U.S. death toll nears 100,000 in just three months; Trump pursues debunked conspiracy theory, attacks critics on Twitter as U.S. approaches 100K deaths; Record number of complaints filed against airlines as passengers change, cancel plans; Chief: 4 officers fired after black man’s death in police custody; Trump Admin bans travelers from Brazil as cases surge; MLB, NBA, NHL & NFL all in talks to return with COVID-19 restrictions;
The Lead with Jake Tapper
CNN
3.5 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 26 May 2020
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
U.S. nears 100,000 coronavirus deaths, a tragic milestone experts say could have been avoided; CDC data shows 65+ are 80% of deaths but only 22% of cases; New York Stock Exchange partially reopens; Merck announces it is working on two potential vaccines; CDC: Antibody tests might be wrong half the time; 17 states trending up in cases; 13 are flat; 20 trending down; Trump mocks Biden for wearing a mask as U.S. approaches 100,000 deaths; GOP governors plead with residents not to politicize face masks; Poll: 67% of Americans want President Trump to wear a mask; Consumer advocates say airlines are playing games to avoid paying refunds, issue vouchers instead; CNN goes inside Brazil’s hardest hit city, where mass graves hold suspected coronavirus victims; NHL: Season will resume with 24-team playoff but not before July 31st;
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is CNN breaking news. |
| 0:06.0 | Welcome to the lead. I'm Jake Tapper. |
| 0:08.0 | We are now mourning close to 100,000 people in the United States lost a coronavirus. |
| 0:14.0 | Right now, the death toll stands at 98,636, almost 100,000 in a span of just a few months. |
| 0:21.3 | A loss comparable numerically to more than 41 Pearl Harbor attacks or 33 |
| 0:27.1 | September 11th terrorist attacks. |
| 0:29.0 | It's a number that frankly is difficult to comprehend one hard to grasp for those who have been fortunate enough |
| 0:35.0 | to remain untouched by this virus because the devastation is happening all over the country |
| 0:41.2 | and behind closed doors. We don't see images of the devastation because of health |
| 0:46.3 | privacy issues. Funerals are kept very small. And we should note these are confirmed |
| 0:51.7 | coronavirus deaths. |
| 0:53.0 | The actual death toll, according to health officials, is assuredly even higher than 100,000. |
| 0:58.0 | President Trump today framed the 100,000th death, which is apparently pending, |
| 1:03.8 | milestone around the projection of 1.5 to 2 million deaths |
| 1:09.0 | if the US had done nothing. |
| 1:10.5 | And that is a way to look at it. There is another way to look at it and that is if the president |
| 1:16.4 | and governors had acted even just one week sooner, tens of thousands of lives in the U.S. could have been saved according to a study from |
| 1:24.7 | Columbia University. |
| 1:26.3 | Now we still do not have the kind of widespread surveillance testing and contact tracing |
| 1:30.6 | programs that health experts say we need nationally the kind that the White |
| 1:34.8 | House has to keep its officials safe but there is some positive news to report |
| 1:39.3 | today with trends of new cases holding steady or even going down in most states and |
... |
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