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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Children & Coronavirus; Putin: My Daughter Took Russian Vaccine; College Football's Season Hangs in the Balance. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired August 11, 2020 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:20]

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: A sharp increase in coronavirus cases in American children just as many kids go back to school.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Russian President Vladimir Putin just moments ago revealing how sure he is of Russia's first in the world vaccine. He says his own daughter has taken it.

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

JARRETT: And I'm Laura Jarrett. It's Tuesday, August 11th, 5:00 a.m. here in New York. Exactly 12 weeks to Election Day.

And we begin this morning with the topic on the minds of so many as children start heading back to school this month and so many questions remain how to do that safely in the middle of a global pandemic as an alarming new study finds there has been a 90 percent increase in coronavirus cases among U.S. children over the last month. And while children often do not get as sick as adults, health experts say COVID- 19 in children is still a serious matter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SEAN O'LEARY, VICE-CHAIR OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS COMMITTEE ON INFECTIOUS DISEASES: It's not fair to say that this virus is completely benign in children. We've had 90 deaths in children in the U.S. already in just a few months, right? Every year we worry about influenza in children and there are roughly around 100 deaths in children from influenza every year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: Health experts say the sharp increase is likely due to mainly more activity among children, more COVID testing, and an overall rise in cases in the general population.

CNN's Athena Jones has more now from New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine and Laura. Public health experts warned we would see more COVID-19 cases in

places that opens schools for in-person instruction without first bringing the coronavirus under control. That's exactly what's happening in Georgia, a state with a high infection rate where many schools have not required masks or social distancing. The Georgia high school made famous in a viral video photo now temporarily closed after nine students or employees tested positive.

The school where masks are not required, holding classes remotely while it undergoes a deep cleaning. At least 16 schools in Cherokee County, Georgia, have reported COVID cases among students or staff, underlying the challenge of holding in person classes in the state with the third highest seven-day average on new COVID cases per capita in the country. The trouble with schools coming is the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association say there's been a 90 percent increase in the number of COVID-19 cases among U.S. children over the last four weeks.

And there's more reason to be concerned about COVID-19 in children. A CDC study shows Hispanic children with coronavirus are eight times more likely to be hospitalized than white children. Black children are five times more likely to be hospitalized.

The CDC also reports higher rates of the deadly COVID related multisystem inflammatory syndrome among minority children. The black and Hispanic children accounting for 74 percent of the cases reported by July 29. One expert saying testing and prevention resources must be focused in these high-risk communities -- Christine, Laura.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Athena, thank you so much for that.

President Trump was asked about the sudden spike in childhood coronavirus cases. He used that opportunity to once again spread the false idea that children don't come down with or spread COVID.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They don't catch it easily. They don't get very sick. According to the people that I've spoken to, they don't transport it or transfer it to other people or certainly not very easily.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Now, former Harvard medical school professor, Dr. William Haseltine, says COVID-19 is actually one of many coronaviruses which include the common cold.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM HASELTINE, FORMER PROFESSOR AT HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL: And there's every reason to suspect that this virus even though it can kill you behaves pretty much like a cold virus in terms of transmission. Who drives colds? Children drive colds. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Haseltine says even children from infancy to age 5 can be highly infectious to other people.

JARRETT: Well, signs of improvement in hard-hit Florida's COVID infection rate in Chicago turns to social media as part of its quarantine crackdown.

CNN reporters are working the story all across the country.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Randi Kaye in Palm Beach County, Florida.

State Department is reporting another 4,155 new cases of coronavirus. That is the lowest number of daily new cases we have seen here since June 23rd. We are still seeing 91 deaths and now, more than 8,200 Floridians have died from the coronavirus and about 7,000 are still hospitalized.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ed Lavandera in Texas.

[05:05:01]

The positive coronavirus infection rate in this state now stands at about 20 percent. That is a staggering jump from where we were less than three months ago when it was just over 4 percent and even just a few weeks ago, it was just over 12 percent. There's been a dramatic spike in that positive infection rate and that is one of the key indicators that the top health experts across the country look out when they're trying to figure out how quickly the virus is spreading.

But this also comes as the number of overall tests that the state is reporting has dropped dramatically, from about 70,000 a few weeks ago and now the state is reporting just around 45,000 per day.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Polo Sandoval in Chicago, where the city says if you violate the travel order and post about it, they will track you down.

Recall now for over a month, the city has restricted travel in and out of various states that are considered COVID hot spots. Now, local health authorities saying that they will look for proof of violators on social media. The health authority here in the city saying that this new approach allows him, not only the ability to identify those who are violating these orders, those who flout it publicly, too.

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: I'm Chloe Melas in New York.

Actor Antonio Banderas says he has tested positive for coronavirus. The actor announced the news on Instagram Monday morning, which also marks his 60th birthday. Banderas wrote alongside a photo of himself as a young child that he feels, quote, relatively well. Just a little more tired than usual. He also added that he is, quote, confident that I will recover as soon

as possible and that he will use this time in quarantine to read, write and rest. Banderas is the latest celebrity to reveal that they have tested positive with the virus, from Tom Hanks to Mel Gibson, all of whom has since recovered.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Thanks to our reporters for all of those.

Now, President Trump has suggested a coronavirus vaccine could be ready to roll out by Election Day, but vaccine experts who have looked at data from the first company to start phase 3 trials tell CNN that it's not going to happen.

Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen explains why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Laura, Christine, President Trump said he's optimistic we could have a vaccine ready election day, by November 3rd. But CNN has obtained a confidential email sent from Moderna to its principal investigators, doctors who are running these trials in 89 sites in the United States, and when you look at what the email says, vaccinologists, experts in this area say there is no way, that's a quote, no way they are going to have a vaccine ready and Moderna has been the first to start its trials.

So, let's take a look at some numbers and some dates. According to these confidential email that CNN obtained, from July 27th through August 7th, Moderna enrolled and gave a first round of shots to 4,536 participants. But they need 30,000 before the end of the study. Moderna has said that they expect to get those first shots, that round of first shots done in all 30,000 sometime in September. But they also need to get a second dose 28 days later.

So, if they are giving first doses in September, that means they need to be giving at least some of those second doses in October, you then add in two weeks because that's about how long it takes for the vaccine to kick in, it doesn't happen immediately. And then you need to put these people out in the world and see who gets coronavirus and who doesn't. And that's why the outside vaccine experts who we talked to said there's no way this could happen by November 3rd. They expect to see some answers in first quarter of next year, of course, well after election day.

Now, Moderna is not the only company in phase 3 clinical trials. Pfizer started right after Moderna, the CEO of Pfizer says that he thinks they'll be able to go to the FDA to get a yay or any on their vaccine in October, but the experts we talked to said that based on what Pfizer has been able to do so far, they think that is extremely unrealistic and not going to happen -- Laura, Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much for explaining all that to us.

A stalemate on Capitol Hill with no agreement on stimulus bill leaves millions of Americans now in limbo. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he has not spoken to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi since talks broke down. Emergency money has stopped flowing. The extra $600 a week in unemployment benefits expired July 31st. The Paycheck Protection Program for small business owners, that expired over the weekend.

In a Monday press briefing, Mnuchin vowed that the president's end run around Congress to give $400 a week to jobless Americans will be ready to go in most states within two weeks. And despite worries about how to get this money to people, the president promised relief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I just had a meeting with the governors and they were very anxious to get the money for the people in their states. And if they, depending on the state, we have a right to do what we want to do. We can terminate the 25 percent, or we don't have to that. So, we'll see what it is. It depends on the individual state, but a lot of money will be going to a lot of people very quickly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:10:06]

ROMANS: A lot of experts skeptical. They say states would have to set up a new system to deliver that aid and that could take months.

JARRETT: Yes, it's just amazing, Christine, that there isn't more a sense of urgency about this whole thing. When the president says it's going to be done quickly, if it needs to take a new system.

All right. President Trump's press briefing yesterday was interrupted when he was abruptly evacuated after a shooting outside the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Excuse me?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: The president returned to the briefing room minutes later confirming that shots had, in fact, been fired. The Secret Service says a 51-year-old man approached a Secret Service officer saying he had a weapon. The man then turned and ran towards the officer, made a motion as if he was drawing a weapon, and crouched into a shooting stance.

The officer fired, hitting the man in the torso, and the man was taken to the hospital. Two law enforcement forces tell CNN the suspect was, in fact, unarmed. Officials no Secret Service protectees were in danger. The shooting is now under investigation.

ROMANS: All right. Ten minutes past the hour. Russia's Vladimir Putin just told the world how confident he is in

Russia's fast tracked coronavirus vaccine. A live report from Moscow, next.

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[05:15:36]

ROMANS: Breaking news: Russia just approved the world's first coronavirus vaccine. Russian President Vladimir Putin speaking about it just minutes ago.

Matthew Chance joins us live from Moscow with the latest.

And he's quite optimistic about it. He said his daughters received this vaccine. What do we know?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. It's absolutely extraordinary. I mean, the fact that the Russians, first of all, have gotten to this point and they feel confident enough to approve the world's first vaccine against COVID-19 despite the fact there are all sorts of scientific concerns out there about its effectiveness and even its safety.

For instance, it hasn't gone through those crucial third phase human trials. Vladimir Putin coming out within the past few minutes, sort of televised conference call with his main cabinet ministers, including the health minister, saying that this vaccine which has been developed in a Russian lab has gone through all of the necessary checks. He said that I know it's effective and it forms stable immunity.

And to back that up he said that his own daughter, we very rarely hear anything about Vladimir Putin's daughter, I haven't heard him mention his daughter for, you know, a decade. But he said his own daughter has had this vaccine. She appears to have been part of the test. He said that she had a slight temperature at first, but now, he says she feels better.

And that's interesting information because first of all, it underlines just how confident the Russian state is. This vaccine that it's got out there is actually effective or works, or actually isn't dangerous at the very least. And, of course, I suppose it replaces this idea at least in the minds of Russian officials that they haven't put out any clinical data that is usually necessary before to be peer-reviewed before a vaccine like this gets public approval.

What the Russian health ministry says is that the first people, beyond Putin's family and other officials will get vaccinated and front line workers and teachers. Millions of doses of this vaccine will be mass produced, Christine, by the end of this year.

ROMANS: All right. Matthew Chance for us with that news out of Russia -- thank you, sir.

JARRETT: All right. Turning now to the U.S. presidential race. An open letter signed by more than 100 black men leaders in entertainment, business, and the law calls on Joe Biden to pick a black woman as his running mate. They write, quote, failing to select a black woman in 2020 means you will lose the election. Biden is expected to formally announce his choice later this week.

The letter is signed by rapper and actor, Sean Diddy Combs, civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump and CNN political commentators Van Jones and Bakari Sellers.

ROMANS: All right. Today could be the day we find out the fate of college football this year. The "Bleacher Report" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:22:47] ROMANS: All right. Momentum continues for a college football this fall. Andy Scholes has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report".

Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, good morning to you.

You know, the college football world was bracing itself yesterday for, you know, conferences like the Big Ten to come out and announce that they were, in fact, postponing this fall's season. But then you had superstar players, other players, big time coaches, administrators come out and say they want to play this fall. They even had President Trump chiming in with a tweet saying the student athletes have been working too hard for their season to be cancelled. #wewanttoplay.

Clemson superstar quarterback Trevor Lawrence really leading a campaign by the palyers saying they want universal health and safety protocols across the sports, but adding they definitely want to play this fall because being together on campus is what will be safest for everyone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TREVOR LAWRENCE, CLEMSON QUARTERBACK: We feel safe here. We feel safer here than anywhere else, honestly. When you go outside of these walls, you do get food, you go do anything, you're at just as much if not more risk.

DABO SWINNEY, CLEMSON HEAD COACH: It's my belief that these guys are safer here than without us. Not only safer here, mentally, it's better for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Alabama coach Nick Saban also citing the student athletes who wants to play. The six-time national champion told ESPN, quote, look, players are a lot safer with us than they are running around at home. He went on to say, we act like these guys can't get this unless they play football. They can get it anywhere, whether they're in a bar or just hanging out.

Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh meanwhile says he wants to play football this fall because of the facts. Harbaugh said they've had zero positive tests out of the last 350 administered. The coaches and staff have had zero positive tests over the past eight weeks. Harbaugh adding they had followed all health and safety guidelines and welcome and encourage any other sports programs to visit and see how their practice and execute those protocols.

Now in the meantime, Nebraska coach Scott Frost says his Cornhuskers are playing this fall even if the big decides not to.

[05:25:07]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT FROST, NEBRASKA HEAD COACH: Our university is committed to playing no matter what, no matter what that looks like and how that looks play. We want to play no matter who it is or where it is. So, we'll see how this chips fall. We certainly hope it's in a Big 10. If it isn't, I think we're prepared to look for other options.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right. And out west meanwhile which includes teams like Boise State, Hawaii announcing they are postponing all fall sports including football for this fall. At the same time, the American Athletic Conference Commissioner saying yesterday in a radio interview, he thinks at this point there is no medical reason for not playing. So there's definitely different opinions about this, Laura.

The Big Ten, Pac-12 holding more meetings today. We could get some sort of announcement from their leagues. As we can tell from the other leagues, a lot of players and coaches, they certainly want to play.

JARRETT: Yeah, they certainly want to play and I know that you will be all on top of the situation and bringing it to us whenever we get that news.

All right. Great to see you this morning, Andy. Thanks so much.

Still ahead, the entire government of Lebanon has resigned in the wake of a devastating explosion in Beirut. We're there live, next.

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