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One World with Zain Asher
Ship Passengers To Be Monitored For Hantavirus Symptoms; Iran Says It Put Forward "Generous" Proposal To The U.S.; British P.M. Vows To Stay On After Poor Election Results; Rage-Bait MAGA Influencer Targets Gay Couple; One Month Until FIFA World Cup 2026; Venezuela's Problems Persist Despite U.S. Ousting Of Maduro; ; Aired 12-1p ET
Aired May 11, 2026 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[12:00:52]
ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Coming to you live from New York, I'm Zain Asher. You're watching the second hour of "One World."
Hospitals in the U.S. are now monitoring 17 Americans and one British dual national from the cruise ship M.V. Hondius. That's the latest on the
Hantavirus outbreak from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
Two of the passengers are at ATLANTIS Emory University in a biocontainment unit. The other 16 are at a specialized quarantine unit in Omaha, Nebraska.
Health officials stressing that the risk to the general public remains very low.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADMIRAL BRIAN CHRISTINE, M.D., ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH, HHS: This is a whole-of-government effort across federal, state, and local partners who
are all working together to ensure the safety of the American people.
And let me be clear. Let me be crystal clear. The risk of Hantavirus to the general public remains very, very low.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: All right. People who may have been exposed to Hantavirus are now being monitored by medics in at least nine countries. The WHO says that
seven cases have been confirmed. And two more are currently suspected.
Most of the passengers from the ship at the center of the outbreak have now been evacuated. The M.V. Hondius were now saying -- sail to the
Netherlands, where it will be disinfected.
Meg Tirrell is standing by for us. We also got Larry Madowo joining us live now from Kenya.
Meg, let me start with you. Just in terms of the 17 Americans who arrived in Nebraska, obviously, you've got one person, at least who tested
positive. That person is now in this biocontainment unit.
I'm sure that most people watching have no idea what that is and what that level of quarantine entails. Walk us through it.
MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So, the -- that person is in a biocontainment unit in Nebraska. And they did have a positive test for
Hantavirus, but they also had a negative test for Hantavirus, and they are doing confirmatory testing now. So, we are waiting on the actual
confirmation that that person is a positive case.
But in the meantime, they are being held in that biocontainment space, which we were told by officials in a news conference earlier today. That is
sort of a healthcare space, so if they require healthcare, they'll be able to get it there in addition to being isolated in an appropriate way.
Now, we are actually told that that person has been asymptomatic. They haven't shown symptoms. And so they are monitoring that person very
closely. There are, of course, 15 others, also in Nebraska, who are in quarantine, so they're in rooms by themselves. They're a bit different.
They're described more like hotel rooms, but they don't have visitation into those rooms.
None of those people were told to have symptoms either. They came in. They were in good spirits, but we were told they were tired, so they are
resting, and then they will be assessed later today. And they'll be continually monitored for symptoms and fever. This is not thought to be
contagious if people don't have symptoms or fever, so that's being watched very closely.
Those two other people were moved to Georgia, and reason for that is just space concerns. If people do develop symptoms, they wanted to ensure in
Nebraska they had the space in that biocontainment unit to provide them proper care.
Now, one of those people who was moved to Georgia did show symptoms at least at one point. They don't have a positive test. It's entirely possible
they will not test positive for Hantavirus. Some of those early symptoms look essentially like flu-like illness.
Now, there's going to be a 42-day period, essentially, when these folks need to be monitored, and where that monitoring happens and how that
happens, whether it's in one of these sort of quarantine units or if it's home-based monitoring, has yet to be determined and will be informed by
some of those assessments happening later today and over the next few days.
We also don't know exactly when that 42-day clock starts, because it's based on their last time of exposure, but we're looking at about six weeks
where these folks will need to be assessed for symptoms and will need to stay close to healthcare wherever they are, because if they do develop
symptoms, this is a virus where folks can deteriorate very quickly and care is needed very quickly for them, Zain.
ASHER: All right. Meg Tirrell, thank you so much.
Larry, let me bring you in, because one of the more sort of controversial aspects of this cruise ship's journey is the fact that Cape Verde, this
tiny African island off the coast of West Africa, did not allow the ship to dock, and obviously, it's easy to empathize with the reasons why. Of
course, the government officials there want to keep their population safe.
[12:05:06]
However, that meant really difficult conditions for the people who are trapped on board. What are officials from local CDC in and around Africa
saying about that -- that decision that Cape Verde made?
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Zain, now that we are seeing all these cases pop up around the world from people who are on that ship, the
decision by Cape Verde and not to allow that ship to dock, not to allow any passengers or crew to disembark, looks to be a lot more justified.
And that's what they're telling officials of the Africa CDC. This is a body that was set up by the African Union to coordinate basically disease
control and prevention across the continent.
And I've been speaking to the director of the Africa CDC who says, the authorities in Cape Verde did everything they should have done under
international law, what they expect in the public health emergency. And they did allow World Health Organization official to board the cruise ship
and to continue to provide support then that person remains on the ship. They allowed for medical supplies, for medical teams to board the ship and,
you know, attention to those who needed care, but they didn't allow anybody to disembark. This is what the Africa CDC says.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. JEAN KASEYA, DIRECTOR GENERAL, AFRICA CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: I was talking with officials from Cape Verde. They did what
they had to do at that moment, but we can still discuss about other actions.
What I also know, they accepted some colleagues like WHO staff to go to the cruise. And currently, this person is still in the cruise supporting and
collecting all information samples. I think for now, we are still assessing this situation, but I cannot criticize Cape Verde for the action they took.
MADOWO: Because now that the ship went on to the Canary Islands, and we've seen more symptomatic passengers, they are taking extreme measures just to
make sure that even the people in Tenerife are complaining about it. Could Cape Verde could have done any more?
KASEYA: Look, it's also the message we want to give to the world. We need to know that when there is an outbreak somewhere, it's a global security
issue.
Cape Verde, we need to support them to strengthen the system, the surveillance system as we need to do for all African countries. This is
what we are seeing every day.
When they think that they don't have capacity, they can't open the -- the - - the country to what they don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MADOWO: And the -- the reason here is because viruses have no passports. They spread around the world.
But the subtext, Zain, is that lessons that Africa learned from COVID. During that pandemic, Africa was at the back of the queue when it comes to
vaccines. There was little support for containing the virus and the spread here on the continent.
And so African countries have learned to be a lot more cautious, especially if it is what they consider an imported virus. And that is why you saw all
of the precautions that the Cape Verde government put in place to make sure that they're not having an outbreak in their hands.
It's a small collection of islands just over half a million people. If something like this were to happen within their territory, it would be
obviously a major issue and obviously it would spread around the world, Zain.
ASHER: Larry, you bring up such an important point, obviously, the lessons that Africa learned, especially being lost in line to get those vaccines,
are not forgotten. And so, of course, from their perspective, without making any sort of judgments is what -- in terms of what is right or wrong
from their perspective, they do have to work harder to keep their population safe because the income level in a lot of these African
countries is not the same as it is in the West, nor is the means to protect themselves either.
MADOWO: Right.
ASHER: Larry Madowo, live for us there. Thank you so much. We appreciate it.
All right. U.S. President Donald Trump warns the ceasefire in Iran is on life support and he's vowing a complete victory in the war. But he's also
indicating that he will continue pursuing a diplomatic solution with the regime in Tehran.
Earlier, Iran called its latest counter proposal for peace, reasonable and generous. Iranian media reports, the response included sovereignty over the
Strait of Hormuz and war reparations with no mention of the country's nuclear program.
CNN's Julia Benbrook joins us live now from the White House.
So, Julia, just in terms of this counterproposal, obviously we just heard from Trump there saying that essentially this -- the ceasefire is on life
support, to put it in the president's words.
There was a lot in terms of what the Iranians had said in that counterproposal that were non-starters for the Americans. So, where do
negotiations go from here? How much is Trump relying on China to somehow intervene in this?
JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, and that high-stakes trip to China is coming up as well. But President Donald Trump, he is speaking in the
Oval Office right now. And this was for a separate event, something not related to the conflict in Iran.
But as he took questions from reporters, of course, this was top of mind. And his message was to anyone questioning at this point, if he has a plan,
of course he has a plan.
[12:10:04]
He then said, though, that in war, you have to be flexible. That plan could change. Different days mean different plans. He made this point a couple of
times while speaking. I want to play one of those instances for you now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A lot of people said, well, does he have a he have a plan? Yes, of course, I do have -- I have the best
plan ever. And Iran has been defeated militarily, totally.
They have a little left they probably built up during this period of time. We'll knock that out in about a day. But I have a plan. It's a very simple
plan. I don't know why you don't say it like it is. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BENBROOK: And these remarks, they come the day after he responded to the Iranian response to the U.S. proposal to end this conflict. He said that he
was not happy with it. He called it totally unacceptable, said I don't like it.
And he is saying that the most important part of this plan, this evolving plan, is that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. And that they did not
commit to that in this response.
Now, he was also asked if he could continue to work with the current leadership. And he kind of shrugged and said, yes, that he thinks that he
can. That was significant because in his post, where he said that this response was totally unacceptable, he put representatives in quotation
marks, which led to some questions about what was next.
But he says he does think that he can work with this group in some way. He then criticized them and how they have handled any of these negotiations so
far. Also, highlighting how long he had to wait on this response.
I'll point out that on Friday, Trump and other administration officials here said that they believed that they were going to hear back from Tehran
that day. He was pressed at the time. Why this might be taking a little bit longer? Does he think that Iran is slow rolling it?
And at that point, he said, we'll soon find out. During these remarks today, he made a clear point to say that they did keep the United States
waiting on this. And it appeared he wasn't happy with that either.
ASHER: All right. Julia Benbrook, live for us. Thank you so much.
All right. Coming up, he posed as a CNN journalist to ask questions. How a California gay couple was targeted by conservative influencer for viral
content. We'll talk more about this when we come back.
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[12:15:03]
ASHER: All right. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is vowing to stay in his job and fight on. He spoke just days after his Labour Party suffered
major losses in local and regional elections.
Starmer says, he takes responsibility for the dismal results.
Last week's vote sought a surge of support for Nigel Farage's right wing, Reform U.K. party. Here's how Londoners are reacting to Starmer's message.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd take to anyone better, really. So, it's -- is it better that we know? You know, we'll see.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, prognosis doesn't look great. Seems like his policies haven't been quite the same as his manifesto. I think he's on a
sticky wicket. And it looks like the Labour M.P.s maybe want him out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He should definitely go. He won't stay. I think he might survive the week.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: CNN's Clare Sebastian has more from Downing Street on Starmer's political future.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The prime minister's message today was that he is not walking away from this project that he started when he swept
to power less than two years ago with one of the biggest mandates in modern British political history.
He feels that the best course for the country is if he keeps going, albeit on a faster timeline to deliver the kind of change that he promised.
He took responsibility for the catastrophic results for his Labour Party in last week's local elections. He said, he understands the frustration of the
public with his government and with him.
But he clearly sees this as a moment to reset, not to resign. And here's how he justified that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I think what we witnessed with the last government was the chaos of constantly changing leaders. And it cost
this country a huge amount, a huge amount.
(APPLAUSE)
Yes, I acknowledge the frustration. Yes, I acknowledge the results are tough. Yes, I acknowledge that we've lost brilliant representatives across
the United Kingdom. I have a responsibility for that.
But I also have a responsibility to deliver the change that we were elected and that we promised this country not deliver on that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SEBASTIAN: Well, look, I think, obviously, this was a speech that represented a huge moment for Keir Starmer. It was big on energy. It was
heartfelt. But many critics are saying off the back of it that it was a little short on substance on the kind of radical change that they want to
see from him right now.
At the heart of the speech was a pitch for closer ties to the European Union as a big part of this reset. He said that he sees the E.U. summit
coming up in June as an opportunity for a new direction.
He's pitching a new program to give young people and Britain the opportunity to work in Europe as a way to create more opportunities.
As to where this leaves the prime minister, I think he is still in a precarious position. We are seeing more M.P.s coming out of the back of the
speech and calling for him to step down.
But what we're not seeing are calls for him to step down immediately. There was a backbench M.P., Catherine West, over the weekend, who came out and
set up a challenge to the cabinet to come forward after the speech today and present a leadership challenge.
She is now calling for M.P.s to sign on to essentially a petition for him to leave in September. So, I think perhaps he's brought himself a little
bit of time with this, but this is still a very precarious administration.
And the question now is if they wait several months for a leadership challenge, does this mean that the government will have trouble making the
kind of change that it's promising in the meantime?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: All right. Clare Sebastian reporting there.
All right. Let's bring in Martin Farr now. He's a senior lecturer in contemporary British history at Newcastle University, and he's joining us
from there at this hour. So, Martin, good to have you on the program.
So, under conservative leader, under conservative British prime minister, in order to remove the prime minister, M.P.s would essentially have to send
a vote of no confidence letter or various M.P.s who have to send letters of no confidence to the 1922 Committee. And we all became familiar with that
because we had over a decade of conservatives in power.
Now that you have a Labour prime minister, how would the process work to remove Kier Starmer?
MARTIN FARR, SENIOR LECTURER IN CONTEMPORARY BRITISH HISTORY, NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY: Yes. The -- the previous chair of the 1922 Committee has just
offered his services to the Labour Party for that reason.
The essential reasons, Zain, is that the Conservative Party is -- is a rather more ruthless organization than the Labour Party and will happily
defends straight a leader if they're deemed to be a lot of team, most spectacularly with Margaret Thatcher in 1990.
Labour is a much more sentimental party. And, of course, as the name suggests, it's a collective party, and it's much less inclined to do things
like that.
The closest that the party ever came to that was 2007 when Tony Blair stood down. And that really is the model for what's taking place today, which is
Blair said in 2006, he was standing down in the years' time before the conference, and that was carried out.
The difference there was there was an obvious replacement in the form of Gordon Brown, and Gordon Brown had engineered Blair's announcement. That
isn't the case at the moment.
[12:20:03]
Today, events happening very, very rapidly indeed. And I'm checking my iPad for when it's on air and every minute or so, there's a new MP, calling
publicly for Starmer to stand down. And some others we don't know who are saying privately to Catherine West, the Labour backbench who has flushed
the fox out as it were. And so my feeling is that it's very much a matter of when and not if now as of today.
ASHER: So Keir Starmer is lucky in a sense because if he was a conservative prime minister, it would be much easier to essentially get rid of him is --
is my understanding.
Just in terms of -- just in terms of how fortunes changed so dramatically for Keir Starmer. In 2024, Labour won with this sort of landslide victory.
A lot of people wanted change after the conservatives had been in power for 14 years.
They were also, you know, facing some degree of unpopularity. And now, the tide has really turned on Keir Starmer. And, obviously, part of it is
Jeffrey Epstein stuff and the Peter Mandelson stuff, but it -- it goes beyond that.
Walk us through what's happened over the past couple of years, Martin.
FARR: You're right, Zain. In -- in -- he's done in two years what it took the conservatives 10 years to achieve in terms of upsetting the public his
backbenches and the civil service. Let's not forget with the Olly Robbins- Peter Mandelson affair last week.
It's a remarkable acceleration. And it points partly I think to the increasing febrility (PH), if you like, of our politics. The impatience,
the short retention spans, the bespoken news outlets.
But it was also in the formation of the government. It was indeed a very large parliamentary majority on a very small virtue at the loveless
landslide, it was called, a sandcastle prone to any incoming tide.
And Starmer's project in so far as there was a project was fundamentally, first of all, to win the Labour Party back from Jeremy Corbyn and the far
left and then to make Labour electable.
And in those two senses, it was remarkably successful. It did get rid of Corbyn and it did win Labour in enormous majority, but that's all there was
to it. There was nothing else. There was no plan for government. The manifesto was timid.
And in Starmer, they had someone who was a very useful place person who was presentable, had no back story in politics which was thought to be an
advantage and a serious career as a prosecutor, always good for the left so you're not deemed to be soft on crime, but there was nothing to him
politically.
And today's speech was really remarkable in what there wasn't and what their ought to have been and what we've been told would be -- would be
there an expression of Starmer's view.
And in that sense, actually, the speech was quite an accurate speech because Starmer, there's no there there, as I think Dorothy Parker said. He
has no vision. He has no political profile.
And one of the great ironies of the elections we saw last week is that though he has no pronounced political persona, he's deeply hated to an
extent that I can't think of another prime minister perhaps Margaret Thatcher, deeply hated, and she had a very profound political persona.
So, it's an irony which I think is only explicable given the nature of politics and public discourse in 2026.
ASHER: So, what I think is also really interesting is that when you read a lot of analysis, everybody's talking about the fact that, you know, the
sort of post-war political system in the U.K. where they were only sort of two really viable parties, Labour and Conservatives. That's now changing
maybe temporarily, maybe permanently.
But now, you have, not just Labour and Conservatives, but you have the Green Party. You have Reform U.K. You have the Lib Dems.
So, if you are one of these sort of parties that have been traditionally on the sideline, how do you prepare over the next few years? I mean, they --
there has to be a general election before May 2029.
So, if you are the Green Party, if you are Reform U.K., what are you doing behind the scenes to ready yourself for the long-shot but potential who are
we to say possibility that you could indeed get a bite at the Apple finally?
FARR: Greens and reform, greens on the left, reform on the right, both insurgent parties, neither existed five years ago really. Both are feeling
on day -- D-Day plus five of the election that already counselors are resigning because of social media posts and because of things in their
past.
They're not yet fully professional organizations in the way Labour and the Conservatives are or the Liberal Democrats, which for decades have had a
system and had a -- had a -- a way of reading out undesirable characters.
We're finding this out as we speak in terms of councils for reform. And the Greens, they finally have a public platform.
Having been merely campaigners, have you been merely a part of the protest? They're now parties in office. The reform, especially, reform were about
five years ahead of the Greens in terms of their development.
The key is that both have deeply charismatic leaders who can connect with disenfranchised, disenchanted voters in a way that the mainstream party
leaders haven't been able to do.
And part of the appeal is they have no track record. My own personal feeling is that whoever becomes the next prime minister of whichever party
will, within six months, be the most unpopular prime minister in history. That is really the state of where politics and public life is in the
absence of economic growth.
[12:25:07]
And that's the -- that's the backdrop to all of these scandals and crises, I think, fundamentally is without economic growth, without rage -- wage
increase, without a sense of the economy being dynamic, any sense, has been anemic since Brexit.
There are grievances. And there are opportunities for parties, some leaders of whom, some maybe more scrupulous than others, can exploit those
grievances. And it's a culture in which Keir Starmer was -- was singularly unsuited.
ASHER: I mean, you bring up such an important point, because there's one thing to govern when you're -- or try to govern, when you're a part of the
opposition and sort of give your opinions and -- and -- but it's a whole other thing when you are in the hot seat and you're facing the scrutiny
that comes being in the hot seat.
So, I have like literally 30 seconds left. Can you tell me whether you think or not whether, but maybe the question is whether, maybe the question
is, how long you think Keir Starmer can actually hang on for? I mean, might we be all surprised?
FARR: The problem that they have is that Wes Streeting will stand today if Starmer stands down, or if he has enough M.P.s. That will produce Ed
Miliband or Angela Rayner to stand against him, which will be in the civil war.
The one candidate who does unite most M.P.s and can speak to the public, and is the best ratings, of course, isn't actually in Parliament. And
that's the mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham. And I think we're all waiting on his pronouncements tomorrow.
ASHER: All right. So, you're not going to make a prediction for us. We're going to -- we're going to have to wait and see.
FARR: Oh, Starmer -- Starmer won't be -- Starmer will be out before the conference in September. I mean, he won't -- he won't last the year. I'm
sure of that.
ASHER: Interesting. All right. Well, we shall see. Martin Farr, always a good conversation with you. Thank you so much.
All right. A family in West Hollywood, California, is speaking out about their disturbing encounter with a MAGA influencer whose homophobic stunt
went viral.
CNN's Donie O'Sullivan spoke with them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MILLER-ROBINSON, RAGE-BAIT VICTIM: We were making our way across the Rainbow Crosswalk, and he -- he spotted us. He said, hey, can you do a few
questions for CNN?
RYLEY NIEMI, MAGA INFLUENCER: So, your guys' son or daughter or?
MILLER-ROBINSON: Son.
NIEMI: Awesome. And are you guys a couple?
MILLER-ROBINSON: Yes.
NIEMI: That's awesome. Cool.
ANTHONY VULIN, RAGE-BAIT VICTIM: As soon as he asked the first question, we knew that they weren't with CNN, that this was something different.
NIEMI: So, have you ever heard about the statistics coming out that gay men are statistically much more likely to commit child molestation?
MILLER-ROBINSON: No.
NIEMI: You never heard about that?
MILLER-ROBINSON: That's crazy. Yes.
MILLER-ROBINSON: In that instant, I realized that we were manipulated into having this interaction with someone who is exploiting us for viral
content.
NIEMI: So you had a surrogate? You paid a woman $50,000 to be pregnant?
VULIN: Who are you?
NIEMI: And build an emotional connection to a baby. (BLEEP) Don't take my mic. (BLEEP)
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New parents, Anthony and David Vulin, were approached in West Hollywood by someone they
say was falsely claiming he was with CNN. The man then provoked the couple what he false statistic about gay men.
MILLER-ROBINSON: When someone inserts themselves into a specific community with the intention of triggering people, it's -- it's not freedom of
expression. It's -- it's an exploitation.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): That someone is Ryley Niemi.
NIEMI: What makes somebody a woman?
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Fashioning himself as a MAGA influencer. He takes to college campuses and to the streets to create rage-bait.
NIEMI: This got bent by a non-binary faculty member at UCLA, actually. It's on video. It's got millions of views.
O'SULLIVAN: I'm just trying to figure out, like, how much of -- how much of this stuff is like you intentionally just, you know, trying to get a rise
out of people, trying to create content versus like how serious you --
NIEMI: I think it's going to be a legal to be transgender.
O'SULLIVAN: You think of what?
NIEMI: I think it should be illegal to become transgender for even adults.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Niemi says he's motivated by politics, but what he is doing can also be profitable.
NIEMI: The -- the rate at which my social media is growing, I could easily live off of it in probably four or five months from now.
O'SULLIVAN: What's your message for him? And -- and -- and do you sort of hope that he might change his ways maybe?
MILLER-ROBINSON: I don't really think this is about him. This isn't about one specific content creator. This is about an incentivized institution.
This is about large platforms telling youthful audiences what works and not being held accountable.
O'SULLIVAN: Antony, David, and their three-month-old son, Ante, were swept up in Niemi's viral circus. Niemi says David Vulin assaulted him. The
Vulin's lawyer said the couple was deliberately targeted with some of the most revolting hate speech imaginable all on camera for clicks, adding,
David Vulin did what any father would do and protected his family. The wrong person spent the night in jail.
MILLER-ROBINSON: I think that across the board, regardless of political identity, people need to extend grace to one another, people need to extend
kindness to one another, be nicer to themselves, so that they can be nicer to other people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:30:07]
ASHER: All right. Welcome back to "One World." I'm Zain Asher.
A quick reminder of our top story. Most of the passengers and crew have now left the cruise ship at the center of the Hantavirus outbreak. The last of
the passengers will leave today.
The captain of the M.V. Hondius has thanked the crew and passengers for their bravery and pay tribute to those who died from the virus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAN DOBROGOWSKI, CAPTAIN, M.V. HONDIUS: The past few weeks have been extremely challenging to us all. As I'm sure, you know, but thoughts are
with the ones that are no longer with us.
And whatever I say will not ease this loss. But I'd like you to know that with us every day in our hearts and our thoughts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: In the past few hours, 17 Americans and one British citizen from the ship landed in Nebraska. The state's governor says that there is a strong
plan in place to keep the general public safe. The outbreak is raising concerns worldwide.
Dr. Seema Yasmin is director of the Stanford Health Communication Initiative and Clinical Assistant Professor at the Stanford University
Department of Medicine. She joins us live now. Dr. Yasmin, thank you so much for being with us.
I mean, I can't really imagine the sense of relief, you know, for the passengers who were trapped on board the M.V. Hondius to finally be allowed
to disembark.
Obviously, they weren't allowed to disembark in Cape Verde. They ended up in -- in Tenerife and finally were allowed.
And now we know that, for example, just speaking about the passengers in the U.S., 17 American passengers flew back. We know that one, at least one,
has formally tested positive.
There was some uncertainty because there was a negative test and then a positive test. What does quarantine look like for this particular
passenger?
DR. SEEMA YASMIN, DIRECTOR OF THE STANFORD HEALTH COMMUNICATION INITIATIVE AND CLINICAL ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, STANFORD UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF
MEDICINE: Good morning, Zain.
That's a great question because there's been so much confusing and mixed messaging about what exactly is happening to these passengers who are being
offloaded from the M.V. Hondius.
[12:35:01]
It might look a little bit different in each country, but generally, what we do is we triage people. We assess their level of exposure. Generally,
everybody who's been on the ship since April 6 is considered a high risk exposure.
So, quarantine makes sure that they don't come into contact with other people. It means that those doctors and nurses who are caring for them and
monitoring them are in personal protective equipment.
And importantly, those passengers that you mentioned who are coming to the States, they're coming to Omaha, Nebraska, they will be housed in what is
the only federally funded quarantine unit in the United States.
So that's at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, that quarantine unit also has a biocontainment unit. So, those who are monitored in the
quarantine unit only get moved to the biocontainment unit for two main reasons; one is if they test positive and the other is if they start to
show symptoms.
It's really important to remember that Hantavirus, like so many other viral illnesses, has quite vague signs and symptoms at the beginning. Things like
a fever, fatigue, chills and just feeling really unwell.
We need those tests then confirm that somebody does actually have Hantavirus and then more specific testing to check whether it is that on
the species of Hantavirus.
ASHER: And just in terms of the level of contagion and -- and -- and at risk, how much more is a person contagious if they are showing symptoms? Is
there a difference in terms of the risk, in terms of symptoms versus no symptoms at all once they tested positive?
YASMIN: We -- once they've tested, yes. So, we are learning more about this, Zain. And we have to be so honest that we have very little data about
this particular species, Andes virus of that Hantavirus family.
It reminds me of the early days of COVID. I remember heading to New York for that first CNN COVID town hall, printing out everything I could find my
hands on about COVID. And it amounted to not very many scientific papers in April of 2020.
What we are dealing with now is very few known outbreaks of this Andes virus. There was one in 2018 in Argentina, in which there was one person at
a big birthday party of more than 100 people, 34 others became infected and 11 of them died.
So, we do know there's person-to-person transmission with Andes virus, but there's been some confusing, and I think even inaccurate messaging,
especially from government officials in the U.S., non-scientists saying things like it's impossible to pass from person-to-person, that's simply
not true.
This virus can be passed. We think it needs prolonged contact, but even that's up for scientific debate saying because we're still learning how
much contact did these folks have on the M.V. Hondius, how exposed you have to be and for exactly how long before you're considered high risk of
contracting this virus.
ASHER: So the people, for example, who are in Nebraska, the Americans, you know, as I mentioned, 17 of them traveled, the ones who did not test
positive, they're not completely out of the woods just yet. Give us your take on that.
YASMIN: That's correct. Again, we know that there's a longer incubation period. We don't even know when day zero is exactly for every single
patient, but we know that on average, they will be monitored actively.
This is active surveillance for at least 40 days because we have evidence that shows from past outbreaks that you can -- the incubation period for
Andes could be anything from eight days up to maybe even eight weeks. So we want active monitoring of these folks.
And back to your earlier question, it's different with different viruses in terms of how contagious you are when you are symptomatic. We're still
gathering data here, but typically, I'm speaking very generally, the more symptoms you have, the more virus particles you have in your body, and it's
likely that you could be more contagious.
That's why it's so important that public health systems are robust, they're connected globally, that local and state health departments are funded well
because they'll be doing the brunt of the work of actively monitoring those returning home from the cruise ship.
ASHER: And just in terms of the Andes virus, you know, allowing, obviously for human-to-human transmission, initially, when we all heard about the
Hantavirus, we were told that this is something that's solely or mostly passed from rodents to humans, and therefore, you had to sort of inhale
aerosolized particles from rat's urine or rodents urine.
And so I think a lot of people thought, well, that's -- that's obviously not going to be me. But, of course, with human-to-human transmission, that
does raise the possibility of just a lot of uncertainty.
Now, I do want to emphasize that the risk the general public is still low. But based on the fact that human-to-human transmission is possible, and we
do know that now, walk us through what contact tracing actually looks like at this point.
YASMIN: It's a really big undertaking, Zain. You're right to point this out. It's a gargantuan task. You are contact tracing across nations that
150 or so passengers and crew on the M.V. Hondius represented 23 different nations.
[12:40:11]
So, contact tracing means looking at flight manifests, looking at how everybody got home. Of course, there were dozens of passengers who
disembarked in April before we knew that there was a Hantavirus outbreak on this cruise ship. So, that means that you need a concerted, really
collaborative effort between health departments across the world. And it means you need a really well-funded World Health Organization who's doing
so much of the heavy lifting here.
It really concerns me, not that this is a virus that has pandemic potential because the risk to the general public remains low with Hantavirus, even
with the Andes virus. But what keeps me up at night, Zain, is how underfunded public health is, especially in the U.S.
And the fact that the U.S. withdrew from the World Health Organization in January, leaving behind a $260 million debt, that matters right now because
we need a strong and healthy World Health Organization to deal with situations just like this one.
ASHER: That is such a good point and such an excellent point to end this conversation on.
Dr. Seema Yasmin, always good to see you. Thank you so much.
YASMIN: Thanks, Zain.
ASHER: All right. There is just one month to go before the start of the FIFA World Cup. An excitement is building, but sky-high ticket prices mean
that many fans are choosing to watch at home.
Even for the lucky ticket holders, the costs don't end there. Our Leigh Waldman has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If you paid thousands or in even some cases, millions of dollars for your FIFA World Cup ticket, I hope that you
set some aside to actually make it to those games.
If you're traveling from Penn Station here in New York City over to MetLife to catch one of those games, that train ticket is going to cost you $105.
A discount from the $150 that was announced just a few weeks ago, but still way more expensive than the typical $12.90 that ticket would run you.
New Jersey Transit said, this is because it's going to cost them $48 million to try and ferry those fans over to the stadium during these games.
It's something that New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill has been very vocal about. Her spokesperson telling us in a statement, "Governor Sherrill has
been clear that FIFA should contribute to transport its fans to World Cup games. Since it hasn't, she's directed New Jersey Transit to seek private
and non-taxed payer dollars to significantly reduce the fare."
The governor appreciates all the companies that have already stepped up to lower the costs for ticket holders. She will continue to ensure the World
Cup is an experience that benefits fans and all New Jerseyans.
Now, FIFA, they don't want to help with the cost here, but New York's governor and New York City's mayor, Zohran Mamdani, have also weighed in on
these huge expenses.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZOHRAN MAMDANI, NEW YORK MAYOR: The decision of -- of what to charge for these tickets is a decision made by New Jersey Transit. And it's a decision
that they're making because of the cost that comes with the host duties. And I empathize with the fact that what we see oftentimes is municipalities
being left with a cost of a tournament that will generate $11 billion in revenue.
What I can say is that what is within New York City's control, we are going to ensure it is the most affordable experience it can be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALDMAN: If we look at Boston and other host city, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has increased their transit prices to $80 around
these games. It's way up from the typical $20 that families would normally pay for these tickets.
But Atlanta, Los Angeles, Houston, they're not increasing their fares at all. If you don't want to book a New Jersey Transit ticket here, you don't
have a ton of other options. A bus ticket will cost you $80 here. And if you want to get a parking spot nearby the stadium, that's going to run you
just over $200. Not a ton of options for fans here who want to take in a game.
Leigh Waldman, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: All right. Still to come, a new era for Venezuela after the U.S. raid that removed their president. But how much has really changed for
Venezuelans? We'll take a look at live in Caracas when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:45:53]
ASHER: Venezuela has been under Delcy Rodriguez's leadership for four months now. But many Venezuelans say that even with Nicolas Maduro gone,
very little has changed.
CNN's David Culver has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He says, you can't go any closer because the police have blocked it off. And you can see they've
got a big barricade.
CULVER (voice-over): A public demonstration and we can't get in. These Venezuelans are calling on their government to raise wages and ease
repression. The police keep turning folks back.
He's trying to tell us that there's another side to go to. We've driven all the way around this area for about 30 minutes and we haven't found a way to
enter.
It looks like now we might have found one possible entry here. But I mean, it's now towards the end of the march and demonstration.
She's saying elections have to come for a radical change. He says they -- they took, meaning the U.S., Maduro, but left the rest of the system in
place.
CULVER (voice-over): Delcy as an acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, who governs behind layers of security, several blocks of armed guards.
CULVER: You've got a mobile command force right there.
CULVER (voice-over): Not surprising, given how her predecessor's rule ended on January 3rd, when U.S. forces captured Nicolas Maduro and his wife,
Cilia Flores. Their names and faces now plastered across Caracas; billboards, graffiti, homemade signs. The government, at least, wants them
back.
CULVER: The reality is Maduro, the man who ran this country for some 13 years, even though his face is everywhere here in Caracas, well, he's in
custody, locked up in the U.S. The system he built, that is still standing. And that's not lost on the people here.
CULVER (voice-over): Especially the families of the more than 450 political prisoners still in custody.
CULVER: We've driven about an hour outside the capital. We're headed to El Rodeo, which is considered to be one of the better known prisons where many
of these political prisoners are believed to be held.
CULVER (voice-over): At the prison gate, family members live out of tents, waiting for weekly visits.
CULVER: Because they don't have the money to make the trip multiple times, they camp out. And on days like today, they have visits with their loved
ones.
CULVER (voice-over): Though the repression has not totally lifted, it has loosened a lot.
CULVER: It's also worth noting that not everyone feels like the United States should be involved in Venezuelan matters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
CULVER: You think he's crazy?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I think he's crazy.
CULVER: At a pro-government rally, we had folks coming up to us to say, Venezuela is not a colony, that sovereignty here matters to them.
CULVER (voice-over): But for most here, the deepest suffering is economic. The official minimum income just went up to $240 a month. Most Venezuelans
earn far less, and food alone costs nearly three times that amount.
There is a small bubble of wealth, nice cars, weekend clubs. But most here live like Maria Perez's family. Inside her parents' home, the scarcity is
hard to miss.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
[12:50:20]
CULVER: She said that her dad is a diabetic. Her mom's got severe arthritis. When it comes to healthcare, it's -- it's really bad.
CULVER (voice-over): Her home is a 20-minute walk uphill from her parents. No real roads to get there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
CULVER: Wow. They only really have running water, she said, every 45 days. And -- I'm sorry, I'm out of breath a little bit. But the remainder of the
days, they rely on these big tanks.
CULVER (voice-over): Venezuela's leaders acknowledge how dire the economic situation is, and they often blame U.S. sanctions, though the Trump
administration points to years of corruption, mismanagement and authoritarian rule as the cause.
CULVER: Most everyone that we spoke with over the past few days has given us some version of the same sentiment, and that is that they're grateful
that the U.S. captured Maduro. They're glad that he's gone.
But as to what happens next when you ask them that question, they stress that it's for Venezuelans to decide, though they also emphasize they need
the rest of the world to keep on watching.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: Finally, before we go, I'd like to buy a you, for you don't want to miss this heartwarming story of a mother's love for her sons and the T.V.
game show, "Wheel of Fortune."
Erin Jones from our CBS-Affiliate in Texas has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERIN JONES, REPORTER (voice-over): For years, Sukhdev Kaur has spent evenings in front of the T.V. watching "Wheel of Fortune" with her family.
SUKHDEV KAUR, MOTHER: From '85, I watched from '85.
SAWINDER SINGH, "WHEEL OF FORTUNE" CONTESTANT: Every day, basically from 6:30 to seven o'clock, nobody in our household is allowed to touch the
remote.
JONES (voice-over): But now at this watch party in Richardson, seeing her two sons on the show is taking that family tradition to a whole new level.
They say it took auditions, interviews, and months of waiting before they were finally selected.
KAUR: I was very excited. GURVINDER SINGH, "WHEEL OF FORTUNE" CONTESTANT: Because it's a once in a lifetime opportunity, especially for people, you know, for somebody in the
Sikh community or the Sikh faith.
S. SINGH: Thousands and thousands of people apply every year, which is a little intimidating. But at the end of the day, it didn't deter me, because
I feel like I have a personality that would be fitting for T.V.
[12:55:00]
JONES (voice-over): On the show, they introduced Ryan Seacrest to a special type of dance that's popular in their culture. And although they didn't win
the grand prize, they still walked away with $13,000.
Having family and friends and, of course, their mom cheering for every spin and puzzle solve made the moment even more special.
S. SINGH: It was amazing. Absolutely amazing.
Kaur says, this mother's day, she couldn't be prouder of her sons. And now she's even thinking about applying to be on the show herself.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: All right. That does it for this hour of "One World." I'm Zain Asher. Thank you so much for watching. "Amanpour" is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
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