Transcripts For KQED BBC World News America 20240712

The freeman foundation. By judy and Peter Blum Kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs. And by contributions to this pbs station from viewers li. Thank you. Im katty kay in washington. This is bbc wld news america. Masks can prote the wearer. Tithe covid sit in america is worse than we expected, and the pocs are deey frustratin my indepth interview with dr. Fauci. This issue of tweeting and retweeting is something iveun neverstood or gotten involved in. Youd have to say its not helpful. Katty tech titans in tiny boxes get a grilling at a congressional hearing, remotely, of course. The echoes of empire series looks at the role of colonial britain in shaping americad s complicated unfolding histy of slavery. Welcome to world news america on pbs and around the globe. Dr. Anthony fauci has come to symbolize americas devastiting strugglethe pandemic. Despite his warnings and best mforts, the nation hase than 4 million cases. 15as of today000 people have died. His work as the nations top visit Infectious Disease expert have put him in the p crosshairs of the trite house. To do his job, he has to ggle politics and medicine. It is stressful and exhausting, he told me. Ut we are now aive months into this pandemic in the United States. If i had askou back in april if this is the situation we would be in at the end of july, is this about what you wouldve anticipated . Dr. Fauci i wouldve hoped that once we had the initial surge gotten under control as you recall, we were particularly hardhit in the new york hat wpolitan area would have come down to a baseline that is really a low baseline, a few hundred cases a day. But thats not what happened. We had the big surge, then it came down, but it plateaued at a level of about 20,000 cases per raday for seweeks in a row, into may and june. And theni inwi jul the attempts in some Southern States to open up again, mainlcoopen up themy, we had surges of cases that areunuite unfoe. Katty as you watched the states jumping the gun, you watched people behaving in an irresponsible way, you knew it was going to go wrong. You knew that this would not end well. How frustrating was that for you as you were trying to manage this pandemic . Dr. Fauci it was quite frustring,atty. I was getting on the media, virtually pleading, particularly with the young people, because the recent resurgences that we have seen, if you look at the average age of the people in that, its about a decade to a decade and a half younger than what we were seeing earlier on in the outbreak, when we have the really bad situation in the new york metropolitan area. Now, there were younger people. Clips, you were seeing what was going on. Th were not Wearing Masks. They were congregating in bars. They were in places where there were too many pple, as opposed to the low numbers of people and it became really quite frustrating, because iwas quite predictable what would happen if people did not adhere to the guidelines that we put out for opening america again. And sure enough, unfortunately, a few weeks after that, we saw theld results of what you ve predicted. That was very unfortunate and very frustrating. Katty et me ask you a bit more about masks. A medical question can you clarify for me what the current thinking is onhether masks protect the wearer as well as the people who are around the wearer . If i wear a mask, does it protect me in any way, as wellro as stopping mespreading the virus if i have it . Dr. Fauci there are more studies coming online, that are indicating that its a bilateral type of protection. Originally, the data was showing prevents you from infectingt someone else if youre infected. We get that experience from hospitalized patients with other disees, including this disease, to prevent the spread from beyond the person. But since we know now that about 20 to 45 of the cases are asymptomatic and that clearly there are people without symptoms who are transmitting the infection to oers, the recommendationun oersal wearing of masks is more geareds so itaving people who dont know that they are infected from n toading the infect others. However, theres also daa accumulating when you do whats called metaanalyses o sdies that, in fact, there is a degree of protection. We dont know the exact rcentage, but clearly there is a degree of protection, of protecting yourself from others when you wear a mask. So, i believe we know that there is a benefit that goes both ways. Ka and the benefit would be that im less likely to get it if im wearing a mask or that the severity of the disease if i did get it might be diminished because i was wearing a mask . Do we know that . Dr. Fauci wdont know that yet. Theres a lot of discussion about the ze of the inoculum and what impact thatasn your getting infected and at the course of the infection is, but theres not enough data. The only data that we do know is that it protects froection. We dont know whether its going to protect you from severity. We just dont have enough data to make a comment on that. Katty when the president , as he did again yesterday, retweet th ings from people who say youo dont needar a mask, how unhelpfrful is tha a medical perspective . Dr. Fauci well, you know, this issue oftweeting and eting is something that bve never understood or gotten involved i i can tell you, youd have to say its not lpl if people get signals about not Wearing Masks when w are trying to get people to universally wear masks. Katty you would ask the prident not to do that . Dr. Fauci katty, thats not the way it works. My feeling about wd do with masks very clearly understood by everyone, he whiteg those in hous katty what aboutox hyhloroquine . I ask you about this because its come back into the news because the president yesterdayi evening in the house stood there and said he believes in it and it is safe and again seemed to be touting this drug. Is the president right . Dr. Fai again, katty, its to be making judge and or me judgments on which right or wrong what is right or wrong. Ive said all along that the overwhelming body of data from tria that were wellrun, randomized placebocontrolled trials indicate tt hydroxychloroquine is notiv effein treating coronavirus disease or covid19. Katty the reason i ask you this, dr. Fauci, is because aeres a lot of misinformation out there a lot of people dont trust what they are hearing, either on the internet or from their leader you are one person in the United States who, according to the last opinion poll, has a 65 approval rating. People do trust you, and i wonder whether, just in terms of your ability to fight this pandemic, your effectiveness in fighting this pandemic, you do actually need to call out the president and the countrys t leaders why say things that are unhelpful and potentially set the country back, because people tucst you. Dr. Again, katty, i have to get back to saying, what happens is that becomes the story, as opposed to the message. So if what you say is true, which i believe i dont follow approval ratings, but if people are listening to me, i want them to hear loud and clear what im saying w should have universring of masks, and the Scientific Data to this point this might change with other studies. Thep Scientific Data u to this point indica that the use of hydroxychloquine for the eatment of covid19 is not effective. Katty the president has also retweeted a tweet which said you are misleading the American Public, just to put this on the record. Have you misled the American Public during your advice during this pandemic . Dr. Fauci no. Thiss one thats easy for me to answer. No,atorically, i have not misled the American Public during this outbreak. Tty youve said before, dr. Fauci, that during the course of your career you have spent decades preparing for this possility of a pandemic like covid19. Ywh were preparing for Something Like this, did you ever imagine that the politics would make it difficult to effectively manage this kind of atsin, that the politics would get so mixed up in this . Dr. Fauci , i did not, katty. Obviously, when you are dealing with things that involve politicians, theres always a bit of political maneuvering. T in almost every outbreak, but it had been mor and didnt impact what we were doing with rard to respoe. But i think its no secret, from looking at the situation in the United States, that there is a icnsiderable degree of pol divisiveness, to a level that everyone admits. You dont need me to make that declaration. I think anyone, even those who have more experience and more ability to obsve and make judgment on that, this is a very unusual situation of political divisiveness in this country. Europe now . I ask you abo you mentioned young people. The who today is looking at young people in europe. Aveurope seemed to effectively managed the reopening process. When it started reopening a couple months ago, things went well. We didnt see big spikes. Now you have a number of European Countries that are concerned. K when you l the situation in europe, are you worried that they could be sliding back again . Dr. Fa yes, i am. As you aid correct, katty, in the beginning of their opening up, they really did very well. What i hope does not happen with our European Countries is tt they get a little bit complacent and as they open up and see that things are doing well and they are able to contain any of these little blips that might turn into spikes, that might turn into resurgences pe that they pay attenti to the fact that the reason they have done well is that they have done it correctly. By doing it correctly, i hope they dont get complacent and startl being a l bit, i dont know what the right word is, but essential t stepping ov line and taking additional risks. Katty im worried, looking at whats happening in europe, that both ways, for us as humans. Outo opeborders and still keep this under control. Dr. Fauci yeah. Youre right, katty. This is not easy. Anyone that thinks this is easy is really not doing a lot of reality testing. If we can keep the lid on things and a level low enough, i believe we c, stepbystep, open as much as possible the economy. But that doesnt mean we are going to get back to completely normal. I believe, in order to do that, we are goie to need a sd effective vaccine to complement the Public Health measures. I feel optimistic that by the time we get to noveer, december, the end of the year,e by the t get into 2021, we oill be able to have a vaccine to be distributedeople. If thats the case, thenck getng o your original question, katty, we can combine the public alth measures with a vaccine, and we may be able to very successfully do what youve b talking about, about safely getting back toward some form of noality. Katty last week, you threw out the pitch fo the Nationals Baseball Team here in washington. Im not going to comment on your pitching. P it was terrible, ok. Dr. Fauci [indiscernible] katty stick with the day job, dr. Fauci, for all of our sakes. This week, we have the news that a number of marlins have been infected. E we in a position where the season could be shut down kind of bore it has evenegun . Dr. Fauci well, that certainly a risk. Its really unfortunate. When w kind of protocols that the leaders, the owners, the general managers, the players, the refs theyn good faith put together protocols that were felt to be able to avoid Something Like this, but there was always that concern looming in the background, of what happens when you get a cluster of players like thebe 14, m even up to 15 now, of the Miami Marlins o get infecte what is that going to mean to the season . Are you going to have to pause . Yoargoing to have to stop . We dont know whats going to happen. I think what happens in the next several days to a week and what happens with other teams is going to be the determinant of theucss or failure of the attempt to open up and get the basell season with a world series. Katty we are almost out of time, dr. Fauci. I appreciate you giving us so much time today. Anhow are you doinholding up five months into this . How are American Health care workers holding up . We have potentianty a lot more to go at this. I imagine you are worried aboutc exhaustieping in. Dr. Fauci yes. Yes, i am. That health care here in the United States, and im sure its similar in the u. K. And sewhere, are the realeroes. They are just knocking themlves out under very diicult, exhausting, both physically andti eally exhausting circumstances so, the only thg i can do is tip my hat and salute them that job, and it isnt over yet, as be contially challenged. G to myself you know, obviously, i would be lying to say it isnt very stressful. Its very stressful because of the nature of the problem, but its also stressful for some of the things you brought up in the interview, which tend to be as to the main goal of attacking this thing, which is the real emy, which is the virus, and not all the other things that gein the way of a concerted effort to stopping ts. So yeah, i often joke, but it isnt a joke, im running on fumes, but the fumes are really thick, so they are carrying me through. But im in there, and im going to connue to do what im doing. Katty tony fauci, thank you for joining us and best of luck to you. Dr. Fauci thank you. E always good toth you. Thank you for having me. Katty that man must have one of the hardest jori in the world t now. You are watching bbc world news america. Still to ce on this program, testing technologys limits. Lawmakers grilled some of the industrs top playersey on whether re too big for our society. Discussing Mental Health and football, among other things, on the popular podcast. A Prince William welcomermer footballer and others Kensington Palace for a recording that took place before the lockdown. Our correspondent ha more. As informal as wen have s him, a future king with a pint on the table, chatting with a podcast team about bad gifts theyve bought their wiv. I did get my wife a pair of binoculars once. Guys find it a bit more difficult to relax. We talk about physical fitness. We all want to stayit. We never talk about mental fitness. We all have Mental Health. We all need to stay mentally fit. Delivered to Kensington Palace by Peter Crouchs favorite indian, the banters t heme was get more men talng. Katty their influence is incalcable and their combine net worth, staggering. Today, four of the biggestames in Technology Found themselves as congressional witnesses in a hearing to determine whether thie too much power. The bbc has been monitoring the hearing. Weve had some of these men up before congress before. Twis hearing change anything . One wonders i you look at the balance of power on display. Thfcombined corporate value the four tech cpanies is grea than the value of the entire german economy. They have billions of customers. They have transformed and shape society. Can they be stopped . They didnt face a lot of regulation on the way up, because they wene new, unprecd phenomenon. Noesw conhas to decide whether its going to change antitrust laws in order to catch up, and thats what thiis about. Certainly, the democrats on the Committee Want to do that. They have invested a whole year of investigations to get to this the hearing today, a lot of political theater was involved, but you nt underestima the symbolic importance of seeing the four tech tightens being grilled tech titans bng grilled in front of congress. That may increase momentum towards more regulation, especially as department of justice is looking into these things. Certainly these chief executives would want to be involved in shaping any rules or regulations that arehanged, and they would fight aggressively, lobbying on the hill, where they have a lot of power, to make sure these measures are not too tough. But i think you can say that we are seeing something new here. Todays edaring probably m the needle on it. Katty ok. Barbara, thanks very much. Americ has done a lot of soulsearching since the death of george floyd. The events of the pastnd weeks months have shown a spotlight on the nations shone a spotlight on the nations racist past and its present. W britains colonial history played a role in shaping some of this. You may find some of these images upsetting. It was here on the coast of virginia that an english ship brought, against their will, t first 20 africans to what was already a british colony. Beand sn the horrific legacy of slavery, from which more than 400 years on, some of the greatest ills in American Society can be traced. There are those who feel some in britain looked at amica in contempt in the rent race troubles. Britain put its stamp on amica from the beginning. If you claim that america has its foundational culture based on england, that new have to taket off then you have to take it all, and that includes slavery. That includes the systemic rasm in our laws, and our actices, and in our culture. In policing he southern United States tres its origins to slave patrols set up under the british w also passed laws which regarding black people as inferior. He policing that we see, that automatically assumes that a iack persons a criminal that starts from, really, the founding of our country that viewed africansassystemically different as people. But americans, of course, have to shoulder responsibility, too. They won independence, but then there was civil w, with the confederates themselves fighting to keep slavery. Many elite british backed the south. Decades later, statues to confederate leaders were put up here to rewrite history and place. Black people of t we were told, dont look up at them. E we w told, keep walking straight, keep driving straight. You dont have to look up to that white man. They made it that big so that yowould have to hurt your neck to look up to them. And we are done with that. In fact, we are now going to create a space thats just comfortable for us to be around. Statues in the form of confederate capital of richmond the former confederate capital of richmond have been graffiti or torn downed graffitied or torn down, including one of jeffeon davis, who died uepentant. Some of his desceedents say we o look past that detail. None of the individuals that are being attacked today were solely sla perpetuations. They had an illustous that is associated with many more acts that may preclude that scenario of slavery. Britton may have broughte, slavery h but britainay ha brought slavery her but some americans are still commemorating its legacy. There are 11 confederate statues that still stand in the u. S. Capie l building. Estion is, what message does it send to africanericans when some derived from the fact that they defended, even fought to keep the institution of slavery, are celebrated here in the most exalted corridors of american power. There are now mes to take away these statues. Progress a towards more complete representation of americas past is slow. Katty a past that is also very much s. Ll americas prese you can get more on that story on our website. My interview with dr. Fauci is there as well. You can check out what i lookin at on twitter as well. Thanks very much for watching neis addition of bbc worlws i will be back here tomorrow. Narrator funding for this presentation of this program is provided by. Language specialists teaching spanish, french and more. Raymond mes. The freeman foundation. By judand ter blum kovler foundation; and byontributions to thipbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Yuyi i came to the uniteds. States when i was 24 years old. I did not speak any english. I felt very, very lost, really not knowing what to do with my life. One day on tv there was sesame street. Ernie and grover and cookie monster. And its not only that i learned to speak in english, now i know how to live in the United States. So this isow you do it now im powerful. Now i know i can doanythi. I will make myself learn how to do it. S. And i got that from i bought my first set of paints and brushes and i practiced. H my p childrens books. And i have found who i wanted to be. On which is that peho has something to say. Pbs and sesame street, they opened all the world to me. Judy good evening. m judy woodruff. On the newshour tonight, oneonone. I ask u. S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell about Congress Struggle to extend Economic Relief from covid19 and more. , then, tenically speang. Leaders of amazon, apple facebook and google face congressional scrutiny over whether they have too muri power in amen life plus, trump and russia. Questions arise over the president s deferential behaviod toladimir putin, despite a Russian Military unit paying taliban fighters to kill u. S. Soldiers. And, economic side effects. Many covid19 patients develop secondary infections, at a time when the pharmaceutical industry