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More Than 60 People Sickened At Texas Water Park; L.A. County Reinstates Indoor Mark Mandate At Midnight; Family Urges People To Get Vaccinated After Mom Died Of COVID; Cybercriminal Gang REvil Vanishes From The Internet; President Biden Says Social Media "Killing People" With COVID Misinformation; Britney Spears Slams People Who Didn't Help When She Was "Drowning". Aired 8-9p ET

Aired July 17, 2021 - 20:00   ET

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

[20:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. VIVEK MURTHY, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: Their tech platforms. We are seeing a rampant spread of misinformation and it's costing people their lives.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What's your message to platforms like Facebook?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They're killing people. The only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: I'm Pamela Brown in Washington. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM on this Saturday.

And we begin with a summer scare that shutdown a major water park on this scorching Saturday in Texas. About 65 people got sick after a chemical leak. The victims are as young as 3 years old. This happened at the Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Splashtown. That's right near Houston.

Reporter Bill Barajas of CNN affiliate KPRC joins me now with more.

So, Bill, tell us what happened and what's the condition of those people who got sick?

BILL BARAJAS, KPRC REPORTER: Well, right now what officials are telling us is that it was a reported chemical leak which we're told is some sort of mixture of bleach and sulfuric acid. Officials say most people that were affected were experiencing some sort of minor skin irritation and respiratory issues. Over 60 people were affected, 26 people were taken to the hospital, 39 refused transport, but all of them were decontaminated before being allowed to leave the park.

And just to give you an idea of what that process for decontamination is, we're told that the emergency responders, firefighters set up a ladder truck, has a noddle on the end about 15 feet above, people walked through and sort of massaged their eyes and their skin, made sure to get the chemicals out of their eyes.

Now officials telling us the situation started in the kiddy pool area when a lifeguard became sick. Shortly after more and more people became sick as well with similar symptoms of respiratory issues including as you mentioned children.

Now the Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo saying some of those that were transported to the hospital included a pregnant woman that was in labor and a young child about 3 years old who appeared to be the worst case here at the park. That's now suffering from a respiratory issue. But we have just received word moments ago that they are in stable condition.

As of what's going on right now, officials tell us they are taking water samples and air samples of the area. We're told all levels appear to be normal at this time. But, again, investigators from various agencies here in the Houston area responding to the scene. Very scary situation for folks who are just trying to get some relief from this Texas heat here at the park.

BROWN: I mean, I think so many families can relate to that. And to think that the 3-year-old was in such bad shape, I'm glad to hear that the 3-year-old is in stable condition as well as that pregnant woman in labor. But what is Six Flags saying about this, Bill?

BARAJAS: Well, right now we're told from officials that they are cooperating in every way possible. The county here, Harris County, and the Houston area has ordered a closure order until further notice. And officials say that the park, the facility here has agreed and it's not objected. They are allowing emergency responders and investigators to get into the park and try to figure out exactly what happened.

BROWN: Good to hear. All right, Bill Barajas of KPRC, thanks for joining us.

Well, we all had hopes that this summer would be more carefree than last summer. Right? But the sad reality right now is that cases are on the rise in all 50 states and in many of the countries you'd like to visit on vacation.

Here at home the pace of vaccines is dropping, and right now less than half the U.S. population is fully vaccinated. Compare that to Canada which has had less access to vaccines but now has a higher percentage of its population fully vaccinated.

Dr. Anthony Fauci blames rampant misinformation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: If we had had the pushback for vaccines the way we're seeing on certain media, I don't think it would have been possible at all to not only eradicate smallpox, we probably would still have smallpox and we probably would still have polio in this country if we had the kind of false information that's being spread now. If we had that back decades ago I would be certain that we'd still have polio in this country.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And as for how this pandemic got started, I've learned that several senior Biden administration officials including the president's National Security adviser believe it's just as possible the coronavirus escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China, accidently as the possibility it emerged naturally in the wild.

Well, at the stroke of midnight Los Angeles County putting new mask mandate into effect for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people. Now this is a huge step for public health officials to take and a controversial one at that.

[20:05:03]

But within a matter of weeks daily infection rates there have gone up from about 200 a day to nearly 2,000 on Friday.

CNN's Paul Vercammen joins me now from L.A.

It's been only a month since the previous mask mandate was lifted, Paul. Are people likely to comply? What are you hearing and seeing there?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, we're getting a big cross cut of opinions. Most people seem like they're willing to comply, but taking center stage the Los Angeles County Sheriff Villanueva, who's taken strong stances against issuing mask rules before. He issues this statement. He said, "Forcing the vaccinated and those who already contracted COVID-19 to wear a mask is not backed by science."

He goes on to say, "The underfunded, defunded sheriff's department will not expend limited resources and instead ask for voluntary compliance." Now that's the sheriff.

Here at this restaurant in Toluca Lake we talked to a number of people who say, look, we are willing to put these masks on again. There is as you pointed out a very high positivity rate right now in Los Angeles County.

Let's listen to somebody with that mixed view on all of this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SOSSIE MARTIN, LOS ANGELES RESIDENT: Well, I'm certainly not happy about it, but I think we need to do what we need to do because, you know, the numbers are going up again and we definitely want to be safe. So we're going to have to do what we have to do because it's not pleasant to see more people in the hospitals and the numbers spiking up. So I'll wear it. But I won't be happy about it.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: And let's talk about those numbers. 462 people now hospitalized in Los Angeles County. That positivity rate jumped to 3.7 percent, and on the Fourth of July it was only 1.5 percent.

Reporting from Los Angeles I'm Paul Vercammen. Now back to you, Pam.

BROWN: That really puts it into perspective. That's just sobering.

Paul Vercammen, thanks so much.

Also tonight, a heartbroken family is pleading with Americans, get vaccinated, after they were unable to convince their own mother in time. Kim Maginn was a 63-year-old mother and grandmother, an elementary school teacher in Little Rock, Arkansas.

She died 11 days ago from coronavirus. In her obituary, her daughters write this, in part, quote, "COVID is a heartless and non- discriminating disease, and it robbed us of the opportunity to enjoy several more years with our mom. She was in the best shape of her life when she fell ill with COVID."

Her daughter, Rachel, joins me now, Rachel Rosser.

Rachel, thanks for coming on. I feel for you so much, losing your mom so recently. I lost my mom a year and a half ago, and just I appreciate you coming onto tell this story. Tell us about her. Tell us about your mom. You said she was fine until she wasn't fine.

RACHEL MAGINN ROSSER, LOST MOTHER TO COVID-19: Yes. Thank you for having me first. She was. She was in the best shape of her life. She was working out five times a week with a personal trainer. She loved to go out and have fun. She was a social butterfly. And she got sick, and it was just a slow decline from there.

BROWN: So tell us about that. How quickly did she go from getting diagnosed with COVID to dying?

ROSSER: So she was -- she thought that she felt like she had a sore throat and a fever. And my sister and I were able to convince her to go to the doctor on June 18th. And she fought it at home for about almost a week until the 24th when she was too weak to be able to get up and walk. She texted my sister to call an ambulance for her. And she was just -- she was shocked whenever she went to the doctor on the 18th and it wasn't strep. It was COVID.

BROWN: I imagine. And I just feel for you so much because having been through losing a mom during the pandemic -- she didn't die of COVID but she was in the hospital during the pandemic, you know, I couldn't go visit her the way I wanted to initially. What was it like for you during this time?

ROSSER: It's honestly the most helpless I've ever felt in my entire life. I'm a nurse. I have an ICU background. By the time I got to the hospital -- I live three hours away but by the time I got to the hospital she was already in her ICU room and I couldn't go in to visit her. I had to stay outside of her room and call her on her cellphone to talk to her. She looked really small in the bed. It was hard for her to talk because she was struggling to breathe.

[20:10:03]

And we could only stay for 15 minutes a day because those are the visitation rules in the ICU right now because of all the COVID cases. And it was -- it was heartbreaking. It was the most helpless I've ever felt in my entire life because I couldn't touch her. I couldn't help her. All I could do was talk to her and tell her that I was there for her.

BROWN: Yes, I know that all too well, over Facetime, the doctors, the nurses holding up the phone, you know, so you can talk. Why was she hesitant to get the vaccine?

ROSSER: I think that she thought that since COVID had been around for over a year and she hadn't gotten it yet that she just wasn't going to get it. And she was in really good shape. She didn't have any comorbidities and I think that she thought that if she was going to get it she would have already gotten it, and so she decided that she didn't want to get the vaccine. And she was pretty stubborn. So once she made that decision she was sticking with it. It didn't matter really what my sister and I said to try and convince her.

BROWN: Because you were a nurse.

ROSSER: Unfortunately.

BROWN: I mean, I imagine you were trying to talk to her, right, and get her to do it.

ROSSER: I tried several different tactics. I laid all the facts out for her. I tried to plead to her emotional side of what would we do without you? You know, can you imagine, you know, our life without you? Part of me wishes I had tried harder. But she was really stubborn. She was stubborn but she wasn't stupid. I think eventually I would have been able to convince her, but she got sick and she got COVID. And so there wasn't any more time to try and convince her.

BROWN: And do not put this on yourself. Do not put this on yourself, Rachel. Unfortunately, we have seen your story play out across the country where family members are trying to convince their loved ones to get the vaccine. They try and they try like you did with your mom. The loved one doesn't listen, they get COVID, and then they die. It's becoming all too common.

What is your message to people who are vaccine hesitant, people who think like your mom thought, look, I'll just ride this out, I'll be fine?

ROSSER: My message is that this virus, COVID is non-discriminating. It doesn't discriminate. It doesn't care if you're old or you're young or you're healthy or you're not. Once you get it, it can be devastating to your family. And the vaccine is out there.

It's safe. You can get it for free. And I would just encourage everybody to keep talking to their loved ones and keep trying to convince them because I don't -- I wouldn't want anybody else to have to go through this. And I really do feel that it is preventable. I think that if she had

been vaccinated she may have still gotten sick because she was 63, she may have even ended up in the hospital, but I do not think that it would have ended in her death if she had been vaccinated.

BROWN: And what of the -- all right, well, Rachel Rosser, thank you. I mean our condolences to you and your family. Such an important message that you're sharing on this show. And hopefully it is going to make an impact.

Thanks so much, Rachel. We'll be right back.

ROSSER: Thank you for having me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:17:46]

BROWN: So this is one of the biggest mysteries on the internet right now. What happened to the ransomware game known as REvil. The group hacked a huge meat supplier and major software vendor this year, seized control of computers worldwide, and got around $11 million from its victims according to cyber experts. But earlier this week REvil vanished from the internet, and no one can or will say why.

It comes as the U.S. ramps up its fight against cyber outlaws. The State Department is offering huge rewards now for information about cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, up to $10 million. And there's new a government Web site called stopransomware.gov and it's touted as a one-stop shop for how to prevent this type of attack.

Dmitri Alperovitch joins me now. He is a cybersecurity expert.

So, tell me, Dmitri, what do you know about REvil disappearing, and what could it mean?

DMITRI ALPEROVITCH, CYBERSECURITY EXPERT: Well, Pam, thanks for having me. This shutdown does not appear to be caused from an action from U.S. government or frankly any of our allies. It does not look like it was a cyberattack that might have been done by U.S. Cyber Command. That's the military command responsible for cyberspace. It also does not look like it was a law enforcement action because it does not look like any of the infrastructure takedowns we have previously seen from law enforcement.

So really there are only two options. Either REvil voluntarily shut things down, perhaps to lay low and sort of lower the heat, the temperature from all the heat that they've gotten in the last couple of months from all the attacks, and perhaps they've taken their ill- gotten and gains and went to the black seats to relax a little bit for the summer and likely will be back in the fall.

Or it may be that the Russian government actually started putting pressure on them, perhaps arrested them or shut them down. But there's no indication of that so far. In fact, the Kremlin has publicly denied that they have any knowledge of it. BROWN: Right, that is the big question. As you say the Kremlin says it

doesn't know what happened to REvil. And we know that President Biden warned Vladimir Putin there would be consequences if Moscow didn't address ransomware attacks coming inside Russia. But do you really believe the Russians when they say they don't know what happened?

ALPEROVITCH: It's possible that they haven't yet acted.

[20:20:01]

They've just started talks. In fact there were talks this week between the Russian delegation and the White House on what to do about these ransomware attacks. So it's possible that they're not yet taking action because they want to see what concessions they can get out of the Americans. In that case it's not a good sign because likely REvil will be back.

BROWN: Well, so the Homeland Security secretary was asked on CNN about who took REvil offline and listen to his response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: We can't really comment on that publicly right now but I will say the president has spoken very strongly about the fact that nation states have a responsibility to identify and hold accountable cyber criminals within their boundaries, and that is what we are moving forward on.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: In their boundaries, well, that's interesting. Should I read from that that Russia itself may have a played a role in this?

MAYORKAS: So forgive me. I can't comment on that now. But we are vigilant in our nation's cyber security, and we are working with our allies and other nation states because this is a crime that knows no boundaries, actually.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So as we heard he would not tell CNN he was behind the disappearance, and REvil wasn't even mentioned when the White House briefed lawmakers on Biden's response to ransomware attacks. Why the tight lips? And do you think that these officials know but they just don't want to say?

ALPEROVITCH: I think they likely don't want to get ahead of themselves. They don't want to claim victory for something that they may not have had anything to do with. And the reality is that things are very murky in Russia. We may not know for quite some time if the Russians are actually putting pressure on any of these groups.

And the key to watch is not just what's happening with REvil but on other ransomware groups like Dark Side and others that have been attacking Colonial and other companies in this country.

Do they disappear and not come back? If that's going to be the case then we can claim that we have achieved something and gotten Russia to start taking this seriously.

BROWN: Just too premature to know that at this point.

So, Dmitri, let's talk about what the government is offering up to $10 million for information on cyber attackers working for a foreign government to target U.S. critical infrastructure. It's basically like a Crime Stoppers for cyberattacks. Do you think this will actually help?

ALPEROVITCH: I wouldn't put too much credibility into the U.S. government action here. Because the reality is we've had big payouts. We've advertised for past cyber criminals. In fact there are two major cyber criminals right now on the FBI's most wanted list that have been there for years and anyone that provides information to the FBI that leads to their arrest will receive millions of dollars.

We have not seen anyone provide that. So I think that these types of actions can shine the spotlight on the problem, but it's not going to solve it.

BROWN: All right, Dmitri, thanks for coming back on the show. Great chatting with you.

ALPEROVITCH: Thank you.

BROWN: President Biden is slamming social media companies accusing them of killing people with the coronavirus misinformation being shared. We're going to go live to the White House up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:27:31]

BROWN: Well, that old saying knowledge is power, but there's also no underestimating the power of misinformation. Especially when it comes to the rising number of COVID cases across the country. President Joe Biden says false claims and lies on COVID and vaccines, they have deadly consequences for gullible people on social media.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: They're killing people. I mean really -- look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated, and they're killing people.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: CNN's Joe Johns is at the White House.

So, Joe, the Biden administration is ramping up efforts to counter social media misinformation that's feeding vaccine hesitancy. What specifically is the plan?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's for sure. You can see it in that sound bite really putting on the pressure. That's a sharply worded, blunt statement from the president of the United States on the South Lawn.

So what we know is that they are attempting to apply a lot of pressure using the bully pulpit, the megaphone of the White House to try to get not just Facebook but other social media to sort of get in line, get in the game, and be more aggressive with this issue of misinformation on social media.

By the way, Facebook really pushing back against the president. Just yesterday they put out a statement that said we will not be distracted by accusations which aren't supported by the facts. They also said the fact is that more than two billion people have seen authoritative information about COVID as well as the vaccines, and they say they don't want to be distracted.

Now, the White House, of course, says the issue is not about all the billions of people who have seen the authoritative information. It's about taking down the misinformation and stopping people from doing it including on multiple social media platforms.

They've also put out another number of recommendations they'd like to see Facebook pick up including measuring misinformation and sharing the information about the misinformation. Also better enforcement, taking faster action as well as working in all of these issues into their algorithms.

[20:30:00]

So that's it.

CNN has been told, by the way, Pamela, that there have been tense talks between Facebook on this subject. Back to you.

BROWN: Yes. You can feel the tension based on what President Biden said to Peter Alexander with NBC. And then Facebook's strongly worded statements after that, but these public health priorities like COVID and vaccines have almost been weaponized along party lines. So, are the people who really clinging to these laws, the conspiracy theories really wouldn't be open to messages from the Biden White House?

JOHNS: Well, I think that's a very important question, you hit the nail on the head. The problem with all of this is that people are going to believe what they want to believe. And we well know how much Americans love conspiracy theories. So, that's what they're up against. And the question is whether people are going to believe anything that's put out there, even if the misinformation is taken down, Pamela.

BROWN: All right, Joe Johns live for us from the White House. Thanks, Joe.

Last her conservatorship battle heats up. Britney Spears is speaking out on social media against people she says didn't help when she needed it. When we come back, I'm going to speak to Britney's former attorney, Adam Streisand. Stay with us.

Also, ahead, Spike Lee shocks the crowd when he accidentally announces the big winner early at Cannes. We've got the video.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:35:04]

BROWN: Britney Spears is lashing out at the people she says ignored her when she needed the most. This is part of her Instagram posts from Friday. "There is nothing worse than when the people closest to you who never showed up for you, post things in regard to your situation, whatever it may be and speak righteously for support.

How dare you make it public that now you care? Did you put your hand out when I was drowning? Again? No. Please stop with the righteous approach when you're so far from righteous. It's not even funny."

She didn't mention anyone by name and this comes after a judge let her hire her own attorney in the conservatorship battle against her father. Last month, Spears claimed the arrangement was, quote, abusive and cruel.

Her former attorney, Adam Streisand, joins us now. Thanks for coming on the show. So, you were her attorney when this conservatorship was getting underway, never during the conservatorship. But first of all, what do you make of her Instagram post?

ADAM STREISAND, FORMER ATTORNEY OF BRITNEY SPEARS: Well, I think she's obviously upset at family members who now were speaking out and didn't do much to help her back then. And, you know, it's -- everything that we're seeing right now is really troubling. But I'm glad that finally we're seeing some action. You know, these proceedings have been closed to the public for 13 years. And now this information is coming out.

It's really clear that there's been a tragic miscarriage of justice, basically, because there's no one who's been an advocate for her. And now finally, she's got somebody who clearly is going to be an advocate for her. It's not going to be interested in the game of I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine.

BROWN: Right. Because now she was able to hire her own lawyer. They're trying to end this conservatorship. Just out of curiosity, you know, she's been posting this on social media. She's been really outspoken in court. How much is her social media controlled under this conservatorship? Do you know?

STREISAND: That's a really fascinating question. One of the things that people don't understand about conservatorships is, in many ways, they're very limited. You don't actually have a lot of power or control over somebody. And oftentimes, I have to tell family members who are really worried about somebody. If the person is not compliant, it's not much you can do to force them.

Here, though. There's something very, very unusual going on. For example, there doesn't seem to be any evidence that the court took away her right to marry, that the court took away her right to make medical decisions. But for some reason, she has been told and led to believe that she doesn't have that authority. She can walk out of her house anytime she wants. She said, I want to

get in my expletive car with my boyfriend. The conservatives can't stop her from doing that. They can't stop her from using social media. But she did say that her lawyer kept telling her that she -- that she can't speak out, that it would be bad for her to do that. Laura told her a lot of things that are aren't mounting up to a very good advocacy.

BROWN: Early on when you were there as her lawyer, did you see any indication she was not capable of caring for herself?

STREISAND: Well, look, first of all, you know, 13 years ago when she was 25, she had just been released from two successive involuntary psychiatric lockdowns. Now, I'm not -- I can't judge whether those were appropriate or not, but a mental health facility has to make that judgment as to whether she's a danger to herself or others.

I met her twice after that. And from my interactions with her, I thought she was making sound judgments. She understood what she was up against. And one thing she was very clear with me about was she did not want her father controlling her life. So, I thought she had the ability to make some sound judgments.

[20:40:04]

The judge, however, had medical evidence, which she wouldn't show me that she said established that Britney was not even capable of retaining her own counsel and refused to allow me to represent her on that basis.

BROWN: She wouldn't show you that. And that's key here is just the lack of transparency in many ways. It's interesting about her dad. Her dad has been her conservator over her estate for these 13 years. Why hasn't her mom? I mean, if she didn't want her dad to do this, why wasn't her mom more involved? Why wasn't she the conservative? Do you know the answer to that?

STREISAND: Well, first of all, let me just make it clear that her father was the conservator of her person, right? That's all of her daily needs, medical and so forth, as well as her financial estate. And now he is only conservator of the financial estate and there's a professional involved.

Now, why mom -- her mother wasn't more involved. That's a great mystery. And I have a feeling that's exactly why we're seeing Britney speak out so sort of violently now that her mother is now actually taking an active role in the proceedings. And I think that's -- in the wrong way.

BROWN: Yes. Lynne Spears, her mom has actually petitioned the court now amid all of this. Another hearing is set for the conservatorship on September 29th. What do you see happening? How do you see this developing?

STREISAND: I think what you're going to see immediately is there's going to be a petition to terminate this conservatorship. And I believe that now that we've got a competent lawyer who's advocating for Britney, we're going to see this conservatorship terminated.

Because, remember, under law, a conservatorship can be maintained only if it is the absolute last resort, the only way that you can help a person function. And how is that possibly the case here? She's making hundreds of millions of dollars performing, going out on stage every night in Vegas or on tour.

And you'll recall eight months ago, her lawyer, when asked by the judge, what does Britney think about this conservatorship? Her own lawyer said, she's like a comatose patient who can't even sign a piece of paper saying what she wants. Well, a couple of weeks ago, when she spoke to the judge for the first time, she blew that out of the water. So, fortunately, we're going to see some real advocacy and I think this conservatorship is going to get terminated quickly.

BROWN: It's really, honestly, here in Washington where I am, it's like the only -- one of the only issues that Democrats and Republicans can agree on, that they don't believe it's right.

All right. Adam Streisand, thanks for coming on the show and sharing your point of view on this.

STREISAND: My pleasure.

BROWN: Well, moviemaker, Spike Lee, delivers a shocking to the Cannes Film Festival and definitely without a script. Lee is president of the festival's jury, and he accidently announced the winner of this year's Palme d'Or way too early.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you tell me which price is the first price?

SPIKE LEE, CANNES FIL FESTIVAL JURY PRESIDENT: Yes, I can. Let me read.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cool.

LEE: The film that won the Palme d'Or Titane --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wait, wait, no.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Oh, gosh. I even got embarrassed watching that. The audience gasp as you saw and the winner was revealed. I clearly mortified Spike Lee's to dazed by the confusion and delivered a heartfelt apology after.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: I messed up. Simple as that. And I was very specific to speak to the people of Titane and tell them that I apologize. They said, forget about it, Spike. So that means a lot to me. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BROWN: Probably no complaints from those associated with that winning film. Titane and director of Julia Ducournau is only the second woman to win the highly coveted award since its inception in 1939.

With no spectators cheering the Olympic teams on Tokyo, the International Olympic Committee has come up with a solution, virtual clapping. What that looks, like just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:45:56]

BROWN: With less than a week to go before the opening ceremony at the Tokyo Olympics, the first case of COVID from inside the Olympic Village is now confirmed. Officials today, said the person who tested positive is not believed to be an athlete, but this will be a strange Olympics. I think we can all agree on that.

In Tokyo, Will Ripley shows us why the love-hate relationship is not entirely about fallout from the pandemic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Japan's Olympic Stadium, a symbol of the trouble Tokyo games, and for quote a gentle reminder of the home he lost.

Kohei Jinno got an eviction notice in 2013 when Japan won the 2020 bid, a year of national triumph and personal loss. Around 200 families, mostly senior citizens, evicted their housing complex demolished five years ago replaced by Tokyo's multibillion dollar 68,000-seat showpiece. A bitter pill made worse because it happened before.

[20:50:06]

KOHEI JINNO, EVICTED TWICE FOR TOKYO OLYMPICS: I was born about there.

RIPLEY: That stop sign?

JINNO: Yes.

RIPLEY: He points to a stop sign where his childhood home used to be. It was also torn down to build Tokyo's 1964 Olympic Stadium rising from the ashes of World War Two.

The first Olympics was during the reconstruction period. We were happy to cooperate, he says, but this time, we were treated without compassion. Jinno thought it was too soon for Japan to host another Olympics, and that was before the pandemic.

The stadium that cost him his home will sit virtually empty during the games. The first spectator ban in Olympic history. Tokyo is under a fourth COVID-19 state of emergency.

Cases surging, vaccination rates low. A recent poll shows nearly eight in 10 Japanese don't want the games to go ahead.

Kazunori Takishima calls it mass hysteria, a self-described super fan. He's been to every Olympics since Torino in 2006. He says the decision to ban spectators is based on emotion not science. Takishima has 197 reasons to be angry. That's how many tickets he bought for Tokyo 2020. Spending nearly $40,000. The spectator ban crushing his dream of a world record for attendance.

To be honest, all I have now is sadness, he says. Looks like a storm coming.

KAZUNORI TAKISHIMA, SPENT NEARLY 40,000 ON OLYMPICS TICKETS: Yes, it looks very sad.

RIPLEY: As Takishima talks about his heartbreak, the skies open up. It's raining right now, he says. The God of the Olympics is angry. I think it's a sign. It's not too late to allow spectators. An Olympic dream about its distance as a sunny day.

Will Ripley, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:55:55]

BROWN: It's a love story made for the movies, but this is not a romcom, it actually happened. Jeanne Moos has their story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPODNENT (VOICE OVER): They always say, geese mate for life, but these two made it through sickness and health.

ZAK MERTZ, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CAPE WILDLIFE CENTER: This was the first time we ever had an animal come to visit one of our patients.

MOOS: Staff at the New England Wildlife Center on Cape Cod, noticed one of a pair of wild geese that live nearby limping and falling over. They discovered two fractures on his foot requiring surgery. But as they prepared to sedate the goose, they named Arnold --

MERTZ: We heard sort of a tapping at the clinic door. And we turned around and we're all pretty shocked to see that his mate had waddled up onto the porch and was, you know, kind of furiously trying to get into the clinic.

Don't worry, he's in good hands. Under the watchful eye of Arnold's mate, the surgery began to repair the damage possibly caused by a snapping turtle.

MERTZ: I kid you not, she stood there the entire time. It actually could watch the procedure going on. It was really watching him like a hawk or like a goose, I guess. MOOS: Forty-five minutes later, the surgery complete, they moved Arnold right in front of the doors, they gave him oxygen. And when Arnold fully woke up, his mate began grooming him. They had to amputate a digit that Arnold should be able to live normally in a few weeks.

Meanwhile, his mate comes and goes using the clinic law and as a hospital cafeteria. And even picking at Arnold's meals, "Ain't love grand?" Wrote one commenter, "And they lived happily ever after," posted another. Talk about a love story. This one's worth talking about.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

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BROWN: Oh, my gosh. That might be one of my most favorite stories ever. Love it.

From Seinfeld to The Golden Girls to New Girl, tomorrow night, new episode of the CNN original series, "History of the Sitcom" is all about the fringe show. Watch History of the Sitcom tomorrow night at 9:00.

And you can catch up on History of the Sitcom, it starts next. Thanks so much for joining us this evening. And I'm Pamela Brown. See you again tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. Eastern.