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President Trump to Give Press Conference on Possible Executive Action on Economic Stimulus; Former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Austan Goolsbee Interviewed on How Government Action Can Help Struggling U.S. Economy; Charitable Organization Distributes Food in Los Angeles; New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to Allow Schools to Reopen; Georgia High School Student Temporarily Suspended for Tweeting Picture of Crowded School Hallway; Doctor States Obesity May Reduce Effectiveness of Coronavirus Vaccine. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired August 08, 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]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: They deserve better leadership. This is something they've been protesting and dealing with for years, and you can understand their frustration. Obviously, you never want to see injuries and deaths, essentially so close to each other. But we are thinking of them right now and we'll continue to cover this story extensively. Ben Wedeman, thank you.

Good afternoon, and thanks for joining me. I'm Bianna Golodyrga, in for Fredricka Whitfield. We begin this hour with the nation reeling from the coronavirus pandemic while Washington drags its feet to help millions of Americans looking for answers. Talks of a new stimulus package breaking down without a resolution, and at this point no plans to resume. The deal is supposed to be a lifeline to help Americans out of work and hurting financially. This as a new study says 40 million face eviction after protections expired two weeks ago.

But as those talks stalled, President Trump is saying he will issue an executive order in place of a new deal. It's not even clear if he has the legal authority to do that. All of this as the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. nears 5 million cases. Another 1,200 people died from the disease on Friday, bringing the total deaths in our country to over 161,000.

Meanwhile, schools are beginning to reopen. In Georgia at least 260 students and eight teachers are being forced to quarantine following positive test results in just the first week of classes, while in New York, once the U.S. epicenter of the coronavirus, all schools have been cleared to reopen.

And let's turn first to CNN's Kristen Holmes, live in Bridgewater, New Jersey, where President Trump is spending his weekend. Kristen, the president is planning to give yet another press conference in just a short period of time. Do we know what he's planning to address now?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bianna, we are expecting him to go over those stalled stimulus talks again as well as talk about some executive action. But whether or not he's going to actually sign an executive order is unclear. The White House is not saying whether or not he's actually going to put pen to paper.

And as you'll remember, last night we got called to a last-minute impromptu press conference in which President Trump talked about a range of topics, including what those executive orders might look like. He listed four things -- paying those unemployment benefits through the end of the year. He talked about relief for student loans. He talked about offering protections for those so that they wouldn't be evicted, something you mentioned has lapsed.

The other thing he talked about was a payroll tax cut. But it's unclear, as you said, whether or not he could do these things and how they would actually look. Last night he was asked about what would it look like to extend those unemployment benefits. Will people still get that $600? And he refused to answer the question. He would not put a number to that.

The other part of this is the legality of it all. He was asked about how he could legally do this, and essentially, he said he could, that he had the authority, but no other details. So today I spent the day on the phone with lawmakers and legal experts trying to get an understanding of how this could happen, because, as we know, Congress is the one who controls the budget. They're the ones who have the power of the purse.

So what they have described to me is a couple of loopholes in how President Trump could do this. One would be actually taking funding that was not being used from another government program or that leftover stimulus money that we've heard them talk about, and putting that towards these four things. The other part of this is that it's potentially possible for him to do this on a temporary basis.

But, again, a lot of questions here we will be asking. We're actually leaving in just about five minutes to go over to Bedminster for this press conference. We have a lot of questions to ask him about what exactly this is going to look like. And Bianna, as you said, up on Capitol Hill right now it is deadlocked. It doesn't seem as though there's going to be any plans moving forward. So this is what President Trump is deciding he's going to do to step in after not being present for all of the negotiations. He is now taking the entire thing into his own hands.

GOLODRYGA: Kristen, you'll be covering that press conference coming up for us. Thank you.

So big question, what happens next? I want to bring in Austan Goolsbee. He helped guide President Obama through the great recession as the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. He's now an economics professor at the University of Chicago's Business School. Austan, always great to see you. Thanks for joining us.

AUSTAN GOOLSBEE, FORMER CHAIRMAN, COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: Yes, great to see you, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: First, let's just start by breaking down the executive orders that the president announced yesterday, and the first with the payroll tax cut through the end of the year. How can he do this without gutting Social Security, as we know, a program that benefits many of his supporters, not to mention an action that Republicans even strongly disapprove of?

GOOLSBEE: Well, that's the right question. Why would you do it? But then there's a second question of, is that even legal? The president can't change tax policy without Congress approving it. That's not how it works. But I'm not a lawyer. Maybe there's some legal way he could do it.

[14:05:10]

It undermines Social Security, for sure. And this is an idea that has the support of exactly no one. If you look in Congress, the Democrats were opposed because they said it's tilted toward high income people and doesn't help anybody that lost their job. And the Republicans didn't support it either. So I think that the president is probably going to hear a lot of blowback from his own party. And in the past when he gets blowback from his own party, he tries to quietly just abandon the idea. So I guess I would be a little surprised if I saw him going forward with that.

GOLODRYGA: Let's see if he addresses that in just over an hour. But let's move on to his E.O. of extending the enhanced unemployment benefits through the end of the year. I know you're not a lawyer, but can he also do that without a legal fight? And what does this mean politically going up against his own party at this point?

GOOLSBEE: Look, the thing is, I still have the battle scars from the episodes in 2009, 10 and 11, in the height of the great recession when we were trying to extend unemployment benefits and the Republican Congress would not go along with it. Had we only known that we could simply sign an executive order and extend unemployment benefits, it would have made it that much easier.

Look, I don't know how he would have the authority to do that. If he goes ahead and does it, a, I do think there is a risk that if they come back and say, no, the president had no authority to extend those benefits, that they would then go to the unemployed people and say you have to pay back the money because you were never supposed to have received it. And I think, number two, as you raise, the president's own party has at the president's behest been going out and saying it's a terrible idea to extend unemployment benefits. So I would be happy if the president says that he's endorsing the idea. I think it is the right idea to support the people before you support the corporations. But I think his own party is going to be up in arms again, and they're going to say, what are you doing? We've been carrying your water and now you're leaving us out to dry.

GOLODRYGA: That's not the first time that's happened. And he didn't attach a dollar figure to the enhancement, but one would assume that it's, I guess, keeping the $600 a week in place.

Austan, a bizarre moment occurred when the president said that he would pursue an executive order to make health insurers cover preexisting conditions. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that does exactly sound like the Affordable Care Act, which this same admission is trying to abolish in court, right?

GOOLSBEE: Right. We did this. You remember how traumatic it was to pass Obamacare, and one of the centerpieces of Obamacare is to forbid the discrimination against preexisting conditions. So as with the unemployment insurance, if he announces an executive order giving us the freedom of speech, giving us things that we already have by law, I have no problem with that. Look, let him do -- if that makes the president feel better, then by all means, do it.

But we cannot get away -- in the press conference yesterday there was this moment where the president got up and said two things. One, the virus is going to disappear. And two, he neglected the catastrophic collapse of jobs that happened at the start of this recession and said let's just look at the last three months, and this is the greatest period of job growth in American history. And I think the president is in high danger of revealing himself to be totally out of touch with the experience of ordinary Americans. This is the worst economy that we have faced in our lifetimes.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, 22 million people out of work in the months of April and May. Quickly, Austan, is there a chance that Democrats may be overshooting here? I know that they walked back that figure to $2 billion, but at some point, are they going to have -- sorry, trillion. Are they going to have to make further amends to meet Republicans halfway, or are they going to get some of the blame here, too?

GOOLSBEE: I don't know. Yes, $2 trillion, they said there could have been a deal. I know that if you don't get control of the spread of the virus, then you are in the business of trillions, and you're going to keep having to pay trillions until you stop the spread of this virus the way they've done in other countries. They may have to at the end of the day make a compromise with the Republicans in Congress or with the president or something to at least get some relief. If we don't get any relief, I really fear that this thing is going to snowball into something worse.

[14:10:04]

GOLODRYGA: Yes, states in particular are really bleeding as we speak and need aid ASAP. Austan Goolsbee, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

GOOLSBEE: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: Many families are struggling during these hard-economic times, and CNN's Paul Vercammen is in Los Angeles where many are getting some much-needed help today. Paul, what is happening there?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right here at Saint Agnes School and Church, an event put on by USC and the L.A. Foodbank, they are giving boxes of food to families, and never have so many been glad to hear the words open your trunk, in both in English and Spanish, and into the trunk goes all of this produce, as well as precooked chicken that's frozen. And we're hearing a lot of gratitude among the people here. Los Angeles being hit super hard in the pandemic economically here.

I'm in the L.A. unified school district area. They've got almost a half-a-million students who are on either a free meal plan or some sort of reduced meal plan. At Saint Agnes Church, this is Father Luis Espinoza. Your parishioners have been going through extremely tough times. What have they been telling you?

FATHER LUIS ESPINOZA, SAINT AGNES CHURCH: They've been having a hard time. A lot of them lost their jobs at the beginning of the shutdown, and some have lost their jobs again with the more recent shutdown. And it's hard for them sometimes to make rent, or they have to choose between having food or making a payment. So they're struggling. They're struggling.

VERCAMMEN: And in many ways these boxes of food are a godsend.

ESPINOZA: They are. They are very grateful for whatever they can receive, and we're grateful, too, to be able to provide something for them and help them out in whatever way we can.

VERCAMMEN: We appreciate you taking time out, Father Luis Espinoza. And you can see the cars are just going through here. This event was normally on a Tuesday, but they decided to put this together on a Saturday. It's a grand experiment, and they expect that they're going to be completely out of boxes by the end of the day, maybe 700 of these meals given out. Yet another indicator on just how severe the economic hardship is as the COVID-19 crisis just drags on. Back to you now Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Paul, we talk about policy and economics, but this is the real deal, and this is what it is all about. We're seeing the ramifications of an economic meltdown due to the pandemic and thank goodness for people like Father Espinoza and all of those volunteers. Thank you so much.

Schools across New York state are ready to reopen. Governor Cuomo gave them the green light yesterday. But what is the safest way to get students and teachers back in the classroom?

Also, ahead, a teenager nearly suspended after taking this photo of a crowded school hallway. A former prosecutor joins me live to talk about the girl's legal rights.

Then later, infected behind bars -- we go inside the federal prison where three out of every four inmates has tested positive for coronavirus.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:17:10]

GOLODRYGA: New York's governor has given the green light for schools in the state to reopen for in-person classes with some safety measures. That includes New York City schools, the largest school district in the country. For more on this, let's bring in CNN's Evan McMorris-Santoro, my partner in crime in covering this beat. Evan, tell us more about the thinking behind this decision. It's been long awaited. Other major school districts decided to start virtually, but with the levels being so low, along with safety precautions, the governor is saying you can reopen.

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Bianna. What the governor said is he looked at the numbers, and you say, and said, look, this state that was once the epicenter of the coronavirus is now in pretty good shape, safe enough to reopen the schools. But that doesn't mean that all the schools are going to reopen.

Let's take a look at a couple of graphics just to sort of give the viewers an understanding of this situation. The New York City school system, New York state public school system, nearly 2.6 million students, 212,000 teachers, and 749 districts. Each of those districts has to come up with its own reopening plan under Cuomo's guidance, and then has to convince all those teachers and all of the adults involved in the lives of all of those students that it's safe to reopen. And that's the process that's going to happen now. In the next couple of weeks, the governor is demanding these school districts set up listening sessions with parents and teachers in which they're going to reveal plans for remote learning, plans for testing, plans for contact tracing, all the things the governor says are required to build the trust up to actually get parents to participate in these schools he says it's safe to reopen, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Still a lot of concern within New York state, New York City. I know about ventilation, proper ventilation in schools and whether there are going to be enough nurses on hand. Buy Evan, school districts really across the country have started to reopen, and some of the things we're learning from them aren't very inspiring.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: That's exactly right. That's the story, when you think about New York, you think about the way the governor here in New York has characterized this as a trust issue. You then look to some of the other reporting we've been doing here at CNN about Georgia, where you see schools have reopened there, and you see immediately spikes in the pandemic. You've seen people coming down with COVID and having to be quarantined. We've seen that story about the viral image from the sophomore that took a picture at her high school and ended up getting suspended over it, and then un-suspended.

These kinds of images, these kinds of things that are happening in schools, parents need to be convinced that the way schools are reopening is something that they can be comfortable with. And when you look at stories like in Georgia, that may be a hard sell, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: You teed us up perfectly for our next conversation. Evan McMorris-Santoro, it's going to be a busy few weeks for us. I look forward to working with you, as always. Thank you.

[14:20:00]

Several school districts in Georgia returned to in-person classes this week, as Evan just mentioned, and you just heard him say this photo became viral, showing a crowded hallway with high school students packed shoulder to shoulder, and not many of them are wearing masks. It's raising a lot of concerns about safety. The picture also got the Georgia student who snapped the photo and tweeted it out briefly suspended from her school. The school has since reversed that decision and will allow the sophomore to return to classes on Monday. Now, that student is speaking about why she shared that photo.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANNAH WATTERS, NORTH PAULDING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT: I mostly know that even though these things aren't enforced, I know that what I'm doing is right, and I'm not only helping myself and the people at home, but I'm helping everyone around me. And that really kind of motivates me to keep on doing it because I have immunocompromised people at home, and I, myself, have had asthma since I was a kid. So it really does motivate me to help not only my family but everyone around me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: She went on to echo the late John Lewis, saying that she was getting into, quote, good trouble. The superintendent of that Georgia County saying in part, some in the news media and some individuals on social media are taking this photo and using it without context to criticize our school reopening efforts.

Shan Wu is a former federal prosecutor and a criminal defense attorney. Shan, that student was suspended for a conduct violation of using a phone without permission. As we know, the school reversed that decision. But that doesn't sound like mea culpa from the school administrators there, saying, a, that this was taken out of context, and, b, that it was just a few minutes in the hallway and passing it didn't speak to the larger issue as to how the school was handling it. What is your take?

SHAN WU, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: What's right, Bianna. It's certainly far from a mea culpa. They're really doubling down. I think the principal later said that in the future any negative type of publicity would have consequences. This is really just the tip of the iceberg of legal issues confronting these schools as they open up. They are going to be -- there are attempts to comply with the rather sketchy guidance they've been given in terms of health and safety. That type of compliance is going to evaporate in the face of crowded hallways, mask-less students.

This was a very bad case. The school was wise to cut and run when they could. You couldn't have a more prima facie example of selective enforcement. The idea that she was going to be suspended or disciplined in any way for talking about this really important public health issue is a First Amendment right. And basically what they're saying is we're only going to punish negative speech, not positive speech. And that's just simply wrong. In a pandemic, it's an opportunity to teach students, not punish them.

GOLODRYGA: And as she said, she got herself into good trouble, and we're thankful for it because this brings about a national conversation about what's happening in some of these schools as they're starting to reopen to make sure that that doesn't happen again. And I want to ask you, as more schools across the country begin to open in the coming days and weeks for in-person classes, what rights do students, and I guess their parents really have if they want to talk about what they're seeing, if they want to bring public attention to it for the safety and well-being of not just themselves, but their peers?

WU: They have the perfect right to do that. It's called the First Amendment in the Constitution. The only limit to that is if they're doing something to disrupt the school. So this idea that the school really is going to enforce the use of cell phones in the hallway, that's just silly. They would have to suspend the entire high school. But for a student to do something that disrupts the classroom, or, typically, you'll see this type of issue, I see it in my practice defending students, where a student has surreptitiously taken a photo of someone, trying to embarrass them, maybe something offensive, that's different. But if parents and students are speaking out and even taking pictures about conditions they think are unsafe, they have a perfect legal right to do that, and the schools would be wise to avoid the courtroom on that issue.

GOLODRYGA: Shan, does that apply to teachers as well, especially teachers that are part of a union?

WU: It does apply to the teachers. When you're an employee and you have more strict rules about your conduct, a little bit more leverage on you than for the students. But the unions should be speaking up for the rights of their employees, the teachers, to speak out against dangerous conditions and to make sure that they're safe. With this type of a situation, the employer can always claim you're somehow being insubordinate, you're undercutting the mission of the school. But, again, schools need to be very careful in balancing this public interest issue because a public health crisis like this, one we've never seen before, it really is an opportunity for people to shine as well as to be fearful. And we want to show our teachers, our parents, and our students that we can abide by our principles even in the midst of fear.

GOLODRYGA: Thank you so much for laying this out for us legally. It's so important that we have teachers and students and parents that feel comfortable. And if they see something, they've got to say something, and in this case tweet something if it's not right. We appreciate it. Thank you.

[14:25:06]

WU: Good to see you.

GOLODRYGA: Is there a way to mitigate your risk of coronavirus while waiting for a vaccine? Why the food you eat can prevent some serious problems.

Plus, an American company protecting first responders while creating jobs. How workers are making a difference one glove at a time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GOLODRYGA: Staggering numbers out of Florida today. We're told that since the pandemic began, more than 30,000 people there have been hospitalized due to the coronavirus. As it stands, there are currently more than 6,900 still in the hospital fighting the virus. Now, today the state is reporting over 8,400 new COVID-19 cases and 182 new deaths in just 24 hours.

The global race for a coronavirus vaccine is currently under way, but new research suggests that people shouldn't idly wait around. Instead, it could be another reason to get in shape. This as experts warn that obese tee may decrease the effectiveness of a potential vaccine. Joining me now is Dr. Darria Long, emergency room physician and clinical assistant professor at the University of Tennessee. Doctor, I'm so glad you're on with us to talk about this important conversation. What is the link that we now know between obesity and coronavirus when it comes to getting a vaccine?

DR. DARRIA LONG, EMERGENCY ROOM PHYSICIAN: Hi, Bianna. Good to see you. And the reality is, is this isn't just an effect of the COVID vaccine. We see the same link between obesity and other vaccines such as the flu vaccine. And it's felt that obesity itself interferes with your immune response. So those fat cells are constantly creating and stimulating inflammation. So even when you get a vaccine your body can't react to it in the same way that it should.

GOLODRYGA: And I understand that symptoms can also be more severe for people who are obese. How does the virus impact the body differently? It's something we keep hearing time and time again. But in this case between somebody who is considered fit, and we know there are cases of perfectly healthy people who have actually tragically died. But for the most part, those who are fit versus those who are obese.

LONG: And this is something I'm seeing in the emergency department as well taking care of patients with COVID. And the question is why. So there's a couple of reasons. It's felt that obesity itself creates more of the ACE-2 receptor, which is the receptor where the virus attaches. We also know that there's more inflammation that causes more blood clots and more of the cytokine storm that we see in the very worst cases. And also obesity, the weight just on your lungs alters your lung mechanics.

But Bianna, that's why we want to talk about this in a way not that is fearmongering for people who may struggle with obesity or judgment, but to say that this is one of those risk factors that you can change. We cannot, as of today's date, reduce your age, but we can change many other risk factors. And in medicine I talk about fortifying your health, or becoming a bad host, meaning that even if you are exposed to the virus, it doesn't want to stick around, mainly because you are able to fight it off with your immune system.

GOLODRYGA: And when we talk about comorbidities in this country, this is really one of the issues. This is the intersection of two crises plaguing the U.S. we have the epidemic and we have obesity. How much of a widespread problem do you foresee this being when a vaccine does become available? We've dealt with, unfortunately, so many deaths. We continue to see that in people having to suffer more when they're obese or have these comorbidities. But in terms of a vaccine, what can we expect for those same people? LONG: Yes, so if people don't take this moment to really start to try

to take back control of their health, then yes, I think this will be a major problem when the vaccine comes out because the exact same people who need the vaccine the most don't have their body reacting to it.

So Bianna, let's give a quick comparison. So, say the vaccine cuts your risk of COVID by about half. So, in comparison say there's a woman who is 200 pounds, maybe these five foot six. If she loses 30 pounds, she reduces her risk of needing a ventilator by 30 percent. If she loses 50 pounds, she reduces that risk by 80 percent. I'm having people message me on social all the time saying they're obese and this has been their wakeup call. And it makes me happy because we need to be talking about these things, too. They're just as important.

GOLODRYGA: And it's so important, put a mask on, socially distance, but this doesn't mean you can't go outside if it's safe and you've got the mask to walk, to do some exercise, to keep yourself in shape, because, as you said, it's never too late. Darria Long, Dr. Darria Long, we appreciate it. Thank you.

LONG: Thanks, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration this week made it easier for companies to get emergency authorization for surgical masks, saying shortages of the products forced the action. Senator Lindsey Graham also recently introduced legislation to help bring PPE manufacturing back from China.

Richard Heppell is the president and COO of SHOWA Group which makes gloves used in medical procedures. Thank you so much for coming on to talk about this. And your company has expanded its production last year here in the U.S. Why did you decide to make your gloves here, and why not somewhere where labor would be cheaper possibly?

RICHARD HEPPELL, PRESIDENT AND COO, SHOWA GROUP: Hi, Bianna, thanks for having me, and good question. SHOWA has actually been making gloves in the United States since the late 1980s when we actually invented the world's first single-use nitrile glove linked to the AIDS pandemic at that time. And we've continued to make gloves out of that facility in Fayette, Alabama, to this present day.

[14:35:00]

Actually, ahead of the COVID crisis we had seen a real big demand in our products continuing to increase. We also now have a biodegradable single-use nitrile glove. So we decided to expand the Alabama factory really to service the U.S. domestic supply ahead of COVID, and of course now COVID hit, the demand has gone through the roof.

GOLODRYGA: And you continue to be innovative as well with your product. What do you say to hospitals and other health care facilities who say they already have an established relationship with Chinese manufacturers or another company, and they can't afford gloves made in the U.S.?

HEPPELL: Part of the goal for us is to try to obviously of course narrow the gap between the U.S. and Asia. Really, we need to see less dependency on Asia. There's about 99 percent of the gloves used in the United States for front line workers are sourced from APAC regions, predominantly, Malaysia, China, and Thailand. And of course, that exposes America's PPE shortages if there's trade wars or anything as such. So we're trying to make sure that the U.S. government knows that we've got a domestic facility here. We're bringing in the latest high- speed monorail production lines that will produce three times more gloves per hour than our existing facility. So that will definitely help bridge the gap between the cost differences in Asia and the U.S.

GOLODRYGA: How can U.S. manufacturers really become more nimble and make some of the changes needed when something like this pandemic hits? What are some of the lessons learned, God forbid we have to go through something like this again?

HEPPELL: Yes, I mean, making gloves isn't as easy as making masks, that's for sure. You need a lot of expertise. There's many different critical factors that go into making gloves, and we've been doing this for decades. So luckily for us, we're able to adapt very well. We have good domestic supply of raw materials. We've got a great, highly experienced manufacturing team in Fayette, Alabama. And I think the key to this is making sure that you continue to invest in new technology, keep an eye on what's happening in Asia, and then try to really make sure we stay ahead of that curve here in the U.S. to keep us competitive. In doing that, which we're successfully managing to do right now, means we can create more jobs for Americans and indeed protect our existing workforce. So it's a really good combination.

GOLODRYGA: Richard, we wish you the best, and thank you for doing all the work that you're currently doing with your company. Thank you.

HEPPELL: Thank you very much, appreciate it.

GOLODRYGA: Up next, a coronavirus crisis behind bars. Inmates and their families say lives are at risk at a federal prison in Texas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:41:50]

GOLODRYGA: A federal judge has again delayed the date on which former New York state congressman Chris Collins must report to prison. The disgraced Republican's 26-month prison sentence now pushed to October over coronavirus concerns. Collins was supposed to report to prison later this month after pleading guilty to federal charges in an insider trading case.

The news comes as COVID-19 spreads rapidly through jails and prisons across the country. CNN's Drew Griffin has more from a federal prison in Texas where 75 percent of the inmates have tested positive.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: The Seagoville Federal Correctional Institution outside Dallas is a petri dish of coronavirus infection. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I lost my smell. I lived in the restroom for like

12 days.

GRIFFIN: In the 15-minute phone call allowed from the inside, inmate George Reagan explained how coronavirus swept through the facility in just a month.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody has it now.

GRIFFIN: Seagoville has significantly more COVID-19 cases than any other federal prison in the U.S. More than 1,300 of the roughly 1,750 inmates there tested positive. That's 75 percent. George Reagan's wife Tabitha that says no visitors have been allowed at the prison for months, so she believes workers must have infected the inmates.

TABITHA WHEELER-REAGAN, HUSBAND GOT COVID-19 IN PRISON: This was 100 percent their fault. COVID was brought in by their people. The FCI Seagoville staff was not properly trained on how to handle this epidemic.

GRIFFIN: Outbreaks like the one at Seagoville are happening across the country, more than 10,000 federal inmates infected or recovering, 110 are dead.

According to Dr. Homer Venters, a correctional health expert who investigates COVID response in prisons, inmates are confined in crowded conditions, subject to exposure by staff that he believes are untrained or simply careless.

And obviously, the prisoners, the inmates who cannot leave the facility are sitting ducks.

DR. HOMER VENTERS, FORMER CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, NYC CORRECTIONAL HEALTH SERVICES: That's absolutely right. and many of them are at high risk for serious illness or death if and when they contract COVID-19.

GRIFFIN: And when prisons like Seagoville become infection hot spots, the staff who leave prison every day can be carrying more infection back into the communities where they live. Venters says at the very least, the most high-risk inmates need to be protected.

VENTERS: Many lives could be saved, and they still can be saved if we can find people who are high risk and get them out.

GRIFFIN: Federal prisoners can apply for early release, and the Bureau of Prisons can also identify vulnerable inmates and release them under home confinement. It's happened to President Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort, Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen. Even the Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine was able to leave prison early during the pandemic. Critics say many, many more are being overlooked. George Reagan has a heart condition, according to his wife, who says he applied for compassionate release, was denied even though he's scheduled to get out of prison in four months.

WHEELER-REAGAN: I 100 percent don't think that the federal government cares at all. Now we have three deaths in one month. [14:45:03]

GRIFFIN: One of those deaths, James Giannetta, who ask his brother Russell to help him. James Giannetta was 65, HIV positive, diabetic. They wrote the CDC, asked the prison, then the courts for compassionate release. It was just too late. James got infected, was hospitalized, and was soon saying goodbye to his brother via Facetime.

RUSSELL GIANNETTA, BROTHER DIED OF COVID-19: He got into this business of where to scatter his ashes and all that kind of stuff, to which I said I don't want to think about that. Let's think about surviving. Listen to the doctors.

GRIFFIN: He died July 16th.

The Bureau of Prisons declined repeated requests for an interview. A spokesperson saying in a statement the agency has begun mass testing for COVID-19. Inmates are assessed for symptoms twice daily, and cloth face coverings were issued to all staff and inmates. The low security men's prison is now a cautionary tale for how quickly the coronavirus can ravage correctional facilities.

Drew Griffin, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GOLODRYGA: And our thanks to Drew.

Time is running out for Joe Biden to name his running mate. Last night he met behind closed doors with a serious contender. We have new information, including when Biden will finally reveal his vice presidential pick.

And a programming note, millions of Americans are now working several jobs in the new gig economy. This week W. Kamau Bell goes to Austin, Texas, to find out how it all works and how it doesn't on an all new episode of "United Shades of America." That's tomorrow night at 10:00 on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:51:05]

GOLODRYGA: We want to update you on breaking news out of Beirut. We are now told that more than 200 people have been injured in violent protests there, and at least one member of the Lebanese security force has been killed. This is in response to and on top of the devastation caused by Tuesday's deadly explosion which left nearly 160 people dead and more than 6,000 injured. Protesters have stormed several government buildings downtown. They are now blaming the government for its negligence and this as hundreds have been displaced and left without a home. And we will continue to update developments there in Lebanon as well.

But back here at home, CNN has learned that Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has met with presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. Joe Biden holding personal talks with a handful of his potential running mates with a final decision expected to be announced any day now.

CNN's Arlette Saenz, joins me now from Washington. And Arlette, what more are you learning about this meeting?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, Bianna, it is decision weekend for Joe Biden, as he is in those final deliberations about which woman he's going to pick to be his running mate. And we know at least one of those women that he has recently met with is Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Sources tell us that Whitmer traveled to meet Biden recently as he is in those final deliberations.

And Whitmer is the national co-chair of Biden's campaign, and she's also one of the governors that he's kept in touch with over the months as he has talked to them about the coronavirus pandemic playing out in their state. And just a few months ago our colleague Jeff Zeleny sat down with Whitmer. Take a listen to what she had to say about that possible running mate job.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): I've never had the call to Washington, D.C., but the fact that there's even a conversation about what the future of our country looks like and that I'm included in a conversation that has some phenomenal women leaders across this country is truly an honor. But very candidly, I'm really happy to be right where I am here in Michigan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, while we know that Whitmer has sat down with Biden, there are also other possible running mates that he has recently met with. We just don't know who exactly that is yet. But among some of the women under serious consideration, there's California Senator Kamala Harris, also former national security adviser Susan Rice. Elizabeth Warren, the senator from Massachusetts, and a former rival of Biden is also in the mix as well, as Karen Bass, a Congresswoman from California, and Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth. So that is just a few of the women who are under consideration right now as Biden is heading into these final days of discussions with his aides and wife, Jill Biden, as he's about to make one of the most consequential decisions of his candidacy.

GOLODRYGA: And we are about to hear that decision any day now. Is there any sense that you're getting about when that announcement will come?

SAENZ: So all we know right now is that the decision and announcement are coming this week. So that could be as soon as Monday. So it's really approaching pretty quickly. Now, the Biden campaign has been teasing, telling their supporters to sign up for text messages to be among the first to know. They are also planning a grassroots fundraiser for Biden and his running mates that will take place the very day that she's announced. That will be one of the first times, possibly, that they will be seen anything as the Democratic ticket, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: The suspense will end shortly. Arlette, thank you so much. I know you'll be covering it all.

SAENZ: Thanks.

GOLODRYGA: And a programming note, follow the fearless female CNN political reporters -- I'm so lucky to work with all these women -- as they cover the 2020 presidential campaign. Make sure to watch the new documentary "On the Trail, Inside the 2020 Primaries" that's now streaming on HBO Max. You won't regret it, I promise you.

[14:55:05]

And thank you so much for joining me today. I really appreciate it. It's been fun being with you. I'm Bianna Golodyrga. CNN Newsroom continues with Erica Hill in just a moment.

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ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Just a few minutes from now, President Trump is expected to appear live and take questions at his golf resort in New Jersey.