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UNC-Chapel Hill Halts In-Person Classes After Virus Outbreak; WSJ: States Seek Billions from Big Pharma Over Opioid Crisis; Record Heat Wave Fuels Nearly 30 Fires Across California. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired August 18, 2020 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: And that just wasn't enough. I can tell you, the chancellor of the university, Kevin Guskiewicz, someone I know, smart guy, McArthur Genius Grant recipient, you know, really sort of thought about this, but this is an unforgiving virus.

And I think to your second question, I think that is something that universities across the country need to pay attention to, even in places where you have less viral spread. This is not a forgiving virus. Someone makes a mistake, the virus will get right in there.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Well, that's what I want to know, Sanjay, because I do -- I mean, all parents want to know if this is a harbinger of their future as well. And so, how about high school? I mean, my kids are going back to five-day-a-week, in-person, in-class, in-classroom instruction starting next week.

And so, is it -- I just -- I'm still confused about what's manageable and what's the tipping point? If one person, if one of the students comes and is infected, is it still manageable? Do they just isolate that person or is it just a wildfire that is unforgiving, as you say?

GUPTA: Yes, you know -- you know, Alisyn, it's tough. I think where you live, you're in much better position, for example, than where I am, because you just have less viral spread. So, if the question is, what is the likelihood that I'm going to come in contact with someone who has the coronavirus?

The chances are a lot lower where you live versus where I live. But I think the school does have to have very specific triggers, to answer your question. How many students would be required to have tested positive before they pull back into online learning?

And a lot of school districts, they don't have those triggers or at least they're not being fully transparent about these triggers as we've done reporting in various school districts around the country. Some do. Some don't. A lot of -- a lot of schools are doing what are called Cohorting. So, basically, the student is with the same group of students almost entirely throughout the day. So if one student tests positive, they can immediately find that cohort. But this is -- there is no national policy as we've been talking about

for several months now. So every school district is sort of doing this differently. Alisyn, look, I mean, we pulled that -- I've said this before -- we decided to close things down or try and close things down when there were 5,000 people infected in the country and fewer than 100 people have died.

Now we're starting to try and open things up with schools with 5 million -- more than 5 million infected and more than 170,000 have died. I mean, it is what it is in terms of the overall numbers. And you know, if your school district hasn't done anything specific to counter that, I think it's hard to open.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank God, though, we have the guy from mypillow.com, heaping medical advice on the administration right now. What am I talking about? The guy from mypillow.com is apparently a big supporter of a botanical extract known as Oleander, Sanjay. He got a White House meeting with the president, got a guy behind this extract -- a White House meeting with the president.

Ben Carson is a big fan. The president is pushing the FDA to look at this. I mean, if you love the non-science supporting the use of hydroxychloroquine, you're going to love this. What -- I mean, how much different is this than wearing garlic to ward off vampires? What's the basis of this and what does it tell you?

GUPTA: Well, this is worse because this stuff is potentially very toxic, you know. What we know of Oleander is that it can be very toxic. There was a movie and a book called "White Oleander" which was basically about somebody killing somebody else with this stuff, so -- you know, and trying to go undetected.

It is potentially a toxin to the heart. It pushes the heart to a point where you can develop cardiac failure. There's no evidence at all in human beings that this works. There was a test tube study looking at monkey kidney cells and trying to determine whether or not this could actually, you know, have an impact on the virus.

You put something in a test tube with the virus, there's lots of things that could have an impact on it, including bleach, another point of discussion that we had a couple of months ago. So, there's just no evidence. I wish we didn't have to talk about this stuff because it's a waste of time.

There is some potentially good developments in the world of testing and therapeutics and vaccines that, you know, are bright spots here. And instead, we keep getting side-railed by these conversations. This is -- this is -- if they want to test it, fine. I think it's a waste of time. We shouldn't talk about it.

BERMAN: Stick to the stuff that works, that we know that works. I think it's a terrific message, Sanjay --

GUPTA: Yes --

BERMAN: Thanks very much. So, this morning -- GUPTA: Yes --

BERMAN: A disaster in Iowa still, after winds as strong as a category 4 hurricane left extensive damage there. We have a live report on the major cleanup that's really only just beginning, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:35:00]

BERMAN: A major development this morning in the years-long effort to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable for the opioid crisis. The "Wall Street Journal" reports that more than 3,000 local governments, states, and native American tribes are seeking around $26.4 billion from three major pharmaceutical companies that distribute painkillers. The case also reportedly involves the opioid manufacturer Johnson & Johnson. The companies have denied responsibility.

CAMEROTA: Record-breaking heat fueling nearly 30 wildfires across California. More than 120,000 acres have been scorched. A national weather forecaster calls the extreme weather an unprecedented event. This is the hottest two-week period in 70 years on the West Coast. Death Valley recording 130 degrees on Sunday, the hottest temperature on earth in almost a century. Now, more than 3 million residents are at risk of rolling blackouts as that state struggles to keep up with power demands.

And President Trump heads to Iowa today after approving a disaster declaration. A line of severe storms ripped through the Midwest last week, leaving homes destroyed and millions of acres of farm land damaged. CNN's Ryan Young is live in Cedar Rapids with more. Ryan?

[07:40:00]

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Alisyn, it's quite tough to see. In fact, just us pulling up here, I was caught off guard by what we're seeing even here at this apartment complex. Look at all the tents that are lined up, people have no place to go right now, they're sleeping in front of where their apartment used to be. That's because, if you look up here, Alisyn, there is no roof. The wind that came through here was so powerful, it was like hurricane force. And you look over here, you can see the damage to the trees, but it extends all the way over.

You come here, you can see the collapse that's happened on this building. There are more than 50,000 people who are still without power in this area. They're hoping the federal government can rush in some more resources this direction.

Of course, the president's going to stop by today. But for residents who have been feeling this pain for more than a few days, they're looking for more help. In fact, let's take a look at some of these aerial videos that we shot yesterday. You can see the wide path of destruction throughout this area.

Now, we do know there have been several different agencies that have come in to help people get food. But at this point, when you have a pandemic going on, you have rising COVID numbers going on, you have people wondering where they can go next -- in fact, listen to this one city leader talk about more resources are needed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TYLER OLSON, COUNCIL MEMBER, CEDAR RAPIDS CITY: We have hundreds of folks that are camping in their yards, and we're trying to find them shelter and food and water and make sure that they're safe. And we really need those federal resources. Those have started to trickle in, but for a few days, we did really feel like we were -- we were being overlooked.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Yes, you could understand that thought-process of someone feeling like they're overlooked. When you look through this area, and you know you've seen the tell-tale signs of this in a storm. You look down and you see children's shoes outside, you see people's clothing, their belongings, all strewn throughout this parking lot.

You understand for a week that they feel like they have been ignored, and they want more federal resources to come this way. Of course, with the president coming here today, a lot of folks are hoping they can get that message to him. But when you see people just sort of struggling like this, you just -- your heart goes out to them. John?

BERMAN: We've heard those calls, Ryan, we've heard them asking for help there, people need to pay attention. We're so glad you're there. Ryan Young for us, appreciate it. So, this morning, the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill is moving to remote learning only after a spike in coronavirus infections. This is how the school newspaper describes the situation, "clusterfork", the words they used, except without the fork. In just the first week of classes, 130 students tested positive for coronavirus.

Joining us now is Maddie Ellis; she is a student at the University of North Carolina as well as a university desk editor at "The Daily Tar Heel". Maddie, thanks so much for being with us. We all get the word play with cluster. There have been several clusters at the University of North Carolina that have arisen in just the first week of classes. The second part of that word, the "fork" of it all, what do you mean by that? What has been forked up?

MADDIE ELLIS, UNC JOURNALISM STUDENT: Well, so, that headline was written by our opinion editor, Paige Mastin(ph). And it really just reflects the sense of confusion and disorganization that a lot of students have been feeling due to a lack of transparency, it seems, starting Friday when they first announced the first two clusters in two dorms.

It seemed very sudden, and then immediately, people asked, well, how many cases are in those clusters? And the university said, well, we're not allowed to disclose that. So, there were so many questions arising about how serious the situation really was, how much danger are students really in?

And from that point on, it all led up to the dashboard being updated, those numbers of 135 new cases arising in one week coming out, and then 45 minutes later, all classes moved online. So, it was a very sudden change of events that happened in just a very short period of time.

BERMAN: And I get that you're at the news desk, not the editorial desk, but let me read a little bit more from this editorial. It says "we're angry and we're scared, we're tired of the gas-lighting, tired of the secrecy, tired of being treated like cash cows by university with such blatant disregard for our lives. One thing is for sure, this road map leads straight to hell." So, from your reporting at this point, what are students saying?

ELLIS: So from the beginning, starting in July, there have been groups of students, faculty, campus workers who have said, this road map is not detailed enough, not specific enough, there's not enough information to safely reopen and people's lives are going to be in danger.

And with the sudden spike in cases in just one week, we see that a lot of these predictions did come true. So, many groups -- there is a Commission of Campus Equality and Student Equity that since July have issued recommendations asking for de-densified housing only for students who have an express need and also for remote classes, and they've been asking for this all Summer.

[07:45:00]

So for it to come true -- and the administration has not taken these recommendations, even after the Orange County Health Department issued these same recommendations, even after a faculty, campus workers, graduate students have all asked for this. One week in, it's what ended up happening anyway.

BERMAN: What do you see in terms of parties or what Alisyn would call mixers from her day, in terms of students on campus?

ELLIS: Yes, so most of our understanding of these off-campus events and even some on-campus, large mass gatherings, come from social media. So, there are lots of videos of large parties that are in undisclosed, off-campus locations, but there were even some mass gatherings outside of residence halls, and they're all shared in videos on social media.

And looking at police reports, we've seen several citations for mass gathering violations on and off campus. So, we see that students are engaging in these off-campus socializations, but many people have said that this was almost inevitable.

And the understanding of the community guidelines, that it wasn't transparent. People did not understand the enforcement of these rules, of these guidelines. So, from the beginning, people asked, we shouldn't reopen campus, housing should be de-densified. So, these are demands, these are requests that have been made from the beginning. BERMAN: The football team is still practicing, right? That's one

thing that's an anomaly now, right? They're still there, yes?

ELLIS: Yes, to my knowledge -- and I'm not sports editor, so I can't speak to everything going on with North Carolina athletics right now, but it's my understanding they did issue a statement last night that as of now, it's business as usual, and that's my understanding of it.

BERMAN: Business as usual seems to be what got you into this state, though, correct? I mean, what do you think is going to happen over the next few weeks?

ELLIS: I am asking those same questions. I think it will be really interesting to watch. I think one of my biggest questions going forward is, when the university announced that -- and they announced that all undergraduate classes would be removed remotely. So, graduate classes, professional departments, they still might continue with in- person classes.

So it will be really interesting to hear from those faculty member students who might still have to attend class in person, but also, the university has said they're going to continue their efforts to de- densify housing, but -- and at a faculty executive meeting last night, they said that would look like about two -- limiting housing to 2,000 students on campus.

But as of right now, we don't have a specific plan for what that's going to look like. So, it will be interesting to see how that plays out and what this means for students who took cover, who picked up, moved here, and then after one week could be expected to leave.

BERMAN: Well, keep pushing for answers. They owe you the answers at this point. Maddie Ellis, thank you for being with us this morning and thanks for your interest in journalism and the work you're doing. Keep it up.

ELLIS: Thank you.

BERMAN: Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: For the record, I never once went to a mixer.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: I've heard you call them mixers before.

CAMEROTA: I've never -- I've never once been to a mixer.

BERMAN: Oh, I was just trying to see if you were listening.

CAMEROTA: OK --

BERMAN: I'm not sure you listened to my statements --

CAMEROTA: I was and that was excellent. She is fantastic --

BERMAN: She's the bomb.

CAMEROTA: Journalism is in good hands. Coming up, one Arizona family has a message about coronavirus after dismissing the danger as just politics.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:50:00]

CAMEROTA: It's the tale of two economies. Millions of Americans out of work while Wall Street rallies to record highs. Chief business correspondent Christine Romans joins us now to explain. What is the explanation, Christine?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know, and look at this, brand-new this morning, soaring earnings from Home Depot and Wal-Mart, that shows that Americans spent that stimulus money, so on that front, people were helped during the pandemic.

The stimulus money, Home Depot sales rose 23 percent in the quarter as people stayed home, they spent their stimulus checks on home improvement. Wal-Mart's e-commerce business soared 97 percent. Again, that shows consumers were propped up by extra jobless money and stimulus.

But the split screen is stunning here. Investors just enthusiastic, they're unfazed by collapsed stimulus talks, by the rise in cases, by renewed tensions between the U.S. and China. The stock market as we say everyday is not the economy, unbelievably, with 170,000 dead, more than 5 million cases of coronavirus, the Nasdaq is up 24 percent this year, a record the S&P 500 up nearly 5 percent.

At the same time, there are cracks in the Summer attempt at an economic recovery. Retail sales growth is back to pre-pandemic levels, again though, driven by stimulus and that stimulus has now stopped, millions of Americans are still out of work.

Big company bankruptcies and retail and food service mean more layoffs are coming, Alisyn. Now, the president, the vice president have been taking credit for record job gains and for the Nasdaq, but make no mistake here, there's still a job crisis in America.

In March and April a record crash of 22.2 million jobs gone, a little more than 9 million of those have come back. We're not even halfway to reversing the job carnage caused by this pandemic. And again, the stimulus money has expired. It is expired, so the wind in the sails of consumers is no longer there, Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: It is so important to keep beating that drum as we wait for some sort of solution from lawmakers. Christine, thank you very much --

ROMANS: You're welcome --

CAMEROTA: John? BERMAN: So this morning, new evidence that the pandemic is not just a

medical crisis, but a political one too. And too often, the politics dragging the medicine down and in some cases ripping families apart. CNN's Miguel Marquez joins us now live from Phoenix. And Miguel, you've been so great at introducing us to people who are so severely affected in this pandemic and helping understand what they have gone through. And this is a remarkable story you have for us.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no matter where we've gone, we have seen families like this. Look, this is a family that at first like many people here took it very seriously and then they felt it became more political than medical. The father who got sick here at one point, he was so afraid, he was going to die, when he went to sleep, that he thought literally he would never wake up.

[07:55:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN SANDSTROM, COVID SURVIVOR: Fever --

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Ryan Sandstrom, husband and father of four got so sick with the coronavirus --

SANDSTROM: My fear when I was in quarantine is I don't know if I've hugged my wife for the last time, which is really hard to think about, and I was really grateful when I got to be with them again. Life's good.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go give him a hug!

MARQUEZ: For 17 days, Sandstrom held up in a room in their home, meals served on paper, trash piled up. When he finally emerged, he hugged the kids.

SANDSTROM: Oh --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi.

MARQUEZ: He hugged his wife and son.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was terrifying to think there was sometimes -- it was like a five-hour stretch where you slept in the middle of the day and I just kept poking my head in the door, like is he still breathing? Is he still OK?

MARQUEZ: Early on, the Sandstroms took the virus seriously, then like many Americans stopped paying close attention when they felt the virus became political.

SANDSTROM: I think my mistake was assuming that just because people had made it political, that therefore it was wrong. So, what I realize -- you know, that this is genuine, this is real. This is not some made-up thing.

MARQUEZ: The virus attacked Sandstrom's lungs. SANDSTROM: Every time I would breathe in, it felt like there was an

ice pick just stabbing in my lungs.

MARQUEZ: Then it attacked the lining around his heart, swelling it.

(on camera): You thought you were having a heart attack?

SANDSTROM: A 100 percent, yes --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes --

SANDSTROM: So I had radiation down my left arm and a little bit of numbness down my left arm and just pain.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Sandstrom only 36 years old and healthy, no underlying conditions, he still has lingering health effects from the virus he thinks he gave to his wife. But she suffered only mild symptoms.

(on camera): Why do you think you got so sick?

SANDSTROM: That is the million-dollar question.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Cases like Ryan's still a mystery.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, yes, we're seeing it in young, healthy patients and it's setting it off and we're not sure why? Prevention is the best way to treat this. The best way to not worry about it is to not get it.

MARQUEZ: The Sandstroms speaking to us in the hope others will avoid what they suffered.

SANDSTROM: I feel like there're still some that don't believe it's as bad as it can be. I feel like there are some that just blame the politics of it. The virus is real. I'm a healthy guy and it really beat me up.

MARQUEZ: A hard lesson. The Sandstroms today, closer, stronger, more alive than ever.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: Now, this is a guy who finished off that quarantine about a month ago. He is still dealing with the effects of this thing. Still wears a heart monitor and still trying to figure out the swelling that's around his heart. He also believes that he infected up to five other people, and that may be the worst of it for him. The idea that not only he got sick, but he may have really injured or killed someone else. Back to you, guys.

BERMAN: Oh, it's so hard. I know, it's so hard to process all that. Miguel, please give that family our best and thank you so much for the work you're doing here because these stories are so important. NEW DAY continues right now.

MARQUEZ: Thank you, guys.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the age of a pandemic, an unusual Democratic National Convention now under way.

MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY: You simply cannot fake your way through this job. Being president doesn't change who you are. It reveals who you are.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The coronavirus has made it clear that there are two Americas, the America that Donald Trump lives in and the America that my father died in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just getting Americans to wear a mask, that's been a hurdle in many places, including schools.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four COVID clusters uncovered at UNC Chapel Hill.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We wish that when we went into lockdown, we looked like get relief.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: And good morning, everyone, welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world, this is NEW DAY. Michelle Obama delivering a heart-felt dissection of President Trump on the first night of the virtual Democratic Convention. The former first lady talked about President Trump's lack of empathy, and she used his own words against him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

M. OBAMA: Going high means standing fierce against hatred while remembering that we are one nation under God. And if we want to survive, we've got to find a way to live together and work together across our differences. And going high means unlocking the shackles of lies and mistrust with the only thing that can truly set us free. The cold, hard truth. So, let me be as honest and clear as I possibly can. Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country.

He has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head. He cannot meet this moment.