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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
COVID-19 Hospitalizations Reach All-Time High In U.S., Death Toll Surpasses 250,000; Biden To Meet With Governors To Shape Coronavirus Plan; Pompeo To Make Unprecedented Trip To Israeli Settlement. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired November 19, 2020 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[05:31:37]
LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, this is EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett. Christine Romans is off. It's about 31 minutes past the hour here in New York.
Every morning we show you a lot of numbers and a lot of graphs on coronavirus, but today's number is one that would have been unthinkable at the start of this pandemic. Two hundred fifty thousand -- 250,000 American mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, friends, and colleagues have now been killed by coronavirus. It's a number that has been reached during a dangerous coast-to-coast surge in cases that has the death rate soaring to levels we haven't seen since the late spring.
And infection rates are rising so sharply, New York City's mayor just shut down the entire public school system again.
CNN's Nick Watt has more.
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NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New York City is the biggest school district in the nation so many parents, right now, scrambling to balance work with childcare for the morning.
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: That's the law, an orange zone and a red zone. Follow the facts.
REPORTER: I'm confused and parents are still --
CUOMO: And I'll tell you what you need.
REPORTER: -- parents are still confused as well. The schools in New York City tomorrow.
CUOMO: No, they're not confused, you're confused.
WATT (voice-over): Meanwhile in Iowa --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to make sure you don't have a blood clot in your lung.
WATT (voice-over): -- more than 76,000 Americans now hospitalized with COVID-19 and that's an all-time high.
GOV. STEVE BULLOCK (D), MONTANA: In some places, we're already out of beds and room to put even new beds.
WATT (voice-over): So, Montana's mask mandate goes statewide Friday. In Michigan, a three-week pause kicks in. No more indoor dining, bars, movie theaters.
GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D), MICHIGAN: Inherently dangerous situations are when you are inside with people from a different household or many different households for a prolonged period of time with masks off.
WATT (voice-over): In South Dakota, the governor still won't mandate masks.
GOV. KRISTI NOEM (R), SOUTH DAKOTA: People that want to wear masks should wear masks, and people who don't shouldn't be shamed because they choose not to.
WATT (voice-over): In Oregon, there can be no more than six at a Thanksgiving table this year.
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It's Orwellian in a place like Oregon to say if you gather in numbers more than six we might come to your house --
BRIAN KILMEADE, FOX NEWS HOST, FOX & FRIENDS: Right.
MCENANY: -- and arrest you, and you get 30 days of jail time.
WATT (voice-over): Orwellian or just lifesaving?
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: We're all in this together as a nation. If one element of the country or multiple elements of the country don't cooperate with an infectious disease we are going to continue to be in trouble.
WATT (voice-over): Seventeen hundred seven lives reported lost Tuesday, COVID's deadliest day in America for six months. The average daily death toll is now rising in 33 states.
DR. TOM INGLESBY, DIRECTOR, JOHNS HOPKINS CENTER FOR HEALTH SECURITY: I'm the most concerned I've been since this pandemic started. States across the country are having the most rapid rise they've seen since the start of this.
WATT (voice-over): Good news, the FDA just authorized the first fast at-home self-test. And, Pfizer now says its vaccine is 95 percent effective and they'll file for FDA authorization within days. Moderna won't be far behind.
ALEX AZAR, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: By the end of December, we expect to have about 40 million doses of these two vaccines available for distribution, pending FDA authorization. Enough to vaccinate about 20 million of our most vulnerable Americans.
[05:35:00]
WATT (voice-over): But likely, early summer before it's widespread.
BULLOCK: There is light at the end of the tunnel. However, that tunnel is long.
WATT (voice-over): And some places panic buying is now back also -- long lines at food banks and COVID-19 testing sites.
The pain of this fall now resembles the spring and it's getting worse.
WATT (on camera): The situation in New York City is very interesting. So, they reached three percent positivity, which triggers the closure of all schools. So now in New York, kids can't go to a classroom but an adult can still go to a bar to get a beer. It's complicated.
Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
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JARRETT: President-elect Joe Biden and his team are pushing forward with their transition despite still being blocked from access to agencies and critical briefings by the Trump administration.
And today, Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will meet virtually with governors from across the country as they try to sharpen their focus on the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
CNN's Jeff Zeleny has the latest from Wilmington, Delaware.
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JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President-elect Joe Biden praising medical workers on the frontlines of the coronavirus fight.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT: It's not enough to praise you. We have to protect you and we have to pay you.
ZELENY (voice-over): He's shining a light on their heroism and calling out President Trump's obstructionism as his administration still refuses to cooperate with Biden's transition team, especially on fighting COVID.
BIDEN: We've been unable to get access to the kinds of things we need to know about the depth of the stockpiles. We know there's not much at all. And there's a whole lot of things that are just -- we just don't have available to us. So unless it's made available soon we're going to be behind by weeks or months.
ZELENY (voice-over): Yet, staffers inside the Department of Health and Human Services were instructed to not communicate with any Biden advisers, CNN has learned, and asked to report any outreach to top agency officials.
AZAR: We have made it very clear that when GSA makes a determination we will ensure complete cooperative professional transitions and planning.
ZELENY (voice-over): As the U.S. reported the deadliest day of the pandemic in six months, a Minnesota nurse begged Biden for more help.
MARY TURNER, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL NURSES UNITED: I've taken care of co-workers as they fight for their lives on a ventilator and knowing that they got sick because of the hospital or their government hasn't protected them.
ZELENY (voice-over): Biden, showing his empathy, said this.
TURNER: I'm sorry I'm so emotional.
BIDEN: No.
TURNER: It's just --
BIDEN: You got me emotional.
ZELENY (voice-over): Members of Biden's COVID-19 Advisory Board say Biden's team will be ready but said they were skeptical of any credible plans that exist inside the Trump administration.
DR. RICK BRIGHT, MEMBER, BIDEN COVID-19 ADVISORY BOARD: We will be ready on day one. We've waited 10 months for a plan to be shared with the American public and health care experts on the vaccine program.
ZELENY (voice-over): The Biden transition team is also placing a high priority on building the government, particularly the Health and Human Services department. Officials tell CNN that two Democratic governors are now top contenders for the post -- Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island, and Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico. They, along with Dr. Vivek Murthy, a former surgeon general, are among the leading contenders for the post.
All this as Biden's advisers are blasting Trump's attempt to undermine democracy by firing Chris Krebs, who was in charge of U.S. election cybersecurity, for telling the truth about the election.
REP. CEDRIC RICHMOND, INCOMING SENIOR ADVISER TO THE PRESIDENT: It's dangerous -- the entire transition. Trump's whole behavior right now should frighten the American public.
ZELENY (on camera): We're also learning that a handful of current and former Trump administration officials are reaching out privately to the Biden transition team. They believe it's important to put country over party. They are reaching out to them directly, one-on-one, trying to help with this transition even as President Trump refuses to acknowledge the outcome of the election.
And, Mr. Biden clearly is sounding the alarm as more than a quarter of a million of Americans have now died of COVID. Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Wilmington, Delaware.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JARRETT: Jeff, thank you so much for that report.
The Trump administration is sending Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on the first-ever official visit by a top American diplomat to an Israeli settlement.
CNN's Oren Liebermann is live in Jerusalem. Oren, it's nice to see you this morning.
I think this would be considered a controversial visit under any circumstances, but it certainly comes at a little bit of an awkward time in the midst of this transition period that the Secretary of State doesn't even acknowledge is happening.
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Correct. In the waning days of the Trump administration here, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to become the first-ever Secretary of State in U.S. history to visit a settlement in the West Bank.
Unprecedented from anybody else, perhaps not so much from Pompeo who said settlements in the occupied West Bank are not de facto illegal under international law and effectively said Israel's legal system can determine whether they are or are not legal.
[05:40:10]
That was a massive break with decades of U.S. foreign policy but it's been the direction of Pompeo and it's been the direction of the Trump administration pretty much since the very beginning, and it continues to go that way even as we're looking at the very end. But you're right, though, that Pompeo has not acknowledged that Joe Biden is president-elect.
Pompeo is expected in a short time at the Psagot winery in the summit of Psagot. They are celebrating this because they've named a red wine after Pompeo.
After that, he's expected to visit the Golan Heights. He said that a little earlier today it was the Trump administration who recognized Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights, again breaking with decades of U.S. foreign policy.
This is a victory for Pompeo and the Trump administration, for settlers, for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And perhaps most importantly, at least from Pompeo's perspective, for the evangelical Christians, which are going to be his base if he decides to make a run in 2024.
Worth noting that in the last couple of days, Netanyahu, who didn't acknowledge Biden's victory at first, has now spoken with President- elect Joe Biden -- something that again, Pompeo has not yet acknowledged on this four-week tour right at the end of the Trump administration.
Laura, it's also worth pointing out that Pompeo has a couple more stops on his trip, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, seeing the Trump administration is still trying to get them to normalize relations with Israel.
JARRETT: All right, Oren. Thank you so much for that -- appreciate it.
It's time for three questions in three minutes. Let's bring in CNN senior political analyst John Avlon. John, great to have you as always.
JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Laura.
JARRETT: So, CNN is now reporting that there are actually come current and former Trump administration officials -- so people still there who've started privately reaching out to the Biden transition team trying to help out some backchannels here.
What does it tell you?
AVLON: It tells me they're scared to do the right thing in public, but it is a sign of progress.
Look, you know, I've talked to folks who have been trying to organize transitions in the government responsibly for when the Trump administration or the GSA gives the green light. But this reporting goes further and says people are basically backchanneling to the Biden campaign.
And it's a reminder that there are good people in every administration, in every political party, and these folks really do want to do the right thing for the country. But they're being forced to do it in secret because the Trump administration has basically said that anyone will be purged who's seen talking with the president- elect.
It's an insane situation and they're trying to do the right thing, but the entire circumstance should not be in place.
JARRETT: Yes. It's obviously heartening to know that people are trying to do the right thing and sad that they feel like they have to do it --
AVLON: Yes.
JARRETT: -- privately and secretly because otherwise, they'll get fired --
AVLON: Yes.
JARRETT: -- basically.
Staying with the transition it seems like there's been something of a switch in messaging -- maybe a subtle one. But you're now hearing the president-elect Biden say publicly that the Trump administration's stand in refusing to help could actually leave them weeks behind in fighting COVID. And specifically, he mentioned a vaccine rollout yesterday could be in jeopardy.
It seems to me there's now been this focus, at least on Biden and his team's part, to focus more on COVID and make this less about national security. Do you think that's effective?
AVLON: I think that's an astute observation. I mean, Biden's first approach was to sort of look, let's take the temperature down.
JARRETT: Right.
AVLON: Let's have a sense of humor about the absurdity of what's happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
But you're right, you have seen a ratcheting up and it's simply because the death toll is ratcheting up, the caseload is ratcheting up. As you said just at the bottom of the half-hour, 250,000 deaths. And with a vaccine on its way, no one can prematurely declare victory and I think Biden is saying this is a matter of practicality and politics.
This is life or death. This is serious. They are playing politics with people's lives and we cannot allow that to happen.
JARRETT: So we have got the virus on the one hand, but it's also I think noteworthy to point out there's been some big foreign policy moves --
AVLON: Yes.
JARRETT: -- in these closing weeks of the Trump reign.
You've got the president pulling more troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq.
AVLON: Yes.
JARRETT: You've got him wanting to take a harder line stance on China. That remains to be seen whether he follows through on it.
But now, you just heard our last report from Oren Liebermann. Mike Pompeo is about to become the first U.S. Secretary of State to visit an Israeli West Bank settlement. All of this happening as he's going out the door.
It seems fair to say the Trump administration -- at least, there are multiple motivations here but could be trying to box Biden in on some of these foreign policy issues.
AVLON: That's certainly one explanation and I think both things can be true.
JARRETT: Right. AVLON: But they're trying to take extreme positions that they believe are right, presumably, but that will try to box Biden in. And trying to create a host of problems for him if he tries to undo what they've done on their way out the door.
The second thing, of course, is that presumably, Mike Pompeo can smell Iowa from here --
JARRETT: (Laughing).
AVLON: -- and he's thinking about his next step. President Trump is going to make noise about 2024 but Mike Pompeo hasn't exactly been a secret about it. And so he's been trying to use the State Department to enhance his own potential bid in four years.
JARRETT: Yes, that's very interesting. His political aspirations have always been out there --
[05:45:03]
AVLON: Yes.
JARRETT: -- and he certainly looks like he's on something of a farewell tour right now. So we shall see.
AVLON: Looks like so.
JARRETT: All right, John, thank you -- appreciate it.
AVLON: Take care, Laura.
JARRETT: All right. Still ahead for you, right now, one of the vaccines on the table for COVID-19 needs to be stored at ultra-cold temperatures. There's a possible solution to that. We'll tell you about it, next.
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JARRETT: In an exclusive interview, German biotech firm, BioNTech, tells CNN it's working on a formula for its coronavirus vaccine that would allow it to be shipped at room temperature. Now the current vaccine it is partnered with Pfizer on requires ultra-cold storage, raising a host of distribution challenges.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more from Berlin.
[05:50:00]
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Good morning, guys.
Yes, potentially, some really good news coming from German vaccine maker BioNTech and Pfizer. Of course, they're working together on a vaccine candidate. And yesterday in an exclusive interview, the head of BioNTech told me that they are going to apply for that emergency use authorization with the FDA on Friday.
Now, of course, yesterday they announced some really good data from their phase three trials -- efficacy of 95 percent and even more than 94 percent in older trial participants -- people above the age of 65. So, the CEO told me he believes with that good data they'll probably be able to get that authorization fairly quickly.
And, of course, one of the things that we've been talking about is that the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine does have an issue with the fact that it needs to be stored at really cold temperatures of around minus-100 Fahrenheit. But yesterday, the BioNTech CEO also told me that they're already working on a new formula for the vaccine that could allow it to be shipped at almost room temperature in the future -- guys.
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JARRETT: All right, Fred. Thank you for that important update.
Well, the entertainment industry, like so many others, has taken a really hard hit from the coronavirus pandemic. Theaters and music venues are struggling to keep the lights on and many workers are furloughed right now.
So what does this all mean for the industry's future? Well, Anna Stewart visits London's iconic Royal Opera House where they're trying to keep the culture alive.
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ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): The Royal Ballet had a spring in their step. After months of preparation, they performed for their first live audience in early November.
KEVIN O'HARE, DIRECTOR, ROYAL BALLET: It was amazing. It was amazing. It was such a feeling for everybody in the whole house. Everybody worked so hard to get us to this point and so it was very bittersweet that it was our opening night but also our closing night.
STEWART (voice-over): The next day marked the start of England's second national lockdown. This time, the show will still go on, at least online.
STEWART (on camera): Tell me why you made this decision. For sure, you could have followed the company.
O'HARE: Yes, we could have but, I mean, it's just so important for them to do what they're trained to do and to be in the studios and rehearsing together, and performing. It's their job, it's their life. They need to be here training and we need to be performing for the public.
STEWART (voice-over): We caught a dress rehearsal, the final stage of preparation before their livestream performance. Behind the scenes, dancers have spent months training in bubbled pairs, classes have been socially distanced, and they're tested twice a week. Outside, London's West End is empty, it's gilded theaters boarded up. Most theaters never reopened between lockdowns.
FIONNA ALLAN, PRESIDENT, U.K. THEATRE: There's a huge appetite for just a cultural experience, but we have no timeframe yet as to when we think we might be able to return to being viable businesses. And by viable businesses I mean able to operate without social distancing.
STEWART (voice-over): The U.K. government has a $2 billion arts recovery fund in place, a mix of loans and grants for struggling venues on top of the renewed furlough scheme. It's propping up venues of all sizes across the U.K., although not all have received money yet.
O'HARE: The thing that I'm really most concerned about is the freelance workers, you know -- because we rely on those amazing artists that come in and design ballets, lighting designers, choreographers. That is the real worry because they have slipped the net.
STEWART (voice-over): More help may be needed for this sector. When the Royal Opera House can fling open its doors once again, less than half the usual audience size will walk through them due to social distancing. It's financially unsustainable -- a high price for keeping culture alive during COVID.
Anna Stewart, CNN, London.
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JARRETT: Anna, thank you so much for that.
Thanks so much for joining me today. I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.
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[05:58:45]
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SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Biden and his team zeroed in on the pandemic, pressing their case for the Trump administration to coordinate with them on the crisis.
BRIGHT: We haven't had any official contact between the transition team coming in and the current administration.
BIDEN: I am optimistic but we should be further along.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR, THE SITUATION ROOM WITH WOLF BLITZER: The pandemic spreading with dangerous speed right now, shattering records every day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More than a quarter of a million people have died in less than 10 months in the U.S. -- by far, more than any other country.
INGLESBY: I'm the most concerned I've been since this pandemic started.
GOV. LARRY HOGAN (R), MARYLAND: We are in a war right now and the virus is winning.
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ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Thursday, November 19th, 6:00 here in New York.
And we begin this morning with a tragic marker of the toll the coronavirus pandemic has taken on the United States. More than a quarter-million Americans have died. That number is shocking, as is the daily death toll. Just yesterday, Johns Hopkins reported 1,848 people lost their lives. That's more than one person per minute.
This morning, more than 79,000 people are waking up in the hospital. Ten thousand were admitted in the past week.
Across the country some people are, again, waiting hours to get tested. Look at this.
