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Quest Means Business
Cruise Industry Faces Crisis Amid Panic Over Coronavirus; Jobs Gains Beat Expectations; Trump Angry Over U.K.'s Huawei Decision; Trump Disputes Reports That Mulvaney's Job is in Doubt; Democrats Hold Final Debate Before New Hampshire Primary; Former ISIS Bride Loses Legal Bid to Reclaim U.K. Citizenship. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired February 07, 2020 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:17]
ZAIN ASHER, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Look at that. Selling has actually accelerated in the past hour or so despite that stellar jobs report we go
where 225,000 jobs were added in the month of January. Those in the market and these are the reasons why.
Thousands of passengers remain quarantined in their quarters as cruise industry grapple with the coronavirus outbreak.
U.S. jobs numbers as, I mentioned, shatter expectations, but a warning from the Fed, the coronavirus could dent U.S. growth sets traders on edge.
And a new strain in the special relationship. Sources describe an angry phone call between President Donald Trump and Boris Johnson over Huawei.
Coming to you live from the world's financial capital here in New York City. It is Friday, February 7th. I'm Zain Asher, in for my colleague,
Richard Quest and this is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
Welcome everybody. I'm Zain Asher. Tonight, the cruise industry set steers down an unprecedented crisis. The spread of coronavirus is forcing more
ships into quarantine as ports close around the world. It is sparking fears that cruise companies which serve more than 30 million people a year could
face a prolonged and costly battle with the outbreak.
New on Friday, four passengers on a world Caribbean ship docked near New York City were taken to a hospital. Two ships, one near Hong Kong and the
other near Tokyo remain quarantined with thousands of people onboard and a fourth ship has been denied entry by Japan and is currently in a holding
pattern.
There was no indication that anyone on board has the virus, but it really just speaks to the level of fear that has set in over cruise ships in the
region.
The Anthem of the Seas was due to set sail this hour on its next voyage from New Jersey. Royal Caribbean is delaying that departure. Four members
of one family who were recently in China are being screened after feeling sick. They had recently traveled from Mainland China.
Polo Sandoval is it Port Bayonne in New Jersey. He joins us live now. So Polo, just walk us through this. What are some of the medical protocols and
sort of health screenings that are taking place right now with those passengers?
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what the cruise line industry is now saying or at least what they're tasked with now is trying to find other
ways to really track these kinds of passengers who begin to exhibit some form symptom that would be concerning.
In the case of Royal Caribbean, they say that they will be essentially implementing stricter policies now when it comes to encountering some of
their passengers that are exhibiting these kinds of symptoms and report that they have recently been to Mainland China, mainly, of course the
epicenter of this.
As for the situation that took place earlier this morning, the Anthem of the Seas that you see behind me, docked earlier this morning, 27 passengers
on board were passengers that health officials wanted to assess as soon as it docked this morning.
Out of those 27 only four of them, that family that you mentioned, was taken to an area hospital for screening at this point. Authorities here,
mainly the cruise line itself saying that one of those passengers, one of those for tested positive for influenza while on the ship.
Now it's a matter of saying with complete certainty that they have not been infected with the coronavirus. Of course, the suspicion here comes from
these four individuals traveling to Mainland China recently and then boarding this ship going on the cruise to the Caribbean and then now
returning here with those concerns that they could have potentially been exposed.
But at this point, it all seems to be just out of an abundance of caution that this kind of testing is happening, Zain. Very different what took
place with this cruise liner versus what's happening half a world away in Japan.
ASHER: And Polo, despite the fact that it's all out of an abundance of caution here, just the fact that it takes symptoms a while, several days in
fact to show obviously that is really stirring some of the fear here.
SANDOVAL: Absolutely. And what we're hearing from the cruise line itself is that these four individuals that are currently being further -- that are
being screened for coronavirus weren't or the last time they were in China was about mid-January.
So it's just outside of that 14-day window -- that quarantine windows so that certainly would look promising on the surface here.
The fact that one of them according to the cruise line was found to have influenza during the actual trip itself that also would seem promising in
terms of whether or not they are actually infected with the coronavirus.
So again, these are the kinds of steps that we're seeing not just at seaports, but airports across the country and really around the world.
ASHER: Polo Sandoval, live for us there. Thank you so much.
[15:05:10]
ASHER: Meantime, off the coast of Japan, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases on the quarantined, Diamond Princess has tripled bringing
the total to 60 while thousands are stuck in their rooms trapped in tiny cabins. Will replay is in Yokohama, Japan. He's been talking to passengers
under quarantine on that ship. Will, what are they saying?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're obviously anxious. The fact that the number of cases went from 10 to 20 to 61 in the
matter a matter of days is certainly unsettling for folks.
Those quarantined passengers are now off the cruise ship, but all the remaining 3,700 who are healthy for the time being are confined to their
cabins for 23 out of 24 hours a day. Sometimes they're allowed to go outside. They have to stay far away from other people though, because
health experts say the biggest risk spreading this is person to person contact.
But that doesn't change the fact that people are starting to feel like they're on a floating prison.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RIPLEY (voice over): Another day on the Diamond Princess under quarantine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looks like they're unloading additional passengers.
RIPLEY (voice over): Another day confined to their cabins counting the ambulances, counting the number of coronavirus patients as it doubles, then
more than quadruples.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KENT FRASURE, OREGON PASSENGER: We're looking out our balcony and there are indeed more ambulances lining up like they were yesterday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIPLEY (voice over): Americans Kent and Rebecca Frasure never thought they would be on one of those ambulances, until a Japanese nurse knocked on the
door.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need you to get ready. We don't know how long you have to stay in the hospital.
Pack your luggage and go to the bathroom and stay in the room.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIPLEY (voice over): Rebecca's throat swab came back positive for coronavirus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REBECCA FRASURE, OREGON PASSENGER: I don't -- yes, I don't really have any symptoms, you know, other than a cough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIPLEY (voice over): The news is a shock to and friends in Oregon.
RIPLEY (on camera): What's the hardest part?
R. FRASURE: I'd say the unknown, like, I don't know what's going to happen an hour from now, tomorrow, like, for all we know, we could stay
quarantined on this ship for a month.
RIPLEY (voice over): Passengers say they can only go outside in small groups under close supervision for less than one hour a day. For them, this
luxury liner is starting to feel like a floating prison.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're in a contaminated prison possibly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIPLEY (voice over): Florida passengers, Gay and Philip Courter are among the lucky few with a balcony. Many of the 2,600 plus passengers are in
cramped cabins, no windows, breathing air circulated throughout the ship.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GAY COURTER, FLORIDA PASSENGER: This is not a safe environment, and we don't think anybody, let alone the Japanese government wants to be
responsible for making a bad decision about quarantining us in an unsafe place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIPLEY (voice over): The Courters are in their mid-70s. They know the vast majority of coronavirus deaths are people older than 60, and she says the
Diamond Princess is packed with retirees.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COURTER: We want off this ship and we want to go in health and in dire medical circumstances.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIPLEY (voice over): She even has private insurance that covers crisis extraction, but the Japanese government says they can only be extracted
after the 14-day quarantine period.
They hope the U.S. government will do something to intervene and bring more than 400 American passengers home.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RIPLEY: No indication that's going to be happening though, Zain, given the fact that President Trump just hours ago praised China for how its handling
this and didn't even mention the American passengers who were stranded on this ship.
But they are appealing to him to try to do something to get them off even though Japanese health authorities say the safest thing is for them to just
sit in their rooms and wait it out.
ASHER: And as they sit in their rooms, Will, waiting this out. Do they feel as though they're being given enough information? Are they truly being kept
up to date with what's going on?
RIPLEY: It's a good question, and the answer is no. People have been really frustrated by information. It's come at a slow trickle, if at all.
In fact, the people who we've been interviewing and speaking with the last few days, they didn't know that the case is spiked to 61 until we called
and told them and then it was after that significantly, after that, they saw the ambulances lining up outside. Then they heard the announcement over
the loudspeakers.
So you can imagine the kind of anxiety that would give somebody if they're sitting in a room with not much to do other than watch TV or play games or
watch the news, and they're learning about what's happening on their ship from outside sources and not getting information directly from the crew
because frankly, the crew doesn't even know.
ASHER: Can't imagine what's that's like. Will Ripley, live for us there. Thank you so much.
The coronavirus has the potential to become a global issue for the cruise industry. More than 30 million people are expected to take a cruise this
year on one of the 272 ships deployed around the world.
Cruise lines estimate that eight percent of all passengers come from Mainland China, and while most ships are deployed in the Caribbean, about
five percent of all port course are in China.
Cruise lines are imposing extraordinary measures to curb the outbreak, several are denying passengers and crew who have recently been to Mainland
China.
Royal Caribbean is performing extra screenings on anyone with a Chinese, Hong Kong or Macau passport.
MSC Cruises and Norwegian are checking everyone's temperature before boarding and cancellations and refunds are beginning to mount for routes
that go in that region.
Alison Kosik is following all of this for us. Alison, I mean, what does this mean for the cruise industry? You heard me say there that at least
eight percent of all passengers come from Mainland China. This is huge.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And more extraordinary measures, one more, because this does seem to be changing hour by hour. Maybe that's
why the information isn't getting out as in the previous report.
We've learned that Royal Caribbean is banning all passengers with Chinese, Hong Kong or Macau history of traveling -- meaning with those passports --
just of having that on their passports. So it doesn't even matter if they've been traveling in that area.
They're banned from boarding any ships until further notice. This is as the coronavirus, you know, seems to rage.
Operators are canceling sailings to China, as you pointed out very well, a main hub for their revenue.
The region is currently reviewing whether it's going to even stop there at all. So it's going to be reviewing this over the next six months whether or
not it should even stop in China.
So yes, clearly there's plenty of anxiety among passengers, you know, with passengers, you know, rightly so because you know, you're in those cramped
quarters. You've got that feeling of isolation.
And then of course, what does that mean for the cruise industry? Because the reality is when you look at how these bookings are done, a lot of these
bookings are done well in advance.
It's hard to plan on those bookings when we don't seem to have an end in sight for the coronavirus.
ASHER: And you think about investors at a time like this, of course, they're going to be checking the share prices of these companies. Just walk
us through how Royal Caribbean and Carnival Corporation -- how they -- actually put on the screen, red right there.
KOSIK: Right, red today and it's been red for several weeks now and I talked with one analyst at JPMorgan, Brandt Montour. He is sort of gauging
the tumble for these two public companies that are based here in the U.S. - - Carnival and Royal Caribbean.
They're down about 16 to 17 percent since around January 17. He is basing that on when the first news headline came out about the coronavirus, and I
asked him, what's the outlook for these companies knowing that we don't really have an end in sight at this point?
He said, right now it's sort of a nuanced outlook. He said it's based on a couple of things. It's based on how long the overhang lasts about the
coronavirus. How long does that, you know, dent consumer interest. And how long does that dent consumer interest as far as whether they're going to be
willing to book these cruises?
As I said before, you know, they have to book them well in advance and his answer to me, though, was that this is manageable for these cruise lines,
that there have been, you know, viruses that have happened. There have been world events that have happened that have just kind of pulled back that
revenue from these cruise ships because of fear of being on ships.
And he's seen that, yes, the industry has come back. It hasn't impaired them. But he said as long as the virus, as long as this goes on, as long as
it's in the headlines, as long as we see the headlines of whether there's a virus on the ship or whether there's a potential virus, it's going to have
an impact on global demand for getting on these ships.
ASHER: Yes, none of these companies of course want to be stuck giving out refunds every single day.
KOSIK: And that's what they're doing. They're actually doing that.
ASHER: All right. Okay. Alison Kosik live for us there, thank you so much.
The U.S. economy added more jobs than expected last month. Still, the gains were not enough for the market and New Year, same problem. The Academy
Awards takes place this Sunday, and while the film industry has seen a spike in diversity, we asked the nominees, not so much.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:16:32]
ASHER: Welcome back. The U.S. economy added 225,000 jobs in January, well above what economists had been predicting. Still the markets are down 274
points because of the coronavirus.
The Federal Reserve actually said that possible spillovers from the effects of the coronavirus in China have presented a new risk to the outlook.
Certainly, the markets has agreed.
Diane Swonk is the Chief Economist at Grant Thornton. She joins us live now from Chicago. Diane, thank you so much for being with us. So just walk us
through your thoughts on the jobs numbers coming in stellar, a lot better than expected, 225,000 jobs added in January, and the warm weather helping
particularly in sectors like construction.
DIANE SWONK, CHIEF ECONOMIST, GRANT THORNTON: Exactly. We saw 44,000 job gains in construction even though construction actually fell during the
month before seasonal adjustment. That just means that construction jobs didn't fall as much as usual in the month of January, and it showed up as
an increase.
We also saw transportation jobs pick up and some local projects where people were fixing potholes and things like that pick up during the month.
So once you strip those out, you get a little bit weaker jobs number, but it's still solid, and I think that's the important message here is, even
after stripping out the weather effects, this was still a good number.
The 3.6 percent uptick in the unemployment rate was of course still accompanied by an increase in the participation rate, which is always
welcome news, seeing more people throw their hat in the ring and willing to participate in what's become a marathon of an expansion.
ASHER: I've been scratching my head over the market reaction because we've had several days over weeks actually, in fact of coronavirus fears, and
we've seen the markets on record highs.
And now today, we get this really promising jobs numbers come in and the market is down almost 300 points. What gives?
SWONK: I think really the reality of the coronavirus is starting to set in. We start to see more reports of people saying that this is going to affect
earnings out there.
And what was really kind of remarkable was how much the markets were slugging off or sort of, you know, shrugging off the effects of the
coronavirus, particularly on earnings, not only a multinational firms being hit, but even you know, tourism is being hit. We've not seen that yet in
the employment data.
In fact, the employment data for January is all backward looking and prior to the coronavirus hits on the travel and tourism industry, which has been
particularly hard.
You had that whole great segment on what was happening in the cruise industry. But that's only one aspect of it.
China's a second largest air traffic market in the world. So you can imagine the blow to that as well. So we're seeing travel tourism, a lot of
high end -- this is Fashion Week, you know, coming in New York. We've got Fashion Week in Italy. All of those things are the Chinese wealthy tourists
actually make up more than the wealthy Russians and Saudis combined in many of those spots.
So it's putting a damper on luxury retail, but also across the board, you're seeing some ripple effects, layoffs now, announcements in some
places like hotels and in the airline industry. And I think that's very important because we'll see some of that data as we move into February and
March.
ASHER: Okay, so let's take a look at these jobs numbers from a bird's eye view because just explain to us why these jobs numbers over time have just
been so resilient.
You think about the fact that we've had 10 years straight of economic expansion. We already and have been for quite some time at full employment
in this country, 3.6 percent as of today, but we continue to get these stellar numbers -- over 200,000 jobs being added. Just explain that.
[15:20:01]
SWONK: Well, we're not really at full employment, what it means is there's more slack and there's more room to run. The Fed is finally eating its
humble pie and agreed to, and if it was really full employment and if labor markets were as tight as people thought they were, we would see much
stronger wage gains.
The wage gains have sort of stagnated about three percent after hitting a high of close to three and a half percent a little over a year ago. That's
very important because what we're doing is we're finally -- what this expansion has less -- has not had in momentum. It's been subpar. Most of
the time, two percent, two and a quarter, something like that.
It has made up for in stamina, but that's not enough, given how many people were hit hard early on, and there's still people standing on the sidelines
that aren't participating. We're still below the participation rates, particularly for men that we were in the 1990s boom.
ASHER: So as you mentioned, there is some slack in the labor market, clearly, so how will the Fed see these numbers then?
SWONK: Well, certainly, they'll feel good about the fact that they did three rate cuts last year instead of continuing to raise rates. The U-turn
is justified, because in fact, what they're worried about the inflation isn't there.
It's still that sort of high wire act for the Fed, because as you mentioned, the market sort of really shrugged all this off. And part of the
reason the markets have shrugged off so much of what could be pretty negative impact on earnings from the coronavirus and some economic impacts
as well is because of the liquidity the Fed has provided.
So it's a high wire act for the Fed of trying to get a little shot of adrenaline to what's been a fairly slow and sluggish expansion and keep it
going, to keep it sustained, the expansion. That's sort of their goal now.
But at the same time when they're trying to do that, they're also worried that they're stoking asset price bubbles, and that's very hard because the
Feds' tools are crude at the very best.
ASHER: I want to look at what the coronavirus means to the global economy. Specifically walk us through what you think it will mean in terms of
hindering or impeding the rebound in global manufacturing.
SWONK: Well, that's one of the -- it's adding insult to injury. One of the things we're worried about out there is we're talking about a shutdown
that's at least going to go into March and good chances it could go even longer than that.
And although most people are expecting a V-shaped recovery, the manufacturing sector was just showing some signs of life again in January,
not hiring clearly, we still lost jobs in the month of January in the manufacturing sector, actually slipped in recession in the U.S. last year,
and in many parts of the world.
Luckily, that wasn't enough to take down the whole economy. But now you're going to set it back again because of the nature of the global supply
chain.
This is not 2003 when another coronavirus, the SARS virus hit China and China was just on its way up on becoming a manufacturing hub for the world.
Now, it's very integrated into every other economy out there, the second largest economy in the world. And when it gets sick, the rest of us feel
the effects.
ASHER: Diane Swonk live for us. Have a great weekend.
SWONK: Thank you.
ASHER: President Trump actually tore into U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a recent phone call. A source tells CNN, the U.S. President
is furious, really upset over Britain's decision to give Chinese firm, Huawei a limited role in its 5G network.
Mr. Trump reportedly said the move is a national security threat.
Kevin Liptak is in Washington for us. So, Kevin, the President clearly not happy about this. Do we know how Prime Minister Boris Johnson defended his
decision?
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, this is the first time the two men had spoken since the British government said it would allow Huawei
into its 5G networks. We don't have a good read on how Prime Minister Johnson responded, but we know that U.S. officials had for months been
speaking to their British counterparts, trying to prevent them from doing this very thing, which is allowing Huawei, a Chinese tech giant from
entering its 5G network.
Officials -- U.S. officials believe that leaves American allies open to espionage. Obviously, the Chinese government has denied that they are using
Huawei for that purpose.
The U.S. government had initially responded pretty moderately to the British announcement saying that they were disappointed. We're learning now
that President Trump was far more furious behind the scenes.
Now, one of those officials who had been doing the lobbying over the past few months was Vice President Mike Pence. He spoke to CNBC this morning,
and he said that the U.S. is profoundly disappointed by the decision.
Now, this all comes at a pretty important juncture for the U.S. and the U.K. Obviously, beginning talks on a transatlantic trade agreement
happening after Brexit was implemented at the end of January.
Obviously, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson is far more aligned with President Trump than perhaps his counterpart was, and certainly Trump views
him as a more sympathetic figure than Prime Minister Theresa May, his predecessor.
Now part of this could be that the President is disappointed to learn that Johnson isn't going along with everything that President Trump wants him to
do. And that's true in some other instances as well.
Obviously, the Brits have a far different view of the Iran Nuclear Deal for example.
So this was a rude awakening for the President and this all sort of unleashed on Prime Minister Johnson in that phone call last week -- Zain.
[15:25:10]
ASHER: So President Trump in his words, he believes that this is a national security threat, the fact that the U.K. is using Huawei. What will be the
consequences of that on the ground? Is it likely that the U.S. will choose to share less Intelligence with the U.K. as a result of this move by
Johnson?
LIPTAK: Well, officials aren't going that far quite yet. That was obviously one of the things that officials were warning of, as they were trying to
prevent this from happening.
Now that it's happened, U.S. officials are still trying to regroup and sort of see where they go from here.
One of the things that Britain has said that it wants the U.S. to do is to provide a better alternative to Huawei, to provide a carrier that it could
rely on instead of Huawei to help improve its 5G networks going forward.
So how this plays out over the next several months will be something we're watching, but obviously that is one of the main things that U.S. officials
had warned of going forward, whether or not the U.S. could trust his information on these networks if Huawei was included in them -- Zain.
ASHER: All right, Kevin Liptak live for us there. Thank you so much.
All right still to come here on QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, as coronavirus cases climb, the World Health Organization warns of a global shortage of
protective equipment. We'll look at how people can stay safe. Next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: Hello, everyone. I'm Zain Asher. There is more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in a moment when we'll look at how major manufacturers are working to ease
a supply shortage in the fight to contain the coronavirus.
And we're going to be speaking to a CEO described by some as the female Elon Musk. Electric motorbike racing chief, Livia Cevolini joins us.
Before that though, these are the headlines we are following for you at this hour.
Four passengers from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship are being screened for the coronavirus, though none has exhibited any symptoms of the illness.
They would take into the hospital after their ship docked in the U.S. State of New Jersey, Friday.
[15:30:00]
In all, 27 passengers who recently traveled to China were screen, 23 were cleared, the ship's next cruise has been delayed by a day with strict
health protocols in place.
White House aides are bracing for another potential shakeup. Officials say acting Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney could be on the way out. President
Trump is said to have effectively lost confidence in him months ago. But close aides argue that a leadership change during impeachment could cause
even more chaos. Mr. Trump denies these reports.
U.S. Democratic presidential candidates will soon hold their final debate before Tuesday's New Hampshire primary. Pete Buttigieg heads into the
contest with a slim, ever so tiny lead over Bernie Sanders in the chaotic Iowa caucuses. Sanders has just confirmed he will not seek a full recanvass
of the Iowa results, but may ask the Democratic Party to look at what he called irregularities in some precincts.
And the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board says the helicopter that was carrying NBA legend Kobe Bryant shows no evidence of catastrophic
engine failure, and it released these images, showing the chopper flying into fog and low clouds just before the crash. Bryant and his daughter,
Gianna, and seven others died in the crash last month.
A 20-year-old former ISIS bride remains in a camp in Northern Syria after losing a legal bid to regain her British citizenship. The U.K. revoked it
last year on national security grounds. Shamima Begum's attorney say that they will appeal.
Investors are continuing to monitor the latest developments in the coronavirus outbreak. There are now more than 31,000 confirmed cases
worldwide. As you can see, mainland China is dealing with the brunt of it. And at least, 638 people have died. The good news though is, the growth
rate of the virus in China is actually steadily slowing down. The World Health Organization is warning of a chronic shortage of equipment that
could protect people from coronavirus.
Speaking earlier, the director-general said demand for supplies such as face masks, gloves, gowns is about a 100 times, a 100 times more than
normal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: The world is facing chronic shortage of personal protective equipment as
you might imagine. This afternoon, I will be speaking to the pandemic supply chain network to identify the bottlenecks and find solutions and
push with fairness in distribution of equipments.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Major manufacturers are working to ease the shortage. Foxconn has started to producing face masks at its plant in Shenzhen. Apparently, it's
setting up 14 production lines to aid with mask efforts, and Hodo Group says it's refitting a factory to make medical suits. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is
CNN's chief medical correspondent, he joins us live now from Atlanta. Sanjay, thank you so much for being with us.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: OK --
ASHER: So, here's the thing. Yes, there's a shortage, but how effective are face masks in the first place in terms of protecting against this virus?
GUPTA: Yes, I mean, that is the critical question. Now, you know, the demand goes up, the prices by the way go up 20 times as well. But outside
of patient care or outside of Hubei Province, you know, they're really not necessary, these masks, and really not effective, you know. As you might
imagine, I think most people probably realizes, Zain, but you wear a mask like this, and it's not clear that viral particles can't get through the
mask and or around the mask, around the edges.
The masks are probably the most effective because they remind people not to touch your nose and your mouth, and that could help to some extent. But I
think, you know, it's been very clear from the W.H.O that outside of patient care, outside of this particular area in China, this province,
there's really not a role for these masks, they don't work and it's probably diverting away from people who are actually taking care of
patients and need this sort of personal protective equipment.
ASHER: So if masks aren't that effective in terms of protecting against the virus, what is effective?
GUPTA: Right. So I mean, it's the basics that apply here. You know, when you think about this season in the northern hemisphere of the world, people
think about the flu. And you can see if you look at those world map, I mean, how -- I think you just showed it a little bit ago, how these cases
are sort of distributed, mostly in the northern hemisphere, places where flu -- seasonal flu is circulating.
[15:35:00]
What do you do to protect yourself against flu? First of all, you should just think about the basics, washing your hands, avoiding people who are
sick, and recognizing that with this virus, this coronavirus, it's really spread human-to-human if you're in close contact with somebody. Unlike
measles for example which can really hang out in the air for a long time, this does not seem to live on surfaces very -- for a long time, the
respiratory droplets drop to the ground pretty quickly, so that's why it's not particularly contagious unless you're in close contact.
Don't touch your eyes and your nose and your mouth, wash your hands, avoid sick people, I mean, the basics apply.
ASHER: And even though, there's obviously widespread panic which is understandable because, you know, it's a new virus, people don't know --
GUPTA: Yes --
ASHER: That much about it --
GUPTA: That's right --
ASHER: It's important to remember though, the fatality rate, it might not be as low as influenza, but it's still relatively low in terms of the
fatality rate of this virus.
GUPTA: Yes, I think so, even if you look at the numbers as they exist now - - and I was doing some of the math earlier, Zain, the fatality rate is around 2 percent. SARS for example was closer to 10 percent. But you know,
the numbers of people who have been infected is quite hard to actually know for sure. We know the confirmed infections, but there may be lots of
people. When I say lots, I mean, tens of thousands of people who have never gone to the hospital, never gone to the clinic, never been confirmed as a
diagnosis because they have minimal or even no symptoms.
So, as you increase the denominator, and the numerator stays the same, the fatality ratio drops. So, you know, officially it's 2 percent, but to your
point, Zain, I think that it's probably going to end up actually being lower than that, and we may look at this and say, this was a bad case of
flu as opposed to a lethal global pandemic.
We can't say that for sure because we're not even two months into this, but that's what it's starting to look more and more like.
ASHER: Very reassuring, Sanjay Gupta, thank you so much.
GUPTA: You bet, thank you.
ASHER: Major brands are continuing to halt operations as a result of the coronavirus. Toyota says it's keeping its plants in China closed for at
least another week. Wynn Resorts says it's losing up to $2.6 million a day from casino closures in Macao, and Burberry has temporarily closed 24 of
its 64 stores in China. In the meantime, in Europe, more companies are finding their supply chains under threat.
Many Chinese factories that make essential parts for businesses remain closed because of the coronavirus. CNN's Anna Stewart visited one U.K.
manufacturing firm hit hard by the shutdown.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A small firm with niche products.
TRACEY DAWSON, MANAGING DIRECTOR, DALETECH ELECTRONICS: We are an electronic manufacturing company. We manufacturer electronics for various
companies. The electronics then becomes part of our customers' products.
STEWART: So, you're very much in the middle of the supply chain.
DAWSON: Absolutely, yes.
STEWART: Unfortunately, one crucial component that Daletech imports is from an area in China impacted by the coronavirus. Some five and a half thousand
miles away.
DAWSON: We're expecting goods to arrive last week, so, we were quite surprised to hear that the Chinese new year had been extended by a week,
and even more surprised to hear that the factory supplying materials to us was in the affected province and on shut down, without being able to give
us a delivery date.
STEWART: It was components of this circuit board that came from the impacted factory in China. Now, Daletech have found a new supplier that can
get them the products within the time they need, but it's going to cost them three times more, squeezing their margins, and putting a lot of
pressure on the team here to turn around the product in time to sell it on to their clients.
DAWSON: We have had order confirmation that they will be here by the 18th. And that's what we're going to work to. What it means is there will be
pressure for us because we have a delivery date before the end of February. So, we're going to have to try and make sure we can manufacture in that
very tight time frame.
STEWART: If factory closures in China are extended, the delays and increased costs may impact the next business in this intrinsically-
connected global supply chain, eventually hitting the final customer who could be anywhere in the world. Anna Stewart, CNN, Leeds, in the north of
England.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: The World Cup is coming, but not exactly the one you think. It's the Second Annual Electric Motor Racing Championship. We'll explain more after
the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:40:00]
ASHER: Electric motorcycle racing industry is gearing up for its biggest event of the year, the Motor E World Cup. This will be the second season on
the zero emissions motor sport. Two preseason test events in Spain are now set in March and in April, round one officially kicks off May 1st. Livia
Cevolini is the CEO of Energica, the single manufacturer for the Motor E World Cup, she joins us live now.
Olivia, thank you so much for being with us. So, the world is clearly moving away slowly from fossil fuels. You're seeing this idea that
sustainability is having its moment right now on the world stage. How does the fact that -- how does sort of zero emissions motorcycle racing, how
does that fit into attracting new audiences to the sport, do you think?
LIVIA CEVOLINI, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, ENERGICA: Well, it's fantastic because finally we're able to commit each other. So, let's say that motor
sport is a big part of our everyday life and environment-friendly technologies have to do the same. So it's good to see that finally they are
crossing each other, and doing a synergy, so, we're able to commit to each other and collect also attention from the new people. Because you know
what? People are changing quickly their minds. So, even if we think that it's slow, it's not so slow, it's going fast.
ASHER: Just walk us through how the experience -- if you're a new spectator to the sport, how does the experience of watching electric motorcycle
racing differ from the ordinary stuff?
CEVOLINI: Well, it's fast, incredibly fast. The motorcycles are all the same, so there are big battles. So, I mean, they're having a lot of fun,
both the riders and the public. So, I think that it's changing, but it's the right way to change so that technology is at the right stage now. So,
they are having fun actually.
ASHER: So, obviously you're a woman in a very -- when I say very male- dominated industry, I really mean it. You know, and I just want to learn a little bit more about your journey. You started the company when you were
36 years old. How difficult was it for you just to be taken seriously?
CEVOLINI: Well, it was very difficult. It is still difficult. Things are changing, but I think it's also a push for ourselves as women in the
technological world and male-world to be better than them. So it's something that you start and you know that you have to be already at the
start, be better than them. So, it's a push to prepare yourself even better. So to just be more skilled.
And so I think that it's difficult, it's challenging every day still now, things are changing but slowly. But I think that we have to think it's
positive. So, it's a way also for ourselves to prepare even better than everybody else, be skilled enough, and at the right place in the right
moment.
[15:45:00]
So I think it's also good chance for us, it's like for a crisis, so you have crisis, if everything is going well --
ASHER: Yes --
CEVOLINI: You don't change.
ASHER: Yes --
CEVOLINI: If something is difficult -- if there's an issue --
ASHER: You know, that is my philosophy in life --
CEVOLINI: Improve.
ASHER: That I completely -- it's how you react to things. I completely agree. So, is the biking culture overall -- I mean, what needs to change in
the biking culture for there to be more women at the forefront, more women in leadership roles like yourself?
CEVOLINI: Well, you know what? Once more, we have just to be prepared. Because once that we are at the right place and we have the right skills,
and we demonstrate it, and we are able to tally it, then things can go well. So actually, I've seen more and more engineers, female engineers in
our world, in the paddocks, in the racing world, in the industrial world, so things are changing.
ASHER: OK --
CEVOLINI: So, we have just to keep calm and well prepared and study a lot.
ASHER: And what is the importance -- last question, what is the importance of sustainability do you think in terms of the future of sports overall?
CEVOLINI: Oh, it's so important because you know, what I said before. More sport is touching the heart of people, so we have to touch that with the
right sports. And being equally sustainable, it's so important because this is the time that we have to change our world, that we have to commit to our
planet with the right technology, because it has to be anyway fun. So it's so important. And that's -- this is the right time.
ASHER: You're amazingly inspiring, Livia, thank you so much for being with us, appreciate you coming on the show. The Oscar Awards are this weekend.
You'll see the glitz and the glam, but the diversity is still missing. We'll talk more about that on the other side of this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: Shares of Credit Suisse ended the day higher after sliding on its CEO's resignation over damaging spying scandals. His exit comes after the
bank's former COO was implicated in two espionage plots last year, and that raised concern why the CEO didn't know what one of his top executives was
doing. Here's our Hadas Gold with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HADAS GOLD, CNN REPORTER (on camera): In what is been seen by some as a shocking announcement, Tidjane Thiam is officially out, a CEO of Credit
Suisse after about five years at the helm.
[15:50:00]
The move comes after a rough few months for the bank, a spying scandal has roiled Credit Suisse after it was revealed that two executives were trailed
by private detectives, in some cases with car chase scenes straight out of a spy novel. The former Chief Operating Officer Pierre-Olivier Bouee whose
career has been closely linked to Thiam's has been blamed for orchestrating the spy after he allegedly admitted his role to company investigators.
He left the company in the Fall, and CNN has attempted to contact Bouee for comment. But even though Thiam was cleared by Credit Suisse of having any
involvement in the spying, the fact that this went on under his watch was not a good look for one of the main faces of Swiss banking. In a statement,
Thiam said, "I had no knowledge of the observation of two former colleagues. It undoubtedly disturbed Credit Suisse and caused anxiety and
hurt. I regret that this happened, and it should never have taken place."
Credit Suisse has endured five years of trading losses, but Thiam returned the bank into a profit in 2018 for the first time in four years. Several
reports are also suggesting that the personal relationship between the Chair of the board, Urs Rohner and Thiam had become strained. Ultimately,
it came down to the chair of the board versus the CEO. And though Thiam had the public support of some key shareholders, the board went with the
chair, unanimously supporting the decision to name a new CEO.
And perhaps, it's a sign of where the bank is headed, the board looked inward for its next leader. Unlike Thiam who was a bank outsider. The new
CEO is Thomas Gottstein; a company veteran and current head of the bank's Swiss business. Hadas Gold, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: All right, some breaking news to bring you quickly. Lieutenant Colonel Alex Vindman was fired from the White House National Security
Council. He was a key witness in the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump. Democrats say the move is clearly retribution, he is expected
to return to the Pentagon. We'll have a little bit more on this a little bit later on.
This Sunday is Hollywood's biggest night of the year, the Oscars. The Academy Awards show has faced a lot of criticism over lack of diversity.
And this year is sure to be no different. In the four acting categories, only one out of 20 nominees is a person of color, Cynthia Erivo. Heo Joon-
ho; the South Korea creator of the film "Parasite" is the only none white person nominated for best director.
None of the nominations for best director went to a woman. Rashad Robinson is the president of Color of Change, he joins us live now. So, here's the
thing about Hollywood that I don't get, and I'm hoping you can explain to me --
RASHAD ROBINSON, PRESIDENT, COLOR OF CHANGE: Yes --
ASHER: We've seen some positive sort of incremental changes in the past, whether it's "Black Panther" or "Crazy Rich Asians", those sort of movies
seem to do so well, and everyone says wow, you know, Hollywood is finally going to change, it's going to open up its doors to minorities. And then
you get a year like this where the acting categories are almost completely white nominees. Why isn't change in Hollywood -- why hasn't it been in a
straight line?
ROBINSON: It's such a good question, and Hollywood is an industry. It's a corporate industry like so many other industries. And so if you don't
change the underlying structures, this sort of rules of engagement, if you don't put systems to have transparency, if you don't continue to cultivate
how the rules are playing out, yes, you will have blips along the way where things seem like they're getting better only for the status quo to sort of
realign itself.
And the Oscars like all the award shows across the industry are designed for those who are already -- have already won inside the industry, who are
already powerful, the voting bodies of these industries are not diverse. They are filled with people who won under different rules. And then they
reward themselves or reward people who are like them.
You know, and the Oscars for instance, they're not even required to watch all of the --
ASHER: OK, right --
ROBINSON: Content that they're voting on.
ASHER: So Joaquin Phoenix gave a great speech at the BAFTAS --
ROBINSON: Yes --
ASHER: Where he said listen, we give a -- we give very obvious message that if you're black, if you're a person of color, you're clearly not welcome in
this industry. While I really admired the speech, talk is not going to change anything. What can prominent white actors like Joaquin Phoenix
actually do?
ROBINSON: Well, there's been a number of things. Well, first, they can be very clear and transparent about salaries, and have conversations on set
about, you know, who is making what? They can -- you know --
ASHER: I wonder if they're going to do that though.
ROBINSON: But then, you know, we've seen some --
ASHER: Right, yes, I know that theory --
ROBINSON: Really clear stories with activist Spencer actually calling --
ASHER: Exactly, Jessica did --
ROBINSON: Jessica did that --
ASHER: Right --
ROBINSON: For her. And so, there's been stories of white actors stepping up, and male actors at times stepping up for women actors. You know, the
other things Hollywood can do is, they can start publishing their own diversity numbers and start tracking it. They can put forward really public
goals about where they want to go, the studios and the industry.
The Oscars as a whole has to become more transparent and really deal with the rules. When industries have actually dealt with in serious ways
diversity, they've done it because they've actually put forward real benchmarks.
[15:55:00]
They've been public about those benchmarks. They've given the public an ability to actually judge whether they've been successful. If they --
anything short of that is like charitable solutions to structural problems.
ASHER: So, do you think it's important that we see people of color nominated in the acting category specifically? Because some people might
say, well, you know, there were other minorities nominated in other categories. Why is the acting category so important?
ROBINSON: Well, it's important because when folks get nominated, it provides them more opportunity to be seen, it provides them more
opportunity for the next role. It gets new things green lit. You know, we deal with a country where our content, our Hollywood images are one of our
biggest exports worldwide. The images that we send around the world shape how people see us, how people think about us.
You know, we just actually did a study with USC on crime TV shows, and looked at the role that crime TV shows -- and really helping to shape
people's understanding of the criminal justice system. For the last 20 years in the United States, violent crime has -- steadily went down. But
Americans think it's gone up. And you look at the content that people are seeing on TV, who gets represented, who gets to write those stories?
What you see are stories that are told, not through the framework of community, but through the framework of law enforcement. And so, who gets
to tell the stories? Who gets seen, has a deep impact on the written rules? And that is why it's so important. It's also important to the economy of
who gets opportunities for jobs.
ASHER: Right --
ROBINSON: And so we're having a real conversation, not just a fluffy Hollywood one --
ASHER: Yes --
ROBINSON: About the economy and about justice.
ASHER: Economy, justice and culture overall --
ROBINSON: Yes --
ASHER: Rashad Robinson, thank you so much for being with us --
ROBINSON: Thank you for having me.
ASHER: There are moments left to trade on Wall Street. We'll have the finding numbers -- final numbers, excuse me, after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: Almost left to trade on Wall Street. Take a look at the numbers there. The Dow is down about 267 points, because of concerns about the
coronavirus, basically outweighing the stellar jobs report we got. The Nasdaq, S&P 500 are down as well. Investors would have thought that the
positive jobs numbers for January, jobs coming in at 220,000 jobs added -- 25,000 jobs added would have boosted the numbers, but clearly not the case.
Look at the Dow components. Dow Chemical and Caterpillar are the biggest losers of the day. Other companies with exposure to China are down as well.
That is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, I'm Zain Asher in New York.
(BELL RINGING)
END
