Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Manchester U.K. Rejects COVID Measures; Italy's COVID Numbers Rise, So Do Tests And Tracing; U.S. Averages 55,000 New Cases A Day; Trump And Biden's Battleground Blitz; Whitmer Kidnap Suspects Video Evidence; French Educators' March In Grief And Support; Czech Republican Sees Record Number of New Cases; Why Suburban Women Voters are so Important; Why Steelworkers Voted for Trump; China's Economy Grows 4.9 percent in Third Quarter. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired October 19, 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]
ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR: Hi. Welcome to all of our viewers all around the world. I'm Robyn Curnow live from CNN's world news headquarters here in Atlanta.
So just ahead. With COVID spiking across Europe, some pushback in the U.K. Manchester's mayor is refusing to raise the city's alert level.
Plus the top U.S. expert on the virus reveals his thoughts about President Trump's bout with the illness.
And the Czech Republic's mask mandate was successful in fending off the virus at first, so why is the country now the hardest hit in Europe?
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Robyn Curnow.
CURNOW: We begin with our -- we begin our coverage with this daunting task facing European leaders as a staggering second wave of coronavirus hits the continent.
So let's take a big picture look at what's happening on the continent right now.
As you can see here there are very few nations in good shape. The U.K., Germany, Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic are among countries in Europe that just this month have recorded their highest ever cases.
Now some European leaders are at odds with the public or at least each other about how to regain control of the virus.
Leaders in Manchester, for example, are refusing to raise their coronavirus level to high alert which is the top tier of the British alert system. The mayor argues the system is flawed and the government is nowhere sufficient to do any good.
So here's Selma Abdelaziz with more on that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SELMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: The mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, took to the Sunday talk shows to explain why he has refused to raise the COVID alert level of this city to very high, the top tier.
That would come with tougher new restrictions that would shut down pubs, bars, potentially gyms and ban any households from mixing together.
The mayor's argument is essentially one of risk versus reward.
He said that under these tier three restrictions the risk to affected businesses is too high in exchange for too little reward in terms of actually bringing the infection rates down.
That's why the mayor has argued for a nationwide lockdown instead. That would be more effective, he says, at bringing down infection rates and it would come with a larger financial package to help support businesses survive this second hit.
Now we did see Prime minister Boris Johnson's cabinet member, Michael Gove, on the Sunday talk shows as well. He gave a resounding "no" to any calls for a nationwide lockdown.
Mayor Andy Burnham has said short of a U.K.-wide shutdown he wants to negotiate a better deal for the city.
He's called for 80 percent of wages for anyone affected to be paid by the government under these tier three restrictions.
Now both sides, the leadership of Greater Manchester and Downing Street, say they want to negotiate, say they want to reach a deal. So far, though, no talks are scheduled, they have been stalled since Thursday.
I did speak to a local politician who told me he expects that talks could resume on Monday. He told me in the past they've only gotten a 20-minute heads up before talks with Downing Street.
Selma Abdelaziz, CNN, Manchester.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Meantime, Italy is tightening coronavirus restrictions as cases reach a record there. So restaurants are limiting table service and mayors are allowed to impose curfews.
As Ben Wedeman now reports from Naples.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Sings)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SNR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Italy is well into the second wave of coronavirus though it's not immediately apparent in Naples, the capital of the Campagna region, which has one of the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the country.
Infectious disease specialist, Alessandro Perrella, says it's not just about the numbers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALESSANDRO PERRELLA, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST: We have an increasing number of positive people. Positive. Not an increasing number of patients. It's very different.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WEDEMAN: What's different is the testing. Earlier this year only those showing COVID-like symptoms were tested, now everyone can do it.
The majority of people who prove positive are asymptomatic, isolating until recovery.
The number of people in intensive care now approximately a fifth of what it was before.
Day after day, Italy is reporting record increases in the number of new coronavirus cases. But at the same time, Italy is testing like never before at this hospital here in Naples.
Seven days a week, at least 1,000 tests are conducted quickly and for free.
Five times as many tests are being conducted now than at the height of the first wave in March. A once unwieldy process now routine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[01:05:00]
"How long was the wait?" "Half an hour," says Abramo (ph).
"When will you receive the result?" I ask. "The whole family did it. Tomorrow morning we'll get a message with the results by phone," he says.
There's no air of panic but there is concern.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
"We're not worried," says Valentina. "What worries us is not being able to work."
(END VIDEO CLIP) The number of new cases is erupting in Italy and the peak of this wave is far off.
Better prepared this time, Italy is still bracing for a long, hard winter.
Ben Wedeman. CNN, Naples.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: So Switzerland is tightening its COVID restrictions. Masks will now be mandated indoors in places like shops, restaurants, post offices and banks.
They will also be required in schools and childcare facilities.
The country has seen a spike in infections over the past few days with a total of over 74,000 confirmed cases, 14,000 of which occurred just in the past week.
And Israel is easing some of its restrictions with cases there continuing to fall. Businesses that don't require close contact with customers are allowed to open. Along with national parks, schools for younger children and beaches.
Also, people will now be allowed to travel more than a kilometer from their home.
And the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound will be re-opened as well with people allowed to worship as long as they're socially distanced.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian's chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, was rushed to a Jerusalem hospital on Sunday with a worsening case of COVID. Erekat is 65 and considered high risk because of a lung transplant three years ago.
Now the hospital says he needed oxygen when he arrived and is in a serious but stable condition.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is averaging more than 55,000 new cases a day. Putting it at the midst of what experts call the dreaded autumn surge.
Nearly 220,000 Americans have died from the virus since the pandemic began and a leading epidemiologist says the worst is still yet to come.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIRECTOR, CENTER OF INFECTIOUS RESEARCH & POLICY: We do have vaccines and therapeutics coming down the pike. But when you actually look at the time period for that, the next six to 12 weeks are going to be the darkest of the entire pandemic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW: He predicts the U.S. could see upwards of 75,000 infections a day between now and the year's end.
Meantime, a top U.S. infectious diseases expert has said vaccine development is on a really good track.
But Americans are still concerned the approval process could be politicized.
"CBS NEWS" asked if the Food & Drug Administration's approval will be enough.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. JON LAPOOK, HOST, "CBS 60 MINUTES:" If the FDA says it's OK to take the vaccine, are you going to take it?
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I'm going to look at the data upon which the FDA makes that decision.
I trust the permanent professionals in the FDA. The director, the commissioner of the FDA has been very public that he will not let politics interfere.
We have an advisory committee to the FDA, we're made up of independent people who I trust.
Put all those things together, if the final outcome is that the FDA approves it, I will take it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW: U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she and the treasury secretary have to agree on a coronavirus stimulus plan within 48 hours if it's going to pass before election day.
Last week the White House proposed a $1.8 trillion plan but Pelosi said it didn't offer enough worker protections, aid to state and local governments and help for renters.
She said the White House also watered down language on a national plan for COVID-19 testing and contact tracing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: We're saying we have to freeze the design on some of these things. Are we going with it or not and what is the language?
I'm optimistic because again we've been back and forth on all of this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW: So still to come. It's a tale of two rallies.
While Trump supporters stood shoulder to shoulder in Nevada, Biden backers cheered their candidate from their cars. We'll have the latest on their battleground blitz.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:10:00]
CURNOW: It's just over 2 weeks to go until election day in the U.S. and the president, Donald Trump, is on a campaign blitz.
He spent the weekend crisscrossing the country and he'll begin this week with two rallies in Arizona.
Now the president was in Nevada on Sunday evening and, yet again, despite COVID cases surging throughout the country there was clearly no social distancing and very few masks.
Well, President Trump seems to be going back to his playbook from 2016 holding several rallies a day and making baseless accusations against his democratic rival, Joe Biden.
But it was a very, very different scene in North Carolina as you can see here where Mr. Biden was holding a rally.
He wore a mask until he started speaking and his supporters were socially distant as they cheered from their cars.
Meanwhile, across the U.S., early voting turnout is continuing to smash records. More than 27 million general election ballots have been cast as of Sunday evening.
That's according to a survey.
Well, Ryan Nobles is on the campaign trail with the president and has the details. Ryan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Trump is in the middle of a very busy campaign schedule, a campaign schedule that's actually picked up since he was diagnosed with the coronavirus pandemic.
The president just in the past few days traveling to key states including Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, Wisconsin and he ended the weekend with a trip here to Carson City, Nevada.
It was at that event in Nevada that he talked about his response to the coronavirus pandemic and actually ridiculed some of the scientists who've been giving him advice when it relates to the virus.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If I listened totally to the scientists, we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression instead of we're like a rocket ship. Take a look at the numbers.
[01:15:00]
And that's despite the fact that we have like five or six of these Democrats keeping their states closed because they're trying to hurt us on November 3rd. But the numbers are so good anyway. They'd be even better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBLES: And this torrid campaign pace is expected to continue. The president expected to make stops next week in Pennsylvania and in North Carolina.
And, of course, he'll travel to Nashville on Thursday for the final debate of the 2020 campaign.
Ryan Nobles, CNN. Carson City, Nevada.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: And Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, as I said, is running a very different style of campaign than President Trump.
Arlette Saenz tells us what Biden has been saying and where he's going next.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Joe Biden traveled here to Durham, North Carolina as in-person early voting is underway in the state.
The former vice holding a socially distanced drive-in style rally as he encouraged his supporters to make a plan to vote in the final weeks of this election.
Now Joe Biden once again hammered away at the president for his response to the coronavirus pandemic as he believes this is a central issue in these final weeks before the election.
And Joe Biden also talked about how the country needs to overcome division and how he is a president who will look out for all Americans.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, FMR. VICE PRESIDENT AND DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Folks, as my coach used to say in college, "It's go time."
I'm running as a proud Democrat but I will govern as a American president.
(SOUND OF CAR HORNS) BIDEN: No red states, no blue states, just the United States. I promise you I'll work as hard for those who don't support me as those who did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAENZ: Now North Carolina is one of those states President Trump won back in 2016 that Joe Biden is trying to flip in these final two weeks before the election.
And on Monday, his running mate, Kamala Harris, is returning to the campaign trail. She will campaign in the state of Florida.
This comes after the campaign had suspended her travel for a few days after two members of her traveling team tested positive for coronavirus.
Kamala Harris tested negative for coronavirus on Sunday and will resume campaigning on Monday.
And later in the week on Wednesday, perhaps the biggest Democratic surrogate out there is hitting the campaign trail for Joe Biden. President Obama will campaign in Philadelphia, his first in-person campaign appearance as he's making that pitch for his former V.P.
Arlette Saenz, CNN. Durham, North Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Well, chilling videos of the suspects accused in a plot to kidnap the Michigan governor have been released.
And in at least one of them are seen carrying out what appear to be training exercises. The video is now part of the evidence being used against the suspects.
As Sara Sidner now reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You are looking at evidence that was played in federal court of the field training exercises federal prosecutors say were carried out in a plot to storm Michigan's capital and kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
CNN affiliate, WXMI, obtained the video from the U.S. Attorney's office after the preliminary hearings for six men federally charged with conspiracy to kidnap a sitting governor.
Several pieces of federal evidence were played in court. Including this video of suspect, Brandon Caserta, ranting about the government.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRANDON CASERTA, SUSPECT: I'm sick of being robbed and enslaved by the state. Period. I'm sick of it. And these are the guys who are actually doing it.
So if we're doing a recon or something and we come up on some of them, dude, you better not give them a chance. You either tell them to go right now or else they're going to die. Period.
That's what it's going to be, dude. Because they are the (bleep) enemy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: The suspect's alleged deeds and words were shown to the federal judge so she could decide if there was enough evidence to go to a grand jury.
In this video, the lead FBI agent acknowledged in testimony the defendant, Adam Fox, is inside a basement appearing to be speed reloading his weapon to quote, "minimize the time that your weapon is inoperable in case of a gunfight."
Prosecutors say the video was taken inside this vacuum shop in Grand Rapids.
The owner of this vacuum shop says Adam Fox lived here for the last couple of weeks. He says he lived behind this door and down into the basement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIANT TITUS, STORE OWNER, GRAND RAPIDS: (...), basement. Where he stayed.
SIDNER: OK.
TITUS: And he was only going to stay here till 1 November.
SIDNER: Why did you decide it was time for him to go?
TITUS: He was buying more like attachments for like an AR-15 and he was buying like food. And I'm not stupid, I was in the Marine Corps. So that -- I told him he had to go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDER: Briant Titus said he had no idea what was going on in his business's basement after hours.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
The FBI testified this is inside another defendant's basement where you can see an arsenal of weapons in a gun locker including an illegal short barrel rifle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Beyond the videos the FBI says they also infiltrated encrypted chats and text chains laying out the plot. [01:20:00]
In one encrypted chat, the suspects allegedly used code names and discussed killing Governor Whitmer, not just kidnapping her.
The FBI identified the code name, Beaker, as suspect Daniel Harris who writes: "Laying in bed, craziest idea. Have one person go to her house. Knock on the door and when she answers, just cap her. At this point, f- it."
Someone with the code name Tex responds: "LOL, only if it would be that easy."
Beaker replies: "I mean, f-ing catch her walking into a building and act like passers-by and fixing dome her then yourself whoever does it. Why create a manhunt, do it in broad daylight and then end it."
Tex replies: "Good point. Or recon the house and snipe her."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
The alleged plot was never carried out. The six men along with seven others were arrested in an October FBI raid.
Six were charged federally, the rest charged by the state for acts of terror.
We are now learning an eighth suspect has been arrested in the state's case bringing the total number of people allegedly involved in this plot to 14.
Now we heard that from one of the defendant's attorneys. Federal suspect Ty Garbin's attorney told us as soon as his client learned of this alleged plot he disavowed it and withdrew from it. And he's innocent of all charges.
Now it goes without saying that all these defendants are assumed innocent until proven guilty.
Back to you.
CURNOW: Thanks, Sara. Brilliant piece there. Appreciate it.
So CNN has actually heard back from one of the defendant's attorneys. That attorney for Ty Garbin told us that as soon as his client learned of the alleged plot, he disavowed it and withdrew from it and is innocent of all of his charges.
Of course, all of the defendants, as Sara was saying, they are presumed innocent unless they are proven guilty.
So across France, thousands of people have now been rallying in support of free speech and educators after the beheading of a French teacher.
Jim Bittermann has the details. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In a country that puts a high value on education, Friday's attack and beheading of a middle school teacher has provoked a huge outpouring of grief.
In Paris and dozens of other cities, thousands gathered in tribute to Samuel Paty, the 47-year-old teacher who had conducted a class discussion on freedom of expression centered around caricatures of the prophet Mohammed from the controversial satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo.
A discussion that became the focus of social media anger from Islamic fundamentalists.
France takes pride in laicite, the secular nature of its institutions.
The brutal killing of Paty stirred memories of the other acts of Islamic terrorism that have occurred here.
But it raised questions too about whether Paty should have been better protected especially given the Internet -- teacher space.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALBERTINE, SPECIAL NEEDS TEACHER: It's a reality and nobody seems to take it seriously and our bosses do not protect us at all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Attend (French)
BITTERMANN: Still, police were not faulted in their response after the attack.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKERS: (French language)
BITTERMANN: As seen in this video, within minutes they had chased down the 18-year old perpetrator and officers can clearly be heard in French ordering him to lay down his arms. And when he didn't police brought him down with a volley of bullets.
(SOUND OF GUNSHOTS)
BITTERMANN: More tributes including a national one on Wednesday are scheduled later this week with thousands of teachers expected to take part as they did Sunday.
CROWD: (Singing French National Anthem)
BITTERMANN: More than a million French are involved in the national education system here. It's viewed as a cornerstone to the country's principles of liberty, equality and fraternity. Perhaps the reason the minister of education and others here have said that Friday's brutal murder was not just an attack on a single teacher but on the French Republic itself.
Jim Bittermann. CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Thank you, Jim, for that. So a convicted murderer who helped stop a terror attack on London Bridge last year will likely have his sentence reduced thanks to a pardon of sorts from Britain's Queen Elizabeth.
Steven Gallant famously used a narwhal tusk to confront the Islamist attacker who fatally stabbed two people. A viral video of the incident shows Gallant jabbing him with a tusk before police shot him dead.
Well, Gallant was actually on leave from prison to attend an event on prisoner's education when the attack took place.
Queen Elizabeth granted him a rarely used prerogative of mercy to get him considered for this early parole.
And Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny is calling on President Trump to condemn the alleged chemical attack against him. Navalny became gravely ill on a flight from Siberia to Moscow back in August.
The global chemical weapons watchdog confirmed the presence of the nerve agent novichok in Navalny's body.
In an interview on "60 Minutes" Navalny said all leaders should speak out against the use of chemical weapons.
Moscow denies Navalny's accusation that President Vladimir Putin was behind the poisoning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[01:25:00]
ALEXEY NAVALNY, RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER: I think for Putin, why he's using this chemical weapon -- to do both; kill me and terrify others.
It's something really scary. That people just drop dead without -- there are no gun, there are no shots and in a couple of hours you will be dead without any traces on your body. It's something terrifying.
And Putin is enjoying it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW: So coming up on CNN. Months ago, the Czech Republic was the first to beat the wave of coronavirus. But it celebrated too soon.
Now it's in the grips of a brutal second wave.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CURNOW: Welcome back to our viewers around the world. I'm Robyn Curnow.
So in the very near future the world will hit 40 million coronavirus infections and about a fifth of them are in the U.S. Which, of course, remains the country that is worst affected by the pandemic.
Daily cases in the U.S. are up more than 60 percent since mid- September. And as the weather gets colder, those numbers are expected to soar even further.
Now the case cans in most states are already heading in the wrong direction. And the leading U.S. expert in infectious diseases spoke to "CBS" about the possibility of severe restrictions nationwide.
[01:29:40]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. JON LAPOOK, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT, CBS NEWS: How bad would things have to get for you to advocate a national lockdown?
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: They would have to get really, really bad. First of all, the country is fatigued with restrictions. So we want to use public health measures not to get in the way of opening the economy, but to being a safe gateway to opening the economy. So instead of having an opposition, open up the economy, get jobs back or shut down.
No. Put shut down away and say we're going to use public health measures to help us safely get to where we want to go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Europe is also reeling from a second wave countries like Spain, France, and the U.K. are among many European nations being hit particularly hard. And leaders are feeling the pressure.
Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson are clashing over whether to raise Manchester's alert level to the highest tier. Burnham argues that would be just too severe and hurt businesses.
Meanwhile Italy's Prime Minister announced he will be tightening restrictions around the country to avoid another large-scale lockdown.
And then in France, hundreds of police officers in Paris and several other French cities are enforcing new curfews. The rule affects about a third of the French population. The country is trying this tactic for at least a month to slow the virus spread. People caught violating the curfew will be fined. In the last day French officials reported nearly 30,000 new COVID cases. And then the Czech Republic is in the midst of a second wave of coronavirus, reporting record-breaking infection numbers last week. But some fear the country let its guard down just too soon after a minor first wave was contained as Scott McLean now reports, Scott.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In this Prague ICU, the sickest coronavirus patients are treated by staff in full hazmat suits. Some are hooked up to ventilators, others placed face down. For now there is still a bet for everyone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have other back up beds prepared in other departments in case the capacity exceeds our current possibilities.
MCLEAN: The government is also building a temporary field hospital it expects to need in just weeks. The Czech Republic has more new cases per million people than any other major country on earth.
This is technically the second wave of infection, the first was barely a blip on the radar after the government moved quickly to close borders and implement a lockdown just like many other countries.
What set Czech Republic apart?
PETR LUDWIG, DATA SCIENTIST, AUTHOR: We are the first country in Europe with a mandate for masks from the government.
MCLEAN: In mid-March months before the WHO was recommending masks, Czech Data Scientist Petr Ludwig read the scientific evidence supporting masks and made need this video to explain why he was convinced they were the answer.
LUDWIG: More importantly masks protect you from spreading COVID-19.
MCLEAN: The video went viral and a few days later the populist Czech prime minister Andrej Babis made masks mandatory everywhere outside the home. With medical masks still scarce, Czechs started sewing.
The mask mandate was unpopular but wildly effective. By late June Prague threw a party to mark the end of the pandemic.
Roman Prymula is the newly appointed health minister.
Do you think maybe you did a victory lap a little bit too soon?
DR. ROMAN PRYMULA, CZECH REPUBLIC, HEALTH MINISTER: It's true, because we had many experts and those who are not epidemiologists, not virologists but they were arguing that ok the disease is there, but it's very mild. So they try to push politicians just to keep out of strict countermeasures.
MCLEAN: With almost no restrictions, the number of cases started to slowly bounce back in late summer. Top government epidemiologists called on the prime minister to reinstate the mask mandate.
Why do you think the prime minister said no?
LUDWIG: I think because we had an election. After the election, they started to push some harder rules again, but it was too late because we already had an exponential growth.
MCLEAN: The government closed schools and bars but the same strict mask rules so effective in the spring still hasn't been fully reinstated.
You don't think a mandatory mask mandate would have prevented you being in the situation that you are in right now?
DR. PRYMULA: I think just now we have a mandate for protective masks but indoors. There is discussion to introduce it outdoor as well.
But it's not only wearing masks. It's an issue of other countermeasures and in particular social contact. This is the reason why the situation is still not under control.
LUDWIG: I think that one of the main causes is really populism. During the first wave, there were comments that people want masks so they pushed masks. Now there are comments that people don't want to wear masks so they're against.
MCLEAN: Scott McLean, CNN -- Berlin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Coming up on CNN, the U.S. presidential candidates have just a couple of weeks left to appeal to a key demographic. We're tell you who's winning their vote so far.
[01:34:48]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CURNOW: The U.S. election is just over two weeks away. President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden are spending what's left of their campaigns shoring up support in key demographics.
Now one of the most critical voting blocks in this election are suburban women voters. Right now polls show their leaning more towards Joe Biden.
John King explains why, John.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN HOST: We've talked about the big Joe Biden lead before. When you look into it, two things jump out. One is stability, two is the gender gap.
Let show you what I mean by that. The stability of Biden's lead in this race has been remarkable. We go all the way back to when the Democrats were still in their primaries, Joe Biden had a lead when polled against Donald Trump. Let's stretch from January 2 across the year, you see the blue line,
the lead continues and it is double digits now, a little bit bigger than back here. A double digit lead as we head into the final couple of weeks of the campaign.
The other thing is that Joe Biden's lead is powered by women voters. This goes back to July. NBC/Wall Street Journal data. July a big gender gap. You move through August and you come to today it's even a little bit bigger. Joe Biden widening the gender gap as we get closer to election day.
Now, we know why this matters for Democrats. A little bit of history here. Yes, Hillary Clinton did win among women voters back in 2016 and she won the popular vote. A 13-point advantage nationally among women, of course, she lost the electoral college.
Women voted for Democrats by even bigger numbers -- in even bigger numbers. 2018 House races -- a 19-point advantage for Democratic candidates among women voters. That's why Nancy Pelosi is Speaker of the House.
And look at the number for Joe Biden now in that latest NBC/Wall Street Journal Poll. Twice, twice the gender gap Hillary Clinton had four years ago.
Now why does that matter? Let's go through the math. Some Republicans will say remember, Hillary Clinton did have that big gender gap and look this is what happened in 2016. We won so no big deal.
Well, let's put that to the test. In part it's true. Hillary Clinton won among women by 13 points nationally. And look -- North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Florida, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin -- Hillary Clinton won although states among women voters.
[01:39:54]
KING: What else is common among all those states? Donald Trump won them all in 2016. So Republicans would say that's ok. We can lose the women and still win the election. But look at the difference. Just match these numbers up side by side and it is simply stunning.
Let me move this over a little bit and bring this in. Nationally it was plus 13 for Hillary Clinton among women. Joe Biden again, right now, running 26 points ahead. Double that number.
In North Carolina it was plus 7, now it's plus 13. In Pennsylvania it was plus 13 and now it's plus 15. That one relatively comparable.
But look at Florida, plus 4 for Hillary Clinton, plus 14 for Joe Biden. Arizona: plus 4 Clinton, plus 18 Joe Biden. Michigan: plus 11 Hillary Clinton, plus 17 Joe Biden. In Wisconsin: plus 10 four years ago, plus 24 now.
Which is why if the Biden campaign can keep anything close to these numbers, women will be half of the electorate. More than that -- 50 to 53 percent on election day. If Joe Biden can keep those numbers, forget about this map, we will be much more something like this perhaps even with Florida, North Carolina and more in the Biden column.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Thanks to John King for that fascinating stuff.
So a "New York Times" reporter has been following a group of steel workers in Indiana for the past four years that works in a factory that was moved to Mexico. Many of them supported Donald Trump in 2016.
Well, Farah Stockman detailed their journey in her opinion piece titled, "Why they loved him". Here's why she says their journey has been so important.
Quote, "The mess the nation faces is bigger than Donald Trump. And if he's voted out in November the people who cast ballots for him will remain, pining for the policies he promoted.
About 40 percent of American voters want tariffs and a border wall. More than half say it's important to deport more undocumented immigrants."
Farah Stockman joins me now from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Farah, wonderful to have you on the show.
This is a fascinating article. You've spent time with steel workers, with union members, with blue collar folks who have traditionally voted Democrats. And many of them still feel like these issues around tariffs, around immigration, around border walls, about policing will be issues that will still very much relevant again whoever is president.
What have they said to you about that?
FARAH STOCKMAN, MEMBER, "NEW YORK TIMES" EDITORIAL BOARD: For all of our talk about political polarization in the United States pretty much since Ronald Reagan, presidents of either party, Democrat or Republican, they embraced free trade. They embraced it with open arms.
No matter what they promised on the campaign trail, when they got into the White House they furthered this notion of free trade. They embraced greater and greater free trade agreements.
So TPP was the very last one that Obama hammered out when he was in office. And he ran against NAFTA. He ran against free trade. And so I think there is a sizable portion of the American electorate who feels left behind by free trade.
They feel as though they have been thrown into competition with the poorest, hungriest workers in the world and they're angry about it. And they are tired of it and I think they put Trump in office. And I'm not sure that, you know, those of us who have benefited greatly from globalization and free trade. People like myself frankly, people with a college degree, People with capital, with money in the bank, who can go out there and have so many more opportunities because of it. We don't always get it. We don't always understand why people feel afraid of globalization and free trade and this increasing economic interdependence.
CURNOW: With all of these people that you've spoken to and of course, they are voters that you can extrapolate across various demographics and states, is the rebellion, the draining of the swamp that they voted for, has it happened? Is it enough?
Or do they want more from Mr. Trump? Particularly when it comes to economic integration and globalism and globalization and all of that. The allure of that original message. Do they want Trump plus and how motivated are they for that?
STOCKMAN: Well, let's be honest. This is sort of a half finished economic project, right? So Trump has talked about his broad tariffs. And there has been a very disruptive trade war that has caused manufacturing to kind of come -- come contract.
And so people will say well, could he in another four years actually make that trade war go away and come to -- you know, could he actually deliver more on his promises?
[01:45:00]
STOCKMAN: So I think, you know, there are some people who want to give him another four years because they think he hasn't had enough time, right to finish his economic project. But they believe that he has been sticking up for them and their economic interests, when it comes to China.
They were begging for tariffs on these goods. and if you look at the manufacturing sector in the United States it's true that after China and trade was normalized with China you watched five million jobs disappear in American factories. And it is very hard if you are a person working in a factory, it's very hard to compete with a country that doesn't have environmental regulations or doesn't have minimum wage standard.
And so I think there are people, there are certainly people who want to give Trump time to finish this project that he started.
There are others who look and see the real damage he has done. They see that he has done a tax cut that has been largely for corporations. They see that he hasn't been good for unions. And he's -- maybe there were a lot of jobs before COVID, but the quality of those jobs meant you had to work two and three jobs to survive.
Yes, sure, unemployment can be low if you have -- if everybody has to work three jobs, just to make ends meet.
And so I think that those who look really deeper, you know, much deeper at what he is actually doing can say false promises. He told me what I wanted to hear, but he can't deliver on it. He hasn't actually delivered on it. And so, you know, you hear different things from people depending on maybe one level of education, their level of exposure to information, but the problems that Trump talked about at his rallies, the things that he harped on, the reason he resonated -- those are very real.
And they're not just real for the United States, I think they are real for industrialized countries around the world where the blue-collar people, the manual labor people are watching their jobs leave, and saying we don't want this anymore.
And you see it in Brexit, you see it in other parts of the world, where people are just saying, put up the walls, we just need to take care of ourselves.
CURNOW: With this election coming up with two weeks to go, as you say, you feel like the Democrats underestimated many of these blue-collar workers that you spend time with. Many of them perhaps are a silent majority now.
What is -- if you were a betting woman, what do you think the percentage, or the likelihood of Donald Trump being reelected again based on the folks that you voted -- that you've spoken to?
STOCKMAN: Like I was saying, before COVID I thought he was going to be president.
CURNOW: Yes, so now after COVID -- I mean that's right.
STOCKMAN: I think, you know, the economy is really struggling, and people are struggling. You are seeing, you know, you're seeing the bottom fall out. So I do feel like there is a good chance he's going to be -- you know, that our democracy will correct itself, and people will come out and vote for somebody who has the experience to run a country.
CURNOW: Farah Stockman, great to get your perspective, fascinating article. Thank you for all the work and conversations you've had over the past few years has been important stuff. Thank you.
STOCKMAN: Thank you.
CURNOW: Still ahead on CNN, China stands alone in weathering the economic storm the pandemic has created around the world.
[01:49:04]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CURNOW: Welcome back.
So with COVID well under control in China, the economy is showing steady recovery. Now China's gross domestic product grew 4.9 percent in the third quarter although that was slightly weaker than analysts have predicted.
Selina Wang is in Hong Kong and has more the details on that. What's the latest takeaway here, I mean from these GDP numbers? They are pretty impressive considering where the rest of the world is.
SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Robyn, these numbers couldn't be a more stark contrast than the rest of the world. While the global economy is dealing with the worst crisis since the great depression, these numbers show that China's economy is still growing.
In fact, China is expected to be the only major country to post growth this year. Compare that to the U.S. which is expected to have its economy shrink by more than 4 percent; in the eurozone, where it's expected to shrink by more than 8 percent.
While China was the first country to implement strict lockdowns, it's also been early to reopen, and get life back to normal.
There is, of course always skepticism around China's data, and how much it can be trusted. But the economists I speak to say that when you look at other metrics to measure China's economy, directionally the story of China's recovering economy is strong, and robust. And you see that in the consumption numbers as well.
The latest numbers show that spending is bouncing back more than 3 percent in September. We saw that from images over China's mass travel holiday period, the Golden Week holiday, when more than half a billion people of China were traveling and spending within the country.
That being said, this recovery we're seeing in China is uneven. China, much like the rest of the world is seeing this pandemic really disproportionately impact the poor.
[01:54:49]
WANG: We know that millions of people in China lost their jobs amid the pandemic, especially those working part time as delivery people in restaurants. And it's unclear from the numbers how many of those people have gotten their jobs back because China's unemployment data, while it is showing an improvement, only captures a portion of the overall workforce.
So questions still remain as to how robust China's recovery is going to be in the months, and in the year to come, if there is still pressure on unemployment and on people's incomes.
CURNOW: And so then what risks to the U.S.-China tensions and decoupling pose then to this recovery? I mean how much of an impact is all that going to have?
WANG: well, over the long term, Robyn, this question of decoupling, U.S.-China geopolitical tensions is certainly going to be one of the biggest, long term risks to China's economy.
But In the short term, despite all of this heated rhetoric, the COVID- 19 pandemic has actually made China's importance in the global supply chain even more important and even further cemented.
And that is because China has managed to get the pandemic under control, and keep their factories up and running. I spoke to an economist on Oxford economics who made the point that despite this tension, U.S. multinationals are still interested in engaging with China and in fact more direct investment from the U.S. actually increased in China in the first half of this year.
CURNOW: Ok. That's interesting. Selina Wang, thanks so much, coming to us live there from Hong Kong.
Still in the region, 22 soldiers are missing after a landslide swept through their camp in Vietnam. Heavy rains, of course, the worst flooding in years in the region with some rivers reaching their highest levels in over 20 years.
The flooding has killed at least 20 people this month -- with this month with more than 12,000 evacuated from their homes.
Well, there's more news after the break.
I'm Robyn Curnow. Continue to watch, I'll be right back.
[01:56:45]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
