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Georgia Surpasses 200k Confirmed COVID-19 Cases; Florida Governor Asks Judge to Dismiss Lawsuit Over School Reopening Plans; Los Angeles Mayor Approves Utility Shutoffs for Party Houses. Aired 9- 9:30a ET

Aired August 06, 2020 - 09:00   ET

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

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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: As we've seen in the southern states, leads to surges and then you get hospitalizations, and then you get death. So she was warning the states and the cities to be careful because this is a predictor of trouble ahead.

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POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Nearly 1400 Americans died from COVID in the U.S. in just the last 24 hours. The United States now closing in if you can believe it on 160,000 total deaths from this pandemic. Still the president continues to claim the virus will just eventually go away. Dr. Fauci disagreeing saying it is now so widespread that we may never fully eradicate this virus.

Let's get to our senior correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.

Good morning, Elizabeth. These warnings from Dr. Fauci and from Dr. Birx about positivity rates rising is alarming.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It really is. Good morning, Poppy. This is straight talk from the -- disease doctor. What he's saying is that this virus does not respect borders. It doesn't respect state borders, city borders, really any borders, and he pointed to the rising rates in places like Atlanta, Baltimore, Kansas City. He says we need to work -- to keep the numbers down.

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FAUCI: Unless everybody pulls together and gets the level way down of a baseline, we're going to continue to see these kinds of increases that Dr. Birx was talking about in several of those cities. That's what I mean by smoldering. You've got to get that baseline down and everybody on this group, everybody on the team of American citizens need to pull together.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR, NEW DAY: Let's talk more about that.

FAUCI: Because we're all in this together.

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COHEN: Dr. Fauci then went on to talk about what a diverse country we are and so that it's harder -- Poppy, I'll tell you, he spoke with me about this at the very, very beginning. Back in January, he said, Elizabeth, this is a big country, it is a diverse country, different things are going to happen in different places. Smaller countries have an easier time having a uniform policy. The U.S. at this point still does not have a national policy for attacking the virus -- Poppy, Jim.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. And unclear when that will change, if it will change.

HARLOW: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Elizabeth Cohen, thanks very much.

Joining us now to speak about all this, Dr. Leana Wen. She's an emergency room physician, former Baltimore City health commissioner.

Good morning, Dr. Wen. So what does it mean that positivity rates, that is the percentage of people testing positive for the coronavirus are rising even as in many states you're seeing the number of new infections flattening out?

DR. LEANA WEN, EMERGENCY ROOM PHYSICIAN: Yes, so there are some glimmers of hope in some of these states. Right? These states that are becoming overwhelmed, their ICUs are becoming too full, we are seeing them plateau, although they are plateauing at a high level. It at least means that these measures that we know are effective like wearing masks, restricting indoor gatherings. They're having some effect. But we're also seeing these nine areas of concern that Dr. Birx has flagged.

And I just want to say, why is this a big secret? I mean, I'm glad that we're reporting on this but I think we should be having a national dashboard, a real-time tracking, so that people can see what are these areas that are becoming the next areas of concern. That's important for local policymakers. That's also important for individuals, for parents that are making decisions, for example, about schools.

There should be reporting on these positivity rates which means that we're not doing nearly enough testing and casting a net wide enough in these areas. We should also have national reporting, too, on the percent of tests that are returning within 48 hours and it should be broken down by demographics because it's possible that the testing rate overall for a particular group like white Americans is fine, but that for African-Americans, Latina Americans, that we're not testing them enough.

HARLOW: When it comes to our children, we are all here parents, right? And so let's put our parent and your doctor hat on, Dr. Wen, to talk about the fact that in the last 24 hours the president said children are essentially immune, which is untrue. And then just a few weeks ago Betsy DeVos, right, in charge of education in this country, said, quote, "kids are actually stoppers of the disease." They don't get it and transmit it themselves.

That's also not true, but the White House chief of staff Mark Meadows did concede this yesterday to Wolf. Listen.

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MARK MEADOWS, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: I think we can all transmit -- anybody who sent their kids to school know that a lot of times the kids come home and you catch whatever you got from your kids who were transferring it back and forth.

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HARLOW: I mean, amen, finally, that is the truth about this. But I think parents have got to be so confused right now.

WEN: Yes. And this is why it's so important, Poppy, for all of us to be singing from the same song book and to be telling the truth. I mean, there is a lot about COVID-19 that we don't yet know but there's a lot that we do know, too, and that includes that children do get sick.

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Yes, children tend to get less sick than adults do, but some children become very sick. Unfortunately, some children have even died from this disease and kids don't live in a bubble. They will be coming home to parents and grandparents, and there are teachers and staff in the schools, too. And it's our job to safe guard their health, too.

SCIUTTO: So months into this, and this country still has not gotten a handle on widespread testing and contact tracing. I mean, it's just amazing given that from the beginning everyone who knows about outbreaks knows this has been key. Dr. Fauci drew particular attention to the length of time it takes to get results from tests, sometimes a couple of weeks.

Is that because the labs are overwhelmed? Why is that happening in the richest country in the world today?

WEN: Yes, it's a really good point, Jim. It should not be happening because these problems were anticipated. We saw from the beginning that when you have breakdowns in supply chain, that first you get -- you run out of swabs. Then you run out of specific chemical reagents, then you don't have enough platforms. That's the same thing that we're seeing now six months into this. And that shouldn't be happening anymore.

That's why having a national strategy, invoking the Defense Production Act, we can do this. I mean, other countries have done it. They don't have some secret technology that we don't have. We can do it, too.

HARLOW: I'm so glad you brought up the DPA because, correct me if I'm wrong, Dr. Wen, but the administration could have months ago invoked the Defense Production Act to mandate that these swabs, reagents, et cetera, were accelerated in terms of production just like they did effectively, I should note, with ventilators.

Because that wasn't done to a greater extent, has that cost lives?

WEN: Yes. And we have not been anticipating for what's ahead. What the Trump administration should have done is to see that surges were coming and so even though there might have been enough tests at some point, there weren't going to be. Because when you have the increased demand for tests you also have to increase that supply, and that's what's been happening. There are actually these fast antigen tests that are available, too.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

WEN: And I don't see why we shouldn't be ramping up the DPA to produce these tests that can give you results within 10 to 15 minutes. Imagine how life changing or game changing that would be for all of us right now.

HARLOW: Right.

SCIUTTO: You know the president opposes broad-based testing. He's said it publicly, repeatedly, makes us look bad. Do you see a deliberate effort to restrict the availability and the speed of testing in this country? Do you see evidence of that?

WEN: Look, I sincerely hope not because testing is the route back. I hate it when things that are as basic as masks and tests and social distancing are becoming politicized when actually these are exactly the road map to reopening. I mean, imagine how transformative it would be if we can all test every morning before going to work or going to school. I mean, how powerful that would be and how much that would give the consumers' confidence in our economy, too.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: Dr. Wen, we appreciate you as always. Thank you.

We do have breaking news this morning on the economy. 1.2 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits for first time last week. That is a lot. It is down slightly from the 1.4 million who did the week before. But still, Jim, as you always say, the total numbers are just remarkable.

SCIUTTO: Yes. They're bigger than any single week during the 2008, 2009 great recession.

CNN's chief business correspondent Christine Romans joins us now with more on the breaking news.

What do these numbers tell us?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was the first decline in three weeks, Jim, but to take the long view, it tells us there's a jobs crisis in a pandemic recession. And over the past 20 weeks, 55 million people who have filed for the first time for unemployment benefits. It's just a shocking number. That's more than a third of the labor market, a third of the people who are working at beginning of March at some time over the summer have filed for the first time for unemployment benefits.

We know that as of the most recent week 32 million people were still receiving some kind of benefit from the government. And we know that that benefit is now smaller because the extended unemployment benefits, the advance -- enhanced unemployment benefits expired so suddenly you've got this big hole in the economy of about $18 billion a week that has just disappeared. They're still discussing stimulus of course in Washington.

But there's a new phase here, where now you've got all of these millions of people out of work but without that emergency shock absorber meant to help them get through this time. So this is kind of a dangerous moment here. We're going to have a jobs report tomorrow. The monthly jobs report. It's a real -- it's anybody's guess what that number is going to hold.

The president this week promised it would be a big number, but there are some economists who are worried that you're seeing a second wave of job loss here, guys.

HARLOW: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Goodness. Each one of those numbers is a story to families.

ROMANS: That's right.

SCIUTTO: Struggling with this.

Christine Romans, thanks very much.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

SCIUTTO: Setbacks at several schools that have reopened in the south, positive cases forcing students and teachers into quarantine as a result. We're going to have a live update.

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HARLOW: Plus, stimulus negotiators, members of Congress on the hill. While negotiations are still far apart, millions of Americans are unemployed as we just talked about and they are in desperate need of more help. Pleas for compromise are growing as the White House doubles down on its threat of unilateral act, but what really could an executive order do here? We'll have the latest on the hill.

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HARLOW: Welcome back. This morning, more than 100 students at a school district in Mississippi are under quarantine. This is after six students and one staff member tested positive for COVID-19.

SCIUTTO: And at least four cases have now been reported in the metro Atlanta school district since it opened on Monday. At least 61 students in Cherokee County, Georgia, now in quarantine.

CNN's Dianne Gallagher joins us now with more.

And Dianne, I imagine school districts expected this and they have some plan for how to handle it. I mean, is that plan kicking into action? Is it working?

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DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it might be too early to determine whether or not it's working, Jim. They still haven't finished the first week of school in Cherokee County and we're looking at more than 60 students that have been sent home for quarantine purposes because they've been exposed to a positive case. All of those on the first day of school, on Monday. We're talking four different cases of COVID-19.

At four different schools, in one school district. And so, this is likely what we're going to continue to see happen at these districts that have chosen to allow parents to send their kids back to in-person classes. Again, we're just at this first week of school. And here in the state of Georgia, we remain at over a 10 percent positivity rate. It became just the fifth state to surpass 200,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Yesterday, and likely we'll close in at 4,000 deaths sometime this week. Dr. Birx herself saying that she is concerned specifically about the city of Atlanta because it remains high when we're talking about that positivity rate. So, it's something that parents have to consider that sending their kids in person while there are positives to that for many parents, there's also an extreme risk that we're seeing play out in schools across the state right now.

SCIUTTO: Yes, no question. All experiments here that we're watching. Dianne Gallagher --

HARLOW: Yes --

SCIUTTO: Thanks very much. Let's go to CNN's Rosa Flores, she's in Miami, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is now asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit over his executive order, forcing schools to open for in- person classes this Fall. Rosa, how is the lawsuit impacting reopening plans?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Jim, it's not. Schools are moving forward with their plans, but here's what's at the center of this lawsuit. The teachers union is claiming that it is unsafe for children to walk into a school for face-to-face instruction, and that the emergency order that was issued by the education commissioner of this state that forces schools to reopen brick-and-mortar style is unconstitutional.

Governor Ron DeSantis' attorneys of course disagree with that. Here are the facts. According to the Florida Department of Health, there are more than 39,000 children who have contracted this disease, more than 400 have been hospitalized and seven have died. And new this morning, we're learning more about the two teens who recently died who were reported by the Florida Department of Health.

Now, according to the M.E.'s office here in Miami-Dade County, this includes a 16-year-old girl with multiple chronic conditions including spina bifida, and according the medical examiner of Pinellas County, a 17-year-old boy from Manatee County also died, who died at a hospital in Pinellas County. This little boy also had multiple chronic conditions including cerebral palsy and asthma.

Now, when you look at the total cases in the state of Florida, Florida has surpassed 500,000 cases. More than 7,600 people have died and the hospital system in this state continues to be tested. This morning, there are 53 ICU hospitals at zero capacity. Meaning, they have zero ICU beds. And so hospitals are having to do things to make hospital space. We're learning this morning from Baptist Health, south Florida, Jim and Poppy, here's what they're doing.

They're allowing COVID-19 patients to go home and recover at home. If they do not need acute care. And what the hospital is doing is they are monitoring them remotely, using technology to make sure that they have bed space for those patients who need critical care. Jim and Poppy?

HARLOW: Rosa, thank you for that reporting on both fronts. Let's get to Stephanie Elam now in Los Angeles. Good morning, Stephanie, the Mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti with a unique move to try to slow the virus, the spread of the virus, actually threatening to cut off water and power supplies to houses that host big parties?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and Poppy, this has been done. The mayor has done this to businesses that were repeat offenders that kept operating. When we were at that stay-at-home order earlier in the year, well, after we saw some large parties over the weekend earlier this week, where you could see people standing very close together. Many of them without masks on, this became an issue.

And so the mayor is now saying, starting tomorrow night, Friday night, if anyone were to have a party, they will go ahead. These repeat offenders, they will cut their power, cut their water, really hard to have a party if you don't have water, especially if you have bathrooms, right? So, this is a way to mitigate these people getting together.

The other issue, and the reason why this is important is because here in Los Angeles County, health officials are pointing out who is contracting the virus.

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And they're saying that of the new cases that they announced yesterday, which there are more than 2,300 that they announced. They're saying that 76 percent of those new cases were in people who were under the age of 50. And to drill into those numbers, taking a look at the people under 30, they represent 54 percent of those new cases. So these young people are the ones that are driving these cases and they're asking them to continue to do what they need to do, socially distance themselves, wear those masks. I talked to a woman yesterday who at 30 got the coronavirus. She had a

stroke. She's now walking with a cane. Her younger sister who is 12 also had the virus, but was asymptomatic. This is what we're talking about here. This is very serious. And even though young people have that invincibility feeling, it's not the case, and that's not what we're seeing playing out here in Los Angeles, which is the worst --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

ELAM: And hardest hit county in California right now. Jim and Poppy?

SCIUTTO: Yes, listen, no one is immune. That's a fact. Some people are at greater risk than others in terms of getting truly sick from this, but no one is immune. Stephanie Elam, thanks very much. Can the White House and Congress reach a stimulus deal by tomorrow when insiders say both sides are still far apart? We're going to be live on the Hill with the latest.

HARLOW: We are also just a few minutes away from the opening bell on Wall Street, taking a look at futures, pretty flat here. Looks like a mixed open as another 1.2 million Americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week. Stocks closed higher across the board yesterday, the Nasdaq once again finishing at an all-time high. We'll keep a close eye on the markets. Stay with us.

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SCIUTTO: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer are scheduled to speak next hour as concerns grow over the state of stimulus negotiations. This as some Republicans are expressing frustration over how long it's taking to reach an agreement, also differences within the Republican Party on some elements of this. CNN's Lauren Fox is on Capitol Hill this morning. Lauren, listen, there's a lot of sniping back and forth. Is there any movement behind the scenes closer to a deal?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Well, we've had about ten meetings up here, Jim, and about 16 hours of negotiations, and no clear path yet for a deal. And I'll tell you that there are apprehensions growing within the Republican Party especially those members who are up for re-election, who fear the pace at which this is all happening.

And I'll tell you that I talked to one of those members, Senator David Perdue, a Republican from Georgia up for re-election yesterday, and he said, look, I'm trying to be optimistic, but I'm worried about the pace of these negotiations, and I think that a lot of members across the board are starting to feel that pressure. Remember, we expected they will be in session next week, but they were supposed to leave town on Friday.

They were supposed to be out of session, beginning their month long August recess, and despite the fact that these meetings have been happening behind closed doors, there doesn't seem to be any big breakthrough. And that's really what is --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

FOX: Going to be necessary to break this logjam.

SCIUTTO: Yes, lawmakers do not like to shorten their recesses. Let's talk about the White House, because the White House -- the president is threatening unilateral action, particularly on unilaterally suspending the collection of payroll taxes which is a step that the president supports and frankly, Democrats and Republicans seem to oppose on the Hill. Is that a likely scenario, and would the president be able to make that happen actually?

FOX: Well, Jim, for a long time, I think Republican and Democratic aides up here viewed the president's threat of executive action as just that, a threat. A negotiating tactic going into these meeting, but I'll tell you that I think that feeling that something could happen from the executive is growing to be more real. Now whether or not, it's legally possible is a completely other question, and something that lawmakers and aides are really looking at up here.

But it's not just that payroll tax pause. It's also looking at, you know, a federal moratorium on evictions. That's something that the president could do by executive action. If the president can repurpose some of the unspent stimulus dollars and redirect them to ensure that people who are unemployed continue to get some kind of federal unemployment benefit.

But you know, for a long time, it was viewed as basically the president just trying to push these negotiators along. And it wasn't necessarily a very effective tactic, given where we are now. But I will tell you that, there is a growing sense that, that might be something the president does, certainly something that Mark Meadows as chief of staff has been signaling up here on the Hill. Jim.

SCIUTTO: And of course, the possibility of a court challenge, Lauren Fox, on the Hill, thank so much for following closely, Poppy?

HARLOW: All right, Lauren, thank you. Let's talk about all of this with Austan Goolsbee; economics professor at the University of Chicago Business School. Also, served as the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors in the Obama administration. Which means, sir, you know a thing or two about economic crisis, so we're glad you're here.

AUSTAN GOOLSBEE, ECONOMICS PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO BUSINESS SCHOOL: Thank you for having me, Poppy.

SCIUTTO: So, Austan, I mean, look -- I mean, I think everyone knows at this point how I feel about Congress not reaching a deal. It's unacceptable. They knew this was coming for months. Putting the politics aside to just the economics of it, and not repeating past mistakes, are you in the camp of Ben Bernanke, Republican, right? Who let us through the last crisis, who said, don't repeat our same mistakes, don't do too little, Congress, to get us out of this economic crisis. Do you think we're in jeopardy of Congress doing too little and repeating past mistakes? GOOLSBEE: Yes, look, it's already happened.

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