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NEW DAY SUNDAY

Protesters Voice Opposition To Stay-At-Home Orders To Slow Spread; Trump Lashes Out At Governors Over Testing Shortfalls; Ten Coronavirus-Unit Nurses Suspended In California For Refusing To Work Without N95 Masks; Musicians, Celebrities Come Together For Global Citizen's "One World: Together At Home" Concert; More Than 1,300 Inmates Test Positive For Coronavirus In Ohio; Pastors Call For Equal Treatment For People Of Color In Response. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired April 19, 2020 - 06:00   ET

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


[06:00:14]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president taking aim at governors suggesting at one point that they simply don't want to use the testing capacity they have.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have tremendous capacity. The Democrat governors know that. They're the ones that are complaining.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The president is taking advantage of these briefings to replace really what would be his rallies. It needs to be apolitical and by people who are really just focused on the science and the medicine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People are getting furloughed and losing their jobs. They need to get access to food.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're lining up in many cases for miles for donations at food banks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: None of us is working and we have kids, and they know that we don't have money to support them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning on this Sunday morning. I want to wish you a warm welcome. If you're here in the U.S., if you're around the world we are so grateful to be with you. I'm Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: It's good to be with you this morning. I'm Victor Blackwell.

PAUL: So this morning governors across America are really feeling the pressure to loosen social distancing rules. There are more anti- lockdown protests that seemed to be supported by the president and they're popping up nationwide. Remember more than 97 percent of the U.S. population is under stay-at-home orders right now. BLACKWELL: But some medical experts say that it's just too soon to reopen. Researchers at Harvard say that the U.S. is going to have to triple testing to half a million a day if the economy is going to open successful.

PAUL: Yesterday, President Trump called out state leaders for not making full use of coronavirus testing capacity. But we need to point out both Democratic and some Republican governor say they still aren't getting what they need. The president also says he believes some governors have gotten -- quote -- "carried away" with social distancing.

BLACKWELL: We have our reporters standing by with the latest on several angles. And I want start Kristen Holmes. She's at the White House.

Kristen, good morning to you. And I want you to offer some clarity here to this discrepancy between what the president is saying and what we're hearing from some governors about the capacity for ramping up testing.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Victor.

Two very different messages here from governors and the president. And here's how state officials across the country have described it to me. Many of them have said, yes, we do have more capacity, meaning their public and state labs, private labs within the state, should be able to test more people. However, they cannot. The reason being that they do not have the supplies for the tests.

You heard Governor Cuomo saying this yesterday. He said he called 50 of the top-producing labs in New York State and found that, yes, there was capacity, but, no, they could not conduct the tests because they didn't have the special chemicals or reagents that are needed to actually do the tests. Now, President Trump is only lashing out at Democrats despite the fact as you said that it's Democrats and Republicans who are having this issue. Take a listen to what he said last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They don't want to use all of the capacity that we've created. We have tremendous capacity. Dr. Birx will be explaining that. They know that. The governors know that.

The Democrat governors know that. They're the ones that are complaining.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And there is no evidence that these governors are deliberately not using the capacity. We have to remember, these are their states. They are in financial trouble and these are their constituents that they are watching be out of work, unemployed, in a depression. They want to get the economy open as fast as possible, but many of them are wary without the tests that they could see another surge. PAUL: So, Kristen, there were a lot of protests yesterday from people who want to see the government reopen. The president spoke to that yesterday. Help us understand. Is he supporting those protests?

HOLMES: Christi, he certainly appears to be. Now, let me give you a little bit of background information. I talked to a senior administration official yesterday who said President Trump is incredibly frustrated. He is being told by his medical advisers that the country is almost ready to be ready to reopen.

Now, I just want to you to understand what I'm saying here that the country is not yet ready but it's almost ready to be ready to be reopened and President Trump wants this to happen even faster. Now, this is a very different president yesterday, and the day before, than we saw on Thursday when he offered this unveiling of an opening plan that was conservative, listen to medical advice. It gave deference to the governors here.

But then yesterday President Trump champing at the bit, another senior administration official used that term to get the economy reopen and it sounds like he's happy to do it if the protesters are the ones putting pressure on the governors. Take a listen to what he said about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:05:03]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These protesters are protesting your social distancing guidelines?

TRUMP: I don't know. I mean, I notice there are a lot of protests out there. And I just think that some of the governors have gotten carried away.

You know, we have a lot of people that don't have to be told to do what they're doing. They've been really doing everything we've asked them. We have a few states where, frankly, I spoke to the governors, and I could have gotten them to can do, if I wanted, to do what would have been perhaps politically correct, but they've been doing incredibly --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And it does seem that many of these protesters are President Trump supporters. We saw MAGA hats as well as and Trump flags waving so that, of course, could play into his support of their behavior.

PAUL: Kristen Holmes, always good to you have. Thank you.

I want to get to Jason Carroll now. He's in New York. Jason, I know that experts say, as Victor said earlier, the U.S. needs to be conducting half a million tests every day. The thing is right now they're only conducting, what, a fraction of that?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, look, Christi, the numbers are not good in terms of if you listen to what the experts are saying. They're saying that we got to increase here in the United States the amount of testing by three times in terms of what we're doing now.

You look at research coming out of Harvard and you get more specifics there. They're basically saying that in order to get the country open by mid-May, the number of daily testing needs to be at anywhere between 500,000 and 700,000, and right now the country is at about 146,000. So a big shortfall there.

And in terms of why we're seeing this. Well, there are a couple factors that are weighing in. You look at what happened at the CDC. You had a contamination of the lab there that caused a delay in tests getting out. You have a shortage of tests out there. That's why New York's governor has repeatedly said, look, there's got to be more of a federal effort here in terms of getting the tests out. New York State, he says, is going to need more tests in order to get the state up and running again.

He made it very clear that the number of hospitalizations are down, intubations are down, the social distancing is working here in state, but, Christi, he said testing is going to be key in terms of getting things economically back on track.

BLACKWELL: And continuing to test. I mean, we heard from the governor earlier in this pandemic as it related to PPE and the ventilators. The state-to-state competition to get those supplies, and I understand that states are now fighting one another to get the supplies to ramp up testing.

CARROLL: Right. Well, Cuomo talked about that as well during his briefing, Victor. He said, look -- he made it very clear that he's doing what he can to tap state resources, to tap into the private sector. But what he pointed out is he said, look -- when you look this nationally there are about 30 manufacturers who deal with the lab equipment for these tests. And you've got all these states competing for these same manufacturers.

Manufacturers, by the way, which are regulated by the federal government, and that's why he says, look, you've got to have the feds stepping in to do this. He says this is not about politics. Of course, taking aim at President Trump there, and he talked about this with former President Bill Clinton during a global initiative event. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: One of the things that really has bothered you is this competition among the states for vital equipment, which has bothered a lot of smaller states even more, because they feel like they're losing a bidding war.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): So it was like being on eBay internationally, competing against every other state and competing against the federal government to buy the equipment. And if you're a smaller state, New York could out-bid you and California could out-bid you and Illinois could out-bid you.

We're going to have the same situation on testing. You watch. These private sector companies do testing. No one has the scale or the volume that we need so you're going to have another situation of 50 states all competing trying to buy the testing. I've been saying today the federal government has to take over testing and let them figure out how to bring it to scale.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: So while you've got all of this sort of back and forth going on between the states and the federal government, one important point to remember here in New York State, the epidemic, the epicenter, of this pandemic, you've got hundreds of people who are still dying every single day -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: Jason Carroll for us there in New York. Jason, thank you so much.

This morning on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" Jake Tapper will be talking with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and New York Senator Chuck Schumer about help for small businesses. Also on the show Maryland Governor Larry Hogan and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. That's right here at 9:00 eastern on CNN.

[06:10:02]

PAUL: So you know hospitals around the country are facing some dire staffing and supply shortages. There's one hospital in California that is suspending 10 nurses who refused to enter rooms of COVID patients without having those N95 masks. That is the type of mask that has been supported by the medical community saying this is the mask that you have to have.

Well, the nurses protested together, as you see through these pictures. They demand that they be given the N95 masks that other health workers in their hospital apparently had access to. Instead the hospital provided them with surgical masks and those 10 nurses now are suspended with pay for potentially weeks as the hospital investigates.

Two of those nurses, Michael Gulick and Allison Mayol, are both with us. Thank you both for being here.

I want to first thank you so much for the work that you do, being on the front lines of this. We know that it's frightening, and it's scary, and it's dangerous, and you are helping so many people. So thank you for that, first of all.

But, Allison, I wanted to start with you. Tell us about the conditions of the hospital. Because you were provided masks. Why were the masks you had not satisfactory to you?

ALLISON MAYOL, NURSE SUSPENDED FOR REFUSING TO WORK IN COVID UNIT WITHOUT N95 MASKS: So there's not really a lot of information, not enough information that we know, you know, droplet, whether this disease could be spread through droplets or airborne. So the N95 respirators protect you from airborne particles and surgical masks do not. Our fears were heightened and our anxieties were heightened when a nurse on our floor tested positive and we see doctors and our respected physicians going into the rooms with N95 masks on.

PAUL: Do you have the support of doctors for these protests?

MAYOL: We did at the time. The doctors are actually the ones who told the nurses, hey, I would not go in there without N95 masks and they were surprised to see us with just the surgical masks.

PAUL: OK. So, Michael, I know that the suspension is pending base on the results of the investigation. I understand the hospital indicated that they may have reported you to the board of registered nursing which can result in you losing your nursing license, if I have that correct. You were saying you're just standing up for what you believe is right. It didn't seem like anything that was out of line.

How do you think it got to this point?

MICHAEL GULICK, NURSE SUSPENDED FOR REFUSING TO WORK IN COVID UNIT WITHOUT N95 MASKS: I honestly don't know. We were just really trying to do what we felt was right for the patients we were taking care of and what was right for our own safety. We really felt that once we voiced our concerns and were really firm about it, that the hospital would be understanding from our standpoint and would do the right thing and provide us with the most conservative means of PPE gear which would be the N95 respirator.

PAUL: So I want to -- I have the hospital statement here. This is per spokesman Patricia Aidem and the hospital says, "Every one of our nurses caring for COVID-19 positive patients and patients under investigation, was provided appropriate PPE per CDC, WHO and state guidelines. These same guidelines are followed by most hospitals across the United States."

We've gotten through, you know, the N95 mask is what you wanted, it's what the doctors said you should have, you say they are the masks that you didn't have. Why were they giving N95 masks, Allison, to other units, other nurses in other units, say in pediatrics as opposed to you? Did they explain that to you at all?

MAYOL: They did not. The night I was suspended I was told we have the N95 masks but not for your level of care, which is kind of bizarre, because we were caring for exclusively positive COVID cases and ruled out COVID cases.

PAUL: OK. So what do you do from this point on, Michael? What's the plan?

GULICK: Well, we're still waiting the results of the hospital's investigation. So we don't know what the end result will be of their due process if we're going to be reinstated back to work, or if another process needs to be completed first.

But, really, we want our hospital to make a conscious policy change. We want them to have transparency with us and communicate with us. Tell us what supply of N95 respirator they have on hand and how much -- and how many that they're expecting to receive. The more open communication that they have with us, the more trust that we have with them, and the more that we feel that they're looking out for our own best interests and the best interests of the patients that are under our care.

[06:15:07]

PAUL: Allison --

GULICK: And I just --

PAUL: I'm sorry. Go ahead, Michael. I didn't mean to cut you off. Go ahead.

GULICK: I just want to say one more thing. Nursing is a science-based profession. We are taught from day one to question everything. And to -- and to speak up for a patient's safety and to be their advocate, and especially if it involves safety, we should -- we're obligated and mandated by our licensure to speak up and voice our concerns until they're eventually heard.

PAUL: So, Allison, help us understand the anxiety that you felt going in without the N95 mask. We want to know what it was like for you up on a daily basis up to that point of the suspension.

MAYOL: So, my fears were definitely building as time went on. You know, there was a worry that I would get this disease, that I would get sick myself, that I would bring it home to the people that I live with, that I would bring it into my community. That I would bring it into a different patient's room that maybe didn't have the disease. And it was so, it was so scary. And I was hoping that I would be protected by my employer, but sadly that was not the case.

PAUL: All right. Michael and Allison, thank you both again so much for the work that you do. Thank you to all of the nurses and doctors there and we'll, of course, keep watching to see how this turns out, but wishing you the very best. Thank you.

MAYOL: Thank you.

GULICK: Thank you. Appreciate it.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

BLACKWELL: Fantastic show of solidarity here. This is the Global Citizen's "One World Together" concert. Lady Gaga and the World Health Organization brought together all the musicians you see in here, celebrities -- and this was really for people at home to have a night of music, some laughter, and some hope.

PAUL: Because we need that. It's been a very heavy several months at this point.

Former first ladies Michelle Obama and Laura Bush led the special tribute to workers on the front line of the battle. Look at this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA BUSH, FORMER FIRST LADY: The spirit and courage of the American people is most evident in times of crisis, and during this difficult period of physical separation, we've never been closer. Not just in our great country but tonight we stand with the people of the world.

MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY: Laura and I want to express our overwhelming gratitude to the medical professionals, first responders and so many others on the front lines risking their lives on our behalf.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now, at the end of the night, Global Citizen announced the event raised more than $127 million in support of health care workers. A great event and, of course, our health care workers need as much support as we can offer.

PAUL: Absolutely.

BLACKWELL: All right. Coming up next, we're talking how the coronavirus is rampant in U.S. prisons and what's being done to contain it. We've learned that more than 1,300 inmates have tested positive in Ohio.

PAUL: Also, rap battles on Instagram, have become appointment viewing during the quarantine. Coming up, producers with Beatz and Timbaland tell us how it all started and who's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:23:06]

BLACKWELL: Let's turn to Ohio now where more than 1,300 inmates have tested positive for COVID-19 across three facilities.

PAUL: A spokeswoman for the state's corrections department tells CNN they're conducting mass testing, they're isolating prisoners, they're taking additional precautions as well on an effort to contain the spread.

CNN's Omar Jimenez following the developments here. Omar, so social distancing obviously would feel like it's nearly impossible in a facility like this. What else are they doing?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It's a real challenge and the proximity of inmates to one another is one of the most concerning aspects of the potential for spread here. Now at these particular facilities within the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction they have basically, well, for one, eliminated and suspended visitation and volunteering services.

They are working on alternate forms of communication for visitation there but they've also reduced meals to two times a day increasing the calories at each meal to try and make up for that. But then also decrease the amount of time you're having people gather together.

They're asking inmates to sleep head to toe to eliminate again the potential for spread just from the vapors from your mouth there. And then on top of that they are just trying to make sure that when new inmates come in they keep them separate for about five weeks to monitor for symptoms and they keep them separate from the general population, again to mitigate the potential for spread.

BLACKWELL: Omar, do they know how these outbreaks at these respective facilities started?

JIMENEZ: That is the central question right now. Now, when you talk about how easily these actually spread, that seems to make a little bit more sense, but as for where it started, they are going through that at the moment.

Now, when you look at how the numbers in these facilities break down, we talk about more than 1,300 across these three different facilities, the most significant outbreak comes from the Marion Correctional facility just north of Columbus where they saw a slight uptick in cases so they made the decision to test everyone.

[06:25:13]

Well, they got those results back, or at least they're starting to, and more than 1,000 have tested positive, just at that facility alone. And it's not just about the numbers there. One of the most concerning parts is that in one dorm, 60 tested positive. All of them were asymptomatic, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Wow.

PAUL: Wow. That's something. Omar, thank you so much for bringing us this story.

BLACKWELL: Yes. The poor and minority communities are really feeling a disproportionate impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Coming up, I'm going to speak with Reverend William Barber about his push to help people who are most in need. What he calls our moral responsibility.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:04]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. REGINA BENJAMIN, FORMER U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: We know that our financial health is directly related to our physical health. We know that our education is just as important as our health.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN NEW DAY: That was Dr. Regina Benjamin, former Surgeon General under President Obama from last night's CNN special, the Color of COVID. The coronavirus is disproportionately impacting communities of color, poor communities. And our next guest is calling on all of us, really, to address those disparities.

Let's bring in Reverend William Barber, President of Repairers of the Breach and the co-Chair of the Poor People's Campaign. Reverend Barber, welcome back.

You know, I've ready, an op-ed of yours, and this had to be early on the pandemic, maybe early March, in which you wrote that the impact of poverty is not limited to the poor. And look at what we're seeing at meat-packing plants and at different facilities. I want to you explain that a bit.

REV. WILLIAM BARBER, PRESIDENT, REPAIRERS OF THE BREACH: Well, first of all, we often define poverty wrong. We just talk about what the government level of poverty is. But when you actually look at poverty by numbers study and low income, there are 140 million poor and low- income people in this country, 43 percent of this nation, and 62 million people that work for less than a living wage, and 700 people are dying a day prior to this pandemic.

And what science and the experts tell us is that pandemics live and exploit the fissures and the wounds of our society. So if you don't address what is happening for the poor people, low income people, you actually not only allow the pandemic to spread among them but you allow it to have life in the rest of the society as well.

BLACKWELL: As we've gone on essential workers initially it was discussed as the heroes of this were the medical professionals and the doctors, but we have to look at all of the essential workers who work in grocery stores and prepare our food.

There's this heroes fund that's being sponsored or offered by Democrats hopefully for the next -- they hope for the next response bill, $25,000 additional to those essential workers. I wonder what your idea of that is? Does that $25,000 match the sacrifice and what should the next response bill look like for people in communities we're discussing?

BARBER: Well, we've always known that our campaign that these workers were essential. It's amazing how we've gone in a month calling people service workers, non-essential workers. And we say they are the soul of America. But it's time for them to see the soul of America and be treated as such. If you go to war, combat soldiers get combat pay.

I read all the details of that bill. What I've said in a podcast with President -- excuse me, Vice President Biden, and in a -- the next (ph) conference and briefing we had, the other day, Friday, with Congress before, that we need a real rescue deal, and, yes, it should include something like the hero fund. But also we need a bill that rescues the 140 million of us that are poor and low wealth. We've spent $2.5 trillion on corporation and businesses and hardly a crumb to American workers and poor people. We need one that rescues us.

So what do we need? We need a bill that makes sure everybody has health insurance for the uninsured, not just testing free, but healthcare free so after testing, you can get the treatment. We need paid sick leave for all of these workers. We need a national writ moratorium that doesn't just forgive the rest of the three month and then you owe the three months in the fourth month. We need to make sure nobody can have their water cut off or their utilities cut off.

And we need to make sure that we have true unemployment wages and we need to make sure that we have access for our children to computers, the internet. In other words, we need to close the inequities, because the pandemic lives and breathes.

We need to make sure our undocumented workers are covered and the homeless people are covered, not just 500,000, but the millions of homeless or right at the edge of homelessness every day in this country. Otherwise, we have said like this, everybody has a rye to live. If they don't, we don't. And that's our moral responsibility.

BLACKWELL: Reverend, quickly, when this ends, state and local budgets, they're going to be wrecked. Budgets even in good times underserve poor communities, communities of color. What do you expect this will look like and the impact will be on poor Americans once we get past this moment?

BARBER: Well, if we begin now working on the structural inequalities, we can actually come out stronger in this pandemic.

[06:35:03]

If we don't, we're going to come out weaker. We can no longer talk about or at least discussions about not raising taxes. We can no longer talking about putting gross amounts of money in our defense budget and not making sure that money is going to infrastructure and healthcare and education right now because we spend 53 cents of every discretionary dollar of our nation in the war economy and less than 15 cents of every discretionary dollar in education, healthcare and infrastructure.

This pandemic is requiring us to relook at how we do society. It is forcing us -- it is forcing us to make some choices about who we are, how we treat one another and how we should go forward (ph) in society. And I pray that we'll do that in the society. Otherwise, we're going to be in a lot of trouble for many, many years to come.

BLACKWELL: Reverend William Barber, always good to talk with you, sir.

BARBER: Thank you so much. God bless you.

BLACKWELL: Stay safe. Christi?

PAUL: So, listen, when we come back, Brian Stelter, host of Reliable Sources, joining us early, talking about the risks of reopening America too soon.

And who, or what, may be behind this movement helping ignite these anti-shutdown protests?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:00]

PAUL: So glad to have you with us here as usual. The weekend, this weekend, I should say, more signs that the debate about reopening the government is becoming a political conversation.

Demonstrations, as you're going to see here, they're happening against the guidance of health experts, including those in the president's own administration. And they followed the president himself tweeting about liberating states, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And it's pretty similar to what we've seen from some Fox News segments on the protests and rhetoric of rebelling continued last night on a program the president turns to often.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEANINE PIRRO, FOX NEWS HOST: You can't keep Americans down. Born of rebellion and revolution, we are ready to fight. It's in our DNA. We're ready to fight the virus, ready to fight to get back to work and ready to fight to reopen our country in a safe and strategic way.

Your models are out of control. The economy is out of control. China is the one that's out of control. We're not going to let you destroy this country or our way of life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about this now with CNN's Chief Media Correspondent, Anchor of "RELIABLE SOURCES," Brian Stelter.

Brian, good morning to you.

There's this call and response that the messages are so similar, it may be hard sometimes to determine who started it?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: That's right. I talked about the Fox/Trump feedback loop in ways that are sometimes silly or outrageous or relatively unimportant to the rest of the country.

This is an example of why it is very important, why this feedback loop is very significant. Because what these hosts on Fox News are saying about wanting to, in my view, recklessly, prematurely try to reopen parts of country is then been heard by Trump and repeated by the president and repeated by his aides over and over again. So it does go in a cycle that does create this false impression of what most Americans actually want to see happen.

It is striking to look at this new pew data from earlier in the week showing that two out of three Americans are more worried that states are going to reopen too quickly. Only one in three Americans are worried that's going to happen too slowly.

But the president's rhetoric about liberation, the rhetoric from Fox about reopening as soon as possible and these images of scattered protests in certain state capitals kind of give you a different impression, a different impression that everybody is raring to go no matter the health consequences when, in fact, according to polling, most Americans recognize the threat and are worried about moving too quickly.

PAUL: So, Brian, how expansive do we think this messaging is? We know that it's on Fox News. We know that it's in social media to some degree. But what is the real danger here of the discourse that it could could -- it could -- it would give birth, I guess, between different people, because we're listening to doctors and nurses who are really frightened for their lives and the lives of the patients in the hospital over this? Although at the same time, you've got people who are concerned about the economy.

STELTER: Yes. And those are absolutely valid. Everybody shares those concerns. I think there's this presentation sometimes from Trump allies that there's a false choice here, either stay closed or reopen. And when, in fact, it's much more complicated, it's on a spectrum, it's going to happen over time and everybody wants the same outcome. It's a matter how we get there and how carefully we get there.

Unfortunately, we're seeing people playing black and white when this is a very gray issue and we see some outright denialism mixed with other people who are just, I think, creating false choices. That's the danger of this feedback loop right now.

PAUL: Great point.

BLACKWELL: Yes. The president on Thursday releases these guidelines and then Friday, Saturday, Sunday, spending the day telling people to ignore them. Brian Stelter, thanks so much.

Make sure to catch Reliable Sources coming up at 11:00. One of Brian's guest -- two of them, heads of YouTube and Instagram will be on the show.

PAUL: So there's also the question what's going to bring back sports, what will it take?

[06:45:01]

Well, there's an NBA owner who's offering some pretty incredible insight into just how complicated this is going to be. Coy Wire has that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: President Trump is leaning on pro-sports to help reopen the country. He's asking league commissioners and team owners to help.

PAUL: Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban is one of them. And I want to bring Coy in here because he gave some insight into how complicated holding games again, he believes, is going to be.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It's really interesting stuff. Good morning, Christi and Victor. But Mark Cuban, he says that he really feels that we cannot rush back to games. That's the worst thing we can do. And he tells CNN that getting all of those details just right, well, it comes with some tough decisions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK CUBAN, DALLAS MAVERICKS OWNER: Do we allow media family? Well, if you allow media family, what about children? How do you train children to take their masks on and off?

[06:50:01]

A ten-year-old is just going to be playing with their face all day long. There are so many components that we have to explore and get right, because we can't put anybody at risk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: All right. Come take a look at this video. It has millions of views on Twitter. Two women playing tennis in isolation in Northern Italy on their rooftops. Volleying the ball across the street to each other. Think about how difficult that must be. These women reminding everyone, where there is a will, there's a way.

All right, now to Difference Makers, and we're highlighting Arizona Cardinal star Chandler Jones. He has already donated 150,000 meals to food banks both in Arizona and in his home state of New York. And now, the cardinals are joining in the cause as well. Their sponsor, State Farm, they are pledging 1 million meals to food banks to help those in need.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BIDWILL, CARDINALS OWNER: The need for meals is more important than ever. So it just made all the sense in the world that the Cardinals and State Farm teamed up to do something great like this and make a really meaningful impact. And this is making a difference when you talk about members of a million.

GRACE BISHURA, UNITED FOOD BANK: With that support, we've been able to double what we naturally do. So we've done 2 million pounds of food in one single month. We also have quadrupled the amount of people we serve in the public every single Friday.

JERRY BROWN, ST. MARY'S FOOD BANK: We everything that's happening with COVID-19, we've just seen the amount of people coming to the food blank explode, where normally we were serving 500 families a day, that number has risen to over 1,500. It's been that way for several weeks. We're trying to get folks more food, more canned food, more frozen foods so they can take it home and stay at home where they need to be at this time and have some good food for their families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Now, the Cardinals, Victor and Christi, they're also holding blood drives and PPE drives, collecting those vital masks and gloves and more to help keep people safe. PAUL: Love the stories, Coy. Thank you so much for bringing them to us.

BLACKWELL: Thank you, Coy.

WIRE: You're welcome.

BLACKWELL: Hey, have you checked out any of these music battles on Instagram? Babyface/Teddy Riley last night was a mess. But T-Pain/Lil John was pretty good. Look.

Some of hip-hop's music, really, biggest stars are taking on each other while staying at home. Look at how this started.

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[06:55:00]

PAUL: So celebrities want to help us feel less isolated during this pandemic. And you know what, sometimes that just means keeping us all entertained.

BLACKWELL: Yes, because we need it. So Timbaland and Swizz Beatz, they're giving us virtual hip hop battles. These are matchups with some pretty big names.

Let's bring in CNN Entertainment Reporter Chloe Melas. When these are good, these are really, really good. How did this get started?

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Good morning, Christie and Victor, you are so right. And, look, despite the technical difficulties with Babyface and Teddy Riley, they are going to rematch today at 5:00.

It all started because Timbaland and Swizz really felt like people needed music right now more than ever to bring everyone to feel closer together, have that oneness, that music uplifts people, that they've had this idea for a while and they thought, no better time than the present. Let's do these battles now. And like you said, Victor, when they're good, they are incredible.

But they also told me that they understand that people are feeling sad and uncertain right now. So they gave some pretty incredible advice to anyone that needs it. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SWIZZ BEATZ, MUSIC PRODUCER: To stay in the darkness is very easy, but let's do a couple of things that we know that's going to make us smile, call a loved one, you know, check on somebody, surprise somebody, call somebody just to joke around, you know, make yourself come up out of this darkness, because the darkness is only what you make it.

TIMBALAND, MUSIC PRODUCER: You've got to focus on the light. You have to dig deeper than yourself, to figure out you. You know, for me, it's like a self-preparation for the future. I know people worried about jobs and stuff, but that's life. You shouldn't worry about that. Like God got us all covered and I feel like just focus on the light.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MELAS: Hundreds of thousands of people, Christi and Victor, are tuning in for these instagram live battles. Sometimes they go on for two hours. It really just bring as bright spot to people's day and something to look forward to.

PAUL: Taking that home with me, focus on the light.

MELAS: I know. It reminds me of what you post on Instagram, Christi, all of your uplifting quotes. It's pretty powerful.

PAUL: I mean, the way he said that, and God has got us all covered, he says, but focus on the light. And, really, I mean, it's the whole thing about gratitude, right? It changes everything. It depends on what you're looking at.

Chloe Melas, good stuff. Thanks to those entertainers too who are keeping us entertained. We do need it in these times.

BLACKWELL: Thanks, Chloe.

PAUL: Thank you, Chloe.

So we're covering all angles of the coronavirus pandemic for you this morning, lots going on.

BLACKWELL: Yes. The next hour of your NEW DAY starts right now.

[07:00:00]