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U.S. COVID-19 Cases Hit Record Daily High as Virus Surges; Trump and Biden Target Midwest Battleground States; Appeals Court Rules Late-Arriving Minnesota Ballots Must Be Separated; Interview with Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro about Supreme Court Ruling; Thousands in Pennsylvania Say Requested Ballots Never Arrived; Forty Three U.S. States Report Increase in COVID Cases As Outbreak Worsens; Experts Warn Daily Death Rates will Triple By Mid-January. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired October 30, 2020 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Friday but still some news coming up in the next few days.

A record week of early ballots cast already, though overshadowed by a record-shattering day, another one, of new coronavirus infections.

As the nation battles this growing health crisis, both candidates heading to critical battleground states all hit hard by this pandemic. Nearly 90,000 new coronavirus infections reported on Thursday, nearly 1,000 Americans died. Experts warn that death rates could triple. You heard that right, triple by mid-January.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: And this is how fast the virus is spreading. It took 98 days for the U.S. to reach a million COVID cases, but in just the last two weeks the U.S. has seen another million cases.

All of this just four days before the nation decides who will win the White House. Let's begin this hour with our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.

Good morning, Elizabeth. The numbers are going in completely the wrong direction and I think that really lays it out that it took almost 100 days to get to a million cases at first and now it's just taking two weeks to get a million more cases.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Poppy. And I think when you see this map that we have coming up that it will show you sort of why this is happening.

Let's take a look at this map. What you are seeing is a sea of orange and dark red. Those are the states with the number of people with COVID is going up. The dark red is where they're going up at an especially fast rate. But in 43 states the number of COVID cases is going up. In the yellow states just five of them, the numbers are holding steady. And in the green states just two of them, the numbers are going in the right direction. So in 43 states the numbers are going in the wrong direction.

Now let's take a look at just one day. Let's take a look at yesterday. Records set in just one day. Nine states hit their record highs for the number of people with COVID. Nine states highest number ever people with COVID. In 17 states they hit their highs for hospitalizations. More hospitalizations than ever in the pandemic. And in one day 971 deaths.

And I want to emphasize that last number because sometimes we hear COVID deniers saying, oh, so people get sick, it's no big deal. It's like, you know, a bad cold, you get over it, but people aren't really dying in big numbers. 971 Americans dying in one day is an enormous number. And if you think that's not a big number, then you don't have a heart -- Poppy, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Ask those people's families whether they think that's a big number.

COHEN: Right.

SCIUTTO: All right. IMHE is one of these groups that does modeling of where this pandemic is heading and some of their recent projections have been pretty accurate. There is a new one, what does it tell us?

COHEN: So that one looks at how many deaths we could have by February if we continue doing what we're doing, versus if we decrease social distancing measures, masks, that sort of thing. So let's take a look. The most likely projection if we continue doing what we're doing, still incredibly high. Nearly 400,000 deaths by February 1st. So, in other words, that rate has accelerated.

And if we get worse at this, fewer people wear masks, fewer people social distance, that goes to more than 513,000 deaths. And if you look at the difference between that number, that's the number of lives that could be saved if people did what they're supposed to do. So again when we hear COVID deniers say, oh, I'm not going to wear a mask, I'm not going to social distance, well, basically you're killing all those people, the more than 100,000 people that's in that number -- Jim, Poppy.

HARLOW: Elizabeth, thank you very much. The numbers are terrifying and you put them in important perspective for us.

OK. So now to politics and the race for the White House. Both campaigns crisscrossing especially the Midwest in this final push to election day.

SCIUTTO: Yes. You can tell where they think the race is close and what they need by where they spend that time in those final days.

CNN's Miguel Marquez and Bill Weir are in two of those key states this morning. Let's begin, though, with Miguel. He's in Michigan outside of today's rally for President Trump.

Miguel, this will be the first of three rallies taking place across the Midwest today. Who are we going to see out there and where?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is Oakland, Michigan, this is just north of Detroit, the all-important suburbs, right? In 2018 during the midterms the suburbs were so important. Tons and tons of votes here. It's interesting the president comes to this county because he lost this county to Hillary Clinton in 2016.

I want to show you how big the crowd is right now. It's several hours before the president gets here. It is very, very cold out, and there are hundreds and hundreds of Trump supporters out here waiting for him right now. Vice president -- he will then make two other stops across the Midwest.

[09:05:04]

Vice President Biden and Barack Obama will appear tomorrow in Michigan as well. Gives you a sense of just how critical this state is for both campaigns. State says that about five million Michiganders will cast votes in this election. They believe that about two-thirds, the majority of those votes, will be in by election day. They say if you still want to vote, your absentee ballot, do not put it in the mail, drop it off at a drop box or the county clerk's office or a city clerk's office, or you can always vote on election day.

Back to you guys.

HARLOW: Miguel, hand warmers. They sell hand warmers in gas stations there. Go get them, crinkle them up, and then you put them in the end of your gloves and you'll be fine. Thanks for the reporting for us.

From there, let's go to Bill Weir who knows a thing or two about cold, who is in Wisconsin. Good morning. Joe Biden also hitting several Midwest states including Wisconsin. What do we expect today?

BILL WEIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is on Wisconsin on 2020, the 10 electoral votes up for grabs here. So key to both campaigns. Evidenced by their visits. As you mentioned, Joe Biden is coming in at the end of a Midwestern swing that will also take him to Iowa and Minnesota. In Milwaukee it sounds like he's going to be focused there. It's interesting the contrast in styles.

The Biden campaign careful not to announce in advance. They don't want too big of a crowd in the pandemic. Opposite story for President Trump. He's going up to Green Bay. He had to cancel a stop up there in the home of the Packers when he had coronavirus, if you'll remember, so sort of a makeup stop there as well. Doubtful that his bout with the disease will change his attitudes towards masks and those voters as well up there.

And a lot of people in this state see these sort of super spreader events as sort of a last straw for Biden voters especially. And then as far as people who are quarantined or hospitalized, the Wisconsin Election Commission had to make concessions. You can actually have an agent take your ID and your ballot and go vote for you. They're making concessions for that. Also planning to overstaff polling places in case there are illnesses

and people can't show up on election day. In fact, 200 National Guardsmen are ready to mobilize, Jim and Poppy, but not in uniform. Just purely as helpers in case there is a big sick-in on election day.

SCIUTTO: Well, remember, it wasn't long ago the concern was, right, that the pandemic would prevent a lot of people from voting, but then you look at those numbers there, record setting at this point. Bill Weir, thanks very much.

Well, Republicans picked up a big legal win in Minnesota. Federal appeals court ruled Thursday that ballots mailed in in that state must be received no later than 8:00 p.m. on election day.

HARLOW: Right. So that decision cuts off what was a week-long window after election day where state officials were planning to receive ballots, open them and count them in case they've been delayed in the mail.

Our Kristen Holmes joins us now.

Good morning, Kristen. I was listening last night to Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar explain the urgency here to our Chris Cuomo, basically telling people this morning in Minnesota do not mail your ballots in at this point.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Poppy and Jim. Well, that's absolutely right. And she's not the only one. We have heard from state official after state official who are sounding the alarm, warning people that if you are sitting on an absentee ballot, you are planning on slipping it into the mail, do not do that. It is a risk. It might not be counted. The best thing you can possibly do is drop it off if you're able at a drop off location. Those are open until 3:00 p.m. on election day.

Now, let's talk about this decision. An appeals court ruling that that weeklong extension that would allow for the late arrival of those absentee ballots went against state law. And here's what the appeals court said. "However well-intentioned and appropriate from a policy perspective in the context of a pandemic during a presidential election, it is not the province of the state executive official to rewrite the state's election code. There is no pandemic exception to the Constitution."

And they also ruled in that that all votes that came in after 8:00 p.m. on election day had to be segregated and not counted. So this sets up for two things.

One, a possible situation of two vote tallies in Minnesota at some point and more legal troubles or having these votes tied up in court because one thing that is very unclear, if I mailed my ballot and I live in Minnesota yesterday or two days ago or three days ago, with the thought that I had an extra week that this vote could be processed, what happens to my vote if it comes in after 8:00 p.m. on election day? And the court they didn't rule on that. They actually kicked that

decision back down to the district court. So there is a lot of unknown here. And we heard from the secretary of state that this could potentially affect hundreds of thousands of ballots. Here is what Senator Klobuchar said about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): As the people in Minnesota whose got those over 500,000 ballots, and that's over 500,000 people no matter where they are right now, that they not mail them in in the morning. They're going to think they can, they're going to think they can do it right up to election day, but under this court ruling right now they can't.

[09:10:07]

So what they should do is take their mail-in ballot to a drop off box or go vote themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: So the one thing to keep in mind here this comes just a day after the Supreme Court ruled in Pennsylvania and North Carolina that they didn't want to step in this close to an election on those extensions.

SCIUTTO: Well, why do drop boxes matter? Here is a reminder why having them matters.

HARLOW: There you go. Yes.

SCIUTTO: Because if the ballot won't be counted and there's still real disputes about it, it's an option.

Kristen Holmes, thanks very much.

Well, let's speak now to someone at the center of one of these battles. He is the Pennsylvania attorney general Josh Shapiro.

Mr. Shapiro, thanks so much for taking the time this morning.

JOSH SHAPIRO (D), PENNSYLVANIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Good to be with you, Jim and Poppy.

SCIUTTO: All right. So the court came on your side in effect allowing ballots to be counted if they arrive in Pennsylvania up to three days after the election. However, let's be honest here, that battle is not over. Because if President Trump loses Pennsylvania we should expect him to challenge that in the Supreme Court, I imagine, so I wonder how you're preparing for that.

SHAPIRO: Well, look, we expect Donald Trump to challenge everything. He's been doing that here in Pennsylvania for the last several months. The good news is, Jim, we're winning every step of the way to secure, protect and defend legal eligible votes here in Pennsylvania and make sure that they're counted. He's been attacking our voting laws time and time again and we've been winning each and every time.

Look, we already have more than two million Pennsylvanians who have voted. We've tried to provide clarity for them about making a plan to vote between now and leading up to election day. Donald Trump is trying to sow chaos and confusion into the process. The good news is the voters are really drowning him out.

HARLOW: Mr. Attorney General, you're betting that if this does get kicked back up to the Supreme Court where it's already been once in the last week or so that you're going to win out because of the Purcell Principle, right?

SHAPIRO: Yes.

HARLOW: That essentially you think is on your side here. Not getting into the dynamics of that but into your strategy, how do you respond to Justice Alito's dissent where he wrote the court's handling of the important constitutional issue could lead to serious post-election problems? It sounds like he's preparing for it to come back up to them. So if it does, what's your strategy?

SHAPIRO: Yes, look, I realize this is really confusing and there is a lot of legal stuff back and forth, but actually the issue is pretty simple and you cited the Purcell Principle and it's also why Pennsylvania's situation is different than Minnesota that you spoke about just a moment ago.

This is a state election law that has been interpreted by our state's highest court, our Pennsylvania Supreme Court, that says if ballots are postmarked before the end of election day and received up until Friday at 5:00 they could be counted. And the Purcell Principle, which you cited, makes clear that federal courts ought to give great deference to state law when it comes to these matters of election.

Now, steps have been taken here in Pennsylvania to ensure that these ballots can be sort of segregated or set aside and then counted to make sure that it doesn't confuse broader processes. We recognize that Donald Trump and his enablers may want to use this to their advantage, but my job is to make sure that all ballots are defended in Pennsylvania and these votes are recorded. And just check our track record.

We're 6-0 in every single time Donald Trump has gone to court to try and undermine the will of the people of Pennsylvania, we have fought back and won. And if I have to do it again, whether at the U.S. Supreme Court or the state Supreme Court, we'll do it, and we'll win.

SCIUTTO: Given the importance of mail-in ballots this election and many Pennsylvanians have taken advantage of that option this election, how has the U.S. Postal Service performed? Have you seen any impact from the restrictions, the attempts to cut resources that we were reporting on a number of weeks ago?

SHAPIRO: Yes, look, Jim and Poppy, as you know, there was a national lawsuit that was filed by me, by my office, joined by other states to try and get the U.S. Postal Service to roll back the illegal changes they made in July, which disrupted our mail service, disrupted the flow of prescription drugs to veterans and paychecks for small businesses.

The good news is we won that lawsuit and the Postal Service was required to roll back the changes and let the postal workers just get back to work and do the job that they know how to do. Unfortunately, it was tinkered with by Louis DeJoy and some of the other leadership there. The challenge we have seen since we won that lawsuit is that the Postal Service in some cases has made the changes they were legally required to make and in other cases they haven't.

It's why I went to court and asked a federal judge for an independent monitor to keep an eye on Louis DeJoy because frankly he can't be trusted. So while mail service has largely gotten back to normal there are some examples where it hasn't, which is why my guidance to voters over --

[09:15:00]

SCIUTTO: Yes --

SHAPIRO: These final days is if you have your mail-in ballot, drop it off at a drop box. You were talking about drop boxes --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

SHAPIRO: I think that is the prudent step you need to take. Obviously, we need to have broader conversations about the Postal Services and Louis DeJoy and Donald Trump's meddling in it, and we've got to get that back working again. But right now, we need to have an election and we need to stop any attempts by people to slow the process or stop the process, and that's what I'm doing here in Pennsylvania.

SCIUTTO: It's amazing you can't trust something as simple as the mail, right? It's just amazing.

SHAPIRO: Well, yes, Jim, it is. And this is part of a broader narrative where the president and his enablers have attacked all the institutions that the American people have come to rely on and trust. And it's one of the things we battle every day in the courts. Look, the rule of law needs to apply fairly and equally across the board, you know, no matter what you look like, who you love, who you pray to or where you come from. And similarly, everyone needs to have confidence in our institutions --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

SHAPIRO: Of government. They've been under attack, we're fighting back. Good news is we're winning. We're having an election. People are voting. And I believe when all is said and done and the dust clears, Donald Trump's efforts to try and undermine these institutions and our laws will fail.

HARLOW: Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, we know it's a busy few days or weeks ahead for you. Thanks for your time this morning.

SHAPIRO: Hopefully just days, but thank you very much. I appreciate it.

HARLOW: All right, just in, over 9 million people have cast their ballots early in Texas, that is more than the total turnout for the state in 2016. Today is the last day to cast your early vote in Texas. We're going to take you there and to other key states.

SCIUTTO: And as the nation sees record surges of new coronavirus infections, are governors going to step up restrictions? We're going to speak to Kentucky's governor next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:00]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. Kentucky is now one of 43 states reporting an increase in new coronavirus infections. Kentucky just surpassed 100,000 total infections and is now reporting its highest seven-day average for new infections. That's the number the experts watched. Joining me now is Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear. Governor, thanks for taking the time this morning.

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): Thanks for having me.

SCIUTTO: So, your state's seven day rolling average for new cases spiking really since the start of this month. You've said that renewing lockdowns is not the answer. What is the answer to get this under control in your state?

BESHEAR: Well, just like in most areas of the country, we are seeing a third escalation in Kentucky right now that is really concerning. The pace of the way cases are growing is more exponential than we have seen in the past, our hospitalizations are going up, individuals in the ICUs are going up, and sadly we are losing more people.

And my response to this has always been based on advice from public health experts. I agreed from the beginning that we were going to listen to those who knew how to deal with infectious disease. And thus far, whether it is on the federal or the state level, I have gotten the same advice, and that's that Kentucky has some of the strongest restrictions currently in place in the country.

We have a mask mandate, we have significant capacity restrictions at restaurants and bars and a curfew for them. We only have about half of people in office-based businesses going in. Our gatherings are ten or less, and those are significantly more stringent than our neighbors. But two a person, the public health experts say right now that the problem isn't that we don't have the right rules in place, it's that people aren't following them.

SCIUTTO: Right.

BESHEAR: And the question is, does another mandate if people aren't following them well enough, does it actually get us where we want to go? Because I think our effectiveness in fighting COVID is a pretty simple equation.

SCIUTTO: Yes --

BESHEAR: The best rules and restrictions, practices and approach times, the number of people that will follow them.

SCIUTTO: Yes --

BESHEAR: So, right now, we are working on what we call a red zone reduction, which are our counties where we're seeing the most significant spike. And we're working on trying to bring together an entire community and give ownership to it. So --

SCIUTTO: OK --

BESHEAR: Mayors, county judges, the school system, all of them together because we've got to have more buy-in in this country to defeat this virus.

SCIUTTO: Understood. Now, you know as well as me, particularly being a democratic governor in a red state, how partisan politics have infected the response to this, even the understanding of the seriousness of the outbreak. I'm sure you're familiar the president's son said yesterday, echoing just a larger dismissal of the seriousness of the outbreak. He said yesterday that deaths in the U.S. are almost nothing. You are one of 43 states --

BESHEAR: Yes --

SCIUTTO: Seeing a spike in cases, what's your response to him?

BESHEAR: I have 1,500 families that would disagree. These are people that we love and we care about. There are fathers, mothers, grandparents, sisters, brothers, they are people that are so missed. I've talked to so many families that have lost someone to COVID and they all say the same thing.

The loss is real, please wear a mask so someone else doesn't have to go through this. And when you lose somebody during COVID, I think it's even harder than outside of it, because you can't see them as much as they are fighting for their lives, and when they pass, you know, the funerals are different, too. This is hard on our communities and on our families --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

BESHEAR: And how about out of respect for them. The people of America, the families of America that are struggling, we treat it like it's real, and we don't try to dismiss this loss.

SCIUTTO: Our viewers may not know that you and your family experienced this personally, you had to quarantine because of an exposure to coronavirus, but in another way as well.

[09:25:00] They built a new security fence around the Kentucky governor's mansion

due to threats that are made to you and your family. A remarkable image for this time and here is the fence going up here. What do you attribute those threats to and the need for this kind of security?

BESHEAR: Well, we've got divisions in America that threaten, I believe, our very country. We can't let each other become the enemy when we have so many external threats between Iran and China and North Korea, yet I think because of politics, and wanting to win.

SCIUTTO: Yes --

BESHEAR: We are even encouraging Americans to hate each other, and we are not to a person, to a leader, condemning these militia groups, these domestic terrorists the way that we should. Listen, they had the kidnapping plot against --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

BESHEAR: Governor Whitmer. Here in Kentucky, they walked right past the barriers that existed in the governor's mansion, they walked right up to the window pane on the other side of which my kids play, fully armed, heckling for me to come out. Listen, they don't intimidate me, but I'm going to make sure that I take the precautions to protect my 10 and 11-year-old and my entire family. But listen, this is wrong. This is not what America is about, you don't get to threaten or terrorize your way into getting --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

BESHEAR: What you want. And if the rest of us condemn it the way we should and the way that we have in the past, then I believe that what we are seeing, the rise in this stuff, will go away. But it is a -- it is a real threat that exists --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

BESHEAR: Out there, but at the same time, what they want they're not going to get. I'm going to continue to do the right thing, I know Governor Whitmer is as well, we're going to continue to lead in a way that saves and protects lives --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

BESHEAR: And doesn't bend to the will of those that would use fear.

SCIUTTO: Well, I'm sorry you and your family had to face that threat, I can only imagine seeing that on the other side of the window where my own children play. Governor Andy Beshear, we wish you and your family, remarkable we have to say this in the year 2020 in America, but we wish you safety, and thanks for joining the program --

BESHEAR: Thank you very much and everybody out there, please be safe as well.

HARLOW: All right. Well, in-person early voting, it ends today in several states including the state of Georgia and Texas. Both have already set early voting records, we're going to take you there, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)