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Johns Hopkins: Global COVID-19 Cases Surpasses 30 Million; The CDC Projects Up to 218,000 U.S. Deaths by October 10th; U.S. Tops 6.6 Million COVID Cases and Nears 200,000 Deaths. Aired 2:15-3a ET

Aired September 18, 2020 - 02:15   ET

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

[02:15:00]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: We also want our drive-in audience for being here and for their questions. Thank you to PNC Field for hosting us.

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: Live from CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to our viewers around the world. I'm Natalie Allen. This is "CNN Newsroom."

It has now been nine months since the first coronavirus cases were discovered in Wuhan, China. And now, more than 30 million people have been infected around the world.

According to Johns Hopkins University, almost 950,000 people have died. Both numbers only expected to rise as countries struggle to contain transmission here months in (ph).

A number of countries, as you can see, in deep red, seeing a sharp weekly increase in cases, many of those countries in Europe.

The National Health Service says England has seen 167 percent spike in cases since the end of August, leaving the World Health Organization to sound the alarm saying a very serious situation is unfolding in Europe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANS KLUGE, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION REGIONAL DIRECTOR FOR EUROPE: In the spring and early summer, we will able to see the impact of strict lockdown measures. The September case numbers, however, should serve as a wake-up call for all of us. Although these numbers reflect more comprehensive testing, it also shows alarming rates of transmission.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Meantime, Israel will begin its second national lockdown in the coming hours. Schools, restaurants, and entertainment venues will close. People must stay within 500 meters of their home.

Here in the United States, the number of deaths is fast approaching 200,000. But a former member of the White House Task Force says that could have been much slower, if it not for President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OLIVIA TROYE, FORMER MEMBER OF WHITE HOUSE TASK FORCE: Towards the middle of February, we knew it wasn't a matter of if COVID would become a big pandemic here in the United States. It was a matter of when.

But the president didn't want to hear that because his biggest concern was that we were in an election year and how is this going to affect what he considered to be his record of success.

It was shocking to see the president saying that the virus was a hoax, saying that everything is OK when we know that it is not. The truth is he doesn't actually care about anyone else but himself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: That is Olivia Troye, who worked as a homeland security aide to Vice President Mike Pence. She also claims President Trump once said maybe COVID was a good thing because he didn't like shaking hands with what he called "disgusting people."

The White House calls Troye a disgruntled employee who never raised objections while she was on staff. In her resignation letter, she describes her time on the Coronavirus Task Force as an absolute honor.

Meantime, a new forecast from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the U.S. death toll could reach 218,000 by October 10th. That means another 20,000 Americans could die in less than one month. For more, here is CNN's Nick Watt in Los Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Teachers on the march in Manhattan. The nation's largest district was supposed to open in person on Monday. Not anymore.

[02:20:00]

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: We made a move here, of a few days, to get it right.

WATT (voice-over): Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, nearly 30 high schoolers are now forced to quarantine after parents sent their COVID- 19 positive kid to class.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The parents knew they shouldn't have done that. The student knew he shouldn't have done that.

WATT (voice-over): COVID-19 cases rising on college campuses across the country. More than 1,600 confirmed at the University of Wisconsin- Madison since early August.

KEIR METTER, FRESHMAN, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN: I obviously don't want to have COVID but it seemed kind of inevitable being at UW- Madison.

WATT (voice-over): The hunt for a vaccine rolls on. Moderna hopes to know in November if its vaccine works.

STEPHANE BANCEL, CEO, MODERNA: That's our base plan. Our base plan is October. I think it is unlikely but it is possible.

WATT (voice-over): Pfizer and its German partner now saying they will probably submit their vaccine for approval by the end of October.

The president has a date in mind, want a vaccine by Election Day. Many experts say that is dangerous.

LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: It makes people who are not by any means vaccine skeptics normally. It makes them skeptical of the vaccine.

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: If you have a vaccine that is highly effective but very few people get vaccinated, you're not going to realize the full important effect of having a vaccine.

WATT (voice-over): A former CDC director now weighing in on the current director's assertion mask might be more effective protection against coronavirus than a vaccine, which sparked that presidential pushback.

TOM FRIEDEN, FORMER DIRECTOR OF CDC (voice-over): It's really kind of an apple versus a theoretical orange. Masks are really important. A vaccine, we don't know the effectiveness is yet. We don't have the studies. No one knows.

WATT (voice-over): Good news, nationwide, there are now about half the number of people in the hospital with COVID-19 compared to mid- July. But 23 states are now seeing their average daily case counts rise. Perhaps the best indicator of where we are is the number of tests coming back positive. Under five percent is the aim. Two weeks ago, we were there, averaging 4.7 percent. Now, 5.79.

ANNE RIMOIN, EPIDEMIOLOGY PROFESSOR: What science says is that if you give the virus an opportunity to spread, it will.

WATT (on camera): Many officials here in the U.S. are urging people to get their flu vaccine so there isn't the COVID flu double whammy this winter. But Dr. Anthony Fauci says we may not even have a bad flu season partly because of the COVID restrictions in place. He says, look at Australia, they barely had a flu season this year.

Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: The U.S. attorney general under fire for comparing COVID lockdowns in the U.S. to slavery. Also, former Vice President Joe Biden responding during a CNN town hall. We will have that next. Also coming up here, a rare storm that looks a lot like a hurricane is heading straight towards Greece. It could be the strongest in the area on record. We will take a closer look.

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[02:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: We are just 46 days away from the U.S. presidential election with Donald Trump and Joe Biden holding dueling campaign events Thursday night.

The president was in Wisconsin, where he told supporters his rallies are now friendly protests so they can get around local limits on crowd size.

Joe Biden answered questions from voters at a drive-in rally hosted by CNN in Pennsylvania. He said that the president should step down over his mishandling of the coronavirus. The former vice president also responded to comments from U.S. Attorney General William Barr, who said on Wednesday COVID lockdowns are the greatest intrusion on civil liberties since slavery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What Bill Barr recently said is outrageous. That it's like slavery, taking away freedom. I will tell you what takes away your freedom.

What takes away your freedom is not being able to see your kid, not being able to go to the football game or baseball game, not being able to see your mom or dad sick in the hospital, not being able to do those things.

That what's cost our freedom, and it has been the failure of this president to deal, to deal with this virus, and he knew about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: The attorney general's comments on slavery aren't the only ones drawing criticism. CNN's justice correspondent Jessica Schneider has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The attorney general ramping up his increasingly provocative comments in a speech to a conservative college Wednesday night, comparing COVID restrictions to slavery.

WILLIAM BARR, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL: Putting a national lockdown, stay-at-home order is like house arrest. It's -- you know, other than slavery, which was a different kind of restraint, this is the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history.

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): The highest ranking Black American in the House, aghast at the comparison.

REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC): That statement by Mr. Barr was the most ridiculous, tone-deaf, God-awful things I've ever heard. It is incredible, as chief law enforcement officer in this country, to equate human bondage to expert advice to save lives.

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Bill Barr used the speech to assert his authority as attorney general and slammed hundreds of DOJ prosecutors working under him.

BARR: Name one successful organization or institution where the lowest level employees' decisions are deemed sacrosanct. They aren't. There aren't any. Letting the most junior members set the agenda might be a good philosophy for a Montessori preschool, but it is no way to run a federal agency.

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Barr seemed to be criticizing the decision by several career prosecutors to resign from the Roger Stone case after Barr stepped in to reduce Stone's sentence.

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: All these matters that are causing so much consternation within the department are matters that seemed to touch the president's personal interests or political interests. That is what is so troubling to this career officials and career officers.

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): The attorney general is increasingly parroting the president.

BARR: Oh, wait a minute, we just discovered 100,000 ballots. Every vote must be counted. You know, we don't know where these freaking votes came from.

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Hinting at a rigged election without any proof.

BARR: I don't have empirical evidence that on the scale, you know, these problems will materialize.

SCHNEIDER: Barr bashed Democrats on their COVID response.

BARR: They treat free citizens as babies that, you know, can't take responsibility for themselves and others.

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): This comes as a source tells CNN the attorney general is frustrated with local prosecutors who are handling riot- related crimes across the country and pushing them to explore a rarely used sedition law to federally charge protesters.

BARR: They are not interested in black lives. They are interested in props, a small number of Blacks who were killed by police during conflict with police, usually less than a dozen a year, who they can use as props to achieve a much broader political agenda.

SCHNEIDER (on camera): We have learned the Department of Justice considered charging local officials in Portland, Oregon for not doing enough to stop the violence that unfolded when federal officers were brought in to protect the federal courthouse. The Department of Justice has charged more than 250 people associated with those protests that began earlier this summer.

Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Just ahead here, a sobering milestone as the world surpasses 30 million coronavirus infections with no sign of the virus slowing down. I will speak with one physician on the frontline about where we go from here.

Also, Israel is going on a second lockdown after a surge in cases. We will have a live report from Jerusalem.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: Welcome back, I'm Natalie Allen. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.

Back to our top story.

More than 30 million people around the world have now been infected with the coronavirus.

That is triple the number of cases from just 12 weeks ago, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The United States, India, and brazil, account for more than half of the world's cases.

And as infections continue to rise, so does the death toll. So far, the virus has killed nearly 950,000 people.

Let's talk about the current state of affairs with this pandemic.

Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider joins me now. She's an internal medicine physician at the California Pacific Medical Center.

DR. SHOSHANA UNGERLEIDER, INTERNAL MEDICINE PHYSICIAN, CALIFORNIA PACIFIC MEDICAL CENTER: Thank you for having me.

ALLEN: Well, first up. What is your reaction to the surges we are seeing in Europe, even Israel? It seems that this virus, it is a small step forward and then a big step backward in so many countries around the world.

UNGERLEIDER: That's right, Natalie. The weekly COVID numbers are rising in Europe, and in Israel with the numbers in Europe now at a higher rate than during the peak of the pandemic, back in March.

Now part of this is from increased testing. But we know that in Spain, in Italy, in France, new cases are rising faster than can be explained by increasing in testing alone.

So I do suspect that we'll see many European countries impose new restrictions to slow the spread of the virus, to walk back those reopening plans.

So it's clear that these measures worked earlier in the spring and early summer and it'll be important for the European government to take swift action to curb the spread of COVID as we head into flu season and wait for a vaccine.

ALLEN: I wanted to chat with you about flu season. A director with the World Health Organization said Thursday at a news conference the increase in cases should serve as a warning of what is to come. Is that likely in reference to fall and the flu season?

UNGERLEIDER: Yes, I think so. The fact that across the world, in Europe, Asia as well as the U.S., we are seeing increasing numbers of COVID cases and these spikes. Which is concerning, as we head into the fall flu season.

The trajectory of COVID is quite predictable. Science is predictable. When you have strict lockdown measures, as they did in Europe, cases dropped dramatically.

But when you lift those measures and citizens let their guard down in terms of behavior, this is what happens.

[02:35:00]

And we're seeing these new spikes in cases in Europe among -- the largest group being in 25 to 49-year-olds.

So now as we head into flu season is the time to act and impose strict local measures to help stop the spread of the virus.

ALLEN: Well, we just heard what the attorney general of the United States said about lockdowns, relating it to slavery. So it doesn't seem like something we can think about here in the United States with this administration.

But I want to talk with you about the vaccine situation. You hear about them moving forward, the president really promising and overly hopeful that one will transpire, somehow, within the next month or two.

And then we heard Dr. Fauci and the head of CDC say it will probably be months, realistically, for people to get a vaccine. Do you agree with that?

UNGERLEIDER: I do. I think at the very earliest, maybe at the very, very end of 2020 we'll see a vaccine candidate hopefully emerge and be available for a very small group of people.

And then it won't be until probably the middle or even the end of 2021 before the rest of the population can have access to the vaccine. And we know that for a vaccine to be useful, we need most of the

population being willing to be vaccinated. And the current data suggests, from this country, that a large proportion of people are going to refuse a coronavirus vaccine. Which is obviously a huge problem.

ALLEN: Yes, let's talk about that. Because I noticed a few weeks there was a poll by the Pew Research Center that said there was around 70 percent of people who said they would get vaccines. Now that's down to just over 50 percent. What accounts for that?

UNGERLEIDER: Gosh, probably a number of things. I think that we need our citizens to recognize that vaccines save lives. We all really need to trust in the scientific process, to feel confident that that our government has our best interest at heart.

And that's what I'm concerned about, that the American public is worried about.

We absolutely need to remove political pressure from the equation. To take this process slowly and uphold the highest levels of scientific rigor to find a safe and effective vaccine that people are willing to take.

ALLEN: Well, we appreciate your insights. We hope that people will come around, certainly because it would be so important to help us move forward. And the whole world has to be on the same page with that.

Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider, thank you so much. We appreciate your insights.

UNGERLEIDER: Thank you for having me.

ALLEN: Portugal is reporting its highly daily increase of cases since April.

On Thursday, officials counted 770 new cases, and 10 deaths. Nearly half of the cases coming from the Lisbon area. Earlier this week, more than one million students returned to schools across the country for the first time since March.

Just hours from now, Israel will begin its second lockdown from the pandemic. It comes as historic deals are being reached, protests being held against the government and Israel marking the start of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hosannah.

CNN's Oren Liebermann joins us leave from Jerusalem to talk more about this.

Complex days there in Israel. We know, Oren, that schools opened relatively early there in Israel and now they're having to walk that back, it seems.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The cases here were so bad in terms of coronavirus that they decided to impose the closure of the schools a day early.

And we see a reflection of that in yesterday's numbers from the Ministry of Health where, again, more than 5,200 new cases were diagnosed as Israel continues on this upward trajectory of coronavirus.

And you get the sense there that there are almost two entirely different stories here.

One is the landmark historic signing at the White House between Israel, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. And the second is the status on the ground here as the country is just over four hours away from its second general lockdown.

On the south lawn of the White House was the celebration Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted. And the distraction he needed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL: This week is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. And what a blessing we bring to this New Year. A blessing of friendship, a blessing of hope, a blessing of peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIEBERMANN: The ceremony with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain was an historic achievement of Netanyahu's foreign policy, a picture for the ages.

If only the success extended to his domestic policy.

[02:40:00]

Back at home, protests have swelled outside the prime minister's residence. Where thousands of people have come out every week and called on Netanyahu to resign.

Unemployment remains about 18 percent, according to the Israel Unemployment Service, and a fragile economy will take another hit with a second general lockdown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK YAIR LAPID, OPPOSITION LEADER: We have a dysfunctional government. Good at producing ceremonies in the White House, bad at running a country.

And this is the worst failure Netanyahu ever experienced, and we are experiencing it with him. Or because of him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD: (Chanting)

LIEBERMANN: Restaurant owners smashed plates in protest. Frustrated, as they face a closure that threatens their livelihoods.

And then there's the coronavirus.

Netanyahu boasted about making peace with two Arab countries in 29 days, from August 13th to September 11.

During that same timeframe, according to the Ministry of Health data, there was 62,000 new cases of coronavirus, about a third since the beginning of the pandemic.

And there were 446 deaths in that same period. That's about 40 percent of those who have died.

Israel's coronavirus numbers have soared in recent weeks, among the highest in the world per capita.

Schools, restaurants, entertainment venues, all closed in this lockdown as Israel becomes perhaps the first country in the world to reimpose closure.

The political situation is hardly better. A unity government meant to handle the coronavirus crisis has spent more bickering about who's in charge and who to blame.

The country last passed a budget in 2018. The head of the budget division quit as did the head of the health ministry's public health division.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YOHANAN PLESNER, ISRAEL DEMOCRACY INSTITUTE: Supposedly this should have been a national unity government that is steering us out of the crisis, creating the necessary reforms to prepare us for the post- corona era.

And instead, it's a government that is in total paralysis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIEBERMANN: Yet none of that is Netanyahu's biggest problem. Israel's largest serving prime minister has been charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust.

He's maintained his innocence all along. Attacking the attorney general, investigators and the judicial system, accusing them of an attempted coup driven by the left wing and the media.

His trial begins in earnest in January when a panel of judges will begin hearing from witnesses. And there will be no White House ceremony big enough to draw attention away from those proceedings.

A big part of the frustration here from the public side when it comes to the second general lockdown is the apparently haphazard way in which it's being implemented and in which the specific rules are being put out.

Even last night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was meeting with health officials to try to figure out if the restrictions needed to be tightened. In the end they were left as they were and as they were announced just a few days earlier.

In fact one of them was loosened, despite the incredibly high numbers. Instead of being able to go 500 meters from the house, you're allowed to go 1,000 meters from the house.

But it's this last-second adjustment of the rules and changing of the rules that has added to the confusion, the chaos, the frustration and the anger.

As the country heads for a second general lockdown. Natalie.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: All right. We appreciate your reporting on this. Oren Liebermann for us in Jerusalem. Thank you, Oren.

Now just look at the damage left by Hurricane Sally in in Alabama, right along the Gulf Coast of the U.S. There's also major flooding and a lot of power lines are down.

More than 425,000 customers are reportedly without power in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia.

Sally, now a post-tropical depression, and it's moving over the Carolinas toward the East Coast, bringing heavy rains along with it still.

Many are afraid there is more flooding to come.

And it is not just the Atlantic dealing with hurricanes right now. The Mediterranean is bracing for what is called a medicane.

I want to bring in CNN's Tyler Mauldin for more about this. In all of my decades of anchoring, I've never said "medicane." So.

TYLER MAULDIN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, there you go, Natalie. It's because it's such a rare event.

We only see one or two medicanes form every year. And this Medicane, in particular, is one of the strongest on record.

Now a Medicane is actually very similar to a hurricane out in the Atlantic, it's also very similar to a typhoon in the Pacific. But they form in the Mediterranean Sea.

And this medicane is pushing to the east, it has its eye set on Greece. And it's giving Greece their highest severe level threat possible.

Now this is because this tiny little storm that sits right here is packing wind gusts in excess of 120 kilometers per hour and it's also leading to some very heavy rainfall.

And you know how easily Greece can flood. Now Greece could pick up in some spots upwards of 250 to 500 millimeters of rainfall just in the next 24 to 48 hours.

We then zoom out the image and we push to the west. And Portugal and Spain, they're seeing some showers and thunderstorms due to a tropical system that sits right offshore too.

[02:45:00]

This system is barely pushing to the east. And as it barely pushes to the east it puts them under the threat for severe weather as well. By the way, the Hurricane Center is giving that area a 30 percent chance of developing.

We then continue to push west and we take a look at the entire Atlantic Basin. And notice how many systems we have out here to watch this upcoming week.

Two of the most noteworthy systems -- I would say the first one has got to be Teddy, it's a major hurricane, in fact it is a category four hurricane. It's got its eye set on Bermuda in the next couple of days.

And then you've got tropical depression number 22 which formed just several hours ago in the western Gulf of Mexico. We have to keep a close eye on it because it has the potential of forming in the next 72 hours into a hurricane.

And when it forms into a hurricane, Natalie, it's going to receive the name Wilfred. And this is the last name on the list for 2020.

After we get Wilfred, after we see tropical depression 22 turn into Wilfred, well, then we've got to start using the Greek alphabet. We're talking Alpha, Beta, so on and so forth. Natalie.

ALLEN: Don't recall when that has happened. Interesting.

MAULDIN: Yes. The last time that happened was back in 2005, actually.

ALLEN: Oh, goodness.

MAULDIN: It was the -- and that was the only other time that's ever happened. And 2005 was the most active hurricane season on record. So there you go.

ALLEN: All right. Storms to watch on the U.S. Gulf Coast and fires out West.

MAUDLIN: Yes.

ALLEN: Tyler, we thank you.

Speaking of those fires, more than 2.3 million hectares wiped out by massive fires in the western part of the U.S.

And in some parts of California the air quality is so bad because of the smoke many people aren't leaving home.

In Oregon, officials say nearly 2,000 homes have now been destroyed but there's also this. There are now less than 60 large wildfires burning in the western part of the U.S. -- that's according to the agency that oversees the handling of those fires -- just a few days ago, there were around 100 large fires.

We are getting new details on how Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned.

He became sick about one month ago and his family fought for him to get transferred to Berlin, where you see he is recovering now. Germany has said it found traces of a powerful chemical agent developed by the Soviet Union.

CNN's Matthew Chance has more about it from Moscow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SNR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, traces of poison were found on a bottle of water drunk by Alexei Navalny in the Siberian hotel room where he stayed before being taken seriously ill.

That's according to the Russian opposition leader's political team.

Speaking as Navalny himself continues to recover in a berlin clinic from his ordeal, Navalny's team has posted video of him scouring his hotel room in the Siberian city of Tomsk shortly after they heard he'd fallen sick on a flight back to Moscow last month.

You can see empty water bottles clearly. One Navalny aide told CNN the intention was to preserve as much as they could, they put everything in plastic bags and sealed them, he said, in case there was some poison on them.

The Kremlin denies any responsibility. But the German government says Navalny, Russia's most prominent opposition figure, was poisoned by a chemical agent, novichok. A conclusion that's been supported by two other labs, in France and Sweden.

The Russian authorities have so far refused to open an investigation into the alleged poisoning saying they want the Germans to send them any evidence first.

Well, after weeks in a medically-induced coma, Alexei Navalny recently posted a photo of himself sitting up in bed. And his spokeswoman says that he eventually intends to return to Russia.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Airlines are certainly struggling in this pandemic. Now there is a creative new idea to get you out of the house. How

about a flight to nowhere? We'll have that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:50:00]

ALLEN: The number of Americans filing first time unemployment claims fell slightly last week to 860,000.

Analysts say the economic comeback is taking time and the jobs recovery is losing steam.

The latest number is still about four times higher than before the pandemic.

While millions of Americans now earn less than they did before this crisis began, billionaires are making big gains. According to a new report by the Institute for Policy Studies, U.S. billionaires or the 643 richest Americans added a whopping $845 billion to their fortunes since March.

That increased their combined wealth by 29 percent during the pandemic and saw their net worth rise by almost a trillion dollars from 2.95 trillion to eight -- excuse me, 3.8 trillion. My goodness.

The top earners include Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon's Jeff Bezos and former New York City mayor, Michael Bloomberg.

Australia has been on severe lockdown restrictions since the coronavirus pandemic started.

As you can imagine, you've probably been there at some point during these past few months, that can cause people to go stir crazy sitting at home.

Well, Qantas Airlines is offering a unique remedy. How about a flight to nowhere?

Here's CNN's Richard Quest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It may have been the fastest- selling flight in Qantas history.

A seven-hour trip around Australia where you don't get off the plane at all.

Demand is high. Tickets sold out in just 10 minutes. One of the pilots is just as excited to get going.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID SUMMERGREENE, FIRST OFFICER, QANTAS AIRLINES: It's been a few months since I've been back in an aeroplane and I cannot wait to go flying, I cannot wait to see people on the airplane. I cannot wait to see excited, happy people going flying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: The date of this flight to nowhere and back is October the 10th. And the plane is a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, one usually reserved for international travel.

In fact, I flew on it on the Perth to London nonstop. This time though it's a long local cruise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUMMERGREENE: So we have a fantastic day planned. Which will see us depart Sydney around midmorning.

From there we're going to head up the New South Wales coast, there's be some great viewing on both sides of the aircraft as we make our way up.

At this point, we'll follow the Great Barrier Reef for about 90 minutes and we'll be doing some flights over certain reef marks at high and low altitudes. So it'll be great viewing for about 30 minutes (inaudible) the route [ph].

Once we finish with that, we'll be then setting back to Sydney.

Upon arrival, which will be getting close to sunset, we'll be doing a flyover of the harbor and the beaches of Sydney before finally landing back in Sydney.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Flights like these have become more common in recent months as people who have been under stay-at-home orders because of the pandemic are itching to get back on a plane.

In July, Taipei's Zhongshan Airport began the first of three flights to nowhere where passengers got on board a plane and it never actually took off.

Royal Brunei Airlines did a dine-and-fly sightseeing tour in August. And Singapore Airlines is reportedly considering a new route as well. To nowhere.

For Qantas, the flight has some additional perks. Food from the chef Neil Perry, a gift bag, and an auction of memorabilia from Qantas' recently retired 747s.

[02:55:00]

The beauty of these flights, as Qantas says, is there's no passport or quarantine required.

And it's proving the old travel adage true. "It is better to have traveled than to have arrived."

Richard Quest. CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Airline CEOs are begging the White House and U.S. lawmakers for more federal aid saying the industry could face thousands of job cuts in October.

That is when the original $25 billion federal payroll assistance is set to expire.

Companies like American Airlines are calling for a six-month extension while hoping for a broader aid package to pass soon.

John Defterios joins me now to talk about these issues. Hello to you, john, how are you?

JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Hi, there. Yes, good thanks.

ALLEN: Good to see you. Well, let's talk about the hit the airline industry continues to take due to this pandemic. I believe that flight to nowhere we saw there is emblematic of the problem. Anything to get people to fly.

DEFTERIOS: Yes. That's for sure, Natalie.

In fact I was traveling the July August period and I felt like I was jumping through hoops at every destination at three different locations I was going to. And the regulations are not unified so that makes it a challenge.

In fact, the U.S. airlines again were at the White House meeting with the Chief of Staff Mark Meadows for the president. They're looking for another $25 million.

But this is the crunch time because the deadline, as you're suggesting in the lead in there, is the end of September; 30,000 workers' jobs on the table here. They will be furloughed if they don't get that package.

And they were looking for a wider stimulus package overall in the United States of over $2 trillion from the House, about $1.5 as a compromise.

But the Senate Republicans are worried about the debt and had something much lower. So we have the White House lobbying now the Senate Republicans.

Here's the American Airlines CEO, Doug Parker.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DOUG PARKER, CEO, AMERICAN AIRLINES: There's enormous bipartisan support for an extension of the payroll support program which will keep those people employed. And the only problem we have is we don't have a vehicle for getting it done. We need to have a COVID relief package that includes that. So we're

just here to plead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEFTERIOS: How do you like that language? We're here to plead, Natalie. That's the desperation of the airlines because they're on the front line of COVID 19, of course.

And what we could see here is the president signing an executive order for this single industry. But it gets very messy with all different sectors kind of knocking at the door pleading for money.

In Europe, we have a different situation here where we have the airlines and the travel associations lobbying the European Union saying all these ad hoc quarantines that are going on from state to state, it's confusing the traveler right now. And that's showing up in the numbers.

We saw in the first two weeks of September versus last year travel numbers down 73 percent.

Even when they lifted them in July, they came back in August and the travel numbers were down 65 percent. This is not a simple game.

But the industry is saying can we get to a standard? Can we have a policy on the bailout so we know where we're going? And that is not clear at this stage. Natalie.

ALLEN: And it's staggering, the amount of money these airlines are losing every single day.

John Defterios, we always appreciate you.

DEFTERIOS: Yes.

ALLEN: Thanks, John. And we appreciate all of you for watching.

I'm Natalie Allen, I'll be right back with our top stories.

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