Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

World Resurgence Of COVID-19; USPS To Be Addressed By The Hill; 150 To 170,000 In 18 Days: COVID's U.S. Death March; DNC Goes Virtual Tonight; Peru Ahead Of Mexico With Virus; Belarus Protests Grow; South Korea Warns of Massive Recurrence of Cases; Japan's Economy Posts Biggest Contraction on Record in Q2; Schools in Scotland Reopening with New Safeguards; School Nurses Prepare for Fight against COVID-19; U.S. Football Star Makes History with Clutch Goal. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired August 17, 2020 - 01:00   ET

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

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Parts of the world are starting to see a resurgence in coronavirus cases even in countries where the virus was mostly under control.

We'll take a look at some of the places seeing spikes.

Back to business. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls on lawmakers to return from break to address the issues surrounding the postal service.

And protests in Belarus are only growing one week after the presidential election results drew outrage.

Live from CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Kim Brunhuber and this is CNN NEWSROOM.

Well, starting a new week many Americans are hoping for some sign of significant progress in the fight against COVID-19 but there's nothing like that on the horizon.

The U.S. death toll surpassed 170,000 on Sunday, and what's unsettling is how quickly that new milestone arrived. It comes just 18 days after the U.S. reported 150,000 fatalities.

There are 5.4 million cases nationwide, still by far the highest in the world.

Now over the weekend, President Trump disagreed with a warning by the head of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention who said the U.S. could be heading towards its worst autumn ever from a public health perspective.

He says the double threat of COVID-19 and seasonal flu could have a catastrophic impact on the U.S.

And the situation in Florida is already dire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR DAN GELBER, MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA: I think in the next three or four days the state will surpass 10,000 people who have died.

And we're thinking about the death rate going down and were hoping it's just a few dozen. Just think about what we're normalizing, we're literally normalizing dozens and dozens, 50 or more, people dying every single day.

That's something that's unimaginable at any other time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: We're joined by Anne Rimoin who's an epidemiology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Thank you so much for taking some time to join me here. I want to start with a dire prediction about the severity of the crisis in the fall.

I recently got my flu shot, almost entirely based on those projections by the nation's top experts. President Trump, however, disagreed with those assessments.

Now only about some 45 percent of Americans get their flu shots. And I know many people who say oh, I'm healthy, I don't need it.

So what's your message to them this year? How bad do you expect things to be this fall?

ANNE RIMOIN, PROFESSOR OF EPIDEMIOLOGY, UCLA FIELDING SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: It's really important that everybody get their flu shot this year. More so than ever.

And you're absolutely right. Under normal circumstance only about 45 percent of Americans get the flu shot. There's a lot of misperception here about what a flu shot does.

People are often confused thinking that the side effect of maybe having some aches and some flu-like symptoms means that the flu shot is giving you the flu.

We have to work really hard to make sure people understand why it's important to get the flu shot, that everybody really needs to get maximum protection right now. Because if we are mixing up whether or not you have coronavirus or influenza, the symptoms are very, very similar we could be running into a lot of problems.

Second of all, what's also important is that influenza under a mild season you end up with many people that are hospitalized. And so if we have coronavirus and influenza at the same time, our hospitals are really at risk of being overrun.

A third thing that people should keep in mind is, that if you get influenza, it means that your immune system is going to be stressed and that could make you more susceptible to coronavirus. So you could end up with a one-two punch here.

So it's very important for so many reasons to get the flu shot this year.

BRUNHUBER: This sounds like a stupid question, I didn't do the research ahead of time. But can you have both at the same time?

RIMOIN: I don't think there have been any cases of influenza and coronavirus occurring at the same time, I could be wrong. I do not remember reading any reports about that yet. But there's no reason that you couldn't be co-infected.

BRUNHUBER: OK. Interesting. Well, so despite all the grim case numbers, we're continuing to inexorably reopen things like even movie theaters. Would you go see a movie right now?

RIMOIN: Right now I would not feel comfortable going to see a movie. We don't have a situation here in the United States where we have a low enough rate of community transmission to be comfortable being able to do that.

[01:05:00]

Furthermore, we do know that being in closed spaces indoors increases the probability of getting coronavirus.

And so, across the board, thinking about going to a movie theater when we have not been able to get the spread of the virus down to a level that is acceptable, where we're only having really small outbreaks here or there that we can do contact testing and isolate and quarantine.

It's only at that point that we should be able to consider doing anything like going to a movie theater where we have many, many people together in an area where they're taking their masks off, they're eating popcorn, they're in a very a close space. Just not a good idea right now.

BRUNHUBER: You just mentioned testing. After months of increases in testing, daily tests trended downward for much of the last two weeks.

So why are we going in the wrong direction here on testing and why does that matter?

RIMOIN: The United States has done a terrible job of being able to get enough testing. From the very beginning, we really struggled, we've been doing much better.

But in the last few weeks we've seen a downturn in the mouth of testing. Some of that has been supply chain, some has just been such a large demand for testing. The labs are stressed, there's a problem with reagents.

And so testing has never really reached the threshold that we need here in the United States to be able to really be doing enough to be able to really have the information that we need here.

The Harvard Institute suggested, the Harvard Global Health Institute suggested, that we needed at least a million tests per day to slow the spread of the virus.

There's some debate over whether or not we actually need a million a day but it seems logical to me. A million a day would make sense for us to be able to really get our arms around this.

BRUNHUBER: All right. Well, last question here. We're placing so much hope in vaccines and there's been plenty of good news on that front. But I was troubled to read that vaccine troubles are having trouble recruiting Black and Latino people. What effect does that have particularly since those are the two groups most at risk?

RIMOIN: This is a really important problem. Vaccine hesitancy is something that we're very concerned about for when we roll out this vaccine, but we also really need to understand -- and vaccine hesitancy has been something that has been very common or more prevalent in some minority populations.

And so, it's not surprising that we'd be having trouble also recruiting minority populations into these trials. But it is such an important thing.

We really need to know how this vaccine is going to work in all populations and, in particular, in vulnerable populations. We've seen very high rates of mortality and severe outcomes in Latino populations, in particular.

And so it's very important that this vaccine is very well studied in the populations that need it the most.

BRUNHUBER: All right. Well, thank you so much for this. We appreciate it. Anne Rimoin from UCLA.

RIMOIN: It's my pleasure.

BRUNHUBER: To Latin America and the Caribbean where more than six million coronavirus infections have now been confirmed.

Brazil, the worst hit country in the region saw another 23,000 cases on Sunday, while nearby Columbia reported more than 11,000.

And this weekend Peru passed Mexico for the sixth highest total in the world.

Now with infection rates soaring, the emotional impact is becoming unbearable for families in Peru and all around the globe.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: They were family, not just photos on a wall or numbers in a death toll.

The Diaz family in Peru recently lost five members of its family to the coronavirus. A tragedy, they say, that's difficult to bear.

"It's something very shocking," one family member says. "Because not only my mother left but also my grandparents, my uncles. But the recovery has been slow."

Their losses are just a snapshot of the sickness that's sweeping the globe.

Over the weekend, the WHO reported a record number of new cases worldwide in a 24-hour period. And in Latin America, COVID-19 cases have ticked up. Passing the six million mark.

More than half of those infections are in Brazil. Experts say it hasn't reached the peak of its health crisis but, despite that, it reopened some of its landmarks over the weekend with masks required and limited admission.

The city of Seoul is tightening its social distancing measures to try to contain its worst outbreak of the virus since March. Officials say some clusters are linked to religious gatherings and warned there could be tough times ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

"The situation is showing the early sign of another wave of epidemics," one official says. "If we cannot control the virus spread properly, we will face a dangerous situation."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[01:10:00]

Cruise lines have been largely moored since the beginning of the pandemic. But, as of Sunday, some Mediterranean cruise liners can sail again carrying only European passengers with strict rules about excursions.

Italy is trying to stop travelers from bringing the virus back from holiday. It began testing people coming from to popular tourist spots like Spain, Greece, Croatia and Malta at airport checkpoints.

A more welcoming arrival in Frankfurt where a couple separated for months since he's German and she's from Brazil was finally able to reunite after Germany allowed unmarried partners from non-E.U. nations to enter the country.

"It's just an incredible feeling," the man says. "I'm going to see my darling again after six-and-a-half months."

A rare scene these days where social distancing perhaps shouldn't be required.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

And there's a troubling development in Australia's battle with the coronavirus. Victoria state reported its single deadliest day of the pandemic.

Health officials reported 25 deaths related to the virus on Monday. And that puts the death toll in Victoria at more than 330. The state now has more than 17,000 confirmed cases.

And this comes just weeks after authorities stepped up restrictions.

And coronavirus concerns are prompting New Zealand to move its general election back by four weeks. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the new election date will be October 17th.

The nation's most popular city, Auckland, is dealing with a recent outbreak of the virus after more than 100 days with no locally transmitted infections. And in the last 24 hours the country has reported nine cases.

BRUNHUBER: For more on this, let's turn to journalist Angus Watson live from Sydney, Australia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

When President Trump floated the idea of delaying the election because of COVID he was pilloried. I take it the opposite is happening in New Zealand.

ANGUS WATSON, JOURNALIST: That's right, Kim. So the majority of New Zealanders actually wanted this election to be postponed.

A poll taken ahead of the decision made by Prime Minister Ardern today showed that 60 percent of respondents wanted her to push the election back.

She could've pushed back as far as November, she's chosen October, she said that she won't push it back any further.

She hopes that this cluster that's developed in Auckland, the country's largest city, might be under control by then. Auckland's gone into strict lockdown in order to try to get on top of this.

This is what Prime Minister Ardern said this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: Ultimately, the 17th of October, in approximately nine weeks' time, provides sufficient time for parties to plan around the range of circumstances we could be campaigning under. For the electoral commission to prepare and for voters to be assured of a safe, accessible, and credible election.

Due to this decision, I am proposing that parliament reconvene tomorrow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: So Kim, this wouldn't have been a decision that Jacinda Ardern made lightly. And it's actually not a political decision that you could imagine that she'd want to make right now.

Jacinda Ardern was the clear favorite to win reelection when it came up to it, the vote came in September. Her labor party is in the ascendancy. There her opposition, her opponents wanted the election to be postponed.

So we'll see now whether it can go ahead smoothly on that October date, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. Very interesting wrinkle there. Thank you so much. Angus Watson, in Sydney.

The opposition movement in Belarus is swelling one week after a highly contested presidential election. On Sunday a sea of protesters filled the capital, Minsk, demanding the long-time president stepped down.

Fred Pleitgen was there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SNR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Tens of thousands of people turned out for this demonstration near the city center of Minsk to a demonstration that was called for by the opposition in Belarus.

They called for mass demonstrations on this day. And, as you can see, many, many people followed that call. The crowds that we see here are very, very peaceful.

And mostly their message is also very calm (ph). They're calling for change, they want Alexander Lukashenko, the long-time dictator of this country, to step down and they want new elections.

Now, of course, at this point of time it doesn't seem as though Lukashenko seems to want to do that. He called for a rally of his own where pro-government forces actually bussed in people from other parts of the country to have a demonstration in the city center of Minsk.

Lukashenko also made an appearance at that demonstration. He shows no signs of wanting to step down. He still says that he won the contested election last Sunday by getting about 80 percent of the votes.

[01:15:00]

And, as you can see, the masses who are coming out here say they do not for one second believe that that is true.

They believe the opposition are the ones who won the election and they're calling for a new election, for Lukashenko to step down. And also for an end to police brutality.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN. Minsk, Belarus.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: The political storm over the U.S. Postal Service is escalating, House Democrats and the Trump Administration facing off about mail-in voting.

We'll bring you the latest in this this quickly developing story. And the challenges of holding a virtual convention. The strategy

Democrats will used to generate some excitement.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: With the debate raging in Washington over mail-in voting, the U.S. House speaker is taking action.

Nancy Pelosi is calling on lawmakers to return to Capitol Hill this week to vote on legislation to protect the postal service and prevent any more moves that could slow down service before the election.

Now President Donald Trump has flat out admitted he opposes emergency funding for the postal system because he believes an uptick in mail-in voting will favor Democrats.

[01:20:00]

Meanwhile, a scaled down Democratic National Convention kicks off in less than 24 hours. Because of the coronavirus the speeches and events will be done virtually, from across the country.

Including Joe Biden's acceptance of the nomination for president.

Over the next four nights we'll see a Who's Who of democratic leaders and rising stars endorsing their party's platform including the Clintons, the Obamas and former 2020 candidates as well.

Now several states are also considering legal action against the Trump Administration and the U.S. Postmaster General over the issues with the postal service.

President Trump has offered no evidence that mail-in voting will lead to widespread fraud. Still, his chief of staff tried to defend the president's false claims.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK MEADOWS, WHITE CHIEF OF STAFF: (...) hey, by the way, I'm reregistered --

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: There's no evidence of widespread voter fraud though.

MEADOWS: That's not --

TAPPER: But there's no evidence of widespread voter fraud?

MEADOWS: There's no -- there's no evidence that there's not either. That's the definition of fraud, Jake.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile, House Democrat Adam Schiff told CNN the president's allegations are politically motivated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): The president doesn't want to improve the functioning of the post office because he thinks that higher turnout, more Americans voting, is a bad thing for him personally. Even if it's exactly what our democracy needs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: CNN's John Harwood has more on this developing story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

John HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The crisis over the U.S. Postal Service in the 2020 election is escalating.

The House of Representatives have already planned to call in Donald Trump's postmaster general for questioning about reductions in service. Now House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is calling the chamber back into session probably next Saturday in order to consider legislation halting those changes in service.

The backdrop for this. Long-standing funding problems for the postal service that have caused deliveries to slow.

The administration is less than eager to restore services to the full level, both for fiscal reasons, and also because Donald Trump has been raising doubts about the integrity of mail-in balloting.

The coronavirus pandemic has led increasing numbers of Americans to want to vote by mail rather than go in person so they can avoid getting sick.

The question now is do Democrats have the leverage to force Republicans to go along with them either on halting the policy changes or infusing the 25 billion dollars they say is necessary to shore up the postal service?

The advantage Democrats have is that, way beyond the electoral considerations, every American uses the postal service and huge numbers of Americans rely on it for checks, for commerce and for delivery of vital medications.

That is the lever that Democrats hope to force Republicans to the table. We'll see what happens this week.

John Harwood. CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Kamala Harris slammed President Trump for floating a racist birther conspiracy about her.

The president said he wouldn't be pursuing questions about her eligibility but he didn't dismiss the theory as false.

If elected, Harris would be the first Black and Asian American vice president. She was born in Oakland, California.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS, PRESUMPTIVE DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: They're going to engage in lies, they're going to engage in deception, they're going to engage in an attempt to distract from the real issues that are impacting the American people.

And I expect that they will engage in dirty tactics and this is going to be a knockdown drag out. And we're ready.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Now our new CNN poll shows the race tightening substantially. Overall, 50 percent of registered voters back the Biden-Harris ticket while 46 percent say they support Trump and Pence.

Let's turn to senior political analyst, Ron Brownstein, in Los Angeles.

Thanks so much for joining me here.

I want to start with that notorious third rail of American politics, the U.S. Postal Service.

Like everyone, I'm grappling with the idea that this could be a central campaign issue. We heard Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna call it more serious than Russian interference. Are you surprised this is blown up like this?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SNR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Only in the sense that it has been previously sacrosanct. But not in the sense that so many things that were previously sacrosanct are now in question.

I don't think we fully have the vocabulary or the mental constructs in the U.S. to grapple with what we are dealing with.

We think of ourselves as a two-century plus functioning democracy. And the idea that there would be a systemic challenge to the rules of democracy, to the kind of legitimacy of democracy coming from, of all places, the Oval Office is something that our system is not prepared to deal with. Just

But I think if you look systematically out what's happening whether it's what the president is doing with the postal service, the way he is trying to tilt and manipulate the census, the counting of our country, to benefit the Republicans.

[01:25:00]

What he's done with career criminal prosecutors, what he's done with firing IGs, the way he's used the defense department and the Department of Homeland Security as kind of a personal militia almost. In all of the ways we're seeing a president who is trying to weaponize every component of the government to his advantage, to his party's advantage, in a way that is frankly, I think, unprecedented in America's history.

BRUNHUBER: But most of those things you listed there for voters are fairly abstract.

BROWNSTEIN: Right.

BRUNHUBER: The postal service is something tangible.

BROWNSTEIN: We touch.

BRUNHUBER: So I'm just curious whether you think Republican voters will follow President Trump on this one.

After all, we've seen his ability to completely shift Republican opinion on things like Russia, for instance.

BROWNSTEIN: Right. It's a great question. Because there's no doubt that rural America and older Americans who rely on the postal service to deliver prescriptions are especially vulnerable to the idea of a shut -- of a slowdown. And those are Republican constituencies.

But I mentioned the census. And in the same way what the president is doing on the census it potentially hurting sunbelt states from east to west, that right now are predominantly represented in the Senate, at least, by Republicans. And none of them are complaining.

So it is not 100 percent clear to me that his voters will defend the idea that the postal service A., should be providing kind of its normal service but B., that this is unfairly changing the rules of democracy.

I think it's a open question. More likely than not there will be a backlash but if the implication of your question is that it's not guaranteed, I find myself thinking that as well.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. Although voters do often vote against their own self interest.

But anyway, I want to the convention, a convention unlike any other.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

BRUNHUBER: For the Democrats, presumably, it'll be less like a rock concert and more like a slick TV show.

So how can they generate the energy and excitement without all the confetti and balloons? What's the strategy here?

BROWNSTEIN: It's really challenging. And I think their answer is to make everything shorter. People are going to be on and off and, as you say, they are thinking of it explicitly as a TV show. I think we have no idea the impact this is going to have. On the one hand, you would think without the crowds and the kind of the audience and all the energy, it's going to be a little bit muffled and it's not going to land with -- detonate with as much force as we have traditionally seen.

On the other hand, there a lot of the people at home, there are a lot of people watching television. The ratings are up for sports, they're up for the cable news, they're up for the broadcast news. So it's possible they will have a bigger audience.

The long-term trend is that conventions don't move the vote as much as they did 30 and 40 years. Because we are so polarized and so dug in, we're in trench warfare.

What Biden can realistically hope to do, I think, is not so much expand his lead over Trump in the horse race as it is to fill a lot more about who he is and why he's still relevant in people's lives in 2020.

When he's 77 years old, 50 years after he was first elected to public office. The widest span in U.S. history between a candidate's first nomination for president and his first election to public office.

I think that's his biggest job. To make himself relevant particularly to younger Americans who question whether he understands their lives and their challenges.

BRUNHUBER: All right, we'll see. Thank you for so much for your analysis. Always appreciate it. Ron Brownstein in L.A.

BROWNSTEIN: Good talking to you.

BRUNHUBER: And that Democratic National Convention, it's going to be unique, it's going to be interesting. And you can catch it here starting at 1:00 am Tuesday in London, 8:00 am in Hong Kong.

Well, South Korea is seeing a new spike in COVID-19. And officials are pointing the finger at another religious group.

So we'll have the details in a live report coming up on CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:32:28]

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome back to you our viewers in the United States, Canada and around the world.

I'm Kim Brunhuber. And you're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

Some European countries hit hard and early on by the pandemic are seeing a resurgence in new cases. Local outbreaks in Spain have led to thousands of new infections. Officials there are bringing back some social distancing measures to curb the spread.

France reported more than 3,000 new cases on Sunday, its second highest daily jump since mid-May. And starting Monday, Italy is shutting down discos across the country. It's also requiring people to wear masks outside, during the day in crowded areas.

South Korea's health minister warns the country could see a massive recurrence of coronavirus cases. It comes as officials struggled to contain a recent spike that's been traced back to a religious service in Seoul. Thousands of church members there have been ordered to get tested.

So for more, let's go now to CNN's Paula Hancocks in Seoul. So this seems to be a collision of disease, religion and politics here. Take us through this.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Kim, over the weekend, we saw here in South Korea that the highest level of new coronavirus cases in five months. On Saturday there were 279 cases reported. It's gone down slightly for Sunday.

But certainly officials are very concerned that we have seen this uptick. You heard the health minister saying that he's worried that this could be a massive recurrence. That this could be dangerous if it's not handled properly.

And one of the main outbreaks that officials are looking at, at the moment is linked to one church. This is the Sarang Jeil Church in Seoul. Now, as you say more than 1,000 people. They're trying to track down at this point -- more than 4,000 people have visited the church. And they're trying to make sure that everybody is quarantined and everybody is tested.

But they say there's at least 500 -- more than 500 (AUDIO GAP) currently unable to get hold of. They don't have contact details. (INAUDIBLE) bringing the police in to try and track them down. It's a similar situation to what we saw back in February, March with a religious group there, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: You know this isn't just any church though. There are political implications here. Can you explain this?

HANCOCKS: Well that's right. This particular church is very anti- President Moon Jae-in. They're very vocal about it.

[01:34:55]

HANCOCKS: And they have actually been criticizing what they believe is defamation from the health minister saying that they're going to take the health minister to court saying that they have been doing everything they should be. That the reverend in charge have been accused of not self-quarantining after there had been a positive case at the church. He denies that. So that's pointing back against what they believe is defamation.

And also over the weekend on Saturday, we did see some significant protests anti-Moon Jae-in, once again protests in the center of Seoul, around 10,000 people are believed to have attended that particular rally, even though police said that they shouldn't go ahead because of the concerns.

And we saw criticism from the president as well, saying that this is a very senseless act to get together under these conditions during a pandemic. So there is this political angle as well. The church is a very anti-Moon. And then you have President Moon Jae-in himself criticizing them for what he believes is behavior that should not be going on during this pandemic.

But the church is hitting back saying that they have done everything they need to. Officials are saying there is still well over 500 people that have gone to that church that they are unable to contact, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: All of this further complicating the response here.

Thank you so much, Paula Hancocks in Seoul.

And there is a dismal economic news coming out of Japan. The country's economy suffered its biggest contraction on record in the second quarter. GDP shrank by nearly 28 percent when annualized, slightly higher than what was expected. And this is Japan's third straight quarter of contraction.

So for more on this let's bring in Kaori Enjoji from Tokyo. No surprise to anyone that Japan's economy struggled with everything that's going. But the scale of the problem is quite something. Is the worst over?

KAORI ENJOJI, JOURNALIST: That's the concern that it might not be over especially because we're seeing another surge in viruses since the middle of July. I think when you say that people were expecting a figure I don't think it will strike home -- really struck home until we actually saw the numbers in black and white today.

Because this is a catastrophic decline in three months between April and June. I mean a 7.8 percent contraction quarter on quarter is unprecedented. And although we're seeing other major economies like the U.S., like the U.K. and many other countries register these historic lows, you have to put it into the context that Japan was already in recession going into the pandemic.

And there are systemic issues surrounding the Japanese economy that may make it very difficult for it to recover like other countries.

For example, one of them is exports, we saw in the April to June period that trade -- world trade basically dried up, so there's no surprise there. But it relies on that and how much it can rely on in the months going forward is questionable.

You also have the consumption story which Japan is exceptionally reliant on. I mean more than half of GDP comes from consumption. So when you are looking at a situation here where there is no state of emergency now. But virus cases are increasing. People are still hesitant to go out. Economic activity is nowhere near the level that we saw before the pandemic. You have to wonder how much of a strong rebound we can accept -- excuse me -- expect in consumption. Add on top of that the fact that the Japanese economy is the world's third largest but structurally very different from some of the other countries' economies in that a lot of the businesses are small and medium sized.

And when I spoke to a professor at Doshisha University, Noriko Hama, she's also an economist. She says that some of the relief measures that the government has embarked on until now do not adequately respond to the issues that these small and medium sized businesses are faced with.

And many of those are going to expire in September. And she wonders, along with many other economists, what the government is going to do for that.

I mean there's also a question of leadership. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was out there in April and May. But the last real address to the nation -- televised, that he gave was back in June. So there are leadership issues as well.

I mean we know today he's gone to the hospital for a regular checkup. CNN has learned that this was a scheduled checkup. But, you know, for weeks now there have been concerns about leadership issues. And there has been jockeying within his party as to who may succeed him. So I think all of this might converge to make this recovery very, very limited at best.

BRUNHUBER: Not very encouraging news there at all. Thank you SO much for that, Kaori Enjoji in Tokyo.

Well, with many schools starting up around the U.S., school nurses are about to become frontline workers against the coronavirus. But some states have a shocking nurse shortage.

That's just ahead.

And a last gasp goal secures a spot in the champions' league semifinal for a club that's only been around 11 years. We'll hear from the young American who helped make it happen.

[01:39:56]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: There's been a deadly attack in Somalia. At least 10 people were killed and dozens wounded after militants stormed a high-end hotel in Mogadishu on Sunday. The terror group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack, setting off a car bomb and opening fire with assault rifles. The four-hour siege ended after Somali forces killed all four militants involved in the attack.

Schools in Scotland are reopening with coronavirus safeguards in place. It is a process that will be closely watched in the rest of the U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is pushing hard for schools to reopen in England next month.

Max Foster reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The first day of school is always emotional. But after months of lockdown, the reopening at St. Ninian's Primary in Gourock, Scotland is a new experience for everyone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the first time that we've had boys and girls in the school for five months.

FOSTER: Inside, a lesson on how to navigate the school's one-way system. Just one of the many COVID safety measures children and staff are now getting to grips with.

So students arranged in bubbles, pretty much confined to classrooms as well, at least compared with before, right? This is one of yours. The seats will face in one direction. They have to stick to their own stationary packs. And they're eating in here as well at lunchtime?

LESLEY MCCABE, HEAD TEACHER, ST. NINIAN'S PRIMARY SCHOOL: Absolutely. Our priority is to keep the children safe. The teachers will be teaching from the front of the classroom. The children will not be collaborating in groups anymore. They will be working in pairs with their shoulder (ph) partners.

FOSTER: I can't see anyone with masks, but what's the rule on that?

MCCABE: There is no need for anyone to be wearing masks, but should an adult be supporting a child with their learning or an individual -- if you're going to be working beyond 15 minutes then they should be wearing a mask.

[01:44:52]

FOSTER: It is not clear what happens if a child or a teacher tests positive for the virus. The school says it will take government advice on whether to send that person home or the whole bubble, or indeed the whole school.

Father of five, Raymond Carroll (ph) isn't concerned. He says his boys are desperate for some routine.

What will your kids get out coming back to school?

RAYMOND CARROLL, FATHER AT ST. NINIAN'S PRIMARY SCHOOL: Structure. Structure, that's that. Everything they do is around a structure. Over the past few months, it's been very difficult to maintain that structure.

FOSTER: Home schooling, how was that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not that good.

FOSTER: No. So you're quite keen to come back. It's not always children say they're desperate to go to school. Lots of people are now, aren't they? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. But before I did not really like school.

FOSTER: You guys excite?

CHILDREN: Yes.

FOSTER: Why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because we are going back to school.

FOSTER: So you are looking forward to school? Did you ever think you would say that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I never thought I would say that.

FOSTER: Teachers here say they are also excited about being back. And they feel safe. Though teaching unions say that is not the case in all schools.

MCCABE: Teachers and staff, they need to adapt to this new way of life. And they are ready for the challenges ahead, and they are excited by them. but they will always be very cautious.

FOSTER: Each district, each country has its own system for reopening schools. All eyes are on Scotland though as one of the first to be tested in this part of the world.

Max Foster, CNN -- Gourock, Scotland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: And states in the U.S. are struggling with how to get more than 50 million kids back in school. Some have opted virtual for learning to start the year. Others have sent students back into the classroom full force.

Thousands of school nurses are on the front line in the battle to keep kids safe in New York City. Mayor de Blasio is promising to have a nurse at every city school when they open in a few weeks.

CNN's Bianna Golodryga has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHILDREN: Good morning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are you feeling.

CHILDREN: Good.

DENEEN DRY, SCHOOL NURSE: This will be and is uncharted waters, something that we have never had to face. And the uncertainty is actually -- is frightening. BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Deneen Dry (ph)

has been a nurse for nine years in Bucks County, Pennsylvania and splits her time between two middle schools. But she says it has taken a pandemic to finally give those in her profession the recognition they deserve.

DRY: The nurses was that forgotten entity in the school. And now we are the ones that when there is a sniffle and there is a cough, we're going to be the ones that are going to asked the questions and asked to step up and make everyone feel safe.

GOLODRYGA: Dry and thousands of school nurses like her across the country are the front lines of defense against COVID-19.

DRY: It's a daunting task and the weight on the shoulders is extreme is extreme sometimes.

GOLODRYGA: Preparation and training involves following state and local guidelines which for many districts, includes temperature checks and quarantine rooms for students suspected to have contracted the coronavirus. But Dry acknowledges that will only get her so far.

DRY: I don't think I'm going to be prepared until it happens.

GOLODRYGA: The National Association of School Nurses warns that U.S. campuses are unprepared for COVID outbreaks due to a lack of funding and nurses.

EMILY OSTER, ECONOMIST AT BROWN UNIVERSITY: So it isn't the case that every school has full-time nurse, you know, down the hallway who can deal with this.

GOLODRYGA: Nearly a quarter of U.S. K through 12 schools lack a licensed nurse while 35 percent employ part-time nurses. Even more jarring, according to the most recent figures, there is just one nurse for every 500 students.

Are nurses equipped overall for such an endeavor and are we relying too much on them to be?

OSTER: I haven't -- in the plans that I've seen this aspect, the sort of school nurse aspect has not gotten a huge amount of attention beyond sort of some language around providing PPE to people.

GOLODRYGA: And at least one school nurse, Amy Westmoreland of Georgia quit her job in a district that has declined to mandate masks.

AMY WESTMORELAND, SCHOOL NURSE: The board's decision to make masks a, you know, quote, "personal choice" and that social distancing wouldn't be practical was not only concerned for myself and my family, but I could not imagine giving care, especially to my special needs community of students.

GOLODRYGA: The NASN has asked Congress for a minimum of $208 billion for school districts in order to prioritize the health and safety of students and staff which would include hiring thousands of additional nurses.

The average age of a school nurse in America was between 47 and 55 in 2015 which puts many at a higher health risk in regard to COVID-19. And Dry falls into this category.

DRY: I fight every day with whether or not I should come back to school or want to come back to school. The nurse part of me wants to be there, wants to be able to help. The mom and grandmother part of me wants to keep my family safe and not expose myself to a possibility of bringing it home.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[01:50:00]

BRUNHUBER: A young American midfielder is part of all sorts of firsts when it came to landing his club in a champions league semifinal. We will hear from unlikely hero Tyler Adams next.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: Absolutely shocking images from the Moto Grand Prix in Spielberg, Austria. Franco Morbidelli's bike collides with Johann Zarco. Now both riders would walk away relatively unscathed but it's worth a couple more looks here.

You can see their bikes, just continue on unpiloted and come within inches of fellow competitors Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales. You can see from some of the onboard camera replays here just how close it was to sheer disaster.

[01:54:41]

BRUNHUBER: On a much happier note, very few Americans footballers get to play in Europe's champions league and none have ever made it to a final. But RB Leipzig's Tyler Adams could be the first after his goal scoring heroics in the quarterfinal upset of Atletico Madrid. The young midfielder spoke to our Don Riddell.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT CORRESPONDENT: As a teenager in the New York Red Bulls organization, Tyler Adams was committed. He drove three hours every day just to train with the team. That dedication has paid off.

Five years later he is the unlikely hero in Europe's Champions League. He's put a last gasp goal for RB Leipzig securing a shock win against Atletico Madrid.

TYLER ADAMS, RB LEIPZIG: This is obviously a huge moment for me and my family, especially my parents because, you know, I wouldn't be in the position I was in without their sacrifices of driving me to practices back and forth in New Jersey, and you know, going through that struggle for a long time.

RIDDELL: It was a day of firsts. Adams is the first player from the United States to score a goal in a champions league quarter final stage or beyond. It was the midfielder's first goal for Leipzig in 28 appearances, and most importantly his goal took the German club into the semifinals of the tournament for the very first time.

ADAMS: Definitely excited. I am not the type of person to, you know, blow out over you know, the statistics, the being first to do that, being the first to do that but for me, I want to be the first American to win the champions league. That is something that I'll be excited about.

RIDDELL: Another big challenge is next. RB Leipzig face the free spending Paris Saint-Germain in the knockout semifinal on Tuesday. Adams says it is no secret why his team which was founded only 11 years ago has come so far so fast.

And they don't expect the game against Paris to be their last game of this extraordinary season.

ADAMS: Most bluntly I would say with our fearless mentality, you know. We go into games thinking that we can win games. And you know, with that philosophy, with that game plan, when we execute, we know that we're a dangerous team.

You know, each and every game, we are confident in our abilities. And I think that speaks on the edge of things. Sometimes, when you lack experience, you are sometimes a bit more naive going into these big games but in a sense that can help you and benefit you in a way.

So a lot of these young players and you know, myself, we'll be going to these games just guns blazing.

RIDDELL: Guns blazing and trail blazing. That's the Leipzig way. The global pandemic means that nothing has been normal this season. So it would hardly be out of place for a young team with an American star to go all the way in Europe's top competition.

Don Riddell, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Great story.

And in the Europa League, Manchester United are out, and Sevilla are going to the final. Although a Bruno Fernandez penalty gave the Red Devils an early lead, Sevilla pulled level (ph) in the 26 minutes from Suso and 12 minutes from time United became victims of another cross ball. Luuk de Jong taps home what would be the winner.

Sevilla wins 2-1 and reaches a record 6th in the Europa League final.

Well, that's it. Thanks for watching.

I'm Kim Brunhuber. The news continues after the break with the outstanding Rosemary

Church.

Stay with us.

[01:58:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END