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Record Number of COVID-19 Cases Reported to W.H.O. in Last 24 Hours; House Education Committee Accuses White House of Blocking CDC Chief from Testifying Next Week; Secret WH Task Force Report says 18 States in Coronavirus "Red Zone" should Roll Back Reopening; Texas Shatters Record for Single-Day Coronavirus Deaths; GA Governor Sues Atlanta Mayor Over City's Mask Mandate; Savannah Mayor: GA Gov "Does Not Give A Damn About Us"; Brazil Surpasses Two Million Confirmed Cases; Russia Denies Involvement In Vaccine Research Cyberattacks; Doctors Sound The Alarm Over "COVID Patients". Aired 5-6p ET

Aired July 17, 2020 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[17:00:14]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM.

We're following breaking news.

The coronavirus death toll in the United States is now nearing 139,000 people. That comes as the country set another record for one-day new cases, 77,000. And that's the ninth record high in the last month. A new record also at the World Health Organization. In just the last 24 hours, it's had more than 237,000 new cases reported worldwide, putting the total at more than 13 million now.

There is also breaking news out of California where the Governor Gavin Newsom has just announced that most of the state's schools will not reopen for in-person classes as the state reports nearly 10,000 new cases and 130 deaths in just a single day.

The House Education Committee, meanwhile, plans to hold a hearing next week on reopening schools but now accuses the White House of blocking the CDC director from appearing.

Our national correspondent Athena Jones begins our coverage this hour. Athena, a record number of new coronavirus cases as these pandemic rages across so much of the United States.

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf. That's exactly right. The picture here in America is not a pretty one. And as you mentioned, we just learned more than 230,000 new COVID-19 cases have been reported to the World Health Organization in the last 24 hours.

You know, the U.S. accounts for about a third of those cases. And it really boggles the mind to think that the most powerful country in the world is so far failing to get the coronavirus under control. And that's because too many leaders and too many individuals are not taking the steps that dozens and dozens of countries have proven work to stop the spread of the infection.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONES (voice-over): It's a new epicenter for the virus.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are at a boiling point.

JONES (voice-over): Florida now leading the nation in cases per capita.

ALBERTO CARVALHO, SUPERINTENDENT, MIAMI-DADE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS: We are at the center of America's epicenter for COVID-19.

JONES (voice-over): The virus even forcing the temporary closure of part of the state's emergency operation center after a dozen employees tested positive. The toll on southern Florida particularly evident as hospitals in hard-hit Miami-Dade County have started to overflow. Intensive care units now at 119 percent capacity.

Coronavirus infections now trending upward in 38 states. With national coronavirus case numbers hitting new highs on a near daily basis, topping a record 77,000 on Thursday.

The nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci with a warning.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: People keep talking about the possibility of a second wave in the fall when you're having, you know, up to 70,000 new infections in certain areas of the country, that's something you need to focus on right now as opposed to looking ahead at what's going to happen in September or in October.

JONES (voice-over): And the debate over masks rages on.

FAUCI: Masks are important.

JONES (voice-over): Despite clear guidance from public health officials.

FAUCI: I would urge the leaders, the local political and other leaders in states and cities and towns to be as forceful as possible in getting your citizenry to wear masks.

JONES (voice-over): Colorado's governor now says data from cities with mask mandates convinced him to issue one statewide.

GOV. JARED POLIS (D-CO): The areas that had mask requirements had 15 to 20 percent more people that wore masks and even more importantly, they had substantially reduced spread of the virus.

JONES (voice-over): Meanwhile in Georgia.

DR. KATHLEEN TOOMEY, GEORGIA PUBLIC HEALTH COMMISSIONER: We continue to see outbreaks in workplaces, in businesses, in congregate settings, daycares, camps, fraternity houses, many churches. JONES (voice-over): A legal battle over the mayor of Atlanta's mask order.

GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): Mayor Bottom's mask mandate cannot be enforced. But her decision to shut her businesses and undermine economic growth is devastating. I refuse to sit back and watch as disastrous policies threaten the lives and livelihoods of our citizens.

MAYOR KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS (D-GA), ATLANTA: What I see happening is that the governor is putting politics over people for the governor to sue us on a mask mandate when the CDC has told us that it helps save lives really speaks to the lack of leadership.

JONES (voice-over): In Washington where hospitalizations and deaths are on the rise, Governor Jay Inslee banning all live entertainment indoors and outdoors.

GOV. JAY INSLEE (D-WA): Today's rollbacks may be a forerunner to additional rollbacks. And we cannot rule out the potential for another stay-at-home order this year. And perhaps not in the too distant future.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[17:05:05]

JONES (voice-over): And one more thing about schools. California Governor Gavin Newsom announced today that the majority of schools in the state will not be reopening for in-person instruction in the fall. We're talking about all public and private schools in 33, about half -- more than a half, of the state's counties which are all being monitored for a surge in coronavirus cases. Schools in those counties will not be allowed to reopen unless they meet strict criteria. Wolf?

BLITZER: Athena Jones reporting for us. Thank you very much.

Let's go to the White House right now. Our chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta is joining us. Jim, lawmakers, they want to hear from health officials about reopening schools. That's such a critical issue. But now there's new controversy. Tell us about that.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. Just as the coronavirus is slamming the U.S. with a shocking surge in cases, the White House is blocking officials from the Centers for Disease Control from testifying at a hearing set for next week on the safety of sending children back to school during the pandemic. The White House said now is not the time for CDC Director Robert Redfield to appear on Capitol Hill. But the committee holding the hearing said lawmakers were requesting that anybody from the CDC make the appearance, not just Redfield.

The latest poll show, Americans are quickly losing confidence in President Trump's handling of the virus, and we are told some of Mr. Trump's political advisers see opening the nation's schools as a potential way to win back suburban women voters who have turned against the president.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA (voice-over): Even with coronavirus cases soaring across the U.S. and parents becoming nervous about sending their children back to classes in the fall, the White House is now blocking officials from the Centers for Disease Control from appearing at a hearing next week on reopening schools.

The chairman of the committee said in a tweet, "It is alarming that the Trump administration is preventing the CDC from appearing before the committee at a time when its expertise and guidance is so critical to the health and safety of students, parents and educators."

The move comes as the CDC has postponed its plan to release proposals for reopening classrooms. Earlier this week, the CDC director was touting mask use as critical to healthy schools.

DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, CDC DIRECTOR: To me, face coverings are the key. You know if you really look at it, the data's really clear. They work.

ACOSTA (voice-over): The administration's push to reopen schools is flying in the face of stunning spikes in cases across the U.S.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said part of the problem is that some states simply opened up too quickly.

FAUCI: We put out guidelines from the Coronavirus Task Force that had what's called a gateway if you pass that gateway, you would then go to phase one. And if you were there at a certain amount of time and the cases were steady and going down, you would go to phase two and phase three. So, when you look at that, clearly, there are some states that actually skipped over one or more of those what you call benchmarks or checkpoints.

ACOSTA (voice-over): An undisclosed document drafted by the Coronavirus Task Force and obtained by the Center for Public Integrity recommended that 18 states roll back their reopening plans. But that would mean going against the president who said he is determined to keep those kinds of rollbacks from happening.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And now we're open. And we will stay open. We are not closing. We'll put out the fires as they come out.

ACOSTA (voice-over): A new ABC/Washington Post poll found only 30 percent of Americans approve of Mr. Trump's handling of the virus, down from where that numbers stood in May. A nearly two-thirds now say they don't really trust what he says about the pandemic.

That has White House officials wondering out loud whether the president should appear more engaged.

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: His approval rating on the pandemic was higher when he was at the podium it. It was at 51 percent in March. And I think people want to hear from the president of the United States, he still addresses it, he still talks about vaccines and therapeutics --

ACOSTA (voice-over): But for the president, appears to have moved on. Holding events that aren't related to the virus and sticking to topics that score points with his base.

TRUMP: Dishwashers, you didn't have any water so the people that do the dishes, you press it and it goes again and you do it again and again. So you might as well give them the water because you'll end up using less water.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Now the public may be seeing more of Dr. Anthony Fauci over the coming days, after blocking Fauci from appearing on television interviews over the last several weeks. Administration officials say they're allowing the doctor to appear more regularly on the television networks.

In the meantime, we're learning tonight that White House officials and some campaign advisers are hopeful that the president could potentially be more engaged or appear more engaged on the coronavirus issue. Potentially appearing and resuming those Coronavirus Task Force briefings that we saw so much of earlier this year. There are other ideas being (INAUDIBLE) about. Talked to a Trump campaign adviser, said that's some in the campaign would like to see the president perhaps hold virtual realities, Wolf.

And on top of that maybe be out on the campaign trail more wearing a mask. Of course, there's a big factor in all of this. That is whether the president would actually do that. Wolf?

BLITZER: A lot of advice said mostly with the president accepts them and when he rejects. All right. Jim Acosta reporting. Thank you very much.

[17:10:01]

Let's get some more on all of this. Joining us now our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Sanjay, let me get your reaction first what Jim has just reported about the Coronavirus Task Force briefings possibly returning. What's your reaction to that news that they might actually come back maybe even on a daily basis? We haven't seen that in quite a while.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think it would be important, Wolf. I think when those briefings first started, I mean, I think it gave a certain level of seriousness to this, as a daily reminder of things. There's going to be some days where there's really important news that the country needs to hear from this task force.

I think, Wolf, when the briefings went away, I think there was a lot of people who sort of thought, well, look, this thing is sort of over now. We were hearing from them every day. We're not now. So, you know, we must be sort of through the woods on this. So, I think we're clearly not, and I think the Coronavirus Task Force briefings coming back would be a signal that that's the case.

BLITZER: And what's your reaction, Sanjay, to the news that the White House is now preventing the CDC director, Dr. Robert Redfield, from testifying before the House of Representatives next week on the critically important issue of when and how schools should reopen for in-class - for in-class teaching?

GUPTA: Well, this is the biggest topic I think right now for -- for a lot of people in the country, certainly parents who are trying to figure out what life's going to be like in the next couple of months. We interviewed Dr. Redfield last week, talked a lot about schools. And you'll remember, Wolf, I mean the CDC did release this guidance for schools, pretty commonsense guidance, right? Stay six feet away, masks as much as -- masking policies, hand hygiene stations, all this sort of stuff, stuff that you probably could've figured out. Then we heard from the vice president that, look, these - these recommendations were too strict and they needed to go back and revise them.

And we talked to Dr. Redfield, he basically said look, I'm not revising those, I will provide supplemental material but that's it. Some of those revisions were supposed to come out today. They didn't. We were looking forward to hearing Dr. Redfield testify. It sounds like that's not going to happen now.

So, you know, I think this is just another example of us not getting the type of knowledge, you know, practical, accessible, actionable knowledge that I think people absolutely need right now.

BLITZER: We certainly do need it. And all this comes, Sanjay, as the United States keeps setting and then breaking the record of new cases reported in a single day. Yesterday it was 77,000 new cases here in the United States. Just how dire is this situation, Sanjay, right now?

GUPTA: Well, you know, Wolf, it's -- you look at the graphs and you see the sort of linear change. You see that two-dimensional graph. I think what a lot of people pay attention to as well is the pace at which this is increasing and the pace at which these numbers are going up is very concerning as well. So, they're going up, but they're going up at an increasingly rapid pace. It's kind of like a big steam ship in the ocean, Wolf. It's gaining momentum. And no matter what even if you can basically hit the brakes on this thing, it'll still take a long time to slow down. So, the more momentum the steam ship gains, the harder it's going to be to slow down.

You know a few weeks ago we could have said, hey, look, if you do these things, less aggressive sort of things, it's likely to really slow down the momentum. But now that you got all this inertia in those numbers and that growth trajectory, it's becoming harder and harder to slow down. It's going to require more and more aggressive treatment the longer we wait, Wolf. And we're waiting a long time here.

BLITZER: We certainly are here. And we've also learned, Sanjay, that this unpublished report prepared for the White House task force recommends that 18 states now roll back their reopening. Are many of those so-called red zone states actually taking the right steps right now to save lives? GUPTA: Some are doing more than others, Wolf. They're doing these sorts of surgical strikes, if you will, closing beaches, some have put in mask ordinances and things like that. But you know this goes back to the same gating criteria that the Coronavirus Task Force released from the White House, you know, a few months ago now. The same -- it was all there.

I went back and looked at that again. I've looked at some of these recommendations that were never released to the governors. But, frankly, it was stuff that you could have figured out. Because if you have a five-day increased spread, community spread in your community, you needed to go back. You needed to revert to an earlier phase. And you needed to put certain things in place before you could even go into the first phase, you needed to have had a 14-day downward trajectory, adequate testing in place, and adequate hospital infrastructure.

Wolf, we see, obviously, in many states around the country that's not the case. We still don't have enough testing. Hospitals are redlining, Wolf. And that's going to be a significant problem.

BLITZER: A very significant problem. Let's not forget, Sanjay, and I just checked in the past few days nearly a thousand Americans have been dying from coronavirus every single day.

[17:15:06]

943 on Thursday, 941 on Wednesday. 900 on Tuesday. Mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, good friends, they are dying as a result of this and it's simply and awful situation and a horrible failure on the part of our leadership.

All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you very much.

Just ahead, we'll get new insight on the worsening crisis from the director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins. He is going to be joining us later here in THE SITUATION ROOM. We have lots to discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:20:00]

BLITZER: We have breaking news that's just coming into THE SITUATION ROOM.

Texas just reported 174 new coronavirus deaths in the past day alone, shattering the single-day record of 129, set only yesterday in Texas.

Joining us now, Dr. Peter Hotez of Baylor University and CNN political director David Chalian.

Dr. Hotez, you're based in Texas which as you just heard just set another record number of deaths. Months ago, President Trump claimed the virus was, quote, "dying out." Now the country reported 77,000 new cases just yesterday. Do you feel the president has, for all practical purposes, abandoned this effort to fight this deadly virus?

DR. PETER HOTEZ, PROFESSOR AND DEAN OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: Well, he's certainly giving that appearance, Wolf. I mean, right now the southern half of the United States accounts for one-quarter of all the world's new COVID-19 cases. We are at the epicenter of the pandemic.

And there's just total disengagement from the White House. We're not hearing much less any federal plan for what needs to be done. We're not even hearing any acknowledgment that there's a problem and issue. So, it's almost as if we don't have a federal government or at least the executive branch of the federal government.

And the cases, as you point out, new records every day, 77,000. Today it'll be over 80,000. By the early part of next weekend, quickly accelerate to 100,000 new cases a day that it goes out from there. We heard about the deaths today in Texas.

And remember what that means practically speaking. I think what's happening is this virus is ravaging low-income neighborhoods across the metro areas of Texas. So, I think we are seeing absolute devastation in Latinos and Hispanic American neighborhoods, African American neighborhoods. I don't have the data to support that yet, but that's the picture I think we're going to be seeing. And it's just breaking my heart to see how this is happening and why I'm speaking out. Because we're just trying to do all we can at this point.

BLITZER: People around the world are looking and watching what's happening here in the United States. The greatest country in the world with the most sophisticated health care system medicine in the world, the best scientists in the world, and clearly there's been a horrific, horrific failure.

David Chalian, clearly the country is in a dire situation right now. It seems to be getting worse every day. And now the White House has actually -- we are told is considering bringing back those daily coronavirus press briefings. But even if the president wanted to take a more active role in responding to this crisis, do the American people based on all the evidence you've seen so far trust what he has to say?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: In a word, no. At least not a significant majority of the American people. I mean, Washington Post/ABC News was out with a poll this morning, Wolf, asking. And I think some 64 percent of Americans said they don't trust what the president has to say related to the coronavirus pandemic.

So, that becomes a huge problem to have this kind of credibility gap between the president of the United States and the electorate, the people in the midst of this public health crisis. That same poll shows that two-thirds of Americans are worried that they themselves or a family member is going to contract the virus. So, you have this real concern, a great majority of Americans concerned about personally being affected by this. And yet that same majority distrusting what the president has to say about it. BLITZER: You know, Dr. Hotez, what do you think? Do you think we want to see those daily press briefings from the Coronavirus Task Force with the president coming in and opening up those briefings and then answering a bunch of questions on coronavirus?

HOTEZ: You know, the problem, Wolf, what Sanjay said was absolutely right. We should be hearing from the president. The problem is those Coronavirus Task Force briefings are so disorganized and so uninformative. You know they have never been able to step up and say, OK, these are the three big problems that we're facing. Here's what's going to happen if we're - if we don't do anything, and this is what we're going to do about them.

I once said that you know if my first-year graduate student gave that presentation that the Coronavirus Task Force briefings were like, I'd have to have a conversation with my graduate student because they're just so poorly done and so uninformative.

Next week, Wolf, I'm going to come out with a document that gives the prescription for the nation about what I think needs to be done now to rescue the country, at least for a few months. And maybe that will give them something to respond to. It's by no means a perfect document, a sort of high-level, and not a lot of details but at least put something out there. The country is awash in virus. And the deaths are rising precipitously.

[17:25:00]

The ICU admissions, hospital staff's getting overwhelmed. Hospital staffs are getting sick. And this is when the mortality really starts to skyrocket when we're unable to take care of our ICU patients. We saw this in Spain. We saw it in Italy, New York, and now we're going to see it here in the south.

BLITZER: Yes. Every other country that has successfully dealt with the coronavirus pandemic has had a national plan and delegated a lot to local cities or counties or communities. They've had a national plan and there's no such national plan here in the United States. That's a huge problem. And I think everyone agrees on that.

You know, David, you mentioned this new ABC News/Washington Post poll that shows 60 percent of Americans now disapprove of the president's handling of this pandemic. Those numbers have been steadily rising as this crisis is going on, right?

CHALIAN: Yes. Look at that. In March his disapproval on this was at 45 percent. In May -- at the end of May, it was at 53 percent. Now in the middle of July it's at 60 percent.

You know this is Donald Trump's big problem at the moment, which is that the dominant issue of the day that Americans are focused on, he keeps getting worse and worse reviews from the American people on how he's handling it.

BLITZER: And this is the biggest issue facing the country by far right now. And it's a huge problem for him politically. There's no doubt about that.

You know, Dr. Hotez, a report prepared for the White House Coronavirus Task Force says that 18 states including your state of Texas should be rolling back their reopening right now. How worrying is it to you that this report apparently was never put out by the task force, but the task force clearly hasn't acted on this warning that states weren't given this kind of information?

HOTEZ: Yes. I mean, the truth is the information in that report, as far as I can tell, is probably not too much different from what's already publicly available on the Johns Hopkins website, on the Kaiser Foundation website, even other regular news outlets. We already know that those 18 states are in crisis. The problem is even if you provided them the information, they seem unprepared to act on it or unable to get their arms around this problem.

And we need this leadership now. It will not happen if we continue to do as we're doing, leaving it to the states to figure out and doing this kind of fragmented response. We've already seen that's an utter failure. This is the definition of insanity, keep on doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. And this is what's happening, and that's why we need to do something soon.

It can't wait. We are already in complete crisis mode. This is already affecting homeland security in a sense that Americans no longer feel safe, as David has pointed out. And when you get to that point, that's when things start to unravel, and we start seeing social unrest and everything else.

BLITZER: The economy too. Look at how it's created all the unemployment that's going on right now. Dr. Hotez, thank you very much. David Chalian, thanks to you as well.

Coming up, the escalating battle over mandating masks in the state of Georgia. I will speak to the mayor of Athens, Georgia. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:33:04]

BLITZER: Today, Georgia's Republican Governor defended his lawsuit against Atlanta's Democratic Mayor. The Governor says the Mayor can't order people to wear masks. But Dr. Anthony Fauci is pleading with local leaders to be as forceful as possible in getting everyone to wear masks. Let's get the latest from our National Correspondent Dianne Gallagher. So, Dianne, what else are the Governor and the Mayor saying?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, Wolf, the Governor has said that this is about so much more than a mask mandate, which he says is unenforceable, even though more than a dozen different cities and counties across Georgia have put them in place because they feel like they need to at this point. COVID-19 is so bad in the state.

The Governor says that his lawsuit against the Mayor of Atlanta and the city council members is also about businesses because the Mayor ordered Atlanta to go back to phase 1 of reopening. He claims that as soon as that order was put into place, he started getting phone calls from businesses and claims that this is about lives, as well as livelihoods. But the Mayor of Atlanta points out that the mask mandate is also included.

And again, she's not the only one who was put one in place. She believes that this is far more about something personal, and of course, politics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): I'm confident that Georgians don't need a mandate to do the right thing. Instead of issuing mandates that are confusing and unenforceable, I'm asking all local leaders to enforce the current executive order.

MAYOR KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS (D-GA), ATLANTA: What I see happening is that the Governor is putting politics over people. We all know the CDC is in our own backyard. The CDC has said that wearing a mask will stop the spread, help stop the spread of this virus. Overwhelmingly, people in Atlanta support a mask mandate. And so it's just -- it's a waste of taxpayer money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: And, Wolf, look here in Georgia. We are seeing still record numbers of new cases, new deaths and new hospitalizations.

[17:35:05]

A member of the Governor's own task force this morning said that they have seen a 39 percent increase just this week in hospitalizations across Georgia. So it's bad here.

BLITZER: And it looks like it's getting a whole lot worse, sorry. Dianne Gallagher, thank you very much.

Joining us now, the Mayor of Athens, Georgia, Kelly Girtz. And Mayor Girtz, thanks so much for joining us. You're calling the Mayor of Savannah responded to all this news of the lawsuit by saying this, I'll read to you what he said. "It is official -- It is officially official. Governor Kemp does not give a damn about us." How do you feel?

MAYOR KELLY GIRTZ (D-GA), ATHENS: Mayor Johnson is a great friend and a great colleague. And the Governor again over and over has said this is a matter of economic needs. Well, I'm here to say that if you want the economy to be strong, you need healthy people. And we know that the way to get healthy people is to put the simple tools in place that are going to keep them that way and masks are demonstrably so.

So we are holding on to our mask order here in Athens as they are in Atlanta and Savannah and Augusta and across the state. When the Governor says that wearing masks as a requirement is a bridge too far, I would say that to not have a mask mandate is, in fact, to have a broken bridge that unfortunately is plunging people into a chasm below. Nearly 4,000 new cases in Georgia just yesterday, 16 percent of those tested are positive. That's well above where we need to be. We need to push that number deeply down. And we need to do it by doing these simple, inexpensive things that are going to preserve this economy.

You know, we look internationally, at Germany, New Zealand, across the globe, there are places that have managed this risk. You know, I lead an organization of 1,700 people. And when you lead a big organization, what you think about often is how do you mitigate risk and this is one of the things that in the public sector and private sector like we can do. We've seen corporate entity after corporate entity this week.

CVS, Kroger, Walmart, for goodness sake, say you must wear masks in our establishment. And I want to be able to say that that's true in a level playing field kind of way all across my community.

BLITZER: Yes, it's so simple. Just put on a mask, and you're going to save lives. Other countries that have succeeded in dealing with this coronavirus, everyone started wearing masks right away. They did a whole bunch of other things, but simply wearing a mask will save thousands of American lives in the coming weeks and months.

As you know, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of Atlanta says this is a personal retaliation after she called out President Trump for not wearing a mask when he arrived in Atlanta earlier this week. Does that explain why Governor Brian Kemp sued her? Not you, for example, when Athens has the exact same type of mask mandate in place?

GIRTZ: I mean, certainly this relationship seems from this vantage point to have degenerated. We are the Governor's hometown. You know, certainly on some matters, we've maintained a very strong professional relationship. But we're heading in the wrong direction. When -- Even Republican colleagues across the country, the governors of Texas, of Arkansas and Alabama have recognized they need to do everything necessary, the kind of things that are embedded in that now understood White House report to keep people safe.

That's all this is about. This doesn't need to be about anybody's political strife. It certainly doesn't need to be about how you pivot in response to whatever kind of madness comes out of the White House. This just needs to be about doing the things that are going to keep people safe, in the same way that we no longer smoke on airplanes, or in restaurants or in retail shops.

BLITZER: Yes. It's not a difficult decision to simply wear a mask, and once again, it will save lives. Mayor Kelly Girtz, thanks so much for everything you're doing. Thanks so much for joining us.

GIRTZ: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Just ahead, new images of a disturbing trend so called COVID parties. Are some people deliberately trying to contract the virus? We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [17:43:49]

BLITZER: In global coronavirus headlines, Brazil just became the second country of the world just surpassed 2 million confirmed coronavirus cases. The United States was the first.

CNN's Matt Rivers is monitoring the situation from Mexico City. Matt, what's the latest?

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, Brazilian health officials are reporting more than 45,000 additional cases of this virus which means that for the first time, the overall case total in Brazil now tops 2 million total. The death toll there is also nearing 80,000. But this is we're hearing from World Health Organization officials that there is a little bit of good news. We heard from officials that the case rise in Brazil is no longer on an exponential level. But there's a big caveat to that.

So the WHO Emergencies Director Mike Ryan said in a briefing, quote, what's not happening yet is that the disease has not turned, it is not headed down the mountain. From that perspective, the numbers have stabilized, but what they haven't done is start to fall in a systematic day by day way. So Brazil is still very much in the middle of this fight. The WHO Emergencies Director going on to say that Brazil has an opportunity to slow this transmission, but it will take a coordinated effort that starts right now. Wolf?

[17:45:00]

BLITZER: All right. We'll see what happens. Matt Rivers, thank you.

Officials in Moscow continue to deny allegations from the U.S., Canada, and Britain that Russian hackers are trying to steal information from Western vaccine researchers. CNN's Matthew Chance is in Moscow for us. What's the latest, Matthew?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, tonight we had an exclusive glimpse Russia's rapid push towards a coronavirus vaccine with footage from inside the tightly controlled Gamaleya Institute here in Moscow. Where researchers say they're close to creating a vaccine that could be approved in August.

CNN cameras were not permitted inside the building, but the video we were given by the lab shows scientists working intensively. And what Russian officials tell CNN, they are confident it will be the first effective coronavirus vaccine. But the race to that vaccine has raised concern that Russia may be cutting legal and ethical corners. Russian soldiers, for instance, all volunteers according to defense officials have been used in the first phase of the trial.

And now allegations denied by the Kremlin that Russian spies have been hacking U.S., Britain -- British and Canadian labs to steal their vaccine secrets. Russian officials deny espionage, just figured in their progress towards a vaccine, insisting to CNN that a track record of Russian and before that Soviet scientific research is the main factor. Wolf. BLITZER: Matthew Chance reporting from Moscow. Thank you.

Coming up, new images of what could be a deliberate attempt by some people to contract the coronavirus through so called COVID parties. Plus, my interview with the Director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins. He's standing by live. I'll ask him about the record number of new cases sweeping across the United States right now.

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[17:51:44]

BLITZER: While most Americans are working desperately to avoid the coronavirus, there's new evidence that some are actively exposing themselves and even trying to get infected. CNN's Brian Todd is working this part of the story for us. Brian, it's hard to believe this is happening as COVID-19 kills hundreds of Americans every single day.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. This is very strange and twisted apparent trend. And it's got America's top doctors issuing new warnings tonight to young people about the so called COVID parties.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a group of like 50, 60 people dancing on the road.

TODD (voice-over): Dozens of young people seen at a party in Osceola County, Florida. Sheriff's officials tell CNN affiliate WESH, they believe parties like this have led to a spike in coronavirus cases in that area.

In Michigan, young people's parties in the towns of Saline and Torch Lake, officials say, has exploded into thousands of cases of COVID. But that's not the worst of it. While some parties are attended by young people who simply think they won't get infected, other parties seem to have been hosted by people who knew they were infected or attended by people trying to get infected, local officials say. Driving America's top expert on infectious disease to incredulity.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES: When I hear about these COVID parties, it just, you know, makes my head spin because when you get infected, what you're doing is you're not in a vacuum. You are part of the propagation of the outbreak.

TODD (voice-over): Dr. Jane Appleby, Chief Medical Officer at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio put out a video tape message in recent days, about a 30-year old patient at her hospital, who she said admitted to attending a COVID party.

DR. JANE APPLEBY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, METHODIST HOSPITAL, SAN ANTONIO: This is a party held by somebody diagnosed with the COVID virus. And the thought is that people get together and to see if the virus is real and if anyone gets infected. Just before the patient died, they looked at their nurse and they said, I think I made a mistake. I thought this was a hoax, but it's not.

TODD (voice-over): The Mayor of San Antonio confirmed that case in an interview with CNN and gave more details.

MAYOR RON NIRENBERG, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: They thought they were invincible that this wouldn't affect them as a way that, you know, to prove their point. And unfortunately, five days later -- this was a Memorial Day party at the lake -- five days later, this young man got sick.

TODD (voice-over): Officials in Tuscaloosa, Alabama recently spoke about information they had received on young people apparently throwing COVID parties in that city. A city council member relaying accounts of grotesque contests.

SONYA MCKINSTRY, CITY COUNCILWOMAN, TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA: They're putting money up high and they're purposely trying to hit COVID from the person who has COVID and apparently whoever gets COVID first, gets the pot.

TODD (voice-over): Contacted by CNN, health officials in Alabama and San Antonio said they investigated the reports, but could neither confirm nor deny the existence of COVID parties in their areas. Even though younger people appear to be at a lesser risk of severe illness or death from coronavirus, one expert says it's beyond words that they play Russian roulette with their own lives or the lives of others.

DR. CHARLES LOCKWOOD, DEAN, USF HEALTH MORSANI COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: They may infect their parents or their grandparents or their teachers or their employer who might be over the age of 65 who might have an underlying condition and they will die. I can't think of anything more stupid than to go to a COVID party.

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[17:55:05]

TODD: Dr. Charles Lockwood and other experts say young people who might go to these COVID parties should also remember that even if they get COVID and they recover, it could cause complications for them later in life, things like kidney or heart failure, lung disease or chronic fatigue. Wolf?

BLITZER: Yes. This is -- these are really, really disturbed individuals --

TODD: Yes.

BLITZER: -- who are participating in this. All right, Brian Todd, thank you very much.

Up next, is the United States losing the battle against the coronavirus? I'll ask the Director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins. There you see him. He's standing by live. We have lots to discuss.

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