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CNN 10
Bleak Predictions About U.S. Job Losses and Unemployment; International Race for Corona Virus Treatments; Professional Baseball Resumes in South Korea; Young American Baseball Player Hits His First Home Run
Aired May 08, 2020 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN 10. Your objective explanation of world news events. My name is Carl Azuz. It`s great to see you this
Friday, May 8th. The U.S. government`s monthly jobs report is due out today. It gives a snapshot of two major factors in the economy. The
number of jobs gained or lost from the month before and the unemployment rate from the month before. The percentage of American workers who didn`t
have a job. Economists say they expect the report will have a lot of bad news as far as those statistics go. They predict that roughly 22 million
jobs were lost last month as the U.S. shutdown because of corona virus fears and they think that the unemployment rate jumped to 16 percent.
These numbers, if they hold up in the government report, would reflect America`s worst layoffs ever recorded in such a short amount of time. Is
there any good news here? Maybe. The number of initial jobless claims, the number of Americans asking the Federal government for help because
they`ve just been laid off, has been decreasing for five weeks in a row. They`re still historically high. The Department of Labor says last week
3.2 million Americans started asking for unemployment benefits. The number was around 200,000 each week before the pandemic hit but because initial
jobless claims have been decreasing weekly since late March, economists say that`s a sign the employment picture isn`t getting worst. What no one
knows is how long the economic toll of COVID-19 will last, whether it`s a temporary scrape that heals in the months ahead or a deeper cut that leaves
longer lasting scars.
Meantime, research into corona virus treatment is in overdrive around the world. There`s some medicines already in existence that are being tested
for their effectiveness against the disease. One of them, an antiviral drug named Remdesivir has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration for emergency use against corona virus. It`s also been approved in Japan. The U.S. government funded study found that Remdesivir
helped COVID-19 patients recover faster. There are also international efforts to develop a corona virus vaccine though one of those is likely
months away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Melissa Honkaven (ph) has just been injected with an experimental vaccine against COVID-19. She`s a human study subject in one
of the most ambitious and important medical endeavors ever.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to be able to help people and have people not be dying alone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her vaccine was made by Pfizer. Currently around the world, 8 teams have vaccines in human clinical trials, three in China, one
in the UK at the University of Oxford and three in the U.S. one by INOVIO Pharmaceuticals, one by Pfizer Pharmaceuticals and one by the National
Institutes of Health. The NIH was the first to start clinical trials on March 16th. The most recent, Sinopharm in China on April 28th. They`re
all in the beginning stages making sure at this point that the vaccine doesn`t hurt anyone. At INOVIO, one of the U.S. companies, so far they`ve
enrolled 40 study subjects.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want to demonstrate that the vaccine is safe in these small subjects.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Later these teams will do studies with thousands of people. Some people will get the vaccine, others will get a placebo
basically a shot that does nothing. Then they`ll wait and see who contracts COVID and who does not. In January, Dr. Anthony Fauci said it
could take a year to 18 months to get a vaccine on the market.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A one year timeline here or maybe a little better if we`re very lucky. That`s a blazing process for vaccine development.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One way to make that happen, make large amounts of vaccine even before you know if it`s going to work. But remember, is it
possible that a vaccine for COVID-19 might just not work?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s possible. The world has been trying to develop a vaccine against HIV or AIDS for the last 40 years unsuccessfully.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But with so many efforts around the world and more on the way - -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think having multiple shots on goal against this pandemic is a great thing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The hope is that one of them will work out to bring the world back to normal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: 10 Second Trivia. The Siberian Tiger is the national animal of what country? South Korea, Bangladesh, India or Russia. Though other types of
tigers are national symbols in Bangladesh and India, the Siberian tiger is the one for South Korea.
Coincidentally, the tiger is the mascot of the most successful team in the Korea Baseball Organization or the KBO and the professional league season
is back in action right now. ESPN says it`s one of the first major sport leagues to resume its game in the COVID-19 era. Some KBO games are being
aired on ESPN2 this weekend though you`ll have to get up really early or stay up late to catch one live. You can see there`ve been some significant
changes in the KBO because of the virus, mainly lots of masks and no fans in the stadium. But it`s still giving people a way to watch baseball from
home both in South Korea and abroad as America`s Major League Baseball stays shutdown for the first spring since 1883 according to the Elisas
Sports Bureau.
It`s been 144 years since Ross Barnes (ph) hit the first home run in National League Baseball history. It`s been 105 years since Babe Ruth hit
his first home run, 66 years have passed since Hank Aaron hit his dinger. And this spring, Asher Willig hit his first shot over the fence. Of course
no one was in the stands for that hit but the crowd still went wild.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was the homerun that hit home. Not so much because of the ball. Going over the fence as for the Dad going out of
his mind. Cory Willig, himself a former professional baseball player and how instructor, celebrated his son`s first homerun. Celebrated it for
longer than it took four year old Asher to circle the bases.
CORY WILLIG: I was estatic because I know how much went into this. I know how many swings he`s taken.
MOOS: During our interview, Asher was the MVP of mugging for the camera giving us a look in his mouth and his teeth, even showing a little
shoulder. Father and son had spent quarantine time practicing in front of their home. Asher hitting with such gusto someone wondered how are the
houses windows still intact? The homerun happened the same day Georgia`s stay-at-home order was lifted.
CORY WILLIG: Yes. So much energy balled up and he just wanted to get out there and go.
MOOS: Asher has plenty of swagger on deck. He likes to tap the plate and he loves to flip the bat. This baseball prodigy went viral once before at
22 months his bat handling got him invited on Jimmy Fallon`s show for a hitting contest with A-Rod. A contest that Asher ostensibly won with A-Rod
predicting. History (ph) act his first homer this slugger of few words pronounced himself - -
ASHER WILLIG: Happy.
MOOS: His father pitching as- -
ASHER WILLIG: Fast.
MOOS: And what he wants to be when he grows up?
ASHER WILLIG: Acuna.
MOOS: That would be Ronald Acuna Jr. star outfielder of the Atlanta Braves who applauded Asher`s homerun with emojis. But watch your back Acuna.
ASHER WILLIG: Bombs away.
MOOS: It`s bombs away all right. Even if it`s his dad who detonates. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: He might not be much more than a Babe himself but he`s still airing out the ball in the way that "Mays" you think you can "Banks" on him for
his "Musuial" ability to "Chipper" away at records. After all where there`s a "Willie" there`s a way. Fridays are awesome. And before we
launch into the weekend we want to recognize St. Paul`s High School. It`s in Covington, Louisiana. Thank you for subscribing to our YouTube channel
and leaving a comment on our most recent show. I`m Carl Azuz for CNN.
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