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Trump Takes Joyride to Wave at Supporters Despite COVID-19; Biden Leads Trump in Polls of Key Swing States; Israel Creates Underground COVID-19 Hospital; Designers Navigate New Normal During Paris Fashion Week. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired October 05, 2020 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Let's recap our top story. He is still infected with COVID-19, but that didn't stop U.S. President Donald Trump from staging a drive-by photo op. He briefly left Walter Reed Medical Center on Sunday to wave to supporters. The White House says appropriate precautions were taken, but that hasn't stopped criticism from medical experts. The President is still infectious and put everybody in the vehicle at risk. His doctors and staff are also sending mixed messages about his condition.

CNN's Kaitlan Collins reports from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, on a day where the President's physicians revealed that his levels of oxygen had been fluctuating over the last 48 hours, and he'd actually started to be administered a steroid, in addition to that other antibody cocktail that he had received a day before.

This is the day the President decided to leave Walter Reed only for a few moments to participate in a drive by of his supporters who are standing outside the hospital. Of course, the trip started immediately raising questions about whether or not the President was putting the Secret Service agents who were in the car with him at risk, because as you could see, as he was driving by and waving to his supporters, the Secret Service agents were wearing face shields, medical grade mask and gowns over their clothing.

Though, the White House did later say that the President's medical team had cleared the trip. Though they did not say which physicians specifically had done so.

Dr. Sean Conley is his primary doctor and the comments that he's been making at two of the briefings they've held in recent days have only raised more questions than they've answered. Because he has typically tried to avoid certain questions, specific questions about the President's vitals, even though they are crucially important. And even in a press conference on Sunday, he revealed that a lot of this has to do with the patient that he's treating. Saying, that he wanted to reflect the upbeat mood of the President, though, of course, he's a doctor and that is certainly not his requirement. It's more to provide an accurate assessment of the status of the President of the United States.

That's something that has raised several criticisms out of the White House as well as the White House staff, including the chief of staff and the press secretary who would not say if President Trump was tested before he went to that debate with Joe Biden in Cleveland on Tuesday or if he was tested before he went to that fundraiser in New Jersey on Thursday, which of course, we now know he had already learned that his top aide Hope Hicks had tested positive.

Kaitlan Collins, CNN at the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And President Trump supporters briefly shut down New York's busy 5th Avenue Sunday morning. A caravan of vehicles drove to Trump Tower with supporters honking their horns, cheering and waving Trump 2020 flags. They say they will keep fighting for the President as he fights the coronavirus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do we feel, we love him. We know he's down for a little bit, but we know he's going to be fine. He's a fighter. He took on an impeachment. He took on a phony Russian hoax. He took on every phony piece of news that the left had come up with. He's not going to stop. He's going to fight for us every day, and we're not going to stop fighting for him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Well, on Sunday, when pressed by CNN's Ana Cabrera, the Trump campaign defended the President's decision to leave the hospital for a photo op.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON MILLER, SENIOR ADVISER, TRUMP 2020 CAMPAIGN: I don't think this was a stunt at all.

[04:35:00]

I think this was President Trump showing people that he's very gracious for the hospitality they've shown them, for the support that he has, for the hundreds of people outside Walter Reed Medical Center there showing --

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: But he's also done that --

MILLER: -- he's ready to get back into it. CABRERA: -- in videos that he put out on Twitter, without having to

endanger lives of Secret Service members by being in a car that's hermetically sealed in order to do this drive by.

MILLER: But we know that Secret Service always takes great care of their agents, they make sure there's always an extra layer of precaution. Obviously --

CABRERA: We also know Secret Service agents have contracted the virus in the course of their duty.

MILLER: But we also know that Secret Service takes great care of their agents, they always take extra precaution. I'm not part of White House operations or in the White House medical unit, so the exact logistics, I can't speak to. But I know the Secret Service takes this very seriously and I think it was great that President Trump was able to get out there and show he's ready to take this virus head on.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And a new poll shows most Americans believe it's President Trump's own fault he contracted COVID-19. The ABC News/IPSOS poll finds 72 percent of Americans think the President has not taken the risk of getting the virus seriously enough. And the same amount believe he didn't take appropriate precautions when it came to his personal health.

Joining me now is Larry Sabato, he is the Director of Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. Always good to have you with us.

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR OF CENTER FOR POLITICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Thank you so much, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So Larry, despite being infected with COVID-19, President Trump took advantage of a photo opportunity, taking a drive past supporters gathered outside the Walter Reed Medical Center, many of them not wearing masks as they waved back at him. What was your reaction to that image beamed across the country and the world?

SABATO: Horror and also a little bit of thinking about just how selfish Donald Trump is. Remember, he exposed the people in his car and probably some who helped him get in the car, unnecessarily. The poor Secret Service and others who were in there.

What can you say? This was completely unnecessary. Trump shouldn't have done it. But he wanted his photo op and he had his MAGA supporters out there who were going to back him up 100 percent and show him how much they didn't care about masks and social distancing either.

CHURCH: Right. And then of course meantime, the presidential race is less than a month away, and "New York Times" and Siena College polls, for two battle ground states show support for Joe Biden in Florida at 47 percent. That's compared to 42 percent for Donald Trump. While in Pennsylvania, Biden is at 49 percent, and Trump at 42

percent. Now, what do those and other battle ground numbers reveal at this juncture and how might Donald Trump's COVID infection impact the race?

SABATO: Rosey, you'd much rather be Joe Biden than Donald Trump, and Biden is actually doing better in the key swing states than Hillary Clinton was four years ago.

Now, that doesn't guarantee him a victory. A lot of things can happen. This has turned into the black swan campaign. You just never know when another black swan is going to land in the lake.

Having said that, though, I think Biden is in a pretty strong position. He's doing the right thing, which is counter intuitive. He isn't campaigning extensively every day. Nor should he. The old rule applies, when your opponent is in the midst of committing suicide, you let him do it. You don't interfere.

CHURCH: It's interesting because at this point, Joe Biden has pretty much taken all the negative ads down. But the Trump campaign said we're not doing that. So, in a sense, are they taking advantage of Joe Biden and should he allow himself to be taken on this ride, given what played out in the presidential debate?

SABATO: A lot of Democrats think it was a mistake to take down the negative ads, but I can see why Biden did it. It makes him look gentlemanly, it makes him look concerned about the President of the United States, regardless of party and their differences on issues, but I don't think that will last too long.

You know, the Trump campaign has kept negative ads up. I've seen them all day long, targeting Biden and Biden's positions. Give it a few days, and particularly if President Trump is discharged from the hospital as quickly as some of his doctors suggest, then I think we'll see those Biden ads again.

CHURCH: We shall watch and see what happens in the coming hours, Larry Sabato, many thanks, good to have you with us.

SABATO: Thank you, Rosey.

CHURCH: And coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM we will take you inside Israel's giant new hospital to treat coronavirus patients which was built underground. We're back with that in a moment.

[04:40:00]

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CHURCH: Israel has recorded more than 266,000 coronavirus cases, and with thousands of new infections being found every day, one hospital is taking the fight underground.

Oren Liebermann is in Jerusalem and joins us now live. Good to see you, Oren. So, tell us about this hospital you visited and bring us up to date on Israel's lock down efforts.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We visited Rambam Hospital in northern Israel, it's in Haifa, it is the largest hospital in northern Israel and one of the largest in the country. Because of how dire the situation is here in terms of the coronavirus crisis, it decided to turn its parking garage into the country's largest coronavirus department, and the numbers here remain bad.

There was a dip in daily infection rates over the weekend, but it's probable that that dip in cases was simply a dip in the number of tests being carried out over the weekend when the numbers tend to be a little lower. Crucially, the positive rate of tests remains high, above 10 percent, according to the Ministry of Health Data, and that suggests that the underground hospital we visited may be in use for quite some time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LIEBERMAN (voice-over): In the largest hospital in northern Israel, the COVID-19 crisis has gone underground -- 60 feet underground and 25 feet below sea level, Rambam Hospital in Haifa has turned a parking garage into the country's largest coronavirus center.

Despite the undeniable wow factor, this 5-acre medical facility is very much part of the country's emergency plan.

DR. MICHAEL HALBERTHAL, DIRECTOR, RAMBAM MEDICAL CENTER: We are entering the intensive care area.

LIEBERMAN: The hospital has moved all of its COVID treatment into this 1,500-vehicle parking structure. This isn't just a garage, it's a shelter against bombs and chemical warfare built after the 2006 Lebanon war.

HALBERTHAL: In the war scenario, this area is supposed to be clean and the outside is under a chemical cloud, and now it's exactly the opposite. So, this area is contaminated and outside is clean.

[04:45:03]

LIEBERMAN: The hospital now has 770 beds strictly for coronavirus patients, built into parking spaces and traffic lanes. About 80 beds are now full.

LIEBERMAN (on camera): Because this was designed as a parking lot that could be converted to a shelter, all of the connections here were already built into the wall, the electricity, the oxygen, the tubes, all of that was here already. And within 72 hours they cleared out all the cars and turned this into the largest underground hospital in the world.

LIEBERMAN (voice-over): There's no sunlight down here, and few creature comforts.

HALBERTHAL: Showers and on the other side as you can see a toilet. And this the regular parking lot. LIEBERMAN: There is an infant ward here. It's empty, at least for now. Around the corner is the maternity ward. On floor minus three in spot 911 Lamour Gazal is about to undergo a C-section. She has coronavirus and won't be able to see her baby for at least two days after the birth.

LAMOUR GAZAL, PATIENT (through translator): The plan was different, to be with the family, with my mom, with my husband, with people around, but suddenly to come here alone, the truth is that it's scary.

LIEBERMAN: When we last stepped into a coronavirus ward in April, Israel was among the world's best at containing and controlling the spread of coronavirus. There were a total of 14,000 cases in the first two months of the pandemic. Now there are that many cases every two days.

Israel's entire health care system is under pressure. More than 40 percent of the country's internal medicine departments have been converted into coronavirus wards and more are being changed over every week. Elective surgeries have been delayed and the ability to treat problems other than coronavirus is diminished.

Seven months into the coronavirus pandemic in Israel, doctors and medical teams have learned much more about the disease and its treatment, still, the number of patients and infections are soaring.

DR. KHETAM HUSSEIN, CORONAVIRUS DEPARTMENTS MANAGER: So, we pray. We pray that we have the strength to go on, and that the people outside that understand that the difficult situation, the severe situation that we are in now and so to do better.

LIEBERMAN: For each doctor and nurse on the hospital floor, there's another waiting outside and they switch every two to three hours. The shortage here is not of medical supplies or beds, it is of manpower. If these 770 beds fill up, hospital officials say they'll struggle to do anything else.

HALBERTHAL: It's really tough work to be here, you know, mentally, and physically, and when you see the country, the rate of positive infection, people know that it's going to be only worse before it gets any better, if at all.

LIEBERMAN: There is hardly any silver lining here, no real good news to help the country get through this pandemic. The only light at the end of the tunnel is another patient arriving.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIEBERMAN: There are two other worrying numbers in Israel. That's the number of serious cases, which is nearly 900 -- 878, according to Ministry of Health data. And 215 patients on ventilators. Those are both very high numbers for a very small country.

Meanwhile, the government is considering what to do with the lock down, should it ease restrictions? That certainly seems unlikely right now. Or should it continue with an extended lock down with the strict limitations imposed on the public to try to do what it can to try to limit the spread of coronavirus throughout the country? Rosemary, it seems so far, the numbers are not dramatically coming down if at all.

CHURCH: So many problems for so many countries. Oren Liebermann, many thanks bringing us up to date there.

Well, tennis star, Alexander Zverev played his French Open match Sunday despite having COVID like symptoms. The 23-year-old German said he was feeling sick and running a high fever before his fourth-round defeat. The French Tennis Federation says any player showing symptoms should report it to officials. CNN SPORTS has reached out to the federation for comment but has not heard back.

And coming up, there's just a few days left of Paris Fashion Week, and this year, amid a pandemic, it has been a unique experience for both designers and models. We'll have the details on the other side of the break. Stay with us.

[04:50:00]

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CHURCH: Japanese fashion designer Kenzo Takada has died of complications from COVID-19. He made his mark in the competitive fashion world in Paris, creating the international luxury brand Kenzo which debuted in 1970. He sold his clothing brand in 1993 and retired six years later. Kenzo Takada died in Paris on Sunday. He was 81 years old.

And Kenzo Takada left his mark on the fashion world which is now navigating through a new normal amid the coronavirus pandemic, and those challenges are currently being felt in Paris as designers look to promote themselves during a very different fashion week.

CNN's Jim Bittermann is in Paris with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Earlier this year, in pre-pandemic times, this is the way the House of Dior put on display its latest fashions.

Nine months later masks, temperature checks, and hand cleaning were more the order of the day. For a business that's very much about creating demand and excitement, the coronavirus has presented some unique challenges. A big-name designer like Dior for example, would normally have had 1,500 fashionistas on the invite

list, this season it was 350, all carefully socially distanced.

Those fashion houses which staged physical shows were in the minority. Many designers only showed their creations on the internet. In fact, only 20 of the 83 fashion houses presenting spring-summer collections in Paris went to the expense of a physical show, which can run in the millions.

PIETRO BECCARI, CEO, DIOR COUTURE: Fashion is all about emotion. The emotion that you're able to transmit to people, and that emotion is the real thing when you have, you know, a performance where the artist performs without the safety net.

[04:55:03]

BITTERMANN: Adding to the stress in what is already a high stress industry was a last-minute change in government rules on public gatherings because of an uptick in coronavirus cases.

For smaller, newer brands like Koche, this season's collection was about showing fewer but higher quality designs.

CHRISTELLE KOCHER, KOCHE FASHION: The situation changed, every day we to change our disposition, everyday we maybe need to adapt, but we're young, we're small, we're very agile, and we adapt ourself in a very positive way.

BITTERMANN: For the fashion crowd, something else that needed adapting to was the absence of the usual kind of splashy party scenes, there was very little of this this year. The trendy bars are closed.

For models like Marilhea Peillard used to flying around the world for shows and photo shoots, a little of the glamour has gone out of the business.

MARILHEA PEILLARD, MODEL: After a show, you usually have a after party or something. Now I guess we are just going to do the show and go home, and that's it. Yes.

BITTERMANN (on camera): That's sad.

PEILLARD: Yes, I mean it's sad but, in a way, we have to do it.

BITTERMANN: But there's a larger question here, perhaps a more existential one for the entire industry.

And that is that people buy fashion rather than just clothes to be seen in bars and restaurants or at the office. If there are fewer social gatherings and people are working from home, perhaps they'll be less demand for fashion than there once was.

(voice-over): That's a question which remains out there, but optimism is the whole cloth of the fashion business. Said Christelle Kocher, people have to dream, don't they? An observation that no doubt rings very true to someone working from home.

Jim Bittermann, CNN Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And thanks so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. "EARLY START" is up next. You're watching CNN. Have yourselves a great day.

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