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Erin Burnett Outfront

National Guard Activated Amid Protest Over Death of Black Man; More Than 40 Million Americans Out of Work Since Pandemic Began; Trump Retweet Post That Says Masks Are About "Social Control" Despite His Own Health Experts Saying They Work; Model Cited by CDC Projects Hospitalizations Rising in 2 Weeks; New Cases Trending Up 16 States, Majority of Them in the South; Protesters Gathering as Prosecutors Say They "Can't Rush" Bringing Charges in Death of George Floyd in Police Custody. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired May 28, 2020 - 19:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: This platform in this moment after (inaudible) ...

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Well, thank you, Don, for everything you're doing. Thanks to all of our analysts, all of our reporters for what they're doing. And Don is going to be hosting a special Sunday night 8 pm Eastern, I CAN'T BREATHE BLACK MEN LIVING AND DYING IN AMERICA. We'll be watching that Sunday night 8 pm Eastern. Don, thanks for everything you're doing. We'll see you also later tonight.

To our viewers, thanks very much for watching.

Erin Burnett OUTFRONT starts right now.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: And OUTFRONT next, we have two major developing stories, the death toll from the coronavirus now topping 101,000 as the President suggests masks represents slavery and social death.

Plus, Minnesota's Governor activating the National Guard. The outrage building over the death of George Floyd in police custody. This as prosecutors have just announced they are not ready to press charges yet.

And she lost her husband to coronavirus, said goodbye to him over FaceTime on OUTFRONT. It has been two months since Joe Lewinger died. Tonight, Maura is back with me.

Let's go OUTFRONT.

And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.

OUTFRONT tonight, silence, slavery and social death. The President sharing that message when it comes to wearing masks. He says, "There are so many viewpoints." Retweeting a link from a conservative columnist who says masks are more about social control than stopping the spread of the virus. This is false.

The President is simply refusing to lead on this, leaving it to others.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I wear it for the reason that I believe it is effective. I want to protect myself and protect others. And also because I want to make it be a symbol for people to see that that's the kind of thing you should be doing.

BURNETT: Fauci making it clear that masks are effective when you're with other people and there is just - frankly, they work. Those are the facts. Here's the director of an influential coronavirus model that is often cited by the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. CHRIS MURRAY, DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH METRICS AND EVALUATION: We now have really clear evidence that wearing masks works. It's probably a 50 percent protection against transmission.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: He said 50 percent effective against transmission. He also went on to say so people should think of it like a vaccine. Like a vaccine, the thing people say we might never get, the thing that's so crucial. Masks are like a vaccine. I mean, doesn't that say it all?

Then, consider this statistic from Hong Kong. The city of 7.5 million residents only reported four deaths, four deaths. A major reason why and by the way, they were able to keep bars and restaurants open for much of it, 99 percent of Hong Kong residents in one survey reported wearing masks when they leave their home.

And then, take a look at this experiment done by the researchers at the National Institutes of Health. They used lasers to help show how far spit droplets travel through the air when we talk. You can see how far they travel and now with a cloth, you barely see anything.

It's kind of shocking that we had to sit here and at the top of our program tonight explain why masks make a difference. It's just a fact that they do. It is part of the reason why Dr. Fauci wears one and Mitch McConnell wears one. They work.

And that Dr. Fauci has said he wants to set an example, as do leaders around the world. They've all now been seen wearing masks in public, look at them. Can put a little style to it if you want or not, go with the surgical kind, who cares? Look at it. I could fill you screen after screen after screen of this, the French President, Emmanuel Mcrone, the Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump's close ally, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Trump stands alone on this. Even his ally, the man who dismissed the pandemic as a little flu while back, the president of Brazil, President Bolsonaro, he has been seen wearing a mask in public. World leaders trying to lead by example during a pandemic. There are now more than 101,000 Americans dead more than any other country on this planet.

Perhaps the Trump of 2020 should take the advice of the Trump from 1999.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The person who has to be a great leader and you have to lead by example.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: He is failing at that.

Kaitlan Collins is OUTFRONT live near the White House. And Kaitlan, look, we just showed that screen of world leaders. Person after person after person wearing masks to set an example and because they work, the President is on an island on this issue.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And Erin, you'll remember when the CDC first issued that guidance reversing course saying that you actually should cover your face in public, the President was asked then would he wear one and he said basically that he didn't think he should because he wouldn't feel right doing it while meeting with world leaders.

You just show that striking image of so many other world leaders taking this advice of medical experts and wearing a mask, because as Dr. Fauci said they are not 100 percent effective, but they do help and they are valuable safeguards. Yet the President has not only refused to wear one, Erin, you're seeing from his twitter feed as we saw today, he's continuing to drive a political wedge into this issue.

[19:05:07]

Making it a culture war of sorts in the United States of whether or not someone is wearing one or not. He's retweeting that tweet today referencing, talking about many different viewpoints, that statement that accompany that tweet that was mocking Joe Biden for wearing one saying that it was not a form of public safety and health. It was of social control. Framing it in that debate as we've seen the President framed so many other things like that.

And he's continued to refuse to wear one even though you're seeing Republican governors really trying to turn this not into a political or cultural issue. They are telling people to wear them. You saw the Governor of North Dakota get tearful the other day in a press conference when he was talking about this, saying you should wear one because you don't know if someone is wearing one, not because of their politics, but because they have a five-year-old who's gone through cancer treatments or other vulnerable adults who have coronavirus and they're trying to help not spread it, things like that.

And it doesn't seem to be something that the President has taken into consideration. And Erin, we should note, this is not a shared view inside the White House. There are many people who have advised the President just to wear one. It makes things easier and it is a symbol to his supporters and everyone in the United States about wearing one and yet he has continued to refuse to do so and people do not think he's going to change his mind about wearing one publicly.

BURNETT: All right. Kaitlan, thank you very much. And I want to go now to Dr. Jonathan Reiner, who advised the White House medical team under President George W. Bush, currently Director of the Cardiac Cath Lab at GW and Dana Bash, our Chief Political Correspondent.

So Dr. Reiner, look the President today, with these retweets, one so many viewpoints he comments with a columnist saying that this is about social control as opposed to medical reality. Another one equating masks to silence, slavery and social death. Obviously, this is shocking, I mean, and completely false when it comes to so many viewpoints.

JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Yes. The piece that the President retweeted could have been written by a Russian bot. It's essentially disinformation. The irrefutable concept is that universal masking, having the entire country wear a mask in public would have dramatically reduced the death rate in this country. It's not up for debate. It's just science.

But the President has an irreconcilable conflict of interest. And the conflict of interest is this, he's running for president during a pandemic and some of the things that one would need to do to suppress the pandemic, run counter to his election chances. He needs to make things look like the country is returning to normal and wearing a mask is decidedly abnormal, but it saves lives.

So he not only does he not promote universal mask wearing, he then promotes essentially negative comments about it. It's maddening.

I've lost family members to COVID. My colleagues at work have lost family members and pretty soon everyone in this country is going to know somebody who has lost somebody to this virus. And to think that the President of the United States would not promote the simple public health measure of wearing masks is insane.

BURNETT: Well, it's also the point that he by doing it could promote it as being normal and not abnormal. He could actually had he thought of it earlier and now, of course, he's dug in, could have used it to his advantage of setting what normal is and it's not so bad, but obviously he's failed to do that.

And Dana, when we put up on that screen and I just thought it was so powerful to do that and like I said we could have done it with more screens.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely.

BURNETT: Just all those world leaders wearing masks. It is amazing that this President sees it as something negative when clearly even Bolsonaro has been wearing a mask.

BASH: Dug in, that's the term you just used, Erin, and that's spot on. That is this president and the more people tell him to wear a mask, as Kaitlan was reporting from inside the White House, people who work for him, people who want him to succeed politically in every other way, the more he says, no, I'm not going to do it. And the day that he changes is the day that something really, really significant has happened in either just his gut, which is pretty good when it comes to the politics he is trying to focus on or in the polling that he's looking at internally.

Because Dr. Reiner is not only a wonderful physician, but obviously he understands politics because he just nailed it when it comes to the President wanting to give the appearance of a country moving on. That is a part of it.

[19:10:03]

But it's more than that. If this is him trying to relate to what he thinks is the traditional Trump voter, voters in red states until recently, where they haven't had the kind of high numbers that we've seen on the coasts or in the big cities and they don't understand why the government nationwide is telling them that they can't go to work, because they don't have 401(k)'s like those on the coast have. They don't have - this is the kind of, obviously, a broad generalization, but that is feeding into this and feeding into why the President is doing or not doing, what he is with masks.

BURNETT: And Dr. Reiner, you're talking about this is going to touch people personally and I think, look, we're all aware that there's certain places in this country where it hasn't touched people personally the way that it has for all three people on the screen right now. We all know people who have died.

One place though that anyone in this country can look to for proof of how it works is Hong Kong, for deaths there so far. A study published in The Lancet, obviously, the leading British Medical Journal found nearly 99 percent of people in Hong Kong wear masks and they did so before this right. It was culturally acceptable to my point I was making about the President saying this is not abnormal, it could be normal.

In the United States, only about a third of people are now saying they always wear masks, according to a Gallup pool - poll, I'm sorry, because I'm about to say pool. This is that Ozarks' image which is now emblazoned on everyone's minds in this country over the weekend, no masks. And it's almost like you've gotten to a point where if you don't have some kind of an outbreak and something like that, then people think well then that's it. That's proof they don't need to wear them.

REINER: Right. And it might take that, it might take an outbreak in parts of the country to convince people that they need to wear a mask, but it doesn't need to be that. It can just be our leaders emulating the kind of behavior that will save lives. If you look at physicians and nurses, people who work in hospitals, we get it. We understand how these masks prevent the spread of the virus from person to person.

This is how we put the pandemic down in the United States. And in fact, this is how we get back to normal by wearing masks. If you want to start opening businesses and getting more people out into commerce and restoring consumer confidence, promote mass wearing, it will dramatically reduce the spread of virus in this country and the economy will soar.

Mr. President, that's how you get your economy back. Get people to wear masks. You can brand them.

BURNETT: And I mean, right, you could put your MAGA right across the front, if you wanted.

REINER: Right.

BURNETT: I mean, Dana, the President has made this a partisan issue on some level, right? So in New York, the Governor signed an executive order authorizing businesses to deny entry to anybody who is not wearing a face covering.

BASH: Yes.

BURNETT: But then there's a photo like this one, my body, my choice, no mask 2020, putting aside her seemingly unintentional great irony with that comment. This seems to be exactly what the President wants.

BASH: It is. It is, again, feeding into the sentiment and it is a very real sentiment out across the country that people feel that the government has too much of a heavy hand, that the government is that there are institutional problems. That is why Donald Trump is President of the United States, that feeling that is very widespread.

The issue is that he is now the president and the President see requires leadership for all Americans and that is true just on the raw politics, but also much more importantly, the most important thing is the safety and security of Americans and that has to do with health. And I was going to say that let's just say that the statistics are not where Dr. Reiner and you Erin are saying that they are, let's say that they could potentially save two lives.

OK, two lives, so wear a mask. Like what's the harm? There's no downside to wearing a mask except for a political point that the President is grasping on to that, frankly, is just giving his opponents fire to - it fuels their fire that he is stoking culture wars.

BURNETT: Right. It certainly looks that way and, of course, we must all remember he was at such fear that he could have contracted it from somebody that he was taking hydroxychloroquine. People were being tested to be around him and he was not wearing a mask around them. So obviously we can all consider how much he considered them. Thank you all very much.

And next, a new model by the CDC projects hospitalizations are expected to go up in less than two weeks. Cases are spiking in parts of the country.

Plus, we're also following the breaking news out of Minneapolis tonight. The National Guard has now been activated. Crowds are building again following the death of George Floyd.

[19:15:04]

And one in four Americans are now out of work just since this coronavirus outbreak begins.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What has this virus done to your industry?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nobody is working right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:18:53]

BURNETT: Tonight, an updated model cited by the CDC projects that new hospitalizations will rise again in less than two weeks. As 16 states have seen an upward trend in cases over the past week, many of them in the south. Nick Watt is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT(voice over): This morning in Montgomery, Alabama, there were just two ICU beds unoccupied, COVID-19 cases have more than quadrupled in this county since reopening began across the state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR STEVEN REED (D) MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA: We can't fast forward to the end of this movie. And we're trying to do that right now and the way we're approaching this process, and I think that's why we're seeing the spikes, not only in Montgomery, but also throughout Alabama.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT(voice over): California today reporting its biggest ever daily uptake a new cases, 2,617. In every southern state except Florida and Texas, new case counts are climbing nationally, ticking down slowly for now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRYSTAL WATSON, SENIOR SCHOLAR, JOHNS HOPKINS CENTER FOR HEALTH SECURITY: As we reopen, if we relax too much and we don't take these physical distancing measures and take the precautions that we can, then we may see this start to go up again, not just in the fall, as there might be a fall wave, but in the next few weeks as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[19:20:07] WATT(voice over): The CDC has posted a model predicting an uptick in

hospital admissions around June 10th. It also issued new reopening guidelines for employers, let lots of fresh air in, no communal coffee pots, no handshakes, not even fist bumps.

And bad news today for big events, the Boston Marathon already moved to mid-September now canceled. The Wisconsin State Fair which usually draws over a million people also just canceled.

New York City is still trying to make its mass transit as safe as possible. The city is not quite ready to reopen, but very close.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D) NEW YORK: I think it's time that New Yorkers see their hard work rewarded.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT(voice over): The hope between two and 400,000 New Yorkers could be back at work by maybe mid June.

So since mid-March, more than 40 million Americans have lost their jobs. That's one in four workers and reopening won't be the end of that movie, either.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D) NEW YORK: You hear these corporations now talking about, well, we're going to take this opportunity to restructure. We're going to get lean, you know what that means? That means you're going to lay off workers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATT: So the Boston Marathon which was scheduled for September was today canceled, but today we also heard from Texas that from this Sunday, they are going to allow pro sports outdoor with fans in the stands 25 percent capacity, but fans in the stands. And the league's are going to have to figure out how to keep them safe, Erin.

BURNETT: All right. Nick, thank you very much. And these are some of the balances, I guess, we're going to start to see to return to life in some capacity.

OUTFRONT now Prof. Erin Bromage. He teaches biology at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. And his blog post with practical advice to keep yourself and other safe is wildly popular. He's got nearly 18 million views. So it's great to have you back, Professor. I appreciate your time.

So Nick just mentioned sporting events in Texas with 25 percent capacity and it comes after Disney World says it's going to start reopening on July 11th, which has gotten a lot of attention. I mean, what should people know before going to, say, Disney?

ERIN BROMAGE, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS DARTMOUTH: Well, I'm glad that they're looking at reducing capacity quite a lot. If we're heading to Disney, we need to realize that every interaction that you have with a person is another chance of transmission, waiting in lines being close to each other on rides. I'm thinking about what it's going to be like on a roller coaster with people screaming.

I think that this really needs to be thought through about how they make this both fun and safe for people that are visiting the park.

BURNETT: Right. I mean, I guess to a certain point where it isn't fun. And your point about a roller coaster was you would not do that, because I guess when you're yelling there's more projecting.

BROMAGE: Yes. So we know that talking puts out a little bit, seeing a little bit more of the virus, screaming, which happens on a roller coaster will really project what comes out of your mouth over everybody that is behind you.

BURNETT: So a lot of people in the summer, we've been hearing about, well, the weather might make some of it better being outside, make some of it better, but you also have people using air conditioning, a lot more people using air conditioning. And this is a question I remember we talked a while ago about a study in China where they kind of showed the path of the air conditioner vent and you could actually project by the way that air was going, who got the virus.

They were able to literally put axes on every person who got it. It was obviously crucial. How significant could air conditioning be?

BROMAGE: Well, air conditioning when we start conditioning our environment we starts changing things obviously like temperature but also humidity. As we drop the temperature down, the virus increases in both stability and transmit ability as we extract moisture out of the air, so we drop the humidity down that we lock inside our house, it also makes the virus more stable and potentially more transmissible.

If we use what we know with the previous, with the human corona viruses that follows that path, air conditioning could make things a little more favorable for the virus to find a new home.

BURNETT: And you also point out that six feet which we've all been hearing, certainly when you're outside seems to make sense, but what about inside?

BROMAGE: Yes. So six feet when you're outside is what we want to do for safety. When we're inside in short brief encounters, six feet is also fine as well.

[19:25:00]

But if we are in that environment for an extended period of time, half an hour or an hour, six hours for your workday, then six feet is really not enough if you are just recycling the air in the room, because there's the potential that the virus will be in that air and accumulating the longer that an infected person stays in that room.

BURNETT: All right. Prof. Bromage, thank you again. I appreciate your time and the practical advice for people. Thank you.

BROMAGE: You're welcome, Erin.

BURNETT: And next, tensions tonight escalating in Minneapolis. Now, the National Guard has been activated, the city bracing for more protests after the death of George Floyd. We're going to go there live.

And she lost her husband to coronavirus and her story of love and lost touched so many and tonight she is back with us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAURA LEWINGER, WIFE OF CORONAVIRUS PATIENT JOE LEWINGER: I thanked him for being the most amazing husband.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Breaking news, prosecutors in Minnesota holding a last minute news conference to say they are not ready to press any charges in the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Despite the video which I do want to warn you is graphic which showed Floyd pleading for help and saying he couldn't breathe as a police officer kneeled on his neck for minutes and minutes and minutes.

[19:30:04]

Protesters are now heading the streets for the third straight day in Minneapolis and you can see what we have seen in these images.

Minnesota's governor tonight activating the National Guard.

Miguel Marquez is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A night of anger turns to rage, protesters surrounding the Minneapolis Police Department's third precinct. Businesses nearby looted and burnt.

It started with this, the arrest that left 46-year-old George Floyd dead.

ERICA MACDONALD, U.S. ATTORNEY, MINNESOTA: Our nation has witnessed this heavily and disturbing loss of life. My heart goes out to George Floyd, my heart goes out to his family.

MARQUEZ: The video runs more than 7 minutes. Floyd into the ground, a need to his neck, unable to move or breathe.

You can't see every vantage point but the video doesn't come close to what police initially described that Floyd was resisting.

Surveillance video obtained by CNN from a nearby restaurant also doesn't show him resisting arrest. Donald Williams witnessed Floyd's brutal arrest.

DONALD WILLIAMS, WITNESS TO GEORGE FLOYD'S DEATH: His blood coming out of his nose and I noticed it at the point is eyes are turning a different color and your belly hurts, which is pretty much a last bowel movement in your life. That's when I started pleading with the officers.

MARQUEZ: Courtney Ross was Floyd's girlfriend.

COURTNEY ROSS, FLOYD'S GIRLFRIEND: This is nothing but anger that was sent to us on earth and we demonized him and we killed him. I just want to get on the phone and call my baby and hear his voice. He cannot die in vain. He can't.

MARQUEZ: The four police officers now all fired, many calling for them to face charges. The officer with his knee to Floyd's neck, Officer Derek Chauvin had 18 complaints lodged against him. It's not clear what for. He was punished for two of them.

Another of the officers was sued for excessive force in the past. That suit settled by the city.

REPORTER: Do you think that was murder?

MAYOR JACOB FREY (D-MN), MINNEAPOLIS: I do.

REPORTER: You do?

FREY: I'm not a prosecutor but let me be clear, the arresting officer killed someone.

MARQUEZ: With businesses looted and burned overnight, Floyd's friends and families are pleading for justice and calm.

PHILONISE FLOYD, GEORGE FLOYD'S BROTHER: I want everyone to be peaceful right now but people are torn in hurt because black men died.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: All right. And Miguel Marquez just joins me here on the phone from Minneapolis.

And, Miguel, you're on the phone because of things are happening. What is happening where you are?

MARQUEZ (via telephone): Yes, it's very difficult to get through our photographer right now. We're actually in St. Paul's. We are down here because there have been ongoing reports throughout the day of looting, tear gas being used against protesters. We're in a shopping area where some local soccer teams play.

There were buses, several buses, dozens and dozens of police officers in riot gear, loading on to those buses. We are seeing fires off in a distance.

This is St. Paul, keep in mind. Fires off the distance, looting the T.J. Maxx, some of the stores where we are. This did not happen last night in this area. It looked like Minneapolis where did happen last night was also starting -- people getting very roiled.

The news -- or the lack of the news in the press conference today from the U.S. attorney and from the Hennepin County attorney will not be well-received in Minneapolis and St. Paul's, probably across the state tonight -- Erin.

BURNETT: All right. Miguel, thank you very much.

I want to go out front now to the former Democratic Mayor of Baltimore, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. She was a mayor of Baltimore, of course, in 2015. We all remember the riots that broke out after Freddie Gray, 25-year-old African American man died in police custody during -- due to spinal cord injuries, and, of course, you led the city through this, Mayor.

You know, when we look at this situation now, in Minneapolis, St. Paul, the George Floyd video, prosecutors have called it "horrific and terrible ", saying his death is a disturbing loss of life but they're not charging anyone yet and they came out and said, and I quote again, Mayor, quote, there are other evidence that this does not support a criminal charge.

You aren't just a mayor. You are also an attorney in the Baltimore public defenders office. You've seen everything that we've all seen on these videos.

Do you know what this could be, something that does not support a criminal charge in this case?

STEPHANIE RAWLINGS-BLAKE, FORMER MAYOR OF BALTIMORE: Well, first, Erin my heart goes out to the Floyd family and the community in Minneapolis. It was a horrific that the world witnessed and we are all I think suffering right now because of it.

[19:35:06]

As for what other evidence, I don't know, I don't think anyone has heard anything other than what we saw, which was a man being arrested, luckily -- looking compliant yet was placed on the ground. There were several people out there. I don't -- I haven't heard anything and I don't know if you have from any of the witnesses that suggest that there was something else going on that would require an unarmed, handcuffed man who was not moving at all to be restrained and murdered -- you know, restrained with a knee in his neck. I don't see anything.

BURNETT: Do you think at this point there is enough evidence to press charges right now? I mean, are you shocked that they have chosen not to do so again today?

RAWLINGS-BLAKE: Well, I'm not shocked that they have been chosen to do so because as we saw in Baltimore, I think it's very important to get it right and not just get it fast. When you are dealing with charges against a police officer, we have seen historically the bar so high on the findings of guilt and as investigators, as the police department, as outside investigators, you want to make sure you get it right.

My hope is that the community has enough faith in the prosecutor's office to give them the time that they need to do a thorough investigation because whatever charges are -- if charges are filed, you want -- you want the community have a sense that the charges are not being filed in vain.

BURNETT: And they did of course. Today, when they were referencing it -- they were reference the Freddie Gray case. They said they do not want to rush to justice, they wanted to do it right. So, they were specifically mentioning what you went through in Baltimore.

But I wanted to replay again for you, Mayor Blake, what we've seen of George Floyd's arrest when you are talking about being compliant. Again, I want to warn our viewers this video is graphic and I know you of course have seen this, Mayor. But a police officer is kneeling on Floyd's neck as he pleads for him to stop. Says he can't breathe. And police claim it only happened after he resisted arrest.

But then we got surveillance video from a nearby restaurant, which I'm sure you've also seen, which shows officers approaching a parked SUV and Floyd gets out of it and he's taken into custody. He's put into handcuffs, officers walking over to the sidewalk, he's placed against the wall, then he sat down. Then he's questioned, pulled back up, walked across the street after the officers across the street, you see the door to the police car open up.

So, have you seen anything in this, of all these different videos that we shower even suggest that Floyd did what he said, which is to resist arrest?

RAWLINGS-BLAKE: I haven't seen it and I'm also -- number one, I'm glad that there is a video and number two, I am -- I am very glad that because those officers acted in very specific contradiction to police policy and because the mayor could, those officers were fired. They are not going to be entitled to their pension, they are not going to be allowed as in many cases because of the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights in so many places across the country prevent mayors and police from doing what happened in Minneapolis.

That was not an option for me in Baltimore because of the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights. Systemic reform, the police department including taking a hard look at what can happen, what can a mayor do, what can a police chief do after something like this to ensure that those officers can be taken off the street.

BURNETT: All right. Well, Mayor Rawlings-Blake, I appreciate your time. Thank you so much.

RAWLINGS-BLAKE: Thanks.

BURNETT: And OUTFRONT next, 40 million Americans are now out of work because of the pandemic, that's one in four. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I never imagined we would live through something like this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Plus, she lost her husband to coronavirus and her bravery, her honesty touch so many when we spoke nearly two months ago. She's back with us tonight with her message on pain and perseverance.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:43:28]

BURNETT: Tonight, 40 million Americans are now out of work since the pandemic began. This comes as new numbers released today show another 2.1 million people filing jobless claims.

One of the states hit particularly hard is California. The governor is now warning there of an economic fallout, the likes of which this country has never seen before.

Kyung Lah is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A tourist free Hollywood, a traffic free Lumbar Street in San Francisco, an empty Rose Bowl and Hollywood Bowl, all symbols of the beating COVID- 19 is afflicted on Americas largest and most diverse economy.

California's governor estimates about one every 4 Californians could be jobless this year, one out of four, in a state of 40 million people.

(on camera): What has this virus done into your industry?

DUPLASS, LOS ANGELES-BASED FILMMAKER: Nobody is working right now

LAH (voice-over): Seven hundred and twenty thousand people work in film and entertainment in California. Filmmaker Jay Duplass is one of them.

DUPLASS: The majority of our industry is blue-collar workers who are showing up at 6:00 in the morning, and leaving at 8:00 at night, and people who live paycheck to paycheck, job to job. So it's very tough.

LAH: The industry, turning to food banks to now feed their own. Napa's vineyards, business has cratered.

STEPHANIE HONIG, HONIG WINERY: I never imagined that we would love to something like this.

LAH: Stephanie Honig, and her namesake vineyard, are part of California's $57 billion wine industry, now, corked. [19:45:05]

HONIG: A lot of our sales are to hotels, restaurants, and country clubs, and all of those are shut down. We're about 50 percent under what we were last year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is no doubt that the pandemic, and the closure, has impacted tourism.

LAH: The San Diego zoo has gone from 5.5 million tickets sold in its two parks last year, to now, zero.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Peak times during the summer, we can have upwards of over 20,000 people, just here at the zoo, alone, in one day. You hear every language on the planet.

LAH: California has been especially hard hit because the state depends on air travel for visitors, both domestic, and international.

But there are signs of recovery. In store retail open this week, small businesses employ just over half of all private workers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very exciting, this is what we've been sitting and waiting for for 10 weeks and, you know, we were ready.

LAH: California Governor Gavin Newsom warns that any recovery will be slow, and the state budget will suffer. Income tax dependent state sees a massive drop off.

GOVERNOR GAVIN NEWSOM (D), CALIFORNIA: By no stretch of the imagination is this virus behind us. We are moving forward, we are not looking back, but we are walking into the unknown.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAH: These are the types of billboards you see all over Los Angeles, with so many unemployed here again. Because California is the largest a calm me in this country, so does the U.S. -- Erin.

BURNETT: All right, thank you very much.

And next, a mother of three, she lost her husband, 42 years old, to coronavirus, and her story moved so many of us. Tonight, she returns to OUTFRONT, two months since her husband's passing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAURA LEWINGER, LOST HUSBAND, 42, TO CORONAVIRUS: Sometimes, it just feels like he's at work. I'm doing the dishes, I'm asking my son to take out the garbage, and it feels like he's working late. And of course, I realize, he's not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:51:09]

BURNETT: As a nation mourns, more than 100,000 lives lost to the virus, one story provoked most powerful response from you, the people watching. Joe Lewinger passed away. He was 42 years old, and he left behind his wife and three children.

He was absolutely beloved by students, schools in New York, and on Long Island. He spent 20 years working as an assistant principal and girls basketball coach of the Catholic high school. He had no known pre-existing conditions, and started out just as a virus, a little sick, his health deteriorated quickly, he ended up on a ventilator, and died.

And because of the virus, his wife Maura was not allowed to be with him, physically, as he passed away. She did say that she felt that she was with him, and here is how she described that moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEWINGER: I thank him. I thank him for being the most amazing husband, and for making me feel cherished, and loved, every single day. Every single day, my husband wrote me beautiful love letters of my lunch box, not just have a great day, but just beautiful letters about what I meant to him.

I thanked him. And then I prayed. And then the doctor took the phone, and he said, I'm sorry, but there is no more pulse. And then I played our wedding song for him. And then -- and then that was it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Joe Lewinger passed away two months ago, today, and Maura joins me tonight.

And, Maura, it's impossible for me, for anyone, to understand how you are feeling every day with your loss. What can you tell us about these two months and your life now?

LEWINGER: It's hard to believe that it's been two months already. I explained how I get through the day by saying that I pretend. I pretend that this awful thing has not happened to us, and our family, and our friends, and community. I pretend that he is not going to be missing from every event going forward. That's -- that's the only way to get through the minutiae of the day, and being able to care for my children, and being able to smile at my students through the screen.

BURNETT: And I know some of the smallest, some of seemingly smallest things have just been things that brought us to you more than anything else, just every day things.

LEWINGER: As far as reminders?

BURNETT: Yes.

LEWINGER: Every day things.

BURNETT: Yes.

LEWINGER: Yes, I see him everywhere. I see him everywhere. I'm sitting on the couch, having my morning coffee, I look across, and that is where he would stare back at me. I'm in the kitchen, and I met the sink, and he's over at the stove, or vice versa, he's everywhere.

He's in my children's faces. He's in every song that I hear. He is in all my thoughts, spending all of the time in the backyard, having a fire pit, and watching logs burn, thinking about lava, and thinking about how we were supposed to go to Hawaii in 2023, as a family trip, and wondering, do I still do that? Do I celebrate him and go, or not?

It's constant. It's a constant in my mind. Constant, how to get through the rest of my days without him?

BURNETT: And I know part of how you are doing that and will do that as your children, these beautiful children that you have. You say you see his face in them, with three children, two in high school, your little one, just 6 years old.

How are they doing, Maura?

LEWINGER: They are doing amazingly well. They are such well-rounded joys. They -- my older to have been through a lot in their life, so having the experience they did when they were small has just made them these guiding lights, spirits of beauty. Just -- they have an amazing presence, kind souls, loving. And my little one just -- she just wants to be them, she just wants to follow them, be everything, do everything, they do.

They just -- they talk about Joe, we talk about him, it's -- our family is based on communication, and we always talk about everything and how we feel, what we think of things, views of the world, and how they have their own opinion on things. Joe and I didn't always agree on everything about the world, and they always knew that we are listening to each other, and supporting each other is the foundation of family and great relationships. So, that continues. It continues with every day.

BURNETT: They learn that from their parents. People were so moved by you, Maura. I -- you know, you were just an unforgettably great precedence, and larger than life for so many.

You know, one of our viewers, who is especially moved by your story, Austin Marolla, I know he wrote a song, and he reached out to you, after he saw you, so I know you've heard this, but you inspire this, and I want to display a bit of it.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

BURNETT: It's a beautiful thing. He had a message for you, Maura, that he shared with us today, and I want to read it to you. He said that this song is a love lender from a first responder, the touch me so deeply, was you're emotional interview with Maura Lewinger, who FaceTimed her husband Joe, and their story of life. Thank you so much for sharing your story, Maura, for what you have done, it's helped me believe that the power of love is infinite, eternal, and healing, in writing the song.

It is incredible what you have given so many.

LEWINGER: You -- when you suffer such a great loss, you expect to be and are so thankful, which I am so thankful and grateful to my family, and friends, and community, for their amazing support, every day, continues, messages of support. But what is so striking is the messages from complete strangers, whether they reach out on Facebook, or through another friend, or these connections, and just getting their love, and support to us. has been amazing. But to -- and I received letters in the mail. It's not something I would necessarily think to do, is to pick up a pen, write a complete stranger a letter, and then send it. But people did that.

And the generosity, and the care, but then to have somebody create, and be inspired to write a song, and make his own experience in that song, Austin is a doctor, and he also is -- he went to school with my husband and didn't even know it. And so, that connection that we didn't even know existed was brought out because of Joe's message, and Joe's story, and Joe's light.

BURNETT: Well, he's light is --

LEWINGER: I'm forever grateful.

BURNETT: His light burns in you, and I know -- just -- as I said, Maura, the courage and bravery it takes to share, somehow letting us all be a small part of your loss has I think has just been a very big, and beautiful thing. And I am grateful, and we are grateful, and I thank you.

LEWINGER: I thank you as well, it has been a healing experience to be supported by so many, including yourself. So I thank you so much.

BURNETT: Well, I thank you. You're in our thoughts always.

And I thank all of you for being with us.

Our global town hall starts now.

END