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Hospitals Strained, ICUs Filled Up As U.S. Nears 3 Million Cases; Supreme Court Says, Trump Can Weaken Obamacare Contraceptive Mandate; Trump Threatens To Cut Off Funding If Schools Don't Open. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired July 08, 2020 - 10:00   ET

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

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POPPY HARLOW, CNN NEWSROOM: Good morning, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. I'm glad you're with us this morning.

the United States though on the brink of 3 million coronavirus cases as the nation breaks a single-day record for new infections. Still the president is ramping up pressure for schools to reopen in the fall, now threatening to cut off funding if they don't, getting students back into the classroom safely, that is a major issue for schools across the nation.

Here are the facts this morning. Hospitals are strained in Florida. At least 56 intensive care units are now at full capacity. There are fewer than 200 ICU beds left in the entire State of Arizona. Hospitalizations are also at an all-time high in California where nearly 6,000 coronavirus patients are currently.

Next hour, we expect the White House coronavirus task force to brief the country on the troubling numbers.

Let's begin in Florida with our Rosa Flores who has more on what the hospitals are dealing with there. Good morning, Rosa.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Poppy, good morning. Let's start with a national outlook because, as we know, the U.S. has just broke its daily case record of about 60,000 cases. and if you think across the country, there are 35 states showing upward trends, including right here in Florida with 56 ICU hospitals at capacity in 25 counties across the state, including eight right here in Miami-Dade where I am.

The situation here, dire, the positive rate yesterday 27 percent. The goal for the county is not to exceed 10 percent. When you look at the number of hospitalizations here for the past 13 days, the numbers show that there's an increase in hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients of 87 percent. When you look at ICU beds, it's 91 percent and ventilators 108 percent over that same time period.

The State of Florida acknowledging and addressing this issue, the surge of hospitalizations, sending 100 medical personnel here to Miami-Dade and also expanding bed capacity by 150 beds for individuals in long-term care facilities.

And, Poppy, as we were talking last hour, the news here, the latest is regarding schools. There's a mandate in the State of Florida that all schools are required to reopen in brick and mortar style for five days a week. The superintendent here of Miami-Dade schools saying that this county could be exempt if it stays in phase one. It would only reopen brick and mortar style if it moves into phase two.

But, Poppy, given the situation that is going on right here in Miami- Dade, it would be interesting and doubtful that that would happen. Poppy?

HARLOW: Okay. Rosa, thank you for that reporting.

Well, to the State of Texas, where they're also seeing a record, 10,000 cases of coronavirus confirmed in a single day. Ryan Young is in Houston with more for us. What is the state there?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Poppy. Look, that's a big number, 10,000. And we talked to people yesterday who were frustrated about the idea of trying to get testing. That is something that people want to do more of and it's so hard with the ten-day delay that some folks are seeing, a thousand new cases here in Houston.

So you also understand there's a big push right now for social distancing and masks and making sure people are wearing it and trying to keep out of -- making sure they don't get too close to each other.

But, look, one of the reasons why we're here is we're at a farmer's market and you can see the wonderful produce that is here, but this has a big impact because you think about all the small-time farmers who rely on places like this to continue to make money. But this is the problem. You see, there has been a lack of people showing up at this point, the business has been knocked down by at least 40 percent, according to some folks who work here because some folks are scared to come into close contact with others. But this is an open-air style situation.

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Put on top of that, that the fact that the Republican State Convention is happening in Houston next week, there have been local officials who asked them not to have it, but it's still going to happen here. And on top of all of that, people are wondering what they should do as they move forward with the cases continuing to increase. Poppy?

HARLOW: Ryan Young, thank you for that reporting.

All of this and yet the president's words last night, we are in a, quote, good place with respect to COVID.

Let me bring in Dr. William Haseltine, Chair and President of ACCESS Health International and former Professor at Harvard Medical School. Good morning, professor.

If I can just get your big, 30,000-foot view on where we are in this country in terms of fighting COVID, because you've got this in Arizona, you've got it in Texas, you've got it in California, you've got it in Florida in terms of seeing records, where will we be two weeks from now if hospital stays are a lagging indicator?

DR. WILLIAM HASELTINE, CHAIRMAN AND PRESIDENT, ACCESS HEALTH INTERNATIONAL: Well, there are a couple of things to think about, first of all, that this epidemic in our south and our southwest is out of control.

HARLOW: Yes.

HASELTINE: It's a dire situation. And if people don't observe very careful social distancing, it will get even worse.

This virus has no reason to stop. It's highly transmissible. When people get together, it will be transmitted. And the only thing we can do now is urge people to be as careful as possible. It is out of control.

Second thing that's happening now is with the hospitals. You asked me about them.

HARLOW: Yes.

HASELTINE: And there's something called crisis standards of care that is about to be -- it's already implemented in Arizona and it may be in a number of these other states. What does that actually mean? It means that if you're old, you get sent home without care and you die. That's what it means.

We are on the brink of not treating people. There's a whole equation that you're going to put into effect, which says, are you worth treating or not. And one of the biggest factors --

HARLOW: You think that will happen? You think older people, let's say, in Florida, where you have older people in retirement communities, that come in with COVID, the hospitals will be at the brink within a few weeks where they will turn them away and they will have to go die at home?

HASELTINE: It's already official in Arizona that that has been authorized, crisis standards of care. It is about to be, I believe, implemented in the other states as capacity. We need federal help to these states in a massive way to avoid sending people home to die.

And as I said again, if you look at -- I've looked carefully at those standards of care. What it means is if you are old, they ask do you have one year to live if you survive, five years to live, how long are you going to live you survive? If that, they think, is too short, you get sent home without care.

It is pretty serious to think that we, in the United States, are at the brink of that. And the only way to avoid that in these states as the infections climb and hospitals fill up is to have massive, federal intervention, as we were having in New York when we thought it would happen here. HARLOW: Right. And we had the USS Comfort and Mercy and these hospital ships that it sounds like they need to go, you're saying, to places --

HASELTINE: And we had the National Guards setting up hospitals in -- we had hospitals in Central Park. We have them (INAUDIBLE). We have to begin to get massive intervention to save the people who are already getting ill. We know there is an even bigger wave on its way.

HARLOW: So you have, as we wait, all wait for a vaccine, you have said repeatedly there's a reason for hope that medical solution to this crisis will soon be at hand. Are you talking about therapeutics, like a remdesivir or the news we had yesterday out of Regeneron, which seem to help in terms of lessening the severity for the length of time that it had lasted or are you talking about something else?

HASELTINE: No, no. I'm definitely not talking about remdesivir. I'm not a fan of that drug. I think it is way oversold. However, there are drugs like the ones that Regeneron and other companies are developing, monoclonal antibodies that can be used not only treat in the early stages of infection but very likely will provide a shield for those who are exposed, like healthcare workers or a family member of someone who is infected.

The use of these would be to administer it for high-risk individuals, people like emergency care workers, healthcare workers that are very high risk and people who know that they have been exposed.

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And it can serve as a bridge to a time when we can have a safe vaccine. I'm mostly concerned, not about the efficacy of the vaccines, but the safety of the vaccine.

So this is very positive news, and it's not just one drug. There are many drugs in the pipeline. This virus is -- yes, go ahead.

HARLOW: Doctor, I was just going to say, the president said last night, and I'm quoting him here, we're going to be -- in two to three to four weeks, I think we are going to be in very good shape. Is there any scenario in which that is the case?

HASELTINE: No, there is not. I'm sad to say there is no scenario in which we are going to be in good shape in three or four weeks. Three or four months, if we do things right, possibly, but three or four weeks, no.

And the other issue is school openings. I have so many people -- you know, I've written this book, A Family Guide for COVID for questions and answers, and what everybody is asking me now is about schools.

We can reopen schools in areas that have relatively low disease burden. But even there, we're going to need massive federal assistance. The local people cannot afford to implement anything that's needed and the state has to help and the federal government has to help. It's okay to say, yes, open schools, but open schools without additional support, they're going to need just the kind of support you need in factories and companies are going to need a lot of extra money to put in all those safeguards and nobody is talking about that, open schools.

And the teachers and the teachers' unions have got to become flexible because this is not going to be a normal school. There are going to be all sorts of safeguards for the teachers, for the students. There will be kids in pods. It's a very complicated situation and it's one that cannot be addressed without massive new funding.

If you want to have students even in safe districts, you've got to get more money for public schools.

HARLOW: We have the head of one of the biggest teachers' unions in Florida joining us ahead this hour, so we'll address much of that. We appreciate your time.

HASELTINE: Well, ask him about the flexibility, how these teachers are going to -- I have a lot of friends who say only one out of six teachers are going to help with virtual education. The other ones don't like it.

HARLOW: I will be -- I'll ask her that and we'll have you back, Dr. Haseltine. I'm sorry, we're out of time. I appreciate you. Thank you very much.

HASELTINE: My pleasure. Thank you.

HARLOW: Of course.

Well, the president wants kids in school, all of them this fall. He's even now threatening to cut off federal funding to schools that don't physically open. The State of Florida mandating schools reopen. Teachers though have doubts about how to do it safely.

California also getting hit very hard by COVID. Hospitals are packed, testing supplies are limited. We'll take you live there.

And E.R. doctors in Arizona say they are losing hope as coronavirus pushes hospitals to their capacity. How do you stop the surge? I'll ask the mayor of Phoenix.

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HARLOW: We do have significant news out of the Supreme Court. Just now, a major ruling involving the contraceptive mandate that is required as part of Obamacare.

let's go to our Jessica Schneider. She is outside of the court. And the question the court had to answer here is whether or not just for religious reason but also moral reasons employers cannot allow contraception to be given through insurance to their employees. How did the court come down?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Poppy. So the court here handing the Trump administration a significant win, allowing the Trump administration to really weaken that contraceptive mandate under the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare. This was a 7-2 decision written by Justice Clarence Thomas. It was 7-2 because Justices Kagan and Breyer actually joined in the judgment here, Justices Sotomayor and Ginsberg dissenting in this.

So what this means is that the Trump administration rule that would allow a number of employers to opt out of providing contraceptive coverage for their employees, that rule would not have to go into effect for employers that had religious or moral objections. This is significantly broadening this exception.

Under the Obama administration, it was allowable for churches to claim a religious exception and not provide contraceptive coverage. Now, the Trump administration, they have tried to enforce this rule. It's previously been blocked up until this decision came down today.

But now, a number of employers will be able to say, we have religious objections to providing contraceptive coverage or we have moral objections.

Now, according to government estimates here, Poppy, I'm looking at the numbers, it could mean 70,000 to 126,000 women could actually lose their contraceptive coverage if their employers, in fact, decide to opt out of giving it, which will now be the rule now that the Supreme Court has ruled on this case.

So a significant win for the Trump administration, this opinion authored by the conservative justice, Clarence Thomas.

HARLOW: Jessica, the numbers you lay out in terms of who will be affected is significant. I also think just notable for a moment if you could talk about the fact that Justices Kagan and Breyer joined the conservative majority on this.

SCHNEIDER: It is. They joined in the judgment here. They issued differing opinions as to the rationale here.

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But, yes, it is significant that two of these liberal justices have joined with the conservative majority here.

You know, Poppy, it's just really the latest win or attempt by the Trump administration to really weaken the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare. It was just a few weeks ago that the administration filed their briefs, calling for the Supreme Court to strike down the entire Affordable Care Act, saying that since there is really no individual mandate anymore, that the entire law must be struck down.

So this is yet a win for the Trump administration to weaken the Affordable Care Act by not having employers have to provide contraceptive coverage, Poppy. HARLOW: Right. Jessica Schneider, thank you, great reporting outside of the high court for us. We appreciate it very much.

This morning the president is threatening to cut off federal funding for schools if they don't reopen physically in the fall and he also says he'll keep the pressure governors to try to force schools to open.

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TRUMP: The schools will be open in the fall and we hope that most schools are going to be open. We don't want people to make political statements or do it for political reasons. I think it's going to be good for them politically so they'll keep schools closed. No way.

So we're very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools.

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HARLOW: Those comments come after Florida's education commissioner ordered schools to reopen brick and mortar style next month, even as the State of Florida deals with a surge in cases.

I am joined by Wendy Doromal, President of the Orange County Teachers Union in Florida, representing more than 14,000 educators. Thank you so much for being here.

WENDY DOROMAL, PRESIDENT, ORANGE COUNTY TEACHERS UNION IN FLORIDA: Thank you for having me.

HARLOW: It's going to be an opt -- go ahead, Wendy.

DOROMAL: I was just going to say that as we see this pandemic surging in our state, we believe the emergency order is totally irresponsible, and decisions on opening our schools should be based on CDC recommendations, safety, common sense and compassion, not on an economic or political agenda.

HARLOW: I hear that. I also, you know, know what the American Academy of Pediatrics said, that everything should be done to open schools for children's well-being, but there are real, real health questions here, especially in the State of Florida.

In Orange County, in that school district, parents can choose whether or not to send their kids to school. If they don't feel comfortable, they can learn online. But for teachers, is it your understanding at this point that it's not a choice, that if they don't physically go to school to teach, they will lose their job?

DOROMAL: Well, we don't really have a plan yet and that's what's so scary, because we do have 14,300 teachers that have been waiting all summer as we try to bargain working conditions around this. So a plan is not going to be released until next week and there are only days until schools are scheduled to reopen. Teachers are scheduled to return back August 31st in Orange County (INAUDIBLE) to august 10th. And teachers, as you said, really don't have a choice. They're going to have to teach, go back to the classroom or do some sort of virtual distance learning. But --

HARLOW: Well, let's talk about, Wendy -- and I apologize for the delay and we're stepping on each other a bit. I'm sorry for that. Let's talk about distance learning. I mean, I as a parent experienced it over the last four months with our daughter, and I know the challenges of it, but I know teachers are doing their best to make it work.

According to the independent organization, Education Week, more than one in five students over the last five months in the U.S. have not been participating in online learning. I mean, that's more than 20 percent of America's students. That's millions of kids nationwide. The number was even higher in low income communities.

So I wonder what people think about possible innovative solutions to it for all those kids that don't have broadband or for other reasons are falling off and not attending online classes. What about volunteer, teachers that want to volunteer say I'm not in the high- risk group for COVID, I don't have elderly parents at home, et cetera, I want to go into schools to teach? Would that be a possible solution for these kids?

DOROMAL: There are a lot of solutions and returning in a safe way with social distance and rules observed would be a possibility. And then some teachers could videotape their classes and share them online.

Our district has used the CARES Act money to provide a device for every student so they could be able to do distance learning. What teachers are worried about is not just endangering their own lives but the students' lives.

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HARLOW: And one of the issues too, and I'm glad you have funding for devices and laptops for kids, but if they don't have broadband and connectivity, that's the real issue. And the National Center for Education Statistics says 14 percent of kids age 3 to 18 don't have that connectivity.

Let me ask you finally about the president just threatening to withhold funding from schools, if they don't reopen, Betsy DeVos, the education secretary, saying as much last night. What's your response?

DOROMAL: So it's a political and economic agenda. We are putting people's lives at risk if we reopen in a state like Florida where cases are surging. We're also pushing for the senate to pass the HEROES Act. Our schools are not financially to ensure safety and buy the sanitizers and masks and everything that's needed to prepare a classroom during this crisis. So we need funding.

HARLOW: Wendy Doromal, President of the Teachers Union in Orange Count, in Florida. thank you and good luck to all the educators. DOROMAL: Thank you.

HARLOW: Of course.

All right, so ICU beds in Arizona are in very short supply right now. Doctors there are making tough decisions about resources. The mayor of Phoenix calls it a crisis and she's with me, next.

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