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Wall Street Sees Worst Session in Weeks; Campaign Volunteers Make Final Get Out the Vote Appeals; Hurricane Zeta Makes Landfall on the Yucatan Peninsula; Infections Rise as Second Wave Sweeps Europe; Americans Show Off Dance Moves as They Wait to Vote. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired October 27, 2020 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR: And then trading across Europe is now underway, and that's why I want to go to Anna Stewart in London. Anna, Hi. So, let's just first of all talk about the Dow. I mean, it certainly was pretty ugly, considering the context, but futures looking a little bit better.

ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: A little bit better this morning, but yes, a real sea of red yesterday on Wall Street, 650 points for the Dow Jones, and it was a real broad-based selloff. So, we saw sections that are sensitive to economic data, like financials and energy lower but also, those exposed to the pandemic more directly like leisure and travel.

Confluence of issues there. Of course, the rise in coronavirus cases in the United States is producing a lot of anxiety, but also that impasse on fiscal stimulus. A big concern for businesses here and for those people of course who invest in them. And economists are worried this could send if this deadlock isn't sort of improved, this could send the U.S. into a double dip recession.

Now a quick reminder that in Q2, the U.S. economy contract by 33 percent. And we will get Q3 data out on Thursday. But all investors will be eyeing that ahead of the week.

As you said, futures were pointing higher for Wall Street, and they still are but let me show you what happened in Europe. Because just an hour ago, we said Europe is higher, on the back of robust earnings. All back in the red again. I think we're going to see lots of volatility in the weeks to come, particularly in Europe with a second wave of the coronavirus, more restrictions in all different countries, so the economic outlook for the coming weeks and quarters is looking really quite dismal -- Robyn.

CURNOW: And which sectors are being particularly hard hit here.

Well, I think in Europe, particularly leisure and travel, that's been the case for many weeks now, but also oil. We're seeing oil depressed severely as we start to look at the much kind of broader global impact of manufacturing and demand and that just filters through into energy stocks as well. So fairly broad based in Europe as well, I'm afraid. A miserable day, Robyn, and my first back in the studio for that matter. CURNOW: Well, that's some good news a least. It's lovely to see you

with the sparkling lights of the studio behind you.

STEWART: And they have.

CURNOW: Although you do have a lovely living room, and we have even met your cats. So, thank you for all of that over the last few months. But enjoy being in the studio.

STEWART: Thanks, Robyn.

CURNOW: Anna Stewart, thanks a lot.

So, in the coming hours, Vice President Mike Pence will be holding two rallies in North Carolina as the Trump and Biden campaigns continue to take two starkly different approaches to reaching voters. Now, the question is which approach will prove more effective come election day. Well, here's Jeff Zeleny with more -- Jeff.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Crowds thunder for President Trump.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you, North Carolina. Go out and vote.

ZELENY: And horns honk for Joe Biden.

JOE BIDEN, US. DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Hello, North Carolina.

ZELENY: But the real work is actually happening here in the neighborhoods of Trump and Biden supporters. In the closing days of the race, volunteers for the Biden campaign are hitting the streets for the first time in eight months after being grounded by the pandemic.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's go Biden, let's do this?

(CHEERS)

ZELENY: They have gloves, masks and an urgent task -- finding voters who still haven't been reached.

CAROLYN EBERLY, BIDEN CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEER: People have been calling and texting and writing and everything they can do and have not heard from these voters. So, this conversation or this contact is really important.

ZELENY: Caroline Eberly and Scarlet Hollingsworth have been itching to knock on doors and look those voters in the eye.

SCARLETT HOLLINGSWORTH, BIDEN CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEER: We say in North Carolina, we don't do landslides, we do squeakers. So, we have to really get, you know, those votes out.

ZELENY (on camera): Do you wonder what the other side has been doing and if they've been doing this all along?

EBERLY: We've heard that and seen that the Trump campaign has been out canvassing throughout this all -- all of this. You know, the people that we want to elect care about people's lives and so that's why this decision was made to not do it.

ZELENY (voice-over): Until now, team Biden has done most of its work virtually, while Trump has gone full speed ahead with his rallies at the center of it all.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you to Gastonia, beautiful name.

ZELENY: Four years ago, Trump won Gaston County by more than 30 percentage points. To win North Carolina again he is trying to increase those margins.

JONATHAN FLETCHER, CHAIRMAN, GASTON COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY: That is really one of the reasons he wanted to come here was to energize the race.

ZELENY (on camera): So, the rally is part of the GOTV effort here?

FLETCHER: Absolutely, absolutely. Here and everywhere else he goes, you know, that is the point of him going places is to get people out to vote.

ZELENY (voice-over): Yet it's not just big rallies. Republicans have been going door-to-door for months.

AMY BYNUM, SECRETARY, MECKLENBURG COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY: It's better to come to their houses and come to people where they are.

ZELENY: Here in the growing Charlotte suburbs, Amy Bynum is running for statehouse. She is also secretary of the county GOP.

BYNUM: It's our job to reach the new folks. It's our job to reach -- get our Republicans out to vote.

ZELENY: North Carolina has more than 1.3 million new registered voters since 2016. As cases of coronavirus soar, turning out voters is a challenge facing both sides, but particularly Democrats.

[04:35:00]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go to the polls.

CROWD: Got to the polls.

ZELENY: For Biden to win here, high enthusiasm among black voters is key.

MAYOR VI LYLES (D), CHARLOTTE, NC: With a leader like Joe Biden.

ZELENY: Charlotte's Mayor Vi Lyles says she thinks about this every day, but believes Democrats have an even bigger motivating force. LYLES: And this time it's been frame by COVID-19 and President's lack of response for it and that's why I think people are going to come out to vote.

ZELENY (on camera): Now, more than 3 million people have already voted early here in North Carolina and early voting extends through Saturday. No question of enthusiasm here, but the Biden campaign believes they can find more voters through this on the ground organizing. Now, President Trump for his part has been in the state twice over the last six days. There's no doubt he is a motivator for voters on both sides.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Charlotte, North Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: That was quite a sunset there behind Jeff in Charlotte.

So, we are also looking, though, at weather, and multiple wildfires forcing many people from their homes in southern California. Over 100,000 people have been told to evacuate. Take a look at these flames. Hundreds of firefighters are continuing to battle fires like this.

This dramatic video was captured by urban residents, Jesse Strickland as he escaped from his neighborhood. And can see the thick smoke and flames on the side of the road which forced him to turn his car around a one point. Now Strickland said this was about a mile away from his home and that in ten years of living there, he's never had to evacuate before. He and his family we know are safe now and staying at another family member's home. Glad he escaped there.

Well, a hurricane has made landfall on the Yucatan Peninsula. The storm came ashore with winds of nearly 130 kilometers an hour, the storm is bringing heavy rains and storm surge to the area. And that's expected to continue throughout the day. Now it could make landfall again on the U.S. Gulf Coast on Wednesday. Pedram Javaheri has more details -- Pedram.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Robyn. Yes, hurricane Zeta making landfall across the Yucatan Peninsula, just north of Tulum, Mexico, in the past several hours. The 27th named storm of the season, the 11th named storm to make landfall across the Western Atlantic, and of course into the Atlantic Basin.

But you'll notice the perspective, here's what it looks like as far as what we expect moving forward. Yes, this a category one hurricane. Could maintain that intensity now on approach toward the Gulf coast region of the U.S. sometime Wednesday afternoon or Wednesday evening. And model disparities in the last couple of days kind of coming in better alignment here as we look into say Wednesday night into Thursday morning. We think again, a strong tropical storm or a weak hurricane on approach across this region in an area frankly, that has been so hard hit.

In fact, look at the state of Louisiana where there was hurricane Laura, Delta, Cristobal or Marco, these are the storms we've seen impact this region, and now Zeta would make it the fifth storm which is the most for any state to endure in one hurricane season.

Now speaking of that and also enduring quite a bit of tropical activity, look at what's happening in the Western Pacific and even in the South China Sea. This is typhoon Malave. It is equivalent to a category two hurricane as it works his way toward the West. And much like the state of Louisiana, five named storms as this system approaches portions of Vietnam that have impacted this particular nation. And notice, again, landfall within a 24 hour period, this could be devastating for an area that has been so hampered with tropical systems in recent weeks, and the amount of rainfall as impressive as they get as well there, Robyn, with amounts as much as 250 to 350 millimeters over the next two days -- Robyn.

CURNOW: OK, thanks for that, Pedram Javaheri there.

So, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Just ahead, despite different reactions to the coronavirus, both Europe and the U.S. are experiencing dramatic increases in infections. We're live with that.

[04:40:00]

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CURNOW: Welcome back, I'm Robyn Curnow. And a second wave of the coronavirus is sweeping through Europe with infections rising at an alarming rate. A medical adviser to the French government estimates the country has 100,000 new cases every day, double what's actually being reported. The adviser says many of the cases are undiagnosed and asymptomatic.

Now the Czech Republic announced a weeklong ban on free movement between nine and five. All retail stores must be closed during that time except for petrol stations and pharmacies.

And Russia has imposed a nationwide mask mandate in all public places that begins on Wednesday. Bars and restaurants will also have to close by 11:00 p.m.

I want to take you now to Paris, where CNN's Melissa Bell is standing by with the latest. So, you're in France, already tough restrictions and also Europe is expecting more. What's it like there at the moment?

MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: well, you're right, Robyn. Those figures that you mentioned a moment ago, no doubt, 100,000 new cases every day, simply not they're being picked up by the official figures. That's according to the country's scientific committee. Its head has also been speaking out about the nature of this second wave, Robyn, and how over the course of the last ten days, authorities here have been really surprised at just how fast the virus is spreading, speculating that it could be to do with the falling temperatures here as Europe sets into the autumn.

The question is now how to deal with those figures. How to bring them back under control. For the time being, no one seems to have found that solution here in Europe for the time being. In France, an emergency meeting being held today and tomorrow, at which fresh restrictions are being discussed.

The question isn't so much whether they're going to be tightened here in France but how far and how close to a full lock down we get by the end of the week.

Elsewhere as well, in Germany, Angela Merkel meeting with the heads of the federal states there to look at fresh restrictions that they might have to introduce as a result of the dramatic rise that we've seen across Germany.

Countries like Belgium also expected to head to far tighter restrictions by the end of the week. And it's something that we see all over Europe, spiraling figures, infection rates growing fast and for the time being, government authorities trying to find restrictions that stop short of lock downs. But all the time having to inch closer and closer to lock downs that they know they can ill afford.

CURNOW: Melissa Bell, thank you so much for that live in Paris.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: So, for more now on all of this I want to bring in Dr. Peter Drobac, an infectious disease global and health expert at the University of Oxford. Peter, good to see you again. So, you just heard Melissa live in Paris. I know you are there in the U.K. These numbers are taking up dangerously across the continent. What do you attribute it to? I mean, Melissa was suggesting its cold weather. How come it's just so bad right now?

PETER DROBAC, GLOBAL HEALTH EXPERT, OXFORD SAID BUSINESS SCHOOL: Well thank you for having me, Robyn.

We always fear that winter would sort of bring a perfect storm of circumstances for COVID-19. And that's what we are starting to see.

[04:45:00]

So colder, drier air is an environment where the virus tends to thrive. of course, that colder weather moves us all indoors where the risk of transmission is much higher, and then we are also recently having had millions of students at schools and universities, you know, back in kind of congregate settings. And all of those things I think are coming together to, you know, dramatically increase the transmission rates.

And you know, we are seeing this not just in France, in the U.K., but some of the countries in Europe that had some real success in containing COVID-19 early on in the spring, like Germany and the Czech Republic also facing really alarming rises. And it's really humbling right now in terms of what we face in the winter months ahead.

CURNOW: And do you think lockdowns or even potential of lockdowns, tougher lockdowns in the coming weeks will work and how necessary are they? DROBAC: Unfortunately, I do -- it's hard to see how they won't become necessary. We just heard about kind of incremental steps that are being taken to try to gradually impose restrictions that might do just enough to slow transmission.

The problem is that if you impose some restrictions, and you get it wrong, and you wait two weeks to see if they worked, you may already see double the number of infections as when you started. The virus moves so much more quickly than we are right now.

So, it's hard to see us getting this under control without strict measures. So, we have to remember that while we may need to impose the real pain of more significant lockdowns, that those are just temporary measures to bring infection rates back down and give us some breathing space. It buys us some time.

We also need to be investing more in the public health infrastructure in the testing, in the tracing, in the isolation support, as well as support for businesses. That's going to help us get through the winter. It's really going to require a comprehensive strategy. It's not only about lockdowns.

CURNOW: And when you look at the numbers, are Europe's numbers worse than the U.S. right now?

DROBAC: Yes, if you look at population adjusted numbers in terms of the numbers of new cases, it's not a perfect comparison. But over the last couple of weeks, Europe's rates have been higher than the U.S. They're both unfortunately rising dramatically. In both cases, we're seeing rise in the number of hospitalizations and the number of deaths which lag of course infection rates by a couple of weeks.

So, yes, I think the situation may be a bit worse in Europe right now. But U.S. is by no means out of the woods. And at least in Europe there are some measures being taken to try to get this under control. Whereas in the U.S., of course we're still seeing political paralysis and denialism, and I would expect that things unfortunately in the U.S. will get much, much worse.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: Thanks to Peter Drobac there speaking to me a little bit earlier.

Now authorities in northwestern China hope to finish testing more than 4 million people in the coming hours. The mask tests in Xinjian Province were ordered after single asymptomatic case was diagnosed on Saturday. Since then, 164 more cases have been reported.

And one of the world's longest ever coronavirus lock downs is about to be lifted. People in businesses in Melbourne, Australia, are getting ready for restrictions to be relaxed. For more than 100 days, Australia's second biggest city has been under a stay-at-home order. And at the stroke of midnight in a few hours, all restrictions on movement will end. The city of 5 million has been at the epicenter of Australia's pandemic, and the decision to end the lock down after state officials recorded no new cases on Monday.

Well, you're watching CNN. Still to come, it's only one way to kill time while you wait in line to vote. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NELINI STAMP, FOUNDER, JOY TO THE POLLS: We want to make it as fun as possible and just motivate people to stay in line.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: Americans dancing their way to the ballots. That's next.

[04:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CURNOW: In America, "How Could This Happen?" That's the title of a new public art installation in Washington honoring those who have fallen victim to COVID. Artist Suzanne Firstenberg planted 220,000 white flags in the lawn of the D.C. Armory, one to honor each person who has died from COVID in the U.S. Firstenberg hopes the project will help the public understand just how many individual lives have been lost. The artist also invites the public to plant more flags alongside hers in the coming days as the death toll rises.

So, for the last several weeks, we have been monitoring early voting across the U.S. of course. And we have shown you the very long lines with voters sometimes waiting for hours to cast their ballots. Well, in some cases, these lines themselves were slow to move. The people in line were not. Here's Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN, NATIONAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): How do you kill time while waiting in the early voting line? Try the Mississippi cha cha slide.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, SINGING: U turn to the right n move to the left.

MOOS: Gives a whole new meaning to the right and left when it comes to voting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, SINGING: You cha cha with your right You cha with your left

MOOS: Scenes like this from Philadelphia.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, SINGING: Right foot stomp, Left foot stomp

MOOS: Were inspired by "Joy to The Polls," a sort of roving concert. Entertaining the lines of voters.

NELINI STAMP, FOUNDER, JOY TO THE POLLS: We want to make it as fun as possible, and just motivate people to stay in line. There was just somebody who was waiting in line, and that video went viral. MOOS: I can't get over how long that guy's legs are posted one

admirer. Across the country in Portland, Oregon, a guy who calls himself two left legs was also getting serenaded.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yo, we got somebody here voting today for the first time.

MOOS: Never have music and voting seemed in such harmony from a marching band outside early voting in Brooklyn to an activist doing a little ballot ballet in New Jersey.

[04:55:00]

To a non-profit delivering free pizzas, to lines of voters with a side helping of salsa. The organizer of "Joy to The Polls" made clear.

STAMP: Even though we are bringing joy, I wish we didn't have to.

MOOS: She wishes voters weren't forced to wait for hours. "Joy to The Polls" sent up a drone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What time, one more, what time.

MOOS: To capture the long lines and dancing voters, instead of that kind of poll dancing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get your booties to the poll.

MOOS: This type of poll dancing is G rated.

Jeanne moos, CNN, New York.

CURNOW: Fantastic.

So, here's a story, NASA has now definite proof that water exists on the moon and in more places than once thought. Based on research from two studies, scientists found water. It's not just in the moon's freezing polls but also in areas where the sun shines. That water could be used in future human missions to the moon. It's a discovery one NASA scientist says came as a surprise with important implications.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL HERTZ, NASA DIRECTOR OF ASTROPHYSICS: We weren't expecting water. We weren't guessing that water could survive in the sun lit part of the moon. And so, this is about, how did it get there? And how did it survive? Is an interesting scientific question that tells us something about the history of the moon. Might tell us about processes that take place on other airless bodies in our solar system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Well, the discovery came in part from data gathered by NASA's Sophia, which is infrared telescope mounted inside a 747 Boeing jet, and from a lunar reconnaissance orbiter that's been circling the moon since 2009.

So, thanks so much for joining me, I'm Robyn Curnow, "EARLY START" is up next. Stay with us. You're watching CNN.

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