President Trump Relying On Dr. Atlas Over Dr. Fauci As COVID-19 Continues To Spread Throughout U.S.
LEMON: The coronavirus death toll in this country now passing 184,000 people. More than 6 million Americans have been infected. But instead of listening to Dr. Fauci, sources tell CNN that the president is relying on Dr. Scott Atlas, a former Fox News guest known for pushing strategies that are at odds with the medical community. Let's discuss now. Dr. Leana Wen is here. She is an Emergency Room Physician and former Baltimore city health commissioner. Doctor, good to see you. Thanks so much for doing this. Doctor, Dr. Fauci is getting sidelined by Dr. Atlas who now has the president's ear and the White House seemed resigned to what they see as inevitable, the virus is spreading. Are you worried that the president hired someone who only tells him what he wants to hear?</s>LEANA WEN, FORMER HEALTH COMMISSIONER, BALTIMORE: Absolutely, I am first of all very concerned that Dr. Fauci may be getting sidelined. He is the top infectious disease doctor in our country, one of the foremost public health expert in the world. He's also consistently spoken the truth about this pandemic and has been really humble all the way explaining what it is that we know, what it is that we don't know, and as a result has gained the public's trust. Now to hear that President Trump may be listening to this other doctor whom has talked about theories like the herd immunity theory, this very dangerous concept that would result in us infecting potentially hundreds of millions of people and having 1 million to 2 million Americans die in order to get there, I mean, to know that that's who the president is listening to in the middle of this pandemic is really concerning, because we should be letting public health lead and not trying to silence the voice of science.</s>LEMON: I should tell that Dr. Atlas is denying that he is pushing a herd community strategy. This is what he said about that. This was March. Here it is.</s>SCOTT ATLAS, PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER: It's important for people to understand medical science to know that natural human immunity of populations that is sometimes called herd immunity, it's very important that that develops. That's how viruses are eradicated.</s>LEMON: So Dr. Atlas supported herd immunity recently and now the administration officials say that the policies he's pushing could achieve the same result. Explain why officials are so concerned with this approach, Dr. Wen.</s>WEN: Well, it's unclear exactly, what is the strategy of the Trump administration at this point. Basically they're saying we should re- open no matter what. We should have kids come back to school no matter what. We should re-open businesses, no matter what. We should have bars open, even though we know that indoor bars are very high risk for transmitting the infection. In essence it seems like what they're doing is to say, we hope that there will be a vaccine soon, but in the meantime let's just -- let it rip. Let everybody go about doing their normal activities and see what happens. But we see the impact of this. We see skyrocketing numbers of infections in certain areas. We're seeing that just as other places are able to control their infection with mitigations measures like mask wearing and restricting indoor gatherings that other places are surging. And what this results in, Don, is preventable deaths. And we should not let that happen on our watch.</s>LEMON: So Dr. Wen, Admiral Brett Giroir, the administration's coronavirus testing czar, he says that he doesn't live in a utopian world where everybody can get a test every day. He says he lives in the real world. He might be annoyed that he is still being asked about the testing but the reality is, the country still needs more testing and faster testing.</s>WEN: That's exactly right. I think that Admiral Giroir also has things backwards. We should stop justifying why it is that we don't need more tests. We all know that we need more tests. So, why don't we figure out, what is the number that we need? And then figure out a strategy to get there. And actually, Admiral Giroir does live in this utopia world, because he's around the White House. And in the White House, they do have daily test for everyone who needs one, who wants one, who was there. We have major league sports that have these daily test. We have universities that now are having twice weekly or three times weekly test. So, this is something that is possible. And I can tell you as a parent, I would feel so much better about sending my toddler back to preschool if I knew that all the students and staff and teachers were getting tested all the time. So, if that's possible, why don't we aim to get there?</s>LEMON: I wonder if that's too much to expect. I mean, should we have testing like you just mentioned this utopian society because he lives in -- he's around the White House. Should we have it for frontline workers and teachers and essential workers?</s>WEN: We absolutely should. We should have it for individuals who are higher risk as a start. If there are relatively scarce resources we need to allocate the resources to those who needed the most, but then we also need this level of widespread screening testing. At least 50 percent of all the spread of COVID-19 is from people who don't have any symptoms. Who don't know that they are infected and their unknown spreading it. So there's no way for us to contain the infection unless we can implement that kind of widespread surveillance testing, which is something that we just don't have yet.</s>LEMON: Dr. Wen, thank you, be safe. I appreciate it, I'll see you soon.</s>WEN: Thank you.</s>LEMON: Now, I want to get to Dianne Gallagher now with the very latest on the setback for a potential coronavirus therapy pushed by President Trump.</s>DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A National Institutes of Health panel says doctors should not use convalescent plasma as a standard of care for COVID-19 until more study has been done. This is a little more than a week after the FDA issued an emergency use authorization and President Trump praised it as a historic breakthrough.</s>TRUMP: It's an incredible rate of success. Today's action will dramatically expand access to this treatment.</s>GALLAGHER: But the National Institutes of Health saying in a statement today, quote, there were insufficient data to recommend either for or against the use of convalescent plasma for the treatment of COVID-19. There are now three potential coronavirus vaccines in phase three human trials here in the United States, but Dr. Anthony Fauci is cautioning that proven safety is far more important than speed when it comes to a vaccine.</s>ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALERGY AND INFECTOUS DISEASE: You don't want a vaccine to be available widely to the American public unless it's been shown to be safe and effective.</s>GALLAGHER: After saying that a vaccine could be authorized for emergency use or even approved before human trials are completed, FDA commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn now says he consider resigning if he was pushed to authorize a vaccine before it was ready.</s>STEPHEN HAHN, FDA COMMISIONER: I think all options are on the table. With respect, I hope we won't be in that position.</s>GALLAGHER: If one is approved it's expected to be initially be in short supply.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of the companies that are in phase three trials are also saying that they'll have to do vaccines that are not single dose, but double dose vaccines.</s>GALLAGHER: So, who gets it? Well, today an independent committee appointed to help advice the federal government released a four-phase proposal that starts with health-care workers, first responder and people with conditions that make them especially vulnerable to COVID- 19. As testing totals decline, Admiral Brett Giroir, who leads U.S. testing efforts announced $5 antigen tests will be sent out to states starting in a few weeks but also said he was tired of being asked about cheap quick tests for every American.</s>ADM. BRETT GIROIR, HHS ASSISTANT SECRETARY: I don't live in a utopian world. I live in the real world. And the real world had no test for this new disease when this first started.</s>GALLAGHER: Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, responded on Twitter, saying that's what White House staff and major league sports get now. Sure, let's call it utopia when it's for the less privileged. The average number of daily cases and deaths have declined over the past seven days. As a coronavirus surge now appears to be moving from the south to the Midwest. But officials are concerned about what Labor Day weekend might bring, since cases spiked in many areas in the week after Memorial Day weekend and the Fourth of July.</s>MAYOR SYLVESTER TURNER (D), HOUSTON, TX: As we approach Labor Day, let me encourage people to be mindful. The virus is still looking for you. And so, if you come together, then you will give it a home.</s>GALLAGHER: Dianne Gallagher, CNN, Atlanta.</s>LEMON: Dianne, thank you so much. New questions about President Trump's health after a book says Vice President Pence was put on standby to assume the president's power while he made an unplanned trip to Walter Reed Medical Center. The president denying again tonight that he had a stroke. Plus, a Democratic group is warning Election Day could look like a Trump landslide, but those results won't be what they seem.