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No Clear Picture Of President's Health As Questions Loom After Medical Team Briefing; Super Spreader Event; President's Health; New York Proposing Non-essential Closings; Biden Campaign Stays On Message; Virtual Fitness Class. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired October 04, 2020 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:00]
ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: They again gave us a rosy view of his very serious battle with COVID-19. In the words of CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, they are hiding things.
A couple of hours ago, for the second straight day, the doctors treating President Trump walked out of Walter Reed Medical Center as a team to update reporters. Someone not medically trained could come away from it believing the president is hardly sick at all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. SEAN CONLEY, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S MEDICAL TEAM: The patient continues to improve. He has remained without fever since Friday morning. His vital signs are stable.
DR. BRIAN GARIBALDI, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S MEDICAL TEAM: Today he feels well. He's been up and around. Our plan today is for have him to eat and drink, be up out of bed as much as possible, to be mobile.
CONLEY: Would like to reiterate how pleased we all are with the president's recovery.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: He's feeling great, up and around. He could be discharged tomorrow. Now, the president's doctors did say he battled a fever, that his oxygen levels did fall at least two times and that he did spend time being administered supplemental oxygen. A detail they danced around in yesterday's medical briefing.
This is the U.S. president. We need serious and accurate information, whether it's what we are hoping to hear or not, because not only Americans but people around the world, friendly and otherwise, will fill in the blanks if there are holes in what we are being told. Every medical doctor that advises me and this network believes that there is more to the president's condition than what his caregivers are saying out loud. They believe it because not what they're being told.
Stay right there, you'll hear directly from our doctors in just a moment. But first, let's go to our White House correspondent Jeremy Diamond, who's outside Walter Reed Medical Center right now. And, Jeremy, this is very frustrating the way reporters are having to
drag information out of these doctors, information that the world really needs right now. This is not saving face or a matter of personal pride right now. There are real world consequences to being kept in the dark about the president of the United States' medical condition.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. No question. I mean, look at the situation we're in right now. The president of the United States, a 74-year-old man who's in a high-risk category, is in the hospital with an infectious disease that has killed more than 209,000 people in the United States in just the last seven months. And the doctor, who is not only treating him but briefing the public on his condition, is facing a credibility crisis, and that is because of the changes in the statements, the withholding of information that we have seen from Dr. Sean Conley.
Today we heard Dr. Sean Conley -- sorry, yesterday, we heard Dr. Sean Conley dance around these questions about the president's oxygen, whether or not he had received supplemental oxygen. And then today we saw him finally admit after the press had reported this that, yes, indeed, the president had received supplemental oxygen on Friday and most likely as well yesterday, during the day on Saturday as well.
And while we heard more information from Dr. Conley today, he revealed that the president had a worryingly high fever on Friday. That his oxygen levels had dipped below 94 percent twice now. Dr. Sean Conley also defended this optimistic assessment that he offered of the president's condition just yesterday. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONLEY: I was trying to reflect the upbeat attitude that the team, the president, the course of illness has had. I didn't want to give any -- any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction. And in doing so, you know, it came off that we were trying to hide something, which wasn't necessarily true. And so here I have it. He is -- the fact of the matter is that he's doing really well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DIAMOND: Now there's no indication that withholding truthful information from the public would steer the president's prognosis one way or the other. But what it does do, withholding that information, it makes it that much harder to believe Dr. Conley when he says that the president is doing very well and that he is on the mend as he tried to explain today.
Now while we got more information from Dr. Conley, we also heard him kind of, you know, withhold the facts some more today. And that was on the question of the president's lung scans and x-rays. He only would say that there were some expected findings in those scans as it relates to the president's lung function but he wouldn't offer any information. And then he also continued to skirt questions about the president's oxygen level. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: -- ask if his oxygen level ever dipped below 90?
CONLEY: We don't have any recordings here of that. That's right.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: At the White House or here, anything below 90? Just to follow up on her question.
CONLEY: No. It was below 94 percent. It wasn't -- it wasn't down into the low 80s or anything. No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[16:05:02]
DIAMOND: And so you hear Dr. Conley there saying that it was below 94 percent but he wouldn't answer whether it went below 90 percent, only saying that it wasn't in the low 80s.
So again, Ana, we are in a point where the doctor who is revealing this information, he is facing a crisis of credibility and he is continuing of course to withhold information about the president's condition, leaving us with only more questions than answers -- Ana.
CABRERA: And Jeremy, we can hear a lot of ruckus going on behind you. What is happening there outside Walter Reed Medical Center right now?
DIAMOND: Yes, we are seeing dozens of the president's supporters who have staked out outside of Walter Reed Medical Center to show their support for the president. There are cars that are coming by and honking to also show their support. Some of it very loud, as you can hear at one point during my previous answer.
This is being organized in part by the Republican Party of Maryland. So it is an effort being run by that party. We are also seeing some counter protesters. And we've also seen frankly some signs of fringe support for the president as well that we should note. We've seen some QAnon supporters pop out with signs like that.
We also saw yesterday Gavin McInnes, the founder of the Proud Boys, that violent extremist group that the president of course, in the debate last week, you know, it seems like forever ago, when the president said stand back and stand by. Of course, the president since then has said that he disavows that group -- Ana.
CABRERA: OK. Jeremy Diamond at Walter Reed Medical Center. Thank you.
Let's bring in our doctors to talk more about the president's condition, what we know and what we don't know. Dr. Leana Wen and Jonathan Reiner are colleagues at George Washington University Hospital. Dr. Wen is an emergency physician. Dr. Reiner is the director of the cardiac catherization lab, he's also the long-time cardiologist to Vice President Dick Cheney.
Dr. Reiner, you called yesterday's briefing a fiasco. What did you think of today's?
DR. JONATHAN REINER, DIRECTOR, CARDIAC CATHERIZATION LAB, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: It was even worse. As a physician, as someone who has given these briefings in the past, and as an American I was really offended by it. The reason to brief the public on the health of the president is to really remove all doubts about his status, reassure the public when you can, and simply tell the truth.
When we gave these briefings, we only told the truth, but we told the complete truth. And I think what we're seeing now are both errors of commission, intentionally misleading the public, and errors of omission, intentionally leaving key data elements out, like we heard today that the president had been started on dexamethasone on Friday. And that was not told to the public yesterday.
CABRERA: That's right.
REINER: So this is really -- this is a fiasco.
CABRERA: Let's pick through some of what we did learn today and then we can fill in some of the blanks as well or what some of the blanks may mean. Dr. Conley's first words were, good morning, everyone, since we last spoke the president has continued to improve. And then here's what he revealed during this briefing, that the president is now being given this steroid typically reserved for severely ill coronavirus patients.
That his x-rays has revealed, quote, "expected findings" of someone with coronavirus, although he didn't detail what that is. And he says the president has needed supplemental oxygen, possibly as recently as yesterday. Again, yesterday he was dancing around whether the president had needed supplemental oxygen at all. And today he verified that, in fact, the president had supplemental oxygen on Friday.
And that his oxygen level has dropped below 94. And it's dropped into concerning territory at least twice since the president got ill, although Dr. Conley wouldn't say just how low it had gone.
So, Dr. Wen, do these updates sound like improvement?
DR. LEANA WEN, EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: They are very concerning to me, Ana. And I agree with Dr. Reiner, we're having to play detective here and trying to figure out what pieces are missing and what to do with the information that we have. So, let's take the oxygen level. The fact that there were two drops in the oxygen level maybe to the 80s, as what it's sounding like based on Dr. Conley's answers, that's concerning in and of itself because it indicates that we don't have a stable situation here.
And one of those drops in oxygen must have been concerning enough because that was what prompted the transfer to the hospital. That means this is a patient who needs careful monitoring. Then you have dexamethasone. Dexamethasone has been shown in multiple randomized controlled trials to reduce the death rate, the mortality rate in patients who are severely or critically ill. And so, it's not given to patients with mild illness. And then you've got the chest x-ray finding. Exactly as you said, if
the chest x-ray were normal, you would say it's normal. If you say that it's expected, one wonders what it's expected of? Are we having -- is there pneumonia here? How severe is that pneumonia?
CABRERA: What do you think, Dr. Reiner, when you hear that the findings of the president's lung x-rays are, quote, "expected"? What do you expect to find in the lungs of a COVID patient?
[16:10:04]
REINER: Well, let's remember that the president has been treated with what may be -- for the first time in the history of the planet, he may be the only patient to have received the monoclonal antibodies from Regeneron, the Remdesivir anti-viral therapy and dexamethasone. This kind of triple therapy is unprecedented. So either it was given to an increasingly critically ill president or it was given because the medical staff was starting to panic.
One key piece of data that we need to understand, Ana, is when was the patient last tested negative? You would not expect -- the White House has told us over and over again for the last several months that the reason no one wears a mask is that the president is tested every single day. That's why he doesn't need to wear a mask. I don't believe that. I want to know when the president last tested negative because he's presenting like somebody who has been positive for over a week.
It would be extraordinarily unlikely for someone to have multiple negative tests, then test positive on Thursday and on Friday essentially need triple experimental therapy. So, we need to know when the president last tested negative. It's also important for the people who attended the debate on Tuesday night, was the president negative before he came there? Did he come knowing that he was positive? Or has he not been tested in days? We need to know that. But he's presenting like somebody who has been positive for many days.
CABRERA: I want to go back through what we know the president has been given as far as these medications, especially those very serious ones. The experimental antibody cocktail, Remdesivir, and a steroid called dexamethasone. Keep in mind, this is the president, so we know doctors are going to do whatever they can to help and they're going to throw the whole kitchen sink at him, I guess.
But, Dr. Wen, what kind of side effects could these serious medications have?
WEN: So every medication does have potential side effects. And I think the key is something that Dr. Reiner said which is that, to my knowledge to anyone's knowledge, no one with COVID-19 or anyone full stop in the world has gotten this particular combination of medications. And that's because this Regeneron monoclonal antibody cocktail is something that is experimental only.
It has not been approved even for emergency use by the FDA. And so the president got a dose of this medication. Then he also received Remdesivir and dexamethasone. These are standard medications for the use in critically ill patients. Remdesivir for patients who are at least on supplemental oxygen. It's an antiviral medication that reduces the length of hospital stay. Then you have dexamethasone, that does reduce the mortality rate by up to a third, it's been shown in several studies. Also in severely or critically ill patients.
And so all of these carry some side effects. Remdesivir, for example, is an IV infusion that may cause damage to the liver. And this is another reason why when I hear speculation that the president could be leaving as early as tomorrow really makes me wonder. He's still on Remdesivir. He needs to be monitored for these side effects. Not to mention, he has had to date what looks like an unstable clinical course.
And to Dr. Reiner's point, the time that a patient is the most -- the most concerning period for a patient with COVID-19 is often day seven to 10. And so if the president really got diagnosed with COVID on Thursday and he's getting discharged on Monday, that's day five. That doesn't make sense. You would want to keep at least days seven to 10.
CABRERA: And his doctors had mentioned yesterday that they are concerned about what he called another phase, which is an inflammatory phase. So as far as the blood work, Dr. Conley says, quote, "Today, our continued monitoring of his cardiac, liver and kidney function demonstrates normal findings or improving findings."
Dr. Reiner, what does that tell you?
REINER: You know, I feel like the old days of the Soviet Union when there was all this terminology trying to tease out meanings of these words. It shouldn't have to be this way. What it means is that some of his labs were abnormal and showing some improvement. We need a full accounting. And the kind of labs that can be abnormal, for instance, are liver function abnormalities, either as a consequence of the COVID-19 infection itself. The Remdesivir itself can cause elevations in the liver -- abnormalities in the liver function.
These are not national secrets. They should not be considered national secrets. And what I'd like to see actually I think if I were advising the White House, and I'm not, what I would advise now is now would be a good time to bring in an outside group of specialists from the premiere institutions in the United States to augment the very fine team.
[16:15:06]
And I have nothing but the highest respect for the Walter Reed team. I've trained some of the cardiologists who are on staff there now. They're my friends and colleagues. They are the best in the world. But to add some confidence to the public, it might be good to have some outside experts from outside institutions augment the team, so the public knows that what they're hearing is medicine, not spin.
CABRERA: Dr. Jonathan Reiner and Dr. Leana Wen, thank you both so much for the time and for all that good information. I appreciate the discussion. A source tells CNN that the president is now furious with his chief of
staff, Mark Meadows, for contradicting the rosy picture painted by Trump's physician. Much more on that just ahead.
You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CABRERA: Right now as President Trump remains hospitalized after contracting a virus that has now killed more than 209,000 Americans, it's more clear than ever that no one is immune from this pandemic.
[16:20:07]
But one thing that's not clear is how the president is actually faring. And that's because his own medical team and staff continue to put out contradictory statements.
CNN's Boris Sanchez is at the White House for us.
And Boris, what do we know about the president's condition this hour?
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, according to the White House physicians, the president is up and about and he's doing well and the symptoms of COVID-19 that he was exhibiting have abated. But from what we saw from Dr. Sean Conley and others today, it leaves a lot to be desired in the form of confidence that the White House physicians are actually giving us legitimate information about the president's well-being.
Case in point, today they revealed a ton of information that they had a very difficult time answering yesterday or didn't reveal at all. For example, the fact that over the last 48 hours the president's oxygen level in his blood had dipped several times. Beyond that, the fact that he received supplemental oxygen. If you'll recall yesterday, Dr. Conley was avoiding that question multiple times.
Now apparently, we're learning that the president is frustrated by press coverage of his COVID-19 diagnosis and the way that he's dealing with it, not because of these contradictions from his doctors but rather because of the somber account that we got yesterday from White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. He took reporters aside and told them that they were very concerned about the president's health.
But the next several days would be significant in the president's recovery. That they would be critical to him getting better. Very different assessment that we got from the White House physicians today who suggested that the president might leave Walter Reed Medical Center as soon as tomorrow.
Dr. Conley was asked about Mark Meadows' assessment. Here's what he had to say. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONLEY: The chief and I work side by side. And I think his statement was misconstrued. What he meant was that 24 hours ago when he and I were checking on the president, that there was that momentary episode of the high fever and the temporary drop in saturation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: He also suggested that he wanted to paint an upbeat picture because somehow that might actually influence the course of the president's illness. That's quite the statement. Keep in mind, the president furious with Mark Meadows over his transparency with reporters. We're told that he believes that Meadows is undermining the credibility of his medical team. The president not happy with the kind of transparency that the American people, frankly, deserve -- Ana.
CABRERA: Boris Sanchez at the White House. Thanks, Boris.
And while Dr. Conley's briefings have been very nuanced, you don't need a medical degree to know that what we are hearing today is not what we were led to believe yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Has he ever been on supplemental oxygen?
CONLEY: He -- right now he is not on oxygen.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I know you keep saying right now, but should we read into the fact that he had --
CONLEY: Yesterday and today, he was not on oxygen.
Over the course of his illness, the president has experienced two episodes of transient drops in his oxygen saturation. I recommended the president we try some supplemental oxygen, see how he would respond.
At this time the team and I are extremely happy with the progress the president has made. Thursday, he had a mild cough and some nasal congestion and fatigue, all of which are now resolving and improving.
Thursday night into Friday morning when I left the bedside, the president was doing well with only mild symptoms and his oxygen was in the high 90s. Late Friday morning when I returned to the bedside, the president had a high fever and his oxygen saturation was transiently dipping below 94 percent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: Joining us now, former Clinton White House press secretary Joe Lockhart and former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci.
Thank you both for joining me. Anthony, can the American people trust what Trump's doctor is saying?
ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: They can't trust him because he's now getting stage direction from President Trump. He's now part of President Trump's kabuki theater of lies and reality distortion, and so he's getting a lot of pressure on him from the president and from the president's staff, to say nonsense, but listen to what he said. He's trying to cheer the president up.
So he knows the president is watching him out there. So he's saying stuff about the president's health in an effort to cheer the president up, would cheer him up which is obviously ridiculous, and I really wish these guys would cut it out and just get to the truth. The American people deserve it.
CABRERA: And here is his exact words as to why he has been, you know, not fully honest with the American people about the president's oxygen needs, for one. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONLEY: I was trying to reflect the upbeat attitude that the team didn't want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction, and in doing so, you know, it came off that we're trying to behind something, which wasn't necessarily true.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[16:25:10]
CABRERA: Joe, maybe that's a press secretary's job, but is that the job of the president's physician?
JOE LOCKHART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, it's not. And in defense of the president's physician, he's in a tough spot. He cannot reveal information without the president's permission. And I think Anthony's right. What the president is doing here is pulling the strings and trying to orchestrate putting out a false narrative. Where the president's doctor goes over the line, though, is when he gives these quantitative, you know, anecdotal pieces of information.
The team is happy. The president is upbeat. If he's going to do that, he then has to provide some qualitative -- excuse me, quantitative data. His vital signs, these sorts of things. But this is -- you know, we shouldn't be surprised by this. It's from day one. From the first time Sean Spicer went into the briefing room and said the crowd was the biggest ever. The president doesn't believe in telling the truth. And now even at this critical time for the country, he's still doing it.
CABRERA: But why do you think Chief of Staff Mark Meadows painted a much more dire or serious picture yesterday after that press conference in which he tried to make that off the record or at least on background, and it was so different than what we had just heard publicly from the doctors?
LOCKHART: Well, I think it's because he knew the truth. And he knew that the truth would eventually come out and they would need to somehow marry the false story with a story that would eventually come out. That's why he tried to do it without his name on it, but he got busted there. But he knew -- he knew what the facts were. And frankly, he wasn't willing to go along with the false narrative the president was directing, you know, from Walter Reed.
CABRERA: Anthony, there has been a pattern of deception since the coronavirus reached the White House. Doctors say the progression of symptoms don't make sense and we still don't know when the last time the president received a negative test was. Why?
SCARAMUCCI: Again, it's being directed by the president. We just have to remind the American people, he's an intimidating guy. He's in the most powerful position in the world and the people around him are predisposed to trying to make him feel good and do exactly what he wants. So at some point hopefully the fever will break and people will look around and say, hey, listen, we got to tell the truth.
You know, Joe is bringing up a point. Mark Meadows didn't want to get caught if this thing really worsened. He didn't want to have that egg on his face permanently. That being his lying legacy to the American people. So I don't know what's going to happen here, but at some point I do think that reality distortion field is going to collapse, and when it does, the American people are going to get the truth.
The president is not going to like it but it's going to be the truth and I think it's going to have a very big impact on the election, negatively for the president.
CABRERA: Let me ask you, Anthony, if a reporter hadn't broken the news that Hope Hicks had tested positive back on Thursday, do you think any of this would have been made public? Would we know what we know now?
SCARAMUCCI: We would. It would have taken longer. But he is so sick that they had to get him over to the hospital. And so we would have eventually found that out. But I do agree, it probably wouldn't have been Thursday into Friday. It could have been this weekend. But there was no way a 74-year-old man who's morbidly obese who's got this illness is not going to get hospitalized. And so yes, we would have definitely found this out. But they were certainly trying to hide it.
CABRERA: At the end of the day, the president is extremely ill from a virus he has repeatedly downplayed and claimed will simply disappear. So I wonder how he's going to spin this once he does recover? And I think we got a clue, perhaps, yesterday. Here's a video the White House shared from Walter Reed. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is America. This is the United States. This is the greatest country in the world. This is the most powerful country in the world. I can't be locked up in a room upstairs and totally safe and just say, hey, whatever happens, happens. I can't do that.
We have to confront problems. As a leader you have to confront problems. There's never been a great leader that would have done that. So that's where it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: Joe, it seems like he's saying the fact that he got the coronavirus is proof that he's a good leader because he refused to be scared and stay indoors.
LOCKHART: Well, I mean, they're grasping at straws here. And I think that you'll see the Republicans try to paint this as he's so strong, even as a 74-year-old man, he defeated coronavirus. But it is exactly the opposite. And that's why the president is so desperate to feed a false narrative. He says he confronted the problem. He did the exact opposite. He the problem didn't exist. He didn't wear a mask. He said it would go away. And hundreds of thousands of Americans have died. Not all, you know, directly related to him, but certainly many who followed his lead.
So, that's why I think -- and I think Anthony's right. This will eventually all come out and it will severely undercut the president's message in the last 30 days.
CABRERA: Joe Lockhart and Anthony Scaramucci, it's great to the have you both here. Thank you and be well.
As the positive Coronavirus infections circle around the president's closest confidantes continues to get bigger, the signs of the likely super-spreader emerge. The SUPREME COURT nomination last week where many were mingling without masks or social distancing. Stay with us. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
[16:30:50]
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CABRERA: In just the past two days, an alarming number of people, close to President Trump, were in his inner circle have tested positive for the Coronavirus. Some are lawmakers. Some are close White House advisers. Some aren't even D.C. residents. But they all have one thing in common. CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What you're looking at is the origins of a likely super-spreader event. At least eight people, including President Donald Trump himself, are now infected. And that is among those who have the ability to actually get tested.
(on camera): You can't see the virus. But what is happening during a super-spreading event?
ERIN BROMAGE, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: You know, it's a very rough analogy. But if we think of a campfire and say that that's a person who was infected and releasing virus, it's not like it's the ring around the person that is actually going to be the risk. It's those that are on the side where more of the virus is being projected, either through being talking or through the breeze, the air that's blowing it there.
GUPTA (voice-over): But it was also these moments that caught CNN Medical Analyst Erin Bromage's eye.
BROMAGE: When the event finished, when they're all coming up and hugging and shaking hands and saying congratulations, that's where, if I was a betting person, I would be putting my money on of where this occurred.
GUPTA: We know that the safety protocol for the event was to test anyone in close proximity to the president, but it wasn't required for everyone attending the ceremony. And it, clearly, wasn't foolproof.
Again, take a look here, where the people who were diagnosed as positive were sitting. Not next to each other which leads us to, again, look at what happened right before and right after. Former White House counselor, Kellyanne Conway, closely leaning in to speak with Attorney General William Barr. Lots of people closely interacting with their guard down. It can be difficult to pinpoint these super- spreader events.
This one ceremony, though, is giving us a look at the anatomy of how it happens all the time. Not just here but anytime people aggregate together in large groups in the middle of a pandemic.
BROMAGE: There's no doubt that there has been transmission at the protests, the political rallies. It's just a fact that the virus doesn't discriminate. Just because we haven't documented it, doesn't mean it hasn't happened. It's just that we've got an event now that is very visible, well documented, well tested, and we're seeing the outcome from it.
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CABRERA: As the president fights the Coronavirus, he's in the hospital. The very first hot spot in the United States is now on the brink of having a full-blown second wave. How the mayor of New York City is responding, next. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
[16:38:06]
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CABRERA: Now back to our breaking news. America is in crisis. Our commander in chief still hospitalized. Battling a virus that has now infected more than 7.4 million Americans.
Many questions remain unanswered. We still don't have a clear picture of the president's health. On one hand, we learned today from the president's doctors that President Trump could be discharged as early as tomorrow. But in that same briefing, Dr. Sean Conley, the president's physician, told reporters that the president has had at least two concerning drops in oxygen levels. Conley also confirmed what he wouldn't yesterday, that the president has, in fact, received supplemental oxygen.
But the impact of this virus expands to many, many more than just the president. Nearly 210,000 Americans have now died since the start of this pandemic. And, right now, America is not where it needs to be. Only three, three states are reporting a decline in new cases. In New York City, mayor Bill De Blasio is already considering closing all nonessential businesses and schools in neighborhoods where COVID test positivity rates are climbing.
Joining us now, CNN's Evan McMorris-Santoro. Evan, what more can you tell us about the mayor's proposal?
EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, as you were saying, for those of us in New York, this is a very hard thing to hear. Essentially, there are about 20 zip codes in the city that the city has been tracking for the past few days, saying the infection rate in those areas has risen to close to or over three percent.
Now, today, the mayor, at a press conference, says nine of those zip codes have been over three percent infection rate for seven consecutive days. And his response to that is to put those zip codes back in the kind of lockdown we saw in New York back in April. We're talking about closures of schools, nonessential businesses, that kind of thing we saw before.
Bill De Blasio, in his press conference today, mentioned that this all comes as the city has enjoyed some pretty good numbers throughout the summer. But he said today is a different kind of day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL DE BLASIO (D), MAYOR, NEW YORK CITY: So, today, unfortunately, is not a day for celebration. Today is a more difficult day. And I'm going to be giving an update that gives me no joy at all. In fact, it pains me to be putting forward this approach that we'll need. But in some parts of our city, in Brooklyn and Queens, we're having an extraordinary problem. Something we haven't seen since the spring.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCMORRIS-SANTORO: Now, this is larger than just those zip codes where that new lockdown is happening. Eleven other zip codes are going to have some new restrictions, like gyms and pools and other kinds of gathering places, and indoor dining which just reopened here. This is early in this. And, also, it requires the governor's sign-off.
[16:45:00]
MCMORRIS-SANTORO: The mayor is asking the governor to sign-off on this new idea of these new closures. But for those of us who have been here throughout this pandemic, it's a horrible feeling of Deja Vu, Ana.
CABRERA: No doubt about it. Evan McMorris-Santoro, thank you. Of course, safety first and health first.
Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, is plowing full steam ahead, despite being in the same room as President Trump before his Coronavirus diagnosis. How the campaign is handling that, next. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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CABRERA: We are less than a month out until the election. President Trump's Coronavirus diagnosis, of course, is causing a lot of uncertainty about how the next couple of weeks will play out. On Wednesday, at this point at least, Mike Pence will take on Kamala Harris in their first and only vice presidential debate. The only problem here is both campaigns were around the president last week.
CNN's M.J. Lee is following the Biden campaign for us. M.J., we're learning that Biden is planning to get tested more regularly. What else are you hearing?
M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Ana. In light of President Trump testing positive for COVID-19, the Biden campaign now says that he will be tested more frequently for the virus. You'll recall, when we found out in the late hours of Thursday, early hours of Friday, that President Trump had tested positive, the next morning Joe Biden was set to travel to Michigan for a campaign trip. And that trip ended up being delayed by several hours, because he wanted to make sure that he got tested. And we found out, ultimately, that he had gotten two separate tests, that both came back negative.
And now, the campaign says one of the measures that it is going to take is to test him more frequently as he continues with his campaign events. And, yesterday, we heard Biden telling reporters that the next time that he is going to get tested is this morning. Though, we have not gotten an update so far from the campaign on whether that test result has come back, whether he has gotten that test.
And I will say, just a sign of the Biden campaign continuing to -- you know, continue with their normal campaign activities is tomorrow he is slated to travel to Florida. And there are no changes to that plan so far -- Ana.
CABRERA: M.J., I want to splay something a senior Trump campaign adviser said this morning, mocking Joe Biden for wearing a mask. Listen.
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JASON MILLER, SENIOR ADVISER, TRUMP CAMPAIGN: But we take that very seriously. That's why we give everyone, coming to rallies or to events, we give them a mask. We check their temperature.
Now, I would say that, with regard to Joe Biden, I think, too often, he's used the mask as a prop. A mask is very important. But even if he's -- he could be 20, 30 feet away from the nearest person and still have the mask on.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CABRERA: Using the mask as a prop. Has the Biden campaign responded to that, M.J.?
LEE: I have to tell you, Ana. It is just incredible to hear a Trump adviser, you know, raising questions about whether somebody is wearing a mask too often in the middle of a pandemic. When the president, himself, is currently hospitalized with this COVID-19 virus and, clearly, is getting serious treatment for it. This is, sort of, the strategy that, of course, President Trump, himself, has taken.
You remember it was Tuesday night on the debate stage that the president also mocked Biden for wearing a mask too frequently. Saying, you know, this guy is always wearing a mask and the mask is often too big. And here he is, now hospitalized, himself, because we know that the president, himself, people around him, people in the campaign, people at the White House, we have seen over and over again be incredibly reckless with not taking the precautions that every expert and public health official says that you need to take to contain this virus.
And we know, very well, how Joe Biden feels about wearing a mask. He talks about it all the time. And he demonstrates it by often wearing a mask whenever he is in close proximity to other people. And the other day, on Friday, soon after finding out that President Trump had tested positive for COVID-19, he said, don't be a tough guy. This is really important and one sure way of preventing the spread of the virus.
CABRERA: All right, M.J. Lee, thank you for that update.
By the way, in the 6:00 hour, I will be speaking to that Trump campaign senior adviser, Jason Miller, so stay tuned for that.
Plus, be sure to tune in Wednesday night. Mike Pence and Kamala Harris face off the only vice presidential debate of 2020. That's Wednesday night on CNN. And our special coverage starts at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.
Staying active is more important than ever for our physical and our mental health. For people recovering from an addiction, that outlet can be a life saver. CNN Hero, Scott Strode, and his nonprofit provide free athletics activities in a sober community for thousands. But when COVID-19 forced the organization to close its gyms, they found other ways to stay connected online.
And CNN's Phil Mattingly decided to skip the capitol for a moment and join a Phoenix class to see how they've kept their interaction going strong.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A key moment, everyone. Let's try to get three more. You have 20 seconds. Nice job, Phil.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What was, kind of, your thought when Coronavirus first started to spread and lockdowns really started to kick into gear? SCOTT STRODE, CNN HERO: I just knew that that social isolation was
going to be a big risk for relapse for a lot of people. So, pretty quickly, we pivoted to offering virtual programs. We knew we had to keep people connected in this sort of uncertain and stressful time.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Three, two, one. And down for the sit-up.
STRODE: Just always lifts my heart to log into a Phoenix virtual class and meet somebody in recovery who's doing the workout in their basement somewhere in Tennessee. Where we don't even have in-person programs, but they can come to the Phoenix anyway.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nice job, everyone.
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CABRERA: To learn more about Scott's program and see if Phil made it through the class, go to CNNheroes.com. We'll be right back.
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