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CNN 10
Discussion On Whether Flu Season Is Tapering Off In The U.S.; By- the-Numbers Look Followed By Reports On The Nevada Caucuses; Upcoming Super Tuesday Events. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired February 24, 2020 - 00:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hey everyone. I`m Carl Azuz and this is CNN 10. It`s the last week of February in 2020 and though today`s show starts with
a report on a virus, it`s not the new corona virus that`s been so much in the news lately. This report is on the old fashion flu and overall it`s
been much worse than the corona virus.
There`ve been at least 29 million flu cases in America since the flu season got going in late September. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says the
virus has been widespread in every region of the country and as of last week 48 states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico all reported high levels
of flu activity. The numbers are closely watched because health officials are trying to get a sense of when this season will taper off. There are
some signs it could be starting to slow down.
Office visits related to flu-like symptoms and people who`ve tested positively for the flu both decreased a little bit in mid-February as
opposed to early February. It`s been an especially bad flu season for children. Though most of those who`ve died from the flu are elderly. What
about the vaccine?
The latest numbers from the CDC haven`t been finalized yet but they indicated that this year`s flu vaccine has been about 45 percent effective
overall in preventing doctor visits for the flu. The CDC says the vaccine is typically between 40 and 60 percent effective at that. So while doctors
continue to recommend that people get the vaccine, they admit it`s not perfect.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When public health officials describe this flu season so far, they`re describing it as having started early, early as in September
as opposed to typically in October and also being particularly hard on kids. You know, we`ve talked a lot about the corona virus here but let me
show you flu numbers so far this flu season.
In the United States alone, some 29 million illnesses, 280,000 hospitalizations and 16,000 deaths and we look at that hospitalization
number, the - - the most hospitalizations occur in people who are 65 and older.
But the next biggest category is newborns to four years old. So, you know, this flu can be particularly hard on kids and this year so far has been the
worst year for kids if you take out 2009 which was the H1N1 flu pandemic. This now becomes one of the worst years on record for kids with regard to
the flu.
I want to show you again just quickly looking at flu numbers here which I just shared with you and corona virus again because we`ve been talking
about corona virus so much. On the left those are U.S. numbers, on the right are global numbers for corona virus and you can see obviously flu
does cause a lot more illness and a lot more death in the United States and around the world.
The reason there continues to be such concern about corona virus is because it is a new virus and whenever you have a new virus you`re not exactly sure
how it`s going to behave how it`s going to trend, or if - - if it`s going to continue to mutate. So those are things that researchers are keeping an
eye on but certainly here in the United States we`ve got to keep an eye on flu as well. Can`t take our eye off the ball and it`s still not too late to
get the flu shot. Something we talk about a lot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: 10 Second Trivia. The Comstock Lode, a rich deposit of silver, was discovered in what U.S. state? Nevada, Colorado, California or Alaska. In
1859, silver was found on Nevada property owned partly by Henry Comstock.
Makes sense it`s the Silver State and the eight Democrats still in the U.S. presidential race were hoping to strike it rich in delegates on Saturday
when the Nevada Democratic caucus was held. The state`s Republican party is not holding a contest. Incumbent President Donald Trump is expected to
receive all of Nevada`s GOP delegates.
But for the Democrats, CNN projects that U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont had a commanding win in the Nevada caucuses followed by former
Vice-President Joe Biden in second place and in third Pete Buttigieg, a former mayor of South Bend, Indiana.
This makes Senator Sanders the front runner in the Democratic nomination process and gives him more momentum going into the next vote. That`s a
primary scheduled for this Saturday in the state of South Carolina. It`s only for Democrats. Like Nevada, South Carolina is also skipping a
Republican contest. Regardless of what happens in the Palmetto State though, several of the remaining Democratic hopefuls are already focusing
on what`s known as Super Tuesday, March 3rd.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So everyone knows about the Super Bowl and the Super Friends and supermarkets and even some cook nerds know about the great cook
Super Sad True Love Story. But do you know Super Tuesday? Do you even Super Tuesday bro?
That`s what we, and by we I mean, political nerds are calling March 3rd the day when 14, 14 states and American Samoa will cast their votes in the 2020
Democratic presidential race. So it`s the closest thing we will have to a national primary day with states on the west, south, mid-west, southwest,
mid-Atlantic and yes even New England all voting.
Here`s the full list, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah,
Vermont and Virginia, boom. So, yes, it`s a lot of states like a super lot. And it`s not just the number of states that matters, it`s their size too.
California has the most delegates up for grabs of any state in the country with 415 and Texas is third with 228. New York is second by the way. In
fact, there will be 1,357 delegates at stake across the 14 contests on Super Tuesday.
That`s more than a third of all the delegates available in the entire nomination fight and almost 70, 7-0 percent of the 1,991 delegates a
candidate would need to secure the nomination. Now, VIS, aka, very important sidebar, it`s very, very unlikely that anyone candidate dominates
the delegate hunt on Super Tuesday and here`s why.
Democrats have a rule that any candidate that gets either 15 percent of the votes statewide or if any congressional district in the state will win at
least some delegates. It`s called proportional allocation and what it means practically speaking is that a bunch of the leading candidates are going to
secure some chunk of delegates. And none of them are going to win them all or even close to them all.
And VIS, very, important sidebar, now how did so many states wind up all voting on a single day? Good question. So the Democratic National Committee
decided that four states, Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina were the only states that would be allowed to hold votes in February of
this year.
And there`s lots of reasons for that decision but the main one is that these states have been voting first in presidential contests for a long
time now and they protect that status, New Hampshire I`m looking at you, very, very carefully. So the DNC decreement that the earliest date you
could schedule a presidential vote if you didn`t live in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada or South Carolina was Tuesday, March 3rd.
Which is what a whole lot of states did, why? Well because the earlier in the nominating calendar your state votes, the more attention, read money,
they get from candidates and the more coverage your state`s race gets from the media. It`s just attention dollars folks.
And the biggest mover in this calendar shake-up was California which went from a June primary near the bitter end of the nomination fight all the way
up to March 3rd. Quote, "Historically we`ve been so late in the primary schedule that the nominees for president have been determined by the time
Californians go to the polls" that`s California`s Secretary of State Alex Padilla talking to CNN in 2018.
And he went on to add this, "by moving that up we hope to have a real say in determining the nominees for president of all parties", end quote. Well
judging by the amount of attention Democratic candidates have been lavishing on California, the plan worked.
Both Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg have spent time and loads of money in California over these last
few months. Make no mistake, campaigns will be made and broken on Super Tuesday which makes March 3rd, super important. And that is the point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: I`m going to loosely quote Mr. Rogers to kick off today`s 10 out of 10 segment. It`s a beautiful day in the "neighbearhood". Monrovia,
California is located on the edge of Angeles National Forest so it`s not entirely unusual for residents to spot a bear.
But this one meandered through the suburb so calmly and casually, that it got people buzzing and taking pictures. Eventually wildlife officials
tranquilized the 400 pound animal and relocated it. It certainly was a spectacle if not a spectacle bear.
It was a "polarized" excite. Some would call it a "grizzly" discovery while others might give it "Kodiackolaides" for having the spirit to "bear" the
suburbs even if it was a bit "slothful" must have gotten too much "sun to bear".
Seeing is "bearlieving" and I`m sure folks were asking "Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?" Hey, we see some Falcons are watching today. Hello
to our friends at Coral Academy of Science. It`s in Las Vegas, Nevada and I`m Carl Azuz for CNN.
END
