatened to report him while they were together inside that -- inside the armory room, and he said that he -- he said this to the accomplice, that he was afraid to lose his career and that's why he grabbed the hammer and murdered her in the armory room where they had the --
CABRERA: But why was she going to report him? What was it that she was going to report him on?
KHAWAM: Well, the statement that he gave his accomplice, we don't agree with. The family definitely does not believe it. Supposedly, Vanessa had looked at his phone and saw a picture of Cecile, who was a married woman, and Vanessa supposedly according to Robinson said, you're not supposed to be having an affair with a married person. That's adultery and I'm going to report you.
Of course, Vanessa's father, her sisters all said that's not like Vanessa to want to report someone for having an affair. Why would she even know this person to begin with, let alone any of that information?
We believe that he had said that to the accomplice to have the accomplice owe him some help to dismember Vanessa. What we believe is, she probably was telling him he was going to report him about the sexual harassment. He obviously wouldn't want to tell his girlfriend that he was sexually harassing another woman and that's why she was going to report him.
So, one story is different. Obviously, hearsay on hearsay than the story we really believe happened.
CABRERA: And just to be clear, this accomplice that you reference is an alleged accomplice, is currently a suspect. Obviously there's still so much to learn in this case and this story. Thank you, Natalie Khawam, for coming on and sharing what we're learning tonight.
KHAWAM: I appreciate you. Thank you for covering this.
CABRERA: We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:53:00]
CABRERA: A moment of hope on an Iowa baseball field this summer turned into something ugly, a reminder that racism knows no boundaries. Seventeen-year-old Jeremiah Chapman is the only black player on the Charles City High School baseball team. He was excited to get back on the diamond after the coronavirus put the season on hold.
But that joy was shattered when somebody in the crowd started yelling bigotry, attacking him for the color of his skin.
Jeremiah Chapman is joining us now. Thank you, Jeremiah for having the courage to come on and talk about this. I'm sorry for what you have had to endure. Take us through what happened to you.
JEREMIAH CHAPMAN, CHARLES CITY HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL PLAYER: So, it was just a regular day. I was getting ready for my game. We had batting practice before every game. We had it at like 2:30 because it was a conference game, and all of our conference games are double headers due to COVID.
And we were traveling to Waverly, so we had batting practice very early. We got done with batting practice. I got in the van and got ready. I was just getting focused getting ready for the game.
We got there. We got ready as a team. We were getting hyped because, Waverly, are our rivals and we don't like -- I am sorry -- we got done stretching and getting ready for the game.
The first game happened. Like that was not a very good game for us. We ended up losing that game 10 to zero. Mercy rule. And before our game, that's when we do like all the introductions, and the National Anthem.
And then, the second game started. We were starting off very well. It was around the third or fourth inning that we scored like four runs, so we were winning four to zero. And then comments were being said to my teammate, Hunter from left kids. There were kids behind us they were like, Hunter, Number 17, you're trash. They kept talking to him.
I looked down, and I was like, Hunter, don't worry about it. It's our game. Just focus because I didn't want them to get under our skin because I wanted to win. I am a very competitive like baseball player.
[19:55:12]
CABRERA: And what did they say to you then? What did you hear?
CHAPMAN: They like -- they didn't start talking to me. They started talking to Hunter first, and then once I started talking to Hunter, like they started talking to me. They were like, four, four, four, and I didn't say anything because I was more focused on the game.
And then they started yelling Colin, and for me, I just assumed Colin Kaepernick, because I am very close with Waverly people and I know they that knew my name because if they knew Hunter's name, like, I just assumed they were calling me Colin Kaepernick.
Like I just forgot about that. I'm not going to let that get to my head because whatever.
CABRERA: I don't have a lot of time, Jeremiah for this segment, but I do want to make sure people understand what it was, so they called you Colin, which obviously was totally inappropriate. Did you take that as them trying to be derogatory toward you, and what else did you hear?
CHAPMAN: I caught a fly ball and then they told me to get back to the field. That's when I started, oh, okay. I took that to heart because like, I have never worked on a field or anything, and then later during the game, I got told that I should have been George Floyd.
CABRERA: Wow.
CHAPMAN: And then the chance --
CABRERA: What went through your mind when you heard that?
CHAPMAN: Like, I started getting very emotional. But I didn't like show it. I was like about to tear up and stuff because I took that as like they wanted me dead because he passed and that like really hurt me, so that's how I felt.
CABRERA: What do you want people -- just quickly, if you will, what do you want people to know about the impact of those words?
CHAPMAN: They hurt. They hurt me a lot. That can mean -- especially around the time, like he just passed. Like that really hurt a lot.
CABRERA: Well, Jeremiah Chapman, I wish we had more time to have this conversation, but thank you again for sharing your story and raising awareness about this type of thing. It's completely unacceptable. And good luck as you continue the season. Stay strong.
CHAPMAN: Thank you.
CABRERA: Thank you. On this Fourth of July weekend, the U.S. is reporting more than 45,000 new cases in just one day as infections spike in 34 states. We'll take you to some of the hot spots, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:00:00]
