Global Death Toll Approaches Three Million People; Georgia Reopens Salons, Gyms, Bowling Alleys And Tattoo Parlors As The State Death Toll Rises; Maryland Governor Says, Hundreds Called Asking About Ingesting Disinfectant Following Trump Remarks; Wisconsin To Remain Shut Down Until At Least May 26th; White House Adviser Says U.S. Faces Great-Depression-Era Unemployment
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. This is a special edition of The Situation Room. Around the world right now, nearly three million people -- 3 million people -- have been infected by the coronavirus. And more than 205,000 people have died. More than a quarter of those deaths happened right here in the United States. The number of Americans dead from this virus is now more than 54,000. By the way, it was exactly one month ago today that the death toll here in the United States was just over 1,000. At the same time, more states are preparing to crack open the doors to their economies, doors that were slammed shut weeks ago when the pandemic hit. Stay-at-home orders expire tomorrow morning in a few states where restaurants and some stores will be allowed to open under strict safety rules. But officials at the White House tell CNN that social distancing directives are not going away any time soon.</s>DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE COORDINATOR: Social distancing will be with us through the summer to really ensure that we protect one another as we move through these phases.</s>BLITZER: This public health crisis is not the only unprecedented catastrophe looming over the United States right now. The U.S. economy is enduring week after week of staggering losses, and Americans are out of work in numbers not seen in decades. One of President Trump's economic advisers is projecting an extremely grim picture.</s>KEVIN HASSETT, WHIET HOUSE ECONOMIC ADVISER: This is the biggest negative shock that our economy, I think, has ever seen. We're going to be looking at an employment rate that approaches rates that we saw during the great depression -- during the great recession. Remember, that was a financial crisis around 2008, that we lost 8.7 million jobs in the whole thing. Right now we're losing that many jobs about every ten days. The next couple months are going to look terrible. You're going to see numbers that are as bad as anything that we've ever seen. I think the unemployment rate is going to jump to a level probably around 16 percent or even higher in the next jobs report.</s>BLITZER: The past five weeks alone, 26 million Americans have lost their jobs and are filing for unemployment. Let's go to the White House right now. Our Kristen Holmes is joining us. Kristen, you just heard a White House economic adviser there saying the coming months, in his words, look terrible, but that's not necessarily the tone coming from everyone in the Trump administration. A lot of mixed messages coming out of the White House, even on this day.</s>KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. I mean, this was a much bleaker picture than we've seen before. And to be very clear, the surprise is not the numbers. We know that economists have privately been saying that the unemployment numbers could reach those levels. The surprise is that it's coming from a White House economic adviser. The messaging coming out of the White House has been really steady and very upbeat. We know President Trump has said on multiple occasions that the economy is going to have a big bounce back. And even earlier today, the treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, painted this much rosier picture.</s>STEVE MNUCHIN, TREASURY SECRETARY: I think as we begin to reopen the economy in May and June, you're going to see the economy really bounce back in July, August, September. And we are putting in an unprecedented amount of fiscal relief into the economy. You're seeing trillions of dollars that's making its way into the economy, and I think this is going to have a significant impact.</s>HOLMES: So, I do want to make one thing very clear before I break that down. I don't think there's a single American who hopes or who doesn't hope that that is what's going to happen, that the economy will not bounce back. I think everyone is looking at this, they know that there is a high level of unemployment. Most people know someone who is unemployed, and people are watching their businesses and wondering if they're going to survive this. But there are a lot of questions as to whether or not the economy can come back as strongly and in that short of a timeframe, particularly big cities, those big cities that house a lot of these unemployed Americans, that have a lot of these businesses that drive the economy, when are they going to be opening back up, we still don't have a timeline for that. And the other big thing that economists just can't predict is what is society going to look like once it does reopen. Are people going to actually going to go out and frequent these businesses like they once did, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: You know, Kristen, it's interesting, we just discovered here at CNN about some letters being sent to people all over the country right now, personal letters from the White House. Tell us about that. What are these letters all about and who's getting them?</s>HOLMES: So, if you were one of the people who received any sort of stimulus money from the stimulus response, you also likely got a personal letter from President Trump. And as you said, we just discovered these viewers sending them into us earlier today, and essentially, they came in an envelope with an IRS stamp that paid for fees and postage from the Treasury Department. And it was a note that, one, had a message of hope, saying the White House, the administration was there for these families during these times, and two, just provided basic information about those stimulus payments, how much money this person received and how exactly they got it, whether direct deposit or check. Now, one thing that we have learned is inside of the legislation, there is a section in there that says that anyone who is paid within 15 days will get a notice in the mail that talks about those basics, how much money they got, how they got that money, just so that they are aware. But it doesn't say that it has to come from the president. So, of course, we've reached out to the White House to see who made the decision, when it was made to have President Trump have his own signed note to these people receiving the money. But we also know President Trump likes to be the face of all of these positive aspects of the coronavirus response, like his name on those stimulus checks to begin with.</s>BLITZER: Yes, important point. Kristen Holmes reporting from the White House, thank you. We'll get back to you. I want to go to Georgia right now, where, tomorrow, restaurants will be allowed to reopen. This comes just a couple of days after the governor there allowed operations to resume at barber shops, nail salons, gyms, even bowling alleys. Those plans, despite the fact that Georgia has not, repeat, not seen a 14-day downward trajectory in cases. CNN's Natasha Chen is in Atlanta for us. And, Natasha, what has the reopening been like for businesses? What can we expect to see tomorrow?</s>NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, tomorrow, movie theaters will be allowed to reopen along with those restaurants doing dine-in service. And that comes with a number of restrictions. For example, employees have to have face coverings, no handshakes, a lot of requirements for sanitation and washing of hands, and there are no more than ten customers allowed per 500 square feet. I have to say, when I was in South Carolina covering some businesses opening there last week, the density allowed was a lot stricter than this. So Georgia is going with ten customers per 500 square feet. Now, when we talked to business owners of barber shops, of bowling alleys, you know, there is a level of uncomfortable awareness that there is a health risk here, but they also have not gotten any of the financial aid that they've applied for. So there's a huge amount of pressure to open their doors just to earn any kind of income. We know that there are a number of restaurants who have told us directly or posted online that they don't feel that it's time yet to open their doors for dine-in service, so they are holding off, though we know a handful of restaurants as well as at least one large chain that is going to do this. And Governor Kemp did say that cases may go up with this reopening here, but he also says that this state is more prepared to deal with that than they were a month ago, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: We've got some live pictures I want to show our viewers, live pictures from downtown Atlanta, Natasha. This is not very far away from the CNN center. You can see, I guess, some people moving up, not many, very few cars, if any, at all. Have you heard any reaction to the governor's decision to allow businesses to reopen, specifically from communities, Natasha, hardest hit by the coronavirus?</s>CHEN: Absolutely. Well, Albany is a hotspot here in Georgia, and the mayor spoke with CNN's Ana Cabrera about this. He was talking about how he wishes that in his community, the situation, in his view, requires that they do shelter-in-place or stay at home for a longer amount of time. Here is what he said about that.</s>MAYOR BO DOROUGH, ALBANY, GEORGIA: We were upset that the governor did not allow us to continue our shelter-in-place ordinance. But our citizens are generally going to be guided by the environment that we're in. And we're finding that most churches have no plans to reinstitute worship services at this time. Most of our restaurants will continue to offer only curbside and delivery.</s>CHEN: And so, he's also saying that Governor Kemp has said that if there is an uptick in cases in Albany, that the state will offer whatever resources are necessary to help get that under control. So, really, a lot of conflicting emotions here from local leaders as well as businesses, trying to make the best call for public health but also for their wallets, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: All right, Natasha. Thanks very much, Natasha Chen, in Atlanta. Let's stay in Atlanta right now. The Mayor there, Keisha Lance Bottoms, has been critical of Governor Kemp's decision to reopen the state. The mayor is joining us right now. Mayor, thank you so much for joining us. Based on what you've seen this weekend so far with businesses, like hair salons, gyms reopening, for example, how concerned are you that now restaurants will follow suit tomorrow?</s>MAYOR KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS (D), ATLANTA, GA: Wolf, I am extremely concerned. And as an elected official, we often want to be right. But I can tell you that this is one that I hope that I'm wrong about. And I've said it before. I'll say it again. I hope that the governor is right and I am wrong, because if he is wrong, more people will die. And this notion that we can somehow deal with more people who are sick is ludicrous, because we don't have a cure, and there are healthy people walking into hospitals dying from this illness. And so, simply because we may have a bed to offer them or a hospital room for them doesn't mean that we can save their lives. And I think that therein lies the problem. I understand that people are hurting economically and people don't want to have to make this choice, but it's important so that we can flatten this curve for a sustained period of time. When I look at the numbers, the numbers that I have received from this afternoon, our deaths are up 32 percent from this time last week, our positive tests up 26 percent from this time last week. We aren't headed in the right direction, and my fear is that we're compounding this problem.</s>BLITZER: Yes, people are concerned. We just showed some live pictures in downtown Atlanta, not far from the CNN center, and very few cars. I didn't see hardly any people over there. Take a look at this. You can see what's going on. Normally on a Sunday at this time, it would be jammed. People would be moving around. What would you say, Mayor, to a restaurant owner though, who is facing potentially losing his or her business if they don't reopen?</s>BOTTOMS: You know, Wolf, what I can say, there are a number of restaurants in this state and in the city who have said, we absolutely will not open. But what I would say to someone who is potentially looking to lose their business is my heart goes out to them. And as an elected official and as a leader, we have a responsibility to try and help people recover from this. We have a responsibility to put money in the pockets of the small business owners who need this, who are depending on this. But it is irresponsible in the middle of a pandemic for us as leaders to be irresponsible. And I think that when you say to people, you can open with certain guidelines, and our answer to them is, and if you get sick, we have a bed for you? I don't think -- to me, it's a lack of understanding of what COVID-19 is doing to people across the globe.</s>BLITZER: A federal health official, Mayor, tells CNN Georgia was expected to run out of unemployment funds within 30 weeks. They believe this played into Governor Kemp's decision to reopen. Do you think the governor reopened is a way to avoid paying unemployment claims?</s>BOTTOMS: Well, I know that has to be a consideration because our state is facing a $4 billion budget shortfall over the next several years. But, you know, we know that when people fill out unemployment applications, the question is asked, did you refuse to work? Can you return to work? I believe the labor commissioner in our state has now said you can earn up to $300 a week and still receive your unemployment benefits, so that helps a bit. But I know that this is an economic consideration because we're hurting in the state in the same way we're hurting across the world. But what I can also say is this, Wolf, we are not a first generation who's faced adversity. We are not the first generation who's dealt with a pandemic. We'll get to the other side of this but only if we make responsible decisions. We can't keep turning back and take two steps forward and then take ten steps back. It only prolongs this crisis that is facing this globe.</s>BLITZER: And the stakes, as all of us know, are so, so enormous. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in Atlanta, thank you so much for joining us.</s>BOTTOMS: Thank you.</s>BLITZER: Good luck to everyone there. Meanwhile, in the middle of a global pandemic, Americans are desperate for the latest medical information about the coronavirus, but the president is giving out some dangerous misinformation. Two doctors will join us live to give all of us the truth about what's going on. Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room.