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Brazil Records 50,000 New Coronavirus Cases for Fourth Day in a Row; Mexican President Won't Wear Mask; US Reported 64,000 New Coronavirus Cases on Saturday. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired July 26, 2020 - 00:00   ET

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

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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN Newsroom everyone. I'm Michael Holmes.

Let's start with Brazil and coronavirus. That country recorded more than 50,000 new cases for the fourth day in the row. The country already has the second highest case count in the world according to Johns Hopkins.

Rio de Janeiro canceling its New Year's celebration saying it won't be safe without a vaccine.

Mexico's president meanwhile says a mask isn't, quote, scientifically proven to help, so he won't wear one. Meanwhile the country just reported more than 6,700 new cases, it has the fourth highest death toll in the world.

The U.S. meanwhile reporting more than 64,000 new cases on Saturday, this is months into the pandemic. States continuing to see records for infections and also deaths.

Florida on its own has the second highest case count in the U.S. behind California and it is not just infections that are climbing. In just three weeks hospitalizations jumped 79 percent, but yet state officials say they're discussing how to reopen bars.

CNN's Rosa Flores talks about all of this.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis maintains that the number of COVID-19 cases in his state have stabilized. Look, if you look at the numbers this past week for at least four days the number of cases hovered at or around 10,000, but in the past two days they've exceeded 12,000.

I asked an infectious disease expert for her take and she says it is too early to claim victory. She said, Rosa, you've got to look at the hospitalizations, you've got to look at the number of ICUs being used. And we did.

Across the state of Florida the number of hospitalizations have increased by 79 percent in the past three weeks. This is according to state data.

Now I'm in Miami-Dade County, the epicenter of this crisis in this state, it accounts for 25 percent of the now more than 400,000 cases in this state and ICUs right now are operating at 137 percent.

What that means is that there are more patients than there are ICU beds. What the country is doing is they are converting beds into ICUs. Now we've got to look at ventilator use.

The use of ventilators has increased by 62 percent in the past two weeks, as for the positivity rate in this country, it's at 19.7 percent. The goal for the county is not to exceed 10 percent. Well the 14 day average right now is 19.4 percent.

Now this week we also learned that the state of Florida has a shortage of nurses. We learned from the state that 51 hospitals from across the state have asked for help. They're asking the state of Florida to deploy more than 2,400 nurses.

Now despite all these facts and figures, we also learned today in a tweet that Florida is thinking about reopening bars. Take a look at this. This is from the Florida Secretary of Business and regulation.

He tweeted, quote, next week starting Friday I'm going to set meetings throughout Florida with breweries and bars to discuss ideas on how to reopen. We will come with a safe, smart and step-by-step plan based on input, science and relative facts on how to reopen as soon as possible.

Now I'm not sure what relative facts are, but here are the relevant facts involving the state of Florida right now and the reopening. Florida closed bars a month ago, that's when cases exceeded 9,000.

Well, that record has been broken, it was broken two weeks ago when the state of Florida in one day exceeded more than 15,000 cases and the other important data point is to look at the positivity rate, because that indicates spread in the past two weeks. The state of Florida has had a positivity rate ranging from 13 to 18 percent.

Rosa Flores, CNN, Miami.

HOLMES: One of Brazil's top infectious disease experts says President Jair Bolsonaro is setting a, quote, bad example for the rest of the country and that, of course, is because Mr. Bolsonaro, who tested positive for the coronavirus three times has had interactions with people without wearing a mask.

Nick Paton Walsh with more on that.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So much of the focus on coronavirus in Brazil here over the past two weeks on one man, President Jair Bolsonaro who many accuse of putting statements outs that frankly have exacerbated Brazil's pandemic.

Early Saturday morning he put out a Twitter post saying that he had tested negative for coronavirus after three tests over the past two weeks that said he indeed had the virus.

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In that tweet photograph he was seen brandishing, as he has done over the past weeks, what seemed to be a packet of Hydroxycholoroquine, a medicine that doctor scientists say is useless, frankly, fighting the coronavirus, may even be harmful, but he's still been advocating for it, possibly even still in that post as well.

Afterwards it seems he went on his motorcycle to visit a repair shop where he talked to fellow motorcyclists, was seen briefly not wearing a mask, although he was wearing a visor and a motorcycle helmet at the same time that may have made that difficult, but he also talked -- but a familiar talking point frankly about how the damage that the lockdown does to stop the virus mustn't outweigh the damage the virus does itself.

And, in fact said, contradicting earlier statements that he'd experienced a fever, he said that he wouldn't even had known he'd had the virus unless he'd had a positive test.

Startling comments frankly to hear from a man who later went on, on Twitter to talk about a freedom of speech case in the country here, a distraction from the terrifying numbers being seen in the country every day.

Over the past three days everyday we've seen over 50,000 new cases, 51,000 in 24 hours reported that ended in Saturday and that according to one study that was government funded, they cut the funding just this week. Those numbers may only be a sixth of the full picture here, because again a test you have to have pretty bad symptoms here in Brazil.

It's bad in the south, yet still through all of these increasingly bad numbers, the sort of positivity of President Jair Bolsonaro many say is exacerbating the problem and many fear potentially that his relatively light symptoms and now positive/negative diagnosis coming through this with good health it seems may, in fact, encourage him to continue to play down the damage as far as his doing to Brazil.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

HOLMES: Well the rate of coronavirus infection in South Africa is rapidly escalating and it is enforcing officials there to take some pretty drastic action. CNN's David McKenzie explains.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Freshly dug graves in Soweto, the death toll in South Africa has been low, but COVID-19 is getting a second chance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CYRIL RAMAPHOSA, SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT: The coronavirus storm has indeed arrived as we said it would.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MCKENZIE: Coronavirus cases in South Africa are surging, with more than 400,000 confirmed infections, a number that's been steadily rising since the country reopened part of the economy nearly two months ago after a strict lockdown and one that's accelerated by more than 20 percent in just the past week.

The spike is forcing the country to take measures to try and regain control of the virus by shutting down schools again, reimposing a nighttime curfew and banning the sale of alcohol for a second time this year.

Health officials worry it's not the only country on the continent that will have to reverse course because of the pandemic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MICHAEL RYAN, EXEC. DIRECTOR WHO: I think what we're starting to see is a continued acceleration of transmission in a number of countries in -- in Subsahara and South Africa.

South Africa may unfortunately be a precursor. It may be a warning for what will happen in the rest of Africa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKENZIE: Experts say the rate of increase is alarming. Within the last week the WHO says Madagascar's cases have increased by half, Namibia jumped by 69 percent and Botswana rose by 66 percent.

Positive cases in Kenya have doubled in just two weeks. Workers at a COVID-19 field hospital outside Nairobi say they are taking no chances and expanding the facility to care for a possible new wave of patients.

BERYL NEGESA, SENIOR NURSING OFFICER: It's temporary and it's the best -- I think it's our best decision, because it's open air space and it's a big space where we can accommodate doctor (ph) around 400 people.

MCKENZIE: Despite the increase in cases the Democratic Republic of Congo is just beginning to reopen.

But that didn't stop the celebratory mood at this bar in Kinshasa with one employee saying he's ready to welcome back his customers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I'm putting the beer in the fridge he says. It's been nearly four months because of the state of emergency our business was stuck, and today I'm very happy to start working again.

A grand reopening with an uncertain future, if South Africa's example is any indication of what could be next for other African countries.

David McKenzie, CNN, Johannesburg.

HOLMES: We're going to take a short break. When we come back here on CNN Newsroom, protesters in Seattle and Portland continue to clash with police, but what do these scenes have to do with social justice movements. We'll discuss that a little later.

Also, still to come, California in a tough fight against coronavirus. We'll take a look at how one city in the hardest hit state is coping.

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And saying goodbye to a civil rights legend. Memorial services for John Lewis begin in his home state. We'll have some of the most touching moments during an emotional day. We'll be right back.

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OYUNA TSERENDORJ, OYUNA CREATIVE DIRECTOR: My name is Oyuna Tserendorj. I'm a Mongolian based in London, and I'm a creative director of Oyuna, small, independent fashion boutique that wholesales around the world for 17 years. And now we are opening our very first physical shop in Nottingham, London. We felt the effects of pandemic right away. Sales gone down quite badly.

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We could not travel to see our customers like we usually do. Cashing weeks were cancelled (ph). Wholesale customers were cancelling orders. Cash was not coming in. During the pandemic, we really reflected on what kind of a brand do we want to be, what value do we want to bring to this world, so during the pandemic we sent out a newsletter and the main message was the sky is always blue meaning that it is so important to be positive and especially during these times. Even if you're talking to Uber driver or someone - UPS driver who delivers your package, I think it's very important to be optimistic and all of us need to do our best. Every single moment it's important to uplift each other and give each other positive energy, which has a snowball effect. It's the most important thing right now.

HOLMES: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes. In Houston, Texas, more people have died from coronavirus in the month of July than in the past four months combined. There have been more than 150 deaths so far, and of course July is not over. The city's mayor says hospital admissions seem to be going down but there is still rapid community spread. Overall, U.S. states are struggling with the virus. The county now has more than four million cases, more than 146,000 deaths.

California has the most official COVID-19 cases having passed New York a few days ago. The Coordinator of the White House Coronavirus Task Force saying on Friday there rates were beginning to plateau in California, but the state is scrambling to get the situation under control. CNN's Paul Vercammen is in Los Angeles.

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PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here in Los Angeles County they are testing fast and furiously, including here at the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. They move people through in cars and on foot, and the numbers in L.A. County rising. This new batch shows that 3,628 new people have tested positive for COVID-19. There have been 53 new deaths. Now, we need to clarify that L.A. County was warning all along that they expected a spike in cases because there was a backlog in the system. They just hadn't counted all the cases due to a glitch, and the 10 percent positive rate is also better news, but there's still this sort of underlying thing that haunts people in the medical profession, and that's when some people talk about hoaxes or perhaps this is just the flu. Well, let's talk to the dean of this university.

DR. DEBORAH PROTHORW-STITH, CHARLES R. DREW UNIV. OF MEDICINE & SCIENCE: We can stop this pandemic. We can definitely slow it down. We could probably stop it by doing a better job of personal responsibility and hygiene, washing your hands, using sanitizer, wearing your mask, social distancing. Those things work. They absolutely work, and we just need everybody to do it. This is not a political issue. This is a health issue, and it's just something we all need to do.

VERCAMMEN: And the hospitalizations steady here in L.A. County. They're just about 2,000, and Mayor Garcetti has threatened further shutdowns if these numbers do not improve. Reporting from Los Angeles, I'm Paul Vercammen. Now back to you.

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HOLMES: The U.S. state of Texas dealing with storms on two fronts. It is feeling the impact of Hurricane Hanna right now. It made landfall on Padre Island several hours ago. Winds of around 90 miles and hour. We'll have a bit more on that later in the program. Meanwhile, communities in that same area have been seeing a spike in coronavirus cases as well as hospitalizations. In Texas alone more than 8,000 new infections, nearly 170 deaths reported on Saturday. CNN's Ed Lavandera has been talking to the doctors and families of patients.

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ED LAVANDERA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the daily routine for Dr. Federico Vallejo, a critical care pulmonologist. When he gets dressed, it looks like he's getting ready to be launched into another world. That's exactly what it's like to work in the COVID-19 unit of a South Texas hospital.

DR. FEDERICO VALLEJO, CRITICAL CARE PULMONOLOGIST: It's overwhelming. It's a tsunami what we're seeing right now.

LAVANDERA: Coronavirus patients have filled the hospital where Dr. Vallejo works. On most days, Dr. Vallejo says he's treating about 70 different patients, four to five times more than he usually sees in a single day.

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VALLEJO: I have never had to sign this many death certificates that I have been signing the last couple weeks. Talking to these families has been very, very difficult. LAVANDERA: Can you describe the suffering that you've seen among these patients?

VALLEJO: This is a disease that affects the lungs, and they would have trouble with the breathing, and when it happens, it's heartbreaking. It's so difficult to watch them, many saying goodbye to their relatives by picking up the phone and saying, "I'm having more trouble. I'm having more trouble. I don't know what's going to happen next." I see nurses crying all the time. I see doctors breaking down all the time, but then again that is what we do.

LAVANDERA: South Texas is the COVID-19 hotspot inside the Texas hotspot. Health officials are warning that hospital bed and ICU space are running out. Nursing and doctor teams are stretched to the limit.

Do you feel when you walk into these COVID units that it's like a parallel universe?

DR. IVAN MELENDEZ, HIDALGO COUNTY, TEXAS HEALTH AUTHORITY: It's definitely a parallel universe. If they only knew what lurked behind those walls, if they could only have x-ray vision and see the pain and the suffering

LAVANDERA: Dr. Ivan Melendez is the Hidalgo County Health Authority based in McAllen, Texas. He says the COVID units are filled with the sound of patients gasping for air, many needing ventilators and gut- wrenching conversations.

MELENDEZ: So you have people telling you, you know, Doc, please don't put me on that. Don't put me on that. And you struggle because you know that's what they need, and then finally they just give up and they say go ahead. You know, you may be the last person that I ever talk to. So please tell my family, tell my parents, tell me - tell my kids that I love them and that I fought hard.

JESSICA ORTIZ, BROTHER JUBAL ORTIZ DIED AFTER GETTING COVID-19: It's a necklace with his ashes.

LAVANDERA: Jessica Ortiz says her twin brother, Jubal Ortiz, fought the virus for almost two weeks. The 27-year-old worked as a security guard at a jewelry store.

ORTIZ: It hurts not being there for someone always there for you (ph). Sorry.

LAVANDERA: Jubal died on July 3.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You fought long and hard. We all know you -

(CROSSTALK)

LAVANDERA: At the funeral, friends and family paid their respects through a plastic shield over the casket. There was a fear his body still might be contagious.

ORTIZ: He meant the world. I just wish it wasn't him. I wish I had him with me because he didn't live his life yet.

LAVANDERA: Jessica is left with this last image of her brother, a screen recording of one of their last conversations, Jubal Ortiz waving goodbye. Ed Lavandera, CNN, Dallas.

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HOLMES: All right, let's turn now to Dr. Jorge Rodriguez in Los Angeles, and Internal Medicine and Viral Specialist. Good to see you again, Doctor. You know, it's interesting. Cases in the U.S. have doubled in six weeks. I mean, the southern U.S. has a quarter of the world's cases. Florida, 50 hospitals at full ICU capacity. I mean, what does that show to you particularly when we talk about testing labels being too low, results too slow?

DR. JORGE RODRIGUEZ, INTERNAL MEDICINE AND VIRAL SPECIALIST: Well, I think we haven't been testing enough. We haven't done a good job in educating people. We haven't done a good job in motivating people to try to prevent this from spreading. So, you know, I vacillate between getting mad and getting sad just because sometimes it appears so overwhelming a task. So obviously we need to test more. We need to know where things are going, but more than that we need to somehow flick that switch to make people realize that this is a problem that we all face, and it has been said it's not political. Not at all.

HOLMES: There's even talk, I mean, in Florida of reopening bars, I mean, which just is mind boggling. What are your thoughts on suggestions of a total reset regarding closures in some parts of the country as some are suggesting?

RODRIGUEZ: Listen, I think in the best of all possible worlds that would be ideal, but unfortunately we don't live in the best of all possible worlds. In this country, we have four things lacking. One is inspirational and clear leadership at the federal level, starting with the president, and without that we're not going to accomplish anything. We don't have a Churchill. We don't have a Roosevelt in order to tell the people to do this because we will succeed. That's number one.

Number two, the scientific infrastructure has failed us from the beginning where we don't have enough testing, and even then, even now I mean it has not been corrected. Thirdly, if you're going to close up you need a financial plan so that people do not lose their livelihood, can feed their families. And fourth and most sadly I don't think that the - part of the United States has the resolve to do this. Listen, in Europe and in Asia I think it's different because several countries have gone through decimation, through war, and they know that they have to pull together to succeed.

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Unfortunately there's a portion of the population of the United States that in order to sacrifice to them, that's way too inconvenient. So we have a -

(CROSSTALK) HOLMES: Yes.

RODRIGUEZ: -- you know?

HOLMES: Yes, and infringes on their freedoms. It is. I mean, I see it in my own - in my own area. I wanted to touch on this before we go, this wide-ranging debate on the reopening of schools in the U.S. I mean, the Education Secretary basically says returning to class should be the default for schools to reopen as normal, which is extraordinary. The president's been pushing it for weeks, but you've got a lot of polls out there showing that a lot of parents are reluctant. I think more than twice as many cases today as we did a month ago. 38 states seeing increases. Does that sound like the right time to send kids back to classrooms and teachers for that matter?

RODRIGUEZ: Absolutely not. Absolutely not, and we're seeing now children that are starting to get this infection. And the reason we haven't seen them is they haven't been going to school. There are some places in the United States where it might be safe to do it in an organized fashion, but certainly not in Florida. Certainly not in Texas. Why should we embark on the national experiment of using our children as guinea pigs? Let's wait until we get this under better control.

HOLMES: Yes, it does - it does seem extraordinary. Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, really appreciate your time. Thanks so much. All right, we're going to take a quick break. Coming up here on CNN Newsroom, protestors in Seattle and Portland continue to clash with police, but what do these scenes have to do with social justice movements? We'll discuss that when we come back.

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HOLMES: Welcome back to CNN Newsroom everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. Now in Seattle on Saturday continued violence, mayhem, confusion, protesters and police clashing.

Police tweeting that at least 16 people were arrested, three officers injured they said. One of those officers hurt and taken to a hospital with a leg injury that police said was caused by an explosion of some sort.

The other two officers treated and returned to duty.

Police say the protesters are throwing explosives and what they call mortars at them. Not sure exactly what they mean by that. And they're calling it a riot.

In downtown Portland, Oregon, police day a person was stabbed early on Saturday morning, this after federal agents used flash bangs and tear gas to try to break up a crowd outside the federal courthouse on Friday night.

The CNN newsteam said before that a large crowd of peaceful protesters were chanting black lives matter.

With me now from Portland is CNN Correspondent Lucy Kavanaugh. Lucy, you've been there for a while now, how's it starting off there? It's still early, of course, when it comes to how these things ratchet up normally.

LUCY KAVANAUGH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right Michael. I mean, it's calm, it's peaceful. I would say there's over 1,000 people on the streets of Portland this evening. They've been chanting, feds go home, they've been chanting black lives matter, they've been chanting say his name George Floyd, which is, of course, the original impetus for these protests, these racial justice protests that are now entering their 60th day.

I want to make a quick point about that stabbing that you mentioned. That actually took place a few blocks away from here. As far as we understand it's not connected to the protests here, the atmosphere largely peaceful.

The protestors standing their ground turning out night after night, but the federal agents who are largely hold up behind the fence there at the courthouse building behind me also standing their ground.

And the way that this has continued to play out is, you know, it usually stays fairly calm for several hours in the early hours of the evening. Later on you do see different elements of protesters coming out and getting a little bit more aggressive.

Last night we saw them starting to shake the fence, that then prompted the feds to come out to shoot tear gas, to try to disperse the crowd and that began the sort of cat and mouse game of clashes here on the streets of Portland.

Now interesting in terms of who's showing up. You have the people who have been out here night after night demanding racial justice. We had the so-called Wall of Moms, the mothers often seen wearing yellow shirts who come out linking arms to physically use their bodies to try to protect the demonstrators from what they describe as excessive use of force by the police, now the federal agents.

We also see fathers joining the protests. They're often wearing orange shirts, they've been coming out with leaf blowers to try to disperse the tear gas away from the crowds.

And something new now, another human wall, this time U.S. military veterans also coming to the streets to try to protect the demonstrators, to try to demand that the federal officers leave this area.

We spoke to one U.S. Navy veteran, Don. Take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON THOMSON, U.S. NAVY VETERAN: We were all born here. This is streets, that's our fence, it's on our property, take it down, it's already been rule illegal. Take it down and leave our town. Our police were doing a fine job and they're still doing a fine job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAVANAUGH: Now there were two setbacks for the protesters yesterday. We spoke about one of them where a federal judge denied the state's attempt to get an injunction to basically block these federal police actions from taking place.

Also, the U.S. Attorney here announcing federal criminal charges against 18 people, those charges include assaulting federal officers.

But, you know, the message that we're hearing from black leaders here in the city, as well as a lot of the protesters, is they are worried about this becoming into something of a spectacle because of these federal policing actions, these federal use of force actions, because they really want the message here to remain on black lives matter, they're demanding racial equality, they want police reform and they don't want these new clashes with the federal officers to dilute that message, Michael.

HOLMES: Good to have you on there on the spot. Lucy Kavanaugh there live in Portland, Oregon. We'll check in with you in hours ahead, appreciate that.

All right, we want to take a beat now and get some deeper perspective.

Joining me now is the Reverend E.D. Mondaine. He is the president of Portland's NAACP. I wanted to get your -- I read your op-ed in the "Washington Post."

You know, what we're seeing places like Seattle and Portland all started following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis of course, a global concentration on documented cases of police brutality against black men and women.

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Now, in your op-ed you wrote this quote, as the demonstrations continue every night in Portland many people with their own agendas are co-opting and distracting attention from what should be our central concern, the Black Lives Matter Movement.

Now, you call these protests as they are now a spectacle. Just explain what you mean.

REVEREND E.D. MONDAINE, PRESIDENT OF PORTLAND NAACP: Well, the protests here in Portland are a welcome development from those (inaudible) spent our entire adulthoods in the fight for a restore to racial justice.

But those protests were sparked by a video of a death of a man, we all know his name, and we ask people to say his name, George Floyd, at the hands of police.

For the first few weeks we were chanting his name at the rallies and holding up the mantle of Black Lives Matter. Now while myself and the NAACP has denounced the involvement of federal law enforcement here in Portland, it seems to be the feds who are being protestors, not state violence against black people and that has kind of turned this into the spectacle that we see.

HOLMES: And your organization has criticized, quote, mostly white anarchists for inciting during the protests. I've -- I've -- I have also read plenty of black leaders welcoming the white presence, that it's been helpful in spreading the message and that sort of any attention drawn to inequities is a step in the right direction. How do you bring the narrative back to what you see as the core issue?

MONDAINE: Well, you know, we know that onus for racism and -- and -- and the annulations is on those that have the privilege and the power. The social injustice movement cannot succeed without white allies.

We welcome white allies as long as they -- the focus stays on the Black Lives Movement and as long as we stay on point with why are we -- why we're there in the first place.

HOLMES: Do you believe that some of those taking part in these protests are in many ways playing into the president's hands in terms of his narrative on, you know, chaos in cities and so on?

MONDAINE: No, whatever else we might disagree on, criticism of the Trump Administration is not one of those things.

I can't speak to what I don't know, but I do know this, we are in times of a revolution and in revolution, just like a son too has reminded us that we're at war and all warfare is deceptive.

So, we know that the powers that be are in place to distract from the real issue of racial equality and justice.

HOLMES: I -- there's something I didn't realize until I was -- I was reading up on this, black people comprise I think it's only 6 percent of the population in Portland, I'm wondering why one of America's whitest cities in -- in one of the whitest states is -- is having the longest running Black Lives Matter protest?

MONDAINE: Well, Portland is already -- always been unique in our current era, we have a well intentioned group of progressives who want to do what's right and just need to be refocused from time to time on the black struggle in America.

I think that Portland is the perfect storm. We have the right percentage of African-Americans and whites proportionate to the world -- proportionate to the African-American presence in the United States and I think that with the progressive nature of our people and with the kind of folk that we have living here, because I believe in them, I think that this is the perfect place for racism to rear its ugly head and we do the damage of annihilating it once and for all and making a model for the rest of the world to see how we can get the job done.

HOLMES: Yes, that -- I mean, that -- that -- that is -- that's well put. I think -- I'm curious too what the levels of racial disparity around, you know, wealth, health, healthcare, schools and so on.

And -- and -- and why isn't Portland more diverse? What's the reason for that? And I know that there are historical reasons, you go back into the early 1800s, black people weren't allowed into Oregon.

MONDAINE: Well yes, you know, this is the -- this is the only state in our union that was incepted in racism. We weren't allowed to become stake holders and, you know, as we know nationally we see, from 2000, home ownership, in terms of African-Americans are sinking lower and lower and lower.

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Access is something that is necessary for thriving communities all over the world. So the same disparities that are in New York are in Portland, are in St. Louis, are in Chicago, and they're all the same. Portland's whiteness is largely a result of exclusionary - of this exclusionary history that you talked about that discouraged black people from moving to Portland, and we are glad that the soul of many white Portlanders are now open to that idea of inclusion from that long-ago hiccup I would love to call it or misguide I would love to call it just to be very giving of not being inclusive with African Americans.

HOLMES: Really appreciate the discussion. And important one to have. Thank you, Reverend E.D. Mondaine. Thanks so much.

MONDAINE: Thank you.

HOLMES: We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, Hurricane Hanna makes landfall. What it's done and where it's headed, that's coming up next.

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Hurricane Hanna made landfall on Saturday in Texas with sustained winds of 90 miles and hour. I want to show you the scene in Port Mansfield in Texas, and you can see there trees were brought down, roofs torn from buildings. The governor issuing disaster declarations for 32 counties. Joining us now with more from the CNN Weather Center is Meteorologist Derek Van Dam. Hey, Derek.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Michael, buckle up your seatbelt. If you're watching today, this is not the only system that we're keeping an eye on, but let's get to the imminent threat. The immediate threat I should say is, of course, Hurricane Hanna. That made landfall at about 5 p.m. local time, and if you look on the latest radar, I mean, this is just incredible. Even after it's moved away from its moisture source, the Gulf of Mexico, there's still a very defined center of circulation, and eye that we look for for this characteristic tropical look and feel to it.

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And what has been concerning, of course, is the strong, gusty winds associated with this hurricane but also the incessant rainfall. Over a foot of rain right on the Padre Island where it made landfall. That's where we still have hurricane warnings. We have tropical storm warnings just to the north and to the south all the way to the border of Mexico. Additional rainfall threat overnight, so flash flooding. That's a certain possibility across the extreme southern sections of Texas, another six inches possible on top of what's already fallen. With land falling hurricanes of this nature, we look out for the potential of spin up tornadoes and waterspouts, of course tornadoes that are over water.

Now, the good news is - the silver lining here is that the storm system's expected to dissipate, kind of rain itself out over the next 36 hours across northeastern sections of Mexico. Now, that's not the only system we're monitoring. Another disturbance that's moved off the west coast of Africa has a high probability of development over the next five days. We're going to look out for that impact in the Caribbean and the Lesser Antilles over the next few days.

Now check this out. This is Hurricane Douglas. It's got a B-line towards the Hawaiian islands. You can see the tropical storm warnings in place, but I want you to notice that Honolulu, the island of Oahu under a hurricane warning, do we do anticipate gusty winds there in excess of hurricane force. So buckle up, Michael.

HOLMES: All right, good to see you back in the studio, my friend.

VAN DAM: Yes.

HOLMES: I like that.

VAN DAM: Good to be back.

HOLMES: Yes. Derek Van Dam there. Well, saying goodbye to a civil rights legend. Memorial services for John Lewis begin in his home state. Some of the most touching moments of an emotional day when we come back.

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Welcome back. It was a day of laughter, it was a day of tears, and there were plenty of stories about the man who became such a towering figure in the civil rights movement. Our Martin Savidge has more on the emotional outpouring as loved ones gathered to celebrate the life and the legacy of John Lewis.

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MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Today was the first of what will be many days of goodbyes for former civil rights icon and congressman, John Lewis. It began in his hometown and it started with his home family. Troy, Alabama is a rural community not that far away from Montgomery, Alabama, the capital, and it's where John Lewis grew up in a very segregated Jim Crow south at the time. But a lot has changed in his life since then and has changed in Alabama.

So in that community, they gathered today as family and those who knew him to remember the Boy from Troy. That's actually a nickname that the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. gave to John Lewis when they first met in 1958. It was a nickname that John Lewis was always very proud of. This memorial was special not just because it was the first and not just because it would be his last time going home. It was also special because it was very personal. Five of his family members, his brothers and his sister, all spoke not about the icon that we know from history, not about the powerful congressman, but about the boy named Robert -- that's what they called him, John Lewis's middle name - and about those personal stories only they could tell. Here was his brother, Grant Lewis, telling one of them.

HENRY GRANT LEWIS, BROTHER OF REP. JOHN LEWIS: When John was first sworn into Congress - I think I got my year right - in 1986, I was there. And during this swearing in ceremony - right before the swearing in ceremony, he looked up. He knew where I was sitting, and he looked up and he gave me the thumbs up and I gave him the thumbs up back.

So after the event was over we was together, and I asked him. I said, "John, what were you thinking when you gave me the thumbs up?" He said, "I was thinking this is a long way from the cotton fields of Alabama."

SAVIDGE: After the service, there was a public viewing, and then John Lewis was transported to Selma, Alabama. This is another historic milestone in his life and the life of civil rights in America. Inside the Brown Chapel, the same church where he and Dr. King had worked together to organize the famous marches from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, including the first, March 7, 1965, that led the Bloody Sunday that almost led to the death of John Lewis after several protestors were beaten by the Alabama State Police that descended on them.

For John Lewis, this is a trip going back over his life. And in every one of those places where he stops, people come to pay their respects and remember the man who changed not only their lives but a nation. Martin Savidge, CNN, Selma, Alabama.

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HOLMES: Now Regis Philbin was apart of American television for decades. He even holding the Guinness World Record for the most hours on the small screen. Philbin died Friday night at age 88. CNN's Richard Roth looks back.

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KELLY RIPA, LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY HOST: Reg.

REGIS PHILBIN, LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY HOST: Yes?

RIPA: Your lips are chapped.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILBIN: That's right, Frank. Take the tight close up.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Blessed with the gift of gab, Regis Philbin spent his career in the spotlight. He co-hosted TV's long- running live with Regis and Kathie Lee and later Live with Regis and Kelly.

PHILBIN: I won one Emmy, best host - daytime host when I was in between co-hosts ironically enough. We have a malfunction here.

RIPA: We're having a wardrobe malfunction.

PHILBIN: Yes. And it's fun. I mean, I'm enjoying it.

RIPA: His quick wit and spontaneous ad libs charmed TV audiences for decades, a talent he credited to his Irish-Italian upbringing.

PHILBIN: My mother had a lot of sisters, brothers and nephews and nieces, and they all would converge on our home in the Bronx. I think that gave me whatever talking ability I have because if you didn't talk with them you weren't going to get a word in otherwise (ph).

ROTH: Philbin was born August 25, 1931. Despite his parents large, extended family, Regis Francis Xavier Philbin was an only child until he was in college when his parents had another son. He graduated from Notre Dame with a sociology degree then served in the U.S. Navy.

SAM (ph): That's wild to wear it like that.

PHILBIN: What does that mean, Sam (ph)? Does it have any special significance?

SAM (ph): No, it's like a thing, man. That's his thing.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILBIN: I'm glad he finally got one.

ROTH: The Bronx native eventually landed a spot as comedian Joey Bishop's sidekick on The Joey Bishop Show. The gig gave him access to the Rat Pack, Hollywood's royalty in the late 60s. More co-hosting jobs and other television roles came along. He even shared the spotlight with his second wife, Joy, who often filled in as co-host on his live show. Philbin racked up some huge camera time morning and night. In 2011, he broke his own Guinness World Record for the most on-camera hours on U.S. TV.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A new Guinness World Record, 16,746.5 hours!

ROTH: He proved he could charm nighttime audiences hosting ABC's quiz show Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

PHILBIN: Let's play Millionaire right now.

ROTH: Philbin was a frequent guest on the Late Show with David Lettermen, even filling in for him when the late-night host underwent quintuple bypass surgery.

PHILBIN: You start from number 10 and work down to one, right?

DAVID LETTERMAN, LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN HOST: What do you think, Einstein?

(LAUGHTER)

PHILBIN: Excuse me. The guy calls this morning.

LETTERMAN: Reg.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILBIN: Please come. Help. It'll be co-host (ph). It'll be something new. Please. Please, Regis!

ROTH: Philbin often said it was his work, the exchanges with his numerous co-hosts and guests that gave him lasting satisfaction. For a man with so many questions, he spent his life sharing the answers with us all.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: He was a good man. Thanks for watching, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. I'll have another hour of CNN Newsroom right after the break.

(CNN HIGHLIGHT)

TONY BLAIR, FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: If you look at the countries that have done well through this crisis and, you know, Germany for example, South Korea for example, you can look at Israel, other countries in Europe. Like Greece actually had one well. The key to the success has been to understand that this disease is bad enough for people really not to want to get it. And therefore unless you're taking really tough action at the beginning and locking down, as I say, hard and fast and then combining this with testing on a mass scale, it's very hard to give people the confidence to come back out of it again.

I can't see any way out of these other than to get behind the innovations that are now happening so that you can get an on-the-spot test, antigen and antibody, that allows you to decide very quickly what the disease status of an individual is.

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