U.K. Report Says More Cases, Deaths Likely This Winter; CDC Director Says Masks Are Key for Reopening Schools; 43 New Cases Linked to One Michigan House Party; Polls Show Trump Vulnerable in Texas; U.K. Bans Huawei Form Its 5G Telecom Network; Trump's Niece Says He's Incapable of Leading This Country.
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everyone. Well, the U.S. is seeing a dramatic surge in coronavirus cases. There were more than 67,000 new cases across the country Tuesday. In Florida, 48 hospitals have reached their ICU capacity. Texas reported more than 10,000 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday. And California's Los Angeles County had more than 4,200 new cases. All this according to data from local health officials. The top U.S. infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci. Is again weighing in. He says other countries were more effective at managing the pandemic because unlike the U.S. they shut down almost entirely during the initial outbreak. Well meantime, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is issuing a dire warning about the pandemic. Dr. Robert Redfield said this autumn and winter could be one of the most difficult times for the U.S. as the flu season is expected to further overwhelm health systems. In the U.K., a similar warning. Last hour I spoke to Dr. Stephen Holgate about his projections for COVID-19 and the flu. His team believes coronavirus deaths could reach nearly 120,000 by next summer.</s>DR. STEPHEN HOLGATE, MEDICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL: It was based really on looking at the additional factors over the winter that would accelerate the transmission of this virus between people. We have really a perfect storm in some respects and that the virus obviously likes colder weather. It lives longer. People become more closed in their environments, in their homes and offices and other spaces are less ventilated to keep down -- to keep the temperature up. And the other thing that is important here is that people themselves tend not to go out as much during the winter and are much closer to each other. I'm working then the same with the sort of other factors that are coming along, as you rightly mentioned, the Influenza, but also the backlog we have of all those surgical and medical problems that are accumulating in the health service that need attention. And also difficulties that we have had to create, in some respects, to cope with the COVID in our hospitals such that the staff and the wards and the various other parts of the hospitals aren't really fit or to be able to cope with the normal NHS, National Health Service functions has led to obviously, us being a little bit pessimistic in our view.</s>CHURCH: Yes. Understood. And it is, indeed, an incredible concern. And perhaps there have been suggestions, if there could be a push to get more people across the globe to take the flu shot that would at least remove that element of it. Here in the United States, only 45 percent of American adults actually take the flu shot. That may change this time because of COVID-19. What is the situation in the U.K. when it comes to the flu shot?</s>HOLGATE: Well, of course, we don't have a COVID-19 vaccine yet, which is unfortunate, but it's coming along, we all hope. Yes, flu is the big issue here, and our figures of vaccinations I think is fairly similar to those in the United States, about 45 percent to 50 percent. So, it really got to push hard here to get the flu vaccine to the people who most need it. Those who have got conditions that predisposed them to influenza, the children, the elderly and of course the health workers, because we don't want them to get sick during a critical time when they meant to be coping with this extra resurgence.</s>CHURCH: And thanks again to Dr. Stephen Holgate with the University of Southampton. Well, the director of CDC says masks are key if schools are to reopen safely in the coming months. The U.S. is still debating the best way to do that. One doctors believes teachers should have access to same protection as health care workers. Listen.</s>DR. DIMITRI CHRISTAKIS, PEDIATRICIAN: Staff and teachers should be provided medical grade PPE. We should treat them as essential workers and we should give them all of the safety equipment they need in order to be safe.</s>CHURCH: The CDC says face-to-face interactions are the goal for the new school year. But many teachers and administrators oppose to going back to classrooms before it's safe. Well, the Trump administration is resending its controversial policy barring international students who take only online courses from staying in the U.S. A number of states and universities filed lawsuits over the plan. Some major schools planned to move all courses online during the coronavirus pandemic, meaning the Trump administration's policy would have impacted many of the more than 1 million foreign students studying here in the United States. Well, what do you get when you take a large gathering of young people, loud music and partying, and a very highly contagious virus. Well in the U.S. you get a pandemic spike. One recent party in Michigan led to dozens of new cases which then spread across state lines as CNN's Tom Foreman reports.</s>TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Fourth of July holiday fall out is landing hard in Michigan, where officials say a single house party in the town of Saline has exploded into at least 43 confirmed cases of</s>COVID. SUSAN RINGLER-CERNIGLIA, WASHTENAW COUNTY, MICHIGAN HEALTH DEPARTMENT: It sounds like, from our investigation that there were some folks at the initial event with some mild illness and that's probably one of the reasons that we've seen it spread so quickly.</s>FOREMAN: Indeed, authorities say the party goers carried the virus to stores, restaurants, other businesses, a canoe rental place, camps, even connecting with athletic teams and a retirement community, triggering confirmed infections in all of those locations, some even went to other states.</s>RINGLER-CERNIGLIA: The case count does continue to go up.</s>FOREMAN: Most of those infections hit people between the ages of 15 to 25, raising new concern about that huge lake party on the northern end of the state, where health officials say people are also turning up with COVID, but Michigan is far from alone. In state after state, the warnings are stepping up from young people who have contracted the virus.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Take this seriously, it is not a joke.</s>FOREMAN: And officials who worry about environments that attract the young, tired of being locked down. Parties, bars and concerts.</s>JOHN BEL EDWARDS, LOUISIANA GOVERNOR: There's just nothing about that environment that is conducive to slowing the spread of COVID-19.</s>MICHELLE ZYMET, ENTIRE FAMILY CONTRACTED CORONAVIRUS: He went to a, you know, someone's home, there was a few people there, and I'm sure they were eating, drinking.</s>FOREMAN: Michelle Zymet's 21-year-old son went to a gathering of friends, came home, now her whole family is COVID positive. Her husband, John on a ventilator.</s>ZYMET: And it is scary that he's there, all alone fighting for his life. And you let your guard down, just one time, that's all it takes. And look, you come home and you infect the entire house.</s>FOREMAN (on camera): This is precisely what health officials have worried about all along. People make a decision to do what they want to do and go where they want to go, and that potentially affects hundreds of other people, who did not make that choice. Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.</s>CHURCH: National polls show that if the November U.S. election were held today President Donald Trump would lose to Joe Biden. CNN's Ed Lavandera visited a traditionally conservative city in Texas to hear how voters think Mr. Trump is handling the big issues.</s>ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The quaint downtown square of McKinney, Texas promises historic good times. But the good vibes have been smothered by the historic coronavirus. The pandemic is casting a long shadow over the 2020 presidential election.</s>MARGIE SCHRAER, TRUMP SUPPORTER: The whole COVID thing is being used as a tool to divide us as a country instead of us coming together. Which I think is really sad for our country</s>LAVANDERA: Margie Schraer and Kelly Tallo both support President Trump and say he's done an honest job of handling the pandemic.</s>KELLY TALLO, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I think he's probably doing the best that he can right now. I mean, there's so much mixed information out there and trying to decipher what's fact and what's fiction and where it's coming from. I wouldn't don't be in his position.</s>SCHRAER: Although I don't always like his decisions, I think his intentions are always good. And his own, I think he gathers the information and he makes the decision for our country and not for an ulterior motive of personal gain.</s>LAVANDERA: McKinney, Texas is one of the historically conservative big city suburbs where political analysts say Trump is vulnerable. And it's the kind of area Joe Biden is now targeting with a new television ad.</s>JOE BIDEN, PRESUMPTIVE U.S. DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: This virus is tough. But Texas is tougher.</s>LAVANDERA: Recent polls show Trump and Biden locked in a tight race in Texas. Of course, the idea of a Democrat winning Texas is still viewed with high skepticism. But there is a strong wave of anger towards President Trump among some Texas voters. (on camera): How do you think President Trump has handled this pandemic?</s>GREG EVANS, BIDEN SUPPORTER: Failure. Total failure. His actions and lack of actions has exacerbated the effects of the pandemic on all Americans.</s>WANDA PHILLIPS, BIDEN SUPPORTER: He's not taken responsibility for anything that he does. He always blames someone else.</s>AMIR HADAD, BIDEN SUPPORTER: He said, you know what, there's no boundary at all, nobody has died. It's just going to going to go away by itself. But those are things, you know, which really bothers me as a citizen that he really takes it very lightly.</s>LAVANDERA: For some Trump supporters the President is a victim of unfair criticism, politically motivated in an election year.</s>CECILIA LEVINGS, TRUMP SUPPORTER: He had to hit the ground running in all of the unknowns. And I feel like he's been second guessed for the majority of it. It's easy now to become an armchair quarterback and to criticize what he's done.</s>LAVANDERA: Ed Lavandera, CNN, McKinney, Texas.</s>CHURCH: And still to come -- the U.K. makes a big decision on a tech giant delighting Washington and angering Beijing. We'll explain.