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World Braces For COVID Round Two; Philadelphia Shooting, Father Says Avoidable; Trump Rallies His Base, Biden Talks To Red States; WHO: World Reached Record 3 Million New Cases Last Week; Lincoln Project: The Before And After Of Election Day; U.S. Pro Sports Teams Open Up Stadiums for Voting; Young Voters Energized Ahead of Election; Mexico Says Death Tolls is Much Higher than Reported; U.S. Tech Chiefs to Face Questions on Capitol Hill. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired October 28, 2020 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. Great to have your company. I'm John Vause. Coming up this hour on CNN NEWSROOM.
First the case numbers surge, next the hospitalizations come. Already straining health care systems around the world which are now bracing for another wave of COVID-19 patients.
Frustration boils over in Philadelphia after the shooting death of yet another black man by police.
And the campaign map tells the story. For Donald Trump, a president on defense shoring up states he won four years ago. For Joe Biden, a red state offensive.
(CAPTION: CNN NEWSROOM WITH JOHN VAUSE)
Well, from the United States to Europe to Latin America, the number of new coronavirus infections are hitting new record levels, with 3 million new cases worldwide just last week.
According to the WHO, that's the most in a seven-day period since the pandemic began.
Almost half of those new cases are in Europe which is once again the global epicenter recording the highest number of new cases two weeks in a row.
Across the United States health officials say the past week saw another record for new infections, almost half a million. The seven- day average has topped the previous high point back in July.
With the surge in new cases, hospitals are once again reaching capacity.
In France, almost 3,000 people are being treated in intensive care with predictions in the next two weeks that numbers will peak to numbers not seen since April.
With the huge shortages of health workers in Belgium, hospitals are now asking staff who've tested positive for COVID-19 to keep working.
It's a similar crisis too in one of England's worst affected areas.
As CNN's Nick Payton Walsh reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: In this, one of Britain's hardest hit ICUs, the worst of pandemic isn't behind them, it's just happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LINDA GREGSON, MATRON, CRITICAL CARE, ROYAL BLACKBURN HOSPITAL: We've also had eight deaths. It's been the worst weekend that we've had. And that's the problem because you have a death and unfortunately, there's somebody to go in that bed. Change mattress, next patient.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PATON WALSH: A third of the COVID patients in this ICU have died since Friday. There are 197 total in the hospital, 30 new this weekend.
Outside, the northern city of Blackburn last week had the worst rate of new infections in England.
What's extraordinary is just how frenetic, how busy this ICU ward is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IAN STANLEY, CONSULTANT ANESTHETIST, ROYAL BLACKBURN HOSPITAL: On Sunday afternoon, it was literally patient in, stabilized. It was almost doing traffic control to make sure that they weren't banging into each other when they came in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
The pandemic never really eased for summer here. They're exhausted by only two weeks since March without a COVID patient.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STANLEY: And it's when I see those very senior, experienced nurses, it's when I see them crying, it's when I don't really have an answer. But it's when they say, "Yes, but when? When's it going to end? When we going to get back to some degree of normality?"
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PATON WALSH: But they are also exhausted by a general public disobeying and angry at the rules.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GREYSON: You know we've given absolutely everything. And yet we're being called liars and we're being abused on the phone.
There's nurses withdrawing treatment on patients and doing end of life on a Zoom call and having a wife or a husband or a daughter on the other side of that camera crying and saying, "Please will you hold my dad's hand, please will you do whatever."
And the next telephone conversation might be somebody hailing abuse down the phone at them.
Unfortunately, on several occasions, we've had to stop the Zoom calls because there's been numerous relatives in a room, not social distancing. The other day there was at least 45 in a room so we had to stop it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PATON WALSH: Better treatments keep the patients conscious now, able to talk clearly of how dangerous the disease is.
Retired carpenter, Jack, has no idea where he got it or why people insist on breaking the rules.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACK RATCLIFFE, PATIENT: Ridiculous. I just don't understand why they do it. They have no idea of the consequences of it. You know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. BETHAN GAY, ROYAL BLACKBURN HOSPITAL: It really does wear you down when patients in work are really unwell, dying and dying in a very specific way.
And yet there's people who know nothing about the virus saying that it's not real and it doesn't exist.
Yes, last weekend on my nights as soon as I arrived here a lady had come to the ward and unfortunately passed away almost immediately. You know giving some relatives a bag and a stick of a lady who has passed away in a bed in front of them is quite difficult.
It's difficult for them and it's difficult for us as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PATON WALSH: While outside may seem to want to be less aware of the disease, inside they grow more aware of its victims' suffering and its stark random viciousness.
[01:05:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATON WALSH: (...) that you've learned about this disease in the last seven or eight months?
GREYSON: You can't read it. And I hate it. From the point in time of my stomach, hate it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PATON WALSH: Nick Paton Walsh. CNN, Blackburn, England.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: The White House has listed its achievements of the first Trump term ahead of next week's elections and among them ending the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Trump Administration claims to have taken decisive actions to engage scientists and health professionals to defeat the disease.
But then there is reality and fact.
Nearly half a million Americans tested positive for COVID-19 in the past week.
Every state is reporting a spike in cases, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The U.S. leads the world with 226,000 COVID-19 deaths.
And CNN medical analyst, Dr. Jonathan Reiner warns there could still be much worse to come.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Avoid social gatherings, they're unsafe. They're unsafe at any size. And to wear masks.
If we continue our current behavior, by the time we start to go down the other side of the curve, a half a million people will be dead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The spike in COVID-19 cases is pushing many hospitals to the brink in the U.S.. These 11 states highlighted in red are reporting record numbers of hospitalizations.
One health expert says rural areas are especially vulnerable.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CHIEF OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES, MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL: It's not just that there aren't beds, it's that all beds are not the same. There are a number of cases now in rural areas. Rural hospitals have limited numbers of beds, they have limited
resources, they often don't even have intensive care units and ventilators. We know that 80 percent of counties in this country don't have a single infectious disease physician.
So I really do worry about all of the resources in the months ahead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Utah health officials could be just days away from rationing health care.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GREG BELL, PRESIDENT, UTAH HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION: It's a system of grading patients and triaging or rationing care. At the end of the day, some senior person versus some very healthy young person probably would not get the nod.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: In El Paso, Texas, tents have been set up in the parking lot of a medical center to help treat non-critical coronavirus patients.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR DEE MARGO, EL PASO, TEXAS: We've had significant spikes to the point that our hospital capacity is really tapped. We're probably at the end of our rope there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Dr. Emily Porter specializes in emergency medicine. She is with us this hour from Austin, texas.
Emily, it is good to see you again. It has been a while, so thank you for taking time to be with us.
EMILY PORTER, EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN, AUSTIN, TEXAS: Thank you, John.
VAUSE: Confirmed case numbers are an important leading indicator but more crucially seems to be the number of hospital admissions. We have the situation right now in 11 states struggling with this record number of COVID-19 cases. And it's October.
So as someone who works in the emergency room, what are you bracing for the coming months?
PORTER: Flu season. Because this is a stressful time for emergency physicians, intensive care doctors and just hospitals in general with flu season.
They had flew in Iowa in august when my dad -- my dad lives in Iowa -- and they already had the flu in August. So I know a lot of people got their flu shots, I personally got my flu shot about a month or six weeks earlier than what I would have. But it's flu season so hospitals are already normally slammed at this time with flu, pneumonia. And now we've got COVID on top of it. And I guess we all just thought that we would be in a much, much better place heading into flu season.
VAUSE: Yes.
PORTER: If flu season had been three months, we might have been OK. But we're on the uptick again in a bad way. It's not good.
VAUSE: And this is the point. And the situation in Utah seems to be especially acute and maybe a sort of foreshadowing of what's to come. In two weeks, maybe less, this hospital's ICU would reach capacity.
Doctors there say they'll be forced to decide which patients will continue to receive intensive care and which ones will be moved on.
The "Salt Lake Tribune" reports it this way:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
"Patients who are getting worse despite receiving intensive care would be moved out first. In the event that two patients' conditions are equal, the young get priority over the old, since older patients are more likely to die."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The state governor's yet to approve this new triage protocol but the bigger point seems to be that this is where this country is right now, this far into a pandemic. And we're placing this incredibly unfair burden on doctors and health care workers asking them to decide who lives and who dies?
PORTER: Yes. I warned everybody about this in March. It was over seven months ago when I did my video. At that time, Italy was going through these things.
And we're seven months into it. And I don't -- yes, we've got a couple of therapeutics to help a little bit. But we don't have a miracle drug.
[01:10:00]
Remdesivir just got approved last week but the studies are mixed, it may decrease the length of state in the hospital, mortality a little bit. But it's certainly not a miracle drug, it's expensive, there's not enough of it. It's IV only so it's not good for outpatient people.
And a lot of people that live in those rural areas they live so far away that they wait and wait and wait until they get bad. And none of the drugs that we have really work until when you get to a certain point that you're so bad.
And so we need better testing and out-patient care, a vaccine and a good out-patient therapy and just to continue the mitigation factors that we have because we're nowhere near a vaccine.
So this reality that's happening in Utah, that was happening in Houston in June and July. And it's just like musical chairs of what area is going to have death panels, essentially. And doctors are going to get blamed for it. We don't want to do that.
VAUSE: This is about more than just ICU beds because in Utah the plan is maybe to set up these temporary triage areas -- but just to make doctors and nurses work longer hours?
PORTER: And go to work despite positive cases. Now you could argue that if you're positive as a physician or a nurse that if you're wearing appropriate PPE like an N95 and a gown and the patient's in a mask, there should be minimal transmission.
But who wants to go to work febrile, short of breath, who wants -- we go to work when we're sick. Doctors and nurses are notorious for going to work when we're not our best because we feel we're essential workers especially in the ER, especially surgeons.
But it's not fair to them either to do that.
VAUSE: You know a few hours ago, the governor of South Dakota was the warm up act at a Trump Campaign likely super spreader event in Omaha. I'd like you to listen to part of what she said to the crowd.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. KRISTI NOEM (R-S.D): Let me tell you, my people are happy. They're happy because they're free. The governor in Nebraska, Pete Ricketts, Kim Reynolds in Iowa and I have been making decisions to protect our people and let them use personal responsibility to protect their way of life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: When she talked about protecting the people of South Dakota she means protecting them -- protecting their freedom from mandatory pandemic restrictions.
But you know, the many freedom-loving COVID truthers, they're all potential hospital admissions which could have been avoided, aren't they?
PORTER: Right. Well, in her state alone the motorcycle rally back in Sturgis had been linked to at one point with good contact tracing potentially up to 200,000 cases. Some of those people died.
And I think the hardest thing about this, it's not necessarily the people who attended the event that die.
I had a patient who was like in her sixties and she said she had an 85-year-old mother that had been isolated since February because she's at risk, she's got bad lungs, so they had not had anybody visit, groceries were being delivered to the house, all these things. And then, all of a sudden, her sister visited town and went to a funeral back in July that was not supposed to happen because of the restrictions. Five people there knew they were sick, had the funeral anyway, went to the funeral, gave it to the sister. The sister brought it home to the mom and the mom died. And now everyone just feels crappy.
VAUSE: Yes.
PORTER: And this 85-year-old woman died and she didn't even leave her house. That's scary.
VAUSE: Yes.
PORTER: That's --
VAUSE: Your actions are so important here. What you do affects others. And it cannot be stressed enough. But that doesn't seem to be getting through to a lot of people, unfortunately.
Emily, it's always good to see you. Take care and be well.
PORTER: Thank you. You too, John.
VAUSE: Still to come. Outrage in Philadelphia. Hundreds of protesters demanding justice for a second night after the deadly police shooting of a black man.
And the final days of the campaign sees Joe Biden heading deep into red state territory while President Trump works to shore up his base.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:15:00]
VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. Well, protesters have taken to the streets of Philadelphia for a second night. As outrage grows over the fatal police shooting of a black man.
Hundreds demanded justice for 27 year-old Walter Wallace Jr. For the most part the demonstrations were non-violent but police say hundreds were seen looting local businesses.
Officers say Monday's incident began with a call about a man armed with a knife. Cellphone video shows how the confrontation unfolded.
And a warning, what you're about to see will be disturbing for many viewers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Inaudible) watch my (inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Back off, man.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: You [bleep], you crazy (inaudible). UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Put the knife down.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Inaudible) a gun. (Inaudible) gun.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Let's get away.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKERS: (Scream)
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Put the guns down. Put the guns down.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Move, move, move.
(Shots fired)
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: [Bleep] Oh.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKERS: (Screams)
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Oh.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Screams)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The family says police were told that Wallace Jr. suffered from mental health issues.
His father spoke with CNN's Chris Cuomo.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Mr. Wallace, do you believe that this was about color or condition, his mental health and the police inability or ability --
WALTER WALLACE, SR., FATHER OF WALTER WALLACE, JR.: No, no.
CUOMO: -- or both?
WALLACE SR.: I believe it's both. Because they overlooked things. I mean, if somebody -- that's what we call common sense. I mean, you got to look at things. If somebody tell you something, you're told to take that and respect it.
So you tell me something I overlook and don't pay you no mind that mean I should be paying the cost of taking somebody's life. Because I should have -- it could have been dealt in a different way.
He could've called his superior to handle this situation. You know what I mean? He didn't have --
CUOMO: Do you think that your son --
WALLACE SR.: -- to go (inaudible) to death?
CUOMO: Do you think your son would have hurt the officers? WALLACE SR.: No. He can't hurt a god [bleep] fly. You know what I
mean? He --
CUOMO: Even with a knife?
WALLACE SR.: No, he can't even flick this up (ph). He just -- he had mental issue. And it could have been dealt with, it wouldn't had to -- I mean, I wouldn't be talking to you now.
I believe in the justice system. We got good cops and we also got bad cop. So we all got to be hold accountable for what we do in life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Both police officers say they did not have a taser. Investigations are now underway by both the Philadelphia police department and the district attorney's office. Both officers have been placed on desk duty.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What's his closing argument? That people are too focused on COVID. He said this at one of his rallies, "COVID, COVID, COVID," he's complaining.
He's jealous of COVID's media coverage.
If he had been focused on COVID from the beginning, cases wouldn't be reaching new record highs across the country this week.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Barack Obama there seemed to be relishing his new role on the campaign as attack dog in chief. The former president ridiculed and taunted President Trump over his response to the pandemic. Said he'd waved the white flag of surrender.
He also warned voters in Florida about becoming complacent and urged them to turn out like never before.
Well, with less than a week to go before the election, where the candidates are campaigning is indicative of just how confident they are ahead of next Tuesday.
Democrat Joe Biden has been holding socially distant rallies in traditionally Republican territory.
In a moment, CNN's Arlette Saenz will report from Georgia on Biden's closing message. In the meantime, President Trump is working to shore up his support in the Midwest.
From there, here's Jeff Zeleny.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SNR. WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Six days now until the final voting next week on election day. President Trump plans to have rallies every day, multiple times a day in battleground states across this country trying to get his base supporters out.
[01:20:00]
At this late rally last night here in Omaha, Nebraska, the president was chasing one single electoral votes. Of course Nebraska and Maine split their electoral votes by congressional district.
That is what brought the president here to Omaha. A clear sign that he is trying to turn out his base wherever he can even here in deep red Nebraska.
But as he talks he was diminishing the importance of coronavirus, he said the media is simply fixated on coronavirus. But the issue here is this; Nebraska for the fourth week in a row has had record high cases.
It's the same in Wisconsin, in Michigan, in Pennsylvania. So cases of coronavirus, the reality of coronavirus, is following him as he campaigns.
Now there is no doubt in the final six days of this race there could be twists, there could be turns. But this the president knows that his path to winning re-election, those 270 electoral votes, is very narrow.
It's why he's threading the needle in places like here in Omaha. He'll be campaigning out West today.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Joe Biden traveled here to Georgia to deliver his closing message for the campaign. Arguing that this is a time for the country to unite.
Biden has been incredibly consistent in his messaging from the start of his campaign to now when he framed this as a battle for the soul of the nation.
And Biden's campaign really believes that this message resonates in this moment as the nation is divided and dealing with multiple crises.
Take a listen to what Biden had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, FMR. VICE PRESIDENT AND DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I believe this election is about who we are as a nation, what we believe. And, maybe most importantly, who we want to be. It's about our essence, it's about what makes us Americans. It's that fundamental.
I run to unite this nation and to heal this nation. I've said that from the beginning. It is badly necessary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAENZ: Now Biden traveled here to Georgia, a state that's not traditionally a battleground. A Democratic presidential candidate has not won the state of Georgia since 1992 but Biden wants to put this state in play.
His campaign saying that they are trying to keep all paths to 270 electoral votes open.
Now Biden later in the week will travel to that critical battleground state of Florida where recently President Obama has campaigned showing just the importance that the campaign is placing on that state in the final days of this election.
Biden will head to Iowa, another reliably, typically reliably, red state that they are hoping to put in play in this final week. And he's also heading to Michigan and Wisconsin.
Biden has told reporters that he is looking to re-establish the blue wall, those two states and Pennsylvania. Those three states President Trump won back in 2016 but Biden is hoping to bring them home on November 3rd.
Arlette Saenz, CNN. Atlanta, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: The Lincoln Project has been devastatingly effective campaigning against Trump. It's made of former Republicans and co- founded by Mike Madrid who joins us this hour from Utah.
Mike, thanks for being with us.
MIKE MADRID, CO-FOUNDER, THE LINCOLN PROJECT: Thanks for having me. Looking forward to a good conversation.
VAUSE: Me too. OK. In this last week of the election campaign, Joe Biden is in Georgia, this is a traditionally conservative state. His part of one of two rallies he held on Tuesday.
Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: There aren't a lot of pundits who would have guessed four years ago that a Democratic candidate for president in 2020 would be campaigning in Georgia on the final week of the election.
CROWD: (Applause and honking horns)
BIDEN: Or that we'd have such competitive center races in Georgia, but we do. Because something's happening, here in Georgia and across America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: In the past, Georgia has been like the equivalent of fool's gold for Democrats. But is Biden right, is something happening not just in Georgia, but across the country?
MADRID: Biden's absolutely right. Actually, the number of battleground states have doubled really from six in 2016 to at least 12, possibly up to 15, depending on how you count them.
The Democrats look very well positioned to win in Georgia, possibly Texas. Looking very good in states like Iowa. Places, again, where Donald Trump was winning by nine points or more going away in 2016.
Something significant has shifted in the United States. And I think you're going to see probably some big numbers coming for Joe Biden on November 3rd.
VAUSE: OK. Well, the campaign map in the final days says that Trump is a best playing defense. He's holding rallies in states which he won four years ago, like Wisconsin.
Here's part of that rally from Tuesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You're going to see something. You're going to see a giant red wave --
CROWD: (Applause)
TRUMP: -- on Tuesday. You're going to see a red wave like they've never seen before.
[01:25:00]
And they saw a very big one -- I tell you what, they got a glimpse on four years ago. Because that was -- four years ago. Remember they said, "Where did these people come from?"
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Are you expecting some kind of surprise turnout? Can Trump turn this around what with like six -- five days to go now?
MADRID: Well, he hasn't turned it around since the mid-March timeframe where he has, unfortunately for him, been in the position of the most stratified race in the history of this country or certainly in the last 50 to 70 years.
These numbers do not look good for Donald Trump. He's losing both nationally by a historic margin and I think you're going to see that translate to the states where, again, there's at least a dozen, upwards of 15 battleground states.
The grand majority of which he won, in some cases very handily, he's now upside down losing in. Those states that he's in today are states that he won which polling has him losing outside of the margin of error.
So it appears the red wall that he has built up is collapsing inside on top of him. And he's doing everything he can to kind of hold whatever sort of semblance of a close race together that he can.
VAUSE: And do you see this collapse happening down below as well to the same extent?
MADRID: Yes, there's no question. I think there's going to be at least six Senate seats picked up by the Democrats, potentially more.
As Vice President Biden said in that earlier segment, Democrats are competitive in Alaska, Kansas, Mississippi, Arizona. These are very deep red states where the Trump anchor is pulling down the republican brand which has become very toxic with even key core Republican constituencies.
VAUSE: Before leaving the White House on Tuesday, Trump talked about wanting these election results to be declared on the night of the election.
Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It would be very, very proper and very nice if a winner were declared on November 3rd instead of counting ballots for two weeks which is totally inappropriate. And I don't believe that that's by our laws.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: It may be totally nice and proper but it's also totally wrong. Very quickly, here's Pennsylvania's secretary of state to explain why.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATHY BOOCKVAR, SECRETARY OF STATE, PENNSYLVANIA: You never know on election night. In fact, certified results are not due in Pennsylvania until 20 days after election day. And that's similar timeframes in every state. So that's never the case and that's just completely inaccurate.
So generally what happens, every year, is that the closer the race the longer it takes till you can actually see who the winner is going to be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Americans are accustomed to news outlets making a call on election night based on exit polls and other data.
But even though what Trump is saying is totally wrong and deliberately misleading, possibly, it kind of rings true for a lot of his supporters. And that seems to be the danger, doesn't it?
MADRID: Well, that's exactly it. Look, these are the comments of a politician who's losing and is losing badly.
I think there's probably a good chance we actually will know on election night because if he loses Florida and North Carolina, we will know. They're early count states.
If, however, it does go to what we expect which is it goes on to Pennsylvanian and Wisconsin, yes, it's going to take a couple of weeks. And it has always taken a couple of weeks.
He has been predisposing his supporters to perhaps rise up. He's making increasingly violent comments about what that situation might look like.
So while there is a chance that there could be a time of unrest or certainly uncertainty that the president is feeding the American people into over the course of the two weeks after the November 3rd elections, my strong sense is we're going to see a pretty decisive victory where these comments will look a lot more pathetic than highly charged.
VAUSE: OK. Well, we'll see. Less than, what, a week to go now. Next Tuesday, the big day. It seems like it's taken forever.
Mike, good to see you.
MADRID: (Inaudible).
VAUSE: Thank you for being with us.
MADRID: Thanks for having me.
VAUSE: And stay with CNN for special coverage of "ELECTION NIGHT IN AMERICA" starting Tuesday 9:00 pm in London, that's 5:00 am next Wednesday in Hong Kong.
When we come back. Here on the one hand there's a need for space for socially distanced voting, on the other, huge stadiums left idle by a pandemic. Put the two together..? More on that in a moment.
Plus tough decisions ahead for France. With COVID cases spiraling, they may not be able to avoid another nationwide lockdown.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:31:42]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: In case you need reminding, we're now into the final days before the U.S. presidential election. And each one of those days, there seems to be another new record in early voting, be it in person, mail-in, or absentee ballot.
So, far almost 69 million votes have been cast, more than half of the overall total count from four years ago.
The state of Georgia has had a long and troubled history when it comes to accusations of voter suppression. In this election, voters are turning out early in record numbers with long lines in many places statewide, some waiting up to 12 hours.
This year though voting in Atlanta has been made a whole lot easier for many with the State Farm Arena, home of the city's NBA team the Hawks, repurposed from basketball to ballots and has been a gamechanger. 15 minutes from arrival to voting and done.
Steve Koonin is the CEO and partner of the Atlanta Hawks basketball team. And he joins us now this hour.
Mr. Koonin, thank you for being with us. It's appreciated.
STEVE KOONIN, CEO, ATLANTA HAWKS: My pleasure.
VAUSE: Ok. So What started here in Atlanta did not stay in Atlanta. More than 20 NBA teams have signed up to host early voting or other election activities. The National Hockey League and Major League Baseball are also involved. What -- 16 of 32 National Football League teams have opened their stadiums for voting.
The Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban tweeted out a photo of 60 polling stations inside the American Airlines Arena, calling it democracy in action.
So you really started something. How is that transition going from the entertainment business to the democracy business?
M1: It's going quite well. We -- it's interesting. Mark has 60 machines. We have 302 in our building. And what all of these venues have in common is size. What they all have in common is a central location. What they all have in common is people trust and know these buildings.
And so we've seen this giant influx of voters coming to do their democratic duty and vote in a safe COVID -- safety number one, efficient and effective environment and the results have been fantastic.
VAUSE: And set (ph) point because you know, as someone who moved here from Australia, and what I've noticed about the Americans is that they do big events really well. They do rock concerts and professional sports incredibly well, the ability to move people quickly, keep them happy, keep them fed.
But then when it comes to elections, this country kind of sucks. But it seems, you know, the State Farm Arena is where those two worlds come together in a way.
KOONIN: We are in the large event business. We're in the crowd moving business and most important we're in the hospitality business. Having 70-year-olds in a library is nothing like that. That's what voting has been.
It's been in libraries, school libraries, kitchens, auditoriums, and it's been staffed by retirees. And so we trained 350 Hawks employees who are highly educated, average age in the mid-30s. Motivated to do something for their country and their community and we infused it with customer service.
We're driving people in golf carts from the parking lots. We're walking them to the machines. We're thanking them for coming.
[01:34:58]
KOONIN: And we're getting people out in under 15 minutes which is what they really appreciate the most as well as the safety and the precaution.
After somebody votes every machine is cleaned, every stylus is sanitized, every voting cart is disinfected.
VAUSE: Professionalism in an election. Wow. You know, like a lot of great ideas, it all seems kind of obvious now, you know.
Right now because there is a pandemic, there is this need for voting locations and a lot of space to keep everyone socially distant. That same pandemic has caused professional sports to shorten or cancel their seasons, leaving these huge venues empty.
But it took you a couple steps to get to that point, right?
KOONIN: Yes, I mean well, we had the idea. I actually said to my wife -- pitched her the idea and she goes, that is so simple. Why hasn't anybody done it? It took me a beat to figure out it's because we've always been in season or available for concerts, same as all of sports.
And it took a couple of weeks working with our ownership group, led by Tony Ressler, who has been a phenomenal supporter of this and our head coach Lloyd Pierce who has worked with all the other coaches in the NBA to make them raise this up to the ownership level.
And then we partner with Fulton County, who has had a history of trouble during elections. And they toured our building, looked around, and in three minutes we, you know, bumped elbows in today's world and made a deal.
And so far, three days left to go and it's going really well.
VAUSE: Coming up to the grand final, I guess.
Right now, according to the U.S. Elections Project -- almost three million people have already voted in the state of Georgia. That's more than double compared to the same time last election.
And I also want to read this headline from "USA Today" earlier this month. "Could Atlanta Hawks' State Farm Arena swing the presidential race? Have you thought about the impact of your decision to open the arena to early voting could have not just in numbers who turn out for early voting, but ultimately how it could shape the future of this country?
KOONIN: We focused on what we need to do, really. Didn't pay as much attention to the hype and the hyperbole, because that would be a really hard thing to pinpoint.
But what we have done is built confidence and brought people out to vote, and created opportunity for people who maybe wouldn't have voted, couldn't have voted, or would have chosen another way to vote.
So I'm not worried about that. I'm worried about giving every person who walks in that door a great experience.
VAUSE: Steve, it's a great example of the power of an idea and it's a good one. And thank you for being with us.
KOONIN: Thank you for having me.
VAUSE: Another surprise this election, young voters are energized, engaged, even enthusiastic, turning out in record numbers. In Texas alone, up more than 600 percent compared to the last election four years ago. And voters between 18 and 21 might in fact be a decisive factor.
We get more now from CNN's Dana Bash.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: University of Virginia sophomore Libby Klinger is up early on a Saturday, ready to roll, joining fellow campus Republicans to get out the vote.
LIBBY KLINGER, UVA COLLEGE REPUBLICANS: There is a lot of enthusiasm among young conservatives to vote, especially in this critical year, with everything that's been going on with the pandemic. We are out here canvassing today.
BASH: They are the die-hards, but still say everyone they know is voting.
KAYLEE CORVIN, UVA COLLEGE REPUBLICANS: People are starting to recognize just all of the different chaos within the political climate right now that voting is the only real say that we can have.
BASH: UVA Democrats are driving people to the polls. Hunter Hess (ph) waited with Maeve Connick (ph)for over an hour to cast an early vote.
HUNTER HESS, UVA COLLEGE DEMOCRATS: We've been doing a lot especially with first year students who like don't know the voting process very well.
MAEVE KONICK, UVA COLLEGE DEMOCRATS: I don't know if anyone -- like any of my personal friends who haven't voted already.
BASH: On the lawn, these students say voting is trendy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like people on social media like post pictures of them and their ballots and their "I voted" sticker.
BASH: So it's almost like you feel a little excited to vote.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
BASH: Young voters are a crucial part of the electorate. And are already making up a large share of early voting across 14 key states compared to 2016. In Wisconsin early voting among young people is up from where it was in 2016, and both parties are working it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've seen an increase in the number of people asking questions about how to get registered to vote and trying to get registered to vote.
BASH: The share of the youth vote is almost double what it was this time four years ago in Florida.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Welcome to the (INAUDIBLE) College Democrats --
BASH: College students here and across the pandemic-stricken country, largely organized virtually. Youth turnout broke records in 2018, and researchers at Tisch Colleges Circle at Tufts University say protests across the country help keep the surge going.
ABBY KIESA, TUFTS UNIVERSITY'S TISCH COLLEGE OF CIVIC LIFE: We found that young people who are marching and demonstrating not only were more likely to be registering people to vote, but were much more likely to be talking to other young people about the election and issues that they care about.
[01:40:01]
BASH: Democrats say that's the climate crisis and racial justice; Republicans, the economy and jobs. The Biden campaign motto is to reach young people where they are, launching Biden/Harris designs for players on the popular Nintendo game "Animal Crossing".
Alexandria Ocasio Cortez gaming on the social media platform Twitch.
Joe Biden talking to Cardi B and his granddaughters with young influencers like Kaia Gerber and Maddie Ziegler.
The Trump campaign says their best influencers are regular young people reaching out to friends, like in a March Madness style competition called MAGA madness.
CHANDLER THORNTON, NATIONAL CHAIRMAN, COLLEGE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Particularly right now they're online, especially in this environment that we are in. So leaning into digital platforms is the best way we can reach young voters.
COURTNEY BRITT, REGIONAL VICE CHAIR COLLEGE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: I don't know if it's because the pandemic has reduced the number of activities that we can do, that everyone has turned their attention. Yes. like there is fewer sports to follow so this is the thing everyone's focused on.
BASH: Back on the lawn at UVA, some students are more passionate for the active voting than the candidates. These three voted for Biden.
Are you excited.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not excited about him, but I like that he at least focuses on climate policy.
BASH: Some Republican students say the same.
CHRISTOPHER TOMLIN, PRESIDENT, UVA COLLEGE REPUBLICANS: I had my concerns he wasn't too conservative. However, I'm a big fan of the tax cuts.
BASH: Kiera Goddu, president of UVA College Democrats organizes phone banking to voters in Virginia and battleground states across the country. She says young Democrats are motivated by Trump's 2016 win.
KIERA GODDU, PRESIDENT, UVA COLLEGE DEMOCRATS: The evidence that he can win an election, which wasn't -- we didn't have that last time.
BASH: It was a wake up call for you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Our thanks to Dana Bash for that report.
Coronavirus restrictions are coming for France with an announcement from President Emmanuel Macron expected during a televised address on Wednesday. Local media reports the president could impose a month long nationwide lockdown.
New cases are surging and doctors say hospitals are just days away from being overwhelmed. Officials are warning the public to prepare for hard choices.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GERALD DARMANIN, FRENCH INTERIOR MINISTER (through translator): I think there are options on the table, but I don't know what they all are. What I will say is you can see that, in spite of the preparations made by western states, which have been affected, particularly in the northern hemisphere -- Ireland, Wales, Madrid, the United States in part -- they are locking down again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Another night of scuffles in Italy as right wing protesters clashed with riot police in Rome. Demonstrators gathered Tuesday evening to rally against new COVID-19 restrictions. They chanted "freedom". They lit flares and threw bottles.
The Italian government has ordered bars and restaurants to close by 6:00 p.m. and has shut down gyms, cinemas and public swimming pools.
Health officials in Mexico say their coronavirus death toll has been severely undercounted. Officially, the country has confirmed nearly 90,000 dead. We have more now from CNN's Matt Rivers, reporting from Mexico City.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Mexico already has the fourth highest coronavirus death toll of any country around the world. But officials here within the health ministry have long said that the actual number of people who have died as a result of this virus is higher than what has been officially reported due to a lack of testing in this country.
But this week, health officials are getting more specific about that number. Health officials took a look at all deaths recorded throughout Mexico from January 1st all the way through late September of this year. And based on those findings, health officials are now saying that it is very likely that at least 50,000 additional lives have been lost as a result of the coronavirus than what has been officially reported in the country's death toll so far.
If you were to take those deaths, and add it to the official death toll as it stands right now, Mexico's new death toll would be right around 140,000 lives lost.
Meanwhile, there are major concerns throughout the country as cases go up in different parts of the country, of a building second wave, including here in the country's capital, its most important city, Mexico City.
The mayor of Mexico City Claudia Sheinbaum announced on Tuesday that she has tested positive for the coronavirus. Thankfully, she says she is feeling well and she will continue to work from home. But it just underscores the continued risk that Mexico faces from the coronavirus.
Matt Rivers, CNN, Mexico City.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Typhoon Molave making landfall in Vietnam, bringing heavy rains and dangerous winds. We will have the very latest when we come back.
[01:44:39]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: About 80,000 people in southern California have been forced from their homes, as two fast-moving wildfires continue to burn out of control. One fire quadrupled in size in just hours on Monday. Two firefighters have been left critically injured.
So far this year, the wildfires have claimed 31 lives. While over 1.5 million hectares have been left devastated by more than 8,000 separate fires this year -- a state record.
The U.S. Gulf Coast is bracing for tropical storm Zeta which slammed Yucatan Peninsula early Tuesday as a category 1 hurricane bringing with it strong rains and heavy winds. This is the 27th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri has the very latest on where it is now. And I guess what we can expect in terms of the sort of damage it will make when it reaches landfall.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
Landfall John, again in the same spot or similar state, I should say, as all the their previous storms in recent months. And we have seen a lot of them, of course, across the state of Louisiana.
That is the area of interest, right now for a landfall and the most likely outcome.
But here is what we're looking at. 11 storms have made landfall across the United States. Zeta included, ones that does make landfall. But you will notice again, continuing the record theme that we've got going with the hurricane season in place.
Hurricane warnings have been prompted in southeastern Louisiana, even tropical storm watches prompted as far north as the mountains or northern Georgia. Also including the Atlanta metro area. So it really speaks to how quickly the system will make landfall around say 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday evening local time and then by sunrise on Thursday morning.
It is pushing through as a tropical storm across northern Georgia. That's where widespread power outages could be expected, across parts of this region when the system works its way across the region.
But that is just one of the two stories we are following, when it comes to significant weather right now happening around the world.
Typhoon Molave making landfall in the last hour or so, near the coast there of central Vietnam. And incredibly, this is the fourth storm in about three weeks time that has impacted this region of Vietnam.
You'll see the setup here with incredible run of active weather that has really devastated this landscape. We've had some 15,000 hectares of agricultural landscape that have been damaged. Some 750,000 livestock have lost their lives. Evacuations to over a million people and homes upwards of 300,000 homes have been damaged, as well as a result of the storms in recent weeks across this region.
So authorities certainly taking this very seriously, we know the system is going to interact with the mountainous terrain, but not only Vietnam but also Laos, Cambodia, and eventually into Thailand.
So the amount of water that gets squeezed out of these clouds is also going to be of concern across some of these areas.
Notice, let me get into the pinks and the purples, even the white contours -- that's indicative of the top of the charts there for rainfall amounts.
So with the amount of evacuations in place, the amount of damage already done, this has been an incredible season. And not only for the United States, but also for our friends in Vietnam, John.
VAUSE: Yes, Pedram -- thank you for the update. We appreciate that. Pedram Javaheri there, our meteorologist.
[01:49:53]
VAUSE: Well, a coral reef, taller than many skyscrapers has been discovered off the northern Australian east coast. It's one and a half a kilometer wide, 500 meters high. Scientists made the discovery last week while mapping the sea floor.
It's the first time a new detached reef (ph) has been found in more than a century.
When we come back, biotech in the hot seat with top executives heading to Capitol Hill on Wednesday. We'll tell you why in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Senior U.S. tech executives will head to a hearing on Capitol Hill Wednesday just days before the U.S. election. They are under fire from Republicans who accuse them of bias against conservatives and their legal protections could be at stake.
Live now to Abu Dhabi and CNN's John Defterios. So John, this is all about kind of timing here. It's all about looking at the protection for online publishers. But Republicans feel that Silicon Valley is trying to undermine Donald Trump and the Republican Party.
So tell us what's exactly going on here. What's the back story, I guess if you like?
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Yes that's a good way of putting it, John. It shifted quickly from the leeway given to online publishers and protecting them legally, as you're suggesting in your lead in there to accusations of bias and support of the Democratic Party.
So let's take a look on who's going to where, the Senate Commerce Committee summoning the CEOs of the parent company of Google called Alphabet, Facebook, and Twitter. The CEOs are now household celebrities, if you will.
Sundar Pichai, Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey of Twitter founder. And they're suggesting here there's been a profound shift since 2016 that they're using their role as content moderators to favor the Democrats, and I have to say, the crowds and the shouts are growing louder here, as the poll lead has widened for Joe Biden particularly over the last month.
You have players like Senator Ted Cruz of Texas suggesting that this is even a campaign contribution. We had the Republican Party filing with the Federal Elections Commission, John, saying that these are in kind contributions by the Democratic Party. Now, we have to suggest here, this is a message driven particularly to the base of Donald Trump in the Midwest and the South to rally his troops and saying it is the liberal west against us, trying to unseat President Trump.
But they are using this under the guise of content moderation clearly.
VAUSE: There is something unusual about Donald Trump, the master of social media, if you like. The Twitterer-in-chief -- the Twitter-in- chief, I should say, who has used social media to great devastating effect for the last four years, now complaining about social media.
DEFTERIOS: Yes I think it's a fantastic point you are bringing it up because in 2016, his campaign and the president, because he is so active on social media, were applauded for hitting the right tone at the right time.
Now, what has evolved over the last four years here -- let's take a look at the market cap of these giants, right. Just the three companies that are on Capitol Hill today have a market cap combined of over $2 trillion. Look at the scale of Google and Facebook itself.
So one would suggest that they are trying to rein in these tech giants, of course. And suggesting now in that that years they've cracked down too much on the freedom of the ability of the parties to do what they want.
What has happened, particularly with Facebook and Twitter, they're stepping in on false claims of pulling content down, against the Trump administration, something they don't like.
And then there is a whole separate argument, John, the power of these companies because of the financial might and even the Department of Justice under the Trump administration taking Google to task here because of its dominance in both advertising and search.
[01:55:03]
DEFTERIOS: But what they're doing now ahead of the election, is suggesting intervention on behalf of the Democratic Party when it comes to their content moderation. The content that goes on line, what stays, and what gets removed.
VAUSE: Conservatives claiming they are being biased and treated unfairly -- how unusual. John, thank you. John Defterios in Abu Dhabi, appreciate it.
Well, it's a good time to be an L.A. sports fan just weeks after the Lakers won the NBA championship, the Dodgers won their first World Series titles in 32 years, beating the Tampa Bay Rays, 3 to 1 in game six Tuesday night, in front of a limited crowd at the stadium in Arlington, Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOOKIE BETTS, MLB PLAYER: I felt amazing, I mean (INAUDIBLE) yesterday and we're up 2 - 1 right there. We need to stretch across another run. (INAUDIBLE)
AUSTIN BARNES, MLB PLAYER: Yes. it is surreal. We were so hard, we had our hearts broken so many times. This group worked so hard. And it's hard to explain. It's so kind of emotional.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: It was a thrilling finish for an unusual season, pushed back by the pandemic. Most games played without fans, and the season was shortened to 60 games, instead of 162.
Football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is expected to miss Wednesday's champion league's against Barcelona, after reportedly failing to provide a negative coronavirus test result.
The 35-year-old tested positive just two weeks ago, and was tested again ahead of the upcoming match. It's unclear what his latest test results show, his club told CNN there was no update, and would not comment on the matter. I guess, you'll work it out.
Meantime, FC Barcelona has announced a major shake up in leadership. The entire board of directors, including the current president, have stepped down. The move comes weeks after a public dispute with the team's most famous player, Leo Messi, who at one point wanted to leave the club but ultimately reached a deal to stay on for another season as he have struggled as of late currently sitting in 12th place on Spain's top league.
Thank you for watching CNN. I'm John Vause.
Kim Brunhuber is up next with more from CNN NEWSROOM.
Stay with us.
[01:57:07]
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