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Russia to Publish Vaccine Data as Cases Surge in South Korea and Europe; Trump Thanks Conspiracy Group QAnon For Support; Dr. Anthony Fauci in Hospital Following Vocal Cord Surgery. Aired 10:30- 11a ET
Aired August 20, 2020 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[10:31:58]
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Officials say new COVID-19 cases are declining across many states in the U.S. In Europe, they are seeing an average of 26,000 new cases every day. This, since countries there started to ease restrictions.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: More on that in a moment. Let's go first, though, to Matthew Chance in Moscow with new details on Russia's coronavirus vaccine. Good morning, Matthew.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. That's right, the Russian officials concerned with this have given a big sort of press conference this morning, saying that, look, there's been all this criticism about the fact that we haven't had phase three human trials. Well, now we're going to -- or the equivalent of them.
They're calling them "post-registration" trials because the drug has already been registered here and has already been approved for us. Forty thousand people is what the Russians say are going to be involved in these phase three-equivalent trials, mainly in Russia but also in other countries like Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, possibly Brazil, possibly India, the Philippines. These countries sort of playing a part in trying to test whether this vaccine that Russia has already approved for use is effective and if it's safe.
The weird thing is that the Russians have not been able to reconcile is that, as I say, they've already approved this vaccine, they're already giving it to frontline workers in the health care industry, to teachers, to other vulnerable groups as well. And so that has not been fully reconciled by the Russians.
The other issue? The lack of data, they haven't published any results yet to prove that their vaccine actually works and is actually safe. Don't worry, they say they're going to do that this month. Remember, there's only about 10 days left in August, so scientists around the world, watching very carefully to see what actually is published by the Russian authorities.
SCIUTTO: Understandably so. Matthew Chance, thanks very much. CNN's Anna Stewart is in London. We're learning Germany, which had
this largely under control for some time, has now recorded its highest number of new daily COVID cases since April. What's happening there, what do officials attribute this to?
ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: That is true, 1,700 cases in just 24 hours. That is the highest daily rise since April. But to put that into context, at Germany's peak, they had over 6,000 cases a day. So it's not quite there yet.
But it's another example of a really worrying trend we're seeing in Europe, surging cases in France and Spain and Italy and Greece. And today, the World Health Organization has said that it now thinks that Europe accounts around 17 percent of all the world's coronavirus cases.
Forty thousand more case in the first week of August compared to the first week of June. What's the difference there? Well, the easing of lockdowns and of course the summer holidays and more travel.
Now, as the weeks go by and we keep seeing these numbers ticking higher, the question is, are we seeing a spike in viruses in these countries, or are we actually beginning to witness the beginning of a second wave of coronavirus hitting the whole continent -- Jim, Poppy.
HARLOW: Thank you so much for that reporting, Anna.
Let's head over to our Paula Hancocks, she joins us in South Korea. Good morning to you. South Korea has reported triple-digit new cases for the seventh consecutive day. And it's notable because they are a country that is an example of one that had previously handled this so, so well. What has changed?
[10:35:06]
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Poppy, there were another 288 cases confirmed today. Now of course, some countries would be happy with that figure, but as you say, for South Korea, they have handled this so well that this is a bit of a high figure.
Now, the one issue we have at this point is one particular church here in Seoul. Sarang Jeil, it's called, and there's more than 600 people related to that church that have now tested positive.
Now, the biggest issue for officials, they say, is that they haven't managed to contact everyone who was part of that church over the past couple of weeks. Around 700 people, they're still trying to contact. These are either people they don't have details for or, in some cases, people who are refusing to be tested. So there's certainly a concern with that.
And of course, some of those also went to a rally last Saturday, including the reverend of the church who then tested positive. Thousands of people were at that rally and already there are dozens that have tested positive because of that. And as a result officials have now said that all rallies and all
protests of more than 10 people will be banned until the end of the month. They say the next few days will be critical to see whether or not this gets out of hand, and whether or not it spreads to the rest of the country.
SCIUTTO: Paula Hancocks, Matthew Chance, Anna Stewart, thanks so much to all of you.
Back here in the U.S., the group QAnon, it traffics in baseless just crazy conspiracy theories, it's got to be said, as well as outright lies. It is now being embraced by the president. The details of that, next.
HARLOW: And on the same week that we here mark 100 years since the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote, Senator Kamala Harris made history last night as the first black and South Asian vice presidential nominee. Both parties will be relying on big support from female voters to try to get them in the White House. According to Pew, women have reported a higher turnout than men in every presidential election dating back to 1984.
Well, CNN is exploring the past, the present, the future of women's right and voting rights in the U.S. and around the world. You can see much more of this at CNN.com/represented. We'll be right back.
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HARLOW: Well, President Trump is now embracing a group labeled by the FBI as a potential domestic terror threat.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I don't know much about the movement other than I understand they like me very much, which I appreciate. But I don't know much about the movement. I have heard that is gaining in popularity, and I've heard these are people that love our country.
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SCIUTTO: No reference, admission of the many things QAnon does there. Easy to find: the conspiracy group QAnon, it traffics in a whole host of baseless theories about pedophiles, Satanists, cannibals trying to take over this government. You could google it, it's whack-a-doodle and dangerous stuff.
CNN's Drew Griffin is here with more. Drew, tell us the origin of QAnon and the kind of thing it traffics in.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Now, this is going to sound like a very bizarre B movie plot, but it is for real. I'm going to try to give you the 30-second tutorial. Q is supposedly a high-ranking military or intelligence official
within the Trump administration who anonymous -- Q anonymously -- posts on social media networks, cryptic messages detailing what the followers believe to be details of this Democratic, liberal Hollywood elite ring of criminals who traffic in children and sex and are out to destroy the president.
They also believe that the 5G network spreads the coronavirus and that there is this all part of a deep state to attack the president, and that Q is somehow leading some kind of an intelligence army within that one day is going to -- that we're going to wake up one day and all these Democrats and all these Hollywood elites are going to be in handcuffs and this entire plot is going to be exposed.
Jim, as crazy as that sounds, as goofy as that sounds, the goofier it is, the more believable it is to these followers, which is why what the president said -- or didn't say -- is darn right dangerous.
HARLOW: Yes. And Drew, if you could just expand on that, looking back to 2016 and Pizzagate, right? That crazy conspiracy theory that ultimately, you know, led someone to go into one of those pizzerias with a gun.
SCIUTTO : Yes.
GRIFFIN: Yes. Self-described investigator of the QAnon theory, a North Carolina man drove from North Carolina to a place called "Comet Ping Pong Pizza" or something like that, in northwest Washington, believing that the ring was centered in this pizza joint. He went in with an assault rifle and was arrested.
This has some dangerous people following it. And, like I said, the president just fuels the fire when he doesn't say things like, this is bogus.
SCIUTTO: Yes. I mean, Comet Pizza, families bring their children there to have pizza and birthday parties, and a guy walked in there with a gun. If there's any doubt about the seriousness of this, that should eliminate it --
[10:45:05]
HARLOW: Yes. Drew Griffin --
SCIUTTO: -- the president not willing to call it out.
HARLOW: Drew, we appreciate your reporting very much.
We do need to get to some more breaking news just in to us here at CNN. White House Coronavirus Task Force member and the nation's top infectious disease specialist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has just been released from the hospital after undergoing surgery on his vocal cords.
SCIUTTO: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, he joins us now. Sanjay, how serious is this recovery from the surgery? What does it all mean? SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think he's just
out of the operating room still, he's not out of the hospital yet although expected to go home.
Dr. Fauci has been dealing with this polyp on his vocal cord for some time. And we know this because he's been having some challenges with his voice, he wanted to have this polyp sort of taken care of for some time. He had a flu -- this is last year -- it sort of caused some disruptions to his voice.
But he's been waiting, obviously, because we're in the middle of COVID, to have this procedure done. He just had it done, it was under general anesthesia. He texted me after he got out of the hospital, saying he's doing OK. But it was a, you know, a significant procedure. He's probably not going to be able to talk or talk much for a while. And you know, hopefully get out of the hospital today or possibly tomorrow.
SCIUTTO: All right, good, we wish him a quick recovery. Sanjay Gupta, thanks for keeping us on top of the latest news there. That is Dr. Fauci, top infectious diseases expert, just out of surgery for a vocal cord polyp.
We'll have more news right after this short break.
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[10:51:01]
SCIUTTO: An uptick again in the number of Americans filing new unemployment claims, 1.1 million last week. This, after the week before that fell below 1 million new claims for the first time since March.
We should note that all of those figures, higher than any single week during the 2008-2009 financial crisis.
HARLOW: Yes, just stunning. American workers struggling to stay afloat in this pandemic as investors are cashing in on record highs day after day on Wall Street. Our business and politics correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich reports.
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VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): There are two economic realities in the U.S. right now. Wall Street is surging
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got it, all-time high for the S&P
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Nasdaq, looking to extend those record gains.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): -- but on Main Street, the economy is spiraling.
EDDIE TRAVERS, OWNER, FRAUNCES TAVERN: For us, it's been a lot of stress.
LUCIE JOSEPH, UNEMPLOYED: It's not getting better, it's getting worse.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): There's a disconnect. The stock market has recovered from the pandemic while the U.S. unemployment rate tops 10 percent.
JOHN FRIEDMAN, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS, BROWN UNIVERSITY: Wall Street is primarily reflecting the profits of firms, which have a very different trajectory than the lives of workers. There's no doubt that this recession is widening the already large inequalities in this country.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): The Federal Reserve helped corporate America and markets by injecting trillions into the financial system while keeping borrowing rates low. At the same time, more than 100,000 small businesses have closed, taking with them thousands of jobs.
The landmark Fraunces Tavern sits in the shadow of the New York Stock Exchange. Owner Eddie Travers says revenue is down 80 percent, even with government stimulus.
TRAVERS: Of course it's frustrating for us to look at that, to see that the stock market is doing incredibly well, and for us, we see it at the moment, it's not going to be pretty for us, our families, our businesses.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): Like the majority of low-wage workers, Travers' employees don't have the option of working from home as most high-wage earners do.
TRAVERS: We sell an experience, you know? It's an experience of visiting our restaurant. And we can't package that up and put it in the car.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): That simple difference has dramatically slowed low-wage job recovery.
FRIEDMAN: High wage workers are essentially back to the employment levels that they were in February and March, whereas low-wage workers are still only half recovered.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): White workers gained back nearly twice as many jobs lost as black workers during the pandemic. Latinos also trail white workers in jobs recovered.
Lucie Joseph was terminated from her job as a gas station cashier in Florida in June after she recovered from COVID-19. She says she was making $13 an hour.
JOSEPH: My world turned upside-down. It was like a knife went through my heart.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): She says she's barely getting by on unemployment while she looks for a new job, a search made even more critical because of her 10-year-old son Bailey (ph).
JOSEPH: When you're a single mother, you got no one to help you so you're alone. I want to pay rent, you know? I've got to put (ph) a roof over my son's head.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): There are no record highs for Joseph and her son, only lows she's trying her best to climb out of.
JOSEPH: How are you going to say the economy coming back where everything's closing down? That's not the truth. We're all suffering, I'm suffering.
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YURKEVICH: One of the things that economists are very concerned about right now is that while high wage earners have recouped the jobs lost during the pandemic, low-wage workers are seeing a stall in job recovery.
And you heard from Eddie Travers in our story there, he is really concerned, Jim and Poppy, about October. That is when his PPP loan runs out, that helped pay his employees. And that's when it starts to get cold here in New York City. And he says if he can't open indoor dining safely and he doesn't have any more stimulus from the federal government, he's afraid he's going to have to lay off the remaining of his workers -- Jim and Poppy.
[10:55:12]
HARLOW: Wow, so true, totally a tale of two Americas.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
HARLOW: Vanessa, thank you for the great reporting.
Also, we want to let you know that there's been a major development in Flint, Michigan. The state, agreeing to settle civil lawsuits over the water crisis there as this (ph) $600 million settlement. Among the defendants is Michigan's former governor Rick Snyder.
SCIUTTO: It was six years ago that lead leaked into residents' drinking water. The impact on Flint's largely black population? It's just been staggering over time. The settlement will establish a court- monitored victims' compensation fund that will provide direct payments to Flint residents. Nearly 80 percent of the money will go to those who were under the age of 18 at the time of the crisis. It has huge health implications.
HARLOW: Well, thanks to all of you for joining us today. I'm Poppy Harlow.
SCIUTTO: And I'm Jim Sciutto. NEWSROOM with Kate Bolduan will start right after a short break.
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