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New Day
Coronavirus Cases Spike in 28 States; Trump Cleared for Public Engagements; Louisiana Braces for Hurricane; Notre Dame President Tests Positive. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired October 09, 2020 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[06:30:40]
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, this morning, new signs in the coronavirus pandemic which clearly point to things getting worse. Overnight, 56,000 new cases reported. That is the highest figure in nearly two months. Nine states -- look at that -- reporting record hospitalizations. Nearly a thousand new deaths were reported overnight. Things are bad and getting worse.
CNN's Alexandra Field joins us now with the very latest.
Some of these new numbers, Alexandra, are just headed in the wrong direction, in some cases, quickly.
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, these are some of the dire predictions that we had heard officials make earlier. What we're seeing now is the fact that you have these surges. They are not correlated to large gatherings or holidays or any other specific events that officials can pinpoint. So, instead, across the country, you've got local officials who are now rushing to recalculate their plans in order to address not just the uptick in new cases, but even more worryingly the uptick in hospitalizations.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FIELD (voice over): New coronavirus cases still surging across the country. Twenty-eight states seeing an increase of new cases over the past week. And on Thursday, more than 56,000 new coronavirus case reported nationwide, nearly a thousand deaths.
At least half a dozen states are seeing record hospitalizations over the past few days. The former director for the office involved in developing a coronavirus vaccine, Dr. Rick Bright, warns that many people will die needlessly this winter if leadership does not step in to try to mitigate the virus spread.
DR. RICK BRIGHT, FORMER DIRECTOR, HHS BIOMEDICAL ADVANCED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY: This winter, we're going to have an explosion of cases of coronavirus. It's going to overwhelm our health care system again. FIELD: This coming as fears rise that the northeast may see a second
wave. New Jersey reporting around 1,300 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, its highest number of new cases since May 29th.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a sobering number.
FIELD: Here in New York City, a targeted two-week lockdown began in some neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens, seeing an uptick in recent days.
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK CITY: The data and the science make very, very clear, we can stop this challenge from turning into a full- blown second wave.
FIELD: The red zone areas limit houses of worship to 25 percent capacity or a maximum of ten people. Those restrictions leading to two lawsuits being filed against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo by the Archdiocese of Brooklyn and an Orthodox Jewish advocacy group.
Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar gave this update on the coronavirus vaccine.
ALEX AZAR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: Pending FDA authorizations, we believe we may have up to 100 million doses by the end of the year, enough to cover especially vulnerable populations. And we project having enough for every American who wants a vaccine by March to April 2021.
FIELD: And Microsoft founder Bill Gates says he sees promise in the experimental antibody treatment the president received.
BILL GATES, CO-CHAIR, BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION: That's always been the most promising therapeutic category. We saw in the Lilly data that over 60 percent of the people who got it early, there was a 60 percent reduction in the number that needed to be hospitalized.
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FIELD: Even with the possibility of promising therapeutics sometime in the future, right now a University of Washington model projects we could be seeing some 2,900 American deaths daily by January -- 2,900. Public health officials continue to stress that this will only be worsened by the upcoming flu season. They are urging people to take the steps that we know work, getting flu shots, practicing social distancing, wearing a mask.
John.
BERMAN: All right, Alexandra Field, as we said, these are just disturbing trends all around the country.
In the meantime, the vice president returning to Washington, cutting short a campaign swing. We don't really know why. The president, for his part, refuses to say if he's yet tested negative for coronavirus. Nevertheless, his doctor says he could be back on the campaign trail as soon as tomorrow? Really? What -- what do real doctors think about this? Dr. Jonathan Reiner joins us next.
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[06:38:49]
BERMAN: Developing this morning, signs of a worsening coronavirus pandemic. Nine states reporting a record number of hospitalizations. Nearly a thousand new deaths reported overnight.
Joining us now, CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner. He was a White House medical adviser under President George W. Bush, treated former Vice President Dick Cheney.
Dr. Reiner, thanks so much for being with us.
To be clear, Dr. Sean Conley is a real doctor. Dr. Fauci has vouched for him. But how can Dr. Conley, who is treating the president, say that he's cleared to return to the campaign tomorrow without a negative test?
DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Because he's heavily influenced by his boss. And he's in an impossible position and he doesn't really have the capacity to speak loudly to power.
You know, whether the president can return to the campaign trail is entirely different from whether he should. So let's talk about infectivity.
Dr. Conley, in his, you know, Kremlin-like note yesterday, listing the president's health, used a very interesting phrase. He said, you know, based on the trajectory of advanced diagnostics he feels the president can return to the trail.
[06:40:04]
Well, what does that mean? I think what it means is that the White House has been using some novel, not clinically approved devices to test for the level of a patient's infectivity, I think. I don't think Conley is going to test the president with a conventional nasopharyngeal swab because that's likely to be positive.
In patients recovering from the coronavirus, the very sensitive PCR often will be positive for quite an extensive period of time. So I think he doesn't want to test him for that because it's likely to be positive.
Now, whether he should return to the campaign trail, well, as his doctor, I would say absolutely not. And you got a sense for -- for what I'm talking about from listening to the Hannity piece last night. The president's had a respiratory infection, probably a relatively severe respiratory infection. He will not be able to speak for his usual, you know, 90 minutes. He will start coughing. He'll have trouble standing at the podium for an hour and he'll look weak. And if I were his adviser, I would use just that word. I would say, sir, you're just recovering now. If you try and give your typical speech, you will look weak. ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Well, if you want a preview for what the
rally might look like, we have one. This was a rally that Don Jr. held with Governor Ron DeSantis in Florida this week, right? I mean this was --
BERMAN: It was yesterday.
CAMEROTA: Yesterday. And few people -- there's Kimberly. She's not in a mask, even though Don Jr. wore one up onto the stage. Few people in that audience are wearing masks. It's just -- there it is. That's what it -- and it's indoors.
REINER: Yes, it's -- it makes me really mad. I went to the hospital last night to take care of somebody who has been hospitalized for four months with COVID infection, trying to recover, trying to get home. And when I see the White House, again, perpetuate this myth that there's nothing to worry about, or as the president said, don't be afraid, it makes me really angry. That's criminal behavior. I've said that on your show in the past. I think we now know, and particularly if you look at the SCOTUS announcement from two weeks ago with over 30 people being infected, this is criminal endangerment. And this White House continues to engage in this behavior.
BERMAN: So, Dr. Reiner, we reported overnight, or we confirmed, CNN did, that people who were involved with treating the president at Walter Reed on his unannounced, unexplained November 2019 trip were asked to sign nondisclosure agreements. To me, that seems peculiar.
What do you make of it? Have you ever been asked to sign a nondisclosure agreement? What would you have said had you been asked to sign such a document?
REINER: I would have said "no." Not only have I never been asked to sign a nondisclosure agreement, and that's with over an eight-year period of time treating the sitting vice president of the United States, and then quite a large number of other people referred to me from the White House, I've never asked any consultant that I've brought on to sign a nondisclosure agreement, and that was probably a couple of dozen people. Not once did we sign or ask them to sign that.
The physician/patient relationship is based on trust. And if you're asking me -- if I'm your doctor, John, and you ask me to sign a nondisclosure agreement, what you're telling me, explicitly, is that you don't trust me. And that breaks the agreement for me. So, I'm out. So -- but this White House trusts no one.
But the other issue is, tell us what you're hiding. This is the health of the president of the United States. Tell us what you're hiding. And -- and it's something -- it's something important.
CAMEROTA: Yes, it doesn't -- I -- yes, I mean, Doctor, it doesn't enhance confidence that this was just a routine checkup, which is what they've always claimed.
REINER: Well, we know it wasn't a routine checkup. And, you know, there's a very small list of things that it could be. And what the White House doctors need to understand, and what the White House staff need to understand, is that for these things, the truth always comes out. And my guess is that it's going to come out and it's going to again cover them with great disgrace.
CAMEROTA: Dr. Jonathan Reiner, we really appreciate your expertise. Thank you very much.
REINER: My pleasure.
CAMEROTA: Now to this, the Louisiana coast bracing for another hurricane. We have the latest storm track, next.
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[06:48:42]
CAMEROTA: Hurricane Delta gaining strength overnight as it nears the Louisiana Gulf Coast. This would break a record as the fourth hurricane to hit Louisiana this year.
Meteorologist Chad Myers is tracking Delta.
So what time is this going to happen, Chad?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Looks like we're already seeing the outer bands coming onshore right now. So the winds are going to start to pick up and probably ground zero here, somewhere around -- between 5:00 and 7:00 tonight, very close to Cameron, Louisiana. But that is just south of Lake Charles, Louisiana, that got hit so very hard by Laura, as well. So we have pieces on the ground. We have houses that are in disrepair, and another hurricane that's going to go right on top as probably about 110 miles per hour.
I've been watching the hurricane hunters all night and we haven't really seen this area pick up in intensity. Good news. And the radar here, from Houston, is interesting because we're not seeing -- even though lightning detection is on, we're not seeing any lightning around the eye. That's good news. That means we're not in rapid intensification. We're not getting this really any stronger. The water's quite cool here, relative to where we were in Cancun. Temperatures are still like at 82, 83 degrees, but that's not enough to make it explosively develop like it did over Cancun or near Cancun when it was 88 degrees down there.
Still storm surge, four to seven feet probably, maybe up to 11. This entire area in orange, that will be hurricane force winds. In the yellow here, there could be tornadoes on the ground today because as storms roll onshore, some of these bigger cells to the east do create tornados.
[06:50:10]
And there it is. There's Lake Charles right there in the northern eye wall, John. Pictures of there are incredible. Cameron, Louisiana, incredible. Lake (INAUDIBLE) incredible as well because we just went through this. Only six weeks to start picking up the pieces and now the pieces are going to be scattered again. This is just sad. Cruel is a better word, I guess.
BERMAN: Yes. So many of the houses there have blue tarp right now.
MYERS: Yes, absolutely.
BERMAN: They don't have their roofs repaired yet. They can't handle this right now.
Chad, thank you very much.
Evacuations have been ordered along the Louisiana coast.
CNN's Derek Van Dam is there.
Derek, what are you seeing?
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, good morning, John.
A fourth record storm to strike the Louisiana coastline and a record tenth storm to strike the continental U.S. in one season. Just puts the whole season into perspective.
And we know that just six weeks ago, 30,000 homes were destroyed, 35,000 homes across the Lake Charles region had been impacted by Hurricane Laura. So it's still fresh in the memory of residents here, including the owner of this particular fishing boat and the restaurant attached to it.
I am in Delcambre, Louisiana, in the Vermillion Parish region, along the southern coastline of Louisiana. This is very representative of the smaller towns across this part of the state. And we talk about Hurricane Laura because six weeks ago it impacted this individual's business. You can see the high water level from Hurricane Laura. And we don't anticipate Delta to be as strong, but with an expanding wind field, remember, ocean have a sense of memory to them. So it's actually the ocean conditions that are occurring now with a category three storm that will bring the potential of storm surge into this area. So that is the concern in the Vermillion bay area, and all of the bayous and some of the canals that just dot the landscapes across southern Louisiana, where I'm standing now.
So the tornado threat, the potential for storm surge, and, of course, heavy rain and tropical storm to hurricane-force winds with the system approaching.
John.
BERMAN: Derek Van Dam, stay safe. Keep us posted. Thanks so much for being there for us.
So the president of Notre Dame University this morning facing backlash from students. He tested positive for coronavirus one week after attending a White House event without a mask. Wait until you see what's happening on campus now, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [06:56:38]
BERMAN: Growing backlash this morning against the president of the University of Notre Dame. Father John Jenkins tested positive for coronavirus nearly a week after attending a likely super spreader event at the White House. There he is, not wearing a mask. CNN's Omar Jimenez live at Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, with the latest.
Omar.
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, students we spoke to say this felt like a big slap in the face. And after Father John Jenkins was seen there, students started a petition to push their president, Father John Jenkins, to resign. The student newspaper published an editorial titled, frankly, this is embarrassing. And after Jenkins actually contracted COVID-19, the faculty senate narrowly voted to not move forward with a vote of no confidence.
This, of course, though all goes back to that White House Rose Garden event for Supreme Court Justice Nominee and Notre Dame alum Amy Coney Barrett, where Father John Jenkins was seen there, not following social media protocols, without a mask and shaking hands. And people back on campus noticed. It prompted him to release a statement saying, "I failed to lead by example, at a time when I've asked everyone else in the Notre Dame community to do so. I especially regret my mistake in light of the sacrifices made on a daily basis by many, particularly our students, in adjusting their lives to observe our health protocols." But students weren't happy.
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ASHTON WEBER, NOTRE DAME JUNIOR: A few days before that happened, we had gotten an e-mail from him detailing the protocol that we're supposed to follow. And he said, this is what everyone needs to do to make sure that we're still here on campus together. So to see him breaking his own rules was really -- it made us feel like we were disrespected as a student body.
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JIMENEZ: Now, right now, as we understand, Father Jenkins is recovering and working from home in quarantine. But the stakes for controlling and following COVID guidelines at universities and colleges like these are as high as ever. University of Notre Dame, earlier this year, along with places like University of Wisconsin and University of North Carolina Chapel Hill had to go to all virtual classes to try and stem the spread of COVID on campuses. And those sacrifices, both academically and socially, are the crux of why students view the behavior of their president as so infuriating.
John.
BERMAN: Omar, thanks so much for being there for us. Notre Dame's been dealing with this for over six weeks, so that's why it was so interesting to see Father Jenkins at the White House there without that mask. Fascinating. All right, thanks so much.
NEW DAY continues right now.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thirteen people are facing charges for allegedly plotting to kidnap and kill Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Investigators say the men planned to kidnap Whitmer from her vacation home and put her on trial for treason.
GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): I'm not going to let anyone scare me from doing my job.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The next presidential debate now in doubt after President Trump rejected a move by organizers to make it virtual.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm not going to waste my time on a virtual debate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Claiming the president won't be contagious in matter of days, the Trump campaign proposed postponing the debate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He won't be out of his contagious period yet by CDC guidelines.
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ANNOUNCER: Thinks is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.
CAMEROTA: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY.
And we have new details this morning about the alleged domestic terror plot to kidnap the Democratic governor of Michigan and spark another civil war.
[07:00:06]
Thirteen people connected to extremist and far-right group.
