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CDC Doctors Warning: Prepare For "The Worst Fall We've Ever Had"; U.S. Eclipses 5.2 Million Total Coronavirus Cases; Doctors Warn Of Lifetime Of Worse Health Outcomes If Kids Don't Go Back To School; Sarah Palin: Harris Is In "Better Position" Than Past Female VP; President Donald Trump: Democrats Want Money In Stimulus For "Universal Mail-In Ballots". Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired August 13, 2020 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Hello, everybody. I'm John King in Washington. Thank you for sharing this important with news day with us. Last hour, a big peace announcement announced in the Oval Office, Israel and the United Arab Emirates now normalizing relations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: After 49 years, Israel and the United Arab Emirates will normalize their relations. Now that the ice has been broken, I expect more Arab and Muslim countries will follow the United Arab Emirates' lead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: That is very hopeful news on the world stage as the globe is staring down the Coronavirus monster. Here in the United States a choice today between the president and science, between the president and fact and between the president and simple math.

Unprepared, this is the candid take of Head of the Centers for the Disease Control, Dr. Robert Redfield calls the novel Coronavirus "The greatest public health crisis in a century" now the CDC Director says Americans must brace for the months ahead, a collision of the Coronavirus and the flu but he warns might be the worst fall ever from a public health perspective, the president? Well, very different tone. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're still in the pandemic which will be going away as I say it will be going away they scream how can you say that? I said, because it's going to be going away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: But science and the numbers tell us the truth. Serve seven months in about the continuing Coronavirus threat and disruption. The jobs devastation, massive 963,000 first-time unemployment claims filed last week. Yes, that weekly number is under the 1 million thresholds for the first time in 5 months, but it is still depressing.

So as this, 1,499 Americans were killed by the virus on Wednesday, that is a summer high and marks the deadliest day since May 27th. The U.S. case count now more than 5.2 million, nearly 56,000 new infections recorded nationwide yesterday.

The seven-day average, that's the red line, you see it that seven-day average of cases is down from last week but the pace at which the case count is leveling off has slowed somewhat. That is one trouble sign.

This is another. Look at the testing levels over two weeks. 850,000 plus COVID-19 tests back on July 29th. This Tuesday, that number down to 739,000, that's a 13 percent decline. The scientists agree, fast and widespread testing is only way to navigate the crisis to get people back to work and to get and keep schools open. But the president sees politics at play not a policy or a science challenge for him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I want to get the schools open. They should be open the children if you look statistically it's incredible how strong they are. We have to get our schools we have to get our country open and a lot of reason it's happening is because blue state Governors if you take look at some of the Democrat Governors they don't want their state open because they think that hurts me on November 3rd and I think people are wise to it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: More on that in a bit but let's take a look at the facts, the numbers and the trends. We look at the state map here, the state trend of cases 50 states, 50 plans in the reopening. Seven states right now this is relatively stable throughout the week.

Seven states trending up, meaning they're reporting more cases right now than they were a week ago. California which had been stable or going down is back heading up. Remember California was one of the big drivers of the summer surge.

Texas another driver down, Arizona another driver down and Florida holding steady 22 states that's the beige like Florida holding steady. 21 states heading down, seven states heading up in terms of case count we just showed you around 50,000 still a little higher than that still stubbornly high baseline.

We'll see how it goes. The death trend map, this is the map of pain and sadness. 19 states reporting more deaths this week compared to a week ago. 13 states, that's the beige holding steady Texas and California among those.

18 states reporting fewer deaths this week compared to last week's data Florida is among those. This map again we hope this map improves but first the case count map has to improve. Summer high in deaths look at this just shy of 1,500 yesterday. That's the highest since way back May 27th and you see these lines here.

This is the thousand lines in shade right there and show you this way. 17 times, 17 times in the past month we have reported more than 1,000 deaths of American citizens to the Coronavirus in the single day 17 times over a month.

Now the case count is getting somewhat better but this is a trouble sign. 36 states reporting high positivity rates that mean people are getting Coronavirus tests, the positivity rate percentage in those states up from the week before. 36 states up. That tells you there's still more virus out there and why listen to Robert Redfield. He is the doctor who runs the Centers for Disease Control. He says wear your mask, keep your distance or else.

[12:05:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: I'm asking you to do four simple things. Wear a mask, social distance, wash your hands and be smart about crowds. It will bring this outbreak down. But if we don't do that, as I said last April, this could be the worst fall from a public health perspective we have ever had. We need to overinvest, get over prepared.

I will say that four or five decades of investment when the big one came and this is not a little one. This is the greatest public health crisis of this nation in the century that we were underprepared.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Joining us now the Chief of Pediatric Medicine and Director of the UCLA Center on Excellence in Maternal and Child Health Dr. Alice Kuo and the Former White House Physician and now the Medical Director for the World Clinic Dr. William Lang.

Doctor Kuo, I want to start with you. As you listen to Dr. Redfield there again repeating the common sense wear your mask, keep social distance but it is the or else part that scares me a bit. He says we could have the worst fall from a public health perspective in American history. What would that mean?

DR. ALICE KUO, CHIEF OF MEDICINE-PEDIATRICS, UCLA: Well, I think that in general in the fall we see viruses like the flu go around and before we had Coronavirus, influenza sent many people to the hospital and killed many people including children and so I think there is a genuine concern that with influenza and Coronavirus that this fall could be pretty bad.

KING: So, Dr. Lang, I want you to listen to the president. Every day I try to go through the data. What's the case count? Is it leveling off? Is it going down? What's the positivity rate? Are states testing more or they testing less? The president sees the case count and listen to him here he says don't focus on that number.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: The number of cases is not by any means the most important metric; far more important is who the virus is infecting. That's why our strategy and attention are focused on preventing the cases that are most likely to require hospitalization or result in death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: I get to a degree what he is trying to say. I would say as a layperson if you don't have cases then you can't have hospitalizations then you won't have deaths so all cases matter. More you can prevent a fewer hospitalization and a fewer deaths.

But the president is trying to say we're focusing on - we're trying to keep people who would die if they got the Coronavirus from getting it. But look the number speak a story, 17 times in the last month the United States has reported more than 1,000 daily deaths, 17 times over the last month. Is that a successful strategy?

DR. WILLIAM LANG, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PHYSICIAN: No. But what we see is demographics of this are changing. As the president said we're still having this persistently high case rate, but the death rate is not paralleling that that's because we're effectively not perfectly but are effectively preventing the cases in the more at-risk population.

So, our numbers go up but we don't see the deaths. And the other big thing going back to what you said early on is what happens when we super impose COVID-19 and flu? There is some positive way to look at that.

If you go to Australia, Australia right this week, these weeks right around here is at the peak of their flu season. The average flu season they see 10,000 to 11,000 cases per week in the surveillance system. The number they're seeing this year approximates zero.

Similar statistics in New Zealand where they were also right at the peak of their flu season and have similar surveillance systems. If we can do the things that we need to do to prevent COVID, just the four things that Dr. Redfield said we are going to be able to prevent flu, be able to prevent that horrendous, very scary, combination of flu and COVID. But the people of the United States need to do those four things.

KING: I certainly hope you're right and I certainly hope people listen to you and Dr. Redfield. Dr. Kuo you write something quite interesting and I agree with you in theory about getting kids in back into school because of the side effects of not having them in school.

You write this the absence from consistent school has probably led to 1 out of every 3 elementary students losing skills in reading and writing. We are putting an entire generation of children at risk for a lifetime of worse health outcomes. And our economy can't stabilize with parents stressed and stretched thin.

It is time to safely and cautiously get students back into school. Their future health is at stake. I could not agree with you more that it is critical to get children into school. Are you convinced that states are doing enough; local school districts are doing enough? Whether it's preparing the schools? Whether it is driving down the positivity rate? Whether it is scaling up testing? Or is that just a goal still not an achievable reality at this moment?

[12:10:00]

DR. KUO: Well, I think it is achievable as was said before if we all do our part, right? So the number one thing that needs to happen is that community transmission needs to go down. And everybody needs to do their part in order to have that be the case.

Now, once the case rates are low enough to consider safely reopening schools, then we do have a number of strategies that can help keep transmission from happening in the school setting. So these include what was already discussed before, universal masking, physical distancing, good hand hygiene and then enough testing, right?

So obviously the third thing that really needs to happen is resources. Schools need resources. They can't do it on the current budgets that they have, especially public-school districts but there needs to be more resources and more attention paid to reopening schools and a priority of that in our society.

Maybe even over some other business sectors. I know that's controversial but obviously I'm biased, but I would say that schools are very important to open.

KING: All right, putting children first should not be controversial. I understand the economic factors we'll continue that conversation. Dr. Kuo and Dr. Lang I very much appreciate your expertise and insights today and we will continue the conversation this will be with us for quite some time.

Up next us, team Biden tries to create a stark distinction between the current president's handling of the pandemic and what they would do? What the Democrats would do, if elected?

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[12:15:00]

KING: A Coronavirus contrast is the day two focus of the Biden/Harris Democratic ticket. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will hold an event any moment after getting a briefing from the campaign's public health experts. It is a deliberate effort to offer a contrast to the president's take and the President's actions on the Coronavirus pandemic. That strategy very clear as the former vice president introduced Senator Harris as his partner yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESUMPTIVE DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The Joe Biden and Kamala Harris administration will have a comprehensive plan to meet the challenge of COVID-19 and turn the corner on this pandemic.

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA): We're reeling from the worst public health crisis in a century. The president's mismanagement of the pandemic has plunged us into the worst economic crisis since the great depression.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: With us now Lisa Lerer National Political Reporter for "The New York Times." Lisa, it is an interesting moment. We know that Coronavirus is issue number one, issue number two and issue number three in the Presidential Campaign.

The Biden/Harris team happy with yesterday's rollout and the decision to come at this a second day, get your own Coronavirus Task Force briefing if you will and then come out and make a presentation. They believe that this, what? Frames the choice for voters.

LISA LERER, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Yes. That's exactly right. Not only does it frame the choice for voters between what they would like to present as a ticket that's taking action that sees an expanded federal response that there's more the government can do to deal with this pandemic.

They also think it helps make the case that really Biden has been making since the beginning of his primary campaign against President Donald Trump which is that he's unfit both in terms of his abilities but also in terms of president's morals and his ethics in the job so they see a great opportunity to drive a contrast and frankly seems almost like no-brainer.

As you point out this is the only issue in Americans' lives, this is a dominant issue not only in the election but in everyone's day-to-day lives.

KING: And at the moment they have the advantage. This is just one poll, but you see the president's national poll numbers are very similar to this. This is from Wisconsin. Marquette University, do you approve or disapprove of the president's handling of the Coronavirus?

4 in 10 Wisconsin voters say they approve nearly 6 in 10 58 percent say they disapprove. Again, you see these similar numbers in other battleground states. Lisa, you see them in the national polls. I guess my question is, we could see a bit of this yesterday. The Democrats say they would have better experts. The Democrats say they would put the government on a war footing to deal with this.

Another point they seem to be trying to make yesterday is that they understand struggle and that they have more empathy than the president and the current vice president.

LERER: I think that's right, and you know one member that you of course know that we often look at is who understands the concerns of people like you. And that's something that I think Democrats are really trying to push, that they understand the struggles that Americans are going through.

The economic struggles, the health struggles and that they have this level of empathy for what the country is dealing with and that matters, too. That's not just the experts but whether you feel it in your bones as Joe Biden would probably put it matters to voters. KING: Well, interesting on your take. This is advice so recommendations or guidance to Senator Harris from somebody who has been a trailblazer in her own rights Sarah Palin Former Republican Governor of Alaska. John McCain's running mate choice back in 2008 as vice president she didn't think she was treated fairly. Here's her take on Senator Harris.

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SARAH PALIN, FORMER REPUBLICAN VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I think she's in a better position in terms of what to expect than I or Geraldine Ferraro back in the day because again you know people have come before her, treat her fairly but at the same time no kid gloves. You know? The American voter wants to know that we have the most capable people running.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: We're back in a debate that we lived through with the Palin's candidacy. She mentioned Geraldine Ferraro back in the 1980s. And we of course, she didn't mention we live through it in 2016 with Hillary Clinton.

How's a woman candidate in this case the vice presidency not the presidency like four years ago and with Harris she would be the first black woman, first Indian American woman - Indian/American heritage as well, parents from Jamaica. What is the impact of that as Harris starts this journey?

[12:20:00]

LERER: Well, I do think Sarah Palin has a point in that the dynamics of this have shifted dramatically since she ran and since Hillary Clinton first ran for the presidency of course the same year and that there were so much more awareness of sexism and what sexist and racist attacks look like?

So, I think people are much more on guard for those kinds of lines of attack. Doesn't mean they're not happening, right? And we have already seen how deeply personal the attacks on Senator Harris have been from the get-go.

The other thing that's really struck me about the Trump Campaign's response to Senator Harris is that they don't really have a clear narrative for her. They're sort of ricocheting between a saying that she is cop, but she is also a liberal radical.

And so, some of it is just resorting to these personal attacks because they haven't been able to frame her which really is striking given how long she's been on the presidential stage. Of course, she ran for President in the primary they certainly had time to prepare to go after her but it doesn't seem like the line of attack from Republicans is very clear.

KING: I think they're still trying to figure that out enter if anybody watching. Lisa's newsletter on that point the other night worth reading, go to "The New York Times" and pick it up, Lisa Lerer I appreciate your insights today. We'll continue this conversation.

Little personal foot notes here, I interviewed Senator Harris during a visit to Iowa last year. And at that event I had the great pleasure to meet and spend some time chatting with - Norah Turner a mother and daughter who were big Harris supporters. Norah made such an impression on the candidate she got a role in the Harris Campaign ad --.

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NORAH TURNER, SUPPORTED HARRIS' PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: I went to an event and Kamala Harris was there and I decided to ask her for some tips on running for Vice President of Student Council.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Senator Harris spent all the time in the world with her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: So we decided to circle back and ask what does it mean to see Harris now tapped for the number two spot on the Democratic ticket.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TURNER: Personally I find it really empowering that Kamala is nominated to the second highest office because other young girls like me can look up and see, oh, someone like me has been here and I can do that and even go further.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: It's a great family, great to see you both from afar again. See you soon, I hope. Ahead, President Trump admits he is refusing to fund the U.S. Postal Service. He says, no more money, no more mail-in voting.

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[12:25:00]

KING: Voter suppression plain and simple. That is the take of Colorado Secretary of State today after some remarkable comments from President Trump. Listen.

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TRUMP: They want $3.5 billion for the mail-in votes. Okay? Universal mail-in ballots. They want $25 billion for the post office. If we don't make a deal that means they don't get the money that means they can't have universal mail-in voting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: So let's walk through that. The president says universal mail-in voting can't be done no money for it unless the post office gets more resources. He is right and he correctly notes that post office can't get that money if he refuses to cut a new Coronavirus spending deal with the Democrats.

But the president is incorrect when he says Democrats came up with that $25 billion request. The House Speaker Nancy Pelosi noting this morning that number actually came from the Postal Service Board of Governors all appointed by President Trump.

CNN White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins joins us live from the White House. Kaitlan, pretty candid comments from the president there, can't have more mail-in voting if the post office doesn't get more money and I'm not in the mood to give more money.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yep. He has been making this argument John indirectly and now we're seeing the president do so, and about the plainest terms that you are going to see the president say this.

Saying explicitly visits the reason he is blocking this funding not only the funding for more election resources but also that $25 billion for the Postal Service which desperately needs that money. We should note and he says it is strictly because Democrats want to expand mail- in voting and he doesn't want that to happen.

He is explicitly linking the two and saying that's the reason he is blocking this and Democrats are pushing back on what the president is saying. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had something to say about it earlier this morning.

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REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): They did not really ever like the Postal Service because they always want to find a way to make money off of something and they want to privatize. But now at a time of a pandemic you would think they'd have a little sensitivity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: So what she appeared to be referring to there is how the Postal Service delivers a lot of prescriptions in the mail of course that is important at a time during the pandemic when people don't are not wanting to leave their homes as much as they were before.

But it's not just Pelosi that is criticizing the president for his remarks. The Former Vice President Joe Biden is as well, he says this is what he believes basically John an assault on democracy.

KING: And so Kaitlan, the president's also - he wants a payroll tax cut holiday now and he say if he wins re-election he'd like to cut the payroll tax. How does that square with the president's promise to never touch social security?

COLLINS: It doesn't seem to. This is one of those things where it depends on who you're listening to. Here at the White House, what you are hearing? Because Larry Kudlow is one of the president's top economic advisers he was there in the briefing yesterday.

And on Sunday he said that the president did not want to eliminate the payroll tax cut permanently if he reelected. He just meant that this deferral that right now that the president signed in this memo would be forgiven at the end of the year.

Of course, Congress would play a role in that, but the president repeated what he said again yesterday. If he is reelected, he wants to make the payroll tax cut permanent.