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Lebanon's Prime Minister Resigns Amid Protests; Coronavirus Cases Now at 20 Million; Change in Lebanon Not Happening Soon; No Exceptions for Beijing's Fierce Law; Protests Erupted in Belarus Over Election Results; Number of United States Child Cases Up 90 Percent in Last Four Weeks; Major College Football Teams Could See Season Postponed; Florida Teachers Prepare to Head Back to the In-Person Schooling; U.S. Health Secretary Goes One-On-One with CNN From Taiwan; Lebanon's Government Resigns Amid Violent Protests; Shooting Near White House Disrupts Press Briefing; Kodak Stock Dives After United States Government Loan Put On Hold; Stranded South Africans Rescued. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired August 11, 2020 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Watching CNN Newsroom. And I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead, a pandemic of staggering proportions 20 million now infected almost five months to the days since the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic.
Lebanon faces reckoning, the country's government steps down as anger mounts over last week's devastating blast.
And a Hong Kong pro-democracy publication remains defiant after police raided the headquarters and arrest its founder.
The world has now exceeded a staggering milestone, 20 million coronavirus cases. Johns Hopkins University reports more than half of these cases comes from three countries, the U.S., Brazil, and India. The World Health Organization says it's not an easy virus to detect or beat. But countries must do better and focus their response on inevitable flare-ups.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL RYAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WHO HEALTH EMERGENCIES PROGRAMME: This virus is proving exceptionally difficult to stop.
MARIA VAN KERKHOVE, COVID-19 TECHNICAL LEAD, WHO HEALTH EMERGENCIES PROGRAM: We know that if the virus has an opportunity to spread, it will. And it hasn't gone away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: CNN's Scott McLean has more on where the virus is accelerating, where it is under control across the globe. SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For months, scenes like
this have been playing on a loop especially in Brazil where the coronavirus is spreading like wildfire, foreshadowed by scenes like this one last week in Rio de Janeiro, packed bars and few masks.
Now the world has hit a sad milestone, 20 million confirmed coronavirus cases. More than half of those come from just three countries, Brazil, United States, and India. While Countries like Russia, South Africa, Columbia, and Mexico are hot on their heels.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: I know many of you are grieving. And that this is a difficult moment for the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCLEAN: But amidst the mammoth failures to contain the pandemic, there have been successes too. None greater than in New Zealand which says it just marked 100 days since the last locally transmitted case of the virus. The prime minister is now staking her reelection bid on her decision to close the borders, and lockdown the country early on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: When people ask is this a COVID election? My answer is yes, it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCLEAN: There are also encouraging signs in Germany where masks are mandatory in newly reopen schools in some states.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOMENICA ACRI, DIRECTOR, CARL-ORFF-GRUNDSCHULE (through translator): Today, not a single child has forgotten his or her mask. All of which seems to show that the situation is returning to normal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCLEAN: Masks are also now required for a stroll down the Seine in Paris. But in Sweden, face coverings are few and far between. Despite World Health Organization guidance to wear them, Sweden's government has no national mandate to wear them anywhere.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTEN SPORRONG, SWEDISH BUSINESSMAN: I think that the Swedish people are taking the responsibility. So if you're sick, we stay at home. And if we're not, we can be outside.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCLEAN: And there is more cause for concern across Africa, where experts fear the low testing rates may be masking the true scale of the outbreak. In Britain, beaches have been packed, cases are on the rise, and the prime minister is pledging to reopen schools next month.
Vietnam had no locally transmitted cases between late April and late July. But officials there are now trying to tamp down an outbreak in a popular tourist town. And in Australia where new daily cases have gotten down to single digits, there is now a second spike even bigger than the first.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GHEBREYESUS: There are green shoots of hope, and no matter where a country, a region, a city, or a town is, it's never too late to turn the outbreak around.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCLEAN: The world can only hope that's true.
Scott McLean, CNN, London.
CHURCH: The number of U.S. children infected by the virus is mounting. There has been a 90 percent increase in the number of cases among children over the last four weeks. That is according to a report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association. It counted nearly 180,000 new cases among children between July 9th and August 6th.
And it comes as thousands of students are returning to the classroom. America's top infectious diseases experts say masks can mitigate the impact of the disease as schools reopen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: There should be universal wearing of masks. There should be the extent possible social distancing, avoiding crowds, outdoors is always better than indoors. And be in a situation where you continue to have the capability of washing your hands, and cleaning up with sanitizers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Educators and parents are wrestling with the dilemma of whether to bring children back into the classroom or have them learn at home.
[03:05:03]
And later this hour, I will talk to a teacher in the U.S. state of Florida whose school goes back to in-person classes at the end of the month. And she will explain how she has turned to fund-raising so her students can wash their hands in the classroom.
Well, Lebanon's government stepped down on Monday, less than a week after that massive explosion in Beirut that led to days of violent protests. The prime minister announced his resignation along with his government during a national address. He called the blast that killed more than 160 people and wounded 6,000 others, a disaster beyond measure.
Protests over the weekend were some of the largest and most violent the city has seen in nearly a year. Lebanon's ambassador to the United Nations says fear and frustration is growing even before the deadly blast at the port.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMAL MUDALLALI, LEBANONESE AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: The pandemic added to the misery of the people and compounded their sense of loss and insecurity. The challenge was a matter of life, of economic hardship, or death by a growing virus, then came the explosion. It shattered Beirut, and with it, what was left of the social and financial security. People are desperate now, angry and afraid. They are demanding and deserve justice and rightly so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And CNN's Sam Kiley is in Beirut. He joins us now live. So, Sam, what is the latest out of Beirut? And what's the likely future for the people of Lebanon?
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest is, Rosemary, that starting five o'clock this afternoon, local time, marking a week in an hour after the blast that so destroyed the city that went up in that landscape behind me. Just in front of what remains of those silos blowing a hole 43 meters deep, 140 meters wide, actually getting rid of land, and surrendering it to the ocean when that massive detonation went off.
That is effectively blowing away the government of Hassan Diab whose government he resigned yesterday. But they stay on in a caretaker capacity. And there has been no promise of elections. He seems to backtracked on that, at least for the time being.
And so, for many people here, nothing much is going to change unless there is a change in the Constitution. And that the view seems to be reflected both by activists and long-standing members of political dynasties here as a report shows.
If you're in the Lebanese opposition, this is democracy in action.
Thirty or 40 years down the street, it's barricaded. There is the outer cordoned for the Lebanese parliament. The demonstrators are absolutely dead set, they've told me, on getting into more and more government buildings to try and demonstrate that the government itself is really a chimera, it is hopeless. It is a sort of joke.
As the cleanup continues after thousands of tons of fertilizer is believed to have blown up and destroyed parts of Beirut, activists are adamant that Lebanon's sectarian system, its dynastic politics, corruption, and negligence led to the blast. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMIRA EL AZAR, PROTESTER: We will go to the parliament, we will go to their houses, we will go to each place to get them down. They will go to a place where they will not be able to go back to this place ever. They killed people. That is a big thing to us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KILEY: Lebanon's parliament, which are 128 seats are shared among Christians, Sunnis, Jews and Shia under electoral law following the Civil War 30 years ago, was dissolve Monday ahead of new elections. But Walid Jumblatt, the Druze leader who inherited his role from his father and has arguably benefited from the existing system, is pessimistic that even early elections would bring change.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALID JUMBLATT, LEBANESE DRUZE LEADER: When I see the protesters, the revolutionary, when I saw them, and I see them yesterday and they want to change Lebanon. They want a new Lebanon, but the obstacle for change in Lebanon is, in this specific point, alliance of minorities and the electoral law. Because you cannot change Lebanon through, let's say, a military coup d'etat. It's impossible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KILEY: Close to the epicenter of Tuesday's blast, the Kataeb Party's headquarters is in ruins. It's a largely Cristian Maronite Party. Its secretary general was killed in the explosion. His bloody handprint is still visible. The grandson of the party's founder and son of the former president, nephew of another president who was murdered, Samy Gemayel supports the street protests.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[03:09:58]
SAMY GEMAYEL, LEBANESE M.P.: We are all from families that were part of the old Lebanon. This is how the new -- the new generation didn't come from nowhere. And it's our duty to do our revolution, our own revolution, each one in his society and the place where he is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KILEY: But in Martyrs' Square protesters now include former Lebanese commando leader, Colonel Georges Nader. He wants to see the old guard swept away entirely.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGES NADER, FORMER LEBANESE COMMANDO LEADER (through translator): Changes coming. And I recommend they leave peacefully or we will go to their homes and do it by force.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KILEY: That night, it was the protests who were eventually swept away but not for long. They have plans to harness public anger over the Beirut blast to a more powerful revolutionary rage.
Now, Rosemary, there is, as we said, there are going to be more demonstrations today. Activists have also said that they are going to continue to try to occupy government buildings, both as a symbolic gesture to show that the government has no function, and indeed to try to take over the government. There has been a shift in the political energy here after that blast, an energy now that really is demanding wholesale change. Excuse me.
CHURCH: Bless you. Many thanks to Sam Kiley joining us live from Beirut. I appreciate it.
So, let's talk now with Randa Slim, a director at the Middle East Institute. Thanks for joining us.
RANDA SLIM, DIRECTOR, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: Good to be with you.
CHURCH: So, Lebanon's government has just stepped down in the wake of last week's deadly and devastating explosion. You have called this Lebanon's moment of reckoning. So, what do you want to see happen next?
SLIM: Well, what's going to happen next is what happens in the past when a cabinet resigns. It takes a long time for the political leaders to come together and make the (Inaudible) to form a new government. What the people in Lebanon, the protesters are demanding is a formation of the transitional government with exception of powers that will enable it to pass political reforms, economic reform, to help the country in this crisis.
And the country is facing a number of crises, political, economic, adding onto the tragedy which occurred at the port of Beirut last week.
CHURCH: So, protesters, of course, and we're looking at pictures there, protesters were out on the streets of Beirut demanding the government to step down. The government has done it. But the problem does go much deeper than that. You've described what needs to happen politically. But who is equipped to guide Lebanon out of these troubled times?
SLIM: Leadership, the political establishment in Lebanon has been there for decades. You know, the figures many of them are war lords on the times of the Civil War in Lebanon in the 1980s. You have some new comers and then some even who have inherited political powers from their fathers and grandfathers. So, their families have been involved for a long time.
So, eventually, the political process is asking for (Technical difficulty) and it is difficult to see how they are going willingly give up power.
CHURCH: And who do you blame for last week's explosion? And do you think that justice will be served?
SLIM: That's another demand by both by the people by the civil society is to establish an international fact-finding commission to lead a credible, transparent process of identifying how the shipment of ammonium nitrate made it to the country, who imported the material, why was it stored for more, you know, since 19 -- I think 2014, and who had access to it during this time? And finally, what caused the explosion?
There is a Lebanese committee established by the military police and an investigation led by Lebanese judges. But many of the Lebanese mistrust the credibility of this committee and that's why they are demanding an international body to let -- to, you know, that is credible and whose results will be accepted. And maybe bring an end to the immunity -- the impunity that the Lebanese have been suffering from for such a long time.
CHURCH: And you have said that the international response was disappointing, and that not enough funds were pledged to help rebuild the port area of Beirut. What would you like to see international leaders do?
SLIM: I mean, the losses are estimated to be in the neighborhood of 3 to $5 billion. The aid conference which was co-convened by the United Nations and France this last Sunday, you know, was able to put pledges that amounted to be about $300 million.
[03:15:04]
So that's going to be enough for the phase one of monetary assistance providing food and shelter. You have 300,000 families that have lost homes, you know, because of the explosion. So, we have the immediate shorter needs which I think these pledges will be able to, you know, help with.
And then there is phase two which is reconstruction and rebuilding this port, rebuilding towards neighborhoods. That's going to be in the billions. And that's where you can see partnership coming forming together between the private sector, publics sector, financing form the national community.
But the international communities are also demanding that the government of Lebanon, you know, introduces and enact serious fiscal and economic reforms to make sure that the money sent by the international community does not end up in corrupt hands as happened many times before when Lebanon under, you know, faced tragedies and crisis and international community blend a supporting hand in terms of finances and support.
CHURCH: It is certainly a long road ahead.
Randa Slim, thank you so much for talking with us. I appreciate it.
SLIM: Thank you for having me.
CHURCH: And still to come on CNN Newsroom, international condemnation over a high-profile arrest in Hong Kong. Why it's been called a chilling attack on press freedom.
And protest turned violent in Belarus as election results show Europe's last dictator with a huge win in Sunday's vote. We're back with that and more in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: The U.S. and the U.K. have joined the outcry over the arrest of a pro-democracy newspaper owner in Hong Kong. China meanwhile is praising the move. Jimmy Lai was detained under the new controversial national security law.
And CNN's Will Ripley joins me now live from Hong Kong to talk more about this. Good to see you, Will. So, what more are you learning about the case being built against Jimmy Lai under this new national security law.
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We expect to learn more from police, Rosemary, in the coming hours, but what we do know is that the way that this law is enforced here in Hong Kong, is that an arrest is made, and then police go through your previous social media post, your contacts in your phone, everything that you've ever e-mailed or texted people and they -- and they use whatever evidence they can collect to build a case against you.
So, for Jimmy Lai who you can see here on the front page of his own newspaper, Apple Daily, there he is being hold in handcuffs through his newsroom. He is still in police custody along with the nine other people who were arrested. Police are still gathering evidence. And at some point, we hope to learn the charges, and more importantly, the evidence against him.
[03:20:01]
The latest setback for Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement. Police search the newsroom of Apple Daily, a paper known for fierce support of last year's protest and fierce criticism of Hong Kong's pro-Beijing government.
Police arrested the newspapers owner, Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai, hauling him in handcuffs back to the Apple Daily newsroom.
Lai is one of a group of people arrested on charges including colluding with foreign countries, a violation of Hong Kong's national security law.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY LAI, FOUNDER, APPLE DAILY: With a dictatorship, freedom is not free, and this is a price we have to be ready for.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIPLEY: That price could be steep even for a billionaire like Lai. Up to life in prison, the possibility of a mainland trial hidden from public view. Lai holds a British passport but told CNN earlier this year, he decided to stay in Hong Kong.
The new law came into effect less than two months ago, already leading to drastic changes and freedom of the press and politics. A dozen pro- democracy lawmakers disqualified from legislative council elections postponed to next year. The government says because of COVID-19.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIFFANY YUEN, PRO-DEMOCRACY DISTRICT COUNCILOR: I think that disqualified is ridiculously unfair to us. Many people in Hong Kong are very disappointed because what we only want to do is to protect our hometown and protect our homeland.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIPLEY: But activities like lobbying foreign governments and voicing objections to the national security law make them unfit to run, the city says. Other arrests include a 15-year-old girl waving a pro- independence flag. And students for social media posts.
Pro-Beijing lawmakers hope the security law will allow Hong Kong to calm down after last year's protest.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRISCILLA LEUNG, PRO-BEIJING LAWMAKER: I think the whole development already prove that. The way they use violence to fight for what they want is a failure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIPLEY: More arrests are possible, police says. They are also seeking six activists who fled Hong Kong including Nathan Law, a former lawmaker now in London.
The head of the Hong Kong Journalist Associations calls Monday's newsroom raid shocking and scary, the kind of thing normally seen in developing countries but never Hong Kong. A city quickly realizing life, at least for some, will never be the same.
The scenes that played out here yesterday, Rosemary, with 200 police officers going through a newsroom in a city that has enjoyed a free press for decades, and looking through evidence, looking at reporters notebooks, getting their identifications, these are the kind of things that have been horrifying for people who support a free press or support freedom of speech.
But you know, it takes a lot of guts. The newspaper right here in red says Apple Daily must maintain its operations. And so, they normally published 70,000 copies, hard copies a day, Rosemary, they published 550,000. And it's almost like something that a lot of locals, certainly those who support the protest movement have been out doing.
They've been buying copies of the paper. So just leaving them on benches, leaving them for people, handing them out, you know, what was the protests last year, this act of defiance this year buying a newspaper. But Hongkongers are certainly trying to show their support in ways that they can. But a lot of people are afraid now because of this law that has this kind of chilling effect and it's going to prevent a lot of people from going out in the streets even after the pandemic, it seems, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Yes, it is a brave defiance, no doubt about that. And Will, what are global leaders saying about the arrest of Lai and others?
RIPLEY: Well, you know, the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the U.S. has been one of the most vocal critics of Beijing's, basically, you know, from the U.S. perspective taking away Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy from mainland China.
And so, the United States is in process of stripping away that special relationship in terms of trade. Beijing though prioritizes their national security and they just couldn't stand to see the acts of defiance and what they perceive as disrespect in the streets of this city for much of last year.
Also, the U.K., basically any western countries that are democracies are condemning the arrest of Lai and condemning this move, but then there are others, you know, who are in support of it saying that Lai was basically getting young people riled up. People who were easily influenced from the mainland point of view, and getting them out on the streets.
And so, this, you know, this newspaper, which has kind of this tabloid format. They even had pages that people could rip out and take with them last year, and some of the text could actually now land people potentially in prison as a result.
[03:24:57]
So, it's a fine line, and Beijing basically going after everybody who they think are the instigators of the protest movement, trying to cut it off, Rosemary.
CHURCH: It is a shocking development. Will Ripley staying on top of that from Hong Kong. Many thanks.
Well, the president of Belarus says he won't allow his country to be torn apart by what he calls foreign puppeteers. Thousands of people have been detained for protesting the results of Sunday's election.
Alexander Lukashenko known as Europe's last dictator claims he won 80 percent of the vote. But the opposition candidate is demanding a recount. Independent monitor say she actually won the election and she has moved to an undisclosed location which we are now told is in Lithuania.
Well, CNN's Frederik Pleitgen is tracking the developments from Berlin, he joins us now live. Good to see you, Fred. So how likely is it that anything significant will come of this call for a recount?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it's still pretty much still up in the air whether or not that recount is going to happen, that's probably highly doubtful but whether or not there is change in Belarus, that's something that I wouldn't say is necessarily unlikely.
If you look at some of the images that we've been seeing over the past could of few days, the first day after the exit polls came out from that election, but then also last night you could see that the protesters were once again out in full force.
And a lot of it was very similar to the first night. Now the protesters came out, they were largely peaceful. Security forces came out and tried to detain them all to stun grenades and tear gas. And that's when things got out of -- out of hand in certain places. It also seems as though, the protesters on the streets of Minsk and elsewhere escalating a little bit themselves.
They were using some firecrackers yesterday, and they were trying to build barricades. In fact, we've now learned that apparently, one protester actually died last night when he was trying to build a Molotov cocktail, again, that's according to the authorities.
But we can see that at least the protests are not dying down. Now of course one of the big things that we have to keep an eye is whether or not the fact that Ms. Tikhanovskaya, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya has now apparently left the country and gone to Lithuania.
This is again to the foreign minister of Lithuania, whether or that that is going to be something that changes the game. Whether or not, for instance, the movement is now decapitated. of course, with a very, very important figure at the head of that opposition movement.
But on the other hand, it seems as though the discontent on the streets of Minsk and other cities in Belarus is still very big. And certainly, the protest last night even as it was unclear where Ms. Tikhanovskaya was, those protests were still just as big as ever and seemed just as forceful as ever. So, it's going to be very interesting to see what the next 24, 48 hours bring.
And one of the things that the opposition has called for for today, Rosemary, is a general strike for people working in state companies to walk off work. And certainly, if that is a success, or if that actually happens then that's going to be another blow to Alexander Lukashenko hand his rule.
But you're absolutely right, he, for his part has said that he is not going to step down and he obviously sees himself still as the legitimate president of Belarus, Rosemary.
CHURCH: And we'll be watching to see if change comes.
Fred Pleitgen joining us live there. Many thanks.
And coming up here on CNN Newsroom, I will speak with a Florida teacher whose students don't have running water in the classroom. Hear how she is solving that problem in the absence of sufficient school funding. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:30:00]
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: More than 20 million coronavirus cases have now been recorded across the globe, a quarter of them here in America. And it isn't slowing down anytime soon in the U.S. There has been a 90 percent jump in cases among children in just the last four weeks. But President Trump still isn't convinced it's a big deal for them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They don't get very sick, they don't catch it easily, and they don't get very sick, and according to the people that I spoke into, they don't transport it or transfer it to other people or certainly not very easily. So yes, I think schools have to open. We want to get our economy going.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Well that is definitely not the view of Dr. Sean O'Leary, the vice chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on infectious diseases. He spoke to Anderson Cooper earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN O'LEARY, VICE CHAIR, AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS COMMITTEE ON INFECTIOUS DISEASES: It's not fair to say that this virus is completely benign in children. We have had 90 deaths in children in the U.S. already in just a few months, right.
Every year we worry about influenza in children, and there are roughly around a 100 deaths in children from Influenza every year, but when we look at, you know, just this short segment, short-- the small percentage overall of children that have been infected in across the U.S. this is not -- we can't say that it's completely benign in children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And as the pandemic rages on without a national plan in place, some U.S. schools have already reopened, without masks mandates and other safety precautions.
CNN's Athena Jones reports on the impact of the risk they are taking.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just act like the virus isn't there and we kind of go for it and try to tough it out. It won't work.
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Public health experts warned this would happen and now it has. Schools in states with high rates of COVID-19 infections opening up too quickly without the proper precautions and suffering the consequences as new cases pile up. The Georgia High School made famous in this viral photo now temporarily closed after nine students and employees tested positive.
The school where masks are not required holding classes remotely while it undergoes a deep cleaning. At least 16 schools in Cherokee County, Georgia have reported COVID cases among students or staff underlining the challenge of holding in-person classes in a state with the highest number of COVID cases per capita in the country.
DR. WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: The reason all this is happening is because we haven't controlled the virus spread in the community.
JONES: The lack of a mask mandate in most Georgia schools and concerns about crowding prompting fear among teachers and families.
BETH MOORE (D) GEORGIA STATE HOUSE: I have over 200 e-mails over the course of less than 48 hours from teachers, students, parents, staff members at school, all with really the same message that schools in Georgia are not prepared to go back to face-to-face instruction right now.
JONES: The trouble with schools coming as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children Hospital Association, say nearly 100,000 children in the U.S. tested positive for COVID in just the last two weeks of July.
With COVID positivity rates rising in 35 states compared to last week, there are new concerns in places like Idaho, Indiana and Illinois where Chicago's mayor tweeted this image of a crowded beach.
In California, CNN affiliate KABC captured tense moments outside a church holding an indoor service Sunday in defiance of a judge's order. Average daily deaths nationwide have topped 1,000 for the past two weeks and several states are seeing record hospitalizations.
Meanwhile, college football is hanging in the balance. Multiple sports outlets reporting leaders of the Power Five Sports Conferences are in discussions about postponing the season due to COVID concerns, a move the mid-American conference announced over the weekend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is crushing decision to be made by our membership. It was a decision that was made based on the advice of our medical experts.
JONES: Athena Jones, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[03:35:05]
CHURCH: Joining me now is Annette Fernandez, a teacher in Daytona, Florida, preparing to go back to in-person teaching at her elementary school. Thank you so much for talking with us.
ANNETTE FERNANDEZ, TEACHER DAYTONA, FLORIDA: Thank you for having me.
CHURCH: Now your story broke my heart, you set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for a portable sink, because your students don't have access to running water in your portable classroom. How is this even possible in the richest nation in the world?
FERNANDEZ: Yes. It is possible. We have 12 portables right now, and the portables do not have access to water and sink for handwashing. And I think that the portables or temporary classrooms from you know, maybe years ago and we are just still working from them.
And so, I came up with this idea, because it will literally take so much -- it'll take away so much of our instructional time. Just to stand and make sure that everybody walks over to a bathroom that is not close to our room just to wash our hands. And so, I thought it would be safer for our children to have a sink in the classroom, where they can wash their hands.
CHURCH: You are true hero for doing this. I mean, so many American teachers do dip into their own pockets to provide supplies and this is going far and beyond.
FERNANDEZ: Thank you.
CHURCH: So you will return to school for in person teaching at the end of August. What are your biggest concerns about that right now?
FERNANDEZ: My biggest concern number one is myself becoming sick and bring it home to my family. But I am also truly concerned about my students. I don't think that, we have thought it through. If my students get sick I don't think that I can live with myself.
I don't think that, you know, if one of my kids got sick and something devastating happened, how could I come back to the classroom after this? And so my biggest goal is to do whatever it is I can to keep them safe.
CHURCH: Yes, incredible, and I know a lot of our viewers watching this from overseas would be shocked to hear this playing out in so many schools across America. Nearly 97 percent of the students of your school live in poverty.
FERNANDEZ: Correct.
CHURCH: About 75 percent are black, 7.42 percent are Hispanic. Why do you think these students have been forgotten in the middle of a pandemic? Particular given studies show that these children are more vulnerable to this virus than white kids.
FERNANDEZ: I think, one of the biggest issues is that we do not have people from our community that are representing us when these decisions are made. And so, we lack the representation for these communities.
CHURCH: And I did want to ask you, because you have to go back to school, and that is a requirement there in Florida. But you would not have a virtual learning as an alternative anyway, because presumably these students wouldn't have access to the Wi-Fi and the devices required to do that. FERNANDEZ: That is correct, currently I believe our district does not
have the technology to provide for all students. This is correct.
CHURCH: Annette Fernandez, thank you so much for talking with us and for doing what you've done. You are an incredible teacher. Thank you.
FERNANDEZ: Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
CHURCH: Well, U.S. health Secretary Alex Azar is the most senior U.S. official to visit Taiwan in decades and much to the annoyance of mainland China, he has met with the territories foreign minister. Earlier Azar praised Taiwan for its response to the coronavirus pandemic. And in an exclusive interview with CNN Paula Hancocks, he compared it to the way the U.S. has manage the crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEX AZAR, U.S. SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: In terms of the president's historic response to the coronavirus crises a noble, unprecedented pandemic. We have actually been able to manage to ensure that the disease burden did not exceed our health system capacity.
No American died because of a lack of a ventilator or a lack of an ICU bed, and that is a critical factor in terms of how we engaged in mitigation steps to keep as we say the curve within capacity. That was the core strategy initially, to delay and flatten the curve to keep the burden within the system's capacity.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So what would you say to critics of the Trump administration who say your visit here, three months before an election is political?
AZAR: My visit here is about supporting Taiwan and supporting Taiwan in the international public health community. My visit is about health it's, about the health of the people of Taiwan. It's about the health of the (inaudible) of the American people and it's about the health of the people of the world.
[03:40:13]
And the way we protect that is by entities around the world being transparent, cooperative, collaborative, compliant with the international health regulations. And Taiwan has been a model of that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: All right. Returning now to Lebanon and the anger that stern to violence following last week's devastating explosion, the protesters demanding the government to resign has gotten their wish. But Ben Wedeman reports, the political turmoil is far from not over.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Prime Minister Hassan Diab announces the resignation of his government. Less than a week after the catastrophic explosion in Beirut's port that many here likened to an atomic bomb.
Since then, the capital has been rocked by protests and clashes. The anger focused not so much on the Diab's government, as it is against the failure of the Lebanese state writ large. And adding insult to injury, the government represented by the security forces appeared to sit on its hands as Beirut residents dug out of the rubble.
Did anyone from the state come here, I asked Siam Tikyam who was injured in the blasts.
Frankly the word that you said, and I won't say it is not present in the dictionary, it by which Siam means the state, does not exist in the Lebanese dictionary.
The blast was just the latest of Lebanon's calamities. The economy is in free fall, the local currency, the lira, has lost much of its value. Unemployment has skyrocketed, while the World Bank projects that half the population, will fall below the poverty line this year.
Prime Minister Diab promised he would address all these problems, but his promises proved empty. He promised to fight corruption but the system of corruption he said in his speech is bigger than the state. Negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for bailout went nowhere. As Lebanese leader bickered among themselves and failed to commit fundamental reforms.
And with Hezbollah a major backer of his cabinet, western and Arab Gulf governments, were hesitant to provide either aid or political cover. It now falls to the same sectarian power brokers who formed the Arabs government to form the next one. And as the famous saying goes, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
In closing, Diab who now takes over as caretaker Prime Minister, appealed three times to God to protect Lebanon. In Lebanon at this point, it needs all the help they can get.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Beirut.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Drama inside the White House press room, why Donald Trump was whisked away by Secret Service agents in the middle of a briefing. We'll explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:45:00]
CHURCH: Well, some tense moments inside the White House earlier, President Trump was given his coronavirus briefing when this happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It looks like they are just going to be topping records hopefully soon -- excuse me. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to step outside.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's going on mister president?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's happening?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: CNN's Boris Sanchez, explains just what went on there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Certainly an unplanned, if not unprecedented interruption during the president's press briefing today with reporters. He was speaking about the coronavirus pandemic when a Secret Service agent stopped him mid-sentence, and said sir we have to leave the room.
The president saying OK and following that Secret Service agent out of the press briefing room. The White House has out on lockdown for approximately 10 minutes.
The president we later learned was taken to the Oval Office. He told reporters that he asks if he could return to the press briefing room to finish his coronavirus pandemic briefing, he was told that as soon as the scene was clear, he could.
The president eventually returning and confirming that the White House was put on lockdown. He was taken out of the room because there was a shooting just outside the White House grounds.
The secret service confirming that one of their law enforcement agents open fired on a person, that person transported to a hospital. The president revealing that he didn't have very many details on the person's condition or even the basis for the altercation. He said it may not have had anything to do with me.
And the president was asked by reporters if he was rattled by the incident, he asked quote, do I look rattled. He eventually pivoted to the purpose of that briefing, talking about the American economy, his Democratic rival Joe Biden, and then getting into his attacks on mail- in voting and Democrats in general. The president summarizing, what again was a seemingly unprecedented by telling reporters simply things happen.
Boris Sanchez, CNN, at the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: The Secret Service released a statement after the incident, saying a man approached an officer, told him he had a weapon and ran aggressively toward him. The officer shot the suspect, who was taken to the hospital. The Secret Service office of professional responsibility will conduct an internal review of the officer's conduct. Well, the Trump administration is putting a hold on a $765 million
loan to Kodak to help the company convert from photography to pharmaceuticals. Kodak stock plunged on the news, ending the day down almost 30 percent. Regulators are investigating allegations of insider trading by Kodak executives.
And CNN's Eleni Giokos is live this hour in Johannesburg. She joins us now. Good to see you Eleni. So what might these allegations reveal about the level of transparency of deals under the defense production act?
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN MONEY AFRICA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, it's such a good question and I have to say that this is a story about a comeback, as you mentioned Kodak, a legacy company, focus on cameras as well as film and we all remember Kodak.
A largely forgotten company until at the end of July, we saw this incredible deal and learned with $765 million that would then propelled the company squarely into pharmaceuticals. And it would be manufacturing key ingredients for medicines that could treat COVID-19.
And it could also mean that the U.S. government would rely a lot less on the likes of imports from China and India. So, it was an important deal all around.
So, it's interesting to see these allegations of wrongdoing, but on the back of this news that came through with the White House has said it's taking these allegations very seriously. I want you to take a listen to what the press secretary said yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This president has used the DPA effectively, but we are certainly aware of the Kodak allegations and take them seriously.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will he pull the plug on that deal?
[03:50:02]
MCENANY: I'll leave that to the president, but he takes this very seriously. We all speculate as to what that investigation finds.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: And look when this announcement was made, many asked the question why Kodak? And are they in a position to pivots so dramatically into a completely new sector. And why and how did the steel come about? So now that the loan has been put on hold, it definitely has created a lot of disappointment within the White House.
And we know that Peter Navarro came out and said that it also tarnishes the deal, as well as Kodak. And it really pertains to how the information on this market moving deal was released.
Now, a day before the official announcement, we know that executives, as well as the CEO, received stock options and then we saw the share price rallying dramatically. I want you to take a look at this graph, so you can understand the enormity and the excitement that was created on Wall Street on the back of this news.
And of course, yet the big problem was the volume that was traded a week before, which was around 80,000 per day. And then that rally to 1.6 million a day before the announcement. So many questions to be asked here?
CHURCH: Absolutely, Eleni Giokos joining us live there from Johannesburg, many thanks.
Well, dozens of South African stranded for months at the original epicenter of the pandemic, we will tell you how they got home with the help of two people who didn't even know each other. We'll explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: It is the type of story you might see in the movie. One man at his computer in Canada and a woman stranded in China did what the South Africa government couldn't do. They work together to organize a rescue flight for more than 100 South Africans stuck in Wuhan during the pandemic.
CNN's David McKenzie brings us their story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These South Africans abroad, one stranded in China, because of the COVID-19 travel ban, the other starting a new life in Canada.
CARMEN JOHANNIE, STRANDED SOUTH AFRICAN CITIZEN: When he sent out a message he said that, anybody stuck in China, anybody stuck in China, needs to contact him. So I sent him an email.
MCKENZIE: Brought together by that first message and Carmen Johannie's unshakable determination to get home.
JOHANNIE: All we have a year for five months was be patient, be patient. And that's the hardest thing you could say to someone.
TERTIUS MYBURGH, MAPLE AVIATION: That's me, me alone, my phone.
MCKENZIE: Tertius Myburgh seems an unlikely savior, sitting at his dining room table in Canada with barely enough credit on his phone. Pulling off a rescue mission that South Africa's national carrier said was impossible.
MYBURGH: I am bombarded with phone calls and emails and everything from people that said they are stuck and people are running out of money. People say the world becomes very small and I honestly felt as if, they were forgotten.
JOHANNIE: It was a team effort thing that we did and then I just realized like how many people are actually relying on us and the pressure was hectic.
MCKENZIE: Johannie quickly became aviation veteran, Myburgh's vital link to more than 100 South Africans stranded for months in China and their anxious families back home. His plan, least Air Zimbabwe's only functioning airplane and crew and rely on Zimbabwean diplomat to get enormously complex COVID-19 clearances.
[03:55:00]
JOHANNIE: I called him my guardian angel from day one, because that's literally what he was. Literally the only man that could help us.
MCKENZIE: It's a very emotional journey you've been on.
JOHANNIE: This was very hard. It was extremely hard, and it was something I never wish on anybody.
MCKENZIE: The 30-year-old 767 that once carried Robert Mugabe, routing from Harari to Johannesburg, to Bangkok to change a faulty engine, then to Kuala Lumpur to pick up stranded Chinese seafarers to help offset the cost. Then on to (inaudible), back to (inaudible), to Wuhan then to Johannesburg.
And it seem like things that could go wrong did go wrong.
JOHANNIE: 100 percent. 100 percent. Yes, it's a matter that you look back and you laugh and say you actually -- you can't believe it, but it was real.
MCKENZIE: To find space for this engine and to get it to route all the way out of Harari, and eventually getting into Bangkok, that was a mission on its own. How can I say to them listen it's becoming too difficult. How can I going to sleep now (inaudible) -- and have a whiskey and a barbecue, because I made it easy for myself, but all these people who are stranded.
MCKENZIE: The South African government told us they are legally obliged to assist all citizens who are distressed abroad. That did eventually help with passenger permissions for arrival in South Africa and the group quarantine at this hotel.
JOHANNIE: They have a TV room and then we got a beautiful kitchenette. There has been times where like reality has hit and there's other times we're just feels like it's not real.
MCKENZIE: But Johannie knows her five month ordeal is finally over, thanks to one man.
David McKenzie, CNN, Johannesburg.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: A story with a happy ending, we like those. A much needed destruction for the people of Wuhan, China, who have dealt with a devastating floods and a six-week lockdown amid the pandemic. Hundreds of colorful drones took off from a basketball court and rose about a quarter of a kilometer into the air.
The synchronize light shows spelled out messages of hope. One reads Wuhan has awaken and the future will be better. The drones also recreated some of Wuhan's well-known landmarks.
And from Israel, the ultimate face mask, a 1.5 million dollar creation, for a Chinese billionaire living in the U.S. It has more than 3600 diamonds, and weighs 280 grams. The client said he wanted the most expensive mask in the world, so the jeweler added a few extra karats just to be on the safe side. No word on how he will breathe thru so much bling. We'll keep you tuned.
All right. Thanks for joining us. I am Rosemary Church. Be sure to connect with me on Twitter @rosemarycnn. And I'll be back in just a moment with more global news. Stay with us.
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