Return to Transcripts main page
New Day
Teachers Fear In-Person Learning; Cindy McCain is Interviewed on Biden Flipping Arizona; CNN Heroes of 2020. Aired 8:30-9a ET
Aired November 13, 2020 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:30:21]
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: As coronavirus ravages America, some school districts, like Detroit and Cincinnati, are halting in-person classes and teachers have growing fears about the risks.
CNN's Bianna Golodryga has our story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NASEEB GILL, TEACHER: The first day was kind of like, oh, this is exciting. Like I'm back with kids again. You know, I love seeing them face-to-face. But by the second day, it was pretty clear that this was very different.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST (voice over): Two days after Houston Public Schools opened for in-person learning last month, Naseeb Gill, a fifth grade language arts teacher, decided she had had enough.
GILL: The scariest part is you just -- you have no idea what you're walking into. I could be putting my students at risk. I could be putting my family members at risk.
GOLODRYGA: She's one of the dozens of Houston Public School teachers asking for a different approach.
GILL: I just had a teacher today talk to me and say, I had never thought I would say this but we need to go back to virtual.
GOLODRYGA: Protesting the COVID-19 protocols that leave them feeling unsafe.
GILL: Yes, they have masks on, but I'm walking into a room where I actually don't really know what I'm breathing in. You know, a lot of our schools, they're very old and their HVAC and their AC units are very, very old.
GOLODRYGA: Gill's school, along with at least 17 other Houston Public Schools, were temporarily closed shortly after reopening. Today, the district is reporting no school closures, though its dashboard lists over 100 active COVID-19 cases among students and staff as of Thursday. Across the country, teachers are expressing their anxiety over what
they view as an unclear and inconsistent approach to safely reopening schools. This high school teacher in Boston tweeting last month her concerns about proper ventilation.
GILL: When you're put in the situation where you don't know what the true risks are, it kind of just wears on you and it breaks you down.
GOLODRYGA: Some teachers are even contemplating leaving the field all together.
GILL: Every day I'm thinking like I -- maybe I should just move on to something else, but you don't because you know that if you left those students that you would just potentially be like another person who left them.
GOLODRYGA: It was a highly polarized issue leading up to last week's election.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The transmittal rate to the teachers is very small, but I want to open the schools.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT: All you teachers out there, not that many of you are going to die, so don't worry about it. So don't worry about it. Come on.
JOSEPH ALLEN, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, HARVARD T.H. CHAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: It became a political act, going back to school.
GOLODRYGA: Joseph Allen is the director of the Healthy Buildings Programs at Harvard University's Chan School of Public Health.
ALLEN: Once we talk about the science, it takes away some of that anxieties. That's why these controls make sense, masking, ventilation, filtration, distancing.
GOLODRYGA: While some early data appears to show that schools are not the super spreaders many feared, experts say a lack of a federal tracking system has made it more difficult to monitor spread within districts, a point that current Education Secretary Betsy DeVos refutes.
BETSY DEVOS, EDUCATION SECRETARY: I'm not sure there's a role for the Department of Education to compile and conduct that research.
GILL: If my secretary of education is saying it's not her job, nor the federal government's job, and then sometimes the local government is like, well, it's not really our job it's the district's job. And the district's going, well, we're going to put it on the schools. And then, inevitably, it gets put on you.
ALLEN: It's the Department of Education. That's their role. We need a strong federal response to start compiling this information.
BIDEN: Wear a mask.
GOLODRYGA: President-elect Biden has promised to give schools clear, consistent, effective national guidelines for reopening safely.
GOLODRYGA (on camera): Is there time now, as the winter months are approaching, to course correct?
ALLEN: No question. There's always something you can do. But the single most important measure is an easy one, and that's universal masking.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLODRYGA: Wear a mask, Alisyn, it's as simple as that.
So we reached out to HISD (ph) for a statement in response to Naseeb's story and here's what they said. Face-to-face instruction will continue to occur with safety measures in place in accordance with guidelines provided by the CDC, state and local health authorities. The health, safety and well-being of our students and staff remains our top priority as we work to meet the educational needs of all families in the district.
But I have to say, Alisyn, from talking to education experts and school district officials across the country, their main concern is there is no national plan.
[08:35:02]
That is something that President-elect Joe Biden is promising to focus on. It is something a lot of teachers, like Naseeb, are desperate to hear.
We appreciate our teachers. I thank God every day for my teachers and my kids' teachers. I'm sure you do as well. I have a parent/teacher conference in just a few hours. These people need to be appreciated. They also have to have some more planning and to give them a sense of security in returning to the classroom.
CAMEROTA: Well, Jill Biden is an educator, who will be the first lady.-
GOLODRYGA: Yes.
CAMEROTA: As Joe Biden has pointed out, teachers will celebrate that.
Bianna, thank you very much.
GOLODRYGA: Sure.
CAMEROTA: OK, so developing overnight, President-elect Joe Biden has won Arizona, the first Democrat to flip that state in decades. How did the legacy of late Senator John McCain affect voters there? I'll be speaking to his widow, Cindy McCain, about her decision to back Joe Biden, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAMEROTA: CNN projects Joe Biden wins Arizona, pushing his electoral lead to 290 over President Trump's 217. Biden is just the second Democratic presidential candidate to turn Arizona blue in nearly 70 years.
Joining us now is Cindy McCain, the widow of the late Republican Senator John McCain. She is now a member of Biden's transition team advisory board.
Good morning, Cindy. Great to see you.
CINDY MCCAIN, WIDOW OF SEN. JOHN MCCAIN: Good morning. How are you?
CAMEROTA: I'm doing well.
What's your response to Joe Biden winning Arizona?
MCCAIN: It's wonderful. It's great news. I suspected all along he would, but it's great to have it confirmed.
[08:40:03]
CAMEROTA: I mean, you know, as we point out, this is only the second time in 70 years the ones ruby red Arizona has gone for Joe Biden. What does that tell you?
MCCAIN: Well, I think it says a lot of things, actually. Arizona has -- is -- has always been a very moderate state, but in this case I think it was more about the person that's in the White House right now than it was so much a referendum on anything else. I think Vice President Biden is going to make an incredible president. And not only that, I think that his standards, his values, the things he's -- that he -- he works for, working together, working across the aisle, making sure that he does things not for himself but for the good of the country, those are the values that he's always had. And I look forward to watching him and participating in this down the line. We're just so excited here in Arizona.
CAMEROTA: I don't know if you read your daughter's Twitter feed, but have you seen the meme that she retweeted at about midnight last night?
MCCAIN: I did. I did. I love it.
CAMEROTA: I'll put it up for everyone else. It's a picture of your late husband --
MCCAIN: She's awesome.
CAMEROTA: Senator McCain.
MCCAIN: You've got to have a sense of humor.
CAMEROTA: I can hear that. Both -- both you and Meghan obviously have had to have a sense of humor throughout all of these years and, anyway, it's Senator McCain saying, I like people who don't lose Arizona. I'm glad you're enjoying that.
MCCAIN: It's funny. I know. I know. I love my daughter. I think she's historical. I really do.
CAMEROTA: OK. So on a more serious note, even though Joe Biden has now won Arizona, he's now at 290 electoral votes, as you know, President Trump has not conceded the race, and scores of Republican leaders are going along with his unreality and claiming that President Trump did not lose. And so I'm just wondering what your husband, Senator McCain, would be saying to them today.
MCCAIN: Well, he would be -- he would be telling these people it is time that we -- that we move on. It's time that we heal. It's time that we support our president-elect and also encourage the GSA to release the funds so that -- so that he can get on with his transition team, not only with making sure that slots are filled and that the White House is ready to roll, but, more importantly, being able to deal with the people that are -- that are within the White House right now that worked with the pandemic. That's perhaps our most important issue right now.
CAMEROTA: Yes. I also heard you tell Anderson that your husband would be going McCain on them. And what would that sound like?
MCCAIN: Yes. Well, the going McCain would not be on the voter electorate, but it might be on some of his folks that he worked with within the Senate. As you know, John was one that stood for the deep honor and democratic process that this country represents. And the fact that that is not necessarily occurring completely right now and that somehow there are people that might just want to undermine the process would really, in so many words, rile him up. He would not be happy with that. And, yes, he would be going McCain on it.
CAMEROTA: As you know, former President Barack Obama has a new memoire coming out next week and he has passages about your husband. I don't know if you've had a chance to read them, but let me read one for our viewers in which he talks about Senator McCain.
He said, he wasn't an ideologue. He respected not only the customs of the Senate but also the institutions of our government and our democracy. I never saw him display the race-tinged nativism that regularly affected other Republican politicians, and on more than one occasion, I'd seen him display real political courage.
Your thoughts?
MCCAIN: Well, he described my husband exactly. That's what I miss most about many things, but I miss -- I miss his voice right now in this government and in this time because he was always a voice for reason, especially on the issues of working together and making sure that we do it for the good of the country and not for personal gain.
CAMEROTA: Do you think President Trump is going to run again in 2024?
MCCAIN: Oh, gosh, who knows? I would hope that whatever occurs that we keep in mind what, again, what is good for the country and most of all what's good for the American people as well. We've got to work together. We are so divisive and so divided and with this huge lack of civility right now. [08:45:03]
We have such healing to be done and we can't do that if -- if we're not -- if both parties aren't willing to work together. And that includes a former President Trump.
CAMEROTA: Cindy McCain, great to talk to you. Thanks so much for waking up early and being on NEW DAY with us.
MCCAIN: Thank you. Thanks.
CAMEROTA: All right, coming up, in 2020 we really looked for inspiration wherever we could find it, so what moment inspired you the most this year? Well, Anderson Cooper is here next to share some of his favorites and a look ahead to a very special CNN Heroes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:50:06]
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So CNN Heroes is back and just in the nick of time, seriously. For 14 years, the campaign has shined a spotlight on people changing the world. And this year CNN Heroes will focus on those who stood up amid the crises of COVID-19, economic hardship, racial injustice.
Here to give us a sneak peek into this year's show, Anderson Cooper, the co-host of "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute," which airs next month.
And, look, it's going to be a little different this year.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: It is going to be different this year. Obviously this has been a stunning, jaw dropping, whatever adjectives you want to use to describe this year. We're going to be doing the show a very special CNN Heroes this year, reflecting on this incredible year that we've been through. The show's going to highlight uplifting and inspiring stories of heroes and really the two biggest stories of the year, the battle against COVID-19, which is ongoing, of course, and the fight for racial justice. And while it's obviously been a lot harder year for so many people full of pain and loss and anxiety, it's important to recognize that there still has been joy and inspiring moments and a lot of joy.
Here is my example of joy for 2020. Take a look.
BERMAN: Is that real?
COOPER: It's real.
CAMEROTA: No, no baby is that cute. That's not real. That's -- no, Anderson, we refuse to -- this is --
COOPER: He's a fan of heroes. Who knew, you know?
CAMEROTA: My gosh, he's beautiful. COOPER: Yes. He squeaks a lot, you know.
CAMEROTA: So, that's your son Wyatt.
COOPER: That's my son Wyatt.
CAMEROTA: And how old is he now?
COOPER: He's six and a half months old.
BERMAN: Those cheeks are supernatural right there.
COOPER: This was actually probably like a month and a half ago.
CAMEROTA: Does he have an agent?
COOPER: Does he have an agent? No. But he does do bar mitzvahs and weddings. So -- but, look, there have been so many moments of inspiration for all of us this year. Some incredible things have happened. Here are a few of just -- of our favorites.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER (voice over): Before we never noticed the shift change, we didn't see the health care workers and first responders heading home after a long day, but now we do. We celebrated these heroes every night in cities around the world.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's so nice.
COOPER: For nearly eight minutes, George Floyd pleaded for his life. His death sparked worldwide protests against police brutality and systemic racism. After a press conference, his daughter, Gianna, shared a hope for us all.
GIANNA, GEORGE FLOYD'S DAUGHTER: Daddy changed the world.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Daddy changed the world.
COOPER: When the call rang out for PPE to keep our front-line workers safe, Americans responded with great generosity. For the workers at Braskem America did something extraordinary, they moved in and quarantined in two of their manufacturing plants for nearly an entire month to get the job done.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here's the team, the boys.
COOPER: In June, a photograph captured the world's attention. During a London protest, events turned violent. One man, Bryn Mail (ph), a white former police officer, wandered into the crowd and started to get beat up. Black Lives Matter protester Patrick Hutchinson (ph) saw that he was in peril and carried him to safety.
In Florence, people sang the Italian national anthem. In Chicago they countered the sorrow with "Living on a Prayer."
And a Broadway legend, Brian Stokes Mitchell, serenaded us with "The Impossible Dream" from his balcony.
All over the world we found a way to lift each other up and connect through the power of music.
And this summer, millions of people worldwide were willing to risk their lives amid the pandemic by stepping out and stepping up to protest systemic racism. The call for justice, equality, inspiring a movement of all ages, races, religions and creeds.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: All right, just incredible to look back at all of that.
How does it work this year? Does somebody -- do we have to pick our favorites?
COOPER: No, you do not. Anybody out there -- everybody can vote. You can vote as often as you want and you can also send us videos along the way letting us know which video you picked, which moment is most inspiring to you and why. You just go to cnnheroes.com to vote. You can upload a video there as well. And, you never know, you might see yourself on the program on December 13th.
BERMAN: So, what else is going to be different about the show this year? Usually we get to go.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
BERMAN: You know, I offer to dress up and drink alone if that's helpful in any way, but what's going to be different?
CAMEROTA: Is it --
COOPER: Isn't that every day?
BERMAN: That's Tuesdays.
COOPER: Yes, it's going to be Sunday, December 13th. My buddy, Kelly Ripa, is back as hosting along with me, which I'm very excited for. It's going to look a little different. We have a brand-new set. But it's going to be a really special night. We're honoring just people from all around the world who have just done really, really inspiring things this year.
[08:55:03]
CAMEROTA: And we really need it right now. I mean hash tag 2020 has been just the worst.
COOPER: I know. Yes, we're trying to think of what to call our new year's this year. Like, you know, like what sort of -- like good riddance 2020 or who know what we're going to call it. CAMEROTA: Make it a double, 2020.
COOPER: Yes. Right. But it's so nice -- you know, it -- given all that's going on and whatever side of the political aisle you're on, it's been a stressful year. And to just take some moments and recognize that there is still goodness and there are people working hard to help other people and being kind and all of that stuff.
BERMAN: Look, it always makes you feel better. It really does.
COOPER: It really does. Yes.
BERMAN: And this year we need it more than ever.
COOPER: Yes.
BERMAN: So, thank you. Thank you for doing it.
You can watch "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute. It airs Sunday, December 13th, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, only on CNN. And be sure to vote for this year's most inspiring moments right now. Go to cnnheroes.com.
CAMEROTA: I'm voting for Wyatt for that video.
BERMAN: I'm voting for like left cheek, you know --
CAMEROTA: I know.
BERMAN: He is so cute.
CAMEROTA: I know.
COOPER: He just got a second dimple, by the way.
CAMEROTA: Oh, of course he did.
COOPER: He had one dimple. He already had one dimple and then all of a sudden the second dimple popped up.
CAMEROTA: One wasn't enough for him.
CNN's coverage continues after this.
Have a great weekend.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:00:00]
