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U.S. Records Deadliest Pandemic Day; Coronavirus Task Force Lays out Stark Terms of Crisis; Pfizer Releases Vaccine Data; Fate of Relief Package. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired November 18, 2020 - 06:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


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[06:31:41]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The deadliest day in the coronavirus pandemic in six months. One thousand seven hundred and seven new deaths reported overnight. Seventeen hundred new deaths reported. This morning, nearly 77,000 Americans are sick in the hospital. At least 21 states imposing new restrictions as the virus spreads.

CNN's Sara Sidner live in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The governor there just instituted this three-week pause on indoor social gatherings, Sara, just part of now this array of moves we're seeing around the country to try to fight the pandemic as it just explodes.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It's true, John, you know, it really is. Coronavirus shattering lives in numbers that we just have not seen before, even at the beginning of all of this, in February and March. But it is also taking a major toll on business.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER (voice over): State and local leaders across the United States are grappling with the relentless spread of coronavirus. The country reporting another 161,000 new coronavirus cases Tuesday and reporting the highest day of deaths since May.

GOV. LARRY HOGAN (R-MD): We are in a war right now. And the virus is winning.

SIDNER: More than a dozen states are implementing new mitigation efforts and mask mandates over the past week. And some cities and states have taken more drastic measures, such as issuing stay-at-home advisories or restricting non-essential businesses, like restaurants and gyms, including Michigan, where a three-week pause on reopening goes into effect today. This month, the state has seen its worst number since the start of the pandemic.

And in Washington, Governor Jay Inslee reported its state saw more than 2,600 new cases Tuesday, the highest since the pandemic began. Earlier, Inslee closing indoor dining services and limiting store capacity to 25 percent in response to the rising spread.

GOV. JAY INSLEE (D-WA): It is a scientific reality that if things do not change, this number will continue to skyrocket.

SIDNER: In Montana, Governor Steve Bullock announced a statewide mask mandate. And in St. Louis, it is closing restaurants and bars to in- person dining and encouraging people to only leave home for essentials. In Minnesota, cases are on the rise and local news reports say new measures are expected to be announced by Governor Tim Walsh today.

In Kentucky, the Kentucky governor also expected to announce new measures today, according to local reports. This comes after the state saw 33 people lose their lives to the virus, the highest number of deaths in a single day in that state.

DR. FRANCIS COLLINS, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: At this point, we've got a few months before the vaccines come to the rescue. We want to save as many lives as we can in that interval. And that's really up to all of us.

SIDNER: On the vaccine front, Pfizer says it's ready to seek an Emergency Use Authorization for its version. Rick Bright, who left the Trump administration earlier this year and now serves on President- elect Joe Biden's coronavirus advisory board, is concerned about vaccine distribution.

RICK BRIGHT, MEMBER, PRESIDENT-ELECT BIDEN'S COVID ADVISORY BOARD: We've had very limited, if any, interaction with any of the companies that are working on the pandemic response, as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: And back here in Michigan, you've noticed the vitriol is once again up against the governor for her decision to try and keep the state safe from coronavirus.

[06:35:08]

But there are a couple of different things. I've seen billboards thanking her for keeping Michigan healthy. I've also seen stickers on signs calling her a tyrant. There is now a lawsuit from the Restaurant Association saying that they should be able to continue bringing people indoors, because if, indeed, as this goes into effect they are no longer allowed to have people who are dining indoors and with the temperatures in the 20s, they feel like that will help shutter their businesses potentially for good.

John.

BERMAN: Yes, these are tough decisions. I know a lot of people are affected. But the numbers we're seeing now around the country, especially in places like Michigan, just devastating.

Sara Sidner, please, stay safe. Thanks for being there for us.

All right, we are standing by for an update, a new update, about a coronavirus vaccine. Breaking details, next.

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ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Developing this morning, the White House Coronavirus Task Force laying out in its starkest terms the dire crisis the country is confronting.

[06:40:05]

In a report to all state governors, they write, quote, there is now aggressive, unrelenting, expanding broad community spread across the country, reaching most counties without evidence of improvement but rather further deterioration. Current mitigation efforts are inadequate and must be increased to flatten the curve to sustain the health system for both COVID and non-COVID emergencies, end quote.

Joining us now, CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner. He's a professor of medicine at George Washington University.

Dr. Reiner, I am so struck by the schizophrenic messaging from the Coronavirus Task Force, the White House -- so this is what they're telling governors, basically, code red, time to crack down and install more stringent methods. And at the same time, the messaging when Scott Atlas -- Dr. Scott Atlas goes on television or Vice President Pence, the head of the Coronavirus Task Force doesn't go on television, we don't hear these things. And so, obviously, once again, it's up to locals and governors to try to figure out what to do now.

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Right. Good morning, Alisyn.

I was struck by the urgency in the language to each of these state governors really trying -- this is the task force, the professionals on the task force, trying to express their sense of urgency about the rapidly expanding virus all over the country.

One of the original sins of this pandemic response has been the abdication of the federal government in terms of the management and, you know, creating what many people have called, you know, Darwinian federalism, survival of the fittest among the states. So state governors have had to sort of figure out what to do on their own. And amidst, you know, rising, skyrocketing case counts in various states, finally the governors are starting to get it.

You know, the worst states, the Dakotas, you see actually how this can vary from state to state. So the governor of North Dakota, who has opposed masks, has now finally urged everyone in the state to wear masks, whereas the governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem, steadfastly refuses to do that, basically saying that she doesn't want to shame people into this and governments should not mandate it. But more and more state governments are starting to mandate it as their hospitals fill up, like North Dakota, which basically has very little hospital capacity left.

But this is what happens when the federal government washes their hands of any kind of not just control but guidance.

BERMAN: Yes, look, we talked to a doctor who runs a health care system in Bismarck, North Dakota. I asked him how many ICU beds he had available yesterday morning. His answer was zero. Zero.

REINER: Right.

BERMAN: So there are states -- the states largely now are instituting new restrictions, new safeguards in place. We can put up a list of how many states are doing things. It's a lot. I mean it's a lot. Not all, but a lot.

So what's the impact of these new restrictions, whether it be curfews or mask mandates, what's the impact of these new restrictions if there's no overarching federal action.

REINER: Well, it waters down the impact because, you know, some states basically tell bars they need to close at 10:00 p.m. But if you're state is on fire, why are your bars open at all?

You know, I want to point out that the rising death count that we've seen, the horrible death count that we saw yesterday in the United States, almost 1,700 deaths, reflects the number of people who were being infected three weeks ago, two to three weeks ago, because that's the lag. And I want to remind you that, on average, two to three weeks ago we were seeing 70,000 to 80,000 cases per day. You know, yesterday, there were about 155,000 cases. So if you're alarmed at the 1,700 deaths today, two to three weeks from now we're going to see 3,000 deaths a day. And that's why there's this urgency in the language coming out of the Coronavirus Task Force.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Reiner, there's also urgency coming out of big medical groups. The American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association, the American Nurses Association, they all put out a statement basically begging the Trump administration to coordinate with President-elect Biden's team so that we can all be in this together and figure it out and begin to even figure out the incredibly complicated logistics of a vaccine.

The director of NIH also had a plea. So here is what Dr. Francis Collins said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. FRANCIS COLLINS, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH: That everything we've done so far on COVID-19 that's made progress is dependent upon collaboration and openness about everything we're doing. And that's my goal as well. And so anything that gets in the way of that troubles me greatly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: But it doesn't seem like that's going to happen.

[06:45:03]

REINER: Right. And, you know, one thing to remember is that any reluctance or stubborn refusal to allow the incoming Biden administration to have access to really current data on vaccine distribution, PPE stockpiles, hospital capacities, doesn't hurt the Biden administration, it hurts the United States' public. That's who will bear the brunt of this really unacceptable refusal to bring up to speed the incoming administration. It's the people of this country that this refusal to allow the transition to move forward is really hurting. It's not -- it's not only going to hurt the incoming president, it's going to hurt the people of the United States.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Reiner, thank you very much for all of that, your expertise and the information this morning.

REINER: My pleasure.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BERMAN: All right, we do have breaking news.

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer just released brand-new details about the safety of its coronavirus vaccine and its public rollout.

CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us with this information.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

BERMAN: Really interesting stuff in here, Sanjay.

GUPTA: Yes, and this is the sort of information that we've been waiting for, for some time. Obviously, been reporting on, you know, vaccine development for several months now. So this is important data. And I want to -- I want to just share with you what the data shows, but also how they collected it.

As you remember, tens of thousands of people received a placebo, tens of thousands of people received a vaccine over the last few months in this Pfizer clinical trial. What they wanted to see was how many people in either arm of the trial became symptomatic. And they were looking to see ultimately that at least 162 people became symptomatic. And I can explain the math behind that, but basically what they're now saying, we can show the numbers here, is that they've hit their benchmarks in two ways, that when they saw the number of people who became symptomatic, the vast majority of them were in the placebo group. And 162 were in the placebo group, eight were in the vaccinated group, OK? So it's pretty clear, based on this data, at least data that is being shared with us by the company, that the vaccine seemed to have a significant impact on COVID-19 specifically and also on severe disease. So the vast majority of people who did develop severe disease within these trials were also in the placebo group versus the vaccinated group.

So that's really the sort of, what we call effectiveness or efficacy data that the FDA is going to be looking at. And, again, if this data is true, and we have no reason to doubt it, but it's only coming from the company so far, but if it's true, the FDA looks at these -- this data, it does make a strong case that this is an effective vaccine.

The second thing, you've got safety -- so you've got effectiveness, you also have to look at safety. What Pfizer has now said is that they've also hit their safety benchmark data. And basically that's at least half the trial participants, they've gone two months since receiving the shots and there's not been many adverse effects. They don't have the specific data on that. We want to look at it. But Pfizer certainly believes that the safety profile is good enough to go ahead and submit.

So, look, we're hearing that there may be an Emergency Use Authorization application for this vaccine within the next couple of weeks. And if that's true, that would go to another committee, which then determines how the vaccine would be distributed. And if that happens, before Christmas it is likely that for the first time people outside of clinical trials could be receiving the coronavirus vaccine.

BERMAN: All right, Sanjay, this is really good news and very interesting.

CAMEROTA: Wow.

BERMAN: A lot more to learn here from Pfizer.

I have to say, also, the science behind this really could lead to a revolution in vaccinations.

GUPTA: Yes.

BERMAN: What we're seeing from both Moderna and Pfizer, the way they've gone about this.

We're going to take a break, Sanjay. You're going to come back in a little bit and talk more about this new information just out from Pfizer. Obviously promising medical news.

What about the economic situation that so many people are suffering in right now? We have new information about the possibility of financial relief, next.

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[06:53:20]

CAMEROTA: New warning signs of how the worsening pandemic is threatening the economy. So what about that stimulus deal in Congress?

CNN's Julia Chatterley joins us with more.

What do we know, Julia?

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR: I'm a bearer of bad tidings, Alisyn. I can tell you, hopes fading fast that lawmakers can do anything in this lame duck session to come up with more financial aid. In fact, what we're hearing is focus is already turning to keeping the government funded beyond the middle of December. And it's the same old issue, they simply cannot agree on the size of this package. Republicans still pushing for a skinny bill, around $500 billion. The Democrats still saying, look, we need something more like $2 trillion plus. And no one, it seems, is in the mood to compromise. And Americans, ordinary, suffering Americans, are just going to be

tortured as a result. There are immediate concerns here and there's many of them, but I want to distill them down.

There are questions being asked on both sides of the aisle here. Is there enough funding available to distribute the vaccine? Remember, the CARES Act back in March? That focused on the research, on the development. It didn't necessarily focus on distributing it. The governments say they're fine, but this is a concern.

The other big thing for me, Alisyn, here is that this 13 million plus Americans that are getting specific pandemic-related unemployment benefits that run out at the end of this year. That's another 13.5 million Americans that are going to be struggling if a deal doesn't get done. There are many options and issues I could talk to you about, but these are the key priorities. It's heartbreaking.

CAMEROTA: It is. It's overwhelming to think about, Julia, and we really appreciate you keeping us focused on this throughout all of the news.

Thank you very much.

Well, President Trump firing the top voting security official after he spoke out about the absence of voter fraud during the election.

[06:55:04]

What are Republicans saying this morning?

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BERMAN: All right, developing this morning, Hurricane Iota leaving a trail of devastation across Central America. Nicaragua says it's the strongest hurricane to hit the country ever.

[07:00:02]

At least six people there have been reported dead, nearly the entire region without power, making it difficult to even gauge the extent of the damage.