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Trump schedules rallies every day till election; In-person voting begins in many states; Fauci Calls Out Trump Campaign; Second Day of Coney Barrett Hearings Today; Europe and coronavirus second wave; New outbreak in China sparks immediate testing; Growing Rates of New COVID-19 Cases in 31 U.S. States; Big Tech Grows While Other Sectors Struggle; England Takes Cautious Approach to Enforcing COVID rules; Long Lines, Ballot Box Issues as Voting Begins; Some Women in Battleground State Sour on Trump. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired October 13, 2020 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta.
Ahead this hour.
Make America great again. No masks required, no social distancing needed, it seems. And allegedly no longer contagious Donald Trump hoping daily super spreader events until the election will do the trick and save what appears to be a doomed campaign.
North versus south. Millions of residents of Liverpool now under harsh new restrictions while life in London goes on. All part of renewed efforts to try and control a second wave of the coronavirus.
And it's not voting day anymore in the U.S. but rather voting season. In-person voting now under way in many parts of the country. So too say civil rights groups extreme efforts by Republican states to suppress voter turnout.
VAUSE: While falling way behind in the polls especially crucial battleground states and being outspent massively by his rival, Donald Trump is again holding campaign rallies. In defiance of his own government's health guidelines, ignoring the warning from the country's leading expert on infectious disease.
Dr. Anthony Fauci says the rallies are just asking for trouble.
A few hours ago in Florida, the president held his first campaign event since being diagnosed with the coronavirus. That was eleven days ago.
Some supporters towards the front of the crowd were wearing MAGA face masks but it seems the vast majority were not. Social distancing also seemed non-existent.
Florida is one of 31 states where new infections have been rising in the past week compared to a week earlier.
And over the weekend nine of those states reported record high hospitalizations.
But at his rally, the president talked about feeling great and also he falsely claimed he was now immune.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: One thing with me, the nice part. I went through it now they say I'm immune.
I can -- I feel so powerful, I'll walk into that audience.
I'll walk in there, I'll kiss everyone in that audience. I'll kiss the guys and the beautiful women and the -- everyone. I'll just give you a big, fat kiss.
No, but there is something nice. I don't have to be locked up in my basement and I wouldn't allow that to happen anyway. I wouldn't allow it to happen.
When you're the president, you can't lock yourself in a basement and say I'm not going to bother with the world. You got to get out.
And it's risky, it's risky but you got to get out.
But it does give you a good -- a good feeling when you can beat something. And now they say you're immune, I don't know for how long; some people say for life, some people say for four months.
I mean, every time I think about it, every time I hear it, it gets shorter and shorter and shorter. Because they wanted to be as bad as possible.
But it is a great feeling.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: In the coming hours, U.S. senators will have their chance to either grill or gush over Donald Trump's nominee to the supreme court.
Democrats have conceded that Amy Coney Barrett is almost certain to be confirmed and replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
And so the strategy appears to be to focus on how her appointment could threaten the healthcare for millions of Americans.
Here's CNN's Jessica Schneider.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.), HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE CHAIR: The floor is yours, judge.
(END VIDEO CLIP) JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Amy Coney Barrett starting off her confirmation hearing this afternoon spelling out her judicial philosophy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMY CONEY BARRETT, U.S. SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: Courts are not designed to solve every problem or right every wrong in our public life.
The public should not expect courts to do so and courts should not try.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHNEIDER: The 48-year-old was a clerk for late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia and while she would step into the spot of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, it's Scalia's seat she'll really fill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONEY BARRETT: It was the content of Justice Scalia's reasoning that shaped me. His judicial philosophy was straightforward.
A judge must apply the law as it is written, not as she wishes it were.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHNEIDER: Democrats immediately aired their disdain that Republicans are racing to fill Justice Ginsburg's seat before the election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS, DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Senate Republicans have made it crystal clear. That rushing a supreme court nomination is more important than helping and supporting the American people who are suffering from a deadly pandemic and a devastating economic crisis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHNEIDER: Vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris skipped the in- person hearing to go virtual and slammed the committee for moving forward without mandatory testing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: This committee has ignored common sense requests to keep people safe including not requiring testing for all members. Despite a coronavirus outbreak among senators of this very committee.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHNEIDER: While Harris stayed in her office, Republican Senator Mike Lee was there in person without a mask. Despite having tested positive shortly after the White House event announcing Barrett's nomination about two weeks ago.
[01:05:00]
Lee released a letter from the Senate physician today clearing him to attend in person.
While six of Barrett's seven children sat behind her, the political posturing played out for hours in front of her.
Democrats warned Americans that their access to healthcare is at stake when the supreme court hears arguments on the Affordable Care Act November 10th.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D-CALIF), U.S. SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: The president has promised to appoint justices who will vote to dismantle that law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHNEIDER: Republicans preemptively made Barrett's Catholic religion the focus calling out any Democrat who makes Barrett's faith an issue.
But no Democrat did.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MISS), U.S. SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: When you tell somebody that they're too Catholic to be on the bench, when you tell them they're going to be a Catholic judge not an American judge, that's bigotry.
The pattern and practice of bigotry from members of this committee must stop.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHNEIDER: Barrett, meanwhile, kept the focus on her family and her resume, noting how she would be the only justice without an Ivy League degree.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONEY BARRETT: I would be the first mother of school-aged children to serve on the court. I would be the only sitting justice who didn't attend school at Harvard or Yale.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHNEIDER: Monday's format kept things relatively tame but it could get a lot more fiery on Tuesday and Wednesday when all members of the committee will ask their questions.
Democrats will stay laser focused on healthcare. And we also know it was on the president's mind on Monday.
He tweeted twice before noon saying that Republicans have a better plan at a lower cost. But we have yet to see any concrete plans from the president.
Jessica Schneider. CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Joining me now in New York, CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin and in Washington, CNN medical analyst, Dr. Jonathan Reiner.
Thank you both for taking time to be with us. It's good to see you.
And Dr. Reiner, I'll start off with you. In the last few hours, the president held a rally in Florida.
According to a number of reports, he wants a rally like that one to be held every day for the next 21 days. Which most likely means no one or very few people will be wearing a face mask, no social distancing.
So if Trump gets his way, what are the chances that by the end of that 21-day period, someone will be dead as a direct result?
DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: One hundred percent. If you look at where the president held his rally today in Florida, Florida has a 10 percent positivity rate which is about twice the national rate right now, about 10 percent higher than New York State, for instance. So the virus is very active in Florida.
And if you use some online tools from Georgia Tech which enables you to estimate the likelihood that a gathering of a given size will have at least one positive person in the crowd, it's 100 percent where the president had his rally tonight. And it'll be the same everywhere he goes.
When he goes to Iowa, their positivity rate is 18 percent.
So I'm not sure the president has heard this but we're in the middle of the pandemic.
VAUSE: So Jeffrey, just sort of a quick legal answer here. Anyone who attends a Trump rally signs a liability waiver. If they get sick, they won't hold Trump responsible.
But waivers don't apply in cases of gross negligence -- usually. Are these rallies an example of gross negligence?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: I would not be surprised if lawsuits were filed as a result of these rallies if people do get sick.
I frankly doubt any of these cases will result in liability. These waivers are -- they are binding by and large and people do assume the risk. Most people are assumed to know that there is a pandemic going on. I think this is really a moral question more than a legal question
about whether the president is morally correct to expose people to these kinds of risks.
But as a technical legal matter, I think he's very unlikely to be sued successfully if someone does get sick.
VAUSE: Well, apparently he needs the free airtime for these rallies because his campaign has pulled out in a few key states recently.
"Politico" reports: "Trump's TV spending problems stem from his fund- raising woes. At the end of August, Biden had more money to spend than Trump, the first time that's happened during the 2020 campaign.
The Democrats smashed fund-raising records with a $365 million haul that month beating Trump's total by over $150 million."
But Jeffrey, these rallies it seems in many ways they're a reminder of how Trump hasn't taken the pandemic seriously. And there's always the closing argument which is one of sort of depraved indifference to the coronavirus.
TOOBIN: And it's very difficult to imagine that this is even going to help him politically because the people who he's lost are mostly college educated people in the suburbs.
And these people, by and large, according to polls are offended by the idea of exposing people to the virus. They actually understanding how dangerous these rallies are.
And I'm not even sure it's correct to say these are sort of substitutes for television commercials.
[01:10:00]
I think it's more psychological than that. It's that the president needs the affirmation of these crowds. This is what he lives for. This is why he likes being out in the world is because he gets the adulation from these crowds.
That, I think, is what's driving this more than any sort of strategic thinking because the strategic thinking doesn't seem to make any sense to me.
VAUSE: Yes. Dr. Fauci has warned the rallies are asking for trouble. He's also warned the Trump campaign they should pull an ad where he is quoted out of context.
Now here's the offending part of the ad. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: President Trump tackled the virus head on. As leaders should.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I can't imagine that anybody could be doing more.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And here is the original interview. This is for context from back in March. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAUCI: I'm down at the White House virtually every day with the task force. I'm connected by phone throughout the day and into the night -- when I say night, I'm talking twelve, one, two in the morning.
I'm not the only one. There's a whole group of us that are doing that, it's every single day.
So I can't imagine that under any circumstances that anybody could be doing more.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So Jonathan, to you clearly the Trump Campaign and ultimately Donald Trump who approves those ads knew that they were twisting Dr. Fauci's words.
How many other red flags does that raise for you from just a public health point of view?
REINER: Well, first of all, it's so disrespectful to Dr. Fauci. Dr. Fauci is apolitical. He's been at NIH for -- what is it, 40 years and has worked in both Republican and Democrat administrations.
And he has tried very hard through this cycle to stay out of politics. This is like a thumb in his eye. They've muzzled him over the last really several months.
And I thought recently the he should just speak out, he should just do the media bits whenever he is asked regardless of what the administration says. Because I don't think they could fire him.
At least it would be politically disastrous to fire Tony Fauci three weeks before the election. And I think if they continue to provoke him like this, they'll leave him no choice but to speak out in even a more forceful way.
VAUSE: I want you also to listen to the White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Capitol Hill Monday during a break in the senate judiciary committee for the supreme court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK MEADOWS, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Let me do this. Let me pull this.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yes, yes. Pull away.
MEADOWS: And then that way I can take this off to talk.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: No.
MEADOWS: Well, I'm more than 10 feet away. I'm not -- well, I'm not going to talk through a mask.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Republican Senator Mike Lee recently tested positive, he was there in person. He addressed the committee, notably, without wearing a mask.
So again, Jonathan, to you. Was the reporter right to have concerns about the chief of staff?
And was this -- when you look at this hearing, were you concerned that the chairman of the committee, Lindsey Graham, Senator Lindsey Graham, refused to have the test for COVID-19 carried out saying don't worry, everything's fine?
REINER: Well, he didn't want to know what the test was going to show except not knowing what the test was going to show can kill your neighbor. Or the senator sitting next to you on the dais. It's irresponsible behavior.
The lack of wearing a mask -- maybe the most unforgivable sin this whole pandemic disaster has been the fact that the administration knew exactly how this virus was transmitted, that it was airborne, that it was lethal. And yet they discouraged the wearing of masks.
In April, the postal service in conjunction with HHS was going to send like three quarters of a billion masks out around the country. And the administration stopped that, they didn't like the look.
It makes me angry, it makes me really angry.
Everyone I work with within the hospital wears a mask all day long. Because we do this, not just for ourselves, we do it for each other. We come home with marks on our face from wearing an N95 mask all day.
And you can't get the president's chief of staff to keep his mask on to answer couple of questions?
I replace an aortic valve wearing a mask and do it all day long. And I somehow manage to make my voice heard to the people in the room. The least he could do is man up , wear a mask and set a standard for country.
And Jeff, just finally to you. When we look at this confirmation process, the Republicans are saying all of this follows historical precedent, nothing to see here; Democrats say it's an egregious grab for power. Which is it and does it matter?
[01:15:00]
TOOBIN: Well, we're talking about the irrational behavior of the president in connection with the pandemic.
It's important to remember he's still the president and he still wields tremendous power.
And it looks like Amy Coney Barrett is going to be confirmed to the Supreme Court at 48 years old and will serve for decades after Donald Trump is gone from the White House.
There has never been anything like this sort of jammed confirmation hearing at the end of a presidency. But it is also true under the rules of the senate what the republicans are doing here is legally permissible.
It is outside the norms of behavior in the senate but it is permissible and it looks like it's going to get through and the consequences of that will be enormous. As I say, long after this presidency is over.
VAUSE: With that, we're out of time. Jeffrey Toobin and Jonathan Reiner, thanks to you both. It's great having you with us. We appreciate it.
REINER: Thank you.
TOOBIN: Thank you.
VAUSE: Johnson & Johnson is now the second drug maker to pause human trials for the coronavirus vaccine after a volunteer fell ill.
16,000 volunteers are taking part in human trials and experts say complications are not unexpected.
Last month, a volunteer for AstraZeneca's vaccine developed neurological issues and that trial remains on hold in the U.S.
Well, still to come. The World Health Organization has a warning for Europe. Daily coronavirus infections are on track to match global hotspots like the U.S. and Brazil.
And for Europe, the challenge is trying to balance saving lives and saving jobs.
While in China, the heavy hand of the Communist government is being felt with full force in the city of Qingdao --just a dozen cases and the entire city being tested. All nine million residents.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: With many European countries staring down a second wave of the pandemic, officials are once again facing difficult choices. Public health and safety and saving lives while minimizing the cost to already battered economies.
CNN's Cyril Vanier reports.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Last order, folks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CYRIL VANIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Last call in Edinburgh. Emergency measures in Paris. Police controls in Madrid. Europe is now firmly in the grip of a second wave of coronavirus.
With the World Health Organization warning that daily infections are topping the U.S., Brazil or India, restrictions are being tightened across most of the continent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: The number of cases has quadrupled in the last three weeks. There are now more people in hospital with COVID than when we went into lockdown on March 23rd. And deaths are already rising.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:20:00]
VANIER: England moving to a three-tiered system with parts of the north already in red, the highest level of alert.
In Liverpool and surrounding areas, households can no longer mix. Gyms, pubs, bars, casinos and betting shops will shut down on Wednesday for at least four weeks. But universities, schools and retail will remain open.
It's a similar picture in France. In the Paris region, more than 40 percent of intensive care beds are occupied by COVID patients threatening the health system.
The country recorded almost 27,000 new cases on Saturday alone. A record.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER (Through Translator): Just like with high tide, sometimes you think you've got time but in the end you're in a race against time and that's the stage we're at. We're in a race against time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VANIER: Most major French cities have also been put on maximum alert with bars and gyms closed among other restrictions.
Many European leaders hoping they can avoid blanket national lockdowns by adopting targeted measures.
Like in the Spanish capital Madrid. Areas which have seen the highest infection rates there are under tight restrictions, residents only allowed to leave for work, school or for special circumstances. Emergency measures which also limit restaurants, shops and theaters to
half their capacity.
Elsewhere in Europe, Belgium, the Netherlands and Poland are seeing record numbers of infections.
In Germany, which health experts have said handled the pandemic better than many of its neighbors earlier this year, the largest cities have now become hotspots.
Until recently, this second wave appeared to come with a silver lining. It seemed less dangerous than the first; more asymptomatic cases, fewer patients in intensive care and fewer deaths. But that could be changing.
In several European countries, the rate of hospitalizations is now trending up.
Cyril Vanier. CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: China is moving quickly and decisively to contain new cases of the coronavirus.
The coastal city of Qingdao plans to test about nine million people in the coming five days. That's after a dozen new cases were reported.
South Korea easing some social distancing measures but face masks are mandatory at crowded facilities, public transport as well as protests.
For more, we have Paula Hancocks in Seoul, Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. But Kristie, first to you.
I guess what we're looking at here in China, it's just this incredible way the Chinese government reacts when they have these small numbers of cases.
We saw this first in Wuhan, essentially, what a city of 11 million people, everyone tested. It's being played out yet again in Qingdao.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is incredible because it's hard to imagine a city like New York, a city of over eight million people, being tested in a similar way.
But what we're seeing in Qingdao, China, this north eastern coastal city of nine million people -- it's known for its tourism as well as its namesake beer -- is that the entire city is being tested within a span of five days after detecting only twelve new local cases of the coronavirus over the weekend.
Now we got an update from local authorities earlier this morning. They said that three million people had tested negative for COVID-19. The authorities there also add that no additional positive cases have been detected.
As you mentioned, John, this has happened before. It's before in Beijing, in Dalian, in Xinjiang as well in Wuhan.
This is part of China's pandemic strategy. Massive rapid testing in place, no matter how small the outbreak. And it appears to be working. China has managed to keep a lid on new cases to contain the rate of infection.
That being said, there is a lot of concern this time around in the situation Qingdao because of the timing.
China is just coming out of its Golden Week holiday, a one-week holiday where about 600 million Chinese tourists traveled across the country.
You saw the videos of the tourists cramming into popular tourist sites like the Great Wall of China, like the Bund in Shanghai. And, of course, as we know with this virus if there is just one infection, that can lead to exponentially more.
Back to you.
VAUSE: Also, Kristie, this is a country which is very compliant. When the government issues an order, the vast majority of people follow that order. Is there any concern about what happens to those people who do test positive, what happens to them?
And this is not a place where people will gather on the steps of Qingdao Province government buildings to protest, right?
STOUT: No. If you are tested positive for the coronavirus, you would be taken into the medical system. You'd be tested, you would also be quarantined, you'd be isolated. It's also on your QR code as well.
And we've also seen these anecdotal reports that we've heard from our colleagues in Beijing, that even in Beijing there's been an increase of mask wearing.
[01:25:00]
Also looking at those QR codes just to see if you recently returned from a trip from Qingdao.
This is the surveillance state during a pandemic that is China. It's proved to be remarkably effective in containing the virus but also keeping track of the whereabouts, the movements, the health history of the people inside the country.
John.
VAUSE: Kristie, thank you. We appreciate you being with us.
To Paula Hancocks in Seoul. A similar situation there. We have this Asian society where people have been wearing masks for a very long time and now it's mandatory.
And again, this is a place where people are very compliant, they're happy what the government suggests because there's a belief it's in their own best interests and the country's interest, right?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. There's a social understanding, John, that you're not only wearing a mask here to protect yourself but also to protect others.
There hasn't been an issue with trying to convince South Koreans to keep their masks on from the beginning of the year.
But there have been some small number of cases where people haven't been wearing masks. And this is really what the government's trying to crack down on now.
So they have this mandatory mask policy that's in place from today, from Tuesday, nationwide. It's something we've already seen in Seoul and other cities but they're taking it around the country, that all public transport now, you have to wear a mask.
Things like rallies, medical facilities, nursing facilities, cafes and restaurants when you're not eating or drinking, you have to wear your mask as well.
And also what they've introduced or will be introducing after a 30-day grace period is a fining system. So if you're see not wearing a mask or even wearing it incorrectly under your nose or under your chin as we've all seen some people do then you will be fined. The equivalent of around $87.
But this is also coming at the same time that the social distancing rules are being relaxed.
So they're down at level one now, the lowest level they can be which means that there's no restriction on the amount of people that can gather inside or outside.
It also means that churches can now have in-person services, 30 percent capacity is what is being mandated at this point. The same with sporting events, 30 percent capacity.
So it's really the government's efforts to not make sure that social distancing earn relaxed so that people can go about their business more easily and, of course, the economy can recover a little quicker but also to make sure that there is across the board compliance when it comes to wearing a mask.
John.
VAUSE: Paula, thank you. Paula Hancocks there live in Seoul. Thank you.
Well, nearly a quarter of all coronavirus cases worldwide are in Latin America and the Caribbean.
CNN's Matt Rivers is in Mexico City with the latest on a region that's been hit hard since the start of the outbreak.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, for the first time since this pandemic began, the 33 countries that make up Latin America and the Caribbean are now combined reporting more than 10 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus.
Of all those countries, Brazil leads the way with more than five million confirmed cases and counting.
Brazil is followed by Columbia, Argentina, Peru and then here in Mexico.
But when you look across the whole region and you look at this chart which shows you the seven-day moving average of newly confirmed cases, you can see that that number is still extremely high.
It hasn't really gone down below 60,000 cases per day consistently for a while now.
And that is why the Pan-American Health Organization says it is still very concerned. Not only about the overall number of cases but also spikes in cases including in places that had effectively managed outbreaks, places like Cuba and Jamaica.
There's a little bit of good news though. We had heard from the Pan- American Health Organization saying that in terms of the rates of severe COVID illness, they are seeing that begin to fall a little bit.
That means fewer hospitalizations, it means less people requiring intensive care. But still obviously, the situation remains quite grave in this part of the world.
Matt Rivers. CNN, Mexico City.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: One man's economic disaster is another's pandemic bonanza.
With the new reality of life stuck at home with almost nothing to do, Amazon and Apple have been making huge coin.
After the break, how they plan to keep the profits soaring.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:31:52]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Thanks for staying with us.
I'm John Vause.
The U.S. president held his first campaign rally since being diagnosed with the coronavirus. There was no social distancing at the event near Orlando, Florida. President Trump said he felt powerful. Also made a joke about giving everyone in the crowd a big fat kiss. Many were -- or most were not wearing face masks. President Trump held that rally, essentially a super spreader even while much of the U.S. is seeing an alarming increase in new infections.
More now from CNN's Erica Hill.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERIC HILL, CNN HOST: The numbers are not good. Nationwide we're adding an average of more than 49,000 new cases a day, up 41 percent from just last month.
DR. PETER HOTEZ, PROFESSOR AND DEAN OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: We're predicting a pretty worrisome fall and winter.
HILL: New cases are surging in 31 states, more than a dozen posting their highly weekly averages for new daily cases. Seven states reporting their highest daily new case count since the pandemic began.
DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: These are extremely alarming trends and there should be warning bells going off around the country.
HILL: Texas now sending extra resources to El Paso as hospitalizations rise. Rural areas across the country also bracing.
DR. GEORGE MORRIS, PHYSICIAN, VP, CENTRACARE: We have the beds. We have the people but as we get more of these exposures, what's going to happen to our availability?
HILL: North Dakota, which leads the nation in cases per capita has fewer than 20 ICU beds available.
RENAE MOCH, DIRECTOR, BISMARCK BURLEIGH PUBLIC HEALTH: People are continuing to operate kind of as they had before COVID even was here and that's leading to a lot of our numbers increasing.
HILL: New research in "The Journal of the American Medical Association" finds a 20 percent increase in U.S. deaths from March to August adding to the evidence that our current COVID death toll is likely an undercount.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you die from COVID and you also have diabetes, you died from COVID.
HILL: As an influential model now projects nearly 400,000 COVID- related deaths by February 1st. But if more Americans wore masks, that could change dramatically.
DR. PAUL OFFIT, DIRECTOR, VACCINE EDUCATION CENTER, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: If 95 percent of Americans wear a masks, we will prevent roughly 80,000 deaths over the next few months. I mean it's a remarkable statistic. Those are people. I mean if you saw those people, you would try and do something to prevent their deaths. But somehow we just -- just ignore it all.
HLL: The human toll is growing, both in lives lost and in lives forever changed.
DR. DEEPAK CHOPRA, CLINICAL PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH, UCSD: People are going through different stages of grief. Some feel victimized, some are angry, some are hostile, some are resentful, some are helpless.
HILL: Researchers at NYU warning of a second wave of devastation. This one tied to mental health and substance abuse. "The magnitude," they write, "is likely to overwhelm the already frayed mental health system. Of particular concern, essential workers including those on the front lines.
[01:34:49]
HILL: Here in New York, the crackdown on hot zones continues. The city announcing they issued more than 60 tickets and $150,000 in fines to individuals, business and houses of worship. Strict new guidelines for face covering, social distancing and limits on gatherings went into effect for those hot zones late last week.
In New York -- I'm Erica Hill, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: The pandemic means many businesses are facing economic oblivion but not so big tech. These are golden days, profits have been in soaring as more people opt to stay at home and avoid large crowds and shop for almost everything and then some online.
CNN's John Defterios has more from Abu Dhabi.
And you know, journalism school teaches us there are never an absolute when it comes to good news or bad news, you know. One man's good news is another man's bad news. And in this case, the good news is for the tech giants like Amazon and Apple -- they're making money hand over fist.
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS, EDITOR: Yes. So John, you made come out and kick out the cobwebs here from journalism school, quite good on your part. Yes, there is bricks and mortar if you will, right. And then there's Jeff and Tim, Jeff Bezos and Tim Cook for Amazon and Apple, CEOs that are highly linked to the brand. They have had at a very good COVID-19. And I think this is reflected in the stock price as we take a look here.
For Apple it's been about 68 percent year to date only, right. And that was after that fall in March and then that V-shape going back up. And for Amazon a 90 percent.
So let's start with Amazon. This is Prime Day. As it says on the label here, it's for the prime users, and then adding subscriptions, and offering discounts for those who use the platform.
And what are they expecting John? Compared to 2019 when they held it in July, got delayed due to the pandemic through October, this is marking the start of holiday season, now. That's how it's being seen and they're expecting a 40 percent jump to $11 billion according to Chelsea advisory services which track those sales.
A couple of interesting trends here. The prime users are wealthier, they weren't traveling a lot so they have more to spend. Also small business owners are expected to tap into the prime day because they want cost savings due to the squeeze from the pandemic.
And as we talked about bricks and mortar at the top of this. If you look at retail sales in the United States, for example, July and August after that spike we saw in the spring are hovering around one to 2 percent.
Forced to research John is suggesting that the that the queue 4, for Amazon should see sales surge, by 40 percent as a result of this trend with prime day now in October and then finishing at the end of Christmas and the end of the year.
VAUSE: So in this environment, you know, we always have these big events with Apple and they're always sort of a bit of a bonanza or we want the anticipation and excitement. How does that now play out in the midst of this pandemic especially when we're looking at the 5G network and the speed and what we're looking at there.
DEFTERIOS: Yes, in fact their event is built around speed, called high-speed (ph). What I find fascinating about this and you know this because you live in the United States. 5G is not ubiquitous in the United States. In fact the users today have subscriptions with only 1 percent tied into 5G capabilities. But that is expected to soar by 25 to 75 percent by just 2025.
It's more likely on the high end of that number, we're talking about here. Apple is late to the trend when it comes to high speed. Samsung, Huawei, Google, Motorola led but because 5G networks are not built out around the world, they think they can ride this wave as well.
And this is a loyalty by the users to the Apple design. And this is what they call a super cycle, John. They're expecting 350 million to 950 million of their owners of iPhones to shift over to the high speed network because they've been holding on for a long time waiting for this which is quite ironic that the infrastructure is not keeping pace with the sales of the handsets.
VAUSE: Yes. That's the interesting thing about the U.S. when it comes to their take of technology. It always seems to be a little bit slower than many parts of the world.
John, good to see you though. John Defterios in Abu Dhabi.
DEFTERIOS: Thanks John.
VAUSE: Cheers, mate.
The British government has announced a raft of new pandemic restrictions during the past few weeks. The reality is though enforcement ranges from lax to non-existent. CNN's Scott McLean reports from London.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next slide. Please
(CROSSTALK)
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Almost every work week it seems there's a new government slideshow in Britain. Charts, Graphs and bullet points change but the warning is the same. Coronavirus is making a comeback.
And response have come or stricter ones. With social gatherings are limited to six, masks made mandatory in stores and on public transit, and now pubs, gyms and casinos in the city of Liverpool will have to shut down.
But in the east London borough of Barking, local council leader Darren Rodwell noticed not everyone was following the rules. Local bylaw officers don't have the power to do much about it.
[01:39:54]
DARREN RODWELL, BARKING AND DAGENHAM COUNCILOR: I can fine somebody for finding their mask on the floor but I can't fine somebody for not wearing a mask in an enclosed space.
MCLEAN: The government's making the rules but they're not actually expecting anyone to enforce them.
RODWELL: And that is the problem.
MCLEAN: Rodwell has used his office to try to force big grocery chains to comply with coronavirus rules.
RODWELL: There's two ways you can beat this epidemic. First is education --
MCLEAN: Yes.
RODWELL: -- second is enforcement.
MCLEAN: Yes.
RODWELL: And it's a mixture of the two.
MCLEAN: Carrot and stick.
RODWELL: Carrot and stick.
MCLEAN: But if people don't take the carrot, don't expect the stick from police. Across all of England and Wales, police have only 89 fines for not wearing a mask, only 15 fines for violating the rule of six, and 38 fines to people who failed to quarantine. A recent study also found less than one in every five people legally required to self isolate actually did.
And as the number of new cases has sky rocketed, the prime minister has repeatedly promised stricter enforcement offering police forces more money law, even military health. But their approach has stayed largely the same.
STEPHEN CLAYMAN, DETECTIVE CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT, METROPOLITAN FORCE: -- which IS effectively engage, explain, encourage and as our last option enforce.
MCLEAN: But at this point, it seems like enforcement is so rare, that the rules really seem optional.
CLAYMAN: No I disagree with that. I mean the rules are the rules. It's how you apply the legislation is another matter.
If it changes, they are all out there and they are asking people to comply and they do. That's all we need. We don't need to then ticket them.
MCLEAN: Yet that's not the message we heard on the street.
Do you think police are being strict enough on coronavirus rules?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, mate. They're not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Never. You never see a police officer on the bus.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I haven't really seen any policing of the rules to be honest.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think we need more enforcement BUT they need to recruit more people.
MCLEAN: The town of Oldham (ph) near Manchester is a virus hot spot with harsher restrictions than the rest of the country but no stricter enforcement.
HOWARD SYKES, OLDHAM COUNCILORI think they are taking quite a softly- softly approach to it. I just think if we made some examples of prolific offenders that would give some reassurance to the rest of the community.
MCLEAN: You think the kid gloves approach is not working?
SYKES: I see no evidence it's working. There needs to be consequences, We'd like to go one, everybody will ignore the rules. And then we'll have care. On the net result is, it's that simple.
MCLEAN: Police in Oldham say they're working with businesses to get them to do their own enforcement but --
COLETTE ROSE, DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT, GREATER MANCHESTER POLICE: It was hard, police saw a way out of this. It's absolutely wrong for the police for just giving out fines isn't the answer to this.
MCLEAN: And ultimately, she says there's another reason police aren't more strict.
ROSE: We don't want to damage the relationship with the public by being overly authoritarian in our approach.
MCLEAN: So far it seems there is little risk of that.
Scott McLean, CNN -- London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: We should note, last week the U.K. government promised almost $80 million in new funding for increased police patrols to enforce the restrictions. Part of the funding has been allocated to local councils as well to hire coronavirus marshals who will remind the public about the new guidelines.
Well, in person voting now on the way across the United states but long lines and ballot box issues could mean voter suppression is already happening. Details on that when we come back.
[01:43:14]
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VAUSE: Well, in person voting is already underway in almost 20 states in the U.S. and in places like Republican controlled Georgia right now casting a ballot can mean a six-hour wait or more.
A civil rights group says it's all about voter suppression to deter those who would traditionally support the Democratic candidate.
And then there are Republican objections to the use of drop boxes for absentee votes, filing legal actions in some states but now caught out using fake illegal drop boxes in California.
CNN election analyst Franita Tolson joins me now from Los Angeles. Welcome to the show -- first time, good to see you.
FRANITA TOLSON, CNN ELECTION ANALYST: Good to see you too, John. Thanks for having me.
VAUSE: Yes, it's a pleasure.
Now we'll start with drop box issue in California. Here's a statement posted on the official Twitter account of the Republican state party. "If a congregation business or other group provides the option to its parishioners, associates or colleagues, to drop off their ballot in a safe location with people they trust, rather than handing it over to a stranger who knocks on the door, what's wrong with that?"
Ok, what's wrong with that? All the way -- gross hypocrisy here as well.
TOLSON: Right, it is potentially misleading for voters who mistake that for a box that is established by the state. And it's also notable that the GOP's position of having drop boxes is at odds with their general suspicion of drop boxes which they have challenged in litigation across the country.
VAUSE: Have they -- have they -- is that location being sort of lodge in mostly Democrat controlled areas where these boxes --
TOLSON: Yes.
VAUSE: -- would be used the most?
TOLSON. It has been. It has been and notably in Texas, they went down to one drop box per county which is really terrible given that some counties have millions of people and, so essentially, what you have is the Republicans here taking a different position that is at odds with their usual suspicion, right.
Because the argument has been that drop boxes can be a source of voter fraud. They have challenged them. They have challenged them as ways to make it easier for people to cast their ballots.
But here you have them using them predominantly in conservative areas in order to encourage their own voters to use them. But the problem is that a voter may not know that the drop box was established by the local Republican Party as opposed to the state itself and that's a problem.
VAUSE: Hypocrisy in politics. My goodness, there's gambling going on.
You know, there was a report out last year by a leading civil rights group and they found that since this 2013 court decision which essentially gutted the Voter Rights Act. Almost 1,700 polling sites in 13 states have been closed. And that meant to many people, in particular for voters of color, older voters, rural voters, and voters with disabilities. These burdens make it harder and sometimes impossible to vote.
So in that context how is that now all coming to a head in this particular election amidst a pandemic?
TOLSON: I do think we have to look at everything happening in this broader context of what has occurred since the Supreme Court's decision in Shelby County. So jurisdictions that were formally covered under the Voting Rights Act -- these jurisdictions closed 20 percent more polling places on average than non-covered jurisdictions.
And so some of the lines that we saw in Georgia today, yes, people were excited, right. This is the first day or early voting, people want to turn out. They want to cast their ballots. This is a high- interest election.
But at the same time, some of the lines were, you know, people who are in line eight, nine, ten hours and that is a form of voter suppression. I think we have to be clear in looking at this broader context that that is not ok especially for holding ourselves out as a democracy. VAUSE: Yes. You know, they say there's something especially cruel or cynical that exposing the most vulnerable during a pandemic seems to make this choice between their health and their right to vote?
TOLSON: It's awful especially since we talk about the right to voters fundamental which suggest that they should try to make it easier for people to vote, particularly ins a global once in a lifetime pandemic. But we're just not seeing that.
You know, we've seen a lot of efforts to deter voter turnout. And what occurred in Georgia today was no exception to that.
VAUSE: You know during the first, you know, unpresidential debate, Donald Trump made a statement which was, essentially it amounted to a threat. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am urging my supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully because that's what has to happen.
I am urging my people, I hope it's going to be a fair election. If it's a fair election --
(CROSSTALK)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: You're urging them what?
TRUMP: I am 100 percent on board. But if I see tens of thousands of ballots being manipulated, I can't go along with that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And what he could not go along with, just some clarity here was urging calm among his supporters if the result was close or didn't go his way. And this as your poll watchers comes with a lot of historical baggage especially in the south? Right.
[01:49:58]
TOLSON: Yes. So, poll watchers are not new, right. But Donald Trump's statements seem to -- it seemed like a broad call to his supporters to just come out and watch the polls when in fact poll workers are pretty closely regulated by the state.
In many cases, they have to go through training, they have to wear identification that tells, you know, voters who they are. It's also important to note that there's no room for voter interference. Being a poll watcher does not mean you get to go to the polls and intimidate lawful voters.
And so -- but the danger of Donald Trump's statement is that he's not making this distinction. And it's entirely possible that his supporters believe that they can just go to the polls to quote-unquote "watch" when in fact, it could quickly devolve into voter suppression, and voter interference.
VAUSE: Yes. And voter intimidation and a whole bunch of other --
TOLSON: There's voter intimidation, yes.
VAUSE: This is the kind of stuff which this country has worked so hard over the years, over generations to move away from and, you know, there's always this danger of slipping back. But Franita, thank you so much. We really appreciate you being with us.
TOLSON: Yes, thank you for having me.
VAUSE: When we come back, why some women who voted for President Trump in 2016 are regretting that decision. We head to one key battleground state in just a moment to find out why they plan to change their vote this time.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Well four years ago, Donald Trump won about half of the white female vote in the state of Pennsylvania. This year though it's looking to be a very different story.
CNN anchor Kate Bolduan went to this battleground state to find out why women there of change their minds. I wonder why.
Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOLLIE GEITNER, REGISTERED REPUBLICAN: I'm probably a good example of someone who's gone through a lot of change in four years.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: Hollie Geitner, a registered Republican is a working parent of two kids living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and she wasn't alone. 50 percent of white women in Pennsylvania did the same according to exit polls.
What do you feel today about your vote four years ago?
GEITNER: I can tell you how I felt four years ago. Shame.
BOLDUAN: Do you regret your vote?
GEITNER: Where we are today, yes. I do. I don't think this is the great again that everyone thought it was going to be.
BOLDUAN: So Hollie is voting for Joe Biden, and so is Nin Bell.
What drew you to Donald Trump? Why did you vote for Donald Trump then?
NIN BELL, TRUMP VOTER 2016: For his celebrity 100 percent.
BOLDUAN: It was the brand.
BELL: It was.
BOLDUAN: The image.
BELL: Absolutely. Successful, funny -- like he was funny I loved his show, "The Celebrity Apprentice". Never missed it.
BOLDUAN: Was there a moment when you decided I cannot support him anymore?
BELL: It was almost instantly.
BOLDUAN: It's not just outside the city's where suburban women are questioning their support for Donald Trump in Pennsylvania. It's even out here in Westmoreland County, rural Pennsylvania, considered Trump country. We're about to meet two of them.
BOLDUAN; Oh you're definitely sisters?
Joan Smeltzer and Julie Brady are registered Democrats and both voted for Trump in 2016.
JOAN SMELTZER, FORMER TRUMP SUPPORTER: I feel like I've been duped. I got it wrong and it hurts my heart. I mean it truly hurts my heart because the things that I saw I didn't take seriously enough.
[01:54:59]
BOLDUAN: Throughout the campaign, he was making sexist, misogynistic remarks. And then there was the Access Hollywood tape. How did you guys process and digest that? Being out there and voting for him?
SMELTZER: It was not easy. I looked at myself and I think how I could I do that?
JULIE BRADY, FORMER TRUMP SUPPORTER: I feel like a did a disservice to women by voting for this guy.
BOLDUAN: Was there a moment in the last four years when you said, I can't do this again?
BRADY: The COVID pandemic, the way he handled it. It was the absolute last straw for me. He didn't create the virus but he kind of left us all in the dark guessing what was going on and that wasn't fair to us.
BOLDUAN: Among the women we spoke to, the coronavirus, the president's handling of the pandemic, and the racial unrest following the police killing of George Floyd were the overwhelming driving issues.
GEITNER: George Floyd's killing was a pivotal moment for me. When I read that he was begging for his mom, as a mother myself, it just brought me to my knees.
And to see what's happened since, I feel like he's added fuel to flames of hatred and that really bothers me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No Justice. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No peace.
BOLDUAN: Nin Bell, who registered as a Republican in 2016 just to vote for Trump in the primaries, now protests weekly in her town just outside Philadelphia, in her town, just outside by Philadelphia. Often met by groups, she used to consider her self a part of -- Trump supporters, setting up counter demonstrations.
BELL: I think Trump kind of thrives on that, on that division. I see it in my own town.
SMELTZER: Integrity, that's what we're lacking and accountability.
BRADY: Yes, being the mom of a nine-year-old that's one thing that I pushed with my son all the time is, you know, you made a bad decision, it's your fault. You learn from it and you move on.
We have a president who nothing that happens is ever his fall, it's always somebody else's fault.
BOLDUAN: And there are consequences?
BRADY: There are consequences. He's about to find them out.
BOLDUAN: The women we talked to don't speak for every woman in Pennsylvania, of course. But what they have to say and why shows the uphill battle that Donald Trump is facing right now in this battleground state.
The latest polling shows Trump trailing Joe Biden by 23 points among women in Pennsylvania.
Kate Bolduan, CNN -- New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.
Stay with us.
After a break, Rosemary Church takes over for me. Thanks for watching.
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