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Doctors Voice Concerns about How Remdesivir Is Being Distributed; Brooklyn D.A.: Black New Yorkers Were 35 or 40 Social Distancing Arrests; Concerns Raised on Health Risks for Attendees as Trump Marks 75th Anniversary of V.E. Day; Mike Pence Staffer Tests Positive for Coronavirus; Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired May 8, 2020 - 11:30   ET

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


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[11:30:50]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Any moment now, President Trump will be laying a wreath at the World War II Memorial, marking the 75th anniversary of V.E. Day, Victory in Europe Day. When this gets under way, we will bring that to you live. Just enjoying seeing those veterans there on the screen.

Back to coronavirus pandemic. Remdesivir is the first and only drug shown to work against the coronavirus to date and the only drug to receive that emergency authorization approval from the FDA as a treatment.

But a new challenge is emerging. Doctors and hospitals saying it's not clear how the government is deciding where the limited supply of this treatment is going. And the drug's manufacturer says there's only enough Remdesivir in the world for about 200,000 patients.

CNN's senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is looking into this.

Elizabeth, what is going on here?

DR. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is what happens when you have a pandemic, and you get these new treatments coming out. Right when they come out, you're not necessarily going to have enough.

So let's look at some of the basics here. Remdesivir was authorized by the FDA, as you said, for the first time, a drug showing that it worked against COVID-19. That happened May 1st so really just one week ago.

Gilead, the company that makes it, only states they only have enough right now for 200,000 patients, max, and that is worldwide. And so, doctors are reporting dysfunction, saying there's no clear rationing criteria.

It's not Gilead doing the rationing. It's the government that's distributing it. And I will say that I've talked to hospitals that say we seem to have

enough and others saying, we didn't get any, we don't know why we didn't get any. And they try to ask questions, what is the criteria, who gets it, who doesn't and how much, they get a, literally, as one doctor said, don't call us, we'll call you.

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DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, INFECTIOUS DISEASE PHYSICIAN, MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL: We're in a tough spot.

COHEN: They're kind of asking you to play God, who gets the medicine and who doesn't.

WALENSKY: It's been I do believe that people who merit are not going to get it because we simply don't have enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: So that's what I've been hearing from other doctors as well is that they don't know what to do here.

It's interesting, the doctor we just heard from Rochelle Walensky is at Mass General Hospital. They did get Remdesivir. They were one of four hospitals in Massachusetts to get it, she said. And the only one in Boston to get it.

So, they made a decision to give it to the state of Massachusetts and said to distribute it as you see fit. We shouldn't be one of four hospitals getting it. Distribute it as you see fit. That was quite a gesture.

BOLDUAN: It was.

COHEN: Now Mass General doesn't have enough is and having to make these decisions.

BOLDUAN: Elizabeth, thanks so much. Much more to come on that one for sure.

So, the Brooklyn district attorney's office is telling CNN that New York police made 40 arrests in Brooklyn between March 17th and May 4th for folks violating social distancing requirements. And 35 of those arrested are black, four are Hispanic, and one is white.

Let's bring in this into the sharp spotlight. As well as this. In another part of the city, an arrest caught on video as the NYPD launching an internal investigation.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He didn't do nothing. He didn't even do nothing. Look.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He didn't even do nothing.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He didn't even do nothing!

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BOLDUAN: It's tough to watch.

CNN crime and justice correspondent, Shimon Prokupecz, is joining me. He's following all the aspects of this story.

Shimon, what are you hearing about all of this?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right. That internal investigation into that incident is still ongoing. But many members of the minority community are complaining the police are unfairly targeting them, there's a disparity in the way they're dealing with certain communities versus how they are dealing with minority communities.

The mayor vowed to take a look at some of this. And what he said today was that they are seeing this. They are seeing that some of the numbers is this disparity and, of course, it concerns him.

Last night, the mayor tweeting in response to the Brooklyn D.A.'s statistics that you just mentioned saying that, of course, the NYPD's job is to save lives. And the summons' and arrests, they need to do that in some instances.

[11:35:02]

So he basically then said that the disparity in the numbers does not reflect our values and that we have to do better and we will.

Today, the mayor going further, talking about it, just moments ago, at his daily briefing.

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MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D-NY): But I say, hey, start with these sheer facts that we're talking about. Very few people have been arrested and very few people have been summonsed. There's been a huge amount of restraint by the NYPD. That's just factually obvious from the numbers. And we intend to keep it that way.

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PROKUPECZ: So, while the mayor says, yes, he wants the NYPD to keep the contact they're having with the community over social distancing. At a minimum, they'll look at the guidelines, some of the training to go back and see if they can do some things different. The other thing I want to point out, Kate, we're talking about less

than 10 summonses a day that have been issued. And the mayor wanted to highlight some of that. He said they are showing restraint, but they do need to go back and look and see why there's this disparity in these numbers -- Kate?

BOLDUAN: Shimon, thank you.

Still ahead for us, Dr. Deborah Birx denying that the White House rejected new CDC recommendations for safely reopening the country, saying now the guidelines are in edit. What's going on here?

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[11:40:45]

BOLDUAN: Welcome back, everybody. As you can see, President Trump is at the World War II Memorial with the first lady marking Victory in Europe Day. Leaders around the world are doing the same. But in the midst of the global pandemic, the ceremonies looked different. Everything significantly scaled back.

Let's take a moment, let's listen in, in this very important moment.

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BOLDUAN: The president and the first lady there. President Trump is being joined -- as you can see, he's going to speak to them now, World War II veterans today, all of them in their 90s, which, as you can see, they're very spread out.

But it has, of course, raised concerns about the risks involved here, especially since, just yesterday, a member of President Trump's personal staff tested positive for the coronavirus.

I wish we could hear but it is windy there at the World War II Memorial.

Let me bring in White House correspondent, Kaitlan Collins, for more on this.

Kaitlan, you can see how social distancing, how they've spread out everyone at the World War II Memorial. But what are you hearing about precautions taken place in light of this?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think there would have been concern about this, Kate, even before the report that we broke yesterday about this personal valet to the president testing positive for coronavirus, of course, given the age of these veterans.

And though this is typically an event that the White House does each year where the president does greet them, as you're seeing now, he is doing from a distance with the first lady at the World War II Memorial. So they're outside this time, no hugs, no handshakes or anything of that nature. And of course, the concern was ramped up by that report that someone

close to the president, who interacts with him so closely, Kate, had tested positive.

This morning, the president confirmed the last time he'd had contact with the personal valet was on Tuesday. So it was in recent days. That person was exhibiting symptoms at the White House yesterday. They underwent a test and tested positive.

We should note the president and the vice president were then tested afterward and they both came back negative.

The White House said it raised a lot of concerns about the protocol inside the White House. And the president did say today those valets are going to start wearing masks. But you see that he is not wearing one, the first lady is not wearing one there, as they're outside keeping their distance from these veterans that are there.

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And we should note we were expecting the veterans to also be tested today for coronavirus as well before this event took place, as you've seen happening with all of the guests that often come into the White House.

BOLDUAN: What else -- Kaitlan, the White House had a statement -- White House spokesperson had a statement in describing the veterans attending the ceremony, choosing nation over self.

Are you hearing the White House is acknowledging and understanding the risks involved here? All of these men, these war heroes, these American heroes are in their 90s.

COLLINS: Exactly. And so they are in the group that health experts have told us is one of the most at risk. And so that was the question that we heard some people asking: Was this the right decision to hold this event, given, of course, what's going on throughout the nation?

And so that is why you saw the White House take these precautions that they're taking here, keeping people distant.

But you know, new questions were raised about that, given the events of the week. And you know, they also raised questions about what's going to be different inside the White House.

Trump said he's going to be tested daily now, instead of weekly, as is the senior staff who meets with him.

The next natural question: Is it going to be stopped here? Is the White House going to be able to contain this by removing this one staffer who tested positive? How does that go going forward?

That is the question as you see the president start to do these events that are typical of a presidency, of course, these memorial events, traveling, as you've seen him start to want to do. He went to Arizona this week. They have several other trips they're planning as well. How do they handle him doing the typical events of a presidency with,

of course, the pandemic that is very much still raging across the nation?

BOLDUAN: When these are anything but typical times.

Kaitlan, stick with me.

Dr. Jennifer Lee is joining us as well.

Doctor, I wanted to get your thoughts on kind of what Kaitlan and I were talking about there about the risks. What do you see when you see this event outside, yes, at the World War II Memorial, but you're talking about veterans in their 90s attending this event?

DR. JENNIFER LEE, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: That's right, Kate. Today is a very special day, V.E. Day, and the 75th anniversary of it. And we don't have many World War II veterans still alive. So of the 389,000 or so we estimate are still out there. We want to do everything we can to honor them and to learn as much as we can from their experience. They are a national treasure.

But I do think we have to be cautious, too. And part of honoring them is being cognizant of the risks that are really out there due to COVID-19 to their health.

Because -- of course, because of the time period that has passed since World War II, these veterans are older in age. The youngest veteran I think that participated in today's event was 96, for example. And we know that COVID-19 has the highest death rates among those who are 85 and older.

And so what we would want to see -- and we did see some of this in the ceremony -- but what we want to see is really careful social distancing, the use of masks, ideally, for somebody who has been recently exposed to a known COVID positive individual. And we know that from -- that the president, the news yesterday.

They're supposed to be following three things. One, they're supposed to be staying at home for at least 14 days after the last exposure to the individual. They're supposed to be monitoring themselves with temperature and symptom checks every day. And if they absolutely can't avoid interacting with people, then they need to stay at least six feet away, and ideally, wear a mask.

So we saw some of that today but not everything.

BOLDUAN: Doctor, if you could stick with me, I need to get back over to Kaitlan Collins.

Word of another positive coronavirus case at the White House?

COLLINS: Yes. We were just talking about the staffer who tested positive, the staffer to the president. And now we are learning from sources that a member of the vice president's staff has now tested positive for coronavirus. What's unclear, Kate, who that staffer is, how close in proximity they work with the vice president.

The reason something seemed to be up this morning is the vice president is on his way to Iowa right now. And when Air Force II was on the tarmac waiting to take off, they sat on the plane for an hour, which raised questions for the reporters on board, who let the rest of us know what's going on.

They were still sitting there for an hour. We didn't know what was going on. Then we were told that a few staffers got off the plane and then the plane took off to Iowa and headed that way.

So it's not clear what happened. Did those staffers come into contact with this person who has now tested positive?

[11:50:04]

We should note, we are told the person who tested positive was not scheduled to be on that flight today. The question is: Did other people come into touch with him? Did the vice president come in touch with whoever the staffer is? The staffer, we should note, is still unidentified.

This is really notable, given just yesterday, we reported someone incredibly close to the president tested positive. And now we're learning a member of the vice president's staff has also tested positive.

BOLDUAN: Raising questions of is there any connection, that we know of, of contact been this staffer on Pence's staff to the valet that you and I were talking about yesterday.

Dr. Lee, you are with us as well.

How concerning is this? Should the vice president be traveling?

LEE: It really not. In some sense, it's not surprising. As an emergency physician who practices in the D.C. metro area, I can tell you that the rates and infection have not seen a dramatic decrease. We have not seen that 14-day decrease in the district yet.

So it was a matter of time before you start to see some people in the orbit of the president or the vice president or the community of the White House potentially getting infected.

No matter how careful you are, this is a contagious virus. Of course, there are essential workers and people who are out there and adhering to all the guidelines. They they're trying their best. But could still get this virus.

We go back to what the CDC says. If you have had contact with someone that's tested positive, meaning you've been within six feet of them, you should not be traveling. You should be staying at home. You should not have any contact with others if at all possible.

If you absolutely have to, you have to maintain social distancing. You have to do that for at last 14 days after the last contact you had with the person who is positive.

BOLDUAN: This is deeply, deeply troubling because not only is it, one, there's a question and we know how quickly this virus could spread. We have seen it in every state across the country.

If Kaitlan is still with me, do we know people were wearing masks traveling with the president today?

COLLINS: We do not know. I didn't see it any of the reports and from the reporters who were on the plain. We'll have to check on that.

Of course, the vice president had a mask issue this week, or last week when he went to the Mayo Clinic, did not wear a mask though it was their policy. But he did wear one when he visited that G.M. facility in Indiana. That caused quite a stir inside the vice president's office. The question is, will he be wearing one today when he's in Iowa.

So far, the protocol has not been established for staffers to wear masks when they're on the plane. They didn't do it where here with the president. Their reason being all of those staffers are tested, the president said within the last hour, before they get on that plane to make sure they don't have symptoms.

But the questions is, what happens here. Like with what's we're seeing the vice president's staff right now, where they found out someone who wasn't even going on this trip has it.

Then the question is, as we've been talking about, contact tracing. Who was that person coming in touch with? We believe that could have been the reason we saw some staffers get off of Air Force Two and not travel with the vice president.

But we're still waiting on a lot of details because he's still in the air right now. So we're waiting to see exactly what the vice president's office has to say about this.

We should note they have not commented so far. We are just learning all of this material from other sources after it was reported by a "Bloomberg" news reporter.

BOLDUAN: Kaitlan, as often happens when the vice president or the president is going to a state like this, congressional -- members of the congressional delegation of that state often travel as well. There's a chance you have Senators or members of Congress that could be onboard that plane also.

COLLINS: Yes, and they're also tested. We should note that not only they are traveling often as they go to the state -- we saw several people traveling with the president when he went to Arizona. But we also have the president hosting Republican members of Congress at the White House today, this afternoon. So the question is how many people are there and do they social distance.

A lot of this is coming under scrutiny. It was not something the White House was facing a lot of question about. But now that we are seeing cases coming from inside the administration, on White House grounds, it's going to raise a lot of questions about what the protocol is behind closed doors.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely.

Dr. Lee, to that point, you have treated and worked with COVID patient in your hospital. What should happen now? Obviously, the White House is a very different place. It's not just any workplace. We're talking about the president and the vice president.

But what would you like to see happen now with how operation is conducted in the West Wing?

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LEE: When anyone tested positive, you have to start contact tracing. You want to isolate these cases of infection. You need to find out anyone who was in contact with the president and vice president's aids up until about 48 hours before symptoms started.

Again, this is a tricky virus, because you can have it and not have symptoms. We also know some of the rapid tests do have a significant 15 percent of false negative rate. So you have to be extra cautious dealing with this virus.

But we want to see is what all the guidance to be strictly adhered to, not only because it is the right thing to do to model that behavior for everyone else but to protect everyone in the White House.

Every single person there's an essential worker for the functioning of government and this nation. And so to protect them and their families, you want to see strict social distancing and wearing of masks and good hand washing. And they have the advantage, many people don't, of having access to rapids test. But the importance of that become even more critical in the coming days and weeks.

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LEE: But doing all of those things. And also, infection control.

BOLDUAN: Exactly right.

We're going to -- Dr. Lee, thank you so much.

But this is really troubling news coming from the White House right now, one day after a staffer of the president's tested positive for coronavirus. And now a staff of the vice president tested positive for coronavirus according to sources.

Much more on this breaking news right after this.

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