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Robert Trump, Younger Brother Of President Trump, Dies At 71; WHO Reports Record Number Of New Coronavirus Infections; CDC Acknowledges Kids Do Spread COVID-19; Trump Shifts Blame To Democrats For USPS Problems; Biden And Harris Prepare For Democratic National Convention; Protests Continue In Belarus; France Steps Up Efforts To Fight COVID-19; Japan Struggles To Keep COVID-19 Numbers Down Without Lockdown; Duke Researchers Find Best Masks. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired August 16, 2020 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Condolences pouring in for U.S. president Donald Trump. His younger brother, Robert, died after being sick for months.
Also this hour, students return to schools. Around the world top experts weigh in on how the coronavirus may affect children.
And Democrats in Congress floating the possibility of cutting their summer recess short to deal with the growing controversy over mail-in ballots in this year's presidential election.
Coming to you live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Natalie Allen and this is CNN NEWSROOM.
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ALLEN: And thank you for joining us.
Our top story: U.S. president Donald Trump is mourning the loss of a man he called his best friend, his younger brother, Robert Trump. President Trump visited his brother there Friday as he headed to New Jersey over the weekend. Here is what he said at a White House news briefing that day.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have a wonderful brother. We've had a great relationship for a long time from day one. It's a long time ago. And he's in the hospital right now and hopefully he'll be all right. But he's pretty -- he's having a hard time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: CNN's Kristen Holmes is traveling with the president. Here is her report from New Jersey. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Trump's younger brother, Robert Trump, passing away late Saturday night, a night after President Trump had gone on an impromptu visit to New York City.
The press had known he was going to New Jersey at the last minute. They told us he was going to a hospital in New York to visit his brother, Robert. We had known he had been seriously ill but not clear what illness he had. He had been in and out of the hospital since the spring.
The White House issued a statement on behalf of President Trump. It is clearly an emotional and sentimental statement here.
It says, "It is with heavy heart I share that my wonderful brother, Robert, peacefully passed away tonight. He was not just my brother, he was my best friend. He will be greatly missed but we will meet again. His memory will live on in my heart forever. Robert, I love you. Rest in peace," the president said.
Clearly there, you can see the strength of their relationship. The president said on numerous occasions that Robert supported his candidacy for president 1,000 percent.
Again, it is unclear exactly what the illness is that Robert Trump passed from. We are waiting to hear more information from the White House. It is, again, his younger brother, who had been ill since around the spring, passed away late Saturday night -- Kristen Holmes, CNN, traveling with the president in Bridgewater, New Jersey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: Some of the president's children are tweeting about their family's loss.
Ivanka Trump wrote, "Uncle Robert, we love you. You are in our hearts and prayers, always."
Sources tell CNN President Trump is expected to attend his brother's funeral. We are told the president personally dictated the White House statement about his brother.
We turn now to the battle against the coronavirus and evidence that the world is still losing ground. The World Health Organization has received reports of a record number of new cases in a 24-hour period, more than 294,000.
The figures from the U.S. are just as grim. More than 1,000 deaths reported for the fourth straight day. That brings the death toll to more than 169,000.
Right here in the hard-hit state of Georgia, the governor is now letting cities impose mask mandates with some restrictions. He says they cannot be enforced on private property or at polling places and they cannot fine businesses or violators more than $50. President Trump took issue with comments on the COVID crisis from one
of his administration's top health officials.
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ALLEN: Dr. Robert Redfield, director for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC, warned recently that public health this fall in the U.S. could be one of the worst in American history if people don't follow health safety guidelines.
The president answered on Saturday by invoking the Spanish flu epidemic in 1918-19. Here is his comment but it is important to know that experts estimate 50 million people died in that epidemic, not what you are about to hear Mr. Trump say.
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TRUMP: No, I mean, you can't compare it to 1917, that was incredible. That was -- that was the worst ever by far. That was -- you look at -- they lost possibly 100 million people. No, I don't agree with that but if you look at these numbers, they are coming down very substantially.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: The CDC also warns COVID-19 cases in children in the U.S. are steadily increasing. That is frightening news for parents who may be trying to decide what to do about school.
Cristina Alesci has more on what top experts are saying about how the virus is impacting children.
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CRISTINA ALESCI, CNNMONEY CORRESPONDENT: That's right, new CDC guidelines that parents might want to consider as they weigh whether or not to send their children back to school this fall.
The CDC now acknowledging children do transmit the virus in places like homes and summer camps. The CDC also noting the number of cases among children is rising: now 7.3 percent of all COVID-19 cases are among children. That is up considerably since CDC's last guidance, which was at 2 percent for children with COVID.
Also the CDC noting that the lower rates in children could be attributable to school closures in the early part of the pandemic and that's why it was lower for children.
Now given the new guidance, it is entirely appropriate to be questioning public officials, including governors and mayors, who have put forth plans to reopen schools or allow them to reopen.
In New York, particularly, the governor last week announced the fact that schools can reopen here. We have reached out to the governor here to see if these new CDC guidelines factor into the decision or change the plan at all. We have not heard back from them. But educators here in New York City, the largest school district in
the country, now expressing a lot of unease about schools opening here and whether they have the right precautions and the right equipment to deal with the large influx of students, who would be coming back to school here.
But for now, at least as far as New York is concerned, it looks like full speed ahead on school reopenings -- back to you.
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ALLEN: Amid the pandemic, President Trump continues to attack mail-in voting. During a Saturday news conference, he repeated the unproven claims that an election held largely by mail won't be fair or legitimate.
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TRUMP: We are going to have an election that takes place on a beautiful day, November 3rd. And usually at the end of the evening, they say Donald Trump has won the election. Donald Trump is your new president.
Whatever they say, you know what, you are not going to know this possibly if you really did it right for months or for years because these ballots are all going to be lost. They're going to be gone.
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ALLEN: House Democrats are considering cutting their summer recess short to deal with the growing controversy. The newly installed postmaster general and Republican donor, Louis DeJoy, has been criticized for changes he recently implemented.
Some postal workers say the changes have slowed down mail service by eliminating working hours and removing hundreds of sorting machines. CNN confirmed that the inspector general is reviewing the changes as well as DeJoy's ethics compliance.
On Saturday, Bernie Sanders tweeted this.
"The postmaster general must resign immediately."
Meantime, congressional Democrats are speaking out about the impact on voters.
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REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-S.C.), MAJORITY WHIP: I never thought that I would live to see the United States of America tolerate a tyrant who seems to just trample upon our Constitution.
John Lewis would be so disappointed that he gave -- nearly gave his life to get the vote for people of color and to watch complicity of the Republicans in holding on to this kind of shenanigans is just beyond me. (END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: So the Postal Service finds itself in the middle of a political controversy. And it's warning of delivery delays to come.
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ALLEN: Here is CNN's Sarah Westwood with more about it.
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SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump on Saturday continued to cast doubt on the reliability of mail-in voting, despite experts repeatedly saying that widespread voter fraud in the U.S. is exceedingly rare.
Many states have relied on mail-in voting to varying degrees for years. Although the postmaster general Louis DeJoy has made changes to the post office operations, that critics say will hamper its ability to deliver mail-in ballots at the volume expected in November, the president praised his efforts.
He also sought to draw a distinction between absentee voting and mail- in voting.
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TRUMP: Louis is working hard. As you know, the Democrats aren't approving the proper funding for postal and the proper funding for this ridiculous thing they want to do, which is all mail-in voting, universal, you could call it, mail-in voting.
Again absentee voting is great. I'm an absentee voter. I requested and got it and sent in my vote. That's what we've had. Now they want to send in millions and millions of ballots and you see what's happening. They're being lost. They're being discarded. They're finding them in piles. It's going to be a catastrophe.
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WESTWOOD: And the president recently requested his own absentee ballot. But the distinction between absentee voting and mail-in voting is not black and white. And in fact the lines between them are pretty blurred.
Both are conducted in much the same way. Their ballots are delivered through the mail and only nine states and the District of Columbia are doing what the president was warning about, which is mailing every voter a ballot.
In most states, people will still have to request a ballot in order to vote. The president also is exploiting the likelihood that the election result may not be entirely clear on Election Night because it does take longer to count mail-in votes.
The president tweeted Saturday morning, "The Democrats know the 2020 election will be a fraudulent mess. We'll maybe never know who won."
Meanwhile, the Postal Service in late July warned 46 states and the District of Columbia, that their election laws are incompatible with the Postal Service operations.
For example, they said some of the deadlines that states have set for requesting and turning in their ballots just doesn't leave the Postal Service enough time to get those ballots delivered -- Sarah Westwood, CNN, Washington.
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ALLEN: Meantime, President Trump's challengers are preparing for the Democratic national convention in the coming days. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are getting ready to accept their party's nominations. As CNN's Jessica Dean tells us, Harris is bringing a lot of new energy and attention to the campaign.
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JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Newly minted vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris giving her first interview since that announcement was made earlier this week.
And in that virtual interview, Harris praising her running mate, Joe Biden, for having what she calls "the audacity to put a Black woman on the ticket" with him, going also into the policies that they hope to put in place but continuing to go back to Joe Biden, really playing that traditional role as the vice presidential candidate and elevating the person at the top of the ticket, in this case, that being Joe Biden.
Harris also continues to fuel an incredible fundraising boost for the Biden campaign. They announced they've raised $48 million over the two days after her announcement, which is just a shocking number, considering that, earlier on the campaign cycle, Biden wasn't raising that in a whole quarter of fundraising. They're raising that in 48 hours.
We are told that both Harris and Biden will be delivering their nomination acceptance speeches right here in Wilmington, Delaware, when the Democratic convention happens next week.
But until then, it's a pretty quiet weekend here in Delaware, as Harris and Biden prepare -- Jessica Dean, CNN, Wilmington, Delaware.
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ALLEN: President Trump had another chance Saturday to denounce the birther conspiracy theory about Senator Harris. He said he could stop pursuing it and he did not dismiss it, either. He continued to praise a controversial professor who wrote an opinion piece for "Newsweek," questioning Harris's eligibility.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: I have nothing to do with that. I read something about it and I will say that he is a brilliant lawyer. I guess he wrote an article about it.
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TRUMP: So I know nothing about it but it's not something that bothers me.
QUESTION: But, sir, when you do that, it creates --
TRUMP: Why do you say that?
I just don't know about it. But it's not something that we will be pursuing. Let me be -- let me put it differently. don't tell me what I know. Let me put it differently. Let me put it differently. To me, it doesn't bother me, at all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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ALLEN: Let's talk politics with Natasha Lindstaedt, professor of government at University of Essex. She's coming to us from Colchester, England, to talk about what is going on here.
Good morning to you.
NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: Good morning.
ALLEN: First up, I want to begin with the virtual Democratic convention, which begins Monday.
What do you expect from Team Biden and Harris in the uncertain times in the country's history?
Can they generate excitement without an audience?
Do you think they will reach out to disenchanted Trump supporters?
LINDSTAEDT: Right, well, I think with the upcoming convention, usually it's about highlighting rising stars, energizing the party and trying to make the case to the wider American public.
I think the convention will be unusual in that it will be more about the latter two things, really motivating and energizing the Democratic base but trying to make the case to the American public that the U.S. cannot handle another four years under Trump, that the U.S. is facing imminent disaster.
And it's really Biden and Harris that can pull the U.S. out of this mess, in particular because of the incredibly high unemployment rates and the mass spread of the virus. They are going to be trying to make a case about what policies they need to pursue to help Americans and they are the team that can do so. ALLEN: Kamala Harris, as the V.P. candidate, has generated much
excitement from Democrats.
What does she bring to the ticket for Joe Biden?
What will you be listening for from her?
LINDSTAEDT: Well, I think the choice was about trying to get energy to the campaign. And she has definitely done that. We are seeing early polls, the most recent Axios poll, showed that she is helping Biden.
Normally a V.P. pick doesn't really help much. But it looks like she is doing well with both wings of the Democratic Party, with Hispanics and African American voters and even independents.
She doesn't make much of a dent with younger people. She didn't do well with those who are 65 and older and not with whites in general. But she does seem to give a lot of energy, as we're seeing with all this campaign funding coming in.
And she really puts a contrast with Biden, who some think is very old and needs youth, needs someone who is young and also very capable. She is showing that and she will be a very effective surrogate for Biden on the campaign trail, fighting for what she thinks he is going to add to the presidency.
And I think it's about trying to appeal to a key demographic, an African American demographic. This a key base in the Democratic Party. And in 2008 and 2012, 66 percent of African Americans came out to vote when Obama was on the presidential ticket.
This compares with 2004 and 2016, only 60 percent. And some said this had a big impact in affecting Hillary Clinton's chances for winning. But it's also more about demonstrating that Biden can pick someone who challenges him, who will criticize him.
She showed that early on in some of those Democratic debates. And by choosing Kamala Harris, he is demonstrating that he is willing to have people surround him who don't always agree with him.
ALLEN: Natasha Lindstaedt, we always appreciate your insights. Thanks for joining us.
LINDSTAEDT: Thanks for having me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: CNN will bring you live coverage of this year's all digital Democratic National Convention. It starts Monday, 8:00 pm Eastern time and on Monday, August 24th, we will be covering the Republican National Convention. Of course you can check out our daily coverage of the race for the White House at cnn.com.
Next here, protesters in Belarus are not giving up their fight. They are demanding the country's president step down. CNN Fred Pleitgen is there to tell us what they are risking.
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ALLEN (voice-over): This is just outside of Atlanta here in Stone Mountain, Georgia, opposing groups of protesters facing off Saturday.
One group, right-wing demonstrators, many holding Confederate flags; the other, a larger group of anti-fascist counterprotesters. Local news reports that protesters on both sides were armed. They were in Stone Mountain, the suburb that's home to the largest Confederate monument in the U.S. Police say there were some scuffles but no one was seriously injured or arrested.
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ALLEN: Now we turn to Belarus. The president doesn't want foreign mediation to calm the protests, saying he won't give up the country to anyone. But he has reached out to Russian president Vladimir Putin.
It started after a highly contested presidential election. Tens of thousands of people have risked arrest, violence and even alleged torture to demand Alexander Lukashenko to step down. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more from Minsk.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Protests by the opposition here in Belarus are continuing to swell over the weekend. If we pan over here, we can see this is Pushkin Square, one of the main streets leading into the center Minsk, the capital of Belarus.
There are literally thousands of people here. The way they protest, they stand at the side of the street, their flags out, many holding flowers in the air. The motorists come by and honk their horns in support of the opposition.
Obviously, in this country, which is one of the most oppressive in the world, this is something that takes a great deal of courage. There are many people who were arrested here in this country ever since the demonstrations started last Sunday after the election here.
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PLEITGEN: Thousands of people were arrested. Many of them were beaten while in detention. People telling us of torture while they were in detention, also people were paraded and humiliated on staged TV. Nevertheless, the folks here are still coming out. They're still
calling for Alexander Lukashenko to step down. But that's not something he thinks he is going to have to do. In fact, he says he won the election by around 80 percent of the vote. And he's already spoken to Vladimir Putin and is still very much clinging to power.
The opposition here, however, says that he will (INAUDIBLE) be elected. They are calling for a new vote and they're also calling for an end to violence by the police and by other security institutions here in this country -- Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Minsk, Belarus.
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ALLEN: Wear a mask or you'll have some explaining to do. Why police in Paris are getting tough with those violating the city's mask mandate.
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ALLEN: Welcome back to the viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Natalie Allen. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.
The world is still losing ground in the battle the against the coronavirus. The World Health Organization has received reports of a record number of new cases in a 24-hour period, more than 294,000 people worldwide.
The figures from the U.S. are just as grim. Some 5.3 million Americans have contracted the virus since the pandemic began. As you can see there, there have been 169,483 deaths.
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ALLEN: Mexico remains a COVID-19 hot spot. It reported more than 6,300 new cases Saturday and more than 600 deaths. Overall, the virus has killed almost 57,000 people in Mexico and infected more than a half million.
The latest figures come days after Mexico signed a deal with the biotech firm AstraZeneca. It says it will make a potential vaccine in Mexico next year and ship it to other regional countries.
Two of France's biggest cities are enforcing mandatory mask orders now for people out in public. Both Paris and Marseilles have been active zones of COVID circulation. France reported more than 3,300 new infections on Saturday. That marks a post lockdown high for the fourth day in a row.
For more, let's go to CNN's Jim Bittermann, live for us just outside Paris.
You know, France was going in the right direction and, all of a sudden, this. What do we know about it?
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, Natalie, and I think that is really worrisome for the authorities here. Not only are they setting a record now, four days in a row for the number of new cases, but the numbers are increasing.
The rate of increase was 464 more people in the new caseload in the last 24 hours as opposed to 170 the previous 24 hours. So in other words, the rate of increase is expanding and that really has authorities worried.
And they have locked down, as you said, large portions of Paris and Marseilles, making sure that people are wearing masks out on the street. We have seen the police patrols out and checking people.
And I think that will continue and we will see what happens in the beginning of the week. But already, the high authority of health here is warning people they should wear masks even in indoor private settings with family and friends.
And the labor men (ph) is just -- has said she's going to talk to the labor unions this week to talk about wearing masks in work settings and so all in all it looks like we are headed to another period of increased lockdowns on the country -- Natalie.
ALLEN: Yes, and do you get a sense of how people are taking this?
BITTERMANN: Well, you know, you see -- the people we talked to in the mask wearing areas in Paris yesterday seem to be pretty sanguine about it. I think there is a fair amount of acceptance but there are people who are pushing back.
And I think to wear a mask in work settings might be difficult for people to accept. On the other hand, I think the preeminence of the threat is clear on everybody's mind. And there's a fair amount of education that's already has been done here in terms of how serious this is.
So I think the authorities will win this battle about wearing masks. But it will still take some convincing.
ALLEN: Hope it works. Thank you so much. Jim Bittermann for us outside Paris.
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ALLEN: I am joined now by Dr. Peter Drobac, an infectious disease and global health expert at the University of Oxford.
Nice to see you, Peter.
DR. PETER DROBAC, GLOBAL HEALTH EXPERT, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD: Good morning.
ALLEN: We have been talking for months now about these cases globally, so many cases still on the rise, here in the United States as well. I want to begin, though, since this is mid-August, to talk about schools, now bringing children back into the classroom.
We know cases among children are rising. Some schools have already had to pull back.
What are you expecting and what are your concerns as we head into the school season?
DROBAC: Well, Natalie, as we have been talking about now, for some time, it's really difficult to imagine how we will be able to safely open our schools in settings of high transmission, which still covers most of the U.S. right now.
Schools do not exist in a vacuum. They exist within communities, when there's high transmission in those communities, it's going to affect schools. We have already seen it in some schools that tried to open early and in many cases, they had to close because some kids and teachers were found to be positive.
There is a lot we should have been doing for a long time to get ready for this. But again, the number one thing we need to do is get a hold of this epidemic and bring transmission rates down. Otherwise schools over the next couple of weeks, it's just not going to last. We're putting kids and teachers at risk and unfortunately it will be a very difficult situation as schools then quickly start to close back down.
ALLEN: We are also seeing clusters in college dorms now, Notre Dame is one. University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill.
What is the challenge for colleges to limit the spread?
And also there is a threat to college towns as well.
DROBAC: Universities are actually really a special problem. We saw very early in the outbreak there were these big clusters of cases in the cruise chips.
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DROBAC: You remember seeing cruise ships stranded off the coast of the U.S. Universities are a little bit similar. You have young people from lots of different places, all coming into one concentrated area, staying in dormitories all at once.
They will be mixing and socializing outside of the classroom. So there is a real risk that actually this could be a concentrated area for superspreader events that will affect students and staff of universities but also the surrounding community in college towns and later when the students go home to visit families, to continue the spread there.
So this is an incredibly difficult problem. That is why a number of them have decided to proceed with online instruction in the beginning of the term. ALLEN: Well, the issue regarding schools and so many other entities in
the United States is testing, which has lagged. That is still a serious issue to try to control the spread. But the FDA has now given emergency use to a saliva test created by Yale in conjunction with the NBA that offers results in hours.
Is that promising?
DROBAC: Extremely. This is big news actually. One of the big missing pieces in the potential game changer is going to be rapid and cheap testing. We're doing nowhere near enough testing.
And one of the sneaky things about this virus, so much of the spread happens to people with symptoms. So if we're limiting testing to only those with symptoms, we are going miss a bunch of transmission.
One of the big reasons the NBA is able to get back to playing so successfully, is that everybody is getting tested on an extremely regular basis. And it turns out they were helping to validate this test by Yale and that can give a result within a couple hours and can be done inexpensively. We think it may cost around $10.
This is what we need to see more of. Imagine as people get back to work, into the office, you can get a test before going in. We can do screening for children and teachers to get back into schools.
When it becomes ubiquitous, that will be a game changer. There are a lot of tests already being developed. This is exciting. I hope the FDA and the World Health Organization will prioritize approving more tests like this.
ALLEN: Yes, I do too. We know how -- now that it's not just people over 50 or 60 who are getting ill. Younger adults can and some have died. And we continue to learn that the lingering issues from the virus are more varied and serious than doctors first realized.
What are some of the persisting threats after a person recovers, Peter?
DROBAC: One of the big misconceptions many of us still have about COVID-19 is that it's a respiratory disease. And that if you survive it, you bounce back and get back to normal.
That is just not the case. What we know now is COVID-19 is a vascular disease. It affects blood vessels. So maybe in about 10 percent of people infected with COVID-19 with mild symptoms initially, 10 percent go on to develop long-term, persistent symptoms.
This can include neurologic and mental health problems, heart problems. We have seen many cases of heart inflammation even in young, healthy athletes. Also persistence, weakness, difficulty concentrating. And this is lasting for weeks and months after people recover from mild infection.
We still don't exactly know what predisposes people to symptoms like this or why some people get it and others don't. But the reality is this is a systemic disease. And it has the capability to be a chronic disease and we don't know. These effects may linger. This could become the polio of our generation.
ALLEN: Dr. Peter Drobac, University of Oxford, always appreciate your expertise. Thanks so much.
DROBAC: Thank you, Natalie.
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ALLEN: Two companies from Israel and the United Arab Emirates announced they are joining forces to come up with a faster COVID-19 testing devise. The agreement was between Israel's TERA Group and the UAE's Apex National Investment Company. Apex's chairman says it's the first cross-border business deal since the two countries announced on Thursday they were normalizing relations. Some hope there.
In Japan, officials are trying to manage COVID-19 numbers without imposing a lockdown. So far, they've counted on public conditions to get through the pandemic. But it seems that strategy is starting to backfire. Kaori Enjoji has more about it from Tokyo.
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KAORI ENJOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The staff at Monsoon Cafe is thankful the customers are back. While it's hardly a full house, the diners come, knowing that the bar will be open until midnight.
This is just the kind of scene the Tokyo government wants gone, convinced that nightlife is a big reason behind Tokyo's infection surge since mid-July. It has asked all restaurants and bars to stop serving alcohol at 10:00 pm until the end of the month.
KOZO HASEGAWA, CEO, GLOBAL-DINING: For what?
It doesn't make any sense. That's why I declare that we don't follow them. We keep on operating as normal as possible. I don't like to obey. I didn't like the Japanese culture that they expect you to obey.
ENJOJI (voice-over): Hasegawa says it's more than a question of financial survival.
HASEGAWA: Are you putting the business on top of the people's life?
Of course not. The life is the most important, freedom. Just like freedom.
ENJOJI (voice-over): Freedom to be out and about, despite day after day of record new infections. And there is a tinge of defiance among those who are venturing out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Yes, we share the reason to the government but we cannot always just swallow what they say. UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The government should pay us
if they want us to act with restraints.
ENJOJI (voice-over): This shift in attitude presents a new challenge to a government that is restricted in its ability to impose a lockdown. Politicians and the public have been wary of overreach by authorities out of fear of rekindling memories of sacrifices during World War II.
Instead, Japan has relied heavily on the mantra of jisuku (ph), that one should hunker down for the collective good during challenging times.
KYLE CLEVELAND, TEMPLE UNIVERSITY: So the concept of jisuku (ph) means self-restraint, kind of a sober reflection, not being too ostentatious. So we saw this during the Fukushima nuclear crisis. It's not like a month ago jisuku (ph) existed and now it doesn't. What's happened in Japan is that people are gradually starting to accommodate this.
ENJOJI (voice-over): Pub owner Tokohari Hiraiama (ph) says he, too, is trying to adapt. Profits are gone. What's left are piles of raw fish with nowhere to go.
"I've decided not the put up a fight," he says.
A sign on his door signals that he has chosen to comply with government requests. By zapping this code on their mobile phones, passerbys (sic) are encouraged to report stores that are not being cautious enough.
Hiraiama (ph) says it's peer pressure. But he's not taking any chances. He says he can't afford to be ostracized when he is barely surviving. So he boards up, like many in his neighborhood, when the clock strikes 10:00 -- Kaori Enjoji for CNN, Tokyo.
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ALLEN: The western U.S. is sweltering this weekend. And making conditions even more unbearable, several wildfires are raging in three states. We check it for you straight ahead.
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ALLEN: Several wildfires are raging in the western U.S. right now and things can get worse this weekend as an intense heat wave sears much of the U.S. Nearly 100 million Americans are under some form of heat advisory in Texas, California, into the Rockies and up the West Coast to Washington State.
Two of the most threatening wildfires in Colorado have now grown in size over the past 24 hours.
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ALLEN: With face masks now a vital tool in the fight against coronavirus, we ask, are some masks better than others?
You bet they are. University researchers put different styles of masks to the test and we'll show the ones that work best next.
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ALLEN: Face masks come in many different styles and materials. Turns out, they are not created equal. Some do a better job than others. Here is what CNN's Randi Kaye discovered.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one.
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Inside this lab at Florida Atlantic University, two engineering professors are putting face masks to the test to see which are best at stopping the spread of coronavirus respiratory droplets.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Heavy cough.
KAYE: To find out, they filled this mannequin's mouth with water and glycerin. A pump forces it to expel the mixture, to simulate talking or coughing. Then, a green laser captures the droplets that escape.
We tested a handful of popular masks, including this one with an exhalation valve. People like the valve because it lets them breathe easier. But the professors found the valve also allows potentially dangerous droplets to escape.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With a mask with an exhalation valve, what it does, it just basically lets out all the droplets through the exhalation valve.
KAYE (on camera): Which makes no sense at all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It makes no sense at all.
KAYE: It defeats the purpose.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It defeats the purpose.
KAYE (voice-over): Another popular mask fared poorly, too. Watch what happens when the mannequin talked wearing this single-layer gaiter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This gaiter was a bit surprising because it seems to let everything through without any stoppage.
KAYE (on camera): We also tested the gaiter for heavy cough. Remember, this is a single layer. And we found that it barely filtered the droplets.
So let's turn out the lights and simulate a cough.
You can see the droplets travel straight forward, as far as three feet.
(voice-over): Next up, a single-layer bandanna made of 100 percent cotton.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What you see there is that this quilting cotton, one-layer mask performs a little better than the gaiter. You still get some liquid coming through it.
It filters some of the droplets, but some escape through with the single layer. They don't go very far, but probably about six inches from the face when you are just talking.
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KAYE: But the droplets travel about two feet and can accumulate over time in a room where people are gathered.
This double-layer mask made of quilting cotton also spread respiratory droplets when the mannequin talked and coughed but not as badly as the gaiter and the bandanna.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It doesn't go very far, probably about two to three inches from the face. Significantly better than the other masks.
KAYE: The double layer is in line with new CDC guidance, suggesting two layers make all the difference.
And what about those blue nonsurgical masks so many people wear? They did well but there's room for improvement.
When the mannequin talked, hardly any droplets were expelled. But when it coughed, quite a bit leaked out the top. Though still not much went through the mask. So the professors were impressed with the filtration.
Remember, without any mask, if someone coughs, simulated virus droplets can travel as far as 12 feet, well beyond the six-foot social distancing guidelines.
So, even if a mask isn't perfect, the professors say, wear one.
(on camera): Which mask do you think is the best mask?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, so, I think there are -- there are, obviously, no one mask that's the best.
A mask that's well made, you know, number of layers, maybe two or more layers, which allows -- you know, it feels comfortable on the face, fits well, I think that would be a good mask.
KAYE (voice-over): Randi Kaye, CNN, Dania Beach, Florida.
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ALLEN: Thanks for watching this hour. I'm Natalie Allen. Stay with me. I have two more hours to go. The top stories right after this.
