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NYC Declares Public Health Emergency Due to Monkeypox; Biden Tests Positive for COVID-19 Again; At Least 25 Dead in Deadly Floods in Kentucky; Climate Change to Blame for Extreme Weather; January 6 Committee Agrees To Share 20 Transcripts With DOJ; Newborn Dies From Rarely Diagnosed and Typically Mild Illness; Will Smith Crafts Tightly-Controlled Apology. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired July 30, 2022 - 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)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One last chance.

Got it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: A new episode of "PATAGONIA: LIFE ON THE EDGE OF THE WORLD" airs tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. on CNN.

And the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): It's going to get worse, and I think that we will be updating it maybe even for weeks to come.

HOLLY LOVINGS-GILLESPIE, KENTUCKY FLOOD SURVIVOR: We need help. We need as much help, please. I'm begging anyone who sees this. Help my town. Help my people.

DAVID GILLESPIE, KENTUCKY FLOOD SURVIVOR: It's hard to put into words just the amount of devastation that we've seen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president did test positive again this morning on an antigen test. He was taking that anti-viral drug, Paxlovid. There have been some examples of patients rebounding from that case. That is testing negative and then testing positive again.

KIRSTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE & DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: It re-entered the earth's atmosphere somewhere near the Indian Ocean and Malaysia. Some of that debris may not burn up, and it would land somewhere near that spot that space command just predicted.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Only one person was that jackpot winner, and now we wait to see who that person actually is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm hoping to hit the jackpot.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: I'm Pamela Brown in Washington. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And we begin tonight with two developing stories this hour. The New York City health officials say they are declaring a public health emergency due to monkeypox. It makes New York the second major U.S. city to do so after San Francisco.

As of Friday, there were more than 1,200 confirmed cases of monkeypox in New York City. But officials say it is likely there are many more cases that haven't been diagnosed yet.

In a statement, New York officials explained, quote, "New York City is currently the epicenter of the outbreak. We estimate that approximately 150,000 New Yorkers may currently be at risk for monkeypox exposure."

That's not the only public health concern we're following. President Biden has tested positive for COVID-19 again. The White House physician is saying this is likely a rebound case caused by the Paxlovid treatment he received.

President Biden says, quote, "I've got no symptoms, but I'm going to isolate for the safety of everyone around me."

All right. I'm going to bring in Dr. Jonathan Reiner. He's a professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University.

Let's start with monkeypox, Doctor.

What is the significance of New York City now following suit and declaring a public health emergency?

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, it's good to see you.

They joined San Francisco now as the second city in the United States to do just that. And it sort of begs the question, when is the federal government going do the same?

Declaring a public health emergency in those two cities allows certain funds to be made available, better coordination amongst agencies. I'd like to see that on the federal level.

It's important to note the big distinction between monkeypox and COVID-19. At the outset of this infection, of this outbreak in the United States with monkeypox, we actually have the tools to contain it.

We don't have to develop a vaccine. We have a vaccine. And what's imperative now is for agencies around the United States to get vaccine out to the communities at risk. And that community right now is the community of men who have sex with men. The United States has ordered about seven million doses of the

vaccine. We've given about 300,000 vaccine doses to date. There are about 700,000 more doses coming in the near future.

But the way to contain this outbreak in the United States is to vaccinate either people who have been exposed or people who are at risk of exposure. And we need more of a sense of urgency to do that.

BROWN: One of our viewers on Twitter asked a really good question. This viewer asked: I'd like to know the likelihood of monkeypox variants and could it mutate into a more deadly variant?

REINER: I don't think anyone knows the answer to that.

But what we've learned very well over the last two and a half years of the coronavirus pandemic is, the longer a virus remains in a community, the longer and the more people are infected, the more opportunities there's for the virus to mutate.

But we have a very effective vaccine that's effective against smallpox, a disease that has been eradicated, as well as monkeypox. And now the challenge is to get at that into arms.

BROWN: I want to turn to President Biden. Immediately after Biden tested negative, he was walking around without a mask, interacting with people. He is now positive again.

[20:05:00]

How worried should people be about demasking after a test or being around people who recently tested negative?

REINER: Look, I think people should be wearing masks all over the United States right now.

If you look at the U.S. CDC transmission map, 98 percent of counties in the United States have either high or substantial transmission of this. Yet, there are very few municipalities in the United States that have reinstituted mask mandates.

Anywhere you are in the United States, if you're in public, you should be wearing a mask. I think our public officials should model that behavior I should say.

The president's Paxlovid rebound I think was entirely predictable. Older data suggests that maybe Paxlovid rebound was a kind of a rare event, maybe happening in about 1 percent of people who got Paxlovid.

But apparently, now with BA.5 it's much more frequent than that, maybe between 20 percent to 40 percent of people who take five days of Paxlovid will rebound with symptoms and a return of their positivity.

So when the president tested negative this week, many of us thought it was likely that he would have rebound. And that's exactly what we're seeing now. The good news is that an immunocompetent person like the president of

the United States, at age 79, with rebound symptoms, this should be short-lived and not really a threat to his health.

I'm glad to see the White House isolate him and protect the rest of the staff. That's the right thing to do.

BROWN: Dr. Jonathan Reiner, thank you.

REINER: My pleasure.

BROWN: Now to eastern Kentucky where the sun is setting on another day of devastating discoveries and heartbreaking loss.

It's the aftermath of horrific flash floods. And at least 25 are confirmed dead, including at least four children from the same family. Their aunt tells us they were between 2 and 8 years old.

Kentucky's governor tells CNN the National Guard has gone on more than 660 air rescues. The floodwaters washed away roads, ripped away bridges, making ongoing search efforts even harder.

It is unclear how many people are still missing at this hour, and the governor fears the death toll will keep climbing.

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BESHEAR: I'm worried that we're going to be finding bodies for weeks to come. Keep praying.

I hope there are no more we ought to expect. There will be more loss. And pray for the families that we know have already lost individuals. They're going to need your help and your support.

And I know who we are as people. We're going to be there for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: That is true. I've seen that firsthand there in Kentucky.

CNN's Evan McMorris-Santoro has more from Jackson, Kentucky.

What is the latest on the ground, Evan?

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN: Pam, as you so perfectly set up there, this is an active tragedy here.

We're here at Jackson, Kentucky, where we've watched crews go out all day doing rescue-and-recovery efforts here, based from this parking lot of this shopping center.

And the person managing it is Jon Allen, who is the emergency management director for neighboring Lee County, but he's the temporary incident commander here today and tomorrow working on trying to find people.

Tell us a bit about what your crews are out there seeing.

JON ALLEN, INCIDENT COMMANDER & EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR, LEE COUNTY, KY: Well, today, we sent crews out into the areas of the county that are obviously affected by the flood.

We cleared almost 370 structures or properties today with our teams. Of course, the devastation is widespread. They're encountering moments that have been literally washed off their foundations, roads that are impassable.

The biggest challenge is getting roads cleared enough so we could get crews in there. We've worked on that most of the day, and we're making progress.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: What are you finding when you go to these places, these houses? It's a challenge to get to the places. When you get there, what are you seeing, where have found people, what's going on?

ALLEN: Well, we've seen quite a few people today. And we've kind of transitioned from a primary search into also a humanitarian mission.

We've delivered uncountable cases of water today and MREs to residents that can't get out that have been without water and food for a couple of days now.

We're transitioning into that humanitarian mode, into the secondary search mode. And those are kind of things we're encountering.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: And I know that, you know, this is a place very tight-knit, close. Everyone I talk to knows somebody who's been affected or was affected themselves.

You're not just here managing this, it includes you, too. Can you talk about how this affects you personally and what's going to happen to the area after this historic tragedy?

ALLEN: Yes, so the area that's hardest hit is Highway 476. I'm actually from Highway 476 just over into Perry County. And my grandfather and grandparents' home was lost in the flood as well as my aunt and uncle's home. So it affects me directly.

Moving forward, we'll move into that secondary search mode and eventually into recovery mode. We'll have FEMA on the ground here to help the folks that need the assistance.

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MCMORRIS-SANTORO: A lot of assistance going to be needed.

ALLEN: Quite a bit, yes.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: So, Pam, just ongoing efforts here, but thinking about a future in which there's going to be help needed here in this part of Kentucky for a very long time -- Pam?

BROWN: That's right. You know, as we so often see, Evan, a tragedy happens, we focus on it, then our attention moves elsewhere. These people in Kentucky, they're going to need help for a long time, weeks, months, years ahead.

Thank you for bringing us the latest on the ground.

Now I want to bring in some people who are living with this terrible tragedy. Zach Caudill jones us from Whitesburg, Kentucky. And at Last Creek, we have Holly Lovings-Gillespie and David Gillespie.

Thank you all for coming on.

I want to start with you, Holly, if you're still with us. I don't know if we have your signal or not.

You and your husband are both survivors. You were helping your neighbors. We've been scrolling through your Facebook page. Tell viewers what you and David are doing to help your neighbors.

LOVINGS-GILLESPIE: So David and I are homeowners in the area. Thankfully, at this time, no one was in our home.

But on Thursday evening, we attempted to get as close as we could to our property just to look at it, get a visual of it. And we -- we couldn't even get close.

David can kind of talk about the area that we got stopped at. But I believe it was down here in this area, the Lost Creek. So we're currently at the Lost Creek area.

Before we left Winchester, Kentucky, we're about an hour and a half away. And we've loaded up a truckload of supplies, primarily animal supplies.

I work with an animal rescue group pretty closely, and so a lot of the Winchester community donated animal clothes -- I'm sorry, animal food, crates, food, water, any of those supplies.

And when we came down to Lost Creek, we were actually seeing boat rescues with children and family pets. And at that time, we were able to just start giving out supplies that we had packed up.

BROWN: Wow.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: And -- yes. I'm going to bring you in, David.

We're looking at videos of you on the boat there, on the water delivering supplies. Incredible.

How are you maintaining this pace? Are you just holding out until the local and federal agencies can fill all the needs? What has it been like for you?

GILLESPIE: You know, in Winchester, it's really a tight community. And a lot of people have given and actually come together and really helped Holly had and I with a lot of supplies to deliver.

Now I have a home in Hazard. I ended up meeting Holly here a few years ago and we got married about a year ago.

Even though the house has six and a half feet of water and is flooded, like Holly said, nobody was hurt, nobody was living there. The house actually was still standing. We're very grateful for that.

But like Holly says, the community has really come together to help each other.

We're in Lost Creek now, which is almost on the county line right between the counties, some of the hardest hit areas.

And right here right along the north Kentucky Fork River, going through Breathitt County, as you've seen in videos and photos, homes are knocked off their foundations.

Some of them have just been completely decimated. Nothing left but just a pile of rubble. Maybe some boards, a bed.

We even have over here, there's a boat over on the side of the river. There's a lot of garbage that's been brought over to -- it's amazing --

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: If you could, can you grab the phone and show us what you're talking about?

GILLESPIE: Yes.

LOVINGS-GILLESPIE: Yes.

BROWN: That would be great. Thank you.

GILLESPIE: Sure.

BROWN: We're turning you into a photographer here.

All right.

GILLESPIE: That works.

You can kind of see here over the -- the Memorial Bridge. You can see some of the garbage that's still over here.

And you can actually see how high the water has come. It is really up an incredible height. All the way over the bridge and enough to bring a lot of -- sorry about that -- bumping into people here -- a lot of garbage has come up.

There's even some framework from homes. Lot of garbage, lot of personal belongings.

The more you go down the river, the more things that you see. Just incredible devastation. And it's really sad to see.

Like I said, a lot of community members have really come together and been very helpful. So --

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BROWN: Fortunately, thanks to people like you two.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: You're both amazing to have rushed to the area and helped out.

[20:14:58]

I got to say, David, not only are you rescuing people, you're also now a CNN reporter there, panning your camera around and describing what you're seeing.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: So we appreciate that.

I do want to bring in Zach, who's also with us.

You were in your home alone. You woke up, everything was flooded. Your home is actually one of the last in eastern Kentucky with running water and Internet access.

It seems like you've been a gathering spot for your community from what I understand.

ZACH CAUDILL, KENTUCKY FLOOD SURVIVOR: Yes. I've had people that have been coming to stay at my house. They've been doing laundry here. Just getting food, water, taking hot showers. Just anything that we can provide.

We kind of feel like Noah's Ark with the flood. Quite a few people have been calling my house here the ark.

BROWN: What was that like, Zach, to wake up alone in your home -- it must have been terrifying.

CAUDILL: It was. To wake up and have like all of my alarms from my House go off and people just banging on my door asking for kayaks, life jackets, anything else, it was terrifying. It's still something that's very terrifying.

We're a long way from recovering. And just every time that I look outside my window it's just -- it's constant reminder.

BROWN: I know the Internet service is spotty, not working in some places. Have you been able to locate your loved ones?

CAUDILL: Yes, I have. They were finally able to travel back from Florida today. Some of our roads have opened back up. Some of them have not, however. I have been in contact with the Kentucky Department of Transportation

to try and help coordinate different supply runs to try and get into Kentucky, eastern Kentucky. Unfortunately, sometimes our roads are destroyed here.

BROWN: Yes. Wow.

Zach, as you said, there's a long road ahead for recovery.

We appreciate you sharing your story.

Holly Lovings-Gillespie and David Gillespie, thank you, as well.

Appreciate all of your efforts there on the ground for the people. And should I mention the animals, as well.

I know you're helping those animals, Holly. So thank you.

And to learn how you can help victims of the Kentucky flooding, go to CNN.com/impact.

And it is not just Kentucky. Several states have experienced severe flooding this week. Experts say this is happening more often and becoming more extreme.

Up next, I'm going to talk with a meteorologist and journalist who says climate change is to blame for that.

And then later, her infant son died about a month after he was born. Now a Connecticut woman wants to make sure all parents know about the cause. I'll talk to her.

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[20:21:58]

BROWN: Kentucky was one of several states hit with severe flooding this week, so were Missouri and Arizona, as the climate crisis amplifies extreme weather events.

Bob Henson is a meteorologist and journalist with Yale Climate Connections.

Hi, Bob.

The first sentence of your Friday article said, "Goosed by extreme one-day rainfall, a phenomenon getting worse with human caused climate change, floods tore through towns and rural landscapes across Kentucky."

How is climate change impacting this?

BOB HENSON, METEOROLOGIST & JOURNALIST, YALE CLIMATE CONNECTION: In a nutshell, when you have a warmer atmosphere, as we do, it allows more water vapor to evaporate from oceans. When the air flows into a system like a thunderstorm complex that

makes rain, there's more juice, and it can rain harder. And that's exactly what we've seen in the United States.

For example, the Midwest and northeast since 1950s. That top 1 percent of rain events are producing 40 percent to 50 percent more rain.

BROWN: I mean, these are such unusual events, right? I mean, in Kentucky, we keep talking about how historic this is. These areas that have never flooded have flooded. The house is decimated, submerged under water.

Is this our new normal?

HENSON: Well, some of this is the bad luck of the draw, you know. Flooding is two things. One is how hard it rains. And climate change is picking up, it's also where it rains.

Unfortunately, this week, we saw the two worst situations. One is raining really hard in a big metro area with the event that went right over St. Louis, rains there.

And in this case, we had very heavy rains with the same front focused in a very hilly area, rugged area, that allowed the water to concentrate and produce the flash floods.

BROWN: So we've seen these wildfires, these extreme temperatures, hurricanes, coastal erosion, this historic flooding. What is the solution?

HENSON: Well, I think it's a lot of solutions. Kind of all of the above is how I like to think of it. We've got to reduce emissions, obviously. And the bill now working its way into Congress, will do a lot to do that.

We have to adapt because we can't turn climate change off like a light switch. It's going to play out, hopefully diminish over time.

We need to make our cities and -- more flood proof. We need to make rural areas that are warned the best they can. Help people be as flood aware as they can. And basically, make people more weather savvy.

We made progress in a lot of areas, you know? Flooding used to take hundreds of lives in one fell swoop. Doesn't tend to happen so much in the U.S. It's been a while since we've had this many people sadly die in a flash flood.

BROWN: You know, you wrote in your article that the flooding "is a painful blow to the regional arts of Kentucky." Tell us about that, what you mean.

HENSON: That's right. You know, central Appalachians has a very deep, rich history, and especially crafts and music. And one museum in Hinman, Kentucky, the Dulcimer Museum, was decimated.

You know, these are instruments that are really difficult to produce. And it's a real center for that kind of beautiful instrument production.

[20:24:58]

And you know, these are small cities and towns that when you knock out one unit like that or one function especially a long-lasting one, it really carves a hole in the city.

It can take a long, long time to recover from that.

BROWN: That just hits so close to home for me because my mom is a huge supporter of the handmade craft in Appalachia, in Kentucky.

There are so many people there that dedicate their lives to this, to making these crafts. And now it's just gone. The heart of their community has been taken away.

I'm really glad that you shed light on that.

Bob Henson, thank you.

HENSON: Thank you.

BROWN: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. How close is the Department of Justice to prosecuting people for planning the capitol riot? CNN legal analyst, Loni Coombs, joins me next to discuss.

[20:30:11]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Members of the House Select Committee investigating January 6 say they're going to share 20 transcripts with the Justice Department. Committee Chairman, Bennie Thompson, says nobody that's been interviewed so far will be off limits. CNN legal analyst (INAUDIBLE) joins me now. So what is the significance of this money? And do you think DOJ would want to do its own interviewing of these people from the transcripts?

LONI COOMBS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Great to be with you, Pamela. Yes. I think the DOJ, obviously, will be doing their own investigation. However, what we know about this from the end of this week is that the DOJ is pushing far ahead in their investigation. They've moved from the Capitol and focusing on the insurrectionists. Now, they're focusing on the White House and the inner circle around Donald Trump.

So what we know about the 20 people that they're going to turn the transcripts over from is that they are people that the DOJ may consider to be persons of interest, people who they may want to file criminal charges against. So this could be very helpful for them in building their cases. We know that the Department of Justice, this week, called in two top advisors of Mike Pence in front of the grand jury.

We also know that Merrick Garland said in an interview that he is going to prosecute anyone and everyone who was involved in trying to criminally interfere with the peaceful transfer of power. And we also know that the DOJ is heading into court to try and get a ruling on this claim that many of the witnesses are making of the executive privilege, trying to not have to answer questions about their direct interaction or communication with Donald Trump.

If they can pierce this privilege. This will allow them to be able to get into these witnesses and act find out information directly about Donald Trump's involvement, his knowledge, his choices in this matter. So this could be a very big move and these transcripts could be very helpful to the DOJ in building these cases.

I want to ask you about this audio obtained from the Washington Post. It was from 2019 where Congressman Matt Gaetz tells Roger Stone that he was probably going to go to prison, but he was working to get him a pardon from then President Trump. He also shared that Stone had been mentioned in redacted portions of the Mueller report. Gaetz was serving on the House Judiciary Committee and had been given access to secret portions of the findings. Did anything illegal happen here?

COOMBS: You know, Pamela, this very likely could be. This could be witness tampering. And it wouldn't be the first time that Matt Gaetz has been accused of this and going right up the line. You know, on the eve before Michael Cohen's testimony and part of the congressional hearing. Matt Gaetz set out a tweet that was directed at Michael Cohen that many people took as a threat about his testimony.

Here, we have not a threat, but perhaps an inducement to Roger Stone. We have Roger Stone complaining to him on this recording, saying, look, I'm going to go down on this, the jurors don't like me, but I don't want to hurt Donald Trump. And then you have Matt Gaetz responding and saying, yes, you're going to go down. I've seen the confidential report. You're all over in it. You have no defense to this, but don't worry. And then he says specifically, the boss still has a very favorable view of you that he said it directly. He says, I don't think the big guy can let you go down for this.

So this is very clear type of inducement for, hey, this is what we can do for you if you think about this during the trial. And sure enough, we know that Roger Stone was convicted, he was sentenced and then he was pardoned.

And, you know, Pamela, the most ironic thing about this as Matt Gaetz make his minutes recording as he's having this conversation, he is actually sitting on the House Judiciary Committee that is looking specifically at Donald Trump to see if he is offering these types of inducements to his allies who are involved in the Russian probe.

BROWN: That's an important. I remember in the Mueller report, the obstruction of justice section talked about how they looked at investigated how dangling pardons was -- it was potentially part of this. So this is a really interesting development. Loni, thank you.

COOMBS: You bet.

BROWN: The death of a month old baby boy is drawing attention to this little known virus. Ronan Delancy passed away this summer despite being born perfectly healthy. His mother joins me next to explain what happened and what families need to know about a dangerous strain of this virus.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:35:20]

BROWN: In May, Ronan was born happy and healthy. He was a normal baby born at full term. But just 34 days later earlier this summer, he died. Ronan contracted parechovirus, a rarely diagnosed typically mild illness. However, in some cases it can be deadly.

And now the CDC is issuing a nationwide health alert about a dangerous strain of this virus that is even more dangerous in infants less than three months old like Ronan. I want to bring in his mother, Kat Delancy.

Kat, you are living through every parent's worst nightmare. I know you're going through so much grief right now processing what happened to a little Ronan. When did you first notice something was wrong with him?

KAT DELANCY, MOTHER OF RONAN DELANCY: He was about 10 days old. And he started developing a rash. And he got very irritable, was crying a lot. But I checked him like for a temperature he didn't have a temperature. And he just wasn't eating quite as much as he had been previously. He was breastfed. So I called in to his pediatrician and had him come in for a visit.

And at that time, I mean, the pediatrician reassured me that it was gas and colic. But just less than 12 hours later, I was bringing him into the hospital and he was intubated shortly after arriving. So he was clearly very sick by the time that he got there. And it just escalated from there. So after the breathing issues came seizures, and the entire time he was in the hospital, and he was battling one of the two.

BROWN: And when they told you that he had this virus, what was your reaction? Because, I mean, look, I'm a mom. I was never told about this virus and what a threat it was to my babies. I mean, what was your reaction?

[20:40:09]

DELANCY: We were -- my husband and I were both very taken aback by it, because we had never heard of it before. And especially the way that it was presented to us was this is a virus that had been going around in Australia. And we we're like, well, how did our son get that, and especially because he had minimal outside contact? I mean, most of his contact was with people within the hospital. And at home, it was just as immediate family and none of us were sick.

So, initially, the infectious disease doctors were very optimistic and said, you know, he'll recover, he'll leave the hospital. And then after that, you know, it just wasn't improving. So once I heard about this virus, the first thing that I did was to, any sort of research that I could, I was doing the conventional type of research going on PubMed and reading as many articles as possible on it. And then I did the less conventional, which was going on like social media and trying to find other parents who may have had children with this virus.

And at that point in time, I noticed that there was a -- there was a parechovirus support group. And there was people who are joining every day into this group. And so I went from being told that this is a very rare virus. It was only in Australia many years ago. And then all of a sudden, I saw this influx of a lot of parents joining all at the same time. And it was shocking to me and it was shocking, I think, to even the infectious disease doctors that maybe it was going around a lot more than we thought at that point.

BROWN: Well, and what's so scary about this is that -- I mean, as soon as you saw a symptom, you acted, right? You took him in to get him checked out. They ran the tests, and yet, this was still what happened. What is important for people to know for parents to look out for, for their babies? I imagine catching it early is important. Tell us more about what the warning signs are.

DELANCY: Yes. So it was so subtle. For him, it was -- he was a first -- one day, he was very irritable, and -- but babies can be that way. And it was like a few hours of him crying. But he would be consoled if we were holding him. And he was still eating fine. He didn't have a fear, anything else that would be a warning sign.

So the next day, you know, when I brought him into the pediatrician, he seemed a lot more tired, but he had a rash all over his stomach, but it was just bright red. It wasn't like any bumps or anything. And even the pediatrician that day was like, I don't know what this is. A lot of the guidance right now is, look out for a fever, but he never had a fever. And I've actually talked with a lot of other parents who have had children who have had this virus and a lot of them never presented with a fever even when they were in there -- in the hospital.

So as much as I want to say just watch out for that. It's really not enough. So what I do give us advice is like, you know your baby better than anybody else. If your baby is acting different, bring them in to get checked out. And now since the CDC has put out a warning, and it's being talked about a lot more. A lot more pediatricians are becoming aware of it and sending children to the hospital sooner and the hospital's testing for it. So it can be caught and treated as best as it can.

Unfortunately, right now, there's no real treatment other than making sure that they're breathing OK. If they have seizures, managing seizures, and that's really important because with Ronan, he had seizures as soon as he got into the hospital. And, you know, the sooner that you can address that, the less likely you're going to have more significant brain damage.

BROWN: Yes.

DELANCY: So, you know, I just tell people, trust your gut.

BROWN: Yes, trust your gut, like you said, you know, your baby better than anyone else. I think that is the best advice you can give. You know, we're seeing these pictures of you laying in bed with him reading to him as he's in the hospital. It's just so heartbreaking. And you also have a toddler at home, a little 2-year-old daughter.

On your website, you published a blog on July 16 that says, "I don't want to fool anyone into thinking I'm stronger than I am. The reality is I'm forcing myself to get out of bed for my daughter. And for this cause I'm crying on the floor of an empty nursery or to sleep each night. That gives me chills. Tell us more about how you're coping. You'd go to sleep crying. What is it like waking up in the morning?

DELANCY: So it's hard. Every day I wake up and I hope that it was just a bad nightmare. And it's not. And, you know, one of the things that keeps him going, besides my wonderful daughter, is working towards -- making people aware of this and hoping that another family can't go through it because I can't bring my son back. And there's nothing that I could do there. So the best that I can do is try and help somebody else. And, you know, have some sort of cause and have Ronan's name around a lot longer. And hopefully that Ronan has created something good in the world, because I know that he would have it's just he didn't get the chance. So that's what I can do for him.

BROWN: You are carrying on his legacy and you are raising awareness and you are helping others. I guarantee that. So thank you, little Ronan, and thank you, Kat. You are just incredible. I'm in awe of your strengths. I really am. Thank you.

[20:45:07]

DELANCY: Thank you.

BROWN: We'll be right back

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Just one ticket won the second biggest treasure in Mega Millions history, more than $1.3 billion. CNN's Omar Jimenez is outside Chicago where the winning ticket was sold.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was already going to be a great payout at $1.28 billion. But then we learned it jumped to about $1.34 billion because of last minute sales. It's the second biggest in Mega Millions' history, the third biggest all-time across all U.S. lotteries and has officially changed someone's life.

[20:50:06]

Now, we still don't know who that person is at this point, but we do know where the ticket was sold, right here at this Speedway gas station outside of Chicago in Des Plaines, Illinois, near O'Hare Airport. People have been streaming in and out throughout Saturday even trying to see if lightning could strike twice here. Take a listen to Illinois lottery officials explaining how much of a cut this gas station gets.

HAROLD MAYS, ILLINOIS LOTTERY OFFICIAL: It's based on a percentage. Retailers get a one percent selling bonus for the prize up to $500,000. JIMENEZ: Now, Pam, technically, this person has 12 months to come forward and claim their prize, but only 60 days to choose that $780 million cash option. So the clock is ticking. But it's not just about the jackpot winner.

Countrywide, there were 26 people who won at least a million dollars in states from California to Louisiana, up to New York as well. And six of them basically paid a dollar extra on the front end for a chance at a two times multiplier and won. So they aren't taking home $2 million. That's probably the best investment I could ever think of $1 on the front end, a million extra on the back end, but only one person was that jackpot winner and now we wait to see who that person actually is. If we ever find out. Pam.

BROWN: We shall see. Thank you.

Up next, Will Smith lapse an apology on YouTube four months after he slapped the host of the Oscars.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:55:25]

BROWN: The 2022 Academy Awards were presented on March 27th. And now, more than four months after the slap seen round the world, Will Smith is finally getting round to saying, he's sorry. After months of what he calls thinking and personal work, he didn't go to Oprah, he didn't sit down for some red table talk. He answered scripted questions in a nearly six-minute video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILL SMITH, AMERICAN ACTOR: Why didn't you apologize to Chris in your acceptance speech? I was fogged out by that point. It's all fuzzy. I've reached out to Chris and the -- the message that came back is that he's not ready to talk. And when he is, he will reach out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Chloe Melas joins me with more.

Clearly, tightly controlled apology here. It has PR team written all over it. Is this all about rehabbing his image?

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: One hundred percent. He actually ends the entire thing, Pamela, by saying I hope at one point, we will be able to be friends again. I mean, he has a new movie coming out on Apple TV at some point next year called Emancipation. He still wants to work even though he's not able to go to the Oscars for the next 10 years.

He potentially could still be nominated for it. But at the same time though, you have to give him credit for coming out and being vulnerable, contrite, although it does seem incredibly scripted, although he claims that these are questions from fans but assuming that he saw them in advance. You know, he says he's sorry to Chris Rock's family specifically to Chris Rock's brother, Tony, who he says that it's, you know, irreparably damaged that relationship that they had. He also apologized to Chris Rock's mom.

I also want to tell you, Chris Rock took the stage last night in Atlanta at the Fox Theater as part of his comedy tour. And he said for anyone who says words hurt, they've never been punched in the face. You know, he's made subtle jabs throughout his entire tour. I've been to some of those shows, listen to Chris Rock. He has never actually addressed the slap really, like sat down and talked about it, other than subtly. I will say, though, that he also compared Will Smith jokingly called him Suge Smith. Well, we all know Suge Knight was the co-founder of Death Row Records, who's in prison and is notoriously violent.

So, clearly, you know, we know Will Smith says Chris Rock has not responded yet and isn't ready to reach out. And, you know, Chris Rock. I mean, he should be able to take all the time he wants to do that. But the olive branch has been extended, I guess, Pamela.

BROWN: Yes. I mean, he doesn't even have to talk to him. It's up to Chris Rock, right?

So most people seem to be more interested actually in Beyonce's new album. Let's talk about that for a second.

Melas: Oh, it's just -- it's the anthem of the summer, all the songs disco funk. She sample songs from Donna Summer, I Feel Love. She also sample songs from James Brown. You know, also, let's point out though that Beyonce is also carefully orchestrated and how she puts her music out there. And this actually leaked a few days ago in the BeyHive. They all were very adamant about not illegally downloading the music until it came out on Friday, but people are loving it. And she also has two new albums coming out Renaissance 2 and Renaissance 3. We don't know when ye, but you can expect a bunch of more great music but people are loving it. Pamela.

BROWN: All right. Chloe Melas, thank you so much.

MELAS: Yes.

Brown: Well, in 2020 expert shark diver, Jimi Partington, nearly died in the jaws of a great white. And a year later, he looked to overcome his PTSD and get back in the water with the ocean's mega sharks. But what starts off well turns into a life or death battle. Discovery Shark Week, Great White Open Ocean airs next right here on CNN.

And thank you so much for spending some time with me on the Saturday evening. I'm Pamela Brown. I'll see you again tomorrow night starting at 6:00 Easter.

[21:00:00]