C.A. Gov: Some Retail Shops Can Begin To Reopen Friday; The New Normal: Masks; No Handshakes.
BLITZER: California is one of more than 40 states moving ahead now with reopening even as new coronavirus hotspots are emerging across the U.S. CNN's Dan Simon is joining us. Dan, California's governor is opening up some retail shops on Friday. But Los Angeles, I understand, may take a slower approach. What's the latest?</s>DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. On Friday, we're going to begin seeing a gradual reopening of California's economy. What Governor Newsom is saying is that retail shops can open up with some modification. So what are we talking about? We're talking about anything that is a retail shop like a florist, a toy store, a bookstore, sporting goods stores, they can open up but this will not be the full shopping experience. Basically customers can order things and they can pick up their items at the curb. What it does allow, Wolf, is for these companies to begin generating revenue once again and for some employees to go back to work and earn a paycheck. Now Los Angeles and San Francisco feel like Governor Newsom is going too far for them at the moment. So they're going to slow things down and not open right away. They haven't indicated exactly when they will allow these retail shops to reopen. But it certainly will not be on Friday, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: You know, what's also interesting, Dan, is that there's this new study out in California that reveals that people who can't work from home make up the bulk of the coronavirus infections. Tell us about that.</s>SIMON: Well, this was a study done by UCSF of the Mission District and what they found is that a majority of the people who were infected were, one, they were Latino, but they were also people who could not work from home. These were frontline workers who had to go out of the home to find some kind of work. So, it does reveal that obviously, the folks who are not impacted by the quarantine, the people who are out in the field as it were, these were the folks who are getting infected. Wolf?</s>BLITZER: All right, very interesting. Dan Simon reporting from California. Since more and more states are relaxing restrictions right now, CNN's Brian Todd has been consulting with health experts on what that so called new normal might eventually look like. Brian, what are you discovering?</s>BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, even with reopenings and some restrictions being lifted, top health experts are telling us why risk it. Why go back to taking no precautions. There are some measures, they say, that we really need to hold on to.</s>DR. TOM FRIEDEN, FORMER CDC DIRECTOR: When we go out, it's not going to be back to normal. It's going to be to a new normal with hand sanitizer and perhaps face masks where it's spreading widely and no touch doors and no touch elevator buttons and lots of ways to engineer risk out of our lives.</s>TODD (voice-over): Public health experts hope people keep wearing face masks in public after this and the next waves of coronavirus pass, at least for several months. Much like millions of people in Asia did for years after the SARS outbreak passed in the early 2000. And experts say, Americans can get used to them.</s>PROF. ALEXANDRA PHELAN, GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH EXPERT GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: It is possible that as people get more comfortable wearing masks here in the United States, that we will see that acceptance and that we'll see people feel more comfortable wearing masks -- mask in the future.</s>TODD (voice-over): Top physician say it's important to remember what masks are used for. Usually not to prevent you from getting COVID-19, but to prevent you from transmitting it to others if you're infected.</s>DR. PETER HOTEZ, DEAN OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: Just through the act of speaking, you're actually shedding virus into the environment. And that mask keeps those virus particles from spreading out -- spreading any appreciable distance. So you greatly reduce the likelihood that you're going to spread virus at your place of work, or if you're in a restaurant,</s>TODD (voice-over): Masks have become so critical that cottage industries have popped up to get them in circulation, and sports gear manufacturers and clothing lines like Brooks Brothers and Gap have pivoted to mask making. But many are still resisting mask wearing and flouting distancing guidelines. Like at this Cinco de Mayo gathering in Jacksonville.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, 6 feet mean is different things to many people.</s>TODD (voice-over): But health officials say distancing has to be part of the new normal. And as for handshakes, America's leading voice in this pandemic says, never again.</s>DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES: As a society, just forget about shaking hands. We don't need to shake hands. We got to break that custom.</s>TODD (voice-over): And one expert says there are practices we haven't thought about during this pandemic that we should get ready to adopt.</s>HOTEZ: We're finding people who've been in places where there's a lot of virus around like in hospitals have significant amount of virus on their shoes, so possibly taking off our shoes when we walk in houses that may become kind of a new normal.</s>TODD: Dr. Peter Hotez says another part of the new normal may very well be that we get used to hearing from our top scientists more and more, maybe even looking to them more than our elected leaders. He says, for decades, scientists have been invisible but now and going forward, they're likely to become some of our most popular public voices on many, many issues, Wolf?</s>BLITZER: Brian Todd, very good report. Thank you very much. The new normal as they say. Coming up, thanks to CNN's global resources. We're about to get an update on some of the topics coronavirus stories around the world, including China's latest very angry response to the scathing criticism it's getting from the Trump administration. We'll be right back.