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Three Million COVID Cases But Schools Must Open; Five Million In Six-Week Lockdown In Australia; Lopez Obrador And Trump: Entirely Amicable Official Visit; Brazil World's No. 2 For Coronavirus Cases, Mexico Surges; Hong Kong Reports a Surge in Locally Transmitted Cases; Asia's Mask Acceptance Contrasts with America's Resistance; Chinese Financial Markets Enjoying Bull Run; U.S. Set to Release Weekly Jobless Claims; Tracking Wildlife with Technology; Trump Family Attorney Asks Judge to Block Book. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired July 09, 2020 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Paula Newton.
Ahead right here on CNN NEWSROOM.
Three million coronavirus cases in the United States, and rising. As President Trump sidelines the country's top infectious disease expert, and slams the CDC.
Plus a city divided after Australia shut the border between its two most populous states to battle a resurgence of the virus.
And what are the riskiest things you can do during a pandemic? I'll speak with an expert about the do's and don'ts.
So on a day where the number of coronavirus cases in the United States topped the three-million mark, the Trump Administration is focused on getting kids back into classrooms.
The president is threatening to cut off funding for schools that don't reopen in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, eight U.S. states are reporting record numbers of COVID-19 patients in hospitals.
And the nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, was conspicuously absent from the task force briefing.
Now he's warning that the country will get a hold of the pandemic unless people do a better job of social distancing and wearing masks. And he says bars should be closed, and restaurants should suspend indoor dining.
More than 12 million people worldwide have contracted the virus, and more than half a million have died.
Now despite the dire numbers, President Donald Trump continues to insist the U.S. mortality rate from the virus is among the lowest of any country.
And as CNN's Kaitlan Collins reports the White House is pushing schools to reopen their doors as soon as August.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The CDC director on defense after President Trump publicly attacked his agency's guidance on reopening schools.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL & PREVENTION: I want to make it very clear that what is not the intent of CDC's guidelines is to be used as a rationale to keep schools closed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Dr. Robert Redfield sought to defend the guidance but hours after President Trump publicly complained that it was too tough, Vice President Mike Pence said that's why the CDC will issue new guidance next week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE USA: The president said today we just don't want the guidance to be too tough.
And that's the reason why, next week, the CDC's going to be issuing a new set of tools. Five different documents that will be giving even more clarity on the guidance going forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The original guidelines include refitting classrooms so students can social distance, closing shared spaces and updating ventilation systems. Though it's not clear what Trump disagreed with.
Asked if he was changing the guidance to appease the president, the CDC director said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: So are you going to change that guidance because the president said that he does not like it?
REDFIELD: We will continue to develop and evolve our guidance to meet the needs of the schools and the states that we continue to provide that assistance to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The president has said publicly that he'll pressure governors to put kids back in classrooms this fall.
And today he threatened to cut funding if they don't.
The vice president described that as a sign of leadership.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Can you explain why the president is threatening to cut funding from schools at a time when educators are saying they need more so that they can safely reopen?
PENCE: Kaitlan, first and foremost, what you heard from the president is just a determination to provide the kind of leadership from the federal level that says we're going to get our kids back to school.
Because that's where they belong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: While Trump has little control over the majority of school budgets, the federal government could withhold emergency relief funding that educators have said they desperately need to safely reopen.
The education secretary said she agrees with the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BETSY DEVOS, U.S. SECRETARY OF EDUCATION: They must fully open and they must be fully operational.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The administration has said it's up to schools and local governments to decide how they reopen, but they struggle to explain why that doesn't also include when.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PENCE: It's just as the president said earlier in this pandemic. That he wanted to get our places of worship back open again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: New York City's mayor appeared to ignore Trump's threat today and announced that the nation's largest school district won't fully reopen this fall.
New York's governor said Trump's threats have no legal basis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-N.Y.): And you're not going to bully New Yorkers. That's not going to happen. Right?
Threaten me, threaten me, threaten me. How many times have we been through this? I'm still here, right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: At the second task force briefing in months, Dr. Anthony Fauci was noticeably absent.
Yesterday, Trump openly criticized Fauci during an interview.
[01:05:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Dr. Fauci said don't wear masks and now he says wear them.
And he said numerous things -- don't close off China, don't ban China. And I did it anyway. I sort of didn't listen to my experts and I banned China.
We would have been in much worse shape.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: So instead of attending that meeting at the department of education with the other members of the task force who were there, Dr. Anthony Fauci was told to watch it via teleconference here at the White House in the situation room.
That, of course, is why he was not subsequently at the briefing.
And when the press secretary was later asked if the president still has confidence in Dr. Fauci she did not say "yes," but said that he has confidence in the consensus of his medical advisers.
Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.
NEWTON: And for some insight here we go to Angela Rasmussen, she's a virologist at Columbia University.
She joins me now this hour from Washington.
And we have to touch on the schools, right? This has been such an agonizing few weeks for parents especially in the United States but right around the world.
And I just want to preface this by saying we have heard so much from studies that while kids, perhaps, are not at risk the way adults are, that people are worried that, in fact, they can spread this virus -- and there have been conflicting studies about that, to be honest.
What do you think the data so far, the studies so far, tell us about a safe return to school for children?
ANGELA RASMUSSEN, VIROLOGIST, COLUMBIA MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Well, you're absolutely right that the data has been conflicting about whether children can spread the virus.
But we do know that they certainly can become infected with it and, in rare cases, they can develop this multi-system inflammatory disease that can be very serious and, in some rare cases, even lethal for children.
So it's not completely safe to open schools for kids.
But it's certainly not safe right now to open schools in especially the places where there are these hotspots, where there are cases surging.
And it's really not going to be completely safe to open schools until the community transmission that is out of control gets back under control, until we flatten that curve.
The reason for that is that schools don't exist in a bubble separate from the rest of the community, they're part of the community.
And so if there's out of control community transmission going on, that's going to affect the people in the schools both potentially the children, the people in their households, as well as the faculty and staff at those schools.
NEWTON: So just to make a fine point of it. You are clear. If you are sitting in Arizona right now, in Florida, if the caseload is as high as it is right now -- or if you're sitting in other places around the world that are having, unfortunately, many more new positive cases today -- you're saying it's not safe yet to send kids to school?
RASMUSSEN: It's really not. Because we don't know enough about children's abilities to transmit the virus to other people in their household. People like grandparents, people who may have other pre- existing medical conditions who may be very vulnerable to this.
Because there is so much community transmission, and because kids aren't existing as a bubble that is separate from the rest of the community, opening schools is basically reopening another environment that is enclosed, where there is an increased risk of transmission, where children are for long periods of time.
And that is really a very dangerous risk.
We're actually seeing the results of that type of reopening in states like Arizona, Texas and Florida right now.
NEWTON: Yes. And I have to kind of backtrack and just really hang on what you just said about that.
Because people will remember that the reason the lockdowns happened early on was to try and get the caseload down so that the curve would be crushed so that it would be safe for the kids to return to school in August and September.
Listen, the Texas Medical Association released some helpful information on what they determined to be risky and safe behavior.
It's not maybe much of a surprise in terms of was isn't risky. You can pump gasoline, you can even play tennis, go camping and get groceries, which is a good thing. Go for a walk and all of that.
I want to talk to you about the riskier behaviors. Really high on the list is going to a bar, is going to the gym, is going to a buffet. And yet these things are going on.
RASMUSSEN: Yes. So that really is the problem with why cases are surging in some places. Because even though we flattened the curve -- in some places we crushed the curve, we brought community transmission way down -- that doesn't mean we eradicated it from the community.
And even a little bit of community transmission, low levels, when you open up these high-risk behaviors such as going to a bar, for example. Going to a bar checks off the high-risk boxes or higher-risk boxes.
It's usually indoors, they can be tightly packed, people aren't wearing masks.
[01:10:00]
They might be drinking so they might be less inhibited and less willing to observe physical distancing as carefully as they would be. And they may be spending long periods of time there.
All of those different activities, they increase your risk of transmission or of transmitting it to others.
So opening those activities, while we still had some level of community transmission without increasing our ability to test, test, trace and isolate cases when they come up is really why states like Arizona, Texas and Florida are where they are now.
And why many other states that have maybe reopened more closely but have opened those indoor activity are also seeing surges in cases.
NEWTON: I want to talk to you about some of the things that some people might be fuzzy about. So on this list it's actually pretty much as risky to attend a backyard barbecue as it is to eat dinner at someone's else's house. I mean, why?
And I have to say this is what people are really battling with, right? They don't know what to do, what they can do and they can't do.
RASMUSSEN: So that list is great in some ways. I think it's really good to help people understand that there are different levels of risk.
But also there are very different kinds of backyard barbecues. So perhaps a backyard barbecue with one other family in which everybody is being cautious to maintain that physical distance in which they're wearing masks when they're not eating, in which they are moving around outside, they're not in really close physical proximity to one another, that's probably much safer than a really crowded backyard barbecue that has 30 to 50 people.
Where people going in and out and talking to each other without masks and perhaps drinking a lot so they're not as conscious of the physical distancing measures they need to take.
So people need to think about that as not all backyard barbecues, but to really think about the type of behavior that they're engaging in when they're doing any sort of activity.
And there are things that we know can reduce risk.
So maintaining the physical distance, wearing a mask whenever possible. That reduces the risk for everybody else around you, not so much yourself -- but if everybody's wearing a mask, it reduces the risk for everybody.
Maintaining good hand hygiene, that's still very important. And trying to be outside and to move around as much as possible.
Because if you're not standing close in somebody's face for a long period of time, you're going to be exposed to less of the respiratory droplets, and you're going to have a lower risk of either contracting the disease or spreading it to somebody else. If you don't know that you're sick.
NEWTON: Yes. Some of these decisions that people are making literally by the hour in their daily lives. Tough calls all around and why we appreciate your expertise.
Angela Rasmussen, thanks so much for giving us your insights there.
RASMUSSEN: My pleasure, Paula.
NEWTON: And now to Australia which is ramping up measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
The State of Queensland will close its borders to visitors from Victoria starting Friday. Now Victoria's border with New South Sales was already shut down after a surge in cases in Melbourne.
Millions of residents in the Victorian state capital are now under a six-week lockdown.
For more, CNN's Anna Coren is following all of this for us from Hong Kong.
And Anna, they have just started this. It is six weeks on -- and residents really must be fearing that it might last a little bit longer. This was really quite drastic action.
ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it could last longer. But at the moment, the premier has set a timeline of six weeks. That began at midnight. And five million residents will now have to stay in their homes.
Authorities just released the latest numbers, 165 new cases for Victoria.
As you said the state to the north, New South Wales, has shut off its border, and now we've heard that Queensland as well will do exactly the same as of tomorrow. That's what we're hearing from the states premier.
But obviously, the plan is for Victoria to self-isolate from the rest of the country in the hope of not spreading this pandemic around the nation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: As the city of Melbourne prepares for its second lockdown in a matter of months, residents stock up on necessary supplies and finish some last-minute shopping that will help them get through the next six weeks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMILY BLISS, COVID-19 SCREENING WORKER: I was a bit nervous coming in. But no, compared to last lockdown, there's a lot more product (ph) in there. Which is quite surprising.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: A surge in coronavirus cases in the Victorian capital prompted the state's premier to take drastic but necessary action. Forcing Australia's second largest city with five million people to self- isolate from the rest of the country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANIEL ANDREWS, PREMIER, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA: This is, as I said, not the situation that anybody wanted to be in, but it is the reality that we must confront.
To do otherwise is to pretend that this isn't real, to pretend that we have other options.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:15:00]
COREN: With more than 1,200 active cases in Australia, Victoria alone makes up two-thirds of the nation's total. A surge that has occurred in just over a week.
The prime minister warning while the outbreak is serious, it's not surprising. Considering the highly contagious nature of the coronavirus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT MORRISON, PRIME MINISTER, AUSTRALIA: We're all Melburnians now when it comes to the challenges we face. We're all Victorians now, because we're all Australians.
We will prevail and we will get on top of it. And we will protect the rest of the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COREN: But there have already been breaches in the system. A Jetstar flight from Melbourne carrying 137 passengers allowed 48 of them to disembark in Sydney without any screening.
Authorities now scrambling to trace those who left the airport without being checked.
But no such risk is being taken at the New South Sales Victorian border. Hundreds of police and military are manning 55 road crossings along 1,000 kilometers. Turning back vehicles trying to enter the northern state and potentially spread the virus.
It's the first time since the Spanish flu more than 100 years ago that the border has been closed.
Thousands of permits have been issued for those who live in townships that straddle both states.
Including Chris Carter, whose 29-year old wife, April, is being treated for terminal bone cancer at the hospital located on the border.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS CARTER: Our home is in Victoria, kind of thing. We've crossed into New South Sales every day to come to this hospital, almost every day.
But hearing the border closures I'm just like I'm not going to stress about that, I'm going to stay here. So luckily, the hospital could give me a bed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: The couple met at university and tied the knot three years ago. Twelve months later, April was diagnosed.
Family members raced to the hospital before the border shut after learning her condition has rapidly deteriorated. Doctors have given her only days to live.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARTER: It's a very bad year for everyone, it's a really bad year for me. Yes -- I don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: Just devastating what Chris Carter and his wife, April, are going through.
Some good news, if we can call it that. Chris Carter's family, they were issued a permit. They were stuck in Victoria, they have now been issued permits in the last few hours. So they are now with April spending these final moments together. But Paula, I think it really is a reality check for all of us. The heartache that people are going through in their everyday lives has just been exacerbated by the coronavirus.
NEWTON: Yes. Anna, I'm so glad you brought us their story. Because that's the issue.
Six weeks of lockdown, and for so many people struggling with so much outside of the virus, it really is an imposition. And so much more for that couple going through so much.
Anna Coren for us, in Hong Kong. Really appreciate it.
Brazil's president had long downplayed the severity of the coronavirus, before catching it. Now he's getting sued.
Plus, the Mexican and U.S. presidents meet for the first time and want everyone to know that, against all odds, they're friends.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:20:00]
NEWTON: Brazil is home to the second most coronavirus cases in the world, now surpassing 1.7 million. And you can see the steady climb right there since March.
Brazil's death toll, meantime, is now approaching 68,000.
Meanwhile, just a day after President Jair Bolsonaro announced he has the virus, Brazilian journalists say they're suing him.
They accuse him of not keeping a safe distance while infected and refusing to wear masks around them.
Bill Weir has the details on the lawsuit and on Brazil's response to the pandemic.
BILL WEIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is another day of more open shops, restaurants and bars in big cities like Sao Paulo. And another day of rising numbers of COVID-19 infections and mortality.
They're up to average over 1,000 deaths a day now.
And among the infirmed -- the confirmed infected now, of course, the President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro.
Who is using the opportunity to sort of double down on his policy of using malaria -- anti-malarial drugs and hard work, to get Brazil back up and running.
Meanwhile, an association of Brazilian journalists is threatening to sue the president for endangering their lives by removing his mask during his press conference to announce that he had the coronavirus.
This fight goes back to a battle that went to the supreme court over properly releasing COVID-19 daily numbers, infections and deaths.
Also, there are corruption allegations swirling around this president, whispers of impeachment. And so the pandemic is just one challenge for the man running Brazil these days.
In the meantime, vaccine trials are ongoing now. And there's fresh concern about indigenous communities becoming infected in towards the Amazon and other rural areas.
There are even plans to send out a military operation to bring them the same medicines that President Bolsonaro is using.
But another day in which this pandemic is just dominating the news.
Bill Weir. Sao Paulo, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: Mexico is also struggling to contain the virus. On Wednesday, it reported its highly daily increase of new cases. Nearly 7,000 in just 24 hours.
Now lots of dips and rises as you can see there in the country's battle with COVID.
The record number of infections comes as the Mexican and U.S. president met at the White House.
Matt Rivers tells us about their first face-to-face encounter, and what appears to be a burgeoning albeit unlikely friendship .
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this trip to Washington D.C. was the first international trip for Mexican President Lopez Obrador since he took office back in December of 2018.
And what we saw happen during the course of the day on Wednesday was really nothing short of a love fest between the U.S. President Donald Trump and the Mexican president.
They had a ceremony at the White House in the afternoon where they signed a joint declaration celebrating the implementation of the USMCA, that is the new free trade deal that went into effect back on July 1st. And now has officially replaced NAFTA.
And then it was later on in the evening that the pair had a working dinner with their respective staffs.
Before that dinner, they appeared in front of the cameras and said how much they enjoy each other's company, how much they are friends.
And that was not guaranteed. Remember who you're talking about here.
U.S. President Donald Trump, at least a part of his political playbook from the get go has been demonizing both Mexicans and immigrants overall with his rhetoric.
For the part of the Mexican president, remember that Lopez Obrador is Mexican and also spent years calling Donald Trump a racist.
But I think in what is a pretty naked attempt to bolster the U.S. economic relationship with Mexico, the Mexican president put that aside and is clearly trying to foster a good relationship with Donald Trump.
Now also remember that in the USMCA, "C" stands for Canada, Prime Minster Justin Trudeau declined an invitation from the White House to be there for this event today, in part because of concerns over the coronavirus which is still running rampant right now both in the United States and down here in Mexico.
Matt Rivers, CNN. Mexico City.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: Businesses and beaches in Havana have now reopened after a lockdown that lasted more than three months.
The government says it has nearly eliminated the virus but that doesn't mean Cuba is welcoming tourists just yet.
CNN's Patrick Oppmann takes a closer look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PATRICK OPPMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The doors are open again even if it's not business as usual at Havana's El Cafe. Cuba was on lockdown for more than three months.
[01:25:00]
But following a massive countrywide effort to bring the coronavirus under control, the government is now easing restrictions allowing businesses like this one to reopen.
Staff at restaurants like El Cafe have to wear masks, rearrange the tables to allow social distancing and sterilize the hands of every customer that comes in.
Owner, Nelson, says that after four years serving some of Havana's best coffee and all-day breakfast, he's starting from scratch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NELSON RODRIGUEZ TAMAYO: It was completely a disaster, like collapse, and I go down. And I feel like I start again the business.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OPPMAN: While hard hit economically by the coronavirus, Cuba's program of extensive contact tracing, isolating the sick and closing borders paid off. Health offices say there are now less than a few dozen active cases of
coronavirus on the island of 11 million people.
On the first day the beach reopened Cubans swam in the pristine blue waters that had been tantalizingly forbidden to them all these weeks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
"It's been really good for me and my family to get refreshed, get some air, and some sun, Michel says. "But it's also important to maintain the hygiene and safety measures."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OPPMAN: That will be crucial to preventing a resurgence of cases and allowing the island to fully reopen.
Havana is in stage one of recovery and it won't be until stage three that the city's airport once again reopens to regular commercial flights.
This is the Malecon sea wall, "Havana's Couch," Cubans call it, because everyone comes out here to sit on it. But for months it was eerily empty, off limits.
Now that people are permitted to come back here, life does feel like it's returning to normal.
But there's still that strange sensation of being on an island that is almost entirely cut off from the rest of the world.
For the time being, only hotels on five keys, small islands off the coast of Cuba, are open to foreign visitors.
To keep further infection from spreading to the mainland both guests and hotel workers will be regularly tested, health officials say.
So, for the time being, the rest of the island is inaccessible to the tourists who, Nelson estimates, made up 80 percent of his clientele before the outbreak.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NELSON: We're going to maybe be (ph) more creative and I need to -- I will enjoy more to do different things, focusing on other customer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OPPMANN: Cubans have endured hurricanes, economic sanctions and near economic collapse and now the first wave of coronavirus.
Even if this isn't a full recovery, the hope is that this new normal will last.
Patrick Oppmann. CNN, Havana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: Hong Kong had been winning its fight against the coronavirus. But now it's also reporting a surge in cases -- well, relatively so.
While officials say it could lead to a major outbreak.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:30:32]
PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our viewers from around the world. I'm Paula Newton. And you are watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Now, there's been a sudden surge in new COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong. Health officials say this is now their third wave of infections. What has them worried is that the majority of the cases reported on Wednesday were locally transmitted and this comes after Hong Kong had already managed to get the virus under control.
CNN's Will Ripley is standing by for us in Hong Kong. And Will, that's the issue, right? In terms of them trying to track exactly how this happened, some of the cases are what they call unknown transmission, right?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And this is a city that has taken so many steps to try to, you know, contain itself and protect itself from coronavirus coming in. And yet there is still this persistent now, for the last couple of days, you know, 38 cases many of which are believed to be community transmission.
Some of them at a senior citizen care center which is raising questions about are the workers at those retirement centers being adequately tested.
You also have questions about people like flight crew and diplomats and others who are exempted from Hong Kong's mandatory 14-day quarantine whenever they arrive in the city. Some people, they have to get tested for coronavirus at the airport but then they're free to walk around even though there's a 14-day incubation period.
Whereas most of us, including myself had to wear an electronic wristband and actually stay at home and be monitored to make sure you stay at home for the full 14 days.
So the question now? Does Hong Kong test more people? Do they bring back the social distancing measures that were very successful earlier in the year. Because, you know, you're talking about a city of seven million people that has only had, you know, just over 1,300 coronavirus cases, more than 1,200 of them fully recovered and only seven deaths here in Hong Kong. So really a success story.
But this new resurgence is especially troubling because these small numbers, especially when you're talk about community spread can grow very big, very quickly if they don't get a handle on it.
NEWTON: Yes. And that's why they're so worried about it. And yet, do you get an indication that they would do anything differently in terms of putting in those new measures? I mean you discussed some of the exemptions. Is there a sense that it is time to have really zero tolerance policy?
RIPLEY: There's certainly discussion about it, especially after, you know -- this is a city that's just really gotten comfortable and getting back into the swing of normal life. People are going out to restaurants again. They're gathering in groups again. They're taking, you know, these weekend boat trips that are so popular during the summer months here in Hong Kong with large groups of people kind of packed on one boat.
All of that behavior might be questioned if these numbers continue to increase. But as of yet we haven't heard about a concrete plan from the Hong Kong government or any return to the restrictions that we saw here earlier this year where a lot of the city was shut down. Even the courts were shut down for a period of time.
Could we go back to that if the numbers start rising? Certainly possible.
NEWTON: Ok, Will. We'll continue to keep an eye on it. Will Ripley for us there in Hong Kong. Appreciate it.
And you know, wearing a mask in places like Hong Kong is pretty much the normal thing to do and it helps to fight the coronavirus. It's become almost a political statement though here in the United States. In Asia though, even in democratic countries, there's hardly any resistance.
CNN's David Culver shows us what it's like on the streets of Beijing
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A week day morning rush hour - walk with us through the streets of Beijing. Look to my right, my left, behind me and even headed right toward me -- you notice just about every commuter wearing a face mask.
To see a smile around here these days is a bit rare. And it's even a little unnerving, because it obviously reveals that somebody is not covering up their face.
In China from passengers boarding trains and planes, to those with shorter commutes, riding scooters, or hopping on the metro rail -- masks are on. Concerns of the virus still very fresh here in China's capital especially with the recent cluster outbreak. That's partly why folks of all ages wear them.
And unlike in parts of the U.S. it is not political here.
LILLY JUNG, BEIJING RESIDENT: I think people really take it as a social responsibility to wear masks.
CULVER: Does it seem like a controversial issue when you think about putting your mask on every day? [01:34:54]
JUNG: You know, for me it's really just common sense. We want to protect each other so everyone is wearing masks.
CULVER: Lilly Jung's got a go-to stash of surgical face masks at home.
JUNG: You can see we do have plenty. I just grab one and put it on.
CULVER: And she always pass extra.
JUNG: Just in case I forgot to wear a mask, this is why (INAUDIBLE).
CULVER: Some folks treat mask like a pair of cheap sunglasses, keeping spare ones in places you're likely to come back to.
It is just one of many layers of protection from COVID-19 that is in place here. Mass testing is routine and in some cases mandatory. And contact tracing is strict.
Call a rideshare and both you and the driver must show one another your digital health code certifying you have not been in high risk areas of a virus.
Step into a local shopping mall with us and it's a temperature check first, and another check of the health code. At the food court you order by phone to avoid contact and you pick up with your mask on.
The one time you can actually take off your mask is when you are eating. That is if you're dining in. Even the chefs working behind the protective glass cover-up, and as soon as the diners are done, look they're immediately putting their masks back on as they walkout.
And you may be in a place like China and you say well, naturally people are going to follow the rules. It's an authoritarian government. Otherwise they will face more serious consequences.
But you don't have to look far to see a 8 democratic society doing the same thing. You've got in South Korea and in Japan.
And the leaders of all these Asian countries and territories often seen wearing a mask in public.
Stepping out of your home now it's really just part of the routine. I mean you grab your cellphones, you grab your keys, your wallet. And you make sure you have your face mask.
Naturally there are times you forget, right. You walk out of your house barefaced, you're in a rush, if the strange looks don't remind you, then a police officer or a security guard will sometimes gesture to you and shout, and you realize they are telling you put on a mask.
No question, culturally mask wearing is not that foreign here. Many wore them for the SARS outbreak in 2003 and 2004. And of course, here in Beijing masks have been worn on heavily polluted days. But you will even find folks here who have forgotten to wear a mask. And if you encounter them say in the elevator they will quickly realize it, they become embarrassed and try to cover up their mouth with their clothes, or they'll turn to the wall of the elevator to not breathe near you or in some cases they would even step off the elevator just as a courtesy.
David Culver, CNN -- Beijing.
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NEWTON: Now to financial markets in Mainland China. They've had an incredible bull run lately. State media encouraging citizens -- actually encouraging them to play their role patriotically and invest in those stocks. And as you can see there, the markets up for the day, not spectacularly but definitely they will take that gain. As you can se the Shanghai composite now better 1 percent.
Let's bring in our own John Defterios now who's live for us this hour in Abu Dhabi. John, you and I have talked about that U.S. rally, right. And of course, I scratch my head everyday. The Nasdaq hit another record Wednesday.
But sure -- what else could you do but scratch your head about those valuations? As you and I have talked about. But mainland China, they've had a tear as well.
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Yes it's almost a competition of who's going to have the stronger market, the United States or China. Of course, number one and number two economies in the world.
But Shanghai is in a league of its own if you just look at the last month. It's been up 16 percent in that timeframe. And half of that gain Paula, has happened in the last seven days.
There's a couple of key factors here.
Number one is fighting the pandemic. They've flattened that curve in Mainland China which helps Xi Jinping the president focus on rebuilding the economy. It could be the only G-20 economy to grow in 2020. Not by much but still 1 to 2 percent is still possible this year.
Number two, you talked about this, the national pride. There was a stock market journal that suggests that it even helps diplomatically for the government. And in that spirit, Wang Yi, the foreign minister was suggesting in the last 24 hours that relations between the United States and China have not been worse for four decades. You can have a long list to talk about.
The security law in Hong Kong and the U.S. potentially wanting to undermine the peg for the Hong Kong currency to the U.S. dollar to punish mainland. You have Huawei, Tiktok, ZTE the telecom group, and these things are active tensions that are taking place.
And at some point the market's going to wake up and say, you know, this is not good in the U.S. election year.
NEWTON: Yes. We'll see if the markets wake up. I've long ago stopped trying to predict what the markets will do. It's just been curious definitely.
[01:39:52]
NEWTON: I want to get to the U.S. jobless claims report. It's a weekly thing, of course. And some of the numbers have really surprised people. What's the biggest concern we see for the snap back in COVID- 19 cases? And as we've just pointed out, I mean especially in the Sun Belt, it is pronounced.
DEFTERIOS: It is pronounced and the trend line was going down pretty steadily. And now we are starting to see it flatten which is not good news because as the pandemic picks up the cases spike. This will play into the jobless report every single week and the monthly unemployment rate as well.
Here's the expectation: about 1.37 million. Paula, that's seven times the normal average in the United States pre-pandemic. And then we are looking at reoccurring claims because these are people that are out of work for better than two weeks and still asking for unemployment claims. As you can see that's nearly 19 million. So this is severe.
And to give you a sense of what's going on. Brooks Brothers, for example, the clothing store retailer filing for bankruptcy. But United Airlines is suggesting after the government support is over they'll to perhaps furlough up to 36,000 workers. The airline industry is not bouncing back, neither is hospitality.
This is the challenge in the fourth quarter of this year. We get a sever snap back, there'll be many more layoffs to come.
NEWTON: Yes. And what was interesting about United is that they pointed out look, the cases are up and bookings are down. It was really very quick in terms of how Americans change their mind about traveling just in the last few days.
John Defterios for us in Abu Dhabi appreciate it.
Now, in Japan, at least 57 people have been killed and 20 others are missing after days of torrential rain parked widespread flash flooding. Tens of thousands of first responders are being mobilized to help search and rescue efforts.
Nearly half a million people have been ordered to evacuate southern Japan. Forecasters are urging the public to watch out for more mudslides and flooding as heavy rain is expected through Friday.
Next here on CNN NEWSROOM preserving the art of tracking using technology. One man's call to earth to help protect wildlife around the world.
[01:42:04]
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NEWTON: "Call to Earth is a call to action for the environment, to share solutions for critical issues like global warming, deforestation or plastic waste. Now, it's a long term priority for all of us here at CNN to work with you, our audience, to drive awareness and inspire change so we can engineer a sustainable future.
Now, in this week's "Call to Earth" report, scientist Louis Liebenberg, a Rolex laureate, created free software used to track animals by monitoring and gathering data. He and his team hope the cyber tracker will play a role in helping protect wildlife and ecosystems right around the world.
[01:45:01]
NEWTON: More now from CNN's Rosemary Church with this week's "Call to Earth" report.
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In Namibia's Kalahari, master trackers are hard at work doing their part to help conserve the wildlife that roams across these plains.
Dam Debe (ph) has been tracking here since he was a child.
DAM DEBE, MASTER TRACKER: During my schooldays and my holidays, I used to walk out with my parents and while we are walking in the bush, I used to read some tracks.
CHURCH: It's no easy task and the art of tracking which goes back thousands of years is at risk of disappearing.
DEBE: It is very important because in our tradition we have hunters and gatherers. If we leave our culture then it will fall (ph) down. It's why we have to keep it on (INAUDIBLE) in use out from our culture so that we can share it with the younger, to involve them in our culture.
CHURCH: That's one of the reasons why scientist Louis Liebenberg developed his software more than 20 years ago. It's called the Cyber Tracker and it enables trackers to collect complex biodiversity data.
LOUIS LIEBENBERG, SCIENTIST: Purely from a cultural heritage point of view, I think it's essential that we develop a program that will keep these skills alive. Combining their schools with a cyber track enables us to capture data that cannot be captured in any other way.
CHURCH: The cyber tracker software uses an icon interphase to make it easier to use. Designed for users around the world.
As they track, Debe and his team input data into this handheld device.
DEBE: So as the phone tracks, then we have to just make a discussion on the track. Which animals is that one and then after we get that as a group, then we put it in the data. And then from the data, it will mark exactly the place where we have seen this, observing the track in this direction.
They are looking at signs of behavior that cannot be seen. In order to do that, they have to visualize --
LIEBENBERG: -- the activities of the behavior of the animal.
CHURCH: At the end of the day they returned to camp to enter the data into a solar powered laptop
LIEBENBERG: With climate change endangering literally almost a million plant and animals species. The enormous gaps in our knowledge of biodiversity worldwide and in particularly in developing countries. These are the areas where indigenous communities can make an enormous contribution to monitoring biodiversity.
CHURCH: The free cyber tracker software has been downloaded almost half a million times across the world spanning from Costa Rica to Mongolia.
According to its website it's being used by trackers, scientific researches, physicist and scientists, environmental educators and in forestry, farming, social surveys, as well as crime prevention.
LIEBENBERG: To actually solve these problems we need more people on the ground to be able to physically to what needs to be done to manage biodiversity, and to bring biodiversity back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: So we will continue showcasing inspirational stories like this as part of the initiative here at CNN. And let us know what you're doing to answer the call with the #CalltoEarth.
[01:48:47]
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NEWTON: The brother of U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly is making an 11th hour attempt to stop their niece's tell-all book. Now, the book "Too Much and Never Enough is set to go on sale Tuesday in the United States but an attorney for the President's brother is asking the judge to continue a gag order against author Mary Trump saying her personal stories aren't protected political free speech.
Now one of her claims is that Donald Trump paid a friend named Joe Shapiro to take the SAT college admissions test for him. My colleague Erin Burnett asked a close friend of Mary Trump about that situation.
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ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: So everyone has been talking about the Joe Shapiro and they found this Joe Shapiro who went to the University of Pennsylvania with Trump and his wife, the former professional tennis player Pam Shriver said there's no way it was him. He, of course, has passed away.
Can you clear this up for us? Is that the Joe Shapiro that Mary is alleging did this or is it someone else?
ALICE FRANKSTON, FRIEND AND CONFIDANT OF MARY TRUMP: That's not the Joe Shapiro. And the media has kind of zeroed in on Pam Shriver's late husband. The timeline doesn't match up. And it wouldn't be logical because the incident would have happened when Mary's uncle was at Fordham. And this Joe Shapiro and Mary's uncle would have been at Penn at the same time. So it doesn't really match up. And that's not the one.
BURNETT: Right. So you're saying they hadn't even met at this time.
FRANKSTON: Shapiro is a really common name on the East Coast. Really common.
BURNETT: Yes. Yes, it is, which I think is a fair point to make. It is.
So the White House says this whole claim is absurd, completely false. Those are their words. Does Mary stand by this allegation of this Joe Shapiro taking the SATs for Donald Trump?
FRANKSTON: Yes, absolutely. She wouldn't have written it otherwise. These are her accounts which, of course, it would be better if she could speak for herself but she's been silenced in an unprecedented way.
She is a truthful person. Always has been. These are her accounts that come from her conversations with sources including family members. So yes, of course, she stands by it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Brian Stelter joins me now. He is CNN chief media correspondent and anchor of "RELIABLE SOURCES". Brian -- so good to see you especially as this book has now kind of come out. I don't know, I guess we call it a soft launch.
What is interesting here is this is really from the family circle. I mean you really -- to put a fine point on it, it is betrayal writ large. What did we learn?
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Betrayal and on many levels, a sad story because this is a member of Donald Trump's own family saying he is a failure who is haunted by his father's legacy, always trying to impress his dead father.
You know, there are elements of Shakespeare and other sorts of theatrical tragedies layered in this book which showed up on my doorstep yesterday. I think the publisher wants this book to be out there in the press ahead of the release date next Tuesday because there's still a court battle going on about whether Mary Trump can ever actually speak publicly, whether she can go on TV, whether she can give interviews.
But in the meantime her manuscript is her way of speaking out. And it is sensational and as I said sad read because you hear a family member of the President saying the family was dysfunctional, that this man is cruel, that he objectifies women.
I know all these claims have been made by others but never by a member of the President's own family before.
NEWTON: Yes. And that is key here. And she is a clinical psychologist and she speaks --
STELTER: That's right.
NEWTON: -- her voice in the book is one of authority, right?
STELTER: Right. And she talks about whether the President suffers from a variety of possible disorders. She says she's not diagnosing him. And she says the President would never sit down and do all the tests that would be necessary for such a diagnosis.
But she talks about narcissism and has egomania. She talks about whether he has a reading disorder because he doesn't take in information. And these are claims that she says she is sharing based on her firsthand experience with the President.
Now, there's been a lot of armchair psychiatrists out there trying to guess about the President for the past three years. I think a lot of foreign governments have done the same thing. But again, now you have a member of the own family -- the family doing this for the first time.
[01:54:57]
STELTER: And as you said, it's a betrayal. I think the President is probably taking this very personally. And that's partly why there's been this legal attempt to stop the book.
NEWTON: And I want to ask you, we've had a parade of books. I mean, you know, John Bolton just went on tour and he's continuing --
STELTER: Yes.
NEWTON: -- the longest book tour I've ever seen. But here's the thing, Brian, I find with a lot of these revelations, these are things that people already assume are true about the President. And more than that, it does not change the mind of his supporters anyway.
STELTER: I agree with you. It does not change the minds of most Americans, or most people and the rest of the world, for that matter. But I do think, when you read a member of the family saying this guy is a sociopath, this guy is an egomaniac, this guy is dangerous -- I think that that could be a motivator. Not for Trump voters, but for anti Trump voters.
A book like this could be a motivator in the general election. Yet another reason for people to want to go out and support Joe Biden. I'm just guessing, I'm kind of in my own armchair now, as an armchair (INAUDIBLE) all this. but I think books like this, books like Bolton's, they provided more and more evidence to the Biden campaign.
And if I were Biden's campaign, I might be calling Mary Trump, asking her to come out on the virtual campaign trail.
NEWTON: Yes, it's such a good point. I'm going to join you in the armchair now, Brian and say that that's it's, right. getting turnout. I mean people say they're not voting for Joe Biden. They're voting against Donald Trump but if you want turnout, a book like this might make the difference.
STELTER: And there's going to be more books like this between now and November. Almost every week, some from reporters, some from former members of the Trump inner circle, you know, Bob Woodward is working on one. There's a bunch of these coming up. Some of them approach Trump but a lot of these books are about Trump's flaws and failures.
And I do you think, you know, does any single new revelation matter? Not a lot. But does the drip, drip, drip everyday matter? It might, I don't know.
NEWTON: Brian, you have a lot of reading ahead of you. It's all I have to say.
STELTER: We do. We both -- we do.
NEWTON: Brian -- thanks so much. Really good to see you.
STELTER: Thanks. You, too.
NEWTON: We will see if Mary Trump will be speaking for herself if that gag order is lifted.
I want to thank you for watching. I'm Paula Newton.
CNN NEWSROOM is back after a quick break.
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[02:00:05]
NEWTON: Hello and welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Paula Newton.
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