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U.S. Economy Struggles; Utah Hospitals Strained over Surge; Zeta Tears Across South. Aired 9:30-10a

Aired October 29, 2020 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:33:28]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: All right, a live look at the big board this morning. Stocks pretty flat here. The market yesterday posted its worst day in four months. Now just five days out from the election and we're getting the final set of economic reports before America makes its decision.

Here's what we know. The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 33.1 percent in the third quarter. That recovered most of the enormous losses in growth this spring. But don't expect that growth to last at that pace. There is really important context here. Also on the jobless front, 751,000 Americans filed for jobless claims last week.

Let's put it in perspective. Christine Romans is here. Matt Egan is here. Two great minds for two important headlines.

Thank you both.

All right, so, Romans, on Monday the president said, wait until you see the numbers on GDP. We're having a super v. But stimulus drove a lot of that. What's the context people need to know behind this 33 percent number?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that number, I mean it's gangbusters, but you have to remember, it's after a record crash. So a record bounce after a record crash.

And it captures July, August, September. So remember back to the beginning of July when states were just slowly starting to open up and we were kind of creeping out and trying to resume some of our activity.

Also in those months, people were flush with government money, with stimulus checks, right, that sometimes they spent some of it and saved some of it and also those unemployment -- extra unemployment benefits of $600 a week. So now that is all expired, right? So the big question here, this is rearview mirror completely and right now we have surging coronavirus cases, we still have more people every week filing for unemployment benefits, the worst of the great recession every week again and again.

[09:35:08]

and we still have women leaving the job market, we still have a lot of kind of pain and suffering here without the stimulus to act as a shock absorber, Poppy.

HARLOW: So a good analogy I read this morning, Matt, was, what happens to a rubber band when it snaps back? After that, what, right? And I think that's where we are now. The question is, do we fall into negative territory? Because there's still no stimulus deal and that's what was, you know, propping up most of this growth, no?

MATTHEW EGAN, CNN LEAD WRITER: That's right. Exactly. The way I like to think about it, Poppy, is the pandemic crashed the U.S. economy into this deep, dark hole this spring. $2 trillion was wiped out from the economy all in one quarter. So, yes, the really good news here is we have snapped back. We've climbed more than halfway out of that hole. And I think that's a testament to, you know, the resilience of the American people, small businesses --

HARLOW: Yes.

EGAN: Of great government policies in terms of the fiscal stimulus, which has worn off, and also from the Federal Reserve. And then just this rubber band aspect that you're talking about, the fact that the economy reopened was always going to lead to a big jump.

This was the easy part, though. And to Christine's point, you know, there are some real obstacles lying ahead. One is that the pandemic is getting worse and there are parts of the economy that simply cannot fully recover when we have coronavirus infections spiking. Think about movie theaters and restaurants, airlines, hotels. And then the stimulus issue, the failure to get a deal means more small business failures, it means state and local layoffs, it means no stimulus check most likely before the holidays. So this is a great number but, unfortunately, there's real challenges ahead.

HARLOW: SO -- OK. You're right and, Romans, I wonder what you think this means for any potential stimulus deal anytime soon. Does this take any sort of impetus to get this thing through now away from Congress and does it add to the argument against stimulus, at least politically, right? And -- in a misleading way, right?

ROMANS: Right. I mean the fact that it's not a terrible number means it takes some of the urgency away from getting the deal. That could be one argument.

But I think that what policymakers are hearing is they have to do something. And certainly they must be hearing from their constituents that they need to do something.

You've got -- you know, January 1st, a lot of these rent protections are going to expire and we know from Moody's and others that people, millions of people, are going to owe thousands of dollars in back rent. That's going to become potentially a real estate problem. You've got these industries, airlines, anything related to leisure and hospitality, they have been begging the government for more intervention. They're going to start laying people off. Boeing's laying 7,000 people off I think they announced this week. You know, you're going to start to see more and more layoffs unless they can get their act together and figure out how to plug these holes in the very near term.

HARLOW: The president has continually said, Matt, and he said it on "60 Minutes," and I think we'll hear him say it again in the -- in the closing days here, quote, we created the greatest economy in the history of our country. It's not true, Matt. What do people need to know about this economy right now before the election?

EGAN: Well, I think the really important thing to remember is that the economy has definitely not fully recovered. Only about more than half of the GDP lost has -- have been recovered. We still have 11 million jobs missing from before the crisis.

JP Morgan says those jobs are not going to come back until 2022. We still have an elevated number of people on unemployment. And, you know, to Christine's point, there are real people out there that are really struggling. Women have dropped out of the workforce at just a staggering rate.

And, you know, I spoke to a 31-year-old mom in upstate New York who was working in a hotel and she said she had to make the tough decision to just stay home because her hotel couldn't afford protective gear. And she had a little one at home and she didn't want to get him sick. And so she said that, you know, they tried to save as much as they could from the stimulus deal, but that money is wearing out and now they're just one broken down car away from financial disaster.

So we do think that there's going to be more pressure, both from constituents on Congress to get something done, and also from the stock market, as we have the Dow down something like 1,800 points this week alone on coronavirus fears.

ROMANS: Yes.

HARLOW: I'm very glad you brought up the women thing. I feel very strongly about that and I wish we would have heard the president say get the women back to work too, not just their husbands this week.

Thank you both, Matt and Christine. Appreciate it.

Jim.

EGAN: Thank you.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Not just their husbands, trust me.

HARLOW: I know.

SCIUTTO: Hospitals in Utah are struggling to keep up with the surge of COVID-19 patients. We will talk with a doctor working at a hospital where the intensive care unit is at its breaking point.

[09:40:04]

This is just what folks have been worried about.

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SCIUTTO: Well, the state of Utah is facing exponential growth now of new COVID-19 infections. The state reported an average of more than 1,500 new infections each day over the last week. That is more than twice the peak the state hit back in July.

HARLOW: That's right.

So with us now is the chief medical operations officer of the University of Utah Health, Dr. Russell Vinik.

Dr. we're very glad you're here.

You told the Salt Lake City local news two weeks ago, at the beginning of this spike, quote, we completely expect it to get worse over the next two to four weeks.

[09:45:02]

Clearly that's what has happened.

Was this avoidable and is worse still to come?

DR. RUSSELL VINIK, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, UNIVERSITY OF UTAH HEALTH: Yes, I think it was avoidable because we know we have excellent preventive measures. We know that if people maintain social distance and avoid social gatherings and wear a mask, we could reduce the (INAUDIBLE) significantly.

So, yes -- yes, it was avoidable, but we have to deal with what we have in front of us, and that's -- that's very unfortunate. And I said it two weeks ago that things are going to get worse and, unfortunately, cases are still getting worse and higher numbers of cases, which will ultimately lead to more hospitalizations over the next two to four weeks.

SCIUTTO: We've seen, sadly, Dr. Vinik, and you know this well, in many states that the politics have trumped the science. I mean you have state officials in Florida apparently just reducing the amount of testing, you know, to reduce the number of confirmed infections.

I wonder, in Utah, are you seeing state officials there ignoring the bare facts of this new surge before their eyes? Did you face that kind of resistance there?

VINIK: I don't see state officials ignoring the facts, but I do see our state officials being in a difficult position where there clearly is an element of the public that are unwilling to comply, even if it was regulated or mandated. And, unfortunately, maybe there is this political theme that's created, this taste for wearing a mask, and that's just sad.

That's so sad because it is such a preventable disease and people are dying and we certainly see young people who feel invincible. I just saw a study this morning about 69 percent -- only 69 percent of young people are willing to wear a mask. Maybe they're safe, but then they have family members who get sick. And that's exactly what we saw in Utah.

HARLOW: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Yes, we had a 13-year-old little girl, Poppy and I, earlier this week --

HARLOW: Right.

SCIUTTO: Who was still suffering kind of long term --

HARLOW: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Or medium term effects from the infection.

HARLOW: Yes. That's a good point.

All right, so we know that officials, the governor, has issued a mask mandate anywhere where people congregate together for an event. That's different, though, Doctor, from a state-wide, you know, mask mandate, right? When you leave your house here in New York, everyone has a mask on walking their dog, et cetera.

I ask that because you have said that the majority of cases you've seen transmitted recently have been at small, social gatherings, often family gatherings. We know when families get together for Thanksgiving, et cetera, they're not going to wear a mask. People are more lax with their own family. And I -- and I wonder what your message is to those folks.

VINIK: Yes, my message is that we have to be more diligent. We have to make some sacrifices. We all want to be with family. And we all like a Thanksgiving meal. We like to have a Halloween party. This isn't the year. We just have to make those sacrifices this year.

There are things you can do. OK, maybe you need to gather, but gather indoors, but eat your meal beforehand. Don't sit around a big table together. And then when you are indoors, wear a mask. Those are small sacrifices now that may save a loved one's life later.

HARLOW: Yes. Important messages.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: We're glad you're here. We wish you a lot of luck to come in what I know is going to be a pretty hard few weeks ahead for you guys.

Dr. Russell Vinik, thank you.

VINIK: Thank you for having me. HARLOW: Well, more than 2 million people this morning are without power after Zeta barreled through the south with damaging winds. We'll give you a live update ahead.

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[09:53:43]

CAMEROTA: All right, what a storm. More than 32 million people are now under a tropical storm warning as what was Hurricane Zeta barrels north from the Gulf Coast into the mid-Atlantic.

SCIUTTO: Just, wow. So far the storm, powerful one as you can see there, has killed at least two people. More than 2 million people have been left without power. Lots of damage.

CNN's Amara Walker is live in New Orleans.

A big concern there because this was pretty much a direct hit. What does the damage look like there?

Amara, can -- can you hear me OK, Amara? Just try one more time.

AMARA WALKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I can.

Can you hear me?

HARLOW: Yes.

SCIUTTO: I can. Tell us what you're seeing there on the ground.

WALKER: OK. Perfect.

Well, first off, the big story this morning is the widespread power outages that we're seeing across the southeast, Jim and Poppy. More than 2 million people without power from Louisiana to Florida up the coast of the Carolinas. The majority in Georgia. About a million without power. Half a million here in Louisiana.

I want to show you what's going on behind me. This speaks to just how strong the wind gusts were from Hurricane Zeta last night.

[09:55:01]

Strong enough to snap this power pole in half. And I don't know if you can see, but the transformers landed right on top of a red vehicle.

We spoke with the owner this morning. She's taking things in stride, in a pretty good mood. She's not going to work today, obviously. And nobody was injured as a result. And you can see the utility company, the largest one in Louisiana, Entergy (ph), is working to fix this power pole.

Two-thirds of the city of New Orleans still without electricity according to the governor's office. Ninety-seven percent of a parish down south along the Gulf Coast, Plaquemine Parish, also without power according to the governor's office.

Officials are saying please stay away. People are coming around to sight see. As I'm looking around me, there's a lot of people out in the streets to survey the damage. It's very dangerous. Case in point, we know one of the storm related deaths, there were two storm related deaths. One of them here in New Orleans. A 55-year-old man was electrocuted. He was killed when he got in contact with a live power line from a downed utility pole. The other death happened in Mississippi, in Biloxi, Mississippi, a body was found in the Broad Water Marina.

But, all in all, the good news is, this was a fast moving storm. We were all saying how we were so shocked at just how quickly it moved. It was mainly a wind event. And Governor Bel Edwards is now on the ground surveying the damage.

Jim, Poppy, back to you.

SCIUTTO: Goodness, it's a tough one. We're feeling the rain here in Washington, D.C., too.

Amara Walker, thanks very much.

Still to come, focusing on Florida. Both President Trump and the former vice president, Joe Biden, making their last minute pitches to voters in a crucial battleground state. We're going to take you there, live.

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