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800+ Students Quarantined in Cherokee County, GA, after District Reports 50 Positive Cases Among Students & Staff; Dr. William Schaffner Discusses Whether Children Can Easily Spread Virus; Dr. Michael Kinch Discusses Russia's New COVID Vaccine & It's Safety; Chris Ragsdale, Cobb County School Superintendent, Discusses Reopening Schools, Parents Protesting Online-Only Learning. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired August 11, 2020 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Listen, I took a look at four years of the world under Trump, under his foreign policy, upending not only relationships with enemies but allies and within his own government, unleashing a madman theory of his own. And the results for the country, by and large, not positive.

All I ask is you give the book a chance and let me know what you think.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Tons of access to current and former officials talking to you on the record.

Congrats, I'm proud of you.

We'll see you back here tomorrow. I'm Poppy Harlow.

SCIUTTO: I'm Jim Sciutto.

"NEWSROOM" with Kate Bolduan starts right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Kate Bolduan. Thank you for joining us this hour.

The world now passes a startling marker, 20 million people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide. The United States accounts for an outsized portion of that. A quarter of those cases, 25 percent, though the United States makes up less than 5 percent of the world's population. The U.S. is also leading the globe in the number of coronavirus deaths.

With all of that in mind this morning, the concern for America's children amid the pandemic has never been so urgent or real. A new analysis from the American Academy of Pediatrics says there's been a 90 percent jump in COVID cases in children in the last four weeks.

In Florida, the situation is even worse. The state seeing a 137 percent increase of COVID in children in the past month.

With kids in many states already heading back to school, Dr. Anthony Fauci is once again pleading for everyone to mask up. Also calling out the photo of a crowded hallway at a Georgia high school.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES: There should be universal wearing of masks. There should be the extent possible social distancing, avoiding crowds, outdoors is better than indoors, and continually have the capability of washing your hands and cleaning up with sanitizers. When I see sights like that, it is disturbing to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Let's start with CNN's Nick Valencia, coving the growing number of cases in schools in Georgia.

CNN's Nick Valencia joins me.

Nick, what is going on there? What's the latest you're hearing?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kate, these numbers are very concerning. Florida used to be the focus and it now seems that Georgia is becoming the hot spot in COVID cases.

Georgia, the schools here returning, among the first in the nation returning August 3rd.

Just last week in Cherokee County, we're focusing on that because the cases are rising so fast. After the end of the first five days of classes, 478 people were in quarantine. At the start of class today, that number had swelled to over 800, 50 of those tested positive for the virus.

Even still, you would think there would be more of a concern there locally in Cherokee County. But when we went there this weekend, it was almost a cavalier attitude.

Just listen to the governor as well saying that after the first week of school, things were great.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN KEMP, (R), GEORGIA GOVERNOR: There's definitely going to be issues when you open anything. We saw that when we opened businesses. We're seeing that when we open schools.

I think quite honestly this week went real well other than a couple virtual photos, but the attitude from what they're telling me was good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: We talked to parents in Cherokee County who said that they're not social distancing even though masks are required for school staff.

One parent told me she walked into the school district to complain about the lack of social distancing believing that her child was not safe and that no one in the school was wearing masks.

In fact, the principal of that elementary school told her staff that she didn't need to wear a mask because she was shielded by God.

Now, we spoke to Jamie Chambers (ph), one of the local activists who's been sounding the alarm, very concerned that the spread of viruses in schools will only spread further and further throughout the community, putting more people in danger. He has decided to not send his kids to school. They're virtually learning.

Those are stories we're hearing from parents in the district who are removing their students from face-to-face learning to now learn online -- Kate?

BOLDUAN: That statement from that school principal is truly remarkable when you look at science.

Good to see you. Thank you very much for calling it out.

One question all along, which is even more important now as children return to school is how easily, can they spread virus to others. One leading expert says likely all to easily.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM HASELTINE, FORMER PROFESSOR, HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL: There's every reason to suspect that this virus, even though it can kill you, behaves pretty much like a cold virus in terms of transmission. Who drives colds? Children drive colds.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining me right now is Dr. William Schaffner, professor in the division of infectious disease at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

[11:05:05]

Good to see you, Dr. Schaffner.

Many questions. What Nick Valencia just reported is that a teacher was saying -- reporting that an elementary school principal in Georgia said she did not need to wear a mask in school because she would be shielded by God. As a scientist, would you like to comment on that?

DR. WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, PROFESSOR, INFECTIOUS DISEASE DIVISION, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Well, I'm just saddened by that. The COVID virus does not respect religion. If we were shielded by a greater being, why would there be 20 million cases around the world and five million here in the United States? I don't understand that.

Nick's story has me very, very concerned. Why aren't masks required in those school systems? You know, we're learning more about this virus every day. We're writing the textbook as we go along. And one of the things we've learned recently is that children can

become infected. They're less likely to get seriously ill, but they can become infected.

And it's looking increasingly as though they have the distribution franchise, that they can spread this virus, first of all, amongst themselves, and then they'll bring it home, spread it to their parents, grandparents, neighbors, friends, and keep the virus going in the community.

So if you're not opening schools carefully, they will accelerate the spread of this virus in the community.

BOLDUAN: One of the reasons that this whole question of how much can children spread this virus, why it continues to come up. And it's something I feel like experts like yourself are explaining still is because the president continues to throw out unfounded claims that I'm not drawing you into politics.

I do want to keep it to sane, doctor, but just yesterday he said he actually literally said they don't transfer it to other people or certainly not very easily.

Look, one thing that we know is there's a lot unknown about the virus in children because Dr. Birx has said this, parents do a great job of keeping kids home at the beginning of the pandemic. So they were largely, like, out of the way and protected. And now we're learning much more.

But is there anything to that concept of children certainly do not spread this virus easily?

SCHAFFNER: Actually, to the contrary. At the moment, the data are coming in that children do become infected and are capable of transmitting this virus. They shed a fair amount of virus, comparable to adults.

We're learning as we're going along, the children were indeed, as Dr. Birx said sheltered early on, so it was not evident that they could spread this virus.

But as we're opening up, having the children out in the community, they're getting infected and spreading it amongst themselves.

If we're not careful about how we open these schools, as I said, they will accelerate the spread of this virus in the community.

BOLDUAN: Does that speak to this new reporting from the Academy of Pediatrics that they're seeing a 90 percent increase in COVID cases amongst children in the United States over the last four weeks?

Is it because it has been -- children have had it, they just haven't been tested? What do you think this is?

SCHAFFNER: Well, children certainly haven't been tested as much in the past. We concentrated on adults. Now we're testing more children. But more importantly, children are now getting together with each

other. We've seen all these vacation times, and so more exposure, more illness among children also.

BOLDUAN: Just as easy, I remember talking to my pediatrician who said, look, the common cold, the summer cold and flu kids would normally get wasn't happening, and now as kids are starting to hang out again and again, he's starting to see that summer cold pop up.

I want to play another sound byte from Dr. Michael Osterholm about schools reopening in person. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, EPIDEMIOLOGIST: When school starts, both at the high school level and in college and universities, we think we're going to see an explosion of cases in September that will far surpass what we saw after Memorial Day.

This is just going to continue increasing and getting higher and higher in terms of numbers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Dr. Schaffner, do you share that prediction?

SCHAFFNER: I share Mike's concern. I'm not so sure it will be an explosion. But we will see here and there throughout the country splurges of infection. Dr. Fauci's right, we should all be wearing the mask.

BOLDUAN: It is not hard. That did not hurt, Dr. William Schaffner, to put that mask on. There's no pain about it. It could save your life or the life of someone you love.

Dr. Schaffner, thank you.

[11:10:04]

SCHAFFNER: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Coming up, Russia claims it's developed the first coronavirus vaccine. If true -- is it true, first? What does it mean for the vaccine trials in the United States?

Plus, a fitness trainer in California thought COVID wasn't real and thought that he was safe because he was in good shape. Then reality hit him and he was in a coma for five days. What he wants others to learn from his mistakes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Breaking overnight, Vladimir Putin claims Russia has developed the world's first coronavirus vaccine. But it's coming before clinical trials are finished, and without releasing scientific data about it. Can it be trusted? [11:15:05]

CNN's Matthew Chance is in Moscow.

Matthew, what don't know here?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's quite a revelation, the fact that Vladimir Putin has come out in the past couple hours and announced that he has approved or the country has approved the world's first vaccine against COVID-19.

This is what he said. "It's gone through all the necessary checks. I know it's effective, and it forms stable immunity."

He said that in a videoconference broadcast on Russia state television. This extraordinary revelation, Vladimir Putin said one of his own daughters has actually already been vaccinated. He said she had a slight heightened temperature for a while but now feels better.

Of course, she's just one person. It doesn't take away the criticism that's been leveled at this vaccine by scientists all over the world.

But those crucial phase three human trials, which usually involve thousands of people to assess the effectiveness and the safety of a vaccine like this simply have not even started yet before the approval of this vaccine.

Nevertheless, the Russian Health Ministry says while those phase three trials are under way, they will still start vaccinating key workers, frontline medical workers, teachers, the elderly as well, people in those vulnerable categories.

Russian Health Ministry saying it is a huge contribution this vaccine is to what they say is the victory over coronavirus. That, again, despite all those major concerns that are still out there -- Kate?

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Matthew, thank you for those details. I really appreciate it.

A lot of questions here. Joining me right now is Michael Kinch, director for drug development at Washington University in St. Louis, the author of "Between Hope and Fear: A History of Vaccines and Human Immunity."

Thank you for being here.

I think I likely can guess the answer, but I do want to ask you, from what you know of this vaccine touted by Russia, would take this vaccine?

MICHAEL KINCH, DIRECTOR FOR DRUG DEVELOPMENT, WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY & AUTHOR: Well, we don't know much. And so would I take it? If my choices were that or nothing, perhaps.

The little we know about this vaccine is that it is what's known as an adenovirus vaccine, it's using a virus that causes cold to deliver this vaccination.

The problem is that somewhere between 30 percent and 60 percent of the people, the population in the U.S., Russia, and everywhere else, are resistant to this particular adenovirus.

So the consequence is the vaccine may not work actually. And that can be truly dangerous because you might end up imparting a false sense of security for the people who received the vaccine. And that can be dangerous because they could resume risky blazers.

BOLDUAN: The WHO lists this vaccine candidate we're talking about as being in phase one. Even if it has wrapped phase two trials, at this point, in a critical trial, what do you know about the safety and what do you not know still?

KINCH: Pretty much all you know is that it's safe, kind of microscopically, the patient isn't showing distress or problems. You don't know whether you have immunity, that is what we call durable, that it's going to last a long time.

Virtually any vaccine can trigger a short-term response. A long-term response is a complete unknown for this vaccine and for most of the vaccines being tested here and Europe.

BOLDUAN: This also highlights, it appears, the dangers and high stakes of an international race to be the first to find an effective vaccine. I mean, from your perspective, as you look at this, what are those stakes? What are the dangers that it brings with it?

KINCH: Well, the stakes are obviously very, very high because billions of lives could depend upon this. Unfortunately, you're going to have some, frankly, crack pots, like Putin, saying he knows that this works and that is not -- that is not science. Science is based on evidence.

So the dangers are that either people in Russia or elsewhere either want to take this vaccine or compelled to take this vaccine.

If this vaccine is useless, or lord forbid, if it causes toxicity, might cause inflammation or autoimmune disease, then you have a tremendously compounding problem. So it will be unprotected and potentially suffering side effects for a long time.

BOLDUAN: Look, just to put a fine point on it, without a phase three, which is these massive, broad trials in testing the safety and effectiveness, can a vaccine be trusted?

KINCH: I think you need the phase three because a phase three is, by definition, a very large trial with a lot of different people. That's going to cover many different age ranges, racial composition, past medical history. And that's the crucial thing.

[11:20:10]

A phase one is oftentimes performed with healthy college students, for example, and that may not be representative either of the toxicity or the usefulness of a vaccine. So it's essential to have these phase three data because what you

inject in a college student probably is very different than in an 80 something-year-old woman.

BOLDUAN: After listening to you now, I understand why Alex Azar said this morning the goal is not to be first necessarily but to get this right, especially when you have so many lives at stake.

Michael, thank you for being here.

KINCH: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Still up for us, Georgia's second-largest school district reopens Monday. It will be all online learning. Now some parents are protesting that. The school superintendent for Cobb County joins me next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:25:57]

BOLDUAN: In Georgia's second-largest school district in Cobb County, classes haven't yet started, but officials say at least 100 students and staff have tested positive for COVID since July 1st.

With that in mind, they've now announced that classes will begin there next week all online. But school leaders are facing backlash from some parents for that decision, protesting, demanding the district offer an in-person option when the school year starts Monday.

And so what is going to happen? What is going on there?

Joining me is the superintendent of Cobb County schools, Chris Ragsdale.

Thank you so much for your time.

You have, it appears, two opposing forces, unfortunately, at play that shouldn't be. You have the data telling you cases are jumping. And a group of parents protesting, demanding in-person learning.

Can you talk to me about that push and pull of the pressures you're facing right now?

CHRIS RAGSDALE, COBB COUNTY SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT: Sure. I mean, first and foremost, there's no one that wants to be back in the face-to-face classroom more than me.

We have the greatest teachers in the world here in cobb, and our students have a tremendous level of teaching and learning going on in those classrooms.

So that's why originally we offered two options, the virtual option for those parents that didn't feel comfortable sending their students back and a face-to-face option. However, when the level of spread in Cobb County specifically reached

the high level that it currently is and was during that decision- making time, we had to make the decision to go all virtual.

Because, again, if we're going to say the top priority of our district is the health and safety of our teachers, staff, and students, then that's how we have to make the decisions and that's what we did.

BOLDUAN: Mr. Ragsdale, when and why did it become at this moment you versus the parents? Because that's not it at all. You're all in this together.

RAGSDALE: Yes. You know, this is one of those unique situations to where -- you know, I get a lot of e-mail, obviously, on any decision that impacts the district.

And this one has pretty much been about split as far as the e-mails I'm getting. I get as many thank you e-mails for the decision to go all virtual as I do those e-mails truly wanting a face-to-face option.

You're right. It's not an us versus them. Our mission statement in Cobb is one team, one goal, student success. It's important for us to maintain that one team.

You know, we took three parameters into consideration before making that decision. The high spread, as I already mentioned, the effective contact tracing that would have to be done when positive cases did present themselves and continue delay in testing the lines and also getting those results back.

Those three parameters were just creating a situation to, most importantly, that was not going to be safe for students and teachers to be in a compacted classroom with the number of students in each classroom. And we had to go with the data on those three parameters and that's what we did.

BOLDUAN: You have to keep going with the data.

Just north of your district is Cherokee County where 800 students and staff are quarantining after a suspected cluster has popped up in a high school there.

How much is what's happening north of you or in neighborhoods districts factoring into your decision for your schools?

RAGSDALE: Well, certainly in the metro Atlanta area, the superintendents communicate regularly and we coordinate when we can.

But that being said, each county is different and we're getting data that's specifically related to Cobb County. That's what we're basing our decisions on.

I know each superintendent struggles with this decision because, again, the health department and safety is the top priority.

But what other districts are doing are making decisions specific to the data to their specific, individual counties.

[11:30:01]

BOLDUAN: The governor is not mandating masks in the state. We know that. Masks are not required in many schools.