[Cuomo:] That secret report prepared for the White House Coronavirus Task Force talks about 18 states in the red zones. I don't know why it's secret. I don't know why I'm calling it that. It should be public, shouldn't it? I mean, don't they work for us? Now, one of the biggest states in a red zone is Texas 174 deaths reported there alone. What is the number mean in context? Well, it's a new high. The previous high was just yesterday. What does that tell you? They're in a bad spot. You got well over 300,000 cases tonight after more than 10,000 more were reported. Some areas are ordering more body bags. In San Antonio, you'd seen images like this. We remember this from New York. Refrigerator trucks brought in to deal with overcrowded morgues. It's a terrible reality. Now the question is, does it have to be that way? Our next guest, the mayor of San Antonio, is Ron Nirenberg, and I want his take. Thank you for joining us. I'm sorry it's during this time, but I'm happy to afford you the opportunity.
[Mayor Ron Nirenberg, San Antonio:] Good to be with you, Chris. Thanks.
[Cuomo:] Why is this happening?
[Nirenberg:] It's happening because we're seeing an incredible acceleration of cases throughout our city, throughout our state, and that goes right into our hospital system and the cases are not only increasing in number, they're increasing in severity. So, we've had our hospitals begin to plan for their surge management, which means not only the work that's being done on the floor and in the ICUs and ventilators but also what happens, unfortunately at end of life, which we're seeing too much of.
[Cuomo:] Was it about the reopening? Everything is lag with COVID, right? Takes time for people to get exposed, to get sick, to get symptomatic if they're going to be, et cetera, et cetera, and to hospitalization and anything worse. So, you got lag. It can be anywhere from ten days to two or so weeks. Is this about reopening too quickly in the wrong way?
[Nirenberg:] We opened before the data suggested we should. We opened faster than the data suggested we should, and then we had political leaders in our state and obviously in our nation who were saying that, you know, wearing masks and other things that the public health professionals were doing were political statements. So, it created a perfect storm starting about Memorial Day, we saw a very swift acceleration of cases that tracked back to that particular date, and it has only increased the number just about every urban center in our state, as well as rural areas now are getting hit hard which ultimately impacts the hospitals and urban communities, as well.
[Cuomo:] You know how when you're in the middle of a crisis, people say there is no time for blame now. Let's just, you know, figure this out and don't let yourself be led by emotion. I disagree with both. I think right now is the perfect time for blame and the perfect time for outrage because those are the only two factors that will stop the status quo. Abbott pretending to have strength the governor of Texas pretending it's strong to say we won't go back. We won't close anything down. Don't worry. Shouldn't that be the worry that he is closed-minded to the reality that safety is strength?
[Nirenberg:] You know, I think you said it right on the last segment, Chris. We have to learn from our mistakes and being unable to admit mistakes, whatever level they occur, will only increase the misery that we're in. And so, you know, it is true. There is no there is nothing less useful than the runway behind you but if you're not able to assess what happened with the data and change your behaviors, then we're then we're up a creek. And so, you know, we're waiting for that kind of guidance at the federal level, obviously, with a mask order that I think would help and even here at the local level in a state that really is kind of wavering on school openings, we're just now beginning find some guidance and so it is all about making sure that we're listening to the public health professionals examining this and following their guidance, but also learning from the things that went wrong.
[Cuomo:] Schools. How is it looking?
[Nirenberg:] Well, we just issued an order today that there will be no in person instruction until at least after Labor Day. But most importantly, when schools begin to come back into session, they won't start until our health professionals suggest that the triggers that we need to see in place, such as positivity rate and our ability to track and test folks in the community has been hit. That's one of the things that has been lacking in our approach so far is we've got to go through some gating criteria, making sure that we have an ecosystem and environment that's ready to treat people and to identify infections that occur so we can keep healthy people from getting sick.
[Cuomo:] San Antonio is a thriving metropolis, lots of people, lots of land area. What is the response from the citizenry to that suggestion, breaking it into a very simple ratio, the "I hate you for doing this" versus "I don't like it but I get we have to do this". What's the ratio?
[Nirenberg:] You know, it's hard to say. I think if you're looking for public sentiment on social media, you can get a very dim view of the world, but if you walk around my city, people want to help each other. We're a city of compassion, of understanding, a place where people take care of each other, and they are able to see that with the increasing number of sick people and increasing number of deaths in our community, that represents, those represent lives lived, loved ones lost, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, uncles that we no longer have with us. And if we work together on simple things, minor inconveniences of avoiding mass gatherings, of, you know, keeping six feet away from people and ultimately just wearing a mask, we can help save lives in our community.
[Cuomo:] I mean, look, if those tractor trailers don't send the message to people, nothing will. I hate you have to have those in your city. I understand what the calculus is. I understand the considerations and really the respect for the dead that they suggest in an unusual way, but that's what the situation is right now. You can only have so many people in the funeral homes, especially when you can't have ceremonies. So, I get it. But if that doesn't send a message, I don't know what was. Mayor Nirenberg, anytime you want to make the case for what's happening in San Antonio, it's certainly a laboratory for what's happening in this country. So, feel welcome.
[Nirenberg:] Thanks so much, Chris. Thanks for all you do, too.
[Cuomo:] God bless and be safe.
[Nirenberg:] You too.
[Cuomo:] All right. Ahead, this is a big interview with Mary Trump. She is responding to the president in real-time. He broke his silence. You have to admit, it was it was odd that he hadn't said anything about this book sooner but he slammed her tonight. What does she think is behind it? What does it mean to her? On COVID, don't let anybody mislead you, the record being set left and right for cases are real. The WHO says the number of cases worldwide reached a new high Thursday. Here, not only did we reach a new record for cases yesterday, it was the ninth record high in just the past month. What does that suggest? Chief Doctor Sanjay Gupta on this hidden task force report. What's that about? And numbers, what will make them move the right way, next.