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Erin Burnett Outfront
Trump Says "The Crisis is being Handled" as U.S. Braces for Setting Another Record Daily Cases; Trump Touts Plans to Attend Mt. Rushmore Event Where There Are No Plans for Social distancing or Mask Requirement; AZ Emergency Rooms Inundated with Record Number of Patients; Texas Hits New Hospitalizations Record With 7,382 Patients; Florida Voter Who Backed Trump in 2016: "He Blew It"; U.S. Employment Rate at 11.1 Percent. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired July 02, 2020 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: The Fourth of July this Saturday tonight with CNN. CNN's Don Lemon and Dana Bash host the night of fireworks and performances by all-star musical guests. It's Saturday night at 8 Eastern.
I'm Jim Acosta. Thanks very much for watching.
Erin Burnett OUTFRONT starts right now.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next breaking news, the U.S. closing in on a new high for coronavirus cases as Dr. Fauci warns we're heading in the wrong direction. Yet the President is insisting everything is under control.
Plus, rare access in a hospital overwhelmed with coronavirus patients where capacity is forcing doctors to make life and death decisions.
And a Broadway star survives coronavirus, but three months later he's still battling the effects. He's my guest. Let's go OUTFRONT.
Good evening, everyone. I'm Kate Bolduan in for Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, we have breaking news. The United States on the verge of setting a new daily high for coronavirus infections. This record beating the record set just the day before when the U.S. saw 50,000 new positive COVID cases in one day.
And as of tonight, 38 states are headed in the wrong direction. All of them seeing increasing cases and yet if you listen to the President, you would think the country is in great shape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The crisis is being handled. We have some areas where we're putting out the flames or the fires and that's working out well. Now we're opening it up and it's opening up far faster than anybody thought even possible and more successfully.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BOLDUAN: He may want to be quite careful declaring success right now.
In Florida, an 11-year-old has now become the youngest person to die from the virus there after the state reporting 10,000 new cases. A record. That is not success.
Just today, Georgia and Arkansas reported a record number of cases. That is not a crisis being handled. In California, hospitalizations are at an all time high and in Texas masks are now required for most people in public. That is not a fire that's been extinguished yet. One person who definitely sees this reality and has been raising the alarm, the country's top infectious disease expert.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: What we've seen over the last several days is a spike in cases that are well beyond the worst spikes that we've seen. That is not good news. We've got to get that under control, or we risk an even greater outbreak in the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: And moments ago, Dr. Fauci also telling The Journal of the American Medical Association this, "We are not going in the right direction." A complete contradiction to what President Trump just said today. So while President Trump continues to either exist in his own reality or at least definitely on his own island here, it's an island getting lonelier and lonelier.
Even Vice President Mike Pence is changing his tone, albeit ever so slightly. This is a man who just as recently as six days ago proclaimed we have flattened the curve. Now, he's forced to put it this way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will slow the spread. We will flatten the curve.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: We will flatten the curve. Nick Watt is OUTFRONT live in Los Angeles this evening. Nick, another day of California seeing some very troubling numbers.
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kate. It's easy to get lost in these numbers so I'm going to give you only one. The number of Californians with COVID-19 in the hospital over the past two weeks has gone up by more than 50 percent. Orange County just joined a bunch of other counties closing the beaches for the July 4th weekend. It's going to be very interesting to see if people comply with those orders. And this afternoon at a Texas, a major announcement.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WATT (voice-over): Masks now mandatory in every Texas county with more than 20 cases. The Governor finally gave in. In Austin, they're contemplating a radical rewind.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR STEVE ADLER (D) AUSTIN, TEXAS: One thing we may have to go to is to go back to a stay-at-home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT (voice-over): With an update to ease the pain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADLER: Would they do it if they knew it was for 35 days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT (voice-over): Record death tolls in Arizona and the biggest testing site in the state struggling to cope. That's now a nationwide fear.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIE KHANI, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN CLINICAL LABORATORY ASSOCIATION: We are seeing steady and significant increases in demand for testing. We're concerned that that demand is going to exceed our current capacity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT (voice-over): In California, they say one in 140 Angelenos are now infected.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI (D-CA), LOS ANGELES: And as early as next week, as many as one in 100 or even one in 70.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT (voice-over): California, one of 23 states now pausing or rolling back reopening, but Florida is pushing forward despite more than 10,000 new cases today, a record.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): I think kind of some of the just easy things that you can do, I think fell down by the wayside a little bit. Now people understand this thing doesn't just go away ...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[19:05:07]
WATT (voice-over): Maybe not everyone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: And I think we're going to be very good with the coronavirus. I
think that at some point that's going to sort of just disappear, I hope.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT (voice-over): The U.S. is now, now seeing all-time record numbers of new cases, around 50,000 a day. More than many countries have suffered during the entirety of this pandemic in a day and it's not just more testing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a real increasing cases.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT (voice-over): And now driven not by the elderly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADMIRAL BRETT GIROIR, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: The current outbreak is primarily due to under 35s with a lot of gatherings, not appropriate protection like masks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT (voice-over): Take Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF RANDY SMITH, TUSCALOOSA FIRE DEPARTMENT: We have seen over the last few weeks parties going on in the county.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT (voice-over): Parties do purposefully spread the virus with a cash prize one city council members says.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SONYA MCKINSTRY, TUSCALOOSA CITY COUNCIL: I just think it's senseless. I think it's careless and it makes me mad as hell.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT (voice-over): Meanwhile, in New York City, our one-time epicenter today, there is optimism.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D-NY), NEW YORK CITY: I understand parents want answers. Here's some answers. Schools will be opening in September.
(END VIDEO CLIP) (END VIDEOTAPE)
WATT: So younger asymptomatic potential spreaders are now a focus and a message today from Dr. Deborah Birx of the White House task force to everyone in Florida under the age of 40 who has been in the crowd at any time these past four weeks, whether you have symptoms or not, she says you now need to get a test. Kate.
BOLDUAN: Let's see if they get the message. Thanks, Nick.
OUTFRONT now, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Dr. Jonathan Reiner who advise the White House medical team under President George W. Bush. Great to see you both.
Sanjay, hearing Dr. Fauci, I know that you listen to him very closely to the words that he uses because he's very specific in how he speaks. He is now saying very clearly to JAMA, "We are not going in the right direction." As the President, the same time, is insisting that the crisis is being handled, his words, and that things are going well. What do you see when you look at the actual science and data around these surges right now?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that the data and the numbers don't lie, Kate. I mean, that's the thing. I mean, there is actual data here. These aren't matters of opinion, when you look at the numbers and the data at the United States is the worst hit country in the world when it comes to coronavirus. Can you even believe I'm saying that?
BOLDUAN: I know.
GUPTA: Worst country in the world, a quarter of the infections, a quarter of the deaths and as you know as we're just hearing, the numbers are going in the wrong direction. I mean, you have to drag people kicking and screaming to get them to wear masks to implement these mask orders. I think it's important that the mask orders been implemented in Texas.
The other states are going to do it. It's just a question of what are they going to tolerate before they actually do it? How much are they going to have to see the numbers go up? I mean, it sort of defies logic.
BOLDUAN: What you're talking about, one thing that they need to decide, Sanjay, is how much death are they going to tolerate. I mean ...
GUPTA: I know and it's tough to put it in such stark terms and I think we've avoided trying to do that because I think there's always this hope and this optimism that the corner is going to come. You can turn the corner but these numbers are going in the wrong direction. Masks are really important. It's one part of the equation.
It's like everyone is fighting and clawing to get the simplest things done here and we've abandoned the idea of trying to get the bigger picture actually tackled, and no more indoor large gatherings, really making sure testing can be put in place.
In Texas, it takes several hours to get a test still. We have no idea really the magnitude of the problem that we're dealing with and people are still minimizing it as they have almost since the very start.
BOLDUAN: Dr. Reiner, it's again and again the President trying to paint a rosy picture of everything being under control. And Dr. Fauci almost feels like he's like screaming from the rooftops now. I mean, now in this latest BBC, they also did an interview with BBC Radio, trying to jolt people awake is what he said, that he's trying to do at this point, just listen to this comparison.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAUCI: We're seeing very disturbing spikes in different individual states.
TRUMP: We're putting out the fires.
FAUCI: We've got to get that under control, or we risk an even greater outbreak.
TRUMP: The crisis is being handled.
FAUCI: Only about 50 percent of the country locked down, that allowed the perpetuation of the outbreak.
TRUMP: We did the right thing. We closed it up and now we're opening it up and it's opening up far faster than anybody thought even possible and more successfully.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: It is like the President is operating in an alternate universe on this one.
[19:10:00]
JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Right. Dr. Fauci is a physician and scientist and his primary motivation is to extinguish this pandemic. The President, on the other hand, is running for reelection and his primary motivation is to get reelected.
Notice that the President really emphasizes how widely the United States is opening up and he's doing that at a time when multiple states that opened up too early, Florida, Arizona, Texas, are seeing this astonishing surge in the number of cases yet the President continues to tout the opening of the country.
So we're seeing really the divergence of motivations. The President's motivation is to get elected. Dr. Fauci's motivation is to put the pandemic away and you see that now in stark relief.
BOLDUAN: Sanjay, what then do you make of the fact that tomorrow the President is going to be heading to Mount Rushmore for a firework show he's been promoting where 7,500 people are expected to be there. The Governor has said very clearly that masks are not required and there are no plans for social distancing measures.
GUPTA: If you don't get it by now, then I'm not sure that these messages are going to be heard by the people that need to hear them. This isn't about science anymore. I mean, I've talked to Dr. Reiner many times about this, he should be in charge of things frankly in my opinion, but regardless the knowledge is not the problem anymore, Kate.
We as reporters are trying to inform people, make them more knowledgeable, make sure they're up to date on what's happening. I've come with the conclusion over the last couple of weeks, that is not the problem anymore and maybe people knew that all along. But that obviously should not be happening in event like that close proximity long duration of time on masks, masks not being mandated the President of the United States.
One could argue, I mean, again, Dr. Reiner, no better than me, but isn't that even a security concern? I mean, these are viruses they can make somebody quite sick. He's a vulnerable person in terms of his age and pre existing conditions so it makes no sense.
And again, I don't know how many times we can say the things defy logic but again, this is another example.
BOLDUAN: You're one of the most optimistic people I know Sanjay. I hate hearing your frustration like this. It burns me to hear your frustration, but that is where we are because you have been saying this and Dr. Reiner, you have been warning of this as well. Kind of to put a fine point on what we're talking about the risks that are here.
Former Republican presidential candidate, a surrogate for Donald Trump's reelection campaign, Herman Cain. He's now in the hospital, Dr. Reiner, with coronavirus. It is not yet known where he got it. But he did attend President Trump's rally June 20th in Tulsa in that enclosed arena. There are pictures of him sitting with a lot of people, not wearing a mask at the rally.
The editor of his website also said that he traveled to Arizona in the past week. If he was contagious at the rally or if he got it at the rally, how do you contact trace from a group that large?
REINER: Well, it's impossible without technology, which we can acquire. Apple and Google have put together automated technology that would enable us to do that. But as for Mr. Cain, I hope he does well. It's impossible to know where he acquired the virus. But if you think about it, he went to Tulsa during a surge in viral activity there. He was in this tightly packed venue with thousands of people, almost all of whom were not wearing masks and this is how you acquire the virus.
I'll tell you that the President's advanced team had over a dozen people acquire the virus in Tulsa. So one other thing, Mr. Cain is in the hospital apparently, concerningly sick. He's the same age as the President. The President is really flirting with disaster by going to indoor venues with lots of people, with lots of virus. He can get the virus. Just because he's tested frequently isn't a superman cape, he can get
the virus and the more he flirts with this, the higher the likelihood is that he'll get it and he's over 70 and he's obese. He probably has close to a 20 percent chance of dying if he contracts the virus. I would stay home.
BOLDUAN: Yes. Well, everyone needs that lesson right now and that message. Thank you both.
OUTFRONT for us next, Arizona's intensive care units nearly at capacity. I'm going to talk to an ER physician there worried his hospital could run out of beds.
Plus, more and more moms to be infected with Coronavirus and it's putting a serious strain on hospitals.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That picture that every mom wants of the baby being born and holding the baby, does that happen with babies in COVID?
MEAGAN VANDEWARK, NICU CHARGE NURSE, SAN ANTONIO METHODIST HOSPITAL: Unfortunately, no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: And they could make or break, Trump's reelection, and some seniors are now telling CNN Trump blew it.
[19:15:04]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:18:39]
BOLDUAN: Tonight, emergency rooms in Arizona inundated with a record number of coronavirus patients. The state's intensive care units are at nearly 90 percent capacity. Arizona is one of four states responsible for more than half of new cases in the U.S. OUTFRONT now as Dr. Murtaza Akhter. An ER physician in Phoenix and an Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine.
Doctor, thank you for being here. What are you seeing in your hospital right now? How would you describe it?
MURTAZA AKHTER, ER DOCTOR, VALLEYWISE HEALTH MEDICAL CENTER: It almost feels like the new normal, where we're getting a crush of patients, including many of them with COVID. They're coming with fever, shortness of breath, cough, body aches. And, at least, for me basically everybody I test is positive.
A couple of weeks ago, I was mentioning that I don't think the state's data have caught up yet and in that time, they've begun catching up. Basically, everybody I was seeing look even sicker than the data suggested and now we're seeing it. We're seeing in the ER. A lot of sick people coming in of all ages and a positivity rate of COVID we have is ridiculous and I'm sure it kind of stressing the hospital systems and our colleagues are getting stressed too, because there's only so much of this that you can handle before you begin wondering what do we do next.
BOLDUAN: And then comes those very hard decisions of what type of patient gets what type of bed and that's when it gets very tough for everyone involved. Arizona's governor, he's now asking the federal government for 500 additional medical personnel; doctors, nurses, technicians, all to come help deal with the surge that you're talking about that you're already seeing.
[19:20:08]
How much worse do you fear this is going to get before it starts getting better?
AKHTER: Listen, I'm an emergency physician, so my job, my specialty is to be calm under pressure. So I hate to be an alarmist. I think it's going to get a lot worse. And the reason I say that is for twofold, for one, as you know, our cases are surging.
In fact, Dr. Gupta just mentioned that our country is doing so horribly while Arizona is worst within that country in terms of new cases per capita over the last week, by far, by far. Our positivity rate is ridiculously high, 25 percent of the people on the state get tested test positive. That is way higher than the 5 percent threshold.
And that's just the cases that are happening right now. Remember, the sickest people don't get sick until well after the positive. At least for me, the sickest patients I see are the ones I see who already knew they had COVID, they had COVID five days ago, 10 days ago, two weeks ago and they come back because they've gotten sicker.
So the real issues I think are going to happen in a few weeks from now and it's already looking bad. So we're pretty concerned, really concerned.
BOLDUAN: Yes. And there's always this level of are people taking it seriously enough. There's always that question and there was a guest on the show last night, a 30-year-old man from Arizona who admits that he was not concerned about the coronavirus. And then he went to a bar and he got sick, he got the virus and I want to play for everyone how he talks about it now. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY FLORES, HOSPITALIZED WITH CORONAVIRUS AFTER GOING TO A BAR: I was literally laying on my bed in a position to just breathe like a person that smoked for 50 years. It was very scary. I feared for my life and when I decided to go to the hospital, I also decided to make this message public, because I knew I made a mistake. I knew that I didn't take this seriously.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BOLDUAN: There are a lot of people who have that view, COVID fatigued,
tired of feeling cooped up, tired of not seeing friends. From what you see inside your hospital, what is your message for folks heading into this holiday weekend?
AKHTER: First off, I'm glad that Jimmy Flores is opening up, right, because it takes guts to be able to say, listen, I got sick and I want to tell other people that they can get sick too. So I appreciate his doing that and it's totally true. I'm seeing patients his age without other medical conditions repeatedly coming into the hospital.
Remember, there are multiple NBA players with COVID. There are multiple NHL players with COVID. These people not only have way above average income levels, so they can, in theory, distance but on top of that, they're young and they're professional athletes. They're super healthy.
If the COVID rates in our sports players are that high, you can imagine how susceptible all of us are, whether you're old or you're young. It's very concerning and even if you don't feel like you're going to get a deadly disease, you can see that Jimmy had similar, I've seen multiple patients with similar and on top of that, we have a lot of elderly in Arizona. We have a lot of snowbirds, a lot of retirees and they're 60 times more likely to die of COVID. If above 65 with COVID, then somebody under 45 with COVID, 60 times more likely to die.
And we're all vectors with this disease if we have it to put them at risk is really selfish and it's dangerous for you as well. It's dangerous for everyone.
BOLDUAN: Yes. As we go into this holiday, it's very important to keep that in mind. Doctor, thank you for what you're doing. Thank you for coming on.
AKHTER: Thank you for having me.
BOLDUAN: OUTFRONT for us next. We take you inside one hospital where doctors are noticing an alarming trend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's gone from probably 50s and 60s to, I've lost track of how many people in their 20s.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: And a Broadway star got coronavirus back in March. Months later still struggling to overcome the lingering effects. His warning about the virus.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:27:49]
BOLDUAN: Breaking news, Texas setting a new record level of hospitalizations, more than 7,000 tonight. Doctors and nurses in the state are overwhelmed and this surge appears far from over.
Miguel Marquez gained rare access to go inside one of these hospitals. He's OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ (voice-over): San Antonio Methodist Hospital, the lungs of a 29-year-old badly damaged by the coronavirus need a CAT scan. Patients so critically ill, what should be easy takes enormous coordination and a small army just to get them from A to B.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADAM SAHYOUNI, CORONAVIRUS ICU NURSE MANAGER, SAN ANTONIO METHODIST HOSPITAL: We are having an explosion of COVID. We aren't overrun yet, but it's overwhelming.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Overwhelming now and expected to get worse in the days ahead. San Antonio's bear county has seen a sharp rise in the percent of those testing positive for the virus. In just the last 30 days, the weekly average of those testing positive has gone from 3.6 percent to more than 20 percent.
So many infections, increasingly moms to be infected with the coronavirus. Methodist hospital now has a dedicated unit in its NICU for babies born to mothers who have it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ (voice-over): That picture that every mom wants of the baby being born and holding the baby, does that happen with babies in COVID?
VANDEWARK: Unfortunately, no. We have to, as soon as the baby is born, they do bring them right to us outside of the door. So it's just a very brief moment that the mom might get a glimpse.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ (voice-over): In the womb, the virus isn't typically transmitted from mother to child, but during the birthing process, the risk of infection goes up and treating newborns with the coronavirus much more complicated. Though these babies have tested negative they are treated as suspect positive.
Healthcare workers wear full PPE and these babies born to moms with the Coronavirus are kept separated from others just in case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ (voice-over): So you have five babies in here right now.
VANDEWARK: Yes.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): You have room for 16.
VANDEWARK: Yes.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Do you think you're going to be full up?
VANDEWARK: I do. The way things are going, we're admitting pretty frequently. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ninety-six, eighty-three.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[19:30:02]
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Christy Labastida only 36 years old is expecting her 4th child.
Both she and her fiance have the coronavirus.
CHRISTY LABASTIDA, CORONAVIRUS PATIENT AND EIGHT MONTHS PREGNANT: Mainly, the thing that really hurt was my bones were just -- I couldn't lay down, it was just hurting.
MARQUEZ (on camera): Your bones?
LABASTIDA: My bones.
MARQUEZ: Like your entire skeleton? Your body?
LABASTIDA: Even to my pinkie of my toes.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Pregnancy hard enough without that. She took precautions and isn't sure how she got it. Now, only hoping she recovers and she, her three kids, and fiance are coronavirus free by the time she gives birth in about a month.
LABASTIDA: I'm extremely stressed. I am a very strong woman. I tend to do a lot, and now that I can't and I need that help, it's taking a toll.
MARQUEZ: Methodist Hospital may be seeing the beginning of a sharp increase nationwide of moms with coronavirus giving birth.
DR. KELLY MORALES, OBSTETRICIAN/GYNECOLOGIST, SAN ANTONIO METHODIST HOSPITAL: There's actually some literature out there to support up to 30 percent asymptomatic rate. So that means --
MARQUEZ (on camera): Thirty percent?
MORALES: Thirty percent asymptomatic rate.
MARQUEZ: Of moms coming in?
MORALES: Of moms coming in.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Pregnancy and coronavirus only one piece of the pandemic. Methodist Hospital treating a rising tide of critically sick patients.
DR. JEFFREY DELLAVOLPE, PULMONARY DISEASE, SAN ANTONIO METHODIST HOSPITAL: The last few weeks has just been overwhelming, it's how I would describe it. There has been more and more patients than we really know what to do with. The patients are getting younger, and they are more sick, and --
MARQUEZ (on camera): How much younger?
DELLAVOLPE: It has gone from, you know, probably fifties and sixties for the first wave, to -- I've lost track of how many -- people in their twenties.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): This is Methodist COVID unit 2. It's one of two specialized COVID units at the hospital. Patient rooms sealed off, each one turned into negative pressure chambers so staff only need to don PPE if they go into one of the bays.
(on camera): You have 14 rooms. How many are filled?
ADAM SAHYOUNI, CORONAVIRUS ICU NURSE MANAGER, SAN ANTONIO METHODIST HOSPITAL: Fourteen.
MARQUEZ: Wow.
SAHYOUNI: With a waiting list.
MARQUEZ: How long is that list?
SAHYOUNI: It's long.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): The hospital is creating more beds, but for now, this is where the sickest of the sick are treated.
DELLAVOLPE: Yesterday it was probably one of my worst days I've ever had.
MARQUEZ (on camera): Why?
DELLAVOLPE: I got 10 calls, all of whom young people who otherwise would be excellent candidates to people to put -- they are so sick, that if you don't get put on, they don't get that support, they are going to die. I had three beds. And just making that decision, being able to figure out who really is going to benefit, it is a level of decision-making that I don't think a lot of us are prepared for.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Those calls coming from other hospitals across South Texas with patients so sick that Methodist may be their last hope. Methodist hospital uses a procedure to oxygenate the blood and keep patients off ventilators. It's called ECMO or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.
Today, Dr. Dellavolpe is inserting large tubes in the veins of a 33- year-old. They run from the groin all the way to the heart. The blood comes out of the body, is mechanically oxygenated, then returned back to the heart almost immediately. The Methodist team has had a lot of practice, procedure taking only a few minutes.
DELLAVOLPE: It evolves being able to take large -- almost like small garden hoses, that's how I would describe them. We have to pump about 2 to 3 gallons of blood per minute through them. So, one is draining blood out and the other one is returning.
MARQUEZ: The blood coming out of the patients is dark. It just looks unhealthy. The blood returning is bright red, loaded with oxygen. Almost immediately, oxygen level in the patients blood goes back to near normal. Their chance of survival now better than if they were on a ventilator.
DELLAVOLPE: I think the ventilator really causes a lot of time. We are finding that causes harm in general, but it certainly causes harm when we are talking about patients with COVID.
MARQUEZ (on camera): Because their lungs are so weak to begin with?
DELLAVOLPE: Because their lungs are so weak, and probably there are a lot of reasons patients are having trouble.
MARQUEZ: Ventilators pushing oxygen into the long.
DELLAVOLPE: That's right.
MARQUEZ: Into damage lungs?
DELLAVOLPE: That's right. So, not only are you having all of the problems with the blood vessels, and the clogging in your blood vessels, not only are you having all of the problems of oxygen not being able to get your organs and your organ shutting down from that, but now you are artificially pushing air into your lungs and causing more damage that way.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Another hard lesson of the pandemic and the virus health care providers everywhere are still struggling to understand.
SAHYOUNI: We don't quite understand why it one person with lab values of X does well, while a person with lab values that appear to be better doesn't make it. A mask is not a big ask to help save your life.
MARQUEZ: The work and stress for health care workers everywhere crushing in with rates of infection rising, they expect more work, and stress ahead.
[19:35:12]
Stressful for patients as well who are sick, isolated from everyone.
(on camera): How tough is it to be in your room all day, just sitting there?
MICHAEL VASQUEZ, CORONAVIRUS PATIENT: Oh, man. If you could just hear that unit in the room. It would drive you nuts at first, but you get tested.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Twenty-eight-year-old Michael Vasquez works in a warehouse. He isn't sure how he got sick, he's part of a new program here to get patients up and walking as soon as possible, even a little bit both physically and mentally.
(on camera): What has it done to your lungs?
VASQUEZ: It really made them fatigued, really bad. With the -- sorry.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Vasquez isn't sure if there will be any long term effects to his lungs. Right now, he's focused on getting home to his wife and 7 year old son.
VASQUEZ: J just miss, you know, their presence. You know, I miss holding your wife, kissing your son goodnight, going to the room making sure he's OK -- I miss that a lot.
DR. MISHA PETER, PULMONARY CRITICAL CARE, SAN ANTONIO METHODIST HOSPITAL: We know that when people walk, people sleep better, when people see bright light, they get better soon. We know all this.
I think, on some level, we haven't learned it with COVID because of our response to it. You know, obviously our need to keep ourselves safe, to keep staff safe. So, it's not unexpected that we kind of ended up isolating people whether we meant to are not.
MARQUEZ: Another lesson of the pandemic trying to reduce recovery times and free up beds, badly needed for an expected growing surge of people seriously sick with the coronavirus.
DR. JENNIFER GEMMILL, EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT, PHYSICIAN MEDICAL DIRECTOR: Right now, we are so full upstairs that we are having some delays in getting the patients upstairs because there just aren't beds are prepared and ready for COVID patients. So, we are holding a lot of them in the emergency department right now -- some for hours, some for days.
MARQUEZ: What's driving the surge here? Doctors aren't entirely sure, but based on what they hear from patients, there was a sense that the worst was behind us.
GEMMILL: I don't think there was one specific incident that really led to the spike. I think people March and April were extremely frustrated with being inside, and as soon as those restrictions lifted, they wanted to get out. Some protected themselves, some didn't. And now, we are just seeing the result of that.
MARQUEZ: With the holiday weekend coming up, the fear now, the surge of patients will become a tidal wave.
SAHYOUNI: I don't think I've seen anything like this ever, and I would say that if you want to see August 1st, then we should stay indoors and isolate on July 4th.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BOLDUAN: Miguel, it is so hard to watch it. It is so important to see, though, and you really have seen -- you have had the job, privilege, honor to go into a lot of these hospitals, actually, through this pandemic. You see how these doctors are learning, are adapting, are changing and figuring out these better ways to treat COVID patients. How much has changed?
MARQUEZ: Everything and nothing. The way that they manage patients has changed, and they have been able to manage PPE better, and put patients in a way we, and a rage them in a way that protects the staff more. The way that they treat COVID has certainly changed, the emphasis on ventilators right now.
But what exactly the same, that terrifying sense that we don't know what is coming next in Texas. That is one thing that is unlike anything we saw in New York. While officials there had a good sense, a fairly good sense of where they were on the curve, and how much more they were go to have come through their doors, there is no sense of that here, and there are a record number of infections, the state has now reversed itself. The governor here has reversed himself on masks.
There is a real sense that it is a crisis spreading like a wildfire, and we don't know when it's going to go out -- Kate.
BOLDUAN: So important to see. Inside, what these hospitals are dealing with.
Thanks. Great reporting, Miguel.
OUTFRONT next, a Broadway actor tested positive for coronavirus more than 100 days ago. He's still feeling the effects of the virus. He's my guest.
Plus, they were key to Donald Trump's win, but is Trump starting to lose the senior vote?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Based on my friends, he blew it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:43:30]
BOLDUAN: Tonight, the long haulers. Coronavirus patients who are still suffering months after testing positive for the virus. It's a group with a growing number of members now, including our next guest.
OUTFRONT now is Adam Perry, a Broadway actor recently starred in "Frozen". He tested positive more than 100 days ago, still feeling the effects of the virus now.
Adam, every time I've read this, and have been following your story, it is hard to believe how long you have been dealing with this. 3 months have passed, you are still dealing with this and I know you have good weeks like this one, but I can come back, and hit you in the face again.
How -- when it does, how bad is it still?
ADAM PERRY, BROADWAY ACTOR AND DANCER; RECENTLY STARRED IN "FROZEN": I mean, it's quite terrifying, to be honest. There's nothing like the feeling of not being able to breathe. You know, it's a very distinct feeling and it's extremely uncomfortable.
When it starts to come on, I start coughing, I clear my throat constantly, and then I get a tightness in my chest. It feels like I have to work, and think, to breathe. It's a harrowing experience in general.
BOLDUAN: I can imagine. I mean, I heard you talk about the kind of mind games, the psychological toll, that you deal with from this virus. What is that like?
PERRY: Well, there's two parts to it. I mean, first of all, we are dealing with a virus here that we've never dealt with before. So, we are just now starting to learn the short term effects of this thing, but also learning the long term effects. And I think that's, first of all, very scary because there's so much unknown with this thing.
But the other scary part is feeling better. It's not like getting the flu, or a cold virus, where you start feeling better after a few days, and then your trajectory is just, you know, on the way up. But with this thing, is that I would feel better for a few days, and it would just come and smack me again.
I mean, at the very beginning, I had two days of symptoms and I felt like a million bucks for three days. And so, I was -- you know, I thought I was off the hook, and thought I had beat it, but then it came back with a vengeance.
BURNETT: I mean, you are a dancer, you are a performer, you live in peak visible condition.
PERRY: Yes.
BURNETT: Are you afraid that the way you feel and what you're dealing with, somehow, your new normal. ?
PERRY: Absolutely, I think about it all the time. I've been doing eight shows a week for, I don't know, 15 or 20 years or something. I've been doing theater, Broadway, dancing, and doing 8-minute tap dance numbers, and being absolutely fine. My lungs have always been great.
Now, the capacities not the same, and I'm just praying, every single day, that they will go back to normal and I will be able to do those things again.
BOLDUAN: Is there any way to know? What are your doctors telling you about this? PERRY: My doctor doesn't think it will improve, and multiple doctors
have told me that, that it's a bit of a pendulum swinging in your system, and eventually, the pendulum will stop. But, you know, this is a new virus. So, we really I guess don't really. But, you know, I'm just trusting that that's what's going to happen.
BOLDUAN: Yes, and I know you've been wanting to speak out, because you want to warn people. You recently wrote very passionately about what is going on right, now what you are seeing, and, feeling with the surgeons that are taking place in the country, I was wondering apart for the folks.
You wrote: I cried watching the news tonight. Cases are spiking. The president makes jokes about coronavirus. People shame others for wearing masks. The country is making it a partisan issue.
And you go on to say that you wouldn't wish this on your worst enemy. I mean, having gone through what you have, how do you feel when you see what I've been talking about all tonight, when you see states reopening, and you see surges happening?
PERRY: I think we have to focus on the collective, and we need to take care of each other. And like I wrote in that post, you know, it's not a partisan issue, it's a human issue. We have to take care of each other because of one of us is, hurting all of us is hurting.
So, it really is -- it's about teamwork this time, you know, with this thing. We all have to come together, wear a mask, and socially distance as best we can, until there is a vaccine, because, you know, this thing has an infinite variable of outcomes for people. There's short term, long term, and we just don't know. So, it's really important that people take care of each other, and I just really don't want other people to have the experience what I've experienced.
BOLDUAN: Yes, take your story, and listen, and take care of those around you.
PERRY: Yes.
BOLDUAN: Adam, thank you, be well.
PERRY: Thank you.
BOLDUAN: Thank you so much.
OUTFRONT next, Donald Trump won the senior vote by 17 points in the state of Florida, but now, is he losing this vital voting bloc?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I had to change parties. I could not do this anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [19:52:35]
BOLDUAN: Tonight, is the president's handling of the pandemic hurting his standing with older voters?
Jeff Zeleny is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN DUDLEY, FORMER TRUMP SUPPORTER: Well, based on my friends, he doesn't have a chance. He blew it.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): John Dudley is talking about President Trump, who supported 4 years ago, but won't again.
DUDLEY: He had everything, we were so excited in the beginning. A businessman, to run our country like a business, and it hasn't happened. All he succeeded in doing was he juiced up the stock market, and now, that's gone to pot because of the coronavirus.
ZELENY: Dudley is a retired banker, and in the face of a new Trump campaign worry, losing the senior vote. Amid summer anxiety from the beach, to testing sites for soaring COVID cases.
Here in Florida, people 65 and older, made up 21 percent of the vote in 2016. Trump won that group by 17 points. Polls now show Joe Biden with an edge among seniors in key battleground states, and nationally.
PATTI WADE, BIDEN SUPPORTER: I just think this has to be a wake up call for a big portion of America. I think a lot of people stayed home in 2016 because they weren't happy with Hillary.
ZELENY: For Trump, there is virtually no path to winning without Florida, which make places like the On Top of the World retirement community critical terrain.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I had a change parties, I could not do this anymore.
ZELENY: Paula Shilling (ph) abandoned the Republican Party. Marsha Lundh still considers herself a Republican, but not a Trump one.
MARSHA LUNDH, REPUBLICAN VOTER, OPPOSES PRESIDENT TRUMP: I hope that I was wrong in not voting for him, and that it would turn out be a great president, but it didn't happen.
ZELENY: Even loyal Trump supporter, Robert Blethen, wishes the president would do one thing.
ROBERT BLETHEN, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Our president should wear a mask, because we're doing it. We're, you know, we're supporting him.
ZELENY: On Florida's gulf coast, Trump won Pinellas County by 1 percentage point, the same margin he carried by the state, since then, Democrats have seen a new surge in voter registration. DONNA LUKAS, BIDEN SUPPORTER: There are more Democrats now than there
used to be, in years past.
ZELENY (on camera): Do you know any people who voted for Trump last who are not going to this time?
DAVE CORDES, BIDEN SUPPORTER: Actually, I know several, including my son, and grandson.
ZELENY (voice-over): The airwaves are already noisy, including this Trump, that questioning Biden's fitness for office.
JOYCE MONAHAN, BIDEN SUPPORTER: Trump is not that much younger, but in the case of Joe Biden, I think his inherent wisdom, and his desire to surround himself with the best people, is the wrong place to talk about age.
[19:55:06]
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's the great state of Florida.
ZELENY: Sheila Griffin, secretary of the GOP, believes the president's record, and resilience, will lead to his reelection.
SHEILA GRIFFIN, PINELLAS COUNTY GOP SECRETARY: If you're talking to the base, his standing is stronger than ever, and it is not going to change.
ZELENY: But as Biden supporters gear up for November, Trump is also a motivating force for them.
JIM DONELON, ST. PETERSBURG DEMOCRATIC CLUB PRESIDENT: Trump is our biggest ally. It just an enormous amount of energy, that I've seen, that I've never seen before.
ZELENY: Jeff Zeleny, CNN, St. Petersburg, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN: Jeff, thank you.
OUTFRONT next, the president praising today's positive jobs report, but you want to hear what the report didn't reveal.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: New economic numbers tonight, a record 4.8 million jobs added in June, with the unemployment rate falling to 11.1 percent.
President Trump, celebrating this today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Today's announcement proves that our economy is roaring back. It's coming back extremely strong. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Roaring, that is not the full story. It's better than economists predicted, but this report only reflects through June 12th, really, just as new spikes began, and before many states started reversing course on opening. There is a lot of uncertainty still about the future.
Thanks so much for joining us tonight. We'll see you tomorrow.
"AC360" starts now.
