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Soon: Infected Trump Opens White House To Guests As Virus Flares; Delta Downgraded To Tropical Depression, Flood Risk Still High; Next Debate Officially Canceled After Infected Trump Refuses Virtual Format; U.S. Reports Highest Single-Day Case Count In Two Months; President Of Notre Dame Faces Backlash After COVID Diagnosis; Pelosi On Stimulus Offer: Trump's Proposal "Two Steps Back". Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired October 10, 2020 - 11:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:09]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin at the White House, where soon the gates will open for what could well become a potential super spreader event. President Trump, still possibly contagious from the coronavirus, is holding his first public event since testing positive nine days ago. We know the president has invited 2,000 people and is expected to speak to supporters from the White House balcony.

The last large gathering held on White House grounds is now considered to be a super spreader event. At least 20 people in President Trump's inner circle have tested positive for the virus since that Rose Garden event to announce Amy Coney Barrett as Trump's U.S. Supreme Court nominee. And among those who tested positive, of course the president, first lady, advisers, the press secretary, and two U.S. Senators.

And on top of that, the president and his doctors remain evasive about his current condition and whether he has tested negative in the last 24 hours.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have been re-tested and I haven't even found out numbers or anything yet. But I've been re-tested and I know I'm at either the bottom of the scale or free.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. We also can't forget all of this comes just 24 days now before the election, with the incumbent sending signals of desperation and isolation.

There could have been a virtual presidential debate this coming week, but President Trump would not agree to the virtual format created because of his COVID-19 diagnosis. The debate commission has now officially canceled the second scheduled presidential debate. And this is the first time in seven decades that has happened.

We've got a team of reporters and experts tracking all of the latest developments. Let's start at the White House. CNN's Sarah Westwood is there.

Sarah, the president's behavior has been described as erratic. The incumbent perhaps feeling vulnerable, isolated and willing to put so much and so many at risk. So what do we know about this event today?

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well Fred, we're expecting the event today to be large. And in fact, we're expecting hundreds and potentially thousands of people to come to the White House and gather on the south lawn today, and those people are not necessarily going to be tested for coronavirus before they arrive here at the White House.

The White House has said that masks will be required for the guests to wear while they are on the grounds, and that those people will be screened. That will entail temperature checks and a questionnaire that will likely include questions about exposure or symptoms but they're not saying they will be testing these people.

The president will be speaking, as you mentioned, from the White House balcony. Now White House communications director Alyssa Farah told us reporters here at the White House this morning that the president's speech is expected to be brief. They're not expecting at this moment, at least, a long speech from the president.

It all seems to be part of this effort all week from the president to project the sense that he's perfectly fine, that he's back to normal, holding this event less than a week that he was released from the hospital.

And of course, we are still awaiting results of the president's latest coronavirus test. We do not know if he is giving this speech today while still positive for COVID-19. We do know that yesterday the president said he's no longer taking any medication for the virus though, and he did reveal for the first time that in a lung scan that was conducted at some point since his diagnosis, doctors did detect some congestion, Fred.

WHITFIELD: And then Sarah, you know, the president is also scheduled now to hold a rally in the Orlando area on Monday. And Minnesota officials, you know, just announced that at least nine people who were at his rally there a few weeks ago tested positive for COVID.

So what kind of precautions, if any, is his, you know, re-election campaign willing to make for that rally?

WESTWOOD: Yes, Fred. It's not clear that any precautions are going to be taken. And in fact, the campaign again is like Trump is trying to project the sense that everything is back to normal and fine after this outbreak that sickened so many of the president's advisers. Everyone up to the campaign manager and members of the debate prep team as well.

Now, we know this rally on Monday is going to be held at a hangar, an airport hangar. That's typically how these rallies are done and that means that it should be all or partially outdoors. Mask wearing is usually encouraged at these rallies, but not required, and people cluster, tend to cluster and talk very closely at these rallies.

So we say see some images of people gathered in large crowds at that rally on Monday in Florida, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Right. And just being outside, obviously, doesn't offer that much comfort because hello, the Rose Garden event was outside and a whole lot of people tested positive not long afterwards.

All right. Sarah Westwood, thanks so much.

[11:04:54]

WHITFIELD: All right. Democratic challenger Joe Biden and his campaign are wasting no time in criticizing the president for holding this event today at the White House.

I want to bring in now CNN's Jason Carroll.

So Jason, what are you hearing from the Biden camp?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, a lot of sharp language coming from Joe Biden and his campaign on this issue for the president holding these events at the White House. You know, for Biden, it's not just about the president's professional conduct, it's also about his personal conduct.

When he was out at a campaign stop in Las Vegas, he said that the president is not only being reckless with his life, but also being reckless with the lives of Americans. And he said, as a result of all of his behavior and everything that he's done, he says that this is a man who is not qualified to be commander in chief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: His reckless personal conduct since his diagnosis, the destabilizing effect it's having in our government is unconscionable. He didn't take the necessary precautions to protect himself, or others. And the longer Donald Trump is president, the more reckless he gets.

How can we trust him to protect this country?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: And the DNC is jumping on board with this as well, Fredricka. We're just now getting word that what they're going to be doing is having a mobile billboard that's going to be driving around the streets of Washington, D.C. around the streets of the White House between 11:00 and 6:00 to show on this mobile billboard the failures of the Trump administration in terms of its response to the pandemic. As for Biden, it looks like that later today he's going to be heading to Erie, Pennsylvania where he's going to be speaking to voters there. That area hit hard by the loss of manufacturing jobs. Biden is going to be taking his word and his message to workers there, trying to turn around some of those voters, Democratic voters, who went for Trump in 2016, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Down to the wire with just now 24 days before election day. Of course, voting has already taken place in many places. But that's the big day.

All right. Jason Carroll, thank you so much.

All right. I want to talk more now about today's event at the White House on the south lawn. David Swerdlick is an assistant editor at "The Washington Post" and a CNN political commentator. Julian Zelizer is a CNN political analyst and a historian at Princeton University. And Dr. Leana Wen is a CNN medical analyst and an emergency room physician at George Washington University. Good to see all of you.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: All right. So David, you first. You know, President Trump, you know, holding this rally despite possibly still being infectious. You know, have a listen to what Dr. Anthony Fauci said about the last big White House gathering.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We had a super spreader event in the White House and it was in a situation where people were crowded together and were not wearing masks. So the data speaks for themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So as cases spike now around the country and as people continue, you know, to die from this virus, what is the message that this president is sending about inviting people, large numbers, to come to this rally, and he may potentially still be infectious himself, even though he may be far away, from the balcony.

But there's a huge message being sent. What would it be?

DAVID SWERDLICK, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well Fred, as Sarah just reported, it's supposed to be short and he will be far away from people and presumably the people at this event will already be his supporters.

So the question then is, then what is the point of this rally? It's for show, and the president wants to project that everything is normal and everything is fine.

But everything is not normal and everything is not fine. We have a global pandemic. The president himself is sick. And we had a plot this week, an alleged plot to kidnap the governor of Michigan. But all he wants people to think is I am standing here on this White House balcony, presiding over an America where everything is peachy keen. And with three and a half weeks to go before the election, and with the coronavirus case count and the death count approaching a quarter of a million people, he simply can't do that.

And this is an attempt to get things back on track now that he has fallen ill to COVID, and let's hope he gets better. He is the president of the United States, no matter what, until January 20th. And he simply can't change this narrative at this point. All he can do is protect the message he wants to do and not address the issues that are affecting most Americans going into election day.

WHITFIELD: And then, Julian, as it pertains to the president's condition, I mean still so much unknown about, you know, whether he has been tested recently and what those numbers are. And at the very beginning when did he first experience his, you know, first symptoms before his diagnosis was made public.

But then this is what the president said about where he believes he caught the virus.

[11:09:52]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They had some big events at the White House and perhaps there. I don't really know, nobody really knows, for sure. Numerous people have contracted it. But you know, people have contracted it all over the world. It's highly contagious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Ok, so Julian, you know, since the president left Walter Reed Hospital earlier in the week to return to the White House, you know, you say he is just reverting to his form of COVID denialism. I mean, what else is it, if it's not that?

JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think that's what it is. This has been very essential to how he's treated the pandemic, often promising that cures exist or really dissuading people from doing what scientists and other experts are urging everyone to do.

And from the moment he ripped off that mask, a symbolic gesture to show that he was almost defiant not only to COVID, but to wearing a mask through these kinds of events, he is arguing not just that there's a new normal, but that the war is over.

It's almost like a mission accomplished speech, remembering what George W. Bush said in 2003, and we're in it. So since we're in the pandemic, that's a dangerous step to take.

WHITFIELD: Yes, and I was on that aircraft carrier and that, of course, was interpreted as a giant misstep.

So Dr. Wen, you know, it doesn't seem that this president does anything without intention. I mean, he says, you know, he's no longer taking any coronavirus medications, he's testing low or nonexistent, you know, for the virus. So what would indicate, you know, to you that he is still infectious or still sick ten days now after his announced diagnosis and check-in to Walter Reed?

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: So there are a lot of things that we don't yet know about the president's diagnosis and condition. What we do know, though, suggests that he didn't just have mild illness. He had at least moderate, but most likely severe illness, because he was on medications, including dexamethasone. That's not given to patients unless they have severe or critical illness.

Dexamethasone, the steroid, also suppresses the immune system and we know that for individuals who are severely ill or have immunosuppressants that they're taking, that it takes not 10 days, but 20 days that they should be in isolation.

And so for the president to go out in public, to go out to rallies around many other people, it actually makes our work as physicians and public health experts that much harder because how are we supposed to tell our patients to follow public health guidance if the president is not following it?

WHITFIELD: So talk to me more about that frustration that you, other physicians, scientists, are feeling because the president is saying, not only is he going to have this south lawn event, even though he's going to be on the balcony, but he is hoping to have a rally in Orlando in an airport hangar on Monday, just a couple of days from now.

How much harder does all of this make for you and other scientists to try to convey the messages and the dangers of this virus to your patients?

DR. WEN: This has been the problem all along in this pandemic, that instead of backing up scientists, the president and other elected officials have been basically throwing science under the bus and have been pitting public health somehow as the enemy of the economy.

I mean I wish the president is, instead of doing what he is now and contributing to further super spreader events, I wish he's coming out and saying there is a way for us to prevent coronavirus.

Yes, we should be focused on vaccines and therapeutics and that's great, but there are things that we can do to prevent from getting coronavirus in the first place -- wearing masks, physical distancing, crowds. That's really -- avoiding crowds should be what we're doing. We shouldn't be holding rallies with thousands of people as there are cases surging around the country.

WHITFIELD: So David, that would mean the president would be, if he were to admit that, he would be taking everything back prior to today. And you know, that doesn't -- he wants the focus to be otherwise, that he's right in all of this.

And in fact, "The New York Times" is now reporting that the White House blocked a move by the CDC to require all passengers and workers on all forms of public transportation around the country to actually require a mask. This is more of him digging in his heels, isn't it?

SWERDLICK: He's digging in his heels, his administration is trapped being unable to admit as Dr. Wen was just discussing, that they've taken the wrong approach to this. He gave a speech in March where he said everyone has a role.

Well, regular Americans, for the most part, have been playing their role. We put on a mask when we go to the grocery store or to the pharmacy. We put on a mask when we walk down the street. We try to keep ourselves distant from neighbors and other people so that we can try and tamp down the virus.

Most of us aren't doctors, but that's basic common sense. And it's following the administration's own guidelines. But the White House up to and including the president, has dismissed regular mask wearing. The president, as Julian said, ripped it off from the balcony on Monday.

[11:14:51]

SWERDLICK: And now you have this report from "The Times" saying that there was this common-sense proposal, and this is what leadership is, from the top down leadership would have been we're going to have a national mask mandate. We'll let the lawyers sort out the constitutionality. Me as president, President Trump, would say I'm going to model mask wearing behavior but instead he isn't modelling that behavior, Fred, and his administration squelched that proposal. And that's part of the reason why we are where we are.

WHITFIELD: And Julian, it's been said by people who worked with him, I'm using past tense, who would say he just would not listen to his advisers. But at this point, is it an issue in your view that perhaps there's no one who is willing to advise him, that he really is just calling all the shots and, you know, he wouldn't listen to anyone who would speak to him otherwise about this plan anyway?

ZELIZER: Yes, you know, this is a president who governs in an unstable way and ignores convention and doesn't have great expertise in many issues. And there's always been an assumption that the adults in the room were somehow going to help guide him or even contain him.

Now the adults in the room aren't there. So you have a (INAUDIBLE) president in the middle of a pandemic who is still ill. And I think that's why, as polls often reflect right now, there's a lot of concern and fears about where this goes in the next few weeks.

WHITFIELD: All right. Julian Zelizer, Dr. Leana Wen, David Swerdlick, we'll leave it there for now. Thanks so much.

Oh, actually no. I'm going to be seeing you again very soon. We'll leave it there for now but you stay tight.

Also, join Anderson Cooper, Dr. Sanjay Gupta and five former CDC directors for a new "CNN GLOBAL TOWN HALL". Watch "Coronavirus Facts and Fears" tonight at 9:00.

All right. Still head, the next presidential debate scrapped. This after President Trump refuses to participate in a virtual debate against Joe Biden, and this because of the president's condition. How both campaigns are responding now.

Plus, an about-face from President Trump, stimulus talks are back on after the president abruptly called off negotiations earlier in the week.

And this breaking news, the hurricane that slammed into Louisiana is now a tropical depression. But Delta's path, that's what its name was, of destruction, is devastating. We're live next.

[11:17:16]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. The hurricane that slammed into Louisiana just hours ago is now a tropical depression. What was once Hurricane Delta is losing strength as it moves inland, currently hovering over northern Louisiana. But the threat remains high. Over five million people across the southeast are still under flash flood warnings.

We're also getting our first look at Delta's damage. The storm knocking out power for nearly 800,000 people in Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi and adding to the destruction left by Hurricane Laura just six weeks ago.

Allison Chinchar is tracking what was Delta in the CNN Weather Center and Derek Van Dam is also with us. So Allison, tell us what it's going to do potentially.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. I think Fred, the key thing is here. When we say it's weakening or losing strength, we're really just referencing the wind speed. But the overall threat for rain is still going to be there even as it continues to move inland.

This is going to be the path over the next 48 hours as it slides off to the north and east into states like Tennessee, Kentucky, bringing a lot of that very heavy rain with it. Because again, notice now widespread a lot of these outer bands really are with this storm.

It's raining right now in Birmingham, Montgomery, Nashville. But even also really far away into portions of Virginia. So again, really far away from that focal point of where it just made landfall just less than 24 hours ago.

Another concern is going to be the severe aspect. We're talking tornados and damaging winds. This will be a pretty concern for Montgomery, Birmingham, even around Atlanta and Macon, Georgia not just through the afternoon but also into the early evening hours.

Here is a look at where that storm is expected to go off to the north and east. Again, even noticing on Sunday a lot of the same cities are still going to be dealing with some pretty heavy rainfall bands including Atlanta, Charlotte, even Knoxville, Tennessee remember, through the day tomorrow. Because of that, you are likely to still have some localized flooding.

Widespread amounts, about two to four inches for a lot of these areas, but some isolated spots of six, eight, even ten inches of rain is not out of the question. And for some of the areas where we're talking maybe two, say portions of Mississippi, Arkansas. remember it's on top of what they've already picked up.

So that's going to be another concern. And it's why you have this slight risk here for flooding potential. And notice, it's a pretty widespread area, even though the storm itself, we're seeing those winds begin to decrease, that flooding threat, Fred, is still going to be there.

WHITFIELD: And that is a huge swath, you know, of an area to be getting this very heavy, seemingly unrelenting rain. Thank you so much, Allison Chinchar. Appreciate that. We'll check back with you.

All right. Coming up, the second presidential debate is called off because the president, still unclear whether he remains infectious, doesn't want it to be virtual. So what impact will this have? And what does it mean for the third scheduled debate?

[11:24:16]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back.

It's official. The second scheduled debate in the presidential campaign is off. The debate committee pulled the plug Friday after President Trump, who is recovering from COVID-19, rejected the committee's plan to replace a face-to-face debate with a virtual event format.

David Swerdlick and Julian Zelizer are back with me. So David, the president, who is recovering from the virus, rejects a virtual debate. How does he believe this helps him?

SWERDLICK: Well, I think he thinks it helps him, Fred, because he doesn't think that a virtual debate is as good of a show. He's nothing, if not a showman. He wants that in-person debate. He wants that big audience. 70 million people watched that first debate.

The problem for him is that vice president Biden won that first debate. So Vice President Biden has the upper hand here in terms of these negotiations and can say, look, we're either going to do it virtual or we're not.

President Trump doesn't want to adapt to the reality that we're all dealing with. Kids are going to school on iPads. I'm here at my people's house broadcasting to you from Durham, North Carolina. People have adjusted to the new normal.

[11:29:54] SWERDLICK: But the president seems to want to say in the case of a debate, for him, he wants to do it the old way, even though the rest of us have adapted, and even though he is the one who currently still hasn't been cleared from his COVID diagnosis.

WHITFIELD: Yes. He definitely seems to be saying that message of just like, you know, adapt, change, why, as if -- well, he doesn't know how many -- how everyone has had to adapt and change their lives. He said he doesn't even like this format, this virtual because people could cut him off.

And Julian, we see that he didn't respect the rules of the last debate, you know. I want you to listen to what the president said on Fox News yesterday, when asked if he would be willing to do an outdoor debate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Well, I would have no trouble with it at all. In fact, when we have rallies outside, we've had no problem whatsoever. Outside is better than inside, as you know, with this crazy thing that's gone on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Julian, no problems whatsoever. I mean, Minnesota is now saying at an event a couple of weeks ago that nine people have tested positive. We know during that Tulsa event, I mean Herman Cain died after, you know, testing positive.

So I mean, how is the president -- how does he believe this is a winning strategy to say nothing happens when people have tested positive and worse?

ZELIZER: Well, I think his strategy is to deny the obvious and to take a problem that's pretty hard for an incumbent president to be presiding over in the middle of a pandemic, an economy that's frail, civic institutions are just hanging on by a thread. And his solution is just to pretend, in television fashion in some ways, that we can just have a different kind of show.

And I do think he's worried about the debate. I think he's worried about a format where he can be controlled in terms of what he says, because he likes to speak, as everyone else is speaking.

And I think he likes the physicality of a debate. That's part of how he tries to win. So I think on both fronts that's another element of what's going on.

WHITFIELD: David, you know, we actually heard from the Trump campaign, the communications director, telling CNN, quote, "There's nothing that says that President Trump and Joe Biden can't debate together without the overlords at the commission having a say in the matter. We would be glad to debate one on one without the commission's interference," is the word. And again, this is the first time a presidential debate has been canceled, you know, in seven decades. So what is the White House -- what are his people, you know, intimating, saying that this can happen, but the commission is an interference?

SWERDLICK: So those words from the White House would have a lot of -- the campaign, I'm sorry, would have a lot more force and a lot more leverage if again, the president had won that first debate.

But as our colleagues, Scott Jennings, has said a couple of times, the president came in too hot. He let Joe Biden look like the bigger person. Vice president Biden won the debate, I would say narrowly, but now the Biden campaign and the Commission on Presidential Debates have more leverage in terms of this is either going to go the way we want to, because we want to keep safe distance and COVID protocols, and the president can sort of either go along with it or lump it.

I just want to make one quick question -- one quick point about what Julian said because I think it's important. Julian said Trump likes the physicality. He wants to be able to stalk up behind the vice president like he stalked up behind Secretary Clinton. You can't do that in a virtual debate.

And we are where we are, in part, because we haven't as a country gotten a handle on the virus and now he's in the position -- look, he can read a poll. He's in a high single digit national poll lead, the vice president is, ahead of President Trump. And President Trump sees that.

I make no predictions on what happens on election day, but this is a situation where the Biden campaign can go steady as she goes. The president's campaign is the one that has to think about throwing the long bomb here.

WHITFIELD: Julian, do you sum it up that these are all the hallmarks of a desperate presidency?

ZELIZER: Well, they are. I mean there's just no way to look at this as an incumbent who is in trouble and a president who is pretty desperate and doing everything from the stuff we've been talking about with the pandemic, the different steps he's taken, to talking about investigations of his political opponents.

It doesn't mean he loses, it doesn't mean he can't be victorious. But right now he's acting in a desperate fashion. He's not acting like a leader. He's not acting with poise and command. He's moving from one thing to another, just trying to salvage this campaign right now.

[11:34:44]

WHITFIELD: So if the re-election campaign believes that the debate commission is an interference, is that the excuse that the Trump camp is using when it says it's in talks with NBC now to do a town hall, possibly on Thursday instead of what was the scheduled debate, David? Do they feel like they have more leverage in designing the kind of format they want in what could be a town hall?

SWERDLICK: Sure, and look, they can do that. And it's the American people who are going to lose, Fred if we don't have another debate.

Because we've seen a lot of town halls and a lot of campaign speeches from both candidates, we're at the point where they should be chopping it up with each other. But I don't think he'll have an audience. If vice president Biden has a town hall, I don't think he'll have as big of an audience either.

If we wind up with no more debates, there still could be that third one on October 22nd. It will be a situation where we just see more of what we've seen all year from now until election day.

And I want to emphasize again what Julian said. President Trump could win, vice president Biden could win. We don't know what's going to happen on election day. But campaigns, especially President Trump, are running out of options if they don't go head-to-head against their opponent.

WHITFIELD: All right. And thus far, Biden does have a scheduled town hall Thursday night on ABC.

All right. We'll leave it there for now. David Swerdlick, Julian Zelizer. Thanks so much. Appreciate you both.

SWERDLICK: Thanks, Fred.

ZELIZER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Still ahead, coronavirus surge. The United States reporting its highest single-day cases in two months. Now Dr. Deborah Birx has a warning for families this holiday season.

[11:36:29]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: It appears the fall coronavirus surge is here. The U.S. reported its highest single-day case count in over two months on Friday, marking three consecutive days of more than 50,000 new cases.

The spike has spread across several regions with only two states still reporting a decrease in cases. CNN's Polo Sandoval is in New York tracking the latest developments, Polo.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey Fred. Good morning.

Well, consider this, well over two dozen U.S. states have reported higher COVID numbers this week versus what they saw last week. It certainly is an indicator that those numbers are still on the rise throughout much of the country.

This as a brand new study is released that's essentially reaffirming what authorities had feared, that young people seem to be the spark that's igniting some of these outbreaks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SANDOVAL: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is out with a new warning, drawing another link between young people in some of the nation's COVID-19 hot spots.

The CDC found positive test results generally started rising among people under the age of 25 about a month before a region was designated a COVID-19 hot spot.

With the study, researchers are underscoring the need to address young people helping spark outbreaks. A local survey in one Wisconsin county showed young people worried they would feel weird or get odd looks wearing a mask.

MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES RESEARCY AND POLICY, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: It starts out first of all with college students coming back to universities and colleges and we're seeing substantial transmission there, which then is spilling over into the older adult population.

SANDOVAL: This week, the U.S. posted its highest number of single-day COVID cases in nearly two months. Only a few states, that was in green, are reporting declines in new cases this week over last.

In Ohio, Governor Mike DeWine predicting a very rough winter with both hospitalizations and the average age of patients edging up.

GOVERNOR MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): Every single number is going the wrong way.

SANDOVAL: In the northeast, the moving average of new cases from September 8th to October 8th went up a staggering 91 percent. Dr. Deborah Birx at the White House's coronavirus task force warns one possible reason is silent asymptomatic viral spread among families.

DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE COORDINATOR: The communities that are seeing upticks, please bring that same discipline that you're bringing to the public spaces into your household and really limit engagement with others outside of your immediate household.

SANDOVAL: In parts of New York City's Queens and Brooklyn boroughs calls for compliance are growing amid an increase in COVID clusters. This week members of Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods protested recent restrictions put in place to curb COVID-19 spread.

Though a virus vaccine is still in the works, one CDC official says formal plans to distribute it once it's available are on target to meet an October 16th deadline in some states and in D.C.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And just this morning, in neighboring New Jersey, the former governor Chris Christie announcing that he has been released from the hospital after his COVID treatment. Fred, you'll recall that he was diagnosed with the virus immediately after the president and the first lady did. Christie also attended that Rose Garden event that Dr. Anthony Fauci has dubbed a super spreader.

WHITFIELD: And helped -- and was part of that team to help the president prepare for that debate.

All right. Polo Sandoval, we are so glad that he's out and hopefully feeling good. Thank you so much, Polo.

All right. Still to come, the president of the University of Notre Dame facing backlash following his COVID-19 diagnosis. Why a student petition is calling for him to resign.

[11:44:09]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back.

The president of the University of Notre Dame attended the Amy Coney Barrett Rose Garden super spreader event without a mask. And now he has tested positive for COVID-19 and he's facing backlash and calls for his resignation.

CNN's Omar Jimenez reports from South Bend.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For college campuses in 2020, coronavirus protocol is a delicate balance. And the university of Notre Dame is no different -- requiring masks, avoiding crowds, social distancing, which is why these images of their president cut so deeply.

Father John Jenkins at a Rose Garden event for Supreme Court Justice nominee and Notre Dame alum, Amy Coney Barrett without a mask, shaking hands, and ignoring distancing protocols.

ASHTON WEBER, JUNIOR, UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME: A few days before that happened we had gotten an email from him detailing the protocol that we're supposed to follow and he said this is what everyone needs to do to make sure that we're still here on campus together.

So to see him breaking his own rules was really -- it made us feel like we were disrespected as a student body.

[11:49:55]

JIMENEZ: Jenkins released a statement shortly after, reading in part, "I failed to lead by example at a time when I've asked everyone else in the Notre Dame community to do so."

But the damage was done. Weber helped organize a petition pushing for Father Jenkins to resign. The student newspaper published an editorial headlined, "Frankly this is embarrassing". Then father Jenkins became one

Then Father Jenkins became one of the many who attended that Rose Garden event to test positive for COVID-19.

MAKIRA WALTON, JUNIOR, UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME: I felt vindicated. I was like, I was correct. You did the wrong thing and the consequences of your actions the we have predicted came true. And that's horrible. I never want to feel vindicated about somebody that is sick with a potentially deadly disease.

JIMENEZ: In the wake of his diagnosis the faculty senate debated going forward with a vote of no confidence in their president. They narrowly decided to postpone further action. The president's office declined to comment.

In general, the stakes for maintaining COVID protocol at colleges and universities are as high as nearly any aspect of life. When Notre Dame students began returning to campus, they have to quickly move to all virtual classes after the school said that more than a hundred students tested positive in a little more than two weeks.

WEBER: It was really scary. (INAUDIBLE), we realized the severity of, you know, having a spike in 147 cases after being just two weeks back on campus.

JIMENEZ: Other schools saw similar outbreaks with the University of Wisconsin, Madison and North Carolina Chapel Hill both among those also having to move to online learning at points to save their semester as they have each now seen coronavirus cases top a thousand total.

And at Notre Dame, their president's diagnosis is just the latest reminder of that high stakes bounce.

WALTON: I think a lot more people are taking this seriously because people got sick. You know, I think if there hadn't been as big of an outbreak, if he hadn't gotten sick, people do (INAUDIBLE) because they could.

JIMENEZ: Now, campus-wide the university has been able to get their coronavirus positivity rate to under 1 percent. As for Father Jenkins, university officials say that he's been experiencing mild symptoms and has continued to work remotely throughout his recovery.

Omar Jimenez, CNN -- South Bend, Indiana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And this just in to CNN. One step forward, two steps back. The words from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi responding moments ago to stalled stimulus talks with the White House. Is there relief in sight for struggling Americans? We're live next.

[11:52:26]

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WHITFIELD: Frustration mounting as the White House and Congress failed to come to a stimulus deal yet again. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi releasing a statement just moments ago saying the latest proposal from President Trump amounts to one step forward two steps back, quoting her.

The president abruptly ended stimulus negotiations on Tuesday sending the stock market into a nose dive but then suddenly reversed course, agreeing to a $1.8 trillion counteroffer to the Democratic proposed $2.2 trillion stimulus plan.

And then the president seemed to contradict his own offer while speaking to Rush Limbaugh yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I would like to see a bigger stimulus package frankly than either the Democrats or the Republicans are offerings.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN Business lead writer Matt Egan joining me now from New York. Matt, good to see you. So we just learned that the Senate Republicans are not at all happy either. What is going on?

MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS LEAD WRITER: That's right, Fred. It is pretty hard to follow all of the latest developments here. You mentioned Speaker of the House sounding pretty pessimistic about some of the obstacles. And now we're hearing that Republicans are also very upset.

Multiple sources are telling CNN's Manu Raju that during a conference call with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Senate Republicans expressed a lot of concern right now about the overall price. You mention $1.8 trillion is what President Trump's latest offer is.

There are also some skepticism about the funding that would go to the state and local governments that are really hurting. The big takeaway here, Fred, is that these sources are saying that there is really no support in the Senate to try to get this package through right now, which as you know is a big disappointment to the many people around the country that are hurting right now.

WHITFIELD: Yes, hurting big time.

And then, as you mentioned in your most recent column, the unemployment rate has never been this high leading into a presidential election and the chairman of the Federal Reserve implored Congress to act to help struggling families and businesses. So how influential might that be?

EGAN: Well Fred, I mean I was very surprised when President Trump unilaterally broke off these stimulus negotiations earlier this week because it is so clear to everyone including the fed chief that the economy needs more help and without it there is a risk that this recovery could stall.

Even though many jobs have been added back in recent months there are still nearly 11 million jobs that have disappeared for the United States between now and before the pandemic. Just in the last weeks, we've heard of mass layoffs from major companies including Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo, All State, Raytheon, Disney alone is cutting 28,000 workers.

[11:59:53]

EGAN: I think it is so important to remember these are moms and dads and people who are taking care of elderly people. And the other really important thing to remember is that women have been hit very hard by this crisis. They are dropping out of the labor force at a rate that we've never seen before.