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Connect the World
U.S. Debate Rages Over When And How To Reopen Schools; Global Cases Steadily Increase With New Infection Waves; Inside California Hospital Battling The Worst Of The Pandemic; UK's Black Nurses Battling COVID And Racism; Manchester United's Super Teen Closing In On Record Season. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired July 10, 2020 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to "Connect the World." I'm Kim Brunhuber in Atlanta. Ahead this hour, the U.S sets yet another dismal
record 63,000 Coronavirus cases in a single day and in many other parts of the world, cases are spiking, too.
Tokyo, Melbourne and Hong Kong are just some of the cities dealing with it. We have the latest plus how the battle against the virus in the UK is
spotlighting the struggle for quality among Britain's black nurses?
Despite months of lockdowns and social distancing measures in the United States, cases of COVID-19 are popping up almost everywhere you look. The
country has 330 million, yet another record. More than 63,000 new cases on Thursday alone, and that brings the total case count to over 3.1 million.
More than 133,000 people in the U.S. have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. Now over the past week, California, Texas and Florida had their
highest single day death tolls. Rosa Flores has more.
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Long lines for testing in Miami. Annual pass holder previews at Walt Disney World in Orlando. And the debate on
whether to reopen Florida schools intensifying.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): If you can do Home Depot, if you can do Wal-Mart, if you can do these things, we absolutely can do the schools.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FLORES: This all while new Coronavirus cases reached nearly 9,000 in the sunshine state Thursday. The nation's top infectious diseases doctor says
Florida move through the reopening process too quickly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Certainly Florida, I know, I think jumped over a couple
checkpoints.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FLORES: It's one of four states accounting for about 50 percent of new infections in another record-setting day of new cases in the country.
Hundreds in Phoenix waited in their cars for the chance to get a free Coronavirus test as temperatures reached 110 degrees.
33 percent of people are testing positive in Arizona. And intensive care units are about 89 percent full with around 180 beds available across the
entire state.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAUREN LEANDER, ARIZONA ICU NURSE: We're kind of at the point where we're stretched so thin, we're at the point of compromising patients' safety.
Things have definitely taken a bad turn since our state reopened here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FLORES: Hospitals in Texas are also in crisis mode and elective surgeries are on hold in much of the state. California's governor announced a record
high of Coronavirus-related deaths.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): The mortality rates are still front center and should be in your consciousness. For those who just think that now people
are getting it and no one is dying, that's very misleading. In fact, it's fundamentally untrue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FLORES: Around 100,000 people are tested for the disease in California daily. And Los Angeles County recorded nearly 1800 new cases on Thursday
alone. More than 50% of people testing positive there are between the ages of 18 and 40.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAUCI: I would hope we don't have to resort to shut down. I think that would be something that is obviously an extreme. So rather than think in
terms of reverting back down to a complete shutdown, I would think we need to get the states pausing in their opening process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FLORES: And with testing efforts ramping up nationwide, there is serious concern for keeping up with PPE and supplies for health workers and a delay
in results from labs. The CDC Director acknowledging there is a lot of room for improvement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, CDC DIRECTOR: We continue to have greater needs for more testing. Even though we're now up over 600,000 tests a day, we
continue to need more testing in this country to confront this outbreak, and I anticipate that that capability will continue to come.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: CNN's Rosa Flores reporting. So I'd like to get more on this debate over when and how to reopen classrooms with Senior Washington
Correspondent Joe Johns? Joe on those school reopenings the President again at odds with the experts what's the latest?
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest is that the President of the United States really wants schools to be opened by any
means necessary, if you will. And essentially what's going on here is, the Task Force specifically, the Centers for Disease Control, have guidelines
that they put out months ago.
And they say they're sticking to those guidelines despite the fact that the President would like to see them change, because he says they're
impractical, they're expensive. What the CDC is willing to do is to put out a little bit more information about their guidelines. But it's pretty
simple stuff, if you think about it. It's trying to find a way to ensure distancing between school children. Six feet apart is optimal.
[11:05:00]
JOHNS: The President, of course, and others here at the White House have said there is a problem with that because of space in classrooms. So it's
the kind of thing that still has to be worked out. At the end of the day, opening up the schools across the United States is not going to be
something that the President of the United States dictates.
It's going to come down to localities, because it's the localities in the states that control K-12 education in the United States. And it could be
very piecemeal, and it will depend on the situation of a particular school or a particular school district, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: All right. So in about an hour now, I'll see the President will be landing in Florida, the global epicenter of the crisis. But I understand
the Coronavirus isn't exactly top on his agenda there.
JOHNS: It's not on his agenda at all, quite frankly. The President is going to Dural, Florida. That, by the way, is where one of his golf clubs is, but
it's also the home of U.S. Southern Command, and he's going there to talk about drug interdiction with the military.
And sometime after that, the President is also expected to sit down at a round table with Venezuela dissonance that clearly is an outrage to the
powerful and critical Latino voting bloc in South Florida, and then he's going to a fundraiser around Ft. Lauderdale.
So, COVID is not apparently on the menu unless they add something. And also important to say, when the President goes down to a place like this, or
almost anywhere he travels, it really puts a burden on the health care system because hospitals, EMTs and others have to be written into the
contingency plans in the event something happens to the President or his entourage.
So, it's not a good time, quite frankly, for the President to go, according to many experts, nonetheless this is his decision and he's the President,
Kim.
BRUNHUBER: All right. We'll be following that through the rest of the day. Thank you so much, Joe Johns, in Washington. Our next guest is Andy
Slavitt, the Former Acting Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services during the Obama Administration. He joins us live from
Edina Minnesota.
Thank you very much for joining us. You've been extremely active on Twitter, as always excoriating the President on his response to the
pandemic. So, I want to start with the contentious subject of opening schools that we've just been talking about here. Most health experts agree
kids should go back to school. The President agrees. What do you say?
ANDY SLAVITT, FMR. ACTING ADMIN., CENTERS FOR MEDICARE AND MEDICAID SERVICES: Well, everybody wants kids to go back to school and they want it
to happen safely. We shut schools down in the spring. We had very little testing capability. We were running out of PPE. We had hundreds of cases.
Today we've got to ask ourselves, what's changed since then?
We have no testing capability to speak of, we're running out of PPE and we have tens of thousands of cases. The President hasn't afforded or endorsed
a safe plan to keep schools open. The President has a track record with kids that include locking in detention centers and separating them from
their parents all the way to not responding to school shootings.
So, I don't think Americans are feeling that he's being motivated by what's in kids' best interests. Hopefully at the local and state level, people
will start to look at the data and figure it out. There is going to be some tough decisions to make. There are absolutely no easy answers. It's going
to be very case by case, region by region, and people are going to have to be flexible.
BRUNHUBER: Okay, but at the state level, Florida's Governor compared reopening schools to reopening stores like Wal-Mart any problem with that
logic?
SLAVITT: Well, look, I don't think there's any problem pushing the schools and the districts to try to figure out good plans that work. Unfortunately,
when they say they want everybody to be there in person, they're already making decisions without looking at the data.
The fact is there will be kids who have Wi-Fi, who have safe meals at home, who have the ability to stay home safely. And in order to keep the schools
open of a certain size, we may need to ask those families to have their kids do distance learning for a time.
It's not optimal, but we may need to do that. So why would the Governor say, we absolutely have to open it and we absolutely have to have every kid
there? The reason that Wal-Mart can be safe is because Wal-Mart can limit the traffic in the store so can Home Depot. When he's saying, I want to
shove 35 kids into a classroom, that's not the same thing.
[11:10:00]
BRUNHUBER: All right. So I want to pivot now to the idea of, you know, wearing masks. All the experts say this is what we need to do. The
President has been very slow to heed calls from within his own party to wear a mask. Now he says he might wear one, at least in a limited manner.
So let's listen to this clip here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: "I expect to be wearing a mask when I go into Walter Reed. You're in a hospital setting. I think it's
a very appropriate thing. I have no problem with a mask. I don't think you need one when you're tested all the time, everybody around you is tested".
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: So as the President does, so do his supporters, how important is this concession, if it is one?
SLAVITT: Kim, you said it exactly right. If he does say that we have supporters. And he forgets the fact that he's not just him walking into
Walter Reed and then getting tested every day, so he doesn't need to wear a mask.
The fact is that if he walked out and said, I'm wearing a mask because it's better for the country, and I want to set an example for you and you should
all wear masks, it would dramatically improve the situation here in the U.S.
The truth is people should do what he does, not what he says. He does not allow people around him to be near him without a mask. He does not allow
people to be near him without taking tests. So they should say, if it's good enough for you, Mr. President, why isn't it good enough for the rest
of us where he says we're over testing and we shouldn't be wearing masks or he's deferent to wearing a mask.
BRUNHUBER: All right. So, a new poll suggests two thirds of Americans disapprove at the President's handling over the COVID crisis. During the
Obama Administration, you were brought in to help repair the problematic rollout of healthcare.gov. So, I have a hypothetical for you here.
The President calls you on that phone that's ringing behind you there and he says, we need to fix our COVID approach. What would your first
priorities be?
SLAVITT: Well, the first priority is to level with the American public and be very straight about the information that they need to have to help to
make the decisions that they need to make. I would tweet at the statuary picking data then we have to start putting the direct information of the
people need.
The second thing, I would get the resources to the country that people needed. And if that means being accountable to saying, we're going to get
the tests and the personal protective equipment to people so they're safer, I would do that.
The President fails to understand that even if he tried and failed, people would have more respect for him than what he's doing now, which is
effectively saying this is not my responsibility. This virus doesn't matter. It's safe. People are - it is overblown.
So we sending messages of safety, we sending actual resources, I would take accountability and I would try to convince the President that is the best
way through this is accountability. He plans to run for re-election on growing jobs back from all of the job losses.
And I would try to persuade him that the only way we're going to see real job recovery, the only way is with consumer spending, people flying again,
where people buying cars with people signing leases of business buying equipment.
And that won't happen with 60,000 new cases every day. So, we have to take care of that. I think he thinks that's too hard. I think he just - he
thinks he can bully the economy back. We'll see, but it doesn't seem like that's possible.
BRUNHUBER: All right. Some free advice there for the White House. Thank you very much Andy Slavitt for joining us. I appreciate it.
SLAVITT: Yes, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Health experts have warned from early in the pandemic that some people infected with the Coronavirus show no symptoms but can still infect
others. CNN's Brian Todd has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've had oxygen coming out my nose, coming on the wall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Before he was admitted to a hospital in Pennsylvania this spring, TV Sports Producer Jason Hartelius believes he
carried the Coronavirus in his system, while he moved around at his work for about a week a danger that Hartelius warned about as he was recovering.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JASON HARTELIUS, RECOVERED CORONAVIRUS VICTIM: You may say you're fine, you may say you're low risk. You know what, you might get it, not know it, go
back to work thinking you're fine never having any symptoms. You could give it to people you work with who could get very sick or die.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: That danger of silent unknown transmission of Coronavirus is coming into greater focus. A new study published by the National Academy of
Sciences says, people who are so called silent spreaders could be responsible for about half of all Coronavirus cases.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALISON GALVANI, YALE UNIV.CTRL.FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE MODELING &ANALYSIS: And this makes control of COVID-19 particularly challenging. With COVID-19
people are infectious before any symptoms so most people who are transmitting the virus are doing so inadvertently without even realizing
that they're sick.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[11:15:00]
TODD: Study Author Alison Galvani says, that means the silent spreaders are mostly people who are going through those few days just before symptoms
show themselves or who are completely asymptomatic.
And she says younger, seemingly healthy people, are disproportionately responsible for silent transmissions. A key question now give n this new
study how do we combat silent spreading? Experts say it means doubling down on the basics.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER NUZZO, JOHNS HOPKINS BLOOMBERG SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: First thing is distance. Second things is if you do have to go out, try to
physically separate yourself from others and try to avoid those crowded indoor spaces, and wear masks or reduce the chances that you could transmit
your virus to others if you don't know, if you have it and don't know about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: And experts say, this new information on silent transmission does not mean we should panic when we venture out or think that everyone we see is a
silent spreader of Coronavirus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NUZZO: We still very much think that this virus is spread by close, prolonged contact. So we shouldn't take from this that if you're just out
in the streets or in the grocery store and you're maintaining distance from people that this puts you at even greater risk than we may have thought
otherwise.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: Still, tracking silent spreaders of Coronavirus is going to be a huge challenge in the months and years ahead. This new study says more than one-
third of silent infections would need to be identified and isolated in order to suppress any future outbreaks.
And the author of the study says, we're not there yet, pointing out there's not enough contact tracing available, and not even enough tests for people
who have symptoms, let alone people who are asymptomatic. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
BRUNHUBER: Still relatively low in Hong Kong, but officials there aren't taking any chances with a new wave of infections.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRUNHUBER: Around the world the pandemic is showing no sign of slowing. While some countries have managed to reduce the spread, other nations are
struggling with new waves of infection.
Cases have now risen to more than 12.2 million globally, roughly doubling since the beginning of June. Worldwide Coronavirus deaths topped more than
555,000. Now India is one of the countries seeing a spike. More than 26,000 new cases were recorded Thursday. That's the biggest single day increase
for India.
Despite that, a senior health ministry official claims the spread is under control. He says the number of recovered cases exceeds new active cases. In
the Far East, Tokyo is also seeing a jump in infections. 243 new Coronavirus cases were confirmed Friday, the biggest single day spike
there.
Tokyo's Governor says the increase of cases could be partially contributed to more testing being done. And to the south, infection numbers in
Australia are up. 288 new cases in the State of Victoria were reported Thursday. That's the highest amount for a single day in an Australian
state. Officials are taking steps to contain the outbreak.
[11:20:00]
BRUNHUBER: Even with control measures, Victoria's Chief Health Officer warns the numbers will get worse. Officials in Hong Kong are also battling
a new wave of locally transmitted infections. Actions were taken early to control the pandemic, but now officials are putting measures to curb the
spread back in place. That includes closing schools again beginning on Monday. CNN's Will Ripley has the latest.
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pandemic Hong Kong has really felt almost like a safe zone. They took action very early on to close the borders, test
everyone coming into the city for COVID-19 mandatory 14 day quarantine for incoming travelers.
And so, they pretty much have effectively been able to prevent the virus from coming in from the outside. But what they have not been able to get a
handle on now are locally transmitted cases. In fact, a record daily high in the number of locally transmitted COVID-19 cases here in Hong Kong and
the numbers are going up every day. They're still relatively small by comparison.
I mean, keep in mind this is a city densely populated. 7 million people live here. Fewer than 1400 Coronavirus cases so far and only seven deaths.
But if these numbers keep going up and if this virus starts spreading in the community, if people are walking around and they don't know they have
it, health experts know those number could shoot up exponentially, and that could be very bad for Hong Kong.
They have been able to identify three clusters of infection in restaurants and bars, in taxis and in senior care centers. So in each of those areas,
they're taking steps to test more people, they're imposing more restrictive social distancing measures that begin this weekend. So in restaurants only
eight people can sit at a table together.
And at bars, night clubs only four people can sit at a table together. People are supposed to wear masks at all times, if they're not eating or
drinking. They're trying to trace who is being riding in taxis with drivers who may have been infected although that's tough here in Hong Kong.
There is a lot of people pay cash, don't get a receipt, you have no idea who is coming in and out of the taxi. And at senior centers, they need to
test more people, they need to test more of the workers at those centers, so that they can try to find out who has this virus and get them isolated
as quickly as possible.
So that more people don't continue to walk around Hong Kong, perhaps unknowingly spreading this virus and making the stir wave of a whole lot
bigger than even the two previous waves. Will Ripley, CNN, Hong Kong.
BRUNHUBER: Despite a massive jump in Coronavirus infections this week, Mexico is moving ahead with a plan of reopening the country. On Thursday
Mexico recorded more than 7,000 cases. The third time this week it recorded a new record high. CNN's Matt Rivers has the latest from Mexico City.
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: From June 2nd to July 2nd, Mexico City's case total jumped about 65 percent. Also on July 2nd, Mexico City's open
air markets, crowded and confined, reopened. 63-year-old Amirosa Lara invited us to see her stall.
She says she and seven family members all had COVID-19 back in April. But when the government opened markets back up, she jumped. She says the people
that work here live day to day and we can't survive otherwise. People like - could presumably survive though without shopping for clothes, but there
she was.
She says God willing its stays open because it's really nice to have contact with people again. But experts say its contact with people that's
the problem. The most in this market didn't seem to care. They also didn't seem to care in other part of the city like here in Santo, despite the
government's Sana Distancia or healthy distance awareness campaigns in many places, it's just not happening.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. MALAQUIAS LOPEZ CERVANTES, PUBLIC HEALTH EXPERT: I think it's too dangerous to try to re-establish all the social activities in May.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIVERS: And we've seen what happens when places reopen too soon, thinking of course of the United States. Mexico City started reopening malls and
restaurants and markets last week when new cases were still high. This chart from Mexico City's government shows only a slight trend downwards in
new cases from its peak.
So I think experts say it could be easily reversed it seems the markets like this continue to happen. Though the government insists they can do
this safely.
He says it's fundamental for the economy, but we do have to be on top of everything, which it is clear they are not. Requirements like using
antibacterial gel, social distancing and temperature checks were not enforced in most places and people knew it.
And you know woman just came up to our - camera and said, hey, stop filming, stop filming, because when your video airs, they're going to have
to close the market back down. But the reality is that, whether we are here or not, I mean, look at this, you don't need to be a public health expert
to see that what is happening right now at this market is not safe.
Across all of Mexico, cases and deaths have roughly tripled since June 1st and they keep going up. And across all of Mexico, certain sectors of local
economies are reopening like this. That is a dangerous combination. Matt rivers, CNN, Mexico City.
[11:25:00]
BRUNHUBER: Coronavirus has now infected a third head of state in Latin America. Bolivia's interim President Jeanine Anez announced on Twitter
Thursday she tested positive for COVID-19. In recent weeks the Presidents of Brazil and Honduras also tested positive for the virus.
Mrs. Anez says she got tested after several of her cabinet members contracted the disease. She is now working in isolation and says she will
self-quarantine for 14 days. Mrs. Anez is among the 44,000 Bolivians who have been infected. More than 1600 Bolivians have died.
In Turkey, the government is paving the way for one of the world's most iconic examples of Byzantine agriculture to change from a museum to a
mosque. That's after some new moves by Turkish Squads and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Arwa Damon is in Istanbul with more. So the Hagia Sophia
from museum to mask, does this have more to do with politics than religion?
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Some will say that, yes, it does, and this is a by-product of President Erdogan and his AKP
Party wanting to consolidate his base, especially given that the economy here has been hit rather hard and his popularity does seem to be slightly
slipping.
But just to give you an idea of Hagia Sophia's history. I mean, this was the Roman Empire's first Christian Church back in the Byzantine era. Then
in 1453, when the ottomans took over what was then Constantinople, they converted it into a mosque.
Fast-forward to when Turkey became modern day Turkey, as we know it today with its Founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, he issued a decree and then it
opened as a museum in 1935. Now there have been moves in the past that have not succeeded to try to get its status changed from museum back to mosque.
Now it seems that it has gone through and prior to this decree coming down from President Erdogan.
And in the weeks leading up to all of this, we did hear from the United States, we've heard from the Greeks, we heard from the Russians, and we
even heard from UNESCO itself because it is a UNESCO World Heritage site, all urging the Turkish government to way consider making this kind of a
move.
UNESCO saying that if their status change then it's listing its status as being on the list of wealth heritage site could also be affected as well
but all of this actually serves to sort of irk the Turkish government who pushed back saying, look, this is on our land. We have the right to make
this decision.
Now it's also worth mentioning, though, that Turkey's Presidential Spokesperson did say that the Christian art that is inside, the Christian
icons that are displayed inside, that they would not be affected just because Hagia Sophia was going to be open to prayer. But that is one of the
concerns that is out there, as is what all of this means.
You do have a number of statements saying that Hagia Sophia really sort of stands as a symbol of the cross roads between Christianity and Islam and
that changing that would not be beneficial.
BRUNHUBER: All right. Arwa Damon thanks for breaking down that controversial decision for us. Appreciate it. Still ahead, hospitals in the
United States are being pushed to limit as COVID-19 cases soar. So, we'll go inside a California Medical Center where front line workers are battling
the worst of the pandemic.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:30:00]
BRUNHUBER: United States is reporting its highest single day number of COVID-19 cases again. According to Johns Hopkins University Thursday saw
more than 63,000 new infections. 33 states more than half the country's on increasing cases from last week.
California is one of several states reporting a surge in deaths. Health officials there say 114 people died Wednesday marking the second highest
number of single day deaths since the pandemic began. Meanwhile some California hospitals are nearing their breaking point.
CNN's Kyung Lah takes us inside one medical center on the U. S. Mexico border where doctors and nurses are working around the clock just to keep
up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want folks say hey it's a war zone - a war zone of what the war zone almost trying to combat the COVID-19.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The front line in this battlefield.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just craziness stuff.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Anybody else sick at home?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: Southern California's El Centro Regional Medical Center. CEO Adolphe Edwards is a Former Air Force Officer and Rock War Vet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADOLPHE EDWARDS, CEO, EL CENTRO REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER: I have seen this than actually deploy with me when we were in - when we were in Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: Now he's built them on American soil to handle the rush of COVID cases his hospital no longer has room for. Airconditioned tents in the triple
digit desert heat to handle patient after patient. El Centro is in Imperial County it sits at the U. S. Mexico border. This rural community is 85
percent Latino, one in four live in poverty. Per capita it has 3 times as many COVID cases as Los Angeles. And the death rate is the highest in
California.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: Your position working in a tent in America?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it's incredible isn't it? We'll make it through.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: Inside the hospital.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is exhausting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: We visit the sickest patients in the ICU.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will pay for the taxes from the regular price.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: Every single patient in this 12 bed ICU has COVID, 11 of them survive with ventilators.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: Can you explain what you're wearing?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, it's a device that helps keep everything you know kind of like close to we're not exposed to danger.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: It's what nurse and Amber Marez needs to where to stay safe while helping her 40-year-old patient.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: How sick is he?
AMBER MAREZ, NURSE, EL CENTRO REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER: He is really sick and he's really young so we're trying to do everything we can before we
intubate him.
LAH: What is that suggesting to you as a nurse that his age is dropping?
MAREZ: I think that a lot of people aren't honoring like the stay at home you know a lot of people are doing the social - aren't doing the social
distancing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: That's what the El Centro Fire Department sees on the streets. The Battalion Chief says in this town of 50,000 people every single hour it is
this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a possible COVID patient on scene, so at this point our personnel are gearing up for a COVID patient.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: In a full hazmat suit Captain Chadwick revives an unconscious patient. It's a stifling 110 degrees.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: --remove all uniforms and take a shower and put a different uniform afterwards on the day.
LAH: It's dripping?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes ma'am, everybody is really tired and nobody - you can see on my face you know we're --.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: That patient Captain - saved arrives at El Centro Medical's Emergency Room.
[11:35:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW LAFREE, MEDICAL DIRECTOR OF EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT, EL CENTRO REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER: We've hit capacity we've transferred out 2 or 3 times the
normal amount of patients that they were sending out. I think in the last two months we sent out something like 500 patients.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: Some to nearby San Diego others as far away as Northern California. This helicopter is here to pick up another patient. ER doctors and nurses
intubate under this blue trait to limit particle exposure stabilized patient heads out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: Why is that happening so badly here in Imperial County?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are a lot of U.S. nationals live in Mexicali. They had a really bad outbreak there. There is a lot of people that cross the
border here for work that live in Mexicali and come to work here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: The fields in Imperial County sent produce across the country and even in a pandemic some 20,000 Mexican day workers enter legally every morning
to provide the labor. No work, no money for food says 65 year-old-farm worker Marino four of these fellow farm workers had died of COVID he says.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LUIS OLMEDO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, COMMITTEE CIVICO DEL VALLE, INC.: We cannot win a war on COVID in the emergency room look at the big picture. We
need to fight the war on COVID where it's speeding and that's our neighborhoods.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: In this by national county COVID is not the disease it's the symptom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OLMEDO: They experience social determinants of health like putting food on the table, like having to work in dangerous conditions, like not having a
mask. We are the poster of those inequities and the reason why we're not able to control COVID?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: The hospital here is bracing for what's yet to come. This empty tent is the future COVID ward.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: Is this tent a sign that this pandemic is here to stay?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, so I keep telling folks, look now it's a pandemic eventually it's going to be an endemic. So is this really how we want to
take care of our communities and the answer is no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: And this tent already is not enough that's why the hospital CEO wrote to California Senators Feinstein and Harris asking for more resources that
list includes 28 ICU nurses, 14 respiratory therapists and 20 ventilators that is just a partial list of something this hospital needs by next week.
Kyung Lah, CNN, El Centro, California.
BRUNHUBER: You may have heard the catchphrase cancel culture that essentially means disowning or shaming a public figure because they said or
did something you strongly agree with. Now more than 150 writers' academics and journalists including Harry Potter Author JK Rowling say cancel culture
is having a harmful effect on public discourse.
He wrote a letter in Harper's Magazine saying the free exchange of information and ideas, the lifeblood of a liberal society is daily becoming
more constricted while we have come to expect this on the radical right censoriousness is also spreading more widely in our culture and intolerance
of opposing views vogue for a public shaming and ostracism and the tendency to dissolve complex policy on issues in a blinding moral certainty.
All right, so we're now joined by one of the people behind that letter Thomas Chatterton Williams is a U. S. Cultural Critic and a Contributing
Writer at "The New York Times" Magazine. Thank you very much for joining us here. So despite you know the chaos engulfing the world right now this
topic has really been one of the most talked about online. So what did you feel the need to write this letter was there specifically one inciting
incident and why now?
THOMAS CHATTERTON WILLIAMS, U.S. CULTURAL CRITIC: Sure, thank you for having me. There was not one inciting incident. This letter is really a
response to a mood and a climate that myself and several other writers have been talking about for some time now and that in certain ways we felt had
recently accelerated.
BRUNHUBER: Can you give any specific you know incidents that kind of got this - got you guys talking? I think we may have lost our guests
unfortunately. I will try and get him back in a few minutes if we can if not will go to something else.
All right still ahead. Black nurses say racism is a way of life in Britain - system. So much so some of them are using a code to join each other
about. We'll have that story coming.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:40:00]
BRUNHUBER: In the UK the Coronavirus pandemic isn't the only pressing challenge facing healthcare workers the other is racism a societal ill
that's deeply ingrained. Salma Abdelaziz talked to black nurses about the indignities they face every day.
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Racism and Coronavirus twin pandemics that are forcing a reckoning across the world. Efe Obiakor a nurse of 12
years so she's on the frontline of both battles treating COVID-19 while also fighting for equality.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EFE OBIAKOR, NURSE: Lots of black nurses - it's very important for me to come out today because in the system where I worked and in the NHS as a
whole there is racism.
ABDELAZIZ: And what you face on a daily basis?
OBIAKOR: You just feel you're drowning and nobody is hearing your voice. On the Coronavirus of course it got worse because you had more of the blacks
in the forefront.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABDELAZIZ: Obiakor is not alone, CNN interviewed a dozen black nurses across England all say they faced systemic discrimination but only got
worse when the pandemic hit. We asked NHS England about these testimonies of racism it says it's doing everything it can to address discrimination
swiftly and effectively but they admitted COVID19 has shown a spotlight on stark health inequalities in this country.
Her home in South London nursing Neomi Bennet told us racism is so pervasive that there's a code to warn each other.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEOMI BENNET, NURSE: I'm going to ward before and I'll say to the nurse as I'm getting - a lot what state law I can she will--
ABDELAZIZ: Can you just say what that does mean?
BENNET: It basically means that the soft head they're not really formed of black people and there is going to be some forms of discrimination in the
shift. Also with the allocation sometimes you are lately allocated to the worst ever place to work and sometimes you might be given a lot more
patients.
ABDELAZIZ: The pandemic Coronavirus hits does it get worse or does it get better for nurses?
NEOMI: From my experience it definitely became quite challenging. It just made me feel really undervalued.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABDELAZIZ: Undervalued and under fire about 20 percent of England's NHS medical staff are minorities but early analysis shows they accounted for 60
percent of health care worker deaths from COVID-19.
Ken Sazuze knows the risks. A few years ago he and his wife Elsie went back to school to become nurses.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEN SAZUZE, STUDENT NURSE: I wasn't aware of discrimination side of missing until when I studied it then I saw boom, its different is dangerous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABDELAZIZ: The childhood sweethearts endured racism as a team and Elsie soon graduated and got a job in the NHS.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAZUZE: She had it in NHS if I could be honest.
ABDELAZIZ: And you feel she was treated differently because of the color of her skin because she was black?
SAZUZE: Not only because she was black but because you're black and you're trying to change the system. Because the system is designed black would be
the last.
[11:45:00]
ABDELAZIZ: So she goes through this for 4 years and then she says it's time to clock back?
SAZUZE: I can't do it anymore.
ABDELAZIZ: And she says I can't do it because of the racism and the discrimination?
SAZUZE: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABDELAZIZ: She never reported it out of fear of retribution instead Elsie found a new job in a local care home. Life got better and then things got
much worse. This is the last video Ken filmed of his wife. The mother of two died a few days later of COVID-19.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAZUZE: I could feel a little bit warmth but when I saw the machines I could understand that life has gone but I couldn't tell my kids.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAZUZE: But her passion lives on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAZUZE: I want to continue her legacy.
ABDELAZIZ: So even with everything you face?
SAZUZE: It doesn't change my world. I don't live there but people change me. No I'll always help people regardless where they come from what color
they are what they say to me I still love people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABDELAZIZ: The words are of a survivor but just surviving the system is never enough. Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.
BRUNHUBER: Poland's President is fighting for survival in the country's runoff election this Sunday. Andrzej Duda is one of U.S. President Donald
Trump's biggest allies but his messaging may be an issue with some Polish voters. He's made anti-LGBT and non inclusive comments during the campaign
while his opponent has more liberal goals for the country. Frederick Pleitgen reports on what's expected to be a very close election?
FREDRICK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A common sight in Warsaw these days LGBT activists protesting at the Presidential Palace as Conservative
President Andrzej Duda has made anti-gay rhetoric a centerpiece of his reelection campaign. Rhetoric his critics call these dehumanizing.
They are trying to convince us that they are people but it's simply ideology Duda said at a recent event. Trying to rally his very conservative
base Duda has already signed on to a proposal to make it illegal for anyone who's gay to adopt children and LGBT activists say they fear the
President's words could incite violence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEJ PERFEKCYJNOSC, LGBT ACTIVIST: We're really afraid to go out on the streets. We do not feel safe. Well, we never did actually pulled it since
we have a homophobic country from centuries actually. But right, now it's getting worse.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: One of Andrzej Duda's biggest international backers is President Trump who recently made Poland's leader the first Head of State to visit
Oval Office since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It gets a great honor and frankly Poland is a country where we have a tremendous relationship with and I have a very good personal relationship
with the President. So this is the first after COVID, after the start of the plague as I call it and it's an honor to have you here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: President Trump says he might even permanently base some U. S. troops said to move out of Germany in Poland in the future. Duda's track
record is controversial at home many polls and even the European Union accused him of undermining democracy by weakening institutions like the
country's courts.
His opponent to the liberal Mayor of Warsaw telling CNN if elected he'll work to reverse those policies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAFAL TRZASKOWSKI, CIVIC PLATFORM: The current government is monopolizing all the power. It's you know attacking old independent institutions and we
need a break. We need a balance of power were the President of the Republic can cooperate with the government when it's needed for example when it
comes to restoring good relations with the European Union. But who's ready to veto older legislation which is for example trying to meddle with the
rule of law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: One the eve of one of the most decisive elections in its recent history Poland is a nation divided with pollsters saying the outcome is too
close to call. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Warsaw, Poland.
BRUNHUBER: South Korean investigators aren't saying how the Mayor of Seoul died? The body of Park Won-soon was found on a mountainside near his home
after his daughter reported him missing Thursday evening.
Investigators have ruled out foul play but are not revealing the cause of death to protect his privacy. Police confirmed a sexual misconduct
complaint was filed against Park on Wednesday. Under South Korean law investigations are closed when a suspect dies.
Well he's the talk of the town in football's English Premier League right now. Why 18-year-old Manchester United wonder kid Mason Greenwood is eyeing
up a very special record right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:50:00]
BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to "Connect the World" this Friday. Europe's top football teams have learned their fate in the draw for the business end of
the continent's flagship UEFA Champions League. For more on that let's bring in CNN World Sport Patrick Snell some very intriguing matchups there?
PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Really are Kim. Yes, thanks so much. You know this a competition now scheduled to be completed in August after it
was put on hold for some four months this was due to the global pandemic. And we now know that the quarter finals will be seeing record 13 time
winners Real Madrid or England's Manchester City taking on the winner of the French - and Italy's Juventus.
Remember not all rounds of 16 ties yet complete Real 2-1 down from the first leg. Germany's RB Leipzig facing Liverpool's conquers Athletico,
Napoli or Barcelona will play treble seeking Bayern Munich or Chelsea and other Italian team Atalanta up against Paris St. Germain who is still
seeking a maiden title in this tournament.
These all one off matches from the quarterfinals on woods and they're all going to be taking place in Lisbon, Portugal. Let's stop into the expertise
now CNN's Sports Contributor Darren Lewis. Darren some great storylines to break down amid Friday's draw, what's really cool at your eye and why?
DARREN LEWIS, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: We deal this one is now - the paternalistic actually you know Patrick with the Pep Guardiola story with
Manchester City because he's Manchester City's side play Real Madrid. He's called them today the kings of competition and city up 2-1 up against a
Real Madrid. They will host them at the Etihad during those 12 days you describe a second ago.
And you know the City brought Pep Guardiola to the club because it won the Premier League on a number of occasions but they just couldn't win in the
Champions League. And they hope he is the man who is going to change their fortunes in European football's elite competition.
If they were to do so they would reverse the form from last year where domestically as you know they were Premier League winners. But Liverpool
went on to win the Champions League 12 months on Liverpool who won the Premier League could City go one better and win the Champions League at
last? That's the one that I think over here all eyes will be on.
SNELL: Yes. Yes, so much focus no question. So many great storylines as you alluded to. Ronaldo as well, Cristiano potentially up against his former
team at Real Madrid only won four of those 5 Champions League titles but look there are so many great tool because right now in the world of
football and in the Premier League.
I know you follow that one very closely indeed. I want to ask you about Man United wonder kid Mason Greenwood only 18, another impressive goal from him
last night against Aston Villa. No pressure on him at all right, Darren? How special a talent is he in your book?
LEWIS: He's a generational talent Patrick. Every so often player comes along and makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Greenwood is
that man, he's a teenager actually still a boy but he can score goals like the best of them.
16 so far this season, last night it was a banger to give his side an emphatic 3-0 win over Aston Villa. The first permanent league team in
history to win 4 games in a row by 3 goals all more and United are in fantastic form on a 17 match unbeaten run.
But greenwood is the man. You know only 3 players have scored more than the 16 goals that he has scored so far for Manchester United. One of them is
Brian the other two George Best and Wayne Rooney. He is in a steamed company and I think he will go all the way to the very top.
[11:55:00]
SNELL: Yes. That is impressive, wow! What company those names you just mentioned Darren speak volumes. Now United's victory I have to say they see
did include a somewhat controversial penalty won and converted by Bruno Fernandez nope the only questionable one of the nights on Thursday I will
say. Who do you feel is justified in feeling really hard done by right now?
LEWIS: By a million miles Patrick that I have to say Tottenham but they're not playing particularly well. But twice in as many weeks also right here
on the show last week talking about a penalty they should have had in the game against a goal they should have had in the game against Sheffield
United.
VAR ruled out Harry Kane striking it meant that spurs slumped to a defeat that had all the fans on the back of the Manager Joe's. Last night too they
should have had a penalty when Harry Kane was pushed in the box by the boomer striker Josh. Wasn't given big, big complaints over here about the
use of VAR and the talk is that FIFA will now take over the running of the video assistant.
Well, he'll take the role of the Video Assistant because the people here in the UK are not doing a good enough job.
SNELL: Just to reiterate that that's - that is potentially happening you saying regarding FIFA?
LEWIS: That is indeed potentially happening that FIFA will take over the running of the VAR because their feeling is that it should be administered
in a uniform way all around the world.
Referee should be going to the touch line to look at them on monitors to make a decision - very bear in mind Patrick that the referee is the sole
arbiter of any given football match and yet they are abdicating responsibility for these big decisions and there were three last night that
many, many people felt should not have been given a penalty for example for Manchester United that was given to them against Aston Villa.
Lots of people felt that the person who won that penalty Brenda Fernandez had actually conceded the foul. So yes, I think that was going to be a big,
big review in this country.
SNELL: Yes, no question Darren. Thank you so much for especially the clubs like Aston Villa was well. Darren thanks so much for your expert views and
perspectives. I always appreciate it. Kim, back to you my friend.
BRUNHUBER: All right, thank you. And thank you out there for joining me on "Connect the World" I'm Kim Brunhuber. The news continues after a short
break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
