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Ohio Governor Tests Positive Hours Before Scheduled to Greet Trump; 62 of Largest School Districts Starting School Remotely; GA School Nurse Quits Over COVID Fears Amid Crowded Hallways; Fauci: We're Investigating How Long Virus Can Remain in Air; FL Gov. Says It's OK to Hug with PPE Despite Medical Warnings. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired August 06, 2020 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, he immediately went back to his home in Cedarville, Ohio. He said he's going to quarantine for 14 days. And as President Trump mentioned, he is going to get a secondary test to determine whether or not this test was indeed a true positive.

Now, Brianna, this comes at a time where Ohio was one of the states that was one of the most aggressive when it came to combating the coronavirus crisis. So Mike DeWine very much a practical tactician when it comes to things like this and was one of the governors that truly followed the science in making decisions about shutting down many of the various businesses and forcing people to socially distance and things along those lines.

And I should point out, this event that's about to take place here in Clyde, Ohio, this is at the Whirlpool factory about an hour from Cleveland. And you can see that they are taking very strict precautions to protect people at this particular event. Every single one of us before we came in was given a temperature check. We had to answer a series of questions about our potential exposure to the coronavirus. Also, everyone must have a mask on the entire time.

And as you can see behind me, they do have chairs that are purposely socially distant to keep people away from each other. And Brianna, we should also point out that one of the president's most ardent supporters, Jim Jordan of Ohio, the congressman from Ohio, he is here in the crowd and he is among those wearing a mask.

So you can see this is something that the administration is apparently taking much more seriously than they have over the past few months. And the president is set to speak here now in just a couple of hours.

Brianna?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: All right, Ryan, thank you so much. I will say, I do see some people talking to each other with masks on but very closely behind you. I think some people think it's either or, social distancing or masks. But really both is safe. Ryan, thank you so much.

The president is once again minimizing the severity of the pandemic and he's doing it just hours after the nation reported for a second time in a row, more than 1,300 deaths from coronavirus in a single day. Listen to the president in this radio interview that he gave today.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

GERALDO RIVERA, WTAM: But looking back on this awful plague that's now killed almost 160,000 Americans, there were some missteps. Don't you wish you had done some things differently?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think that -- first of all, the governors run the states, you understand that. That's the way it's set up. I mean, that's the way it's supposed to be. And whether you call it a federalist or anything else, the governors run. We've had some great governors and we have some governors that didn't do as well.

But what I did with ventilators and what I did with getting people equipment because the governors were not stocked, nobody has ever done a better job. We've done a great job and we haven't been rewarded with the publicity.

RIVERA: So you don't admit --

(END AUDIO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now the president admits no mistakes in his administration's handling of the crisis. That despite nearly 160,000 deaths in five months, no national testing strategy, no tracing strategy, and the rate of positive test, hospitalizations, deaths rising and rising. Instead, he is blaming governors, and he is giving false hope about a vaccine, and specifically pinpointing a certain date on the calendar.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, you said a vaccine could be ready around November 3rd, are you optimistic that that will happen? And will that give you a boost in the election?

TRUMP: On the vaccine?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

TRUMP: I am. I'm optimistic that it'll be probably around that day. I believe we'll have the vaccine before the end of the year certainly but around that date. Yes, I think.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now, November 3rd is, of course, the election. And the president is giving this false hope because even the most optimistic scientists say it's going to be late this year or early next year when a vaccine is ready and even then, not widely available for many months after that. And all of that, that is the best-case scenario, right, the best case scenario.

And all of this as two of his task force, doctors warn of more troubles coming for nine cities and California's Central Valley. Many school districts are opting to keep their kids home for school this year because of the pandemic. CNN has tallied at least seven million American students are beginning their classes online.

I want to bring in CNN's Bianna Golodryga. And Bianna, just break this down for us because, you know, where's this happening? Is it big cities that are primarily making this choice?

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Brianna, it's really all over. And it's interesting because you have the president calling for schools to be open. But the reality, the picture in this country right now is showing that millions of kids will just not be going back to school.

Now let's take a look at the numbers right now. Of the 101 largest school districts in the country, 62 are starting online as you mentioned that, seven million students. Twelve are starting with the hybrid model and 17 are starting with either all online or in-person. And four have yet to finalize a plan.

Now for a more narrow picture, let's take a look at the 25 largest school districts. All but five have announced that they're going to be starting remotely. You heard the news out of Chicago this week. We're still waiting to hear definitive plan out of New York City. And it has to deal with --

[14:05:06]

KEILAR: Oh no, I think we have lost Bianna's signal there. All right, we're going to try to check back in with her. But in the meantime, the CDC has issued some guidance on safety in schools. They, quote, have an important role in slowing the spread of diseases to help ensure students have safe and healthy learning environments. An important role that some schools seem perhaps to not quite understand.

Just take a look at this picture. This is a school hallway in Paulding County, Georgia where kids are starting to go back to school this week. In that massive crowd, how many masks do you see? We were able to take a look at a look at that without some of the faces fuzzed out there and I think there were about four. It's not supposed to be a Where's Waldo type of game, right? You're supposed to see all of these masks.

Amy Westmoreland is a school nurse in Paulding County, Georgia who actually resigned over her coronavirus fears. Amy, thank you for being with us. What did you think when you saw that picture in this county where you worked?

AMY WESTMORELAND, SCHOOL NURSE WHO RESIGNED OVER CORONAVIRUS CONCERNS: You're welcome. Thank you so much, Brianna for having me on your program today.

KEILAR: And yes, of course, thank you for coming on. I wonder when you saw that photo, because you'd actually decided some time ago or prior to this photo coming out that this was the decision you needed to make for your health and to make and out of concerns for the health of others. When you saw this photo, how did that, I guess, make you think about the decision that you had made to no longer be a nurse?

WESTMORELAND: Well, certainly, I was horrified. It did give me some sense of validation knowing that I made the right decision but, of course, my primary focus, since I am in pediatrics is the children. And so, of course, I was worried for them and also their families and the staff members at the school. But I still remain a nurse whether or not I'm in the clinic or not.

KEILAR: OK. So you're -- of course, you're still a nurse whether you're in the clinic or not. Just tell us even before this photo when you decided, you know, I'm not going back. Tell us what that decision was like? How did you make that decision?

WESTMORELAND: Well, it was a combination of things that started when we were allowed to go back into our clinics to finish up the school year and I walked in the building and unfortunately, there were many people without masks on and they were not practicing social distancing. And unfortunately, it's a very politically and financially motivated in that district. And so I was concerned that that might be the case once like (INAUDIBLE) so it initially started with that. And then the Board's decision to make masks a, you know, quote, personal choice and that social distancing wouldn't be practical. I didn't feel that I wasn't -- contrary to popular belief, I was not only concerned for myself and my family, but I could not imagine giving care especially to my special needs community of students with the possibility of infecting them.

KEILAR: Yes, because that's the realization, right? It's not -- it's how would you feel if you were to infect someone, and even if they're all right, but then someone they infect is not all right. I've thought about that myself. I think a lot of people have thought about that themselves as well.

WESTMORELAND: Absolutely.

KEILAR: How have you been talking to any of your former colleagues? What are they saying?

WESTMORELAND: I haven't much. I have heard from a couple of people, even people that I've never met that work for the county, and the majority of them have been -- actually all of them have been very positive and encouraging. Of course, some of them want to start stay anonymous and I totally respect that. But I'm just, you know, I'm proud of the students who have spoken out. And I'm just really overwhelmed by their courage to speak out.

KEILAR: What do you want to see for them? What do they need? What do your former colleagues need to stay safe?

WESTMORELAND: Well, I'd like to see them be in a safe and healthy learning environment. That was my job as a school nurse. That is my job as a nurse in general. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening given the circumstances. And I think a large portion of that comes from our government. We don't have the support of our current governor, Governor Kemp, and we do not have the support of even our own president. But I, you know, Mayor Bottoms has been a huge support to her community and it's very admirable.

[14:10:01]

KEILAR: Well, Amy, we really want to thank you for coming on. Amy Westmoreland.

WESTMORELAND: Absolutely. Thank you so much for your platform. I appreciate you.

KEILAR: Of course. No, we appreciate you bringing your voice on to tell people about what's been going on.

A professor asks Dr. Fauci about the spread of the virus through the air, and it prompted Fauci to make a promise. So what was that? We'll tell you next.

Plus, the governor of Florida floating the possibility of allowing visitors into nursing homes. But is he playing with fire here?

And shocked turns to anger as dozens die or remain missing after the explosion in Beirut? We will speak with the bride in this remarkable video.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:15:03]

KEILAR: We know that hand washing, social distancing, and wearing a mask cut the spread of coronavirus. But one professor's question about airborne transmission has Dr. Anthony Fauci considering a new safety measure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: From what we know about particle physics and airflows, that there may be droplets that are much larger than five micrometers that continue to go around, which means it gives you some pause to think about, do we know what to do and should we investigate and make some changes?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: That answer was prompted by a question by Joe Allen who is a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and he's here with us now. Professor, thanks for being with us. Tell us what aspects of airborne transmission we should be focusing on.

JOE ALLEN, HARVARD PUBLIC HEALTH PROFESSOR: Yes. So thanks for having me on, Brianna. This is something my field has been talking about since February. The first article I wrote was in early February talking about the evidence of airborne transmission. There were telltale signs if you look at the cruise ship, the choir practice, even the restaurants that airborne transmission was happening. And to me, we knew enough to act there's little downside.

Now, airborne is not something that needs to be feared. It just means you have to add additional control measures into the arsenal of things you're already doing. Like you mentioned, hand washing, mask wearing, distancing. And you have to add in higher ventilation rates and higher filtration rates. Every piece of evidence since February has supported that airborne transmission is happening on one of the 239 scientists that wrote a letter to the WHO encouraging them to change their stance on airborne transmission. That was just last month.

So my question to Dr. Fauci who I greatly admire and respect, I think he's been a beacon of truth in a lot of, let's just call it lies over the past months --

KEILAR: We know what you mean.

ALLEN: Yes, so thanks. And like any good scientist did, he took that and said, you know what, I'm taking it to my task force and we're investigating this, this answer. We're going to reevaluate new evidence as it comes in. I think that's all we can ask for it of any scientist is to take new information and maybe change their recommendations accordingly.

KEILAR: Yes. And look, you're learning things every day but when I hear you say that you -- there were telltale signs you were looking at in February. I think that's alarming to a lot of people who are in communities and they're looking around at, say, restaurants that are opening back up, a lot of them are limiting capacity. But at the same time, I think there's a question mark about maybe risk is diminished, but I think there's still a sense that there's quite a bit of risk there.

ALLEN: Absolutely. I've been writing -- I have over a dozen op-eds since that time, New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, I've been on CNN a couple times talking about airborne transmission, trying to get this word out. Everyone in my field has been doing it too, and I'm hopeful that we're turning the corner.

But if you're going to open up a restaurant, if you're going to open up a school or an office building, you need to pay attention to the air flow and air quality inside your space. In your home, open up your windows. If you have natural ventilation, open up your windows. If you have a mechanical system, bring in more outdoor air, it dilutes any airborne viral contaminants.

Additionally, if you can't do any of that, you know, you can simply use a portable air cleaner. The type you could buy at any local store, plug and play, it'll give you several air changes per hour of clean air if it has a HEPA filter. So you could get four or five air changes per hour. That means the volume of the air in the room is cleaned every 12 -- every 10, 12 minutes.

And so that's a really good strategy especially if you're not sure what to do. You know, there's a lot of guidance out there, my Harvard Healthy Buildings Program. If you Google that, look at forhealth.org, lots of good evidence-based strategies that you should be deploying in schools, offices, restaurants, and every other indoor environment.

KEILAR: OK. So Joe, we're looking at schools, right, schools are trying to reopen here. So many of these classrooms, they don't have windows or they have windows that don't open and -- I mean, look, we've, all right, we know what air systems tend to be like in schools. They're part of the -- they're always in there for years and years longer than they should be. There's problems with a lot of them. What can teachers and administrators be doing to help with airflow in classrooms?

ALLEN: Yes. You know, we've underinvested in our school infrastructure for decades, and we are certainly paying the price. Ninety percent of schools don't even meet the minimum ventilation standards and the minimum standards are not set for infectious disease control. So we have a an infrastructure problem here.

And this is where my guidance in the Washington Post last week or two weeks ago was about what you can do even in under resourced environments or schools or districts even in short time. And this is where the use of the portable air cleaner can really help. First, try to get classrooms outside as much as you can. But if you're in a room, indoors in a classroom and you rate -- you get a portable air cleaner that's rated for the size of the room correctly, you can get many air changes of clean air.

And my team has put out a tool -- if you look at Harvard Healthy Buildings Program, we put out a tool to help you understand how to find and purchase the right air cleaner because it's not so straightforward. We understand that. But five simple steps, you went to the size of the room and the size of the classroom ceiling heights, an estimate of ventilation will tell you what the air cleaner -- what you should look for in terms of an air cleaner that can clean the air in that classroom.

[14:20:11]

KEILAR: Joe, thank you so much. It's incredibly helpful to hear from you, Professor Joe Allen.

ALLEN: Thanks for having me. I really appreciate this.

KEILAR: As coronavirus deaths continue to rise in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis says that he is comfortable with people hugging the elderly if they're wearing PPE. But is that really a good idea.

Plus, why some Democrats believe conservatives are fighting hard to get Kanye West on the ballot come November?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:25:20]

KEILAR: In Florida, the pandemic is raging. Total cases surpassing half a million deaths are creeping up to 8000. Yet, the Florida governor is floating the possibility of opening nursing homes to visitors. Here is governor Ron DeSantis speaking at a roundtable discussion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Look, I'm comfortable with the PPE, hell, hug them. I mean, come on. Like it's not going to -- if you have PPE on and you hug and you don't sneeze or do something on, you can be fine. OK. It's very -- that'd be very (INAUDIBLE).

Now, obviously, if you're there for 30 minutes doing that, and then (INAUDIBLE), that's going to be a difference situation. But you just have to just go give a hug. I mean, I think that you could do that and I think that that would be very meaningful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: I want to talk about this now with family medicine doctor, Adrian Burrowes, who is joining us from Orlando. You know, I think, gosh, who doesn't want to hug their loved ones, right? I don't think we can underestimate and I think maybe we took it for granted before the medicinal impact of a hug. But we want to make sure that we're being safe.

So, I wonder what your opinion is on hugging with PPE and the possibility of coronavirus transmission.

ADRIAN BURROWES, FAMILY MEDICINE PHYSICIAN: Sure. So this is a very, very serious topic we're talking about, you know, in the middle of a pandemic. And, of course, I haven't seen my mother in five months and sat down with her so I understand the emotion associated with that.

That being said, I believe that comments like the one that Governor DeSantis gave are reckless and irresponsible. The reality is, there is no evidence that shows that what he's saying is the right thing to do. Right now, we've made a tremendous effort in the nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities across the nation by practicing safe social distancing. We do have to work on trying to get our families back together with our vulnerable elderly, but to say that we should be able to do those things with PPE on with no evidence is not appropriate.

KEILAR: OK. So the governor also floated this idea of letting family members who have coronavirus antibodies. So they've tested right that they have antibodies, the idea being they have some immunity and allowing them to visit their relatives. Give us the reality check on this because there's actually a U.K. study that suggests immunity from antibodies may only last a few months.

BURROWES: So, first of all, we have to decide what we're talking about. So a lot of the antibody tests that are being run are giving you antibodies against coronavirus and not necessarily against COVID- 19. So that's the first thing. The second thing is that we don't have evidence --

KEILAR: Can I have you pause, Dr. Burrowes? Explain the difference in that. Having antibodies when it comes to COVID versus coronavirus? BURROWES: Sure. So some of these testing methods are looking for broad-based immunity to coronavirus of which COVID-19 is one type, but they're not necessarily specific to COVID-19. So that's the first hurdle we have to get around. When you actually do have a test that shows that you have immunity to COVID-19, there's no evidence that shows how long that confers immunity for. In other words, it don't tell us how long you're immune for.

And so I don't think that should be a criteria to determine whether or not you should visit someone. We should still continue to practice the same social distancing guidelines that have been agreed upon in the medical field.

KEILAR: OK. And just in, the Florida governor says youth sports should not shut down if athletes test positive. He says he wants to give fans what they want when it comes to sports in school and college. I wonder what your reaction is as someone who will have to treat these athletes and their families.

BURROWES: So, again, we are in a stage where younger people have tended to do very, very well with COVID-19. That being said, they are still living with their parents, meeting up with their grandparents, and then putting those higher populations at risk. We have done a fairly poor job collectively across the nation controlling COVID-19 and now we're asking our youth to do that for us and that's not OK. We have not set a proper example. So I am against those types of things until we truly get handle of this virus.

KEILAR: All right. Dr. Burrowes, taking the conservative approaches so many medical professionals are. We appreciate your input here.

BURROWES: Thank you so much.

KEILAR: Conservatives aligned with President Trump working to get Kanye West on the ballot. Why one local leader says it's all a plan to hurt Biden and why he's convinced it will backfire.

Plus, a massive explosion rips through Beirut and through a bride's wedding photo shoot. What was going through her mind as she and her groom ran for their lives?