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Fauci Restricted by White House, Attacked by Trump; Republicans Distance Themselves from Trump; Europe Tightness Virus Restrictions; Chinese City Offering Experimental COVID-19 Vaccine to Public; Educators Search for Students Missing from Virtual School; Obama to Campaign for Biden in Philadelphia; Crowd at Trump Rally Chants 'Lock Her Up' About Gov. Whitmer. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired October 20, 2020 - 00:00   ET

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

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

Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, Donald Trump defying one of the most basic rules of politics: when in a hole, stop digging. Instead ramping up baseless attacks on the one man Americans trust more than any other when it comes to dealing with the pandemic.

Learning the lessons of the first wave. Many countries across Europe moving quickly and decisively to reimpose pandemic restrictions as the number of confirmed cases surge and hospital ICUs begin to fill.

Online and dropping out, the disturbing number of school students who've checked out of virtual learning.

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VAUSE: It has been 1,368 days since Donald Trump took office and now with two weeks before Election Day, it seems the president of the United States is making a closing argument not based on what he's done, nor is it about what he would do with another four years in office.

Instead, Donald Trump is ending his campaign for reelection with a schoolyard tactic of insults and name calling directed at one of the most respected medical experts in the country, Dr. Anthony Fauci.

On the same day the coronavirus death toll in the U.S. passed 220,000, confirmed cases reached 8.2 million, the president called Fauci a "disaster" and said, "Americans are tired of hearing from Fauci and all these idiots."

Insults were made on a conference call to campaign staffers and was followed by a rally in Arizona, one of 27 U.S. states where there are more infections this week than last.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: By the way, you get it. Like I say, here I am. I'm here. I'm here and now I'm immune. I can jump into this audience and kiss every man and woman. I'm immune. Right? They say, it used to be you're immune for life.

if you're a president, one thing you're guaranteed, lots of doctors. They would grab me at A, grabbed me by every part. They had hands all over me.

I said, "Get the hell out of here. I just don't feel good."

We ended up, I used the drug Regeneron, which nobody ever thought about six months ago. I woke up the next morning and I was like, I felt like Superman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: More details now on the president's day from CNN's chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: With the election day fast approaching, President Trump sounds like his running not against Democrat Joe Biden but against the man who's arguably the nation's most trusted health expert on the coronavirus, Dr. Anthony Fauci.

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TRUMP: I don't want to hurt him. He's been there for about 350 years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: The president his day of attacks on Fauci on a call with campaign staffers.

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TRUMP: People are tired of COVID. I have the biggest people are saying whatever. Just leave us alone. They are tired of it. People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots. Fauci is a disaster. If I listened to him, we'd have 500,000 deaths.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Fauci got under the president's skin appearing on "60 Minutes" where the infectious diseases expert said he wasn't surprised when Mr. Trump contracted COVID-19.

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ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I was worried that he was going to get sick when I saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded, no separation between people and almost nobody wearing a mask. Nothing good can come out of that. That's got to be a problem. And then sure enough it turned out to be a super spreader event.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Drawing thousands of supporters who aren't wearing masks, the president is on an anti-science crusade at his rallies, accusing Biden of siding with the experts on the virus.

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TRUMP: Biden wants to lock it down. He wants to listen to Dr. Fauci.

He'll listen to the scientists. If I listen totally to the scientists, we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Biden responded to that charge of listening to the scientists with one word on Twitter, yes. Contrast that with Fauci who said he's been muzzled by the White House.

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FAUCI: You know, I think there has been a restriction, John. But it doesn't -- it isn't consistent.

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ACOSTA: The president snapped back at that remark too.

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TRUMP: He gets a lot of television. He loves being on television. We let him do it.

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TRUMP: Sometimes he says things that are a little bit off and they get built up unfortunately.

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ACOSTA: But sources have told CNN for weeks that the president has opted to listen to the questionable advice coming from another doctor on the coronavirus task force, Scott Atlas, who tweeted a post had said masks work? No. A comment removed by Twitter because it violated the social media platforms rules. As most experts believe masks are effective.

Atlas has become such a lightning rod, the Washington Post reported task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx complained to the vice president's office about him. In the meantime, the president is escalating his attacks on Biden.

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TRUMP: Joe Biden is a criminal and he's been a criminal for a long time. And you are a criminal in the media for not reporting it.

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ACOSTA: Biden is asking voters to reject the president on character grounds.

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JOE BIDEN (D-DE), FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Words of a president matter. The words this president has used that our children have heard, our sons and our daughters, have been despicable.

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ACOSTA: A Trump advisor questions the president's decision to attack Fauci two weeks before the elections, saying the campaign is already struggling to keep up with Biden's massive spending advantage. Adding, time is running out. Being outspent is a problem. No one ever thought we would be outspent. Time is our enemy. The president is more confident.

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TRUMP: We're going to win. I would've said that three weeks ago, three weeks ago, two weeks ago. I don't know, I would've said it.

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ACOSTA: A campaign advisor said the president's attacks on Dr. Fauci are ill-advised as they remind Americans of Mr. Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, a subject campaign official desperately want to avoid -- Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.

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VAUSE: Joining us now from Washington is CNN political camp and Democratic strategist, Maria Cardona and in Louisville, Kentucky, CNN political commentator and former special assistant to President George W. Bush, Scott Jennings.

It is great for you both to be here with us. We appreciate it. Let's start off --

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good to see you, John.

VAUSE: Let's start off with a little bit more from that phone call President Trump held with campaign staffers.

Here it is.

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TRUMP: People are tired of COVID. I have the biggest rallies I've ever had and we have COVID. People are saying whatever, just leave us alone. They're tired of it.

People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Oh.

TRUMP: These people. These people that have gotten it wrong. Fauci's a nice guy, he's been here for 500 years. He called every one of them wrong."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Scott, you heard that woman gasp when he talked about Fauci. And people may be tired of the pandemic but how much is that actually born of a failure or a non-existent response by the Trump Administration?

And do presidents get to be tired and say "whatever" during a crisis?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well -- I mean, look, he's probably right. There are people that are certainly tired of the pandemic. Unfortunately, the coronavirus is not tired of us. And it will continue to attack us as long as we're not willing to do the things that are necessary to defeat it.

And until, frankly, we have a vaccine which is still several months into the future.

I think the president, obviously, is mad at Dr. Fauci right now because they used a clip of Dr. Fauci in a campaign commercial and Dr. Fauci spoke out against that. So I'm sure Donald Trump is reacting to that.

But as a strategic matter, if you want to try to throw a strategic frame on it, I do think there's a cohort of American voters, probably low political information voters, maybe they didn't participate last time, not terribly politically engaged, who would agree with the president. And so he needs those people to vote.

So there's a whole lot of stuff going on here. By the way, none of it is good for the public health.

VAUSE: Yes.

JENNINGS: He might think it's good for his campaign, it's not great for the public health, of course. VAUSE: So Maria, there seems to be a trend here. Don't like the polls then the polls are wrong, don't like the science then the science is all a conspiracy.

Don't like what the experts say, trash the experts. Find another expert -- and in this one with zero experience in pandemics --

CARDONA: Right. VAUSE: -- and infectious diseases to tell you what you want to hear. And as Scott just said, this is not good for public health.

CARDONA: That's exactly right, John. What the president said is actually true; we are all sick and tired of the pandemic.

But mostly what we have is people still getting sick and 220,000 Americans dead from the pandemic that this president has been unable and unwilling to confront by using exactly the advice from the most well-respected infectious disease expense that there is right now in the world right now and that is Dr. Fauci.

The ironic thing, John, is he could use Dr. Fauci to his good.

And I don't think -- Scott is saying that he's probably doing this to get some voters that he still needs to get out to vote.

But I'm telling you from every number that I have seen, what Trump desperately needs to do is to expand his base, to bring in more voters for his re-election.

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CARDONA: To try to get more pathways to get to the 270 electoral votes that he needs to win.

And what he does when he goes on these rants, John, is exactly the opposite. He's turning away and turning off more voters than what he's bringing in.

VAUSE: Yes. And just as an example for the kind of reporting that's been about Anthony Fauci.

Here's some of the headlines over the last couple of months. From "The New Yorker," "How Anthony Fauci Became America's Doctor." Then there's an up close look at "America's Doctor," on "NPR."

"France 24": "Dr. Anthony Fauci: A Lifeline for Americans through Pandemics and Presidencies."

So, Scott, back to you. The president's just not telling the truth when he says Fauci called every one of them wrong.

And, again, putting aside the harm which is being done here to public health.

FDR during the darkest days of World War II never said the Nazis are too hard, let's give up on fighting fascism. JFK never gave up on the space race even though the Soviets were the first to put a man in orbit -- in space, rather. And Reagan never gave up on the Cold War, he didn't saying Gorbachev's wall is too big, let's just leave it where it is.

I mean, presidents don't get to give up like this.

JENNINGS: Yes. And I think that one thing the president has never understood is that there's actually a lot of forgiveness in the American electorate.

When we're facing an unprecedented issue like the coronavirus, I think people actually understand that government officials are going to try things, they're going to make decisions with imperfect information and that it may not all go perfectly. And that's certainly been true of some Republicans and some Democrats at the state level.

But if you're earnest and you're honest and you're showing the American people empathy and that you're earnestly trying to get it right with the information that you have, there'll be a lot of forgiveness in this.

I don't think the president has never fully understood this.

And obviously he doesn't want this to be the dominant issue of his presidency or of his re-election campaign. But we all don't always get to choose what those dominant issues are.

He would love to talk about the economy, he'd love to talk about anything but this. But this thing is dominating our lives here in the United States.

VAUSE: Just very quickly, Scott. As a Republican, does it turn you off, the president, when you hear that sort of stuff?

JENNINGS: Well, yes. Because as a Republican strategist, one thing Maria said is true.

If he is picking up people out here who are sort of rejecting of the coronavirus measures, well, he's losing, say, senior citizens.

CARDONA: Yes.

JENNINGS: Donald Trump is much softer on senior citizens this year than he was in 2016. And it's because they don't think he's taking their health seriously.

And so yes, it bothers me because being an incumbent president means you're having an on-the-job interview for your next promotion, which is your reelection campaign.

And if is the dominant issue and your job approval is as low as it is on coronavirus, it obviously doesn't portend well for the politics of the party.

VAUSE: Maria?

CARDONA: You know what, I completely agree with everything that Scott just said. If Donald Trump would listen to Scott Jennings, he'd be in a much better position right now.

But here's the problem. Scott mentioned that if a leader shows empathy, shows humanity, shows honesty, the American public is very forgiving especially in the face of a virus that the world had never known before a year ago, right?

But the problem is, is that Donald Trump is unable and unwilling to show any kind of empathy, any kind of honesty, any kind of humanity.

And that has been apparent not just with this coronavirus pandemic but with every issue where he has needed to show empathy, honesty and humanity.

VAUSE: OK. We've got two weeks until election day and now we're finally seeing many congressional Republicans trying to put a little distance between themselves and President Trump.

Here's a sample.

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UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Are you proud of your support for Donald Trump?

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I'm proud of the work that we have done together.

TED SIMONS, MODERATOR, "PBS," ARIZONA: Are you proud of your support for President Trump?

SEN. MARTHA MCSALLY (R-AZ): Well, I'm proud that I'm fighting for Arizonans on things like cutting your taxes.

SIMONS: The question was are you proud of your support for President Trump?

MCSALLY: I'm proud to be fighting for Arizona every single day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Also, Republican Senator John Cornyn told the "Fort Worth Star Telegram" that privately he's confronted Trump -- (inaudible) not publicly, on issues like debt, trade, border security.

He went on to describe his relationship with the president as: "Maybe like a lot of women who get married and think they're going to change their spouse and that doesn't usually work out very well."

Maria, is there a reality check underway right now for Republicans and is it sort of too late?

CARDONA: Yes. I think, yes, there's a reality check that could have happened a whole lot sooner than now.

And yes, I do think it's too late. Because you know that all of those senators wanted to scream from the loudest and the highest rooftop that no, they're not proud of their support for President Trump. And they shouldn't be.

And the thing is, is that they could've come out a long time ago and been able to look themselves in the face.

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CARDONA: But then we know what would have happened, right? The few people who did try that, they are no longer in politics. That is what you get for confronting Donald Trump. But that is also get when you try to put country before party.

These senators have not been willing to do that. And we'll see what happens in the election in less than two weeks or two weeks from now. We will see if those senators are going to start regretting that they did not come out and call Donald Trump out sooner.

VAUSE: So very quickly, we're almost out of time. If Donald Trump continues to talk about this rosy -- the big win, bigger than last time. And these polls which don't exist that show him way in front.

There is a narrative he's setting up here for absolute total shock and disbelief by those among his supporters who only listen to him and don't actually read a newspaper or listen to any other news source.

And that is when you have problems post election, isn't it?

JENNINGS: Well, look, I think we're going to have a clear winner. It may take a few days, it may take a couple of weeks to count all the ballots.

So regardless of how people view it today, one of the -- the greatness of American democracy and our republic is that we have durable institutions.

One of those institutions is free and fair elections, every two years we re-elect or elect a new president every four years. And it's going to happen and -- whether Donald Trump wins or loses. And the country will move on and we'll do it all again.

So I believe in the durability of American institutions. And so, regardless of who's getting their information from where, I don't think we're going to have a problem no matter who wins after this election.

VAUSE: From your lips to God's ear. And we'll see what happens. Because I still think the jury's out on that one.

But Scott and Maria, thank you both. Really appreciate it.

CARDONA: Thank you, John.

JENNINGS: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Lessons from a recent past as COVID-19 casualties soar, parts of Europe are reentering lockdown as they confront a second wave of the pandemic. Details when we come back.

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VAUSE: Welcome back.

Urgent new restrictions are being imposed in countries across Europe as a second wave of the coronavirus begins to take its toll.

The areas marked with orange and red represent countries where infections are rising. About half of Europe is seeing a 50 percent increase in case numbers in the past week according to the WHO.

As surely as night follows day, hospitalization and death tolls are also surging.

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DR. MICHAEL RYAN, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: Going back to even a couple of months, we would have had maybe 2,000 to 3,000 deaths per week even as much as -- even as much as two months -- two months ago.

But now we are seeing a very large increase in the number of deaths per week. And it's now approaching something like 8, eight and a half thousand deaths per week across 48 countries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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VAUSE: A sudden spike in October in both infections and hospitalizations has meant the Czech Republic once again making masks mandatory in urban

areas. Anyone within 2 meters of another person. And for anyone in a car, unless alone or with people from the same household.

Starting Wednesday, Ireland will impose some of Europe's strictest measures. No social gatherings in homes or gardens. Restaurants and bars will only offer takeout.

Wales will see a new two weeklong lockdown beginning Friday. Everyone forced to stay home except for critical workers and those in jobs where working from home isn't possible or nonessential businesses will shut down until November 9th.

France is now the eighth country in the world to report more than 900,000 cases of COVID-19. Hospitalizations are up sharply. We have details from Melissa Bell reporting in from Paris.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The French first lady, Brigitte Macron, is having to self isolate for 7 days as per French regulations after coming into contact with someone who is COVID positive on Thursday.

Nationwide, meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 patients in French ICUs is now above 2000. That is the first time that has happened since the month of May. The number of daily cases, however slightly down, we've seen 4 days in a row of rises above 25,000 on Monday, the number was just about 13,000.

All eyes very much on the curfews that were placed in 10 French cities, including Paris, will have the desired effect. The French interior minister said they are being widely respected, although he did say that more than 3,000 fines had already been given.

Over in Belgium, the health minister is warning of a possible tsunami that he says could leave the country unable to cope with a second wave that has hit the south and Brussels particularly hard -- Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

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VAUSE: Anne Rimoin is an epidemiology professor at the University of California and she is with us this hour from Los Angeles.

Professor Rimoin, it's good to see you again.

ANNE RIMOIN, PROFESSOR EPIDEMIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: Nice to be here.

VAUSE: Now back in March, we had this dire prediction. It came from the Imperial College, it was picked up by the White House, by everyone.

That by October, by this point in time right now -- "an unmitigated epidemic, we would predict approximately 510,000 deaths in Great Britain and 2.2 million in the U.S. not accounting for the potential negative effects of health systems being overwhelmed on mortality."

March seems like a dozen lifetimes ago. But how important is it to remember that by changing our behavior on a scale the planet has never seen before we avoided this mass tragedy and how important is it to remember now as we head into this northern winter?

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RIMOIN: Listen, John, we have done an amazing job of, in general, around the world in various places being able to really mitigate the spread of the disease by wearing masks, social distancing, hand hygiene and avoiding crowds.

That is the way that we're able to stop this virus.

We still don't have a vaccine, we don't have other measures that are going to be able to help us at this point. So we are still beholden to the things that were really important in March as we are right today.

These models are projections of what could happen but it just shows you that human behavior can make a difference.

And so it's very, very important to remember we have all of the tools in our hands right now to really push down on these rising cases. We just have to be able to really have good strategies and everybody has to buy in.

It's really good to see that Europe is moving into mitigation phase again --

VAUSE: Yes.

RIMOIN: -- as we're seeing cases rise. VAUSE: That's the point. This is all about behavior and buying in

and everyone being part of it.

Because while the worst has been avoided in the U.S., it seems -- it should not have been as bad as it has been.

And it's interesting when you compare other places like Taiwan with New York State, for example.

Taiwan has a population of around 24 million. Total confirmed cases there, 540. Total deaths so far, just seven. Days under lockdown, none.

New York State has a slightly smaller population, about 20 million. Confirmed cases, almost 485,000, more than 33,000 dead. More than 30 days under lockdown.

Taiwan and the U.S. have had pretty much the same resources, these non-pharmaceutical interventions, if you like.

So what was Taiwan doing and what are they doing now heading into this winter that the U.S. is not doing but should be doing?

RIMOIN: Well, this is the point. That if you get -- if you have a national strategy where people are wearing masks, they're social distancing, they're avoiding crowds and it is enforced on a national level and that you have good buy in from the community, you can reduce the spread of this virus significantly.

And this is what the point is that I was trying to make. Is that we're seeing several examples of countries doing a very good job at this, the countries that you've mentioned.

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RIMOIN: The countries that have not had a good national strategy or who have eased up on their mitigation strategies are seeing rises in cases and deaths as well that will follow.

These things are very preventable. We have the tools that are necessary to be able to prevent further spread.

VAUSE: It's interesting what's happened in the Czech Republic. Because they mandated face masks early into the pandemic, had a lot of success. Until now.

Numbers have surge there, there are more cases per capita there than any other major country right now. CNN reports in the first 17 days of October, more people have died of the virus than in the previous eight months of the epidemic combined. So what went wrong there? And how do you dissuade those who are the cause and effect belief, who point to the Czech Republic and say hey look, they did masks, it didn't work.

RIMOIN: Well, there's not one thing that's going to be a silver bullet here. You have to have masks, you have to have social distancing and you have to avoid crowds. And what happened in the Czech Republic as has happened in many countries is that restrictions are eased.

People start to relax, people start to interact with each other. Households tend to -- will start to mingle, people will go out to dinner. We have all -- and all of these things provide opportunity for this virus to spread.

It is also getting colder so as people start to move indoors, we're going to be providing more opportunities for this virus to spread.

And we should note that most of these countries in Europe, while cases were low, they were not non-existent. The virus was still spreading.

And so, if we do have virus spreading in a community, it will take every opportunity to spread to vulnerable people. Most of the world does not have immunity to this virus. And so any opportunity, the virus is going to take it.

VAUSE: "Constant vigilance, Harry Potter," I like to say. Professor Rimoin, thank you for being with us. It's appreciated.

RIMOIN: It's my pleasure.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: The coronavirus is not surging everywhere around the world in South America. The places marked here in green have seen at least a 10 percent drop in new cases since last week.

The parts in yellow are holding steady. Across all of Latin America, the rate of new infections is on a downward trend after peaking in August.

Bolivia has seen one of the most dramatic declines, reporting fewer than 70 cases on Monday, down from more than 2,000 on August 19th.

Brazil is seeing a decline in new cases, as well as Chile, Peru and Colombia. Argentina appears to be the exception. New infections are still on the way up.

The U.S. may soon end Sudan's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. President Trump tweeted it will happen once Sudan has paid $335 million in a settlement for victims of bombings of U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998. Sudan's prime minister has welcomed the news.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ABDALLA HAMDOK, SUDANESE PRIME MINISTER (through translator): This decision qualifies Sudan to get relief from debt. We are today more than $60 billion U.S. in debt. With this decision, doors open that allow for the relief of Sudan's debt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The Trump administration has been pushing Sudan's transitional government to normalize relations with Israel. Senior government sources say Mr. Hamdok insisted on the designation change before talks on relations with Israel could proceed.

Still to come, a Chinese city reportedly offering COVID-19 vaccines to the public.

But is it safe?

We will have a live report from Hong Kong in a moment. Stay with us.

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JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Just gone half past the hour, welcome back, everybody. I'm John Vause with an update on our top news this hour.

[00:30:59]

Donald Trump going after the nation's top infectious disease expert as U.S. COVID cases continue to rise. The president told campaigner staffers Dr. Anthony Fauci is a disaster, and he said Americans are tired of hearing Fauci "and all these idiots."

European countries are ordering tough new coronavirus curbs as infections soar. Wales and Ireland will become the first countries to reenter lockdown. A World Health Organization expert says the high numbers are largely due to self-isolation numbers measures not being enforced.

And two weeks before the U.S. election, more than 28 million Americans have already cast their ballot, with record turnout for early voting this year. According to a CNN analysis, the total number of ballots cast so far represent almost 20 percent of the total ballots cast four years ago in the 2016 presidential election.

Well, the Chinese city of Yiwu has become one of the first to offer an experimental COVID-19 vaccine to the public. The emergency-use vaccine comes in a series of two shots, with long lines, high demand, and supplies of the vaccine running dry in parts.

Well, for more, CNN's Kristie Lu Stout, live for us this hour in Hong Kong.

You know, one of the issues for China's healthcare system has been the cost of this vaccine and have they been able to make it free of charge to the entire population, not just this one in particular, just in general. And it's been sort of being looked out, and they don't believe they can. So what are they doing with this experimental one? Is there a charge? How are they going about it? And who's actually getting it?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's what's really interesting. And that's why we sent a team from CNN to go and investigate, given these reports coming out of Yiwu.

So these reports out of Yiwu, saying that the city in eastern China was giving out experimental coronavirus vaccines at a nominal fee for the general public. So the team, led by David Culver, they went to the ground. This is what they learned.

That No. 1, there was only one clinic that was distributing these vaccines. No. 2, that there was an age limit for the vaccine. Contrary to a lot of reports out there, children were not being vaccinated with this experimental vaccine. There was an age limit: for adults only between the ages of 18 and 59. And it was also being distributed on a first come, first serve basis.

So by the time that David Culver and his team got to this clinic, they already ran out of the vaccine. But what they found instead was really interesting. They found a number of Chinese nationals who traveled even from neighboring provinces rushing into Yiwu to have an opportunity to take this, again, experimental vaccine. Not because of the status of the pandemic inside China. It's largely under control. But because of a desire to be able to travel internationally again.

I want you to listen to this exchange between David Culver and a business woman named Anny Ku who traveled from Guangdong province to Yiwu. And she speaks fluent Spanish. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: OK.

ANNY KU, YIWU RESIDENT: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

CULVER: You said they told you they don't have any and so you have to go find another place?

KU: Mm-hmm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUT: Now, to be able to travel internationally again, a number of Chinese nationals, including Anny Ku, they are clamoring to get vaccinated, even with this experimental vaccine. They want it and, critically, they trust it.

You know, since July, an estimated hundreds of thousands of people in China have been vaccinated with these experimental coronavirus vaccines under an emergency use provision that's been authorized by the Chinese government. These individuals include frontline medical workers, border patrol agents, and international businesswomen and businessmen, as well. And some experts worry that these experimental vaccines may have

unintended and perhaps harmful side effects. And not only that, one virologist I spoke to recently here in Hong Kong said, even if this vaccine passes Phase 3 or Stage 3 trials, or human trials, they still pose a risk. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JIN DONG-YAN, VIROLOGIST, HONG KONG UNIVERSITY: In the history of vaccine development, there are many examples that, even if the vaccine has passed the Phase 3 trials, still, there might be problems. Whether there might be a D.E. (ph) in the case of SARS COVID 2, it is still unknown, and we have to find out. And only after completion of Phase 3 can we have a definite answer to that. Otherwise, it's risky.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUT: And not only that. China's vaccine industry has a spotty and troubled safety record over the last decade. The vaccine industry has been hit by a number of scandals, including scandals involving vaccines for children.

That being said, a number of people, hundreds of thousands in China, and those interviewed by David Culver in Yiwu are willing to take experimental vaccines. And China, at the moment, in the vaccine race, stands out in front. Four out of the 10 experimental coronavirus vaccines that are now undergoing Phase 3 trials are being developed by Chinese manufacturers.

Back to you.

VAUSE: It almost sounds as if they're charging the public to take part in a human trial. But that wouldn't be possible. That couldn't happen, could it, Kristie.

Thank you. Kristie Lu Stout there, live for us in Hong Kong.

Well, the second and final presidential debate before the U.S. election is this Thursday. This time, when Donald Trump or Joe Biden are answering a question, the other candidate will have the microphone muted during that response. It's meant to avoid the chaos and constant interruptions we saw from the first debate, mostly from President Trump.

The Trump campaign already criticizing the change by the debate commission, calling it, without evidence, an attempt to provide advantage to their favorite candidate.

CNN's coverage of the debate starts at 7 p.m. Eastern Thursday night, and it's Friday morning in much of the world. Be sure to tune in.

Still to come, kids dropping out of school by not clicking on. We'll tell you what educators are doing to get kids back online.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VAUSE: In one California school district, 10 percent of the students have been missing from virtual lessons during this pandemic. But now educators and social workers have a plan to get them back into the virtual classroom.

CNN's Bianna Golodryga finds out how.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELISA OLMO, SOCIAL WORKER: We're from the school.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST (voice-over): On any given week since the start of the pandemic, Laurie Butler Enciandia (ph) and Elisa Olmo set out together on a mission.

OLMO: The goal of what we're doing today is student engagement.

GOLODRYGA: They work for the Robla, California, School District in Sacramento. Like many California school districts, Robla's more than 2,000 students ranging from preschool to 6th grade, began the year learning virtually. Since the start of the school year, as many as 200 or more haven't logged in, according to school. Officials

RUBEN REYES, SUPERINTENDENT, ROBLA SCHOOL DISTRICT: The circumstances that our families face, unfortunately, are very much characterized by poverty.

GOLODRYGA: Ninety percent of Robla students live under the federal poverty level. According to superintendent Ruben Reyes, 20 percent do not have permanent housing.

REYES: I think the first challenge for us was making sure that when we were up and running with the program, that our children have devices at home.

We did have families who did not have Internet. They did not have wi- fi in their home or in their apartment. And unfortunately, we also serve a pretty large homeless population.

[00:40:10]

GOLODRYGA: School administrators are alerted when a student doesn't check in with their teacher for three consecutive days or more.

REYES: There's been some very interesting stories. Families who were just gone. The instability of poverty is a big part of this. They were there, and now they're not.

GOLODRYGA: CNN recently had a chance to accompany Laurie (ph) and Elisa as they went out to find three students. We were warned not to get our hopes up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think the most challenging is when our families aren't there. That's the hardest, which happens quite a bit.

GOLODRYGA: With more than half of the nation's largest school districts offering only virtual instruction, teachers, superintendents, and social workers are facing similar crises.

Chicago's public schools have had the largest drop in enrollment in decades this fall, by 15,000 students.

Dallas has reported a 7 percent decline. And metro Nashville public schools in Tennessee saw enrollment decline by more than 4,200 students.

Middle and upper-income districts are also reporting some declines in online participation. The biggest declines in attendance, however, tend to be in lower-income districts like Robla.

OLMO: We have some families that are just -- that they are having a very different difficult time with life in general right now. They're, you know, losing their jobs. They're maybe losing their House, and so school be -- gets put on the backburner. It's no longer a priority.

GOLODRYGA: Studies show that students who miss 10 percent or more of school days a year are at greater risk of dropping out in later grades, which is why locating those students is so critical.

Out of the three Laurie (ph) and Elisa set out to find, they successfully spoke to just one parent, a single father who says his 11-year-old daughter has missed classes because he's had difficulty logging her in. Laurie and Elisa Walker walked him through it.

FLOYD LEE SR., FATHER: I appreciate that. I really appreciate that. For stepping out, coming out, reaching out, you know. I do need it, because I'm by myself.

GOLODRYGA: It's a sentiment shared by Laurie (ph) and Elisa.

OLMO: I'm so appreciative of having -- being in a position of having a job where I can go out to a person's House and say we are here to help any way we can.

GOLODRYGA (on camera): Is your goal to ultimately find them all and bring them back online through the help of these wonderful social worker?

REYES: It is very much our goal. We -- we cannot let even one child slip through the cracks. I know that that's a lofty thing to say, but -- but that's -- that has to be our goal. We have to make sure that we're reaching out.

GOLODRYGA (voice-over): Bianna Golodryga, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: An elderly couple in Florida has been forced to live apart for more than 200 days because of COVID-19.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who's waiting for him? Who's waiting for him over here? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: During seven months in rehabilitation for an illness, Joseph Loreth was limited just phone calls and window visits with his wife of 60 years. That all changed this past weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at him.

EVE LORETH, WIFE OF JOSEPH LORETH: Aww. I miss you!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: A happy ending and some good news we can all do with right now.

Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. WORLD SPORT is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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