Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Category 4 Hurricane Barrels toward Cancun; COVID-19 Spreads through Trump Administration; Senior Pentagon Leadership in Quarantine; JHU: U.S. Surpasses 7.5 Million Infections; Fed Chair Calls for More Stimulus to Keep Recovery Going; Registration, Early Voting Suggest Heavy Turnout; China's Global Reputation Plunges in Wake of Pandemic. Aired 2-2:45a ET

Aired October 07, 2020 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause.

Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, as the coronavirus spreads from the White House to the Pentagon and as senior presidential aides continues to test positive, Donald Trump continues to play down the risks of this deadly pandemic.

Hours from now, Mike Pence will face Kamala Harris in the only vice presidential debate in the campaign. There will be new measures in place to stop the spread of COVID-19.

And Hurricane Delta expected to make landfall near Cancun, Mexico, in a matter of hours. It could hit as a category 4.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

VAUSE: With Donald Trump back at the White House, still suffering from the coronavirus and possibly contagious, there's a growing sense of nervousness about who's next to fall ill. One source calls it chaotic. Many staffers are staying home.

Senior aide Stephen Miller is the latest of more than a dozen senior aides to the president who tested positive. Miller is now in quarantine, in travel with the president on Air Force One last week. Two more press aides tested positive on Tuesday. Sources say the president is anxious to get back on the campaign trail, even planning to address the nation.

Some in the White House are expressing lingering concerns about Donald Trump's health. Meanwhile, he is repeating the false claim that COVID is no worse than the flu.

In 8 months, COVID-19 has killed more people than the past 5 flu seasons combined. There is now warning on Twitter about the president's disinformation. The White House told staff on Tuesday it's completed all contact tracing for COVID cases, there including at the Rose Garden ceremony announcing the president's choice for the Supreme Court.

Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who is also COVID positive, denies that was a superspreader event.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN SPOKESPERSON: It was an event outside, some people wore masks, notably several photographers there wore masks. And they all tested positive.

So with any event, you take a certain amount of risk --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's interesting.

MCENANY: -- nominating a Supreme Court justice --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's true.

MCENANY: -- Article 2 Section 2 power that is an obligation of the president to do this and will continue to fulfill his constitutional duties.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The next presidential debate is scheduled to happen October 15th. But Democrat Joe Biden says that might not actually be a good idea.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D-DE), FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think if he still has COVID we shouldn't have a debate. By the way, I think we will have to follow very strict guidelines. Too many people have been infected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And President Trump decided on Tuesday it was time to end negotiations with Democrats over a new economic stimulus package. He says he will get a bill passed after he is reelected.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the abrupt decision a hail Mary by a desperate president. So there's much to cover this hour. CNN's Kaitlan Collins has more from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The list of positive coronavirus cases inside the West Wing is only growing by the day. Now Stephen Miller, a chief policy adviser to the president, who was with him at debate prep last weekend and on the plane to that rally in Minnesota that the president attended on Wednesday, has now tested positive for coronavirus.

Stephen Miller released a statement, alongside this disclosure, saying he'd been at home for the last 5 days and tested negative for all those 5 days. We are told when he came to work today, prepared to go back to work, that's when he tested positive for coronavirus.

He is now has been quarantining at home. That's notable, because remember, a few months ago, Stephen Miller's wife, Katie, Miller a top aide to vice president Mike Pence, also tested positive for coronavirus. Yet, Miller didn't contract the virus then and is positive now.

He is only joining a big list of officials that now have coronavirus. It's causing further complications for the West Wing as they are trying to do contact tracing and basically causing the West Wing to be a ghost town because people either don't want to come to work, worrying about their colleagues testing positive, they have tested positive or they were in contact with someone who did.

Despite that, the White House sent out an email saying they had conducted contact tracing and were done with it for the cases they knew about so far and told aides to reach out if they believe they had not been contacted when they should have been -- Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Saskia Popescu is a senior infection prevention epidemiologist and she is joining us this hour from Tucson in Arizona.

Welcome back, it's been a long time.

SASKIA POPESCU, SENIOR INFECTION PREVENTION EPIDEMIOLOGIST: Thanks for having me.

VAUSE: I'd like you to listen to more from the COVID carrying White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany.

[02:05:00]

VAUSE: Here she is being asked about the future masked gatherings at the Rose Garden and she is very noncommittal. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN SPOKESPERSON: It was an event outside, some people wore masks, notably several photographers there wore masks. And they all tested positive.

So with any event, you take a certain amount of risk --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's interesting.

MCENANY: -- nominating a Supreme Court justice -- UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's true.

MCENANY: -- Article 2 Section 2 power that is an obligation of the president to do this and will continue to fulfill his constitutional duties.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: There is a lot there. I mean any event, there's a certain amount of risk but a lot you can do to minimize the risk that was not done.

Also, should you risk your health by attending a Rose Garden event?

And, on top of that, there is no 100 percent certainty that this was a superspreader event. But there's no 100 percent certainty that it was.

Given how contagious and dangerous this virus is, the sensible and right thing to do with to say, for now, no more gatherings at the Rose Garden.

POPESCU: I couldn't agree more. On top of that, the fact that they're not allowing the CDC to do contact tracing means there is no way to understand how far this is going to go and where it originated from. But it's very dangerous and almost negligent to say we are not going to halt events when we know that they are dangerous.

VAUSE: That's the thing. In any of these events, there is a logic here that you follow the path and trace it and work out, this is where it most likely happened. When you deny that, this is when it leads to a situation that we have in the White House, right?

POPESCU: It almost seems like they don't want to know how bad it is and where it came from so they don't have to have any responsibility for it, which is a really discerning (sic) and very concerning from a public health standpoint to not acknowledge that there was an outbreak.

This clearly acted as an event that amplified transmission and to have no desire to understand what went wrong and how you can improve it is not a very good approach during a pandemic for the White House.

VAUSE: And as this virus continues to spread to the White House, listen to the deputy press secretary on CNN a little bit earlier. And the message he had despite everything we have been seeing in reality is that, hey, we have got this. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN MORGENSTERN, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: Obviously, we've been dealing with this for a number of months now and we know what to do. We are isolating when necessary, we have our hand sanitizer everywhere and we are distancing, we are going about the work of the American people, Kayleigh and others and Stephen working remotely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: OK, so they may know what to do but the positive tests which are coming out each in every day seems to suggest that those guidelines are not being followed.

POPESCU: They can say they know what to do but unless they actually follow it, it is a moot point. so the reliance on testing and saying you have hand sanitizer is a very small percentage of what needs to truly happen. And they have proven that they are not following public health guidance.

VAUSE: What was interesting is that during the interview he talks about a lot of measures that were taken, the hand sanitizer. He did not talk about the importance of wearing a mask when it comes to transmission.

Hand washing is effective for stopping the virus from spreading from surface transmissions but it's the mask that stop the airborne transmission.

So out of those 2, which is more important when it comes to contagion?

POPESCU: We know how this disease is transmitted by droplets and aerosols and environmental transmission does occur. But it's much smaller of a percentage. So realistically, I'd rather have you invest in all of them. But if you're going to pick one, then masks for sure.

VAUSE: So hand sanitizers the wrong bet. Thanks for speaking with us and I appreciate it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: The decision by the president to abruptly end stimulus negotiations left not only lawmakers stunned but also business groups. Many are now warning of an huge increase in job losses if there is no financial help for the private sector.

There's also accusations the administration has turned its back on small business and unemployed workers. The airline industry could have received $25 billion from the bill but it won't. And it says it's now disheartened.

Shares tanked on Wall Street, the three major indices all finished lower. The Dow falling close to 400 points. But the U.S. president's move is having less of an impact in Asia. Markets have had mixed trading throughout the day. CNN's John Defterios is following the story from Abu Dhabi.

What's interesting is the decoupling between the share markets in the U.S. and what we are seeing on the stocks in Asia.

Is this an indication of where these economies are at and the impact this decision will have?

Or are we expecting a greater impact in the days ahead? JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: John, I think the investment community is suggesting this is a lot of bravado by President Trump. He likes the spotlight on him, then trying to rescue the package.

If you take a look at the U.S. futures, this is the tale of that. They are trading higher as well because there was a conference call with Republican senators.

[02:10:00]

DEFTERIOS: And Trump aides say he still wants a deal, even though he sent a different message to Wall Street. That's very clear.

I don't see how he wins in this game. If they don't get a deal, he'll get blamed. Airline companies all across the board, including the plane makers, took a big hit on the stocks. And they were also suggesting, if you don't give us a deal, we will have to furlough workers.

How do we get here?

So $3 trillion in the first package and we still have 26 million Americans asking for unemployment benefits, one out of 7. That's pretty radical.

If you look at the major players, Steve Mnuchin, the Treasury Secretary; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; Mitch McConnell, the majority leader in the Senate, as a Republican, the House put up $2.2 trillion in June. The Republicans in the Senate didn't come back and start dealing with this in August.

Negotiations started in September and there's still a gap between $2.2 trillion and $1.3 trillion for the White House. Senate Republicans wanted something much lower. They are arguing over bailouts for cities and for states and for teachers and for the schools.

But in fairness, the Republicans went into the very last minute and this became a poker, if you will, with Donald Trump walking away. It doesn't help matters. But the investment community is pretty wise to what he tries to pull off.

VAUSE: One of the issues here is that there was a warning hours before Trump made this decision. It came from the chairman of the Federal Reserve, who was a Trump appointee.

DEFTERIOS: A Trump appointee and the most centrist person you'll find in Washington. He's the central bank chief. They have to remain independent. And all along this process, he has said don't pull off the support early in the game. He suggests that those in the lower rungs of society -- and we see the unemployment rates with the Black community going up again -- they can't afford to have this level of argument, disagreement on Capitol Hill and the uncertainty in terms of planning their futures.

Let's take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEROME POWELL, CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL RESERVE: The outlook remains highly uncertain in, part because it depends on controlling the spread and effects of the virus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEFTERIOS: So we have Jerome Powell making that warning. And the idea was, if you get the second stimulus package, it gets you from October to April. You get the vaccine to the market and then industry lives on in the future. That seems to be a big question mark now, especially if the president wants to wait until after November 3rd to start negotiations all over again.

VAUSE: John, thank you. John Defterios in Abu Dhabi.

We are joined by Matt Lewis, a CNN political commentator and columnist at "The Daily Beast."

Thank you for being with us.

MATT LEWIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you.

VAUSE: It seems we've reached that point in the campaign where Democrats, at least, are making their closing argument. Standing at Gettysburg we have Joe Biden calling for unity, for a house divided.

Meantime, rattling around the White House, possibly spreading infected droplets, Trump refuses masks and does a tough guy act and kills a stimulus bill, along with the tens of thousands of jobs that depended on it.

He then follows that up with a tweet storm of whining and blame, including this line.

"I've instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election, when immediately after I win, we will pass a major stimulus bill that focuses on hardworking Americans and small businesses."

Ever since Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19, Biden suspended his negative ads.

There's really no need to run them at this point, is there?

Trump is his own walking, talking, barely breathing, negative ad.

LEWIS: It's amazing. If Donald Trump were trying to lose the election, I don't know what he would do differently at this point. Obviously, Trump had a horrible spring. I thought that he turned it around a little bit around the convention, the Republican convention.

I thought the race would probably tighten but it actually hasn't tightened. It's gone the other direction. And it's looking like it will be landslide territory for Joe Biden. The trajectory that we are on right now is not a good one for Trump.

VAUSE: That's putting it very mildly. Across the country, in states where early voting is underway, you are seeing long lines in Ohio. People turning up to vote; websites for voter registration in some states have crashed. Millions of mail-in ballots have already been sent.

Nationally, Biden is up by 16 points. And for the first time since Al Gore in 2000, a Democrat nominee is winning seniors, winning them bigly, Biden up by 21 points. That's not really a surprise when the president gave every indication that he was OK with seniors being road kill along the way to herd immunity and their deaths during a pandemic wasn't sort of the same value of losses as someone who was younger and healthier.

[02:15:00]

VAUSE: So put these three data points together, because you have the national poll, the seniors, the early voting and there was a belief for a long time that Trump could defy political gravity.

LEWIS: This doesn't look like a close race. There is really no metric, no logical reason why Donald Trump shouldn't get shellacked by Joe Biden. It really looks that way.

And of course, even if you compare the poll that Hillary Clinton, when we thought she would win, Biden is by far exceeding what Hillary Clinton was doing.

So at this point, every day brings more bad news for Donald Trump.

VAUSE: Former national security adviser John Bolton says the president only cares about reelection. He spoke with CNN's Chris Cuomo.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I think the president has mishandled the coronavirus pandemic from the get-go, going back to January, if not before.

And I think now, obviously, we are literally caught one month from the election. And it's the only thing on the president's mind. So I do think we are more vulnerable now to interference from our adversaries abroad than I would have expected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: There is little doubt the administration's failed response will be a prominent topic during the only vice presidential debate, now hours away. Regardless of what Mike Pence and Kamala Harris have to, say there will be one big reminder the U.S. is still in the grips of a deadly pandemic.

Vice president Pence has agreed to a Plexiglas barrier to be onstage to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. His team had insisted it was unnecessary. But Harris' team wanted the barriers in part because of the ongoing spread of the virus inside the White House.

Pence will be on the left, Harris on the right. The candidates will be socially distanced. There will be no opening statements or closing statement. There will be 9 10-minute sections of discussion. And CNN's special coverage of the debate starts 7 pm Wednesday on the U.S. East Coast, midnight Thursday in London, 3 am in Abu Dhabi, 7 am in Hong Kong.

If you miss the live event or want to see it again, it will be played at 8 am in London, 11 am in Abu Dhabi and 3 pm in Hong Kong.

Still to come, Hurricane Delta has quickly become a dangerous category 3. But that's down from a category 4 a short time ago. It's taking aim at Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Live from the region, that's next.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

VAUSE: In the coming hours, the 25th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season is expected to make landfall in Mexico. Hurricane Delta now a category 3, preparations underway to board up businesses and evacuate.

[02:20:00]

VAUSE: Some travelers just got a few hours' notice from their hotels to pack up and leave their hotels.

(WEATHER REPORT)

VAUSE: The warning seems to be the same with few of them threatening storm surges and life-threatening moments and the worst they've ever seen. Let's go to Matt Rivers, who is actually standing by for us in the region. He's in Cancun with more.

There is warnings of a life-threatening storm surge and catastrophic damage caused.

What's it like there right now?

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, I've covered a lot of these kinds of storms. We are in a weird period, where we know that something serious is fast approaching.

Right now, it obviously hasn't arrived, because I'm speaking to you from outside here in relative safety. Something that's surprising is how fast the storm intensified. We were in the Mexico City bureau, tracking what was a tropical depression during the day on Monday.

And then we woke up on Tuesday morning and it had intensified by 50, 60, 70 miles an hour in terms of wind speeds. Not only did that catch the news crews by surprise, it caught people here in Playa del Carmen and Cancun by surprise. We saw lots of people really going into the evening hours tonight, 8

o'clock local time, after the sun set, still putting up plywood, still trying to make preparations for a storm that is definitely going to be serious.

And as Pedram said, we are just waiting to see where the landfall happens with this storm.

VAUSE: For those people who've been to Cancun, they know there's a strip of very expensive hotels on the beach. And then across the rail tracks, the rest of the community, the locals. There's a big difference between these 2 parts of Cancun.

How will they fare when the strongest storm in 15 years makes landfall?

RIVERS: Yes, this is the story of the haves and the have knots. When Americans fly in here, they get to the airport, get on a bus, go to an all inclusive resort and have a great time.

But the people who support that endeavor often don't make a lot of money. They are not living in houses that are well built.

And as you heard Pedram say, despite this being on the Atlantic Coast in Mexico, we don't see in this area a ton of strong storms. That will be the risk. You drive around other parts of this region and see roofs made out of tin. You see a lot of cheaply made buildings.

[02:25:00]

RIVERS: And so that's what we will be looking for as we go through the night tonight, as it makes landfall going into the day tomorrow, once the sun comes up. What kind of damage will we see.

Most people around here are hoping this storm moves quickly through this region. That's not what we saw back in 2005 with Hurricane Wilma. That was an incredibly destructive hurricane that landed here on the Yucatan Peninsula. That's a name we heard tossed around a lot today. People said we hope it's not like that.

VAUSE: They hope not but every indication is that it's looking a lot like that. Thanks, Matt Rivers. Stay safe. We appreciate you being with us.

Just ahead, concerns over national security in the U.S. after senior military leaders forced into quarantine because of exposure to the coronavirus.

Also, the latest on the COVID-19 outbreak at the White House. President Trump lays out dangerous advice on Twitter, saying don't be afraid of COVID. Don't let it dominate your life. This as the U.S. continues to see a rise in other cases. We will be right back.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (MUSIC PLAYING)

VAUSE: Welcome back. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause with a quick check of the headlines right now.

(HEADLINES)

VAUSE: Meantime, the former head of the U.S. Pandemic Preparedness, Dr. Rick Bright, has resigned. His attorney says he can no longer work for an administration that ignores science, while hundreds of thousands die.

Dr. Anthony Fauci says he's frustrated Americans aren't following simple health procedures like wearing masks. He's warned as many as 4,000 Americans could be dead from the virus in the next few months alone.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it wants two months of safety data before approving any vaccine. That makes it impossible to have one by Election Day next month.

There are new concerns about U.S. national security, after a senior military official tested positive for the coronavirus. CNN's Barbara Starr is reporting from the Pentagon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The entire U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, except for one member, now quarantining, working from home after they were exposed to the coronavirus.

The number two at the U.S. Coast Guard was in the Pentagon last week for meetings.

[02:30:00]

STARR: And had a positive test on Monday after experiencing mild symptoms.

He had met with the Joint Chiefs, we're told, to discuss a number of matters, one of the meetings taking place in The Tank, the classified meeting room here in the Pentagon. And that led to the Joint Chiefs being told to work at home.

The chairman, General Milley; the vice chairman, General Hyten; the heads of all the services, except for the Marine Corps, number two at the Marine Corps, sat in on that meeting and also General Paul M. Nakasone. Very interesting because he is actually the head of U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency. He is the head of a vital part of U.S. military Intelligence working very closely on election security issues.

Now, we are also told, as of this time, all of them have tested negative. They are not positive; they do not have the COVID virus. But it is likely that this will be a day-by-day situation, we are told, where their medical advisers will determine when it is safe for them to come back into their workplace -- Barbara Starr, CNN. the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Earlier I spoke with Miles Taylor, who served in the Trump White House and resigned a year ago. He was chief of staff to the Secretary of Homeland Security and he is now a CNN contributor. I asked him about his concerns, right now for national security.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILES TAYLOR, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It would be cautiously optimistic, that the president and his team will recover. But I think we have to be very concerned about the degree to which this has affected the executive branch of the U.S. government.

I was saying this the night was Hope Hicks was diagnosed, she is a senior communications aide to the president. And while I was on CNN that night, I said, if Hope Hicks has this and she works in the West Wing, in proximity to some of the most important advisers to the president, we should be very alarmed about where this will go.

Sure enough within hours from that diagnosis, Donald Trump himself was diagnosed. Now I believe we have no fewer than 18 people in the White House that have been diagnosed.

And now the big news tonight, John, of course, is that individuals on the president's Joint Chiefs of Staff, the senior military advisers to the president of the United States, this has now hit their ranks. They are having to quarantine at home.

Now look. I can't get into specifics but in many cases these individuals have the ability to continue to do their jobs, including the sensitive and classified aspects of their jobs, remotely.

But the fact that this has spread to the president's top military brass is of enormous national security concern. It does not mean that the national security leadership of United States has been taken out by any means. So we have to be careful about how we categorize this.

But again, this spread through the executive branch is disrupting the operations of the U.S. government and also calls into question the ability of the U.S. federal government to respond effectively were there a crisis situation.

Now look, this is no accident. I think that is the most important part here, John, the way the White House handled this crisis and the lax security protocols at the White House have directly resulted in this outcome.

And a lot of people have made jokes but they are not jokes about how, if you are anywhere in America right now and you go to a local Starbucks or a Walmart, you are forced to comply with safety protocols that are more stringent than the safety protocols that the White House has imposed.

So again, those lax protocols have resulted in something that went from a public health crisis to a potential national security concern in a very short period of time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Meantime, the U.S. has recorded 7.5 million cases of coronavirus. By far the highest number in the world. According to Johns Hopkins University, 22 states are recording higher infection rates compared to last week when nearly half of the country, may at least appear to have stabilized. Here's CNN's Erica Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This bustling New York neighborhood one of nine hotspots in the city.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do think there's fatigue. I think it's been a long six months.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): COVID isn't tired. The virus isn't tired. The virus is still energetic and strong enough to kill you.

HILL (voice-over): Governor Andrew Cuomo announcing new statewide measures for areas with high positivity, limiting gatherings, closing non-essential businesses and schools. 300 have already closed in those New York City hotspots.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to get ahead of this.

HILL (voice-over): New York among the 22 states reporting an uptick in new cases over the past week. And with a five with an increase of more than 50 percent.

DR. MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: There are a number of us who fear that over the next six to 12 weeks, we could see a very substantial increase in COVID-19 cases that would far surpass even the peak that we saw earlier this summer.

HILL (voice-over): Alaska, Utah and Kentucky just saw their highest seven-day average of new cases. Governor Andy Beshear urging his state to mask up.

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): And now is our test.

[02:35:00]

BESHEAR: Test of values, test of faith. Are we willing to live for other people?

HILL (voice-over): The CDC updating its guidance, again, adding information about airborne spread. Guidance is posted and then removed last month. Hospitalizations hitting record highs in a half dozen states.

DR. JOHN LOWE, UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER: This is potentially a perfect storm for Nebraska.

HILL (voice-over): New research shows 82 percent of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 developed neurological symptoms ranging from headaches and muscle pain to altered brain function. Meantime, the push for a vaccine continues, Dr. Fauci sticking with his timeline.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I think comfortably around November or December, we'll know whether or not the vaccine is safe and effective.

HILL (voice-over): We already know masks can save lives. A new Axios- Ipsos poll finds 21 percent of Americans are more likely to wear one after the president's positive diagnosis. He's defiant photo op striking a nerve.

FIANA GARZA TULIP, DAUGHTER OF COVID-19 VICTIM: It was the cruelest tweet yet. And I truly do wonder how many people he killed with his actions yesterday.

DR. PETER HOTEZ, PROFESSOR AND DEAN OF TROPICAL MEDICINE BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: How we behave over the next few months will determine whether we have 270,000 dead Americans. By the end of this year over 400,000. The president has sent a message to the American people, let's go for the 400,000 number.

HILL: We are still learning so much about this virus. New research shows 82 percent of patients who required hospitalization develop neurological symptoms, ranging from headaches and muscle aches to altered brain function. Studies have found those who development neurological symptoms spent more time in the hospital -- in New York, I'm Erica Hill, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services now requires all hospitals to track and report data for influenza. Officials will be keeping tabs on the same type of information collected to study COVID-19.

Access to Medicare and Medicaid services could be denied to hospitals which fail to comply if the information provided appears to be inaccurate.

The focus on the flu comes as Facebook removed a post from President Trump's account on Tuesday. It falsely claimed the flu is more lethal than COVID-19.

Twitter flagged a similar tweet as misleading and potentially harmful. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan says the president's tactics are not just hurting his reelection, they are putting big tech companies in a difficult position, as he continues to spread misinformation.

You can read about all of this in an article; you can check it out on our website, cnn.com.

When we come back, China's reputation, birthplace of the coronavirus, is taking a hit. A new survey finds the pandemic is driving increasingly negative perception around the world. Live to Beijing in 90 seconds. (MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:40:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

VAUSE: This may not be entirely surprising but global perceptions of China have been increasingly negative in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. A new survey by Pew Research found of 14 countries pulled, the majority say Beijing did a bad job, dealing with the outbreak.

Our man in Beijing is Steven Jiang and he joins us live.

And I guess the birthplace of the coronavirus, it's not exactly the model you want as a country?

STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER, BEIJING BUREAU: That's right, John. It's not surprising we have not seen much state media coverage of the latest survey results as you mention. The research actually surveyed nearly 15,000 adults (ph) in 14 countries. They were actually going to do this in 50 countries. But the pandemic forced them to reduce polling to 14 countries.

But in every one of these 14 countries, a majority of respondents say they held a negative view of China. And in most of these countries actually the reputation of Beijing has hit its lowest point in nearly 2 decades since the survey has begun.

This is especially true in countries where, there are governments, tensions were rising between their governments and the Chinese government, the U.S., the U.K. and Australia. And the main reason for this of course, the researchers say, was many people around the world still think the Chinese government did a poor job handling the coronavirus crisis.

This is interesting, of course, given the kind of pictures and videos we have seen in the past few days of millions of Chinese on the move, crowding trains, planes and tourist attractions showing how the government has largely contained this virus, within the border.

Seems, according to these surveys, at least at the time of the survey, the global perception is still that the government initially mishandled the crisis leading to its global spread.

Despite the government's relentless effort to change its narrative, through their diplomatic and propaganda campaign.

Another interesting thing they found is, this trend that the global perception souring toward China began even before the pandemic, in 2019. That was, of course, the year the government crackdown on the Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters and alleged mass internment of Uyghurs and other Muslims in Xinxiang and the emergence of so-called wolf warrior diplomats, with their increasingly aggressive attitudes and tactics online engaging in a war of words with anyone who criticized the Chinese government.

But John the most embarrassing thing, from the survey is probably the global standing of the Chinese leader, when it comes to global leaders' trustworthiness, he was ranked second to last. The only one with a worse reputation: Donald Trump -- John.

VAUSE: Thank you Steven, Steven Jiang. Live with that report from Beijing.

Still ahead, we'll have more from the White House on the U.S. president catching COVID-19. That's also coming up. A U.S. ski sensation tells CNN why everyone should be wearing a face mask.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKAELA SHIFFRIN, SKIER: It's a little frustrating to feel like you have to argue your way through every single day about why, you know, I'm wearing my mask, I'm taking care of my side of things.

Can you just, stand back please?

Can you just give me some space?

You're not hurting anybody by just giving me some space.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: More from that interview ahead, in "WORLD SPORT." But now I'm John Vause. Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM, Rosemary Church will take over at the top of the hour.

[WORLD SPORTS]