Source Familiar with Trump's First Task Force Meeting Since April, He still Doesn't Get Severity of Pandemic; Several COVID-19 Cases Reported at Georgia Schools as Classes Resume.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN NEWSROOM: All right. It's the top of the hour, good morning, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow.</s>JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NEWSROOM: And I'm Jim Sciutto. He still doesn't get it. Those are the words of a source familiar with President Trump's Tuesday Oval Office meeting with the White House's coronavirus task force. Those are the pictures there. It was his first meeting with that team since April. A source saying the president is still not demonstrating that he has a firm grasp of the severity of this pandemic. We will have more for you on that exclusive reporting in just a moment, certainly consistent with the public comments we've heard from the president.</s>HARLOW: That's right. Take a look at this though right now in the United States. These are the numbers. They are alarming, ten times in the last two weeks. The nation has seen 1,000 coronavirus deaths per day, 1,400 dead in just the last 24 hours. Also this morning the president continuing his strong push to opening schools despite many schools already seeing setbacks. We are live across the country this morning. We'll get to that in a moment. Let's begin though with our Jim Acosta. Jim, you have some really important reporting from a source familiar with this meeting, and, again, we should say, the first time, right, the president has attended the task force meeting since April?</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Poppy and Jim. I mean, this is the first time the president was meeting with his full coronavirus task force in a comprehensive way since April. And so it's been months and months since he's had this kind of sit- down meeting. And what it sounds like that what the president was demonstrating behind closed doors of this Oval Office meeting, we have the pictures that he tweeted out late yesterday, it is sort of what like what we hear when he goes out in front of the cameras and talks to the American people. According to a source familiar with this meeting in the Oval Office yesterday, the president, quote, still doesn't get it. The source repeated this throughout the conversation I had with this person about this. And the person going on to say he does not get it. And, essentially, what was going on during this meeting, according to this source, is that members of the task force, as they often try to do, try to impress upon the president the severity of the outbreak. And during those exchanges, the president would try to change the subject in the words of this source familiar with the meeting, he starts talking about something else. And so when the president gets out there on Fox News or at one of these coronavirus task force briefings and tries to downplay the number of deaths in the U.S. compared to the rest of the world, where the U.S. is performing just poorly in that category, or talking about how great testing is in this country, he tries to engage in that same kind of rosy talk behind closed doors. And, obviously, the top health experts of the United States, they know the difference between reality and what's going on inside the president's head. And according to this source familiar with this meeting, the president just doesn't get it. Now, one another interesting takeaway from this meeting according to this source is that there seems to be a difference between the president responds to information and Vice President Mike Pence responds to this information. According to the source familiar with the Oval Office meeting yesterday, the president obviously will demonstrate that he doesn't get it. Mike Pence, according to the source, will imply or communicate to members of the task force that he does understand what's happening in the country with this pandemic, but he tries to temper his comments or censor himself in a way that he doesn't get out of line with the president, so he remains in lockstep with the president. And it does send a message, according to the source, that vice President Pence is somewhat, quote, conflicted in how he deals with this pandemic. But the overall takeaway from this meeting is that the president just doesn't get it, something obviously we've been reporting on for months and months, interesting though that he demonstrates it behind closed doors. The other thing we should point out, according to the source, the president just in a sour mood in this meeting, just not his usual self, according to this source, saying the president is just not in a happy mood these days and perhaps that's because the election is fast approaching. Jim and Poppy?</s>SCIUTTO: Jim Acosta, thanks for a view inside that meeting. Joining us now to discuss, former director of the CDC, Dr. Tom Frieden. Dr. Frieden, always good to have you on. First, it is important to look at where we stand as a country in this outbreak, and I just want to show a map of cases, states where case numbers are rising, falling and steady. And it's the first time we've had a map where most states are seeing falls. Now, we should note, some context here that along the east coast, we are seeing some influence of the hurricane, Isaias, because there has been less testing, therefore, you're finding less cases there. But I wonder, does that reflect your sense of where we stand in the outbreak now? Are there any signs of hope in those declines?</s>DR. TOM FRIEDEN, FORMER CDC DIRECTOR: Well, there is hope in parts of the country, parts of the northeast where the virus remains at low levels, though far from gone. But, overall, Jim, the virus is winning and the American people are losing, and we need to focus on what's happening. 1,400 dead in one day is just a toll that is unacceptable, and we need to up our game. We need a strategic approach to rapidly fixing the testing charade where people are waiting a week or two for results and we're paying hundreds of millions of dollars for companies that are doing tests that are of little or no value. We need to get ready for the next phase. What you're seeing across the south is, yes, the trends are getting better, but they're still at a very, very high rate.</s>SCIUTTO: Right.</s>HARLOW: We heard from the president this morning a number of things, but the most alarming, at least to my ears, as a parent, was to hear what the president said about children. Let's listen to this.</s>DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: My view is the schools should open. This thing is going away. It will go away, like things go away. And my view is that schools should be open. If you look at children, children are almost -- and I would almost say definitely, but almost immune from this disease.</s>HARLOW: Dr. Frieden, for any parent listening to that, are children almost immune from coronavirus?</s>FRIEDEN: Absolutely not. Children are much less likely to get severely ill from coronavirus. That's absolutely true. They may be a thousand times less likely to get severely ill, it's rare, but it happens. You have rare long-term effects, including inflammatory conditions. Children may be a little less likely to get infected and we don't know how likely they are to spread it to other, but they're not immune from the disease. No one who hasn't had it is immune from this disease. This disease is going to be with us for the long-term. And the more we come to terms with that, the more we can protect ourselves and our kids. All of us would love to get kids back to school in the fall in person if possible. But, frankly, Poppy, there's a choice. You can either keep your bars open or have a chance of having your schools open, but it is almost certain you can't do both.</s>SCIUTTO: You mentioned the need for a national strategy. Every expert, yourself included, has been calling on that for months. Not clear -- it's pretty clear we're not going one, at least with the president's leadership. He's not only not doing it, he seems to be opposed to it. Is the patchwork that is developing in place of that, some states with a plan, a little bit more money from Congress now for testing, aid to states, is that enough to get this under control or do you need something that is comprehensive, a national plan, national standards and national testing?</s>FRIEDEN: Jim, I think the next best thing and perhaps the most important thing all of us can do right now is make sure that every state and every community has transparent information and we released a list of 15 essential indicators. And most states, not through their fault but because of lack of federal guidance, are not reporting most of these, key indicators that tell us two things. One, what is your risk in your community? And two, how well is your community doing to reduce that risk so you can go out again, your kids can go to school, you can go to work, we can save lives and get our economy back. Those essential indicators need to be reported publicly. Some of them are available, but not being shared with the public. That's not okay. We all need to know. This is a matter of life and death. And the more we're on the same page, the more we can work together to defeat the virus.</s>HARLOW: Thank you so much, Dr. Frieden, for being here and for that insight. Let's go to our Dianne Gallagher. She is in Georgia for us this morning. And just talking about children, Dianne, you have a school in Northern Georgia where a second grader tested positive for COVID-19 after just the first day of school.</s>DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, children obviously not immune from getting COVID-19 because a second grader at a Cherokee County Elementary School here in Georgia did test positive and now all of that child's classmates and teacher are having to quarantine for 14 days just out of precaution because it is possible that COVID-19, they were exposed to it. Now, school started in-person on Monday. There are some pictures that the district posted from Sixes Elementary from that first day of school. We don't know if this is that second-grade classroom, but it is the first day of school. And while most of the children are wearing masks, not all of them are, you can see in some of these pictures that there's not necessarily a whole lot of social distancing. But the school has said they would provide masks for students who came and didn't have one if they wanted it, that they were not going to mandate masks unless the state mandated masks. And the governor has said repeatedly he's not going to do that. Now, again, that teacher is going to be quarantining from home and continuing to teach virtually. At this point, we are told the teacher does not have symptoms. But, again, we're talking three days after classes started, already students having to go home to quarantine because of exposure. Jim? Poppy?</s>SCIUTTO: Dianne Gallagher, thanks very much. We'll watch closely. Senate Democrats say, as the election approaches, that the American people need to know who is spreading false information just three months away from the vote. My next guest was in a classified briefing with the administration just yesterday and we'll speak to the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Menendez.</s>HARLOW: With this pandemic still clearly not under control, how many students are going to go to classrooms? How many will physically return in school and be able to stay there for this semester? The mayor of Topeka, Kansas, who has two teenagers herself who want to be in school, she's going to talk to us about the struggle educators and parents are facing. And thousands across the country do not have a home to quarantine in. The steps some cities are taking in to protect this vulnerable group from COVID-19.