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Battle Rages Over In-Person Classes Amid Outbreaks at Schools; College Sports Conferences Split on Pushing Fall Sports Amid COVID-19 Outbreak; New Jobless Claims Below 1 Million for First Time Since March; Trump Vows to End Payroll Tax; Trump Administration Proposes Changes to Showerheads. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired August 13, 2020 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:12]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Jim Sciutto.

Sadly we begin today with the deadliest single day so far this summer and a dire prediction from the director of the CDC for this coming fall, warning that the pandemic combined with the flu season could ravage the country like no health crisis before.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, CDC DIRECTOR: I'm asking you to do four simple things. Wear a mask, social distance, wash your hands and be smart about crowds. If we don't do that, as I said last April, this could be the worst fall from a public health perspective we've ever had.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: The worst fall this country has ever had. That's a remarkable warning. Wednesday alone, this country saw nearly 1500 deaths. That is the most since May. And you can see the graph rising again there. 56,000 new cases in a single day as well.

HARLOW: Wow. Fears over reopening schools in person, this comes amid a growing pandemic. Those fears are becoming a reality as schools are opening. One school district just outside of Atlanta, Georgia, which fully reopened last week now has more than 1100 students and staff in quarantine.

Still, the White House is resisting growing calls to require masks at schools nationwide. Instead, overnight they did release new but pretty broad recommendations and if you read them thoroughly they just, quote, "encourage" the use of masks in schools.

We're covering all of this this morning. Let's begin our coverage with our colleague Nick Valencia. He joins us in Georgia.

And Nick, you've now got three high schools near Atlanta with shutdowns because of the positive cases there.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And Poppy, realistically we could only expect there to be even more closures. You had two high schools close in as many days in Cherokee County, North Paulding High School, where we all saw that viral photo of students standing shoulder to shoulder in a packed hallway. They've elected to go to a hybrid program starting next week. But back in Cherokee County, just a little north of Paulding, you have 1100 students and teachers in quarantine after just eight days of classes. Part of that may have to do with the attitudes of some of the parents.

Late last night, I took a call from a mother who sent her children to school defending that decision even though her 6-year-old is currently in quarantine, saying it's her business to send her child to school and it's her business what to do about her child's health. That may be part of the problem, according to Mitchell McCall. He says that parents in that district are only caring about themselves and ignoring the realities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELL MCCALL, PARENT OF STUDENT IN CHEROKEE COUNTY, GEORGIA: I think now is the wrong time to bury your head in the sand and just plod on forward as if everything is fine because it's not. I think, you know, some humility would go a long way because we all want to see the schools stay open. I want my son to play football. I know you love your high school football, too. We all do. So let's get back to it. Do things the right way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: The superintendent of Cherokee County continually defending his decision to reopen the schools saying a majority of parents elected to send their kids back to school. Mitchell McCall says that that's just spin. He says that the superintendent is putting politics before science. Pandering to a deeply red part of the state, anti- maskers and people who believe that the coronavirus is a hoax -- Jim, Poppy.

SCIUTTO: It's amazing these many months in that's still a thing.

Nick Valencia, thanks very much.

Let's go down to Miami. Rosa Flores there.

Rosa, just one day after reopening an entire elementary school class now under quarantine. And it shows the risk here, it shows the difficulty. So what happens with that school and what are others learning from that?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, Jim, this school is still trying to figure out exactly how many children are impacted.

Here's what we know. So one day after Martin County Schools reopened for in-person instruction, there was a student who displayed symptoms of COVID-19 and so one classroom and one bus route was quarantined and now in remote learning. So the obvious question is, well, how many students are impacted?

Now according to the public information officer at least nine students from the classroom, but they're still trying to figure out how many student were actually on the bus because remember it's the first week of school and just like every other school year it's a little bit chaotic. They're trying to figure out how many students were on the bus. I have been going back and forth with the public information officer this morning to try to figure that out.

Now Martin County is one of 13 districts that have opened this week for in-person instruction. The Florida education commissioner Richard Corcoran made that announcement from the White House yesterday where President Donald Trump praised Florida saying that Florida is doing a great job.

Now his after Corcoran announced from the White House yesterday that by August 31st, 70 percent to 80 percent of all Florida students will be having in-person face-to-face instruction.

[09:05:11]

Now that is assuming that the teacher's union here in Florida are going to lose the ongoing legal battle because there's an ongoing legal battle over the reopening of schools in this state. There is actually a hearing going on right now in Tallahassee.

And Jim and Poppy, this lawsuit was filed on July 20th. And this just shows you how long it has been taking. These teachers are arguing that it is unsafe for children to go back to school and therefore it's unconstitutional. Well, that lawsuit started here in Miami-Dade where I am. The first judge recused himself. The second judge allowed for a change of venue, so now the case is actually in Tallahassee.

We're trying to figure out what's going to happen today in court. This is a status hearing. It's unclear if the needle is actually going to move in this case. But we're going to keep an eye on it and let you know if there's any movement -- Jim and Poppy.

HARLOW: Wow. I can't believe it's going through all of that, slowing down in the courts just to get an answer.

Rosa, we appreciate your reporting as always.

What about sports? College sports. Right now the NCAA is holding a briefing with the Infectious Diseases Society of America. They're going over their COVID-19 guidance for student athletes and fans.

SCIUTTO: So there's a split among the conferences. Some of the colleges' biggest conferences, they're opting out. Some are opting in. What does that all mean? How are they making their decisions?

Joining us now CNN sports correspondent Andy Scholes.

You know, the doctor for the NCAA made a smart point here, you know, in this discussion. He said, you know, in April when we were talking about opening up again, that was presuming the country had gotten this under control and cases were on a downward trend which is, you know, as the facts show, not the case. How does that affect the debate?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and that's right, Jim. And so, Jim and Poppy, the Infectious Diseases Society for America, they basically -- you know, they put all the facts on the table for these conferences and then it's up to those individual conferences to assess the risk with their own medical experts and one of the doctors on this panel, he kind of laid it out perfectly when it comes to the risk.

He said it's like you're crossing the street and you saw a car coming. Do you run across the street and hope everything goes right, you make it across safely, or do you wait for that car to go by? There's obviously two ways of thinking when it comes to that now and that's exactly how these conferences are approaching it.

Now another doctor on the panel said that she believes that the right call is to not play fall sports right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. COLLEEN KRAFT, EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: I do predict because we've already been seeing it and those that have been very diligent that there will be transmission and they will have to stop their games. And so there's just two different ways to approach it basically. And our -- can you say that the doctors are looking at different data? No, but they're trying different things.

I do -- I do appreciate the idea to just hold and to not do these conferences because that keeps the safety of the athletes at the number one priority.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes, so right now you basically have Big 12, SEC and ACC trying to run across the street and hope nothing goes wrong while you've got the Big 10 and PAC-12 waiting for the car to go by, and the Big 12 of course making that decision yesterday. And this is how college football right now. This is who's playing and who is not playing. Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby, he said that the medical experts told them it wasn't safe, they would stop immediately and he explained the reasoning for moving forward.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB BOWLSBY, BIG 12 COMMISSIONER: Reasonable people can disagree on it, but -- and, you know, the PAC 12 and the Big 10 are seeing much of the same information that we're seeing. But our board believes in our scientists and has come to a conclusion that's different. And so have the leadership of the SEC and the ACC.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right. The NFL and the players association meanwhile agreeing to extend the daily COVID-19 testing for players and coaches through at least September 5th. Five days before the season opener. Originally the daily testing was set to take place just the first two weeks of training camp. According to the union's Web site, 56 players so far have tested positive for the coronavirus since camps opened back in late July.

But, Jim and Poppy, you know, back to college football. I want you guys to just think of the state of Iowa. You've got the Hawkeyes in the Big 10 who won't be playing fall college football. Two hours down the road, you've got Iowa State in the Big 12 who will be playing college football and fall sports. I mean, what sense does that make?

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: Not a lot. But it's a great state, so there's that.

Thanks, Andy. Appreciate it.

SCHOLES: All right.

HARLOW: Let's talk about all this. Dr. Leana Wen is here, emergency room physician and former Baltimore City health commissioner.

[09:10:01]

Good morning to you. Let's start on sports. What would you do if it was up to you?

DR. LEANA WEN, EMERGENCY ROOM PHYSICIAN: Yes, so this is a similar conversation, Poppy, to what we're discussing with schools and jobs. I mean, it's just really difficult to reopen anything when you have high levels of virus across the community. And we know that we are one country and so even though there are parts of the country that are doing well, there are many parts that are actively undergoing surges with increasing number of infections.

And so out of an abundance of caution and knowing that we would almost certainly have to shut down these sports if they were to come back, I think I would hold off for the time being. Recognizing that again the key to controlling the -- or the key to reopening and allowing sports to come back is controlling the levels of infection across the country.

SCIUTTO: OK, to your point then, if you live and work and your kids go to school in a community where the outbreak is under control, I mean, look at the state like New York where the governor said, given their low positivity rates, et cetera, that schools can make the choice to reopen, is that really the decider here? Should that be the decider? If it's under control by certain metrics that the CDC has put out, safe to do it with restrictions, and if it's not it's not? And should it be as simple as that?

WEN: Yes. I do think that there are -- there's a big gray zone in the middle. And so if you have areas that are actively undergoing a surge that have high test positivity rates, Texas, for example, at 25 percent test positivity, you can't reopen schools safely in that environment. On the other hand, you've got places that have very low rates,

Massachusetts, parts of New York, that can potentially reopen as long as they implement the safeguards and guidelines as recommended by the CDC. Most of the country is in that gray zone and that's when the decisions get extremely complex.

HARLOW: Yes.

WEN: And I think that's also why we have to follow these guidelines very carefully and also what to do if outbreaks were to happen.

HARLOW: Just following up on that point, I know you've got two little kids, not totally school age, right? Your oldest is 3, is that right, Doctor?

WEN: That's right.

HARLOW: OK. So I'm sure you read Dr. Sanjay Gupta's op-ed yesterday about why he's not sending his three teenage girls and preteen daughters to school, but that's Georgia where the positivity rate is over 11 percent. If you are in a state like New York which Jim brought up with the positivity rate so much lower than that, I believe below 1 percent right now, what would you do and should masks in schools be mandated? Because the government overnight is just encouraging it, not mandating it.

WEN: Well, the last one or the later question is easy. Absolutely masks should be mandated.

HARLOW: OK.

WEN: If it's something that basic that we can all do to get our kids back, then we should be doing that. It's evidence based, science based, we should be doing it. Otherwise, I would ask the following questions. So number one, is the area that you live in, does it have relatively low levels of community spread? Test positivity, less than 5 percent, cases going consistently down.

Do you have someone in your family who is immunocompromised or otherwise may be at high risk? That would also determine whether you send your kids back. And then what do you do if your kids have been to out on quarantine at the last minute?

Are you going to be able to find daycare and child support for that to occur or is it better to plan in advance and assume that there's going to be virtual school? And then I would also look at what the school is actually doing. Are they implementing the protocols as recommended by the CDC?

SCIUTTO: Good advice. Thank you, Dr. Leana Wen, as always.

WEN: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Still to come this hour, as the pandemic forces nearly another million people to file for first time unemployment last week, the president wants changes made to -- wait for it -- shower heads. HARLOW: Hmm. Also, scientists say it's looking promising for a

coronavirus vaccine. That's great. But here's a question. What if too many people refuse to take it? Anti-vaccine groups have been working hard, spreading lies about the potential vaccine. We've got the facts ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:15:00]

SCIUTTO: New unemployment claims out today fell below 1 million last week for the first time since March still higher than any single week though during the 2008, 2009 financial crisis.

HARLOW: Our chief business correspondent Christine Romans is with us now. Can you -- can you put that into context for us?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes --

HARLOW: They often look it like continuing claims --

ROMANS: Yes --

HARLOW: People have claimed for more than two weeks, is that going down too?

ROMANS: Yes, going down a little bit. But guys, there's two ways to look at this, the direction of the numbers and just the devastating size of the numbers. I never in my career would have thought that 963,000 first-time unemployment benefits would be an improvement, but it is. Two weeks in a row of lower numbers, and you can see they're going in the right direction but from huge levels. The continuing claims, Poppy, that's a number you're talking about, that's about 15.5 million people.

Fifteen and a half million people are getting -- have filed for unemployment benefits for at least two weeks. And when you put in all of the programs, the different state and federal programs for jobless benefits, it's about 28 million people are collecting some sort of government check to make up for lost wages, 28 million. That's an improvement, but every one of those numbers is a family trying to figure out how to balance their budget for the week.

And so we've got to keep it in perspective. Going in the right direction from just devastating levels.

SCIUTTO: OK, the president says he'd eliminate the payroll tax permanently if he's re-elected. Can you remind people what the payroll tax does and is used for and what it means for Social Security?

ROMANS: It funds Social Security and --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

ROMANS: Medicare. We've deferred this tax before and the Treasury Department does have the authority to make a deferral, and we've done that so that people can get a little more money in their paycheck in a crisis. They did it in 2011, for example. And then the money was replenished from general funds. But the president's gone further, guys. He's talking about terminating -- that's his words, terminating the payroll tax.

[09:20:00]

That is a big change and that signals an attempt to fundamentally change how we do Social Security in this country. There's already an attack ad from the Biden campaign and from the Democrats in Florida on this quite frankly, because this is something the seniors really care about. The president is out there, grabbing a hold of the third rail of politics, Social Security. He has said it very clearly, he wants to end how we pay this way of using taxes to pay for Social Security.

And here's why? He wants to put money in people's pockets heading into the election. He has said so, a couple of times now. So the near-term benefit of deferring those taxes and then eliminating them so people have more money in their paycheck, but that raises questions about how you're going to fund Social Security and how you're going to preserve it.

HARLOW: Yes --

SCIUTTO: It does.

HARLOW: He said the opposite, by the way, when he was running on the campaign trail, on the debate stage, I'm not going to touch these entitlements. So there's that. Romans, thanks.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

HARLOW: As Americans face dire health consequences, dire economic predicaments, the administration is focused on cutting water efficiency standards for other things --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

HARLOW: Shower heads? The Energy Department just proposing a roll back of regulations set by Congress in the '90s just after the president complained about them. Joe Johns is at the White House. Clearly a pressing issue in this moment.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: You know, it is -- it's a little bit bizarre and you've got to ask, why are we talking about this right now? But the president's fixation on the issue of the water flow of household fixtures has been very well documented. He's talked about toilets and the water flow there. He's talked about the water flow of dishwashing machines.

And now we're down on the issue of shower heads. And why are we talking about it now? Well, it turns out the Department of Energy has taken it upon itself to propose a new rule that would essentially increase the maximum flow of shower heads, and this comes after the president just last week complained about this issue during a tour of the Whirlpool manufacturing plant in Ohio. Listen to this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You go into a new home, you turn on the faucet, no water comes out. You turn on the shower, if you're like me you can't wash your beautiful hair properly.

(APPLAUSE)

You waste 20 minutes longer. Please come out, the water, it drips, right? You know what I'm talking -- they put restrictors on. I got rid of that, I signed it out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Now, the president claims this is about consumer choice in home appliances, but if you talk to the experts, they say this is a solution in search of a problem because maybe back in the 1990s, when this rule was first put in place, there was a problem with shower heads and some of these other appliances. But since that problem has been resolved.

And even the macro view though is the thing a lot of people have to look at in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Why in the world are we talking about shower heads when the president and the administration have a lot more to do than that? Back to you.

SCIUTTO: So it's about saving water, right? It's about saving water. It's a basic thing. It's like light bulbs. The president attacks efficient light bulbs is about saving electricity. They work just as well. I mean, it's beyond explanation. Joe Johns, thanks very much.

An election amid a pandemic, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris say they can lead America through it better than President Trump. That appears to be a key part of the campaign message. How they plan to address the crisis, what are they proposing specifically? Next.

HARLOW: We are also moments away from the opening bell on Wall Street. We'll see how investors react to those new jobless claims we just talked about. We're also getting new insight on oil's impact on the global recovery. The IEA, which is the International Energy Agency cut its forecast for global oil demand this year by 14,000 barrels a day. They expect global oil consumption to be down 2 percent from what it was at the end of last year.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:25:00]

HARLOW: Happening soon. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris set to meet with public health experts about the coronavirus. This as the pair vows to build a plan to lead America through the pandemic together.

SCIUTTO: Well, Arlette Saenz, she's been covering Biden, she's in Delaware this morning. Arlette, what is that plan? And I know that they've been attacking President Trump's response to the crisis. So how do they distinguish themselves?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris talked about the need to listen to public health experts in the middle of this coronavirus pandemic, and that's something that they will be doing together today here in Wilmington, Delaware.

Later today, they're attending a briefing specifically on COVID-19 with public health experts. We also expect that they will deliver remarks. This coming after the deadliest day of the Summer due to the coronavirus pandemic here in the U.S.

But yesterday, you heard both Biden and Harris go after President Trump for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Being quite critical of the way that he's responded. Take a listen to what they both had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Masking, clear science-based guidance, dramatically scaling up testing. Getting states and local governments the resources they need to open the schools and businesses safely. We can do this.