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CNN 10
Addressing Misinformation About Coronavirus; Observing Wartime Measures To Contain Disease; Escorting A Group Of Ducks To Safety
Aired March 20, 2020 - 00:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hi, I`m Carl Azuz and I want to set the record straight. Fridays are still awesome just maybe a little less so. Thanks
coronavirus. An update on that and some of the misinformation being spread about it online are our first subjects today on CNN 10. All right. Let`s
get started.
The virus is still spreading in the United States and abroad. Global stock markets are still seeing wild swings and losses and as governments consider
more restrictions to try to fence in COVID-19, hospitals are feeling the pressure. Providence St. Joseph Health is a system of more than 50
hospitals. Together they use about 250,000 protective masks every year. Because of coronavirus, a single hospital in that system has gone through
that same amount of masks in three months.
So some health systems are getting creative. Sewing masks together or teaching people how to make them at home to deal with the shortfall. Health
facilities that can afford it are also ordering more ventilators to help people with serious cases of the respiratory disease. More than 200,000
cases of coronavirus have been confirmed worldwide.
More than 10,000 are in the United States. They`ve now been confirmed in all 50 states and New York has been the hardest hit with more than 4,100
cases. While there`s still a lot that doctors don`t know about this disease, they say they`re learning more everyday. For instance, new studies
indicate that people who are infected but have no symptoms may still be able to spread COVID-19.
So they`re urging Americans, young people in particular to stop attending large gatherings and to stop getting together in big groups. Officials are
concerned about scenes like this one. This video was shot on Wednesday on a crowded beach in Florida.
They`re also concerned about some of the misinformation the fake news being spread about coronavirus. Some people on social media have claimed that
taking illegal drugs or even drinking bleach could kill the disease. It cannot but it could make people deathly ill in addition to any threat
coronavirus brings.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s not just COVID-19, better known as the novel coronavirus, that`s spreading fast. There`s a flow of misinformation online
about the virus and health officials are mounting a concerted effort to combat it. They`re calling it an infodemic. Social media is a major driver
in the spread of falsehoods.
The ease with which conspiracies are shared and reshared makes stopping something going viral online almost as difficult as stopping a biological
viral outbreak in the real world. A 2018 study by Facebook found information including misinformation can spread like virus.
Each person passes it along to almost two others. Fake facts in the wake of an epidemic is nothing new but (inaudible) of misinformation around the
measles outbreak that started in 2018, the World Health Organization is taking new approaches to tackle the problem. Hey Andy, how are you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (inaudible) thanks. How are you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m doing good. Would you call this the first social media epidemic?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that`s being micro academics -- epidemics. We call them (inaudible). I think that this one could well be the first global
one, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Another area of misinformation is fake cures and remedies. Some are harmless like drinking garlic water or basic herbal
tonics but others are dangerous.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s absolutely a -- a fertile ground for anyone who wants to disrupt a -- an already disruptive situation for natural reasons.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Health officials are taking this infodemic seriously. The WHO is working directly with tech companies on a daily basis to flag
and take down bad information and to ensure that facts from reliable sources get to users first.
Searching for coronavirus on sites like Twitter or Facebook pops up info boxes urging users to get the best information from reputable sources like
government health organizations. We`re seeing different approaches from different companies. Some of them are taking a more aggressive approach to
taking down this content. Are there some that you`re more pleased with than others?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes definitely. I think that it depends on the companies` insurity (ph) with regards their social impact and their social
care for their users. Obviously how much they care about the reputation and the history of that reputation (inaudible) suffered reputational knocks in
the past they`re much more likely to respond more now to help us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`ve contacted all the major platforms and they have told us they`re taking measures to combat this fall of misinformation but
these measures don`t catch everything.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s very different than just delete unless it`s very clearly misinformation and the tactics are not necessarily wrong. They are
in fact provoking questioning and doubt and you can`t delete doubt.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In today`s online world there will always be misinformation. The challenge now for governments and platforms is how to
fight a virus online.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: 10 Second Trivia. The tenure of what U.S. president led to the passage of the 22nd Amendment? William H. Taft, Theodore Roosevelt,
Franklin Roosevelt or Andrew Jackson. FDR`s break with tradition in winning four terms led to the 22nd Amendment.
FDR won his fourth and last term of office in 1944 and though he didn`t live to complete it or to see the end of World War II in 1945. The measures
his administration took during that war are well documented and widely studied today. Seventy-five years later under all the uncertainty brought
by coronavirus, the Trump Administration says it will help make up for possible shortages of medical supplies and deploy two hospital ships to
increase medical capacity. President Donald Trump has compared this time to wartime.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For iron will patriotism and unified effort, the second World War stands alone.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: To this day nobody`s seen anything like that -- what they were able to do during World War II and now it`s our time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the 1940s under the War Powers Act, the president could effectively order industry to produce military supplies and
prioritize delivery of military goods.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All work is war work.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He could impose censorship, manipulate the economy, even suspend common rights such as when Japanese Americans were locked up. And
importantly, Roosevelt commanded a vast expansion of the nation`s medical capabilities. Historian Douglas Brinkley.
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, HISTORIAN: It was during World War II that FDR unleashed our scientists and medical experts to produce penicillin for the first
time. Different types of medicines to fight malaria. New ways of doing skin grafts to help people that were burned. We`ve been living off of it ever
since.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The public widely supported the war effort with roughly one out of 10 Americans serving the demand for labor brought women out in
droves to take up tools on factory floors.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you like it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Challenges were met time and again. Strictly enforced air raid drills were conducted. Rubber, gasoline, sugar and more were
rationed. Many families planted vegetable gardens to deal with shortages and bought war bonds to prop up the soaring cost to the government. Even
Hollywood had a mission in movie after movie raising spirits and tying the home front to the battle front.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where you from (inaudible)?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Louisiana.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was not perfect but it all worked well enough that more than a half century later another president and other Americans are
echoing the message of those difficult times.
SENATOR CHUCK SCHUMER: Everybody should learn from World War II. We can get through it. We can win.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: OK. I know these are strange times but why would you call police on a family of ducks? Well the reason was that they were in a dangerous part of
town one with people and traffic and not a lot of good places to roost. So a police officer in Lakeland, Florida appeared on the scene to make sure
they were all right and then escorted them to a nearby lake where they could get back to being ducks. The police say there`s always something to
smile about.
And to keep you smiling or "groaning" we would never "duck out" on a chance to try to "quack" you up with some "fowl" sounding duck puns. Because
you`re "mandrain" to them thinking they`re just "ducky" or if you find them "tealy" annoying. I happen to think that they could help with almost any
"mallardy" and I`ll send you my "bill".
I`m Carl Azuz. Last stop today is in Saratoga Springs, Utah. We`ve got the Lions of Lakeview Academy watching today. We hope you guys and everyone
else watching around the world has a great weekend ahead from all from us here at CNN.
END
