Return to Transcripts main page

EARLY START

U.S. Surpasses Five Million COVID-19 Infections; Fears Grow Motorcycle Rally Could Be Super-Spreader Event; Paris Mandates Outdoor Mask-Wearing In Tourist Hotspots. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired August 10, 2020 - 05:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:31:59]

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: More than a million coronavirus cases reported in just 17 days. And new this morning, a cluster of cases now at a school now made famous by a picture of a crowded hallway.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Three months in a row of job gains in the U.S., but it doesn't mean workers are getting their old lives back. Many of them have to take pay cuts or work part-time.

Good morning. This is EARLY START this Monday morning. I'm Christine Romans.

JARRETT: So great to be back with you, Christine.

ROMANS: Nice to see you.

JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett, 32 minutes past the hour here in New York.

And this morning, another somber threshold has now been crossed. The United States has now topped five million cases of coronavirus. That's about one-quarter of the world's cases.

And to put that into perspective, that means the United States has had more infections than Ireland has people. To put it another way, the number of cases also slightly higher than the entire population of Alabama.

CNN's Evan McMorris-Santoro has more now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Laura, Sunday was another grim milestone in this country's ongoing pandemic. It was announced that this country has now had five million cases of coronavirus and more than 160,000 deaths.

Now, it took the United States just 99 days to reach one million cases back on April 28th. It took just 17 days for America to go from four million cases to five million. Sunday it was also announced that the U.S. reported more than 1,000 daily deaths due to coronavirus for five days in a row.

New York, where I'm standing, continues to be one area of good news in the country. The governor announced Sunday that this one-time epicenter of the outbreak had its lowest infection rate since the pandemic began -- Christine and Laura.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Evan. Thank you so much for that.

In Georgia, the high school that came under scrutiny after a student shared this photo of a packed hallway -- well, now it's being forced to move all classes online, at least temporarily. The school superintendent announcing over the weekend that tests had found nine cases of coronavirus at the school.

CNN's Natasha Chen has the latest from Atlanta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Laura, the superintendent's letter announcing that students would stay home and do virtual learning Monday and Tuesday came about a day after the high school's principal told families that at least six students and three staff members had tested positive for COVID-19.

Now, the district had already planned that the first week of school was going to involve three days of students in-class and two days of them at home with virtual learning. Now, of course, that's been extended for Monday and Tuesday as the district consults with the health department, disinfects the school. And the superintendent says they'll be telling families by Tuesday how they want to proceed after that.

Here's Hannah Watters, a student who got into some amount of trouble after she posted a photo last week on social media of a crowded hallway with students very close to each other, many of them not wearing masks.

[05:35:00]

HANNAH WATTERS, STUDENT, NORTH PAULDING HIGH SCHOOL: The fact that we already have nine cases just at the end of that week is very concerning because even then, we don't know how many people those nine people came in contact with and how many people aren't taking tests yet, so they don't know. And then they come back, possibly this week, too. So it just is going to spread like wildfire in that school.

CHEN: North Paulding High School is not alone in reporting COVID cases in the metro-Atlanta area. In Cherokee County, after the first week of school, about 260 students and staff have to quarantine after some people tested positive there. And in Gwinnett County, where teachers have been prepping in school buildings, 260 employees in that district are either having to quarantine or have tested positive for COVID-19.

Laura and Christine, back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JARRETT: Natasha, thank you so much for that.

There are growing concerns this morning that tens of thousands of bikers converging on Sturgis, South Dakota could be taking part in the super-spreading of COVID-19. Officials have added beds at area hospitals with fears that an uptick in the virus could be just weeks away.

CNN's Ryan Young has the latest from Sturgis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Laura and Christine, Sturgis, South Dakota gets transformed every year during this time. You can see the massive amount of bikes that have come into the city for the Sturgis bike rally. This city swells by several thousand people. Of course, this year, COVID-19 is the big concern.

Now, we've seen people not socially distancing and hanging at bars, and a lot of folks have told us it is their right not to wear a mask. They don't believe the pandemic numbers. That's one of the reasons why they wanted to come here to experience it.

In fact, take a listen to what some of them had to say.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Honestly, business has been great. It's wild -- it really is. And I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I don't know if there's going to be any more bike rallies this year.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that people are just pretty normal in life. I don't think they're worried about COVID. I think they're just --

Here's the deal, though. With bikers, they're all going to social distance anyway because they're on bikes and they're not right next to each other. I guess when you're right here, you have to make the choice if you want to eat next to somebody or not?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not worried about it at all. We're from California so you've got to wear masks everywhere you go. So this is kind of refreshing coming out and not have to worry about it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel comfortable not wearing it, so it's good.

YOUNG: Now, of course, some health officials do have concerns about having a massive event like this. But when you talk to businesses here it's sort of up and down in terms of what they think the impact will be. Some say they're doing better numbers than last years. Others are telling us they've had a slight dip in the amount of people that have shown up -- Laura and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Ryan for us in Sturgis, South Dakota. Thanks, Ryan.

All right, the summer job recovery is slowing. One point eight million jobs were added in July. That brings us to three months in a row of job gains. But that number in July was less than June, less than May, and we are in a deep hole.

Let's look at these numbers. Twenty-two point one million jobs were lost when the pandemic shut down the economy this spring. And now, just over nine million jobs have come back.

Now, what are those jobs like? Many of those jobs going back to work have fewer hours. The number of people working part-time rose to 24 million in July. And many told CNN they were only being offered part- time shifts. Others say their employers have cut their pay.

Now, economists worry the summer jobs recovery could reverse in August if the virus is not under control.

Still, Goldman Sachs upgraded its expectations for jobs growth and for the economic growth for next year, citing good prospects for a vaccine early next year. Goldman still expects the unemployment rate to decline to nine percent by the end of this year but now expects a larger decline next year to 6 1/2 percent unemployment by the end of 2021.

And, Laura, that is assuming that you're going to get wide uptake of a vaccine early -- first quarter, second quarter, next year.

JARRETT: Which is a big assumption that we can't necessarily predict for sure.

ROMANS: Yes.

JARRETT: All right, turning now to the U.K. where Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he feels a moral duty to get children back into classrooms next month. He calls it a national priority even though many government advisers warn the risk is high with coronavirus cases spiking. The prime minister making it clear that in his view, schools should be the last sector to shut down in any future lockdowns.

Let's go live to London and bring in CNN's Nic Robertson. You know, Nic, this is something, obviously, that the U.S. has been struggling with as well -- what to do about schools. I'm curious -- how are people in England receiving the prime minister's directive?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: There's a level of concern. I was speaking with a teacher earlier this morning who said look, there will be pupils, there will be teachers who are shielding vulnerable people with underlying conditions at home, so there are concerns there.

The prime minister said schools have to go back -- that's a priority -- national priority. And it's economically unsustainable not to have the schools reopen and have children back in the classrooms here in England by September.

[05:40:01]

So I think that gives you the underlying message as well that he recognizes to get the economy up and running, which is also a national priority, he has to free up parents to be able to go back to work.

The studies say that children are potentially being disadvantaged by not being in classrooms. There is pushback from some of the teaching unions here. There is pushback from the national children's adviser in the U.K. who said look, if we go back to school and put children back in the classrooms, then there really should be regular testing for the pupils and teachers.

But what Boris Johnson is relying on here at the moment, and the government is highlighting, is international research that they say shows that there is little cross-infection in classrooms between pupils and between pupils and teachers. And I think that's the thing that a lot of people here -- a lot of parents are really struggling with at the moment. Can they believe that or not.

Up in Scotland, tomorrow, children go back to classrooms. So, England will get a heads-up of what it looks like up there soon.

JARRETT: Yes, and the studies are just still in such the beginning stages and there's still so much we don't know about this virus as we're taking the risk of sending kids back to school right now.

All right, Nic, nice to see you, as usual.

ROMANS: All right, to France now. The city of Paris is taking steps to reduce the spread of coronavirus and help stem France's rising infection rates. New face-covering mandates take effect today in the city's bustling tourist hotspots and shopping areas.

CNN's Cyril Vanier live in Paris for us. So they will have to wear masks on those iconic -- those iconic places in Paris.

CYRIL VANIER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. And look, all of us here in Paris are just going to have to build new habits.

You know, I have to check myself. I am in one of the 102 streets here in Paris that now have a face mask mandatory rule. And when I walked in here -- I was here yesterday and the day before without a face mask. This morning, I had to remember to put mine on.

So I know this isn't super-busy at the moment, but this actually is a bustling commercial street with people coming, especially in the evening hours -- go to the restaurant, go to the cafe, buy their groceries, et cetera, such that you cannot always respect social distancing and stay a meter apart -- stay three feet apart from one another.

So that is why the face mask rule is here. It is not to punish people; it is to stop the spread of the virus. Now, one thing is this news came out over the weekend. Everybody doesn't know about it yet. They know about the rule but not the specific streets. So you will see some people -- in fact, if you just look over to my right shoulder here, you will see some people who are not wearing their masks yet, probably because they don't know.

We saw law enforcement walk up and down the street and they were gently reminding people that hey, things are changing here now -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right, thanks so much for that, Cyril, in Paris for us -- Laura.

JARRETT: All right. One of Hong Kong's biggest media tycoons is apparently paying the price for his pro-democracy views. Jimmy Lai and his business partner were arrested overnight under Beijing's new national security law, accused of colluding with foreign powers.

CNN's Will Ripley is live in Hong Kong with the very latest on this. Will, what more do we know that happened here?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is basically the worst nightmare coming true for people who support democracy and freedom of the press here in Hong Kong.

You had around 200 officers raiding a newsroom -- an active newsroom owned by a billionaire who has for decades been critical of Beijing and the Hong Kong governments, which is stacked (ph) pro-Beijing. That's the way it's set up.

Jimmy Lai does have the financial resources to fight this, but even the price may be too steep for him when you're talking about up to life in prison and the possibility of a Mainland trial out of the public eye -- only a statement at the end letting people know how it turned out.

But that is the new reality of life here in Hong Kong as this national security law is implemented. Arrests have included a 15-year-old girl waving a flag -- Students for Social Media post.

And now, journalists also have to wonder if the people they've interviewed, whether they're activists or secret interviews -- whether that could also be defined as a violation of the national security law.

And, of course, police -- they have expanded new powers, including entering your house without a search warrant. And, of course, the charges themselves quite significant. In fact, even people who live in Hong Kong are not exempt. Jimmy Lai, the billionaire who was arrested, is actually a U.K. passport holder, Laura.

JARRETT: That's interesting. This was always the concern about that law, Will. Thank you so much.

ROMANS: All right. The U.S. Health and Human Services secretary is in Taiwan this morning on a friendship visit that is already drawing strong criticism from Beijing. Sec. Alex Azar and his delegation were required to take COVID tests and wear masks throughout that visit. Those are the kind of restrictions that have allowed Taiwan to keep its case numbers remarkably low.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is in Taipei with the latest for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: U.S. Health Sec. Alex Azar is here in Taiwan and he has met, this Monday morning, with Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen.

[05:45:02]

Now, he did say when he was meeting here that he was conveying and bringing a message from U.S. President Donald Trump -- a message of support and strong friendship. He also said that he's here to try and learn about how Taiwan has dealt with the coronavirus pandemic.

Now, this is an island of some 23 million people. It has less than 500 confirmed cases and just seven deaths -- a very different picture to what we're seeing in the United States.

Now, this is also a trip which has angered China. Beijing reacted angrily last week when it was announced. Azar is, in fact, the highest-level U.S. official to visit Taiwan in decades.

Now, China considers Taiwan to be a rogue province -- to be part of its territory. And last week when the visit was announced, Beijing said that it had launched stern representations to the United States and that the U.S. and Taiwan should not be having these direct interactions.

Up until this point, Sec. Azar avoiding any questions about China, saying he is here to talk about coronavirus.

Now, he will be meeting with the foreign minister, the health minister. He'll be meeting with the CDC, as well, to get more information about how they are coping with the pandemic so well.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Taipei, Taiwan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JARRETT: Paula, thank you so much.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:50:29]

JARRETT: Welcome back. Violent protests in the streets of Belarus. Riot police clashing with demonstrators after a state T.V. exit poll reported longtime leader Alexander Lukashensko was reelected in Sunday's election with nearly 80 percent of the vote.

Fredrik Pleitgen joins us live from Berlin. Hi, Fred.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there Laura. Yes, there's certainly some troubling scenes that we saw there from the Belarusian capital, Minsk, and also in other places as well.

And earlier today, the authorities there in Belarus, they came out and they said that 3,000 people had been detained and arrested there last night -- 1,000 of them in the capital and 2,000 in other parts of the country. And you saw that video there with some of those clashes that were going on there.

From everything that we've been able to discern overnight -- so when the exit polls came out, that's when protesters came out. They were pretty much all peaceful as they came out and then the authorities there started making arrests. And that's when things descended into some of that violence that we saw there that basically went on throughout the entire night.

Now, you're absolutely right. The longtime leader known as Europe's last dictator, Alexander Lukashensko, he declared himself the winner by having about 80 percent of the vote. The opposition continues to say that they believe that the election was rigged -- they're not going to recognize those results.

And they've also, today, said that they are not going to stop protesting. They say they're in it for the long run. The main opposition figure, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, says she is not going to flee the country and she is going to continue the movement. So no signs of that situation there calming down at all, Laura.

JARRETT: All right, Fred. Thanks so much for your reporting, as usual.

Well, "AMERICA'S GOT TALENT" judge Simon Cowell is recovering from surgery this morning after breaking his back from a fall off his bike on Saturday. A spokeswoman says the 60-year-old former "AMERICAN IDOL" judge was testing a new electric bike in the courtyard of his home in Malibu. The spokeswoman tells CNN Cowell is under observation and doing fine.

He had been set to return to "AMERICA'S GOT TALENT" for the first live show on Tuesday.

North Carolina rocked by a 5.1-magnitude earthquake, the strongest one to hit the state in over nine decades. It hit about two miles from the town of Sparta yesterday morning, along the state's border with Virginia, and it could be felt as far away as Washington, D.C. and Atlanta.

The Allegheny County sheriff says homes in the area have shifted off their foundations and some are significantly damaged, but there are no reports of any injuries.

ROMANS: All right, let's get a check on CNN Business this Monday morning. Let's take a look at markets around the world. You can see a mixed performance in Asian shares. They are closed now for Monday trading. And, Europe has opened just slightly higher.

On Wall Street, futures at this hour, barely mix here. You know, it was that kind of performance on Friday, as well -- stocks mixed after the jobs reports. The Dow ended just 46 points higher. The Nasdaq feel slightly. That's the only day last week, by the way, the Nasdaq did not close at a record high.

This week, July retail sales could provide more insight into the economic recovery. You know, sales have been rebounding as business reopened over the summer. But a spike in coronavirus cases has hurt consumer confidence.

This is the forecast here. Economists expect retail sales rose about 1.7 percent last month.

Could an Amazon distribution center be next to your favorite store in the mall? "The Wall Street Journal" reports Amazon is in talks with Simon Property Group to take over spaces left by department stores. Talks have been centered on Sears and JCPenney. Both of those chains have filed for bankruptcy and plan to close dozens of stores across the country.

Malls, of course, have been struggling for years as online shopping grows. The pandemic forced them to temporarily close, making the situation worse.

Meanwhile, Amazon has surged during these lockdowns. Its revenue jumped 40 percent in the second quarter.

You think, Laura how the mall was sort of the center of life for the 80s and the 90s and now, big changes coming because of the way we shop.

JARRETT: Yes. You know, I noticed, even just walking around New York, just so many --

ROMANS: Yes.

JARRETT: -- empty storefronts here. It's really interesting. It'll be interesting to see whether Amazon does that.

Thanks so much for joining us today. I'm Laura Jarrett.

ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. "NEW DAY" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:59:05]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Over five million cases of the coronavirus have now been reported across the country and the rate of the spread is stunning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If doctors and healthcare experts are correct, the wave of COVID-19 infections is not even close to over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We failed early on to adopt the testing that was necessary. And even more so, we failed to ramp that up to a degree that we're going to need in the coming season (ph).

President Trump, meanwhile, has been touting his new virus relief package, which he unilaterally extended through executive action.

LARRY KUDLOW, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: We offered compromises; we couldn't get it. So the president decided to take action on his own.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): My constitutional advisers tell me they're absurdly unconstitutional.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Monday, August 10th, 6:00 here in New York.

Alisyn Camerota is off. Erica Hill joins me this morning -- big morning.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it really is -- and not the kind of big you want to see.

BERMAN: Five million cases -- five million cases of coronavirus in the United States.

END