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Teachers Sound Alarm Over School Reopenings; Biden/Harris Call For Nationwide Mask Mandate. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired August 13, 2020 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:00]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: The president grabbing onto that third rail of politics, proposing changes to Social Security right before an election.

Now, let's be clear. The payroll tax funds Social Security. In 2011, Congress deferred payroll taxes for a time, replacing the funding with general revenues. But that general revenue today just incurred some $3 trillion in debt to fight the pandemic. Ending a dedicated tax source for Social Security would be a major change to a program millions rely on -- Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CN HOST: Christine, thank you.

And Brooke Baldwin continues our coverage right now.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Hi there. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You are watching CNN. Thank you so much for being with me.

Earlier this summer, Joe Biden said that President Trump was -- quote -- "in retreat" when it came to the coronavirus, that the self-styled wartime president had, in Biden's words -- quote -- "surrendered, waved the white flag and left the battlefield" -- end quote.

Well, today, the former vice president and his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris, hope to convince Americans that a Biden administration would take a very different approach, as they took part in a COVID-19 briefing with a group of public health experts.

So, let's start with Arlette Saenz, who was actually in the room. She was at today's event in Wilmington, Delaware.

And, Arlette, it is the second official day for the Biden/Harris team. They're picking off really from where they left off from day one, hammering the president on his response to the pandemic, though, listening to Joe Biden, he was saying, really, it's just about wearing a mask, being responsible. It's about being a patriot.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris choosing that their task at hand for today, it was the coronavirus pandemic, and once again criticizing the president for his response. So they actually sat for a virtual briefing with some public health

experts before their remarks, and then they spoke briefly about the need to wear masks, talking also about vaccines.

And take a listen to a little bit of what both of them had to say just a few moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: This is America. Be a patriot. Protect your fellow citizens. Protect your fellow citizens. Step up. Do the right thing.

Let's institute a mask mandate nationwide.

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), VICE PRESIDENT NOMINEE: That's what real leadership looks like. We just witnessed real leadership, which is Joe Biden said that, as a nation, we should all be wearing a mask for the next three months, because it will save lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now that's something that you have heard Biden consistently talk about, the need to wear masks, to social distance when you're around people and with your friends and in those types of tight situations.

And, yesterday, I also had the chance -- coronavirus has changed the way that people campaign now in this critical election year. And I asked Biden, will you be out on the campaign trail in person with your running mate in the coming months?

And he hedged a little bit. He said, yes, but we're going to -- it's only going to be if the science allows it. And that's something that Biden and now Senator Harris have also gone over, gone back to repeatedly, is that they will be guided by the science and by public health experts.

Now, in that briefing earlier today, I also had the chance to ask a question relating to President Trump's comments today about funding for the U.S. Postal Service and how it's tied to mail-in voting. The former vice president responded to me that it is pure Trump, and he suggested President Trump does not want this election to happen -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Arlette, we will come back to the point about mail-in voting in just a bit, but I want to stay on this three-month mask mandate, hearing that from Joe Biden.

Arlette, thank you.

Dr. Rob Davidson is an emergency room physician.

Dr. Davidson, welcome back.

DR. ROB DAVIDSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, COMMITTEE TO PROTECT MEDICARE: Thanks.

BALDWIN: The battle over COVID, it is spilling over, obviously, into the battle for the White House, right?

So, just to lay it out for everyone, on the one hand, we have this incumbent president who has just said that the virus will disappear and sidelining experts, while adding a pandemic adviser who echoes his nonscientific beliefs, like the fact that -- fact -- not a fact -- that children don't get sick. This is what he keeps putting out there.

On the other hand, as we just saw, you have a challenger and his running mate doing what many experts have urged the Trump White House to do, and that is let the science take the lead.

What is your reaction to Biden and Harris wanting this nationwide mask mandate for the next three months?

DAVIDSON: Well, I think Senator Harris put it perfectly. This is what leadership looks like.

The mandate of masks nationwide -- and they suggested governors should do it, because I don't think they have a lot of faith that the president will do it. But if each governor did it, that would be fine. We could get that national mandate.

It's just such a simple thing, a minor inconvenience for people to wear a mask. And yet the estimates are, up to 40,000 lives could be saved. I can't imagine anything easier.

[15:05:03]

I mean, this president is showing he doesn't want to do the things that are difficult, like using the Defense Production Act for testing, for PPE, like telling people not to go to restaurants, not to go to bars.

But this is something that is just so simple. And I just don't understand it. So, thankfully, we have a leader in waiting that is willing to do that.

BALDWIN: Well, let's get to the president side of this, because, despite more than five million infections now and a death rate that's averaged 1,000 Americans a day for the last 17 days, Trump continues to say things like that we're all going in the right direction.

This is how the nation's top infectious disease expert and White House Coronavirus Task Force member Anthony Fauci sees it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NIAID DIRECTOR: Unless we all pull together to get that down, and we don't have disparities in some states are doing this and some states are doing that, we're going to continue to have this up and down.

So that's the thing that I'm concerned about, because I believe we can, we have it within our power to be able to get that down. Bottom line is, I'm not pleased with how things are going.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Dr. Davidson, he says that we all need to pull together to fight COVID.

But you know that there's been this patchwork response from various states that has sparked surges in some areas, while others are recovering. And, realistically, how does the nation pull together?

DAVIDSON: Well, I mean, it's extremely frustrating working on the front lines, having kids trying to go back to school in a few weeks safely.

I think we listen to Dr. Fauci. He has had 32 years experience over six presidents advising on these types of issues, as one of the foremost experts in the world on this. Dr. Birx is very much messaging along the same lines.

And, unfortunately, our president brought in, like you said, a neuroradiologist, conservative think tank member who echoes that everything the president thinks and tells him what he wants to hear.

So I think people are going to have to take it upon themselves. We're going to have to really lean on governors and have people push up from the ground to their elected leaders, so that we get these mask mandates in place, or at least have the use of mask being so ubiquitous that a mandate wouldn't have to be necessary.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: But you can understand -- but, Dr. Davidson, you can understand the difficulty, the quandary, the question of how we pull together, when we're already so far gone, in a sense, right?

We have been in this thing now for months and months and months. And the idea that all of us saying, OK, across the board, this is how it is--

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: I hear you laugh. But, I mean, literally, is that possible now?

DAVIDSON: Yes, I don't think it's possible. I think that President Trump has broken it, has broken this country at this point for our ability to come together with commonsense measures that can actually save tens of thousands of lives.

I never thought I would say that in my life. But I think that that is true. So those of us who want to follow science need to continue to do that. And, hopefully, we can save some lives of others who don't know along the way as well. That would be a benefit.

BALDWIN: All right. I appreciate your candor, as always.

Dr. Rob Davidson, thank you.

With me now, Aimee Allison, founder and president of She the People, Ana Navarro, CNN political commentator and Biden supporter, and Sophia Nelson, CNN contributor and senior columnist at The Daily Beast, whose latest piece is entitled "Kamala Harris Is a Win For Black Women 244 Years in the Making."

And I want to get to -- I have so much for all of you, but just out of the gate, Sophia, first to you, and we will go round-robin. What did you make of the leadership on this pandemic that we just heard from the former vice president and the senator?

SOPHIA NELSON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Look, I come from a family where I have a mother who's a nurse. So we wear masks in this family.

And I think that what the vice president and Senator Harris outlined is just common sense, like the doctor said. I don't think this should be partisan, Brooke. I think this should be about we, the people, looking out for each other. It's just that simple.

BALDWIN: Ana Navarro, to you.

ANA NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Brooke, I'm sitting in Miami. It's a COVID epicenter. In Florida, we have lost almost 9,000 lives at this point.

It has affected my family. It has affected my extended family. There have been deaths. It has affected my friends. So, for me, it's something we should all be doing, because, if anything, I'd like to err on the side of caution.

When we let our guards down here in Florida, we were hit by a second round that has -- that has brought us to our knees. I am begging people not to politicize this. I have seen the pain and the distress in my own eyes.

BALDWIN: Aimee, what did you think?

AIMEE ALLISON, FOUNDER, SHE THE PEOPLE: I thought the combination of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris standing behind a national mandate was the words of leadership we have not heard for three years.

It was like water for a thirsty woman in the desert. It was like, that's what we need. We need focus our country on what we can do to keep all of us safe, not politicize it, keep it with the science, but also keep it with a sense of responsibility to our fellow citizens here.

[15:10:13]

Everyone else in the country is healthier and safer. It's the kind of thing that we have needed to hear.

BALDWIN: As you say, for three-and-a-half years.

Sophia, back to you, bigger picture on -- we now have this running mate in Senator Kamala Harris. And listening to President Trump, he has basically trotted out his greatest hits when attacking her, right? He's called her mean, he's called her nasty, but he's also-called her angry.

And she hasn't even been the nominee for 48 hours yet, but is this just really about revving up the base and stoking fear in others by invoking the racist, angry black woman trope against the California senator?

NELSON: Well, a couple things.

The great Toni Morrison said once, definitions belong to the definers. What did she mean? It means that Donald Trump and those of his ilk know that if you use the word angry about black women, it sticks, because it's a stereotype that has lasted about us from time immemorial, too strong, too much mouth, too independent, too angry, this, that, that, this.

So he knows that that speaks to, he hopes, our white sisters who maybe stay at home and those suburban housewives he talks about.

But I have got news for him. I don't think they're buying it. And I don't think the rest of us are buying it. Anybody that's watched Kamala Harris know she's not angry in any way, shape or form. Is she tough? Yes. But angry? No.

BALDWIN: So you alluded to your white sisters, right, that Trump had just praised on the same day.

Ana, this is for you. He praised some suburban housewives, saying that they will vote for him. Setting aside the fact that black women also, P.S.., Mr. President, live in the suburbs, the president denigrates women who are political opponents or who want to hold him accountable, but praises those in his corner.

Is it almost as if he's pitting these two groups of women against one another? And do you think the strategy will be successful? Because, after all, let's remind everyone, suburban women lifted Democrats to victory in 2018.

NAVARRO: Look, that's his playbook, divide and conquer.

In 2016, it was all about immigration. Now it's all about race. I'm not going to let the poor people go and move into the suburbs, so you are going to vote for me. Wink, wink, I'm referring to browns and blacks.

But I hope it doesn't work. And one of the things his super PAC is doing, which bothered me tremendously, is trying to pit browns vs. black, trying to pit Latinos vs. blacks and make Latinos feel unseen because he picked an African-American woman.

Well, this Latina celebrates the fact that Joe Biden answered the call of history and picked an incredibly qualified, experienced woman.

And, Brooke, let me just say just about the anger, I know Kamala Harris. Few people have the level of contagious laugh and the dynamic smile that she does. But she also is angry, and she should be angry. I think everybody who lives in America, who's lived here for the last four years should be angry.

If you're not angry at the racial strife, if you're not angry at the mishandling of the pandemic, I'm not sure where you have been for the last 3.5 years.

BALDWIN: And, Aimee, I know you talk about how having a black woman on the ticket was the missing link. But you also said that black women are not stopping at vice president.

Do you think her presence will galvanize other women to speak up in their communities, to run?

ALLISON: Look, we have been organizing not only black women, but Asian American and Latina and indigenous women all over the country. The answer, in a word, is yes.

There's an historic number of women of color who are running for Senate and Congress, as well as down-ballot. And Kamala Harris' presence at the top of the ticket is an indication and an affirmation of our political power.

I have to say, though, for Trump, women of color are his Kryptonite. We saw through him when he was running in 2016 we have been the subject of attacks, Latinas and black women. There's a fancy word for it, misogynoir, which is the specialty that Trump has, the racist and sexist attacks.

He's unleashed another wave of birtherism that we saw, this op-ed in "Newsweek" questioning whether Kamala Harris even belongs. The question -- you know what? I'm sitting in Oakland, California. She was born in my hometown. She is as American -- the American leader that we need right now.

And so, for women of color, we have seen this playbook we know how to respond. And we recognize that Trump is really throwing red meat to his supporters, hoping that racism is going to get them out to the polls.

[15:15:09]

But I'll tell you what. Women of color will do a lot to face the pandemic, unemployment and all the problems to cast our vote in historic numbers. And we have to start by pushing back, and not tolerating one word of the racist and sexist language that we see being leveled against Kamala Harris and the other women of color who are on the ballot in November.

BALDWIN: Yes. No, I just--

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: As you're speaking, I'm thinking -- just quickly, I'm thinking about that special election in Alabama, what was that, a couple years ago, when black women all showed up to turn that seat to a Democrat.

I'm so sorry, Sophia, but I'm out of time. We will all come back, and we will reconvene.

NELSON: OK.

BALDWIN: We have many more miles to go before November 3 and beyond.

Aimee and Ana and Sophia, thank you all so very much.

(CROSSTALK)

NAVARRO: And I hope we keep being nasty and we keep being angry, Brooke.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: Preach, my friend. Preach.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Thank you, ladies.

The current CDC chief breaking with President Trump to deliver a dire warning: This could be the worst fall we have ever seen. We have those details ahead.

And school reopenings are an absolute mess. More than 2,000 students, teachers and staff are now under quarantine, as positive cases appear in schools across several states.

And the president says it out loud. In a bizarre interview, President Trump admits that he does not want more stimulus money to go to the Postal Service, because it will help with mail-in voting. We're going to have a big old conversation about that.

You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:20:56]

BALDWIN: The U.S. just marked another grim milestone in the fight against coronavirus.

For first time since May, the country hit its highest daily number of deaths. Wednesday, there were nearly 1,500 deaths reported. And that is the 17 straight day the U.S. has averaged more than 1,000 deaths per day.

But the average number of new cases is down 11 percent from last week. However, there is some troubling news from the CDC. A former director says that the agency is being handcuffed and -- quote -- "hasn't been allowed to do what it does best" -- quote.

Meantime, the current director is imploring people to follow the recommended safety guidelines, like wearing masks, washing your hands, staying away from crowds, social distance, or else face the consequences come fall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, CDC DIRECTOR: This could be the worst fall from a public health perspective we have ever had. We need to overinvest, get overprepared.

I will say that, in four or five decades of investment, when this -- when the big one came -- and this is not a minor one. This is the greatest public health crisis that hit this nation in a century.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And that warning comes as thousands of students, teachers and staff across five states have been forced to quarantine after their schools reopened and hundreds of people started testing positive for COVID.

And we just heard moments ago in Delaware the Democratic candidate for president, Joe Biden, called for a national mandate on masks for three months.

Now, this whole situation for school administrators is especially troubling in parts of Georgia. Several schools that have just reopened have seen infections jump, which have forced them now to temporarily shut down again. In Cherokee County in Georgia, where schools reopened last week to both in-person and virtual instruction, dozens have tested positive.

And CNN's Nick Valencia is live in Georgia.

And, Nick, you heard from one parent whose child said he doesn't want to die in school?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, a 9-year-old telling their parent, their mother earlier this morning when they were watching our report that they don't want to die in school.

It's really just an example of the feelings of fear among parents in the district. You mentioned the quarantines that are happening across the country, at least 2,000 people all across the U.S. quarantining because of schools reopening.

Just to give you perspective of how bad the problem is in Cherokee County, 1,100 of them are coming from just this one school district alone, and we're already starting to see fallout.

Allison Webb was a teacher, a longtime teacher, up until last week, when she said the reopening plan in Cherokee County put her life in danger. She says she brought this to the attention of the superintendent, who said that there was a long line to replace her. She says she believes that people are catering towards more Republican, conservative beliefs of anti-maskers in the community, and that they're denying the realities and the dangers. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALLISON WEBB, FORMER TEACHER: Unfortunately, instead of listening to scientists and being a brave leader and truly making decisions based on the welfare of his staff, faculty, community and students, he chose to make decisions based on politics in this very red community.

I have 20 years under my belt. I am a Spanish and French teacher, and I'm having to reinvent myself at the age of 44.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: We all know the unemployment numbers. Luckily, Allison Webb was able to find a job. She says she still keeps in contact with her colleagues, Brooke, and the stories that she's relaying are just really troubling, that teachers can count sometimes the amount of students that are wearing masks.

Some students are making fun of teachers for wearing facial coverings. She says there are so many other teachers in the district that feel the same way that she does, but they are scared to speak out, scared of losing their jobs.

Allison Webb says she's being a megaphone for those teachers who can't speak out on their own behalf -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: No, I know parts of Georgia, not wearing a mask is like a badge of honor.

At least so says this dad I'm about to talk to.

Nick Valencia, thank you so much for that and that interview.

VALENCIA: You bet.

BALDWIN: Some Georgia parents are livid over what's happening. And they're speaking out.

Jamie Chambers is a parent from Cherokee County who has a fifth grade daughter going school virtually.

So, Jamie, thank you so much for coming on with me.

[15:25:04]

JAMIE CHAMBERS, PARENT: Thank you for having me.

BALDWIN: Georgia is your home. It's where you were born and raised, where you're raising your kids. But here you are speaking up on national television and in your community, right, on all this school COVID confusion.

What really gets you angry about this?

CHAMBERS: I think it's mainly how preventable this is and kind of the lack of leadership I see all across the board from the federal, state and even the local level.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: How do you mean specifically with your school?

CHAMBERS: Well, it's the fact that they referenced public health agencies and their reopening plans such as the CDC, the Georgia Department of Public Health, the American Academy of Pediatrics, yet the reopening plan ignores the most important measures in those guidelines.

So there's no mandatory masks. There's no real attempt to distance students apart. So they're crammed together in buses. They are four to a desk in a lot of these classrooms for the younger grades or just lots of individual desks, 30 or more in the high school classrooms.

It's just setting us up for failure. And then the consequences have been pretty obvious.

BALDWIN: Do you -- with that vocal opinion, do you feel in the minority? I mean, do you feel like -- are you on -- is there incoming hostility towards you because you're saying, hang on a second, why are they sitting four to a desk, or why are they not being told to wear masks?

What kind of incoming are you on the receiving end of?

CHAMBERS: Oh, yes, I'm getting a ton of negative feedback for being so vocal in becoming essentially like an activist, going against the current decisions of the school board, and being an advocate for our teachers who are afraid to speak up for themselves.

So, yes, I'm getting everything from low-level threats. I had one blackmail attempt on me to try saying that, if I didn't shut up, they would release embarrassing details from my past.

I had one lady actually find out my daughter -- what school she went to, her name, age, school and listed that online.

BALDWIN: Oh, my God.

CHAMBERS: It's been a lot.

There's been entire hate mobs on the Internet. I had to change all of my social media settings to block out a lot of that.

BALDWIN: Yes, here you are talking to me, with a few people listening and watching you.

CHAMBERS: Yes.

BALDWIN: Why -- and let me add another layer for people who don't know. This is also personal for you, not just because of everything you're dealing with the schooling and your fifth grade daughter, but because your stepdad and mom are very sick.

So why are you speaking up? And, also, how are they?

CHAMBERS: Well, the situation with my stepfather and my mom is actually very new. It's only come up within less than a week.

Unfortunately, my stepfather is nearby at Northside Cherokee Hospital and he's currently on a ventilator. We're not -- stable the last time I heard, but we're not sure how he's going to do.

My mom is home. She's sick and not feeling great, but currently not hospitalized.

BALDWIN: Both COVID?

CHAMBERS: Definitely COVID, for sure, for my stepfather. My mother, we couldn't get her test until this afternoon. It actually may be happening while we're on the air right now.

BALDWIN: So, just quickly, why risk it? Why come on national TV and speak up about this?

CHAMBERS: I think possibly because of several things in my background and the fact that I guess because I was very well-traveled earlier in my career. I spent a lot of time in Italy. I have a lot of friends in New York.

So that, while people down here in Georgia weren't taking things very seriously, I was talking to friends who were going through a true nightmare scenario. So, I saw how very real this was. And then, following things, I have an older daughter who is immunocompromised. She's a leukemia survivor.

So I was very conscious of keeping her safe and understanding that lots of families around here have a vulnerable member, whether it's someone who's elderly, someone who is diabetic or another cancer survivor.

And so it's -- to me, I think the conversation overemphasizes the danger to children, because, for one thing, children are not the only ones who work in a school. There's teachers, there's staff. And everyone who enters those buildings, they have families to go home to.

And they have a community that they're a part of.

BALDWIN: I will still never forget. I talked to a teacher wrote an op-ed for "The New York Times."

And she said, listen, in this era of school shootings, I am stepping in that classroom every day saying, I will take a bullet for my children, but I will not take this COVID bullet home to my family.

And that's just been etched in my mind ever since we spoke.

Listen, I appreciate you speaking up. Sending prayers, well-wishes, all the good, health your way and to your family through all of this.

CHAMBERS: Thank you. BALDWIN: Jamie Chambers, I appreciate you.

CHAMBERS: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: You got it.

A bizarre interview with a blatant admission. President Trump says he doesn't want more stimulus money to go to the Postal Service because he knows it will help expand mail-in voting.

That's next.

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