state who perpetrated the alleged harassment or mention sexual assault. now, erin, what makes reporting on the story so complicated is that we're talking about a period of time some 30 years ago and tara reade told cnn she vaguely remembered ben savage, the ex-colleague even though he told us their two desks were next to each other and the two of them worked closely together. erin? >> m.j., thank you very much. thanks to all of you for joining us. anderson starts now. >> and good evening. thanks for joining us. with close to 92,000 lives lost in this country, 36 million people out of work, the president signalled once again today that the coronavirus outbreak isn't really about either of those numbers nor those human beings they represent. instead, once again today, the president made it very clear to him it's about himself, number one. he underscored yet again that he seems to be treating this pandemic as just another battle

in the ongoing war of him and him alone against his perceived enemies, whether it's the press, the experts or even today a study done under the auspices of government scientists. it's a world view in which none of which really happening truly matters except as it affects the president and his chances for reelection. or even merely annoys him. so today when asked whether he has a plan to address the needs of the unemployed, he took umbrage. instead of respecting those 36 million people and giving a few specifics, he focused on himself and the reporter asking on their behalf was allegedly treating him. >> why haven't you announced a plan to get 36 million unemployed americans back to work? you're overseeing economic despair? what is the plan? >> we're opening up our country. just a rude person you are. we're opening up our country. we're opening it up very fast. the plan is each state is opening and it's opening up very

effectively. when you see the numbers, i think even you will be impressed, which is pretty hard to impress you. yeah, go ahead, please. go ahead. >> enough of you, he said. but he had nothing actually specific to say to the 36 million men and women now wondering how to support their families and themselves. he also would not commit to following the rules about wearing masks that apply to everyone or anyone entering the ford plant he's visiting on thursday. rules we might add so many people seem willing and happy to follow, even if it's a little uncomfortable to keep others safe from the virus, which is the point of wearing a mask. for other people. here's what the president said about that. >> do you plan to wear one when you go there on thursday? >> i don't know. i haven't even thought of it. it depends. i mean, you know, in certain areas i would, in certain areas i don't. but i will certainly look at it. it depends on what situation. am i standing right next to everybody or am i spread out?

and also you look, you know, is something a hospital, is it a ward, what is it exactly? i'm going to a plant, so we'll see. where it's appropriate i would do it certainly. >> well, if he does, it would be a first according to our white house team who say he has never been seen wearing a mask, even though a bit more than a week ago he made wearing one mandatory for his staff in the west wing. you recall he also said it's not his thing, quote, somehow i don't see it for myself. not even when greeting veterans of the second world war and greeting is the word here. honoring these men in their 90s. national treasures they are, the last members of a noble generation would mean protecting them from a deadly virus by wearing a mask even if it may not be your thing. does seem there is at least social distancing. because it's not about one person. it's about the many people who see that person and model their behavior on what they see, which brings us to the one item which

clearly is the president's thing, the drug hydroxychloroquine which the president last night said he's now taking despite studies showing it doesn't help and sometimes causes life-threatening heart problems. >> hydroxychloroquine, causes serious side effects, would that be -- why is it okay for you to promote the use of this drug when you're not a doctor and -- >> well, i've worked with doctors. and if you look at the one survey, the only bad survey that were giving it to people that were in very bad shape, they were very old, almost dead. it was a trump enemy statement. >> it was a trump enemy statement. only in this time right now, i mean, only in this environment that we are living in could a study -- a scientific study -- be seemed by the president of the united states a "trump enemy

statement." it's just weird stuff. about the study, just so you know, it was funded by the n.i.h. where dr. fauci works, and the university of virginia. and it looked at hundreds of patients at v.a. hospitals, veterans who, according to president trump, were ready to die. it showed that patients receiving the drug were no less likely to need mechanical ventilation, it didn't keep them off the ventilators. and some of those receiving the drugs actually had higher death rates compared to those who did not take the drug. but it was not peer reviewed and certainly not the final word on the subject. but it's also in line with other studies that have been done. it also wasn't, by any measure, a trump enemy statement. i mean, we are now in an environment where a scientific study, again, not peer reviewed, but a legitimate study is somehow everything is through the lens for this president of

politics and for or against and division. it wasn't even about -- the study wasn't about donald trump at all, except as the president is choosing to make it. it was about the search for a treatment to stop a pandemic affecting the entire planet. i can guarantee you the doctors and the scientists who are actually interacting with patients every day, who are actually holding the hands and nurses who are holding the hands of people who die. i guarantee you, they're not thinking about politics. they want a -- or anything other than finding something that will save people's lives. do you really believe doctors and nurses and scientists, that they care more about the president and politics than they do about actually just saving a person's life? is that why they became doctors and nurses and scientists? i don't think so. they don't care about the political fortunes of donald trump. the study is nothing about that. just as the fda's warning about the side effects of

hydroxychloroquine wasn't about president trump. but in his mind, it probably is. it's about preventing potentially thousands of lost lives, even the president who continues to defend his drug of choice because it's his drug of choice. >> hydroxychloroquine is used by thousands and thousands of front-line workers so that hopefully they don't catch this horrible disease or whatever you want to call it. it is a terrible virus. it's a terrible thing. and a lot of people are taking it, a lot of doctors are taking it, lot of people swear by it. it's gotten a bad reputation only because i'm promoting it, so i'm obviously a very bad promoter. if anybody else were promoting it, they'd say this is the greatest thing ever. but because of me -- >> again, with me. as for the front-line workers he's talking about, we obviously can't speak to them all. however, we did reach out to front-line professionals who are

familiar faces on the program and cnn global town hall. they include e.r. doctors, infectious disease specialists, epidemiologists, e.r. nurse, c.e.o., people from all corners of the public health professions. none of the people you see on the screen are taking the drug. they've seen the effects, side effects of the drug. like the president, they, too, have the lives and well-being of many people to consider. where they differ from the president is how they're handling that awesome responsibility. joining us now is the dean of the school of public health at the state university of new york in albany. lead researcher of one recent major study of hydroxychloroquine. david, thanks for joining us again. first of all, when you hear the president talking like this about hydroxychloroquine, what's your reaction? >> well, i think it's important to be able to separate a what a public official does as a private patient and what they might talk to their physician about versus what they say when they're speaking as a public

official and government leader. i think when someone speaks as a government leader, it's really important that they be able to describe what we know and what we not know in the literature and to be able to talk completely what does the evidence say, what are we finding in the new england journal of medicine study, our study in the journal of american medical association, and to give people complete information about what's working, what's not working and what potential side effects are. i think it's also important that when a public official comes forward, there is a reflection of what their access to medical care might be compared to people's access to medical care in the general population. we've heard from the fda and n.i.h. and others that these drugs, hydroxychloroquine, especially with a signatuazithr be in a controlled trial. when we think about access to care that the president has, it is much more like someone being in constant care and

supervision. when people in the general public are considering whether or not they should take these drugs, their level of access to care may not be the same. and i think that's a really important point to keep in mind as well. >> it's an incredibly important point. and people, you know, who have constant access to a doctor on-call are treated a different way than people who do not. and they should be aware of that when sort of regailing the public who do not have that kind of access. to be clear you were the lead researcher in the study on the drug and the results showed that there was no -- correct me if i'm wrong. there was no statistically significant difference between the people who took the drug and those who did not in coronavirus infections. there was a higher incidence of cardiac events, heart attacks, other, i guess a cardiac events with people who were taking hydroxychloroquine, is that correct? >> that's right. so, we did an observational

study, not a randomized control trial, but an observation at study of a little over 1400 patients from 25 different hospitals in the new york city metropolitan region. and we looked at to what extent physicians used hydroxychloroquine with or without a azithromycin and what effect that had on in-hospital deaths and abnormal heart rig rhythms and cardiac arrest. you're right, anderson, we didn't find a statistically significant benefit in terms of death rate or abnormal heart rhythms. when we looked at hydroxychloroquine plus a azithromycin on cardiac arrest, what we saw was a statistically significantly elevated level. so that's an area of important concern to keep in mind. >> and just, you know, overall, look, you were on when the study was first announced. there was not an ounce of political glee or anything in your voice and your presentation about the results of this study.

president saying this has an anti-trump study. when you hear that, i mean, i hesitate to even ask you this question because it seems insulting because you are a professional. but i have to ask you, is there any -- was there any animus toward president trump or did that even enter your mind when doing this study? >> no, not at all. and i think that when anyone goes into a treatment study, given the severity of covid-19 as a disease, given the scope of this pandemic, everyone who is doing research looking at different treatments hopes those treatments work. you go into these -- this line of work hoping that one could find some medications, some vaccines that are going to alleviate human suffering and save lives. if anything, it would be great to be able to come on your show and say if people took these two pills, they would be doing much better and have recovered. but when we look at this

literature, that's not what we see so far in terms of treatment. it's important to see additional studies on prevention. but rather, it's our responsibility as researchers to come and tell what the data said and to give the complete picture and the complete truth. and what we can do is not only report on that, but to subject our findings to really intensive peer review. and i think journals like journal of medical association, new england journal of medicine, it's really important because they're subjecting those papers to very careful peer review. and we have to be complete and honest in what we find in those studies. and when we published our paper we included many supplementary tables to be as open as we could. you're right in your summary, anderson. >> i appreciate all that you do and i appreciate the way you do it. thank you very much for being with us. joining us now is cnn chief medical correspondent sanjay gupta, cardiologist erik topol, founder of the scripps ranch

institute. and gloria borger. you heard what david said and what president trump said. how do you square those two things? >> well, i think that everything the doctor said is backed up by all the studies now. there's 13 studies, three randomized trials. there's no sign of any efficacy -- and there is a sign of significant hazard. so, across the spectrum of people with mild symptoms or the most severe symptoms, there is no benefit of hydroxychloroquine with or without a azithromycin. so i think the data he just reviewed, and you framed it so well, is really in keeping with a drug that doesn't work in the settings that i just reviewed. and now we're taking it to an even worse extreme, which is as a preventive therapy that hasn't been assessed. and no less, we don't even know the dose, the doses in those various trials i just mentioned,

are all over the place. so there are so many unknowns, but the main signal is risk and it's serious. it's heart arrhythmias and potential for fatal event. >> sanjay, this is medical guidance being changed and distorted not only by the president but now reinforced by members of his own cabinet all because he just decided to do in and not back down from it. and i guess now he sees a political benefit in sort of being, you know, this adds to his belief or his attempts to show that he's the tough guy, the powerful guy who thumbs his nose at conventional wisdom, blah, blah, blah, that sort of thing. but the idea that we're now in an environment where even science, you know, which is fact based and rigorous and, you know, even people who do these studies point out the flaws in their own studies, that it was -- you heard from the previous guest saying, yes, this

study is not pier reviewed. we need peer review. it seems like now everything, the whole idea of president trump is to destroy every institution, question every institution and put elements of doubt into everything so that truth doesn't -- there is no truth any more. it's all just who you believe or what you believe. there's nothing that is a fact. and yet that is -- there are facts and there is truth. >> i mean, it's really scary, anderson, especially when you describe it like that. there is no truth. i mean, is that the world in which we're now living? luckily i think as a medical science reporter, i've always had the luxury of being able to hold up data and facts and science and wrap it up in some sort of logic for people. people don't always listen. i get that. but the idea that somehow there's competing interests and, therefore, things can be gained

in that way. maybe i'm here to say that's not the case despite what we're hearing from the white house, that these are bad scientists because they gave a result that he didn't like. you know, science is not perfect. it keeps evolving. that's why we do studies and make the studies bigger and prospective and randomized and all the things we need to do. but with regard to hydroxychloroquine as a treatment, i think, you know, the data is becoming increasingly clear. again, you heard the caveats. but the idea it doesn't help, might hurt, is a real concern as a treatment. the idea around prophylaxis, you know, giving it preventively, we don't know, there is no evidence to show that works as dr. topol was saying. those studies are still ongoing. look, anderson, i would love it if there was a prophylactic like that that was low side effects or no side effects and could help people from getting this infection. we don't know that yet. and there is a harm when people

are starting to hoard this and other people not able to get it as a result. one thing i'm worried about, and this is something i spoke to dr. reiner about not that long ago, does the white house know something that we don't know? is the white house acting on information that is not being shared with the public? they're really going deep into this hydroxychloroquine as a preventive. it doesn't make sense. it's likely that he had some sort of exposure, the president, they're worried about it. but if there is information or data that they somehow have come across that is not being shared with the public, that would be deeply concerning and unethical because obviously the public deserves to know that kind of information. we're in that sort of situation now where every bit of information matters. are they hearing something that we don't know? that's something we're trying to dig into. >> yeah, just the flip side of that coin is chances are, no, there is not any secret information that they have. it's that the people who the president talks to on the phone have said, oh, i'm hearing great things about this hydroxything.

my doctor tells me to do t i'm going to do it. and then folks on other networks have secret meetings with their people with the president and tell anecdotal stories about people who rise like lazarus from taking this, and the president listens and that is what influences. gloria, we've seen time and time again he's influenced by the last person who left the room that he was alone with who happened to put an idea in his head. >> totally anecdotal evidence, if you want to call it evidence. i mean, i think what we're seeing here really -- and you touched on this before in your question of sanjay -- is that it's really political right now. i mean, you know, this question of hydroxychloroquine has become sort of the new marker in the culture war. just like wearing a mask in a way has unfortunately become a marker in the culture war. do you believe it's okay to take

hydroxychloroquine or for the president to take it? do you think it might in some crazy way be preventive, which as sanjay says nobody has proven at all. do you think the president is doing the right thing? and i remember back during the 2016 election the president always talked about the potential for an election to be rigged. that's a favorite word of his. now what he's saying is the science is rigged. the scientists are rigged. this is an enemy statement, this academic study, and that anybody who disagrees with him on this question of hydroxychloroquine is because they are an enemy of his and they don't like him. so the signal to the american public, then, is don't believe the science? don't believe what the scientists are telling you, believe me because i have your best interest at heart. >> yeah, let's just be real about this. let's look at the time line on this. the president suddenly discovers

his valet has coronavirus, so he is upset by that. and because suddenly it is in his world and it affects him, suddenly everybody in the white house has to wear a mask. everybody in the white house has to get tested all the time or should be tested all the time. and the president starts taking hydroxychloroquine because all of a sudden he feels in danger, but he's not going to wear a mask because he said publicly, and he thinks it makes him look weak, but even though he may be himself endangering other people around him, he just makes sure everyone else around him wears a mask. for all his talk of being powerful and strong, as soon as it's touching his life in a personal way, he quickly reacts and makes sure everyone else wears a mask. let's not forget that. for all those people saying about not wearing a mask and now the president is talking about

not wearing a mask, he's living in a environment where he's made everyone around him wear a mask because he is not willing to. we're going to see sanjay again shortly. dr. topol, thanks for joining us. of course, he has access to doctors around the clock. coming up next, a new bill tin on how the virus is spread with implications of how to stay safe. putting safety measures to the test as restaurants around the country begin reopening. did you know prilosec otc can stop frequent heartburn before it begins?

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there's breaking news from the cdc to bring you on how the coronavirus is transmitted. we'll have that in a momentment first a quick look at the other late developments. there are plenty. erica hill has that. >> reporter: a packed high school graduation in norm an, oklahoma, looks like a flash back, but it's not. >> we had permission from anybody and everybody we needed, and so we had the graduation. >> reporter: the city manager gave the school the go ahead. 600 people showed up. there were temperature checks, though masks were optional. in delaware face coverings are now mandatory for anyone over 13 at church services. meantime, one often cited model which just revised its predicted death toll down shows masks may be helping. >> 40% of the u.s. wears a mask all the time. about 80% wears a mask sometimes, and that's probably helping separate out the impact of rising mobility. >> reporter: as mobility and testing increase, states are

monitoring new cases. numbers over the past week are up in 17 states, including florida where miami is preparing to reopen parks and businesses tomorrow. >> we're just ready, ready to get back to work. >> reporter: nevada also seeing new cases rise as the venecian expects people june 1st. hawaii seeing a decline in new cases just extended its mandatory 14-day quarantine for visitors through the end of june. in north carolina tyson foods closed this chicken processing plant for the second time in a week due to positive cases. new york city offering a sober picture of those most impacted by the virus. new data broken down by zip code confirming communities of color and low-income areas have seen far more cases and deaths than whiter, wealthier areas mostly in manhattan. the mayor announcing today some of the city's more than 1 million public school students will continue online learning this summer.

>> distance learning creates challenges, but also creates a world of possibilities. and for so many kids this summer will be a chance to keep learning. >> reporter: a handful of universities will limit in-person classes this fall. some ending before thanksgiving. >> we have to be able to deal with this in a way where we can educate our students and keep the campus environment safe and healthy. >> reporter: texas restaurants can increase capacity to 50% on friday, but even that may not be enough. >> it's going to be tough. houston is going to lose some good restaurants. >> reporter: outdoor dining and in-person retail return in connecticut tomorrow. a planned opening for salons has been pushed to june. as concerns grow about just how many small businesses will survive. >> i haven't calculated it, but i'm afraid there could be a c change. >> reporter: and, anderson, as we look at more things

changing -- >> erica, go ahead. >> reporter: anderson, sorry about that. little miscommunication. as we look at more things changing, we are also learning more about sports coming back online. the nfl playing -- training camps rather, opening today. they were asked about mini camps. the medical director said they couldn't give more dates, but more on the dates. major league soccer actually canceled its all-star game set for late july in los angeles. and today we learned that the belmont will be run on june 20th without spectators. that means that this time the belmont will actually be the first in the triple crown series, of course it normally goes last. the kentucky derby not on the calendar, anderson, until september this year. >> i liked our awkward satellite silence where we didn't know who was going to speak first. it was kind of a showdown. >> reporter: it's good stuff. it sort of was. and i'm not sure who won. you did, okay. okay, good. i'm glad, i'm glad you blinked first. >> you won. erica hill, thanks very much. so, with those increaseed reopenings happening around the

country there is new information about how the virus is spreading. in a new bulletin, the cdc says covid-19 spreads far more easily from person to person rather than by contact with contaminated surfaces. according to cdc guidance, this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads, meaning contact from surfaces, but we are still learning more about this virus. want to bring in cnn medical analyst. what is your take on this? a lot of our guests all this time have been saying the primary transmission is person to person, but obviously should people still now be concerned about surfaces? >> anderson, i have to confess i was a little surprised that the cdc guidance was revised in the absence of really much new data on this front. i think we thought all along that person to person transmission was the primary mechanism, but we have seen virus on different surfaces. in fact, just in the last week a publication out of the cdc, the emerging infectious diseases journal, published an article in

which researchers in china were looking at virus in hotel rooms where people who had been isolated so people who had been in contact with cases who then developed the disease, they could actually find virus on those surfaces. now, one thing to qualify there, though, is we don't know if that was live virus or remnants of virus, but we are seeing, you know, still more and more publications attesting to that. so i think in the absence of more hard facts on this, i was a little surprised they altered their guidance accordingly. >> i want to put that graphic if we could back on the screen which is a direct quote from the cdc. i think it's valuable to read out loud. might take us a second. the virus does not spread easily in other ways, but the cdc says from touching surface or bz it may be possible for a person to get covid by touching a surface or object on it touching their nose or eyes. this is not thought to be the

main way the virus spreads, but we are still learning more about this virus. this comes in states that are reopening. there has to be more concern about surfaces in public places, i would assume, than in private ones. >> i think that's right. and so high-touch surfaces, whether it's elevator buttons or door handles or counters in the cafeteria, you know, i think those are still areas that really we do need to pay attention to in terms of decontamination. and until we have a better sense as to what level of transmission there is from contaminated surfaces, i think it's better to be a little bit cautious about this, especially as we are lifting social distancing restrictions and we are finding ourselves in shared spaces again. >> so, just to be clear, as far as you know, this does not come from any new study that was done or anything new. it's just a statement they've made? >> i think it's really a qualification or a further nuance to what they were saying

before, which is that the vast majority, from what we can tell of transmission, is person-to-person transmission. but clearly some can happen through surfaces. and until we can say absolutely that's a very tiny amount of transmission, i think the better part of valor is really to continue our disinfection practices to really make reopening as safe as possible. >> i mean, it does seem like as much as things are reopening and businesses are reopening in places to varying degrees, you know, the good news is that it's ultimately each individual to the extent that they can, they can continue to follow the guidelines that they feel are responsible, wearing a mask, continuing to do social distancing. even if everybody else around them, you know, on the block is not doing it, that may be

unfortunate, but it doesn't mean everybody has to give up the guidelines that they themselves are following. >> that's absolutely right. so you should continue to do what you can do to protect yourself, your family and your community. i think that wearing a mask is probably the most important thing other than hand washing, hand hygiene, that you can be doing to protect yourself right now. but i think paying attention to the surfaces that you're touching and for employers and people who run public spaces to make sure that they do up the ante a bit on how they keep surfaces clean, i think would be the appropriate and cautious thing to do here. >> yeah, dr. gounder, appreciate it. thank you. as more restaurants are opening up around the country, we'll dig deeper into what laboratory science says about the possibility of dining out safely. d spray. well, we used to. new ortho home defense max indoor insect barrier kills and prevents bugs for up to a year without odors, stains or fuss. new ortho home defense max.

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to understand what your wealth is really for. as you heard before the break, despite that updated guideline from the cdc, many scientists are still concerned contaminated surfaces can transmit the coronavirus. and with all states now scheduled to reopen in some fashion or other tomorrow, we wanted to see what that might mean for people who eat at restaurants and may be exposed to germs or eating coronavirus droplets. randi kaye went to florida to see if science can provide any answers. >> should i rub it altogether as well? >> reporter: this yellow tinted goo is a mixture of petroleum jelly and solution. that's going to simulate germs on my hand? >> correct. this will simulate contact spread, you know, from you to other things that you touch and maybe touched by someone else.

>> reporter: dr. patrick hughes is an e.r. dr. who oversees the medicine program at florida atlantic university. hi, ladies. >> hi. >> reporter: he invited us to "lurch" designating me the so-called spreader. so we can see how germs on my hand in coronavirus droplets could be spread. at our table we keep our masks on to protect ourselves and each other. >> menu for you. >> sure, thanks. >> reporter: i poured water for everyone at the table. >> gee, this is great. thanks for having us for "lurch." >> sure. >> reporter: and pass around the food, wondering if i'm passing around the virus, too. >> oh, yeah, awesome, thank you. >> take the bowl. >> thank you. >> reporter: we also share the salt and pepper, then it's time to turn on the ultraviolet lights to see what i may have spread. remember, i was the only one with what could have been the virus on my hand.

you didn't have any germs on you. i was the spreader. so when you look at my hands and look how it transferred to some of you just by sharing items at the table or a knife in this case or a water glass, i mean, it only takes a little bit, right, to make somebody else sick. >> reporter: how about that bowl of chips i passed around? >> you can see where she touched the edge of the bowl to pass it around, the simulated germs, you know, stuck right to the surface. >> reporter: then everybody else touches the bowl. same with the salt and pepper shakers and the pitcher of water. there was contact spread on the cups and menus, too. even my "lurch" friends. >> this is the spot where -- when randi came in to have "lurc lunch, she touched everybody on the shoulder to greet everybody. you can see the palm print on the shirt. >> it's scary the amount of spread one person can have in a room like that. >> we also wanted to see what would happen if you're out to dinner with your family or

friend at a restaurant and somebody coughs. so, let's turnout the lights and let's see the cough. there were now more droplets on the bowl of chips, the menus and the water pitcher, too. look what happened to the fork after the simulated cough. those would be real germs if that was a real cough. on my fork i would have picked up the fork, not being able to see those germs with the naked eye. even the woman sitting to my right several feet away from the mannequin that coughed had droplets on her face. >> you can see it's on her face, her glasses, her mask. >> reporter: if she wasn't wearing a mask she would have breathed it in. >> correct. >> randi joins us now. what did the doctor there advise when it comes to dining out? obviously don't be sharing menus and other items. >> reporter: right. it was pretty gross, anderson, as you could see. the doctor that we spoke with, i asked him, i said, would you go out? granted he's very busy working in the e.r. he said, new york city i would

not go out to eat right now. people should think long and hard about that. the real question is can you protect yourself if you do go out. and the problem is, anderson, as you know, you can't ware a mask if you're eating out. you can't wear gloves depending on the kind of food you're eating. in some of these cities you can't social distance because the restaurants are tight quarter. that makes it difficult, too. and you don't just leave it at the restaurant. i used my telephone as we all do. we keep it on the table when we're eating out somewhere with friends, maybe to take a picture or take a call. and then you take your cell phone from that restaurant which has the simulated germs on it or perhaps the real germs, you take it home, you p put it in your car, maybe you take it to the bank and the store, and you keep spreading it. that's all part of the problem, anderson. >> randi, appreciate it. randi kaye, thanks so much. want to bring in sanjay gupta. what did you make of randi's piece and what's your advice on how people can protect themselves? >> yeah, that was quite something to see how those microbes spread around.

obviously you can't wear a mask when you're eating, when you're out to eat. i think there's a couple things. one is that clearly obviously it's not from touching the surface alone that you're going to be getting potentially infection, but it's potentially touching the surface and touching your eyes, nose and your mouth. so just being really conscientious -- it's funny, anderson, the last few months i'm so much more conscientious about not touching my face. even when i'm doing live sholts with you. my face feels an itch. making sure i don't scratch t. making sure your hands are as clean as possible when you're out at these places. you can assume things are contaminated. i think the point randi was making along with the doctor, right now for indoor restaurants, probably a challenging environment to be as safe as possible. >> yeah, i think i scratched my chin earlier in the program. sanjay, thanks very much. a lot more ahead. a lot more ahead tonight with president trump laying the blame on china for the pandemic. the question, how much has

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time and time again president trump has blamed china for the coronavirus outbreak. there is toefevidence to show c

has not been transparent in the early days of this. what about domestic political considerations when it comes to scientists for the centers disease control and prevention? here's senior investigative correspondent drew griffin. >> reporter: multiple sources inside the centers for disease control tell cnn they are convinced politics, not science, is the driving force behind the white house response to covid-19 and those decisions have made the effects of the pandemic in the united states worse. >> now, there hasn't been as much input from the cdc from my point of view. >> reporter: cnn spoke to six current cdc staff members, and many of them say the white house has stifled the cdc and its coronavirus response. and at times limited its ability to provide health information to the public. one source telling cnn, we are working under a black cloud of an administration that doesn't have our backs. another saying, we've been muzzled. dr. james curran is dean of public health at emory

university and former assistant at the cdc. >> has the cdc been sidelined here? >> i think once you feel the work goes through a political lens, it gets very, very discouraging. >> a cdc internal daily report obtained by cnn found evidence of local transition in 29 other countries. two days later that had grown to 85 international locations. the next day, march 5, three of the top six countries affected by the disease are in europe. internal emails reveal a cdc global travel alert is about to be issued, expected to be posted that night. it would have urged precautions for international travel anywhere, almost two months after a travel warning had been issued for china. but it was delayed for unexplained reasons.

the travel alert that was supposed to be posted march 5th does not take place until march 11th, the same day president trump would announce his restrictions on most flights coming in from europe. >> we will be suspending all travel from europe to the united states for the next 30 days. >> reporter: each day of delay bringing exponentially more coronavirus exposure to the east coast of the united states, according to dr. ali kahn, a former cdc official. >> those were the days when these cases were essentially being transported via air travel. we have really good genetic data that probably two to six weeks before we started to see the peak in new york, cases were already slowly spreading within the new york area. >> one official inside the cdc said they told the white house about the virus's rapid spread across europe but that the white house was extremely focused on

china and not wanting to anger europe, even though that's where most of our cases were origin originally coming from. khan said the original sin was the botched test at the cdc was lost time and allowed politics to intervene. >> if we have testing in place, people very quickly would have recognized there were cases in the u.s. probably in early january that were being missed. similarly we would have identified people coming in from europe if we had widespread testing across the united states. >> drew, have you heard from the white house or cdc about this? >> no, no answers from any of our questions and that's not surprising been the politics of the situation. but cdc officials say we don't need politics in this. we need science and data to drive decision making and right now the cdc is being shunned at the white house. >> thanks, drew griffin.

up next, we remember some of the victims of the coronavirus, including the wife of john glen, a nurse who broke barriers in the 1950s and a retired paramedic who give his life to save others.

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because they never quit. tonight we remember more of those who have died because of the coronavirus. annie glen, probably best known as the wife of astronaut john

glen. they are married for 68 years before john glenn died in 2016. she was his wife through it all, the wars he fought, the time he served in the senate, the two historic trips to space. but she was a hero in her own right. she lived with a severe stutter for most of her life. as a child she estimated she couldn't speak 85% of the tilme. can you imagine what that must have been like? it wasn't until she was in her 50s after intense therapy that she felt she could speak with confidence. she even spoke in public for her cause, something she never imagined she could do for most of her life. she was known as a woman for an endless amount of courage for herself and her family. she was 100 years old. and the corliss henry was the

first black nurse. she joined after receiving special permission from the board. her friends and colleagues say she endured a lot of racism in her life but she never lot it stop her. she was 95 years old. what a life she lived. paul carey was a retired firefighter and paramedic from colorado who drove nearly 1,800 miles in new york city in late march to help battle the virus. he came here to help. health care works are were overwhelmed at the time. help was badly needed. paul volunteered. he spent three weeks transporting patients to the hospitals. he started showing symptoms. in his family's words, he left this world a better place and they're right. he was 66 years old. now i hand it over to chris

cuomo. >> thank you, anderson. so the model projects less deaths between now and august, if and only if people wear masks. so trump, of course, refuses to wear one. that's all you need to know about this president. forget the rest of the noise about what he's taking or what he's doing. history will remember his as the story of inaction. inaction on masks, testing, tracing. and i hope now you know why. he sees it all as bad because he just wants to reopen, regardless of the risks, because he think it is would be better for him. he does not care what happens to the rest of us apparently. so tonight i have no interest in what he's saying or not doing. i want the best ideas on what you and i should do for our families. how to handle work situations, school,