GOP to Reveal Their Provisions of Next Stimulus Bill; Coronavirus Testing Czar Says Turnaround Times Still Too Long in the U.S.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.</s>WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. This is a special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM. Right now the United States still far surpassing all other countries in confirmed coronavirus cases. But there are some emerging spots of optimistic news along with the very, very bad. Case in point the state of New York, the former epicenter of COVID-19 infections in the United States, the Governor Andrew Cuomo's office releasing what he is now calling really great news that the number of people being hospitalized with the virus statewide is the lowest in months. But at the same time new infections and death are sharply on the rise elsewhere the United States. Health officials in Texas, for example, reported a record high number of people died from the virus last week. The same happened in Florida. But as I speak more people are known to have the virus in California than in any other state. Also happening now, millions of Americans who lost their jobs because of this devastating pandemic are eager to see if the next economic stimulus bill will send more desperately needed money their way or change their unemployment benefits. Senate Republicans are set to unveil what they want to see on the bill. For so many Americans, they need to feed their families and in some cases avoid eviction. So much is hanging in the balance right now. All of this happening at a notable day. 100 days from today, November 3rd, that's Election Day in the United States. We'll discuss the state of the race and the impact of the pandemic on the contest later this hour with our reporters and our analysts. First, let's go to the White House right now for the very latest on the work that's needed to finalize the next round of help for millions of out-of-work Americans. CNN's Jeremy Diamond is joining us right now. So, Jeremy, Republicans are still trying to finalize their own coronavirus relief proposals. But now the White House is also pushing for a scaled back bill. Update our viewers on the very latest.</s>JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. Senate Republicans are expected to finally release their $1 trillion phase four coronavirus relief bill tomorrow. But today as those negotiations continued with the White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and the Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin both on Capitol Hill doing those finishing touches on that legislation, both of those men also floated a different approach going forward. And that is to do a scaled down bill that would focus on those unemployment benefits, perhaps as well a liability protections for businesses. That's because at the end of this coming week, Wolf, those supplemental unemployment benefits, $600 additional per week that millions of Americans have been benefitting from during this coronavirus pandemic, those additional unemployment benefits are expiring. And so there is a very, very tight deadline in order to extend those so that Americans don't experience a lapse in those benefits. But, Wolf, that proposal appears to be dead on arrival. The House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, she has already said quite clearly that this should not be done piecemeal. It should be done as a total package because beyond of course the financial aspects of this bill for Americans in terms of unemployment benefits, those $1200 stimulus payments that are also expected to be included, there's also billions of dollars for testing, contact tracing, things that are directly related to alleviating the coronavirus pandemic, as well as billions of dollars for schools to help them reopen. So, Wolf, this is certainly going to be an interesting week on Pennsylvania Avenue on both ends between the White House and Capitol Hill as they try and hammer this out. And as I expect, we will also begin to see a potential blame game between both sides as those unemployment benefits are expected to expire.</s>BLITZER: Yes, for millions and millions of Americans, so much is at stake right now. Jeremy, there was some news involving the president today. A few days ago, as you remember, he announced that he would throw out the first ceremonial pitch at a New York Yankees game in mid-August. But all of a sudden today those plans have been scrapped. Tell us what happened.</s>DIAMOND: This went away almost as quickly as it came about, Wolf. The president on Thursday said that he was going to be throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at Yankee Stadium on August 15th. And today, just three days later, the president is cancelling those plans, tweeting today, "Because of my strong focus on the China virus," which is how he refers to the coronavirus, "including scheduled meetings on vaccines, our economy and much else, I won't be able to be in New York to throw out the opening pitch for the Yankees on August 15th." But he says he'll make it later in the season is. It's not clear what exactly popped up in the president's schedule in those three days to make it not possible. Of course there has been some backlash in New York to the idea of the president throwing out the first pitch. It's certainly not area where he enjoys a lot of support. But, Wolf, if it came later in the season, perhaps when fans would be allow, I find it hard to believe that President Trump would go out there given the boos that likely would follow him in a place like New York at Yankee Stadium -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Yes. You're right. Jeremy Diamond at the White House, thank you very much. We also saw this from the president today just outside his New Jersey golf course. We're still in New Jersey at the time the president tossed hats to a crowd of supporters. He was not wearing a mask as you can see. And we also saw the president golfing this weekend with NFL Hall of Famer Brett Favre. Once again, no masks. It's only been six days since the president tweeted this. "Many people say that it is patriotic to wear a face mask when you can't socially distance. There is nobody more patriotic than me, your favorite president." Let's discuss this with former New York City assistant commissioner of health and CNN medical analyst, Dr. Celine Gounder. Also with us Michael Osterholm, who's the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. Professor Osterholm, thanks very much, to both of you for joining us. Let me start with you. Do Americans need to see their president wearing a mask more often? He doesn't do it very often. If they are going to change their own behavior, wouldn't that set an example from the top?</s>MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH AND POLICY, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: Yes, in fact, it's important we should be wearing masks. We want to not use as the only means for protecting ourselves because we know that distancing is by far the best thing we can do, but we should all be wearing masks right now.</s>BLITZER: What do you think, Dr. Gounder? He needs to set an example because there's a whole bunch of people out there who don't believe in wearing a mask. They don't see the president wearing a mask and they think it's not necessary.</s>DR. CELINE GOUNDER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: I agree with Michael. I think aside from a complete shelter-in-place lockdown kind of situation, masks are the number one, two, and three most important things we can do right now. And I think unfortunately, masks have become symbols. Symbols of your partisanship as opposed to what they really are, which are hygienic measures. It would be like saying, I'm not going to wash my hands because I belong to this or that political party. It's just not a scientific perspective.</s>BLITZER: Professor Osterholm, testing certainly continues to be a critically important issue in this country. I want you to watch what the White House's coronavirus testing czar told our own Jake Tapper earlier today. Listen to this.</s>ADM. BRETT GIROIR MD, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH, HHS: We are never going to be happy with testing until we get turnaround times within 24 hours and I would be happy with point of care testing everywhere. We are not there yet. We are doing everything we can to do that.</s>BLITZER: We're hearing a lot of reports, as you know, Professor Osterholm, of some people waiting a week, 10 days, even longer to get their results. How do these delays impact the spread of this deadly virus?</s>OSTERHOLM: Well, a test that comes back eight to 10 days later really has no impact whatsoever. Largely, either from a clinical standpoint or from a public health standpoint. We issued a document several months ago about smart testing. You wanted to test the right people at the right time with the right test to get the right result to have the right outcome. And that means all those have to be in place for the test to be effective, and right now we're failing desperately in that regard. And I worry that as a nation we don't have a plan for how to correct that or to, in a sense, allow us to move forward in a more effective way.</s>BLITZER: Admiral Giroir, Brett Giroir, also told Jake, Professor Osterholm, that the White House is conducting a Manhattan like Project to deal with this. Do you see that kind of evidence on the ground?</s>OSTERHOLM: Well, you know, we'll have to wait and see. If there's something that's great. But we've been calling for a national planning and intervention for the better part of four months. We knew the supply chains were going to be a problem. I talked about it in this very show back in April that we knew that this was going to happen. And we've just not been able to basically manage the testing expectations by either reagents, the number of tests available, the machines to run them, the personnel to run them, and you're seeing what's happening now because of that.</s>BLITZER: Dr. Gounder, more than 150 very prominent medical experts, scientists, teachers, nurses, other experts, they signed a letter urging leaders to simply shut the country down once again, start over to contain the rapid spread of the virus. Do you think it will take another shutdown to slow or stop this virus?</s>GOUNDER: Look, Wolf, we're on the very steep end of an exponential curve where rates of transmission, rates of new cases of hospitalizations and deaths are shooting up in many parts of the country. And I do think in much of the country that is probably what it's going to take. Fortunately, we are starting to see things starting to level off in Arizona. We may be approaching the peak in Florida. But there are other states that are very concerning right now. States like Missouri and Mississippi that threaten to be the next hotspots. And so basically what you're dealing with is one massive game of whack-a-mole. And so you're going to keep seeing this resurge one place after another after another if we don't have a concerted national approach to this.</s>BLITZER: Dr. Celine Gounder, thank you so much for joining us. Professor Michael Osterholm, as usual, thanks to you as well.</s>OSTERHOLM: Thank you.</s>BLITZER: Thank you. Today marks 100 days until Election Day 2020 here in the United States. And the big question is, can a president win reelection amid a devastating pandemic and more than a 60 percent disapproval rating right now? We'll take a closer look at the state of the presidential contest and a whole lot more when we come back.