FDA Chief Overstated Treatment; COVID Cases Dropping
CHURCH: Well now to the coronavirus pandemic which has killed more than 178,000 people here in the United States. The head of the Food and Drug Administration is acknowledging that he overstated the benefits of a treatment praised by President Trump. Stephen Hahn says he could have done a better job explaining convalescent plasma. That is blood plasma from recovered patients. Erica Hill reports that while the COVID numbers appear to be moving in the right direction there are new trouble spots.</s>ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Things are getting better, new cases in the U.S. falling 21 percent over the past two weeks, hospitalizations down a third in the last month, deaths also on the decline.</s>RICHARD BESSER, FORMER ACTING DIRECTOR, CDC: When you look at Texas, you look at Florida, it makes sense that cases went down, because they took this more seriously and they started applying the same tools that have worked in other states that have seen numbers go down and stayed down.</s>HILL: But as those hotspots cooled, others began to heat up.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's now the Midwest that we have our eye on.</s>HILL: Average new cases in South Dakota surging by more than 50 percent in the past week. North Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, and Kansas also among the new rolling hotspots.</s>AMY COMPTON-PHILLIPS, CHIEF CLINICAL OFFICER AND EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, PROVIDENCE ST. JOSEPH HEALTH: I think it's the new normal, at least for the near future. This really laxing and waning and how we live through the length of time that we have to manage is going to be the challenge over the next 18 months or so</s>HILL: At least 24 states reporting new cases on college campuses. Many linked to off campus gatherings and Greek life. More than 200 Ohio state students suspended for breaking the schools COVID-19 restrictions on socializing.</s>PETER HOTEZ, INFECTIOUS EXPERT, BAYLOR UNIVERSITY: We are trying to open up college campuses at a time when we still have a huge amount of transmission and the problems that we're hearing about often our national campuses where people are coming in from all over the country.</s>HILL: While plenty of universities are testing off campus, it's a different story. Half of U.S. states reporting a drop in testing over the past week. New information about the virus's early transmission in Boston. Two hundred people attended a biotech conference in late February. Now, researchers say they've linked some 20,000 cases back to that one super spreader event.</s>GOV. CHARLIE BAKER (R-MA): I do think it speaks to the power of that virus to move from one person to another, to another, to another, to another if people don't wear masks, don't social distance.</s>HILL: Masks weren't mandated at the time, another reminder that there is still much to learn.</s>ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I think that we have learned a lesson that I think we should have known from our experience with other outbreaks, is that when you are dealing with the work in progress, things change and you've got to keep an open mind that you certainly don't know the whole story in the first in the second or the third or even the fourth month.</s>HILL: Here in New York, we've just learned fashion week will in fact move forward next month. But like most events these days, there will be changes. It will be a mix of live and virtual events and outdoor events capped at 50 people, indoor events capped at 50 percent capacity and no spectators. In New York, I'm Erica Hill,</s>CNN. CHURCH: Anne Rimoin is a professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of California, Los Angeles and she joins me now from L.A. Good to have you with us.</s>ANNE RIMOIN, PROFESSOR, UCLA DEPARTMENT OF EPIDEMIOLOGY: Thank you for having me.</s>CHURCH: So, we have seen in the last two nights of the RNC an effort to rewrite history when it comes to President Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, painting him as decisive and effective, despite the death toll in this country nearing 180,000. What's your reaction to that and some medical professionals who have come out praising his efforts?</s>RIMOIN: I think we have -- need to let the data speak for itself. We're a country that has not been able to control the epidemic here on our -- in our own -- in our own borders. And we have a very high death toll. We have a very high infection rates. And I just don't think that anybody looking at the data can suggest that we, as a country, or our leadership, has done a good job. There is no reason to be letting anything but data speak here. And I've said this before I'm going to say it again. When we have the opportunity, when we have mixed messaging, politics creeps in. I like to call it an acute infection of politics in our public's health. And this is really true. Data needs to lead the way here --</s>CHURCH: Right.</s>RIMOIN: -- and science, not opinion.</s>CHURCH: And scientists are responding to President Trump and his administration's claims about the effectiveness of convalescent plasma in treating COVID-19, saying they are wrong and misleading, including those made by FDA chief Stephen Hahn who suddenly approved the emergency use of convalescent plasma on Sunday. Hahn came out Tuesday saying criticism of him was entirely justified. What does this say about Han's and the FDA's credibility?</s>RIMOIN: This is a really big problem. We cannot have the FDA be subject to politics. The FDA is supposed to be reviewing the data and making decisions that are in the interests of our public's health here. And it was a very clear indication that politics is leading the day. When you look at the information that was made available, there was no real basis for the information that Dr. Hahn gave. And one of the other really important things here is that there was a lot of hoopla made about this paper from the Mayo Clinic, from the study that they did, which was an observational study. And in fact, the conclusions of this study were very clear in the paper. They were that this is an observational study, that the data was interesting, and that they should inform clinical trials.</s>CHURCH: Right.</s>RIMOIN: The study that is informing what we're doing right now is an observational study. There are clinical trials that are still ongoing and those clinical trials should be leading the decision-making.</s>CHURCH: And six months into this pandemic, we are now starting to see a decline in new cases, hospitalizations and deaths, which is a good thing of course. So, what do you think is behind this? And how big a role might mask be playing in these declines?</s>RIMOIN: There are several studies now that have provided evidence to show that masks do work. And I think we're seeing widespread mask wearing now and social distancing, which has made a major difference in driving down the rate of spread in this country. We've seen it in other countries. There is no reason that it would be different here. I think that the mask mandates in the states where cases have been very, very high have made a major difference, as well as rolling back and keeping people out of bars and restaurants and gatherings in larger groups. So, our big concern is what happens when we start to open back up?</s>CHURCH: Good question. Anne Rimoin, many thanks as always.</s>RIMOIN: It's my pleasure.</s>CHURCH: First Lady Melania Trump took center stage at the Republican National Convention. Her message about immigration and her husband's plans for a second term, that's just ahead. Plus, parts of the U.S. are getting ready for what could be a big hit from Hurricane Laura. The latest on the storm in just a moment.