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U.S. Coronavirus Cases Soar; U.S.-Mexico Border Hospital Overwhelmed; U.K.'S Black Nurses Battling COVID-19 and Racism. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired July 10, 2020 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:12]
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, everybody, and welcome to CNN. I'm Hala Gorani.
Ahead this hour:
The U.S. sets yet another grim record, 63,000 coronavirus cases in a single day. Around the world, cases are up as well. We'll tell you where also
coming up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Is it crazy to you that you're a physician working in a tent in America?
PHYSICIAN: Yeah. It's incredible, isn't it? Yeah.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: CNN gets access to a hospital on the U.S./Mexico border where patients are being treated in tents in the desert heat.
And how the battle against the virus in the U.K. is spotlighting the struggle for equality among Britain's black nurses.
(MUSIC)
GORANI: The U.S. is plunging deeper and deeper into the COVID-19 crisis. The country of 330 million saw yet another record of new cases. More than
63,000 on Thursday alone. That brings the total case count to over 3.1 million. More than 133,000 people in the U.S. have now died of COVID-19 and
those numbers are according to Johns Hopkins University.
Over the past week, California, Texas and Florida had their highest single day death tolls.
Rosa Flores has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Long lines for testing in Miami. Annual pass holder previews at Walt Disney World in Orlando, and the
debate on whether to reopen Florida schools intensifying.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R), FLORIDA: If you can do Home Depot, if you can do Walmart, if you can do these things, we absolutely can do the schools.
FLORES: This all while new coronavirus cases reached nearly 9,000 in the Sunshine State Thursday. The nation's top infectious disease doctor says
Florida moved through the reopening process too quickly.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NIAID DIRECTOR: Certainly Florida I know, you know, I think jumped over a couple of checkpoints.
FLORES: It's one of four states accounting for about 50 percent of new infections. In another record setting day of new cases in the country,
hundreds in Phoenix waited in their cars for the chance to get a free coronavirus test as temperatures reached 110 degrees. Thirty-three percent
of people are testing positive in Arizona and intensive care units are about 89 percent full, with around 180 beds available across the entire
state.
LAUREN LEANDER, ARIZONA ICU NURSE: We're kind of at the point where we're stretched so thin, we're at the point of compromising patient safety.
Things have definitely taken a bad turn since our state reopened here.
FLORES: Hospitals in Texas are also in crisis mode and elective surgeries are on hold in much of the state.
California's governor announced a record high of coronavirus related deaths.
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D), CALIFORNIA: The mortality rates are still front and center and should be in your consciousness for those that just think that
now people are getting it, no one is dying. That is very misleading. In fact, it's fundamentally untrue.
FLORES: Around 100,000 people are tested for the disease in California daily.
And Los Angeles County recorded nearly 1,800 new cases on Thursday alone. More than 50 percent of people testing positive there are between the ages
of 18 and 40.
FAUCI: Well, I would hope we don't have to resort to shutdown. I think that would be something that is obviously an extreme. So rather than think
in terms of reverting back down to a complete shutdown I would think we need to get the states pausing in their reopening process.
FLORES: And with testing efforts ramping up nationwide, there are serious concern for keeping up with PPE, and supplies for health workers, and a
delay in results from labs.
The CDC director acknowledging there's a lot of room for improvement.
DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, DIRECTOR, U.S. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL: We continue to have greater needs for more testing and even though we're now
up over 600,000 tests a day, we continue to need more testing in this country to confront this outbreak and I anticipate that that capability
will continue to come.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Rosa Flores reporting there.
She mentioned how hospitals in the state of Arizona are becoming overwhelmed. The state reported a 50 percent increase in cases in June. The
governor is telling people there that they are safer at home and announced a return to some distancing measures to try and curb new infections.
Our Evan McMorris-Santoro joins me now live from Scottsdale, Arizona, with the very latest on what's going on there.
So there are some social distancing a measures being brought back, but we're far from any kind of total shutdown, especially given the huge rise
in case numbers, Evan.
[10:05:04]
EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's absolutely right. That's exactly what the public health officials and local officials here in
Arizona say. I'm in Scottsdale at a kind of row of restaurants, a street of restaurants.
And I'm here because I wanted to tell you about what the big change has been. There were for weeks now, public health officials have asked the
governor to embrace some more closures to try to bring that number down that you -- that Rosa mentioned and you mentioned. And what they got
yesterday was a slight tweak to existing regulations. On May 11th, restaurants reopened for indoor dining in Arizona with a rule that was kind
of an honor system, saying put your tables six feet apart, reduce some -- you know, some capacity.
And yesterday, at a press conference, the governor said, OK, I'm going to ramp up that a little bit and say you have to be at 50 percent of the fire
marshal capacity and if you're above that, you will be shut down. That will be strictly enforced. So, that's a change that adds to more social
distancing, according to the governor's office, but one that local officials here have already said is not enough.
GORANI: All right. So where does Arizona go from here because we're hearing reports that hospitals, some of them are overwhelmed. But at the
same time, what I find interesting is that we're seeing also protests against wearing masks and against the lockdown.
So, how are ordinary people approaching this?
MCMORRIS-SANTORO: That's right. There is a fascinating dynamic here in Arizona which is that there is a lot of resistance to social distancing
measures, to mask wearing. Every day out here in Arizona, I run into somebody who says that basically all this stuff that people are trying to
do to reduce the spread of the virus is ridiculous and unnecessary.
I spoke to a public health official in Tucson, Arizona, in Pima County, who told me look, her job is to try to meet people in Arizona where they are.
That she understands that this is difficult. That it's difficult for some Arizonians to accept the situation here. And that her job as a public
health official is simply to try to educate them and try to get more and more people involved in participating in things that need to be done to
bring the virus load down here.
Now, some cities have mask requirements. Phoenix has one, Tucson has one. Some cities don't. But the governor's office said yesterday that what
they're trying to do is to get people to wear them sort of by cajoling them, suggesting it's a good idea, saying this is what you should be doing.
You should be staying home. You should be wearing a mask. But not doing regulation to make that happen.
GORANI: All right. Thank you very much, Evan, for that, live in Scottsdale.
California is one of several American states reporting a surge in both COVID-19 cases and deaths. Health officials say 114 people died Wednesday,
marking the second highest number of single day deaths since the pandemic began.
California now has nearly 290,000 total infections. State authorities blame it on private gatherings. They warn that young people are behind much of
the spread.
Meanwhile, some hospitals in California are nearing their breaking point.
CNN's Kyung Lah takes us inside a hospital where doctors and nurses are working around the clock just to try to keep up. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) can't even get out of bed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When folks say, hey, it's a war zone, well, a war zone of what? A war zone of us trying to combat the COVID-19.
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The front line in this battlefield --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just craziness still.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Anybody else sick at home?
LAH: Southern California's El Central Regional Medical Center.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is intense.
LAH: CEO Adolphe Edward is a former Air Force officer and Iraq war vet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have seen this tent actually deployed with me when we were Balad, when we were in Iraq.
LAH: Now he's built them on American soil to handle a crash of COVID cases his hospital no longer has room for. Air-conditioned tents in the triple
digit desert heat to handle patient after patient.
El Centro is in Imperial County. It sits at the U.S.-Mexico border. This rural community is 85 percent Latino. One in four live in poverty.
Per capita, it has three times as many COVID cases as Los Angeles, and the death rate is the highest in California.
(on camera): Is it crazy to you that you are a physician working in a tent in America?
DR. JORGE ROBLES, EL CENTRO REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER: Yeah, it's incredible, isn't it? Yeah, we'll make it through.
LAH (voice-over): Inside the hospital --
[10:10:00]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is exhausting.
LAH: -- we visit the sickest patients in the ICU.
(on camera): She's your (ph) patient.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, she transfers from a regular floor.
LAH (voice-over): Every single patient in this 12-bed ICU has COVID, 11 of them survive with ventilators.
(on camera): Can you explain what you're wearing?
AMBER MAREZ, NURSE, EL CENTRO REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER: Well, it's a device that helps keep everything kind of closed so we're not exposed to anything.
LAH (voice-over): It's what nurse Amber Marez needs to wear to stay safe while helping her 40-year-old patient.
(on camera): How sick is he?
MAREZ: He's really sick and he's really young, so we're trying to do everything we can before intubating him.
LAH: What does that suggest to you as a nurse that the age is dropping?
MAREZ: I think a lot of people aren't honoring like the stay-at-home. You know, a lot of people aren't doing the social -- aren't doing the social
distancing.
LAH (voice-over): That's what the El Centro Fire Department sees on the street. The battalion chief says in this town of 50,000 people, every
single hour it is this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a possible COVID patient on scene. So, at this point, our personnel are gearing up for the COVID patient.
LAH: In a full hazmat suit, Captain Chad Whitlock (ph) revives an unconscious patient. It's a stifling 110 degrees.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to (INAUDIBLE) all the equipment, and remove all your uniforms, and take a shower and put on a different uniform for the
rest of the day.
LAH (on camera): You're dripping.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, ma'am. We're inundated. Everybody's really tired. And nobody's -- you can see it in my face. I'm -- you know, we're
frustrated.
LAH (voice-over): That patient Captain Whitlock saved arrives at Central Medical's emergency room.
ANDREW LAFREE, MEDICAL DIRECTOR OF EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT, EL CENTRO REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER: We've hit capacity. We've transferred out two or three
times the normal amount of patients that we're sending out. I think in the last two months, we sent out something like 500 patients.
LAH: Some to nearby San Diego, others as far away as northern California. This helicopter is here to pick up another patient.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're here for him.
LAH: ER doctors and nurses intubate under this blue drape to limit particle exposure. Stabilized, the patient heads out.
(on camera): Why is it happening so badly here in Imperial County?
LAFREE: There are a lot of U.S. nationals that live in Mexicali. They had a really bad outbreak there. There's a lot of people that cross the border
here for work that live in Mexicali and come to work here.
LAH (voice-over): The fields in Imperial County sent produce across the country. And even in a pandemic, some 20,000 Mexican day workers enter
legally every morning to provide the labor.
No work, no money for food, says 65-year-old farm worker Jacinto Moreno. Four of his fellow farm workers have died of COVID, he says.
LUIS OLMEDO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, COMITE CIVICO DEL VALLE, INC.: We cannot win a war on COVID in the emergency room.
Look at the big picture. We need to fight the war on COVID where it's breeding, and that's our neighborhoods.
LAH: In this binational county, COVID is not the disease. It's the symptom.
OLMEDO: They experienced social determinants of health like putting food on the table, like having to work in dangerous conditions, like not having
the mask. We are the poster of those inequities, and the reason why we're not able to control COVID.
LAH: The hospital here is bracing for what's yet to come. This empty tent is the future COVID ward.
(on camera): Is this tent a sign that this pandemic is here to stay?
ADOLPHE EDWARD, CEO, EL CENTRO REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER: Yes, so, I keep telling folks, look, now it's a pandemic. Eventually, it's going to be an
endemic. So, is this really how we want to take care of our communities? And the answer is no.
LAH (on camera): And this tent is not enough. That's why the hospital CEO wrote to California Senators Feinstein and Harris, asking for more
resources. That list includes 28 ICU nurses, 14 respiratory therapists and 20 ventilators. That is just a partial list of something this hospital
needs by next week.
Kyung Lah, CNN, El Centro, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: All right, Kyung Lah with that report there.
A lot more ahead. Brazil is approaching a somber milestone and a reminder about just how deadly its coronavirus outbreak is.
Plus, COVID is quickly spreading in Australia, prompting new restrictions. What officials are doing to try to stop the outbreak in its tracks over
there?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Well, around the world, the pandemic is showing no sign of slowing. While some countries have managed to reduce the spread, other
nations are struggling with new waves of infection.
Cases have now risen to more than 12.2 million globally, roughly doubling since the beginning of June. Here's a graph to help you understand. This is
of course the linear graph. Worldwide coronavirus deaths have topped more than 555,000.
India is one of the countries seeing a spike. More than 26,000 new cases were recorded Thursday. That is the biggest single day increase for India.
And despite that, a senior health ministry official says the spread is under control. He said the number of recovered cases exceeds new active
cases, Choosing to focus on that statistic.
In the Far East, Tokyo is seeing a jump in infections, 243 new coronavirus cases were confirmed Friday. That is the biggest single day spike there.
Tokyo's governor says the increase of cases could be partially attributed to more testing being done.
Another major Asian city, Hong Kong, is dealing with the resurgence of the virus. Officials are battling a new wave of locally transmitted cases.
Measures to curb the spread are beginning with schools closing on Monday.
And coronavirus cases are on the rise in Australia. The state of Victoria has registered another 288 cases. That is the highest daily case number of
all Australian states. Victoria is now trying to isolate from the rest of the country, while officials scramble to contain the outbreak.
CNN's Anna Coren has that story -- Anna.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hala, there has been a record number of coronavirus cases in Melbourne, that's Australia's second largest city,
ends its second day of a six-week lockdown.
Two hundred and eighty-eight new cases were announced in Victoria on Friday, as the state tries to self-isolate from the rest of the country,
with authorities desperately working to contain this latest outbreak.
It's the second time in as many months that Melbournians have had to go into lockdown and the prime minister, Scott Morrison, again thanked them
for what they're doing on behalf of the nation.
SCOTT MORRISON, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: The whole country is with you. All of the country is with you. The resources of the nation are there to
support you at the very, very difficult time. Now to do what is necessary to get life as closely back to normal as we possibly can in the shortest
period of time. But it will require your continued patience and your continued discipline.
COREN: For first time since the pandemic began, the Victorian government is asking all residents to wear face masks.
Premier Daniel Andrews saying this won't be for a few weeks, but the foreseeable future.
DANIEL ANDREWS, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA PREMIER: It is our request of you. It's not compulsory. We're simply asking if you can wear a mask, where you
can't distance that's what we would like you to do. That's a relatively small contribution, but one that can make a really big difference.
COREN: In response to this latest surge in cases, the Victorian border with New South Wales and South Australia has been closed. While the state
of Queensland has also stopped Victorian residents from entering.
[10:20:04]
And for Australians returning from overseas, who must do 14 days of government hotel quarantine, international flights will now be halved, as
those resources to testing and contract tracing, as the nation tries to prevent any further outbreaks -- Hala.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: All right. Thanks very much, Anna Coren.
Brazil is approaching the unwanted milestone. The nation's coronavirus death toll is now close to 70,000 and counting. More than 1.75 million
Brazilians have been infected but the worse may be yet to come in Brazil. According to the CNN analysis of the daily average of new cases, that
country has not passed its peak of infection yet. It's still on the way up.
Bill Weir joins me now live from Brasilia with more.
What is behind this surging number of cases and the rising number of deaths in Brazil still at this stage, Bill?
BILL WEIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Hala, it really speaks to the yawning income inequality in this country. This is a place where six men have as
much wealth as 100 million people on the bottom of the economic ladder.
It was traveling elites who brought coronavirus to Brazil, but now it is those in the favelas, those in the countryside, the indigenous communities
that are suffering the most. And it's just no testing here.
Just for a point of comparison, the United States is testing about 120,000 people for every 1 million. In Brazil, it's around 20,000. So, per capita,
1/6 the amount of testing.
So, they just know common sense dictates it's a ticking bomb in the population here that they haven't counted them yet. And they believe many
studies both in the country here in Sao Paulo and Rio, academic studies think it's off by a factor of ten, so more like 17 million positives
instead of 1.7 if you look at reality.
Meanwhile, the president, Jair Bolsonaro, he's not at his office here. He's in sort of semi-isolation down the road at the palace where he has his own
personal intensive care unit. He continues to sort of pooh-pooh the seriousness of this and has been from the very beginning. His prescription
is to take the hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, chloroquine, other malarial drugs and get back to work especially under the age of 40.
He believes in this so much that he has his military distributing this drug which has been proven in controlled tests from the National Institutes of
Health and the World Health Organization and the Food and Drug Administration in the United States, it does not work. But Bolsonaro has
decided that that will be the prescription for his country.
GORANI: And, Bill, is he finally wearing a mask? Is he at work, going to work? I see video of him there. I'm not sure when that was filmed. But how
is he approaching this?
(CROSSTALK)
WEIR: It was the announcement -- exactly. He came out when he announced he had COVID. He wore a mask which is not in keeping with his attitude towards
it. He long said it makes men look weak. And he took off his mask when he announced this in front of some reporters and now Brazilian journalists are
filing a lawsuit for putting them in danger by removing the mask.
The pictures are from within his palace mostly to promote his use of hydroxychloroquine and also to push back at Facebook which removed dozens
of accounts yesterday tied to Bolsonaro's sons and supporters. They say it was spreading false information not only about Brazilian politics but the
pandemic.
GORANI: All right. Bill Weir, thanks very much, reporting live from the Brazilian capital, Brasilia.
Staying in Latin America, Mexico is moving forward with a planned reopening of the country, despite there too a massive jump in infections this week.
On Thursday, Mexico reported more than 7,000 cases just on Thursday. That's the highest number of confirmed infections since the pandemic began, up
from the previous high which was on Tuesday.
CNN's Matt Rivers takes us to Mexico City as it reopens.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From June 2nd to July 2nd, the case total jumped about 65 percent. Also on July 2nd, Mexico City's
open air markets crowded and confined reopened.
Sixty-three-year-old Ana Rosa Lara (ph) invited us to see her stall. She said she and seven family members all had COVID-19 back in April. But when
the government opened markets back up, she jumped.
She says the people who work here live day to day. We can't survive otherwise.
[10:25:02]
People like Yasela (ph) could presumably survive, though, without shopping for clothes, but there she was.
She says, God willing, it stays open, because it's really nice to have contact with people again.
But experts say it's contact with people that's the problem, though most in this market didn't seem to care. They also didn't seem to care in other
parts of the city like here in Centro, despite the government's Sana Distancia, or healthy distance awareness campaigns. In places, it's just
not happening.
DR. MALAQUIAS LOPEZ CERVANTES, PUBLIC HEALTH EXPERT: I think it's too dangerous to try to establish the social activities.
RIVERS: And we have seen what happens when places reopen too soon, thinking of course of the United States. Mexico City started reopening
malls and markets last week when new cases were still high.
This chart from Mexico City's government shows only a slight trend downwards in new cases from its peak. Something health experts say could be
easily reversed if scenes like this continue to happen. Though the government insists they can do this safely.
He says it's fundamental for the economy, but we do have to be on top of everything. Which it is clear they are not. Requirements like using
antibacterial gel, social distancing and temperature checks were not enforced in most places and people knew it.
(on camera): You know, a woman came up to us off camera and said, hey, stop filming, stop filming because when your video airs, they're going to
have to close the market back down. But the reality is that whether we're here or not, I mean, look at this. You don't need to be a public health
expert to see what's happening at this market is not safe.
(voice-over): Across all of Mexico, cases and deaths have roughly tripled since June 1st. And they keep going up. And across all of Mexico, certain
sectors of local economies are reopening and that's a dangerous combination.
Matt Rivers, CNN, Mexico City.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Well, staying in Latin America, we talked about Bolsonaro of Brazil infected with COVID. Well, coronavirus has now infected a third head
of state in Latin America, Bolivia's interim president, Jeanine Anez, announced on Twitter in Thursday that she had tested positive for COVID-19.
And in recent weeks, the presidents of Brazil and Honduras also tested positive for the virus. She got tested after several of her cabinet members
contracted the disease and is now working in isolation and says she will self-quarantine for 14 days.
Anez is among the 44,000 Bolivians who've been infected. More than 1,600 have died.
On top of dealing with rising cases, Kazakhstan is denying claims that it's facing an outbreak of a new an unknown pneumonia that's deadlier than
COVID-19. The Chinese embassy issued a report Thursday saying hundreds of its citizens living in the Central Asian country have died from this new
disease.
While Kazakhstan did acknowledge the presence of an unspecified viral pneumonia, it denied the outbreak was new or unknown. So there's a bit of
confusion there surrounding this report.
CNN has been unable to independently verify the Chinese embassy report and has reached out to Kazakhstan's ministry of health for further details.
Coming up, researchers have discovered what appears to be a dramatic effect of the coronavirus from the autopsies of COVID-19 victims. We'll update on
the latest coming up.
Plus, Disney World is welcoming back visitors after being closed for more than 100 days. But with the COVID cases rising in Florida, natural question
-- is this all too soon? We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:31:09]
GORANI: Doctors and researchers are still learning new information about the coronavirus. Now autopsies of people who have died from COVID are
revealing new characteristics of this disease including the way it is affecting our blood among other things.
Joining me now is CNN medical analyst, Dr. Saju Mathew, from Atlanta, with more on that.
Before we get to what coroners are saying about these autopsies of people who died from COVID, first, your thoughts on the rising numbers in Arizona
and in California and Texas and Florida.
What's going on here because people are well aware of what needs to be done to try to slow this outbreak?
DR. SAJU MATHEW, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Good day to you, Hala. Nice to be back on your show.
If you remember, Hala, when I was on your show May 22nd, we talked about how Georgia was opening up early and we discussed how if you just wait four
to six weeks that these numbers will exponentially rise, well, guess what, I'm on your show six weeks later and Georgia is one of the leading states
when it comes to the exponential numbers.
Listen, Hala, we never did it right the first time. Only 50 percent of the United States shut down initially and we opened too early. People became
complacent. We were always behind in the U.S. and now we're falling steeply behind to the point where I think that the only way to take care of the
surges in these states where the numbers are so high is to re-enact a stay at home order.
GORANI: Right. And the interesting statistic is that the number of deaths has remained relatively flat, while the number of cases is exploding in
some parts of the country. So here's a graphic, you have two different lines here of reference. One is of deaths, the other is of the number of
cases registered across the United States. This is a seven-day moving average.
How do you explain this?
MATHEW: Yeah. So, Hala, I think there are two reasons for that. Number one, we are finding that more of the young people are moving around,
they're going to bars. You saw the crowds over Memorial Day weekend, July 4th weekend. So the positive cases are now moving into the younger crowd.
So I think that's also one reason why we're seeing these number of cases go up.
But also, when it comes to the death rates like Dr. Fauci mentioned we shouldn't be too excited about that because there is a lag period from the
time somebody's exposed to the virus to when they get sick two weeks later and then another four to six weeks before they get into the ICU.
So I think unfortunately and we're already seeing this in states like Arizona and Texas, those death rates are going to steeply rise.
GORANI: Yeah. And regarding what this autopsy study is revealing, autopsies performed on the bodies of people who perished from COVID-19
showing a whole host of issues involving blood clots. I want to run some sound from someone involved in this study who was on CNN yesterday and then
I'll get your thoughts, Doctor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. AMY RAPKIEWICZ, NYU LANGONE MEDICAL CENTER: I think one of the important things that we recognize with COVID early on both clinically and
in the autopsies was that there definitely is a propensity for clotting. And the clinicians at the bedside recognize clotting in lines and in
various large vessels. What we saw at autopsy was sort of an extension of that. The clotting was not only in the large vessels but also in the
smaller vessels. And this was dramatic, because although we might have just expected it in the lungs, we found it in almost every organ we looked at in
our autopsy study.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: So this is really terrifying. I mean, it tells you that this virus is not just respiratory potentially, but that it really harms, damages in a
devastating way sometimes many other organs in the body.
What's your take?
MATHEW: Yeah. That's right, Hala. You hit it right on the nail.
Initially, we thought, OK, this is the respiratory virus. We are focusing on patients who are coming in with shortness of breath and patients who
have COVID pneumonia with low oxygen levels and now, we're finding out there is if you will a hyper-activation of the immune system that's causing
these blood clots just like the doctor mentioned on that sound to really all organs.
We're finding out that patients are having stroke-like symptoms. Almost cognitive dysfunction coming into the emergency room, and get this, Hala,
they're actually coming not with shortness of breath and fever like typical COVID patients, they're coming in as stroke patients or some patients that
actually are dying at home from blood clots to the lungs.
So we know for sure that there are two main mechanisms through which this virus is doing damage. It's really more a disease of the entire body and
not just the lungs.
GORANI: Right. It's just unbelievable that -- you know, this devastating disease we are still learning so much about it. Every single week, it seems
like there's a new study or doctors are observing new lingering effects.
In fact, I don't know if you were able to hear the piece about Richard Quest wrote a few days ago about he recovered from COVID, so he's virus
free, but the lingering effects are cognitive, he sometimes has a hard time remembering a word, very fatigued. Some are reporting chronic fatigue which
is debilitating, which means that the cost of -- the cost to the body, the emotional cost and the financial cost of dealing with COVID goes well
beyond the period after which you've recovered from the virus itself.
MATHEW: That's right, Hala. I feel like in the next few months we'll have an entire field in neurology and even hematology which is the study of
blood diseases that's going to be dedicated to COVID-19.
Listen, Hala, this virus is not behaving like a typical respiratory virus and hopefully, with the autopsies and our ability to study this disease, we
can actually do something when patients present to the emergency room and to the ICU and treat patients differently now that we're beginning to
understand some of the mechanism of how this disease is really affecting the entire body.
GORANI: All right. And not many people are wearing masks. I mean, even in countries where there's not much controversy about the effectiveness of a
mask. I mean, walking down the street in London, I might cross paths with 50 people and I know outdoors is different from indoors, but it's not the
majority wearing masks. So hopefully that message will make its way to the people that need to hear it.
Dr. Saju Mathew, thank you so much for joining us as always. Really appreciate your perspective.
MATHEW: Thank you, Hala.
GORANI: So after 116 days, the happiest place on Earth is opening back up. Walt Disney World will welcome guests back to the flagship theme park in
Florida. This despite the state's massive surge in coronavirus cases. Pass holders were given a sneak peek on Thursday, ahead of Saturday's phased
reopening.
CNN's Natasha Chen joins me now live with more on this.
And because Florida is seeing a surge in cases, I guess the question is, is there any concern that this is happening a bit too soon, Natasha?
NATASHA CHEN, CNN U.S. CORRESPONDENT: Well, Hala, that's a great question. Orange County, Florida, officials reiterated their confidence in the theme
parks doing this right. And, of course, there is a lot at stake, riding on how this is done. Disney is being very deliberate about everything
including keeping their guest capacity very low so people have to reverse their attendance at the parks in advance.
You mentioned the annual pass holder preview. I have spoke to those who have been in the parks since Thursday and one thing they're noting to me
that is surprising, everyone there seems to be following the rules very carefully. And that is in contrast to your previous segment talking about
people not wearing masks. Everyone in the park seemed to be doing that because it is required for everyone to get inside the park gates.
And, of course, in talking to the pass holders this is a group that wants to return to the theme parks.
[10:40:04]
Here is one who told me what it was like for her knowing that there are surging cases in Florida.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERICA M., DISNEY ANNUAL PASSHOLDER: I do feel a bit nervous when trying to do all of the things I love and enjoy doing again, but also remembering to
do them as safely as I can possibly can. So I just make sure I went the extra mile to keep myself as well as others safe by wearing an N95 mask to
the parks, social distancing from others, packing Clorox wipes, packing hand sanitizer, keeping my hands different at all the different hand
washing stations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHEN: And, of course, this experience is very different for people going back because there are so few guests in the park. And locals are telling me
they actually feel safer going into a space like a theme park who are so careful about this compared to some of the grocery stores and restaurants
in the local area where they see people not following the rules at all and that goes along with what health officials said from the Orange County
press conference yesterday.
He said that officials had actually observed folks inside gyms in the area not following CDC guidelines and in contrast they have much more confidence
in wide open spaces in the theme parks, with very deliberate plans like checking all of the guests' temperatures at the door, requiring they wear
face masks with loops around the ear, and not bandana type of masks, that parties are being separated when they're loaded into ride vehicles, hand
washing, hand sanitizing everywhere, and going as touchless as possible, even trying out a new type of screening machine at one of the parks so that
that reduces how much employees are touching people's items during a bag check, Hala.
GORANI: All right. A very different experience at Disney World. Thanks very much, Natasha Chen.
CHEN: Thanks.
GORANI: Still ahead, black nurses say racism is a way of life in Britain's health care system, so much so, some of them use a code to warn each other
about it.
Plus, the U.S. president is fuming over a new mural painted right outside of Trump Tower in New York. We'll what Donald Trump had to say about this,
next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Well, you'd think nurses have enough to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, but in the U.K., the pandemic is far from being the only pressing
challenge facing health care workers. Many black nurses say they also daily experience racism.
Here's Salma Abdelaziz.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Racism and coronavirus, twin pandemics that are forcing a reckoning across the world.
[10:45:02]
DEMONSTRATORS: Black lives matter!
ABDELAZIZ: Efe Obiakor, a nurse of 12 years, who says she's on the front line of both battles, treating COVID-19 while also fighting for equality.
EFE OBIAKOR, NURSE: As a black nurse it's very important for me to come out today because in the system, where I work, and the NHS as a whole,
there is racism.
ABDELAZIZ (on camera): And what do you face on a daily basis?
OBIAKOR: You just feel you're drowning and nobody is hearing your voice. On the coronavirus of course it got worse because you had more of the
blacks in the forefront.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Obiakor is not alone. CNN interviewed a dozen black nurses across England, all say they faced systemic discrimination
that only got worse when the pandemic hit.
(on camera): We asked NHS England about these testimonies of racism. It says it's doing everything it can to address discrimination swiftly and
effectively, but they admitted that COVID-19 has shown a spotlight on stark health inequalities.
(voice-over): At her home in South London, nurse Neomi Bennett said that racism is so pervasive there's a code to warn each other.
NEOMI BENNETT, NURSE: I have been to wards before and I will say to the nurse as I'm getting handed over what is it like, she will say, you know,
just be (INAUDIBLE)
ABDELAZIZ (on camera): What does that mean?
BENNETT: It basically means that the staff here, they're not really fond of black people and there is going to be some forms of discrimination in
the shift. Also with the allocations, sometimes you're literally allocated to the worst ever place to work and sometimes you might be given a lot more
patients.
ABDELAZIZ: The pandemic, coronavirus hits. Does it get worse or better for nurses?
BENNETT: From my experience it definitely became quite challenging. It just made me feel really undervalued.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Undervalued and under fire. About 20 percent of England's NHS medical staff are minorities, but early analysis shows they
accounted for 60 percent of health care worker deaths from COVID-19.
Ken Sazuze knows the risks. A few years ago, he and his wife Elsie went back to school to become nurses.
KEN SAZUZE, STUDENT NURSE: I wasn't aware of the discrimination side of nursing until when I studied it. Then I saw, boom, it's different. It's
dangerous.
ABDELAZIZ: The childhood sweethearts endured racism as a team and Elsie soon graduated and got a job in the NHS.
SAZUZE: They headed it in the NHS, if I could be honest.
ABDELAZIZ (on camera): And you feel she was treated differently because of the color of her skin? Because she was black.
SASUZE: Not only because she was black, because you're black, you're trying to change the system. Because the system is designed black will be
the last.
ABDELAZIZ: So she goes through this for four years and she said it's time to go?
SASUZE: I can't do it anymore.
ABDELAZIZ: And she says I can't do it because of the racism and the discrimination?
SASUZE: Yes.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): She never reported out of fear of retribution. Elsie found a new job in a local care home, life got better and then much
worse.
This is the last video ken filmed of his wife. The mother of two died a few days later of COVID-19.
SASUZE: I could feel a little bit of warmth. But when I saw the machines I could understand that life is gone. I couldn't tell my kids.
ABDELAZIZ: But her passion lives on.
SASUZE: I want to continue her legacy.
ABDELAZIZ (on camera): So even with everything you have faced?
SASUZE: It doesn't change my world. I don't let the bad people change me, no. I will always help people, regardless of where they come from, what
color they are, what they say to me. I'll still love people.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): The words of a survivor, but surviving the system is never enough.
Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: New York City workers painted a "Black Lives Matter" mural on Fifth Avenue directly in front of Trump Tower. You can see them here
completing the project yesterday. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio authorized the mural. He says it honors people who helped build New York
and the rest of the nation.
But the American president has a different view of the message which he's referred to as a symbol of hate. Listen.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I was very nice to Mayor de Blasio. I got him ventilators when he needed them, I got him hospital help
when he needed it. I got him everything he needed. I got him the gowns, I got him the masks, I got him everything, the shields.
I got that man everything. I spoke to him many times. He couldn't have been nicer and then he throws a big "Black Lives Matter" sign in the middle of
fifth avenue and all merchants along Fifth Avenue are furious.
[10:50:02]
They're furious. And the whole city is furious. The city is -- the city that's enraged.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, the mayor of Washington, D.C., authorized a similar mural painted near the White House in Washington last month.
Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo knows a thing or two about winning the UEFA Champions League and we'll tell you after Friday's draw what that
means.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: All right. Welcome back.
Europe's football teams have learned their fate in the draw for the business end of the continent's flagship UEFA Champions League. I hope I
have this right.
Patrick Snell joins us with more from the World Sport desk.
Hi, Patrick.
PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yes, Hala, you absolutely did. This is a competition now scheduled -- let's reset for the viewers, now scheduled to
be in August after it was put on hold for four months due to the global pandemic. And we now know that the quarterfinals will be seeing record 13-
time winner Real Madrid or England's Manchester City taking on the win of Lyon and Juventus.
Remember, not all 16 ties yet complete. Real is 2-1 down from the first leg.
Germany's Leipzig facing conquerors of Liverpool/Atletico Madrid. Napoli or Barcelona will play thrill seeking Bayer Munich or Chelsea and another
Italian team Atalanta up against Paris Saint-Germain, who is still seeking a made in title.
These all one off matches from the quarterfinals onwards. It's all going to be pretty exciting stuff taking place in Lisbon, Portugal.
Without further ado, let's tap into the expert views of CNN's sports contributor, Darren Lewis.
Darren, thanks for joining us.
Look, on the one side, you got some power house, fabled, famous names there. While clubs shall we say on the other side with none between them.
What do you make of it all?
DARREN LEWIS, CNN SPORTS CONTRIBUTOR: Yeah, the champions against the pretenders. You have this right, it will be 12 days in Portugal over which
time we'll find out who will win the champions league. I love my job sometimes, Patrick, because we will see as you rightly say on one side,
Real Madrid, Juventus, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Chelsea, winners of 26 European cups between them. Up against the pretenders, the French team
Paris Saint-Germain, the German team Leipzig and three-time finalist Atletico Madrid.
You know, it will be a festival of football. We are seeing that the games are coming thick and fast, but the football fans are loving it because
there's something to get your teeth into every day.
Well, take that up a notch. You will see a higher class of football. A superior class of player and 12 days of fantastic entertainment. I look
forward to joining you then.
SNELL: Yes, I can't wait for it to get started. I want to break down the draw though a limit further. Some great story lines as you have alluded to,
including, how about this that we unearth, the potential for Juventus superstar Cristiano Ronaldo to come up against guess who? Only Real Madrid
where he won four out of five champions league title in his home land as well.
LEWIS: Yeah. He's already lifted the Italian title and the Italian cup since his move to Juventus two years ago.
[10:55:04]
But before that, he was indeed at Real Madrid where he lifted the Spanish title twice and four champions leagues in four years. Now, he left because
he wanted to conquer another world. He wanted to be able to lift that trophy with another big team. That's why Juventus bought him, because for
so long, they have had their noses pressed up against the champions league glass.
But Ronaldo, the man for the big occasion, he will attempt to down his former club. He has to help his own side overturn a 1-0 deficit against a
French team, but Ronaldo loves a challenge. You would bet on him being able to take them down and set up that tie. If he does, I don't think will be
another tie worth the name. That's the one that I'm sure I'll be talking about.
SNELL: He would relish the opportunity to go on leading his team to victory there in Portugal. Paris Saint-Germain, we have to talk about Paris
Saint-Germain, because they're a fascinating entity. They continue their quest to win this tournament, but why do you think over the years they have
seemingly keep falling short?
Well, they do keep falling short. First of all, why? And why might things be different this time around, given their potential path all the way to
the final?
LEWIS: Well, the reason they keep falling short is because lots of people believe that if you have all of the money then you can buy the best players
and it's a simple formula you can go on to win the big prizes but you have to get the right mix of player. You have to get the right manager with the
know-how and a little bit of luck as well able to take you on to winning it and they haven't done that.
And the problem for PSG this time around, Patrick, is that they haven't played since their French League was abandoned because of the coronavirus
in March. So what we have is a team that's very ring rusty. Even though they have lost four times all season, a fantastic run, but they're up
against an Italian side, Atalanta, with 11 victories. They're going to be hot and I think they're going pull off a little bit of an upset. They have
had a fairy tale run all the way through the competition so far.
And I do wonder against a ring rusty Paris Saint-Germain team whether they'll pull off another upset.
SNELL: Yes, fascinating stuff. It would be naive for PSG to underestimate Atalanta. Thank you so much for joining us, Darren. We really do appreciate
it, the expert views and perspective.
All right. Hala, time to send it back to you there.
GORANI: All right, thanks very much, Patrick Snell. We'll see you soon. That's it for me.
Kim Brunhuber will be with you on the other side of this break. Stay with CNN.
END
