Concern that Southern U.S. Coronavirus Cases May Be Increasing; Interview with United Food and Commercial Workers International Union President Marc Perrone
KWAME ONWUACHI, CHEF AND CREATOR, KITH/KIN RESTAURANT: -- and we don't know what the next 18 months are really going to look like, you know? We're talking about 25 percent capacity, and then you add on all of the PPE that we're -- we need to operate our restaurants, these plexiglass partitions, our single-use menus, it's going to be a lot of additional burden that's going to be put on the restaurant industry in total. So we need to make sure that we have something that's there for us, to access, so we have an industry when this is all said and done.</s>SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: How concerned are you that the industry won't come back? I mean, is there some real concern if you don't get this money, that you're going to have people without jobs, a lot of people, right? All across the country?</s>ONWUACHI: Yes. I mean, the restaurant industry is vast, you know? Everything from mom-and-pop shops to, you know, high-end restaurants. And the small restaurants are something that's really, really close to my heart. You know, those are the restaurants that, one, I like to eat in, but also those are the restaurants that feed America. So we need to make sure that they have access to these funds so they're here at the end. But, yes, I think we're going to come back. We're resilient. You know, we are determined and we can get back up if we fall down.</s>PROKUPECZ: And just quickly, how hard has this been? You employ a lot of people, and how hard has this been for them?</s>ONWUACHI: It's been extremely difficult, you know, to not have the answers. You know, we watch the news and just try to see the updates, to see when our cities are opening up. And some cities are open now, and some cities are looking at July.</s>PROKUPECZ: Right. And they're saying here, just to tell you, Brianna, you know, we could see two months before restaurants may even reopen in many parts of the country. Here, specifically in New York, restaurants owners don't expect to open until probably August or even September, in some cases. There's just still too much to be done. But, you know, I've spent a day here, talking to the people who run this restaurant here. Also, they say, you know, money is the big thing right now. They need more help. They want to open these restaurants eventually, but without the money they're not going to be able to do it, and that's why, you know, they want to put pressure on Washington and on the president to try and give them the money that they're going to need to continue to employ people all across the country. And as Kwame said, that is the key here, right? You've got to get these employees back in and they're going to need the help. So, Kwame, thanks for joining us.</s>ONWUACHI: Absolutely.</s>PROKUPECZ: And Brianna, of course, the money here is going to be the big thing, and we have months to go before we see exactly what happens here, certainly in New York City.</s>BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST, NEWSROOM: Shimon, thank you for that report. It's the top of the hour. I'm Brianna Keilar, and this is CNN's special live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. And at this hour, more than 93,000 Americans have been killed by the virus. And as the loss of life mounts, the CDC director warns of a potential second wave. In the meantime, new research dives into the past, showing how earlier social distancing could have saved thousands of lives. We'll have much more on the new models, here in a moment. But first, to the president and his potential collision course with Michigan's top law enforcement official. He's about to visit a Ford plant that's manufacturing ventilators. The facility also requires everyone to wear a mask. But moments ago, the president wouldn't commit to following that rule.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I don't know. We're going to look at it. A lot of people have asked me that question. I want to get our country back to normal, I want to normalize. One of the other things I want to do is get the churches open. The churches are not being treated with respect by a lot of the Democrat governors. I want to get our churches open, and we're going to take a very strong position on that, very soon.</s>KEILAR: Now, Michigan's attorney general has warned that if the president wears no mask, he will be asked not to return. The president, also updating reporters on his use of hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malarial drug that the FDA has warned against using outside of clinical settings.</s>TRUMP: I had a two-week regimen of hydroxychloroquine, and I have taken it. I think just about two weeks, I think it's another day, so. And I'm still here, I'm still here. And I tested very positively in a -- in another sense.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Negative.</s>TRUMP: This morning, yes. I tested positively toward negative, right? So. No, I tested perfectly this morning.</s>TRUMP: Meaning -- meaning I tested negative.</s>KEILAR: CNN's Erica Hill is in New York. She's been following the latest developments on the modeling and the states that are easing restrictions. And all 50 states, Erica, are now in some phase of reopening. Some of them in the south, though, are seeing signs of a spike. Tell us about that.</s>ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR AND NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's some concern about that, concern specifically about some of the states that opened earlier, that eased social distancing earlier. And there's some new warnings today from researchers about those areas. But they also say there's still time to reverse the trend that could be leading them toward a potential spike.</s>HILL (voice-over): Graduates spaced six feet apart, the stadium at half capacity.</s>UNIDENIFIED FEMALE: I absolutely felt safe.</s>HILL (voice-over): Hundreds of seniors, accepting diplomas in northern Alabama while, an hour south, hospitals are maxed out.</s>MAYOR STEVEN REED (D), MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA: Right now, if you're from Montgomery and you need an ICU bed, you're in trouble.</s>HILL (voice-over): Montgomery, Alabama, one of several areas that could see a rapid increase in new cases, according to models from a team at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and the University of Pennsylvania. Their findings show states that opened early, like Alabama, are at particular risk.</s>BETH CAMERON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE SENIOR DIRECTOR FOR GLOBAL HEALTH SECURITY: We really need to be thinking less about opening and closing, and more like expanding slowly. Everyone needs to be working off of the same playbook. And right now, not every state is.</s>HILL (voice-over): Starting today, you can go camping and eat inside at restaurants in Ohio and West Virginia. More than half of California's counties, also clear for in-person dining and shopping, including at malls. Religious services can resume in New York State today, with 10 people or less. Casinos along Mississippi's Gulf Coast and Graceland, ready to welcome visitors. More beaches and parks will open across the country for the holiday weekend, but not the public beaches in hard-hit New York City.</s>MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK, NEW YORK: My advice to people is keep it simple, keep it local. Less is more.</s>HILL (voice-over): Michigan, which has grabbed national headlines for its tough stay-at-home measures, will begin easing more restrictions on Tuesday, allowing for in-person retail and gatherings of 10 or less. It's one of 17 states reporting an increase in new cases over the past week.</s>ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: The scientific evidence clearly indicates that physical separation has worked, but not completely. If you look at the curves in our country, it isn't like everything is dramatically going down. Now is not the time to tempt fate and pull back completely.</s>HILL (voice-over): Orlando's theme parks, still figuring out their next steps.</s>JOHN SPROULS, EVP AND CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER, UNIVERSAL PARKS AND RESORTS: We'll reduce capacity so that we can maintain social distancing. And there are some attractions we're going to have to change.</s>HILL (voice-over): As a sobering report from researchers at Columbia University finds as many as 36,000 American lives could have been saved if social distancing measures were in place just one week earlier. The virus has now claimed more than 93,000 in the U.S.</s>HILL: Here in New York State, Governor Andrew Cuomo today, saying we're on the other side of this mountain. Of course, not fully out of the woods, but he was cautiously optimistic about that. He also was asked specifically about things coming our way like summer day camp. He said, until we have a better understanding of this multi- symptom inflammatory syndrome that we're seeing in children linked to COVID-19 -- 157 cases now being investigated in New York -- he says until we know more about that, as a parent, he would not send his kids to day camp, and so therefore he doesn't feel he can tell other parents to send theirs -- Brianna.</s>KEILAR: Erica Hill, thank you, reporting from New York for us. And for the men and women who are working at the nation's restaurants and stores, the return to work has also brought confrontations with angry customers, some of whom are refusing to wear masks. Two men now face felony battery charges after this fight at a Target in L.A. As the men were being escorted out of the store for not wearing face coverings -- which had been required by the city since April 10th -- one of the suspects turned and punched an employee, later breaking his arm. And in Colorado, a man has been arrested for attempted first degree murder for allegedly shooting a Waffle House employee after he was asked to wear a mask. An affidavit says the suspect initially placed a gun on the counter, telling a cook, I can blow your brains out right now. But the shooting actually did not occur until the next day. With me now is Marc Perrone, he is the president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. Mark, thank you for joining us. Because you have over a million members who are in the U.S. and Canada. And as we're seeing the increases in these clashes, what have they been telling you about how they feel?</s>MARC PERRONE, PRESIDENT, UNITED FOOD AND COMMERCIAL WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION: Well, our members have been saying that they think that the mask issue has become politicized in a negative way. And that it shouldn't be, that it's about me protecting you if I have a mask on, Brianna, and about you protecting me if you have a mask on. But the clashes and the challenges and the confrontations in these stores is in fact becoming more and more volatile. We believe that there should be security in the stores to make sure that the workers themselves don't put themselves in harm's way. It's just adding to the hazards that they're having to deal with, over and above the virus.</s>KEILAR: You're -- it's not just the physical altercations that we were talking about that have been making headlines, your union also has been involved in the fight to get fair pay for grocery workers. Kroger has replaced what was a temporary wage increase -- known as hero pay -- with a onetime bonus. And you told one of my colleagues that's unacceptable. What do you want to see instead?</s>PERRONE: Well, I'd like for them to go back to the $2 an hour pay that the other companies in the industry have implemented, that Safeway has done, Albertsons has done, Meyer's in Upper Michigan, as well as the Stater Bros. in Southern California. We've got a hold on the East Coast, that they're all implementing that $2 an hour pay. The reason why that's so much different is that if you work the kind of hours that our members are working, by giving a bonus, that means they're ultimately getting a pay cut that they were -- they were making more than that earlier. We had a woman yesterday that told us that she's still having to buy her own sanitation wipes and everything out of her own pocket because they can't get the supplies in the stores. And we just think that they really ought to stand up and step up to the plate and support those workers that are supporting that company. We know that the sales are up, and we know profits are up, and we know productivity's up. And we think that the workers deserve their share, that's what we think.</s>KEILAR: Back to the mask issue with employees who you represent, why -- when they tell you this has become a political issue where it's become negative for some people to wear a mask, what are they saying about why it's become a political issue?</s>PERRONE: Well, just a few minutes ago, you talked about what was happening in Michigan, and whether or not the president was going to wear a mask, going inside the manufacturing plant -- I think it was a Ford plant. But when people aren't willing to respect each other's space, and you're not willing to protect somebody else -- and I understand that we want to say that we're in America and this is about freedom, and I'm all for that. I'll be honest with you, I am. But at this point in time, we can't do things that are going to put other people in harm's way. And while I am happy that you wear a mask, I don't have the right not to wear one to protect you. And I just -- I think that we need to be respectful. It's not a political issue, it truly is for us to be in this together, that's what we're going to have to do. And I hear all the remarks about we're in this together. Well, we're only in this together if we're all doing it together, not if some of us are and some of us aren't.</s>KEILAR: Just real quick, Marc, would it help protect the workers you represent if the president would wear a mask in public when he can't socially distance?</s>PERRONE: Yes, it would. It would depoliticize the issue. We all know what the science says. The science is saying that that's what we need to do. It's not a political issue. I've got Republicans, members, and I've got Democrat members and I've got independent members. That's not what this is about, and I really hate that it's turned into that. But we need to do the right thing by everybody. So yes, it would help, it would.</s>KEILAR: Marc Perrone -- Marc Perrone, thank you for joining us. We appreciate it.</s>PERRONE: Brianna, thank you so much.</s>KEILAR: As cases are surging in southern states, I'll be speaking live with one city's mayor who says if you need an ICU bed there, right now, you're in trouble. Plus, I'll speak with the nurse in this stunning before-and-after picture about how he survived weeks of the coronavirus. And as Universal Studios gets ready to announce how it will reopen, we're starting to see more crowds across America. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will join me on the risk that they pose.