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New Projection Shows Nearly 300,000 in U.S. Could Die From Virus By December; Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) Expected to Announce Decision on New York Schools Today; Economic Stimulus Discussions on Brink of Collapse. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired August 07, 2020 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NEWSROOM: Good Friday morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN NEWSROOM: And I'm Poppy Harlow.

Just in this morning the latest jobs report shows the U.S. economy added 1.8 million jobs in the month of July. It is good to see jobs added. But it is a steep slowdown from June.

In just a few minutes, we'll speak with the president's top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, about those new numbers and much more.

SCIUTTO: Also this morning, an alarming projection, an influential model from the University of Washington predicts the U.S. could reach nearly 300,000 deaths from COVID-19 by December, double where we are now, though there's also this. It predicts 67,000 deaths could be prevented, those lives saved if 95 percent of Americans just take that step of wearing a mask.

And as schools begin to reopen across the country, many are already facing setbacks, positive tests springing up causing some classes to close, hundreds of others having to quarantine. That's going to be where we begin today.

CNN's Dianne Gallagher is in Georgia with more on the new positive tests. Dianne, how extensive and what are schools doing about them?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim, Poppy. So, basically, these school districts, they knew it was an experiment when they started, and we're starting to see as this first week of school closes out how it's going. We're seeing positive cases that have popped up all over the state for those who chose in-person learning, and we're also seeing fallout for the students who are exposing what they say are not safe conditions for them.

The pictures have gone viral. A sophomore from North Paulding High School, she posted a transition period where students who do not appear for most the part to be wearing masks are close together as they change classes. Well, she was suspended after posting that. She spoke with CNN about why she said she doesn't regret doing it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANNAH WATTERS, SUSPENDED AFTER POSTING PHOTO OF CROWDED HIGH SCHOOL HALLWAY: I was concerned for the safety of everyone in that building and everyone in the county because precautions that the CDC and guidelines that the CDC has been telling us for months now weren't being followed.

I would like to say that this is some good and necessary trouble so I don't regret posting this because it's -- it needed to be said.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Obviously, good trouble and a nod to the late Georgia congressman, John Lewis, there.

Now, we've contacted the Paulding County's school district. They haven't gotten back to CNN but the superintendent did send a message out to parents and to students saying that they know that these pictures look bad but they claim that it lacks context, that students aren't really standing next to each other for prolonged periods of time during class changes. And they are doing virtual learning on Thursdays and Fridays so they can reassess and determine what they can do differently or if they need to do anything differently for those in-person Monday through Wednesday days.

The superintendent also noted that there isn't a mask mandate at the school. There's not one for the State of Georgia. And that the reason why is because they have no way to enforce it. Jim, Poppy, I just want to point out they were able to enforce a social media and cell phone policy against that sophomore though.

SCIUTTO: Good point.

HARLOW: Dianne, thank you very, very much. We appreciate it.

SCIUTTO: Remarkable scene there. Dozens of school teachers in Gwinnett County, Georgia honking their horns in protest over their school district's reopening plans. The state's largest school district is planning to reopen in-person, we should note, in just a couple of weeks.

Joining me now is a high schoolteacher from the district that took part in that protest, Aireane Montgomery. Ms. Montgomery, thanks so much for taking time this morning.

So tell us, if you can, your concerns, you and other teachers. I know you want to get in the classroom, you want to teach kids, but tell us why you're worried about going in under this current plan.

AIREANE MONTGOMERY, 12TH GRADE TEACHER IN GWINNETT COUNTY, GEORGIA: To be honest, under this current plan, it hit us with a shock, to be honest. We knew that we were going to be going digital after a while. We were the last metro Atlanta school district to decide to go digital. And we thought that we were going to be digital for a while. And to our shock we got an email that suggested we will be getting kids back in the classroom as early as August 26th, which really leaves us only 14 days for digital landscape.

And so a lot of our teachers, they have underlying health issues and they are worried about their selves, they're worried about the students and it has been a catastrophe.

[10:05:03]

SCIUTTO: What precautions is the district taking to prevent the spread of this there? I mean, the recommendations are clear across the board, distance between students in the classroom, wearing masks, washing hands, et cetera, but are they taking precautions to guarantee that?

MONTGOMERY: To be honest, the COVID-19 plan at every school is looking absolutely different. Some schools are taking -- we're doing everything virtual. We're doing our meetings. We're not meeting and gathering. We're not having lunch together, where you have other mandates or other schools that are actually having meetings in person, actually having students come in to open house. And so it looks different everywhere, and that is what is unnerving.

SCIUTTO: Are you concerned that these decisions -- we know the position of your governor. He was late to shut down, early to open up. Are you concerned that these decisions are being made not on science and medicine but on politics?

MONTGOMERY: I absolutely believe that it is being made on politics. And I know there's no way that this could be made due to scientific research, absolutely.

SCIUTTO: So what would you need to see there, you and your colleagues, fellow teachers, to feel comfortable going back and doing in-person teaching? Schools are experimenting with this all over countries, even alternating, right, like a couple days in person, a couple days outside of school, so that you can cut in half the number of students that are in school at any time. I mean, is that something that you would consider safe?

MONTGOMERY: I would consider it being safe if we absolutely go digital for the first nine weeks and use Harvard's standards to basically start transitioning students back into schools. We have to do this based on scientific research. It cannot be any other way. It cannot be based on politics. Because at the end of the day, we need to make sure our students are safe, our teachers are safe and the staff are safe.

SCIUTTO: What will you do if those standards aren't met? Will you refuse to come into school?

MONTGOMERY: That is what Gwinnett Educators for Equity and Justice, we are having a discussion about that at this moment. But right now, we are trying to collaborate with our district because we do love our district to see whether or not they will change their minds and we can go back to the drawing board. SCIUTTO: Well, we hope you can find agreement. I know a lot of parents, a lot of kids and teachers like yourself want to find a way back that's safe. Aireane Montgomery, thanks very much.

MONTGOMERY: Thank you so much.

HARLOW: Well, the State of Illinois is now reporting its highest number of COVID cases in a single day since May 24th. Omar Jimenez joins us now in Chicago. Good morning, Omar.

Major concern about what's happening there and across the Midwest.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Poppy. there's real concern here from leaders even though they feel they have things broadly under control. They also recognize that at the moment, the numbers are not trending in the direction they want to see.

When you look at just Illinois' seven-day moving average, for example, as you look at those numbers, you see the initial spike that came as the pandemic took hold in springtime and then the drastic drop-off that came after. But look where we're trending again, we're trending back up.

Then when you look at where it's happening statewide? Obviously, Chicago, given its population, is going to be a hotter zone by sheer numbers alone. But other spots coming from the borders of Missouri and Wisconsin popping up as hot zones as well.

And then when you look at the regional seven-day average across the Midwest, saw a dip in cases towards flattening the curve but now spiking dramatically, even more so than before.

Now, it's important to note that we have seen a dramatic rise in testing as well including here in Illinois, where you've hit record levels of testing at points, but even that hasn't been enough to dispel some of the concerns that officials here have had.

Even today was suppose to be the day that parents were going to decide whether they wanted to send their kids for in-person classes or go all virtual. But the data has now moved the school district to move to an all virtual first quarter, at least to start the school year here in Chicago. Poppy?

HARLOW: Before you go, a big rally, a motorcycle rally that many people have heard of called Sturgis, expected to draw 250,000 people in South Dakota. It's going to happen today, right? So what -- I mean, what safety precautions are going to be in place?

JIMENEZ: Well, in short, there really aren't going to be many. The mayor there in Sturgis, South Dakota, is saying that no masks will be required and there isn't any new framework being given out to people that are coming in, rally-goers. The only difference that we are seeing is that there was a warning put out by the organization saying that some of the tribal lands around Sturgis will be setting up checkpoints to protect their communities for people that are coming in.

And one important note as well is these people then have to go back to where they came from after this rally is over.

[10:10:04]

And places like here in Chicago have travel restrictions for certain states based on positivity rates and based on risks.

South Dakota is not on that list. So, theoretically, people who then are maybe from the Chicago area go there and come back are now bringing that risk back to a place that has precautions that might not account for this type of scenario.

HARLOW: Let's hope they are careful. Omar, thank you very much.

Stimulus talks on brink of collapse this morning with millions unemployed Americans hanging in the balance. The president's top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, is with us next.

SCIUTTO: You'll want to see that interview.

Republicans and Democrats are also not seeing eye-to-eye on Russia's meddling in the 2020 election, another disagreement. We have new reporting from Capitol Hill.

And this pandemic is hitting working mothers particularly hard. Many women now forced to give up their jobs to stay home with their children, and that could reshape the American workforce.

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[10:15:00]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is expected to announce whether or not schools in the state can reopen for in-person classes this fall. It's a big decision.

HARLOW: Yes. It's supposed to come today. It will impact millions of students, teachers, parents, staff at the schools as extended online learning forces some parents to quit their jobs to take care of their children.

Our Bianna Golodryga has more on this, and especially how it's hitting mothers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARAH PARRA, TEACHER WHO QUIT JOB: It didn't really make sense for me to go to work and pay somebody else to be home with my own kids.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: For the first time in four years, Sarah Parra won't be able to meet her new class of pre-school students when the school year begins at Smyrna First Baptist School just outside of Atlanta.

PARRA: I'm constantly thinking about my students and what they need, so it's going to be hard.

GOLODRYGA: Instead, she will be teaching and taking care of her own young children.

When the Cobb County School District announced that the school year will begin online, Parra was forced to rethink her working life.

PARRA: We have always organized our finances to where we could live off of one salary.

GOLODRYGA: Pre-COVID, women made up half of the U.S. workforce. But as noted in a recent report from Goldman Sachs, that participation rate is directly tied to accessible childcare. With millions of children starting the school year virtually coupled with fewer day care options, an enormous number of Americans are now forced to come up with childcare solutions before they can return to work.

PARRA: When I'm home, I'm a wife and I'm a mother, and I feel like it's a -- a teacher is just another part of my identity, and that's really what's going to be missing.

GOLODRYGA: It turns out many of those solutions involve working moms putting their careers on hold.

JOSPEH ALLEN, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT SCIENCE, HARVARD DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH: There are enormous societal and individual costs to school closures that are not being discussed. It has to be an absolute priority to get kids back to school for their own good and also to get the economy re-going.

GOLODRYGA: Piedad Sanchez had to leave the cleaning company she worked for in order to take care of her three children ranging in age 8 from 11.

PIEDAD SANCHEZ, MOM WHO QUIT JOB: I had to quit because at this time, for me, my kids are more important. We are more tight with the money.

GOLODRYGA: Sanchez is also investing her time within her own community, helping families navigate language barriers to online learning, which has disproportionately setback Hispanic students.

SANCHEZ: They maybe don't understand English, but I help them.

GOLODRYGA: As Congress continues to debate another stimulus bill, the school and childcare crisis is one of the few areas that has bipartisan support. For moms like Piedad and Sarah, it's too late.

SANCHEZ: There's no option because I have to maybe ask somebody come to watch them, but it is not an option for me.

PARRA: They can't hold my place for me for when school goes back, which makes it a little unsettling not having an end date for all of this. GOLODRYGA: Bianna Golodryga, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Bianna, thank you for that very important reporting.

Up next, we'll have the president's top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow. Stay right there.

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[10:20:00]

HARLOW: Welcome back.

Stimulus talks are on brink of collapse this morning as millions of Americans are waiting for much needed economic aid, this as new data show 1.8 million jobs were added last month. It's an increase, that's important. It's also a sharp slowdown from June. The unemployment rate now stands at 10.2 percent. It is higher than at the peak of the great recession.

Larry Kudlow is with us, top economic adviser of the president, Director of National Economic Council. Larry, it's so good to have you.

We just went through the numbers. Does the slowdown worry you and the president?

LARRY KUDLOW, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: Well, I don't know that there's a slowdown. I mean, these job numbers will go up and down.

HARLOW: 4.8 million jobs were added the prior month.

KUDLOW: That is true, and it's going to be uneven, as it always is.

You know, I think the big story here is this survey was taken in the middle of July, July 12th to July 18th. That was the heart -- that was the heart of the hot spot problem where some states had to pull back in the southwest and so forth, therefore, we didn't get hurt near as much as many people feared.

To go through these hot spots, and I might add, they are now leveling off and starting to hook down, which is great news.

[10:25:05]

But to go through a tough month like that and still get 1.8 million new jobs and most importantly the unemployment rate back down to 10.2 percent, I would just say to you, Poppy, that the idea that we won't get a single-digit unemployment rate is off the boards now. We're going to see this well into single digits as we move through the summer and fall. So this is a solid number beating expectations.

HARLOW: I hope you're right, although only 9 percent of CEOs now surveyed think that we're going to see the V-shaped recovery that you have been promising.

Let's talk about the crisis right now for the millions of still unemployed Americans, Larry, and no deal, still. I can't believe it, no deal on Capitol Hill, and they have known this has been coming for months. Does the president and the White House this morning support an extension of the $600 per week cash assistance to the unemployed?

KUDLOW: Well, Poppy, I'm not going to get involved in the negotiations going back and forth.

HARLOW: Well, I'm just asking you does the president think those people need it?

KUDLOW: What the president believes is several thing, and he will use his executive authority to get there because we can't seem to reach a compromise with the other team. Namely, he will use his executive authority to cut the payroll tax for the workforce, which will give them more take-home pay and will be an incentive for people out of work to come back to. We would like to reform the unemployment story. We would like to include re-employment bonuses. We would like to include other measures to bring them back on to the labor force. The president is also worried about the eviction moratorium. I think we have executive authority to put that through.

So the key issues that are not being resolved in the Capitol Hill negotiation, the president has said quite forcefully that he will use executive authority if he has to.

HARLOW: On moratoriums, he has the authority do that, but that only affects about a third of, you know, people with federally-backed mortgages in this country. I mean, it's not going to hit all of them. And you have said yourself, you've conceded that it probably takes an act of Congress to deal with the unemployment issue.

So I guess I'm just wondering is the president supportive or not, does he think the millions of unemployed Americans need that additional $600 a week right now, or do you continue to think, as you've argued before, it's a disincentive for people to go back to work?

KUDLOW: Well, I think it is a disincentive to go back to work. We will -- we would, if we could, move it down very slowly and step by step. And that's something that we've all said publicly. That's something in the negotiations.

Whether he has executive authority to change that, Poppy, remains to be seen. Some of the lawyers think he does. So we'll get back on that, I don't know.

HARLOW: Why do you think that's a disincentive for people to go back to work? What evidence do you have?

KUDLOW: Well, look -- what evidence?

HARLOW: Yes.

KUDLOW: I mean, the University of Chicago said two-thirds of the people now have higher unemployment benefits than their wage. Another piece of evidence is we've never --

HARLOW: But, Larry, the University of Chicago survey doesn't -- it doesn't conclude what you're arguing. I talked to the author of the study last night.

KUDLOW: I would love to finish my sentence.

HARLOW: And he told me -- feel free.

KUDLOW: I would love to finish my sentence. We have never had a situation in prior downturns. Now this is different. It's a pandemic contraction. But we've never had a situation where unemployment benefits exceeded wages by a significant amount.

Now, mind you, the states will continue their unemployment benefits. That's a good thing. We think we can create a much better balance to provide incentives to come back to work. And most of all, we want to reward people.

See, this is what's missing from the other team's ideas. If you go back to work, we would put up a retention credit. We would put up a re-employment bonus. And the payroll tax cut itself would provide an employment bonus. So we think we can do this and so far as executive actions if we can't get a deal.

HARLOW: Well, I know you don't want to incentivize people to go to work when it's a dangerous situation for them to go because the virus is not under control. If we could get back to your point of the University of Chicago study as that it's a disincentive, Larry, for people to go back to work but their study doesn't conclude that.

I talked to one of the economists who wrote the study last night and he said that's a mistake. It's a mistake to draw the conclusion, as you have been, and the White House has been, that, right now, it's a disincentive to go back to work. It tells you about the dollars. It doesn't tell you what the dollars do, and the Yale study said exactly the same thing.

KUDLOW: Well, look, whoever that chap is he or she is --

HARLOW: His name is Professor Peter Gagnon, and I think you've read the study, right?

KUDLOW: Well, I've seen the work.

[10:30:01]

Look, I'm being guided here. We're kind of in the academic weeds, but I'm being guided by Professor Casey Mulligan, who has said something much.

END