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CDC Urges Americans to Not Travel this Thanksgiving; Protesters Demand Change in Peru; CDC Warning About College Students Returning Home. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired November 20, 2020 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Those are the states that are holding steady, but they're holding steady at a high plateau.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: They're plateauing at 50 percent positivity rates. It's bonkers.

CAMEROTA: Joining us now is Dr. Paul Offit, pediatrics professor and the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Dr. Offit, what are we supposed to say this morning when you look at that map?

DR. PAUL OFFIT, PEDIATRICS PROFESSOR, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: The country's on fire with this virus. And we're coming into a time when it's drier, cooler, a less humid climate where -- which allows easy spread of this virus, which is spread by small droplets. You know, when it's humid out, the droplets acquire water and drop more quickly. But when it's not humid and it's cool, that's when these kinds of viruses thrive. And it's already been distributed throughout the United States and now we're heading into Thanksgiving and Christmas where, you know, multigenerational families get together. It's just a recipe for disaster. And that's why I think people -- the CDC has asked people not to travel. It's really -- it's really going to be a rough few months. I think it's just going to get worse.

BERMAN: It's an interesting warning. A very stark warning from the CDC yesterday. They said, don't travel. And they said, stay with your insular family. You know, the people who live in your house are the only ones you should be with on Thanksgiving.

And, you know, is it too late to issue that warning, Dr. Offit? I mean we're just a few days before Thanksgiving right now. Is this something that maybe the government should have been saying for the last few weeks or months?

OFFIT: Yes, that's a great point. I mean I think the question is whether people will listen. I mean we haven't been very good at listening so far. You know, the -- the simplest thing we can do right now pending a vaccine is, you know, wear a mask, social distance, do the best you can, and we're not even good at that. It just -- it really does worry me. I think over the next few months, it's going to be a rugged, rugged time.

CAMEROTA: The CDC does have guidelines for small gatherings because they know that, you know, I mean we already know that not everybody will stay home and stay put and so they just are trying to keep it limited, they're trying to remind people to wear masks at home. They're trying to remind people to eat in different rooms. They're trying to remind people to stay as far away from each other. Avoid singing. I mean, you know, at some point it's like you have to constantly disinfect the touch surfaces. At some point it becomes joyless to actually attempt to celebrate Thanksgiving and, in some ways, easier to just stay home with your insular family.

OFFIT: They're telling you to do everything that instinctively you would do. I mean you want to gather together to moments like this. We do it all the time. You want to hug and kiss and, you know, and share stores and be together in a multigenerational way and they're saying, don't do any of that. I mean it's just so counter instinctive. It's going to be really hard to get people to do that. This is the time of the year when we love to get together.

BERMAN: And they're being pretty clear. I just want to say, they're finally being very explicit about what we shouldn't do five days from now. And I hope people pay attention.

And also hope people consider the fact that there are vaccines on the way. That there is now a light at the end of the tunnel. There is now reason to be even more careful. And, today, Pfizer is officially going to put in the application for Emergency Use Authorization on its vaccine.

Just reflect on the significance of this moment, what it means, Doctor.

OFFIT: Yes, I think -- I don't know if you ever saw the movie "Jaws." You remember when the Quinn (ph) character who was the captain of the boat said -- recounts this story where he's on the USS Indianapolis, it sunk. He goes into the water and -- and periodically or systemically the sharks start eating his colleagues one by one. He say the worst time was -- was when they were in the midst of being saved and he was waiting for his turn to be saved, that was the worst time.

And I feel like that's what's going on now. I feel like we are sort of a couple months away from having a clear, federal guideline in terms of how we're supposed to move forward on this. We're a couple of months away from having vaccines that will now start to be distributed into the arms of the American public. And it's just that -- that's the -- sort of these next two months that are just going to be just awful. And, you know, you just -- just hope we can do everything we can to try and do what we can do, which is the hygienic measures, but it's -- I just feel like we're about to be saved. I do think that these vaccines, at least if they are like what the press releases claim they are and will -- I'm on the FDA's Vaccine Advisory Committee, so we'll be looking at the details of this data probably in early December. You just -- just are waiting to be -- be saved and I feel like we're -- it's right around the corner.

BERMAN: We're going to need a bigger boat.

CAMEROTA: We just have to avoid being eaten by a shark first.

But, Doctor, you're on the advisory council. Today, Pfizer is asking for Emergency Use Authorization of their vaccine that has shown 95 percent or something efficacy. So can't you just approve that today?

OFFIT: Right. So the way it normally works, the way it would typically work is the company submits data to the FDA, which is just voluminous amounts of data. Then, typically, it takes about a year for the FDA to review that. An expedited review would be six months. And then it turns over to our committee, the FDA's Vaccine Advisory Committee, to approve or not approve.

[06:35:04]

Obviously, we're not living in those times. So I think the FDA will take a couple weeks to look at this and then we will look at it. I -- assuming everything goes good, we would approve it. And then it goes to the CDC, the so-called Advisory Committee for Immunization Practice, which I think will happen in a day or two after we make our decision. And then I think that it's possible that by the end of December you'll start to see vaccines being given to Americans.

CAMEROTA: That would be incredible. That would be incredible. And if we can just all hold on until then, that is definitely a finish line that we can look forward to.

So, Dr. Offit, thank you very, very much. Great to get all that information.

OFFIT: Yes.

BERMAN: Thanks for the "Jaws" reference.

CAMEROTA: Yes, that was --

BERMAN: He knows what it takes for me to understand something.

CAMEROTA: Yes, exactly. But it is --

BERMAN: A 1970s movie.

CAMEROTA: That -- that's great, but it was also a grisly reference.

BERMAN: Yes, no, it's terrible, but it's a great point, you've got to hang on at this point. We've got to do the smart stuff.

CAMEROTA: All right, meanwhile, investigators in New York have now expanded their investigation into the Trump Organization. And Ivanka Trump is reacting to that. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:02]

BERMAN: So developing this morning, sources tell CNN that New York authorities investigating the Trump Organization have expanded their inquiries to include tax write-offs involving millions of dollars in consulting fees. Investigators subpoenaed the Trump Organization after a "New York Times" investigation into President Trump's tax returns showed he took $26 million in write-offs that came from fees he paid to alleged consultants.

Now, the payments included an apparent $747,000 fee that "The Times" said matched a payment disclosed by Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump. So she responded in pretty uncharacteristic strong terms. I guess she doesn't like being investigated. She called it harassment and insisted there's nothing to the allegations.

Why does she care so much? She can't be pardoned by the president here. This is a state investigation. So state investigators are going to find out the truth here and there's not much that there's any kind of pardon can do about it.

CAMEROTA: Well, there's always the court of Twitter, which is where she's taking it.

Also developing this morning, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is pulling the plug for funding on emergency Federal Reserve programs intended to help businesses during this pandemic. Mnuchin asking the Fed to return some $455 billion in unused funding for programs set to expire December 31st. The central bank, a non-political institution, swiftly responded saying it, quote, would prefer that the full suite of emergency facilities established during the coronavirus pandemic continue to serve their important role for a backstop for our still- strained and vulnerable economy, end quote.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce also blasting this decision, saying it unnecessarily ties the hands of the Biden administration.

Meanwhile, Mnuchin and Congress appear to be no closer to a stimulus deal.

Christine Romans will be here in the 8:00 hour to explain anything --

BERMAN: She can't get here fast enough.

CAMEROTA: Anything I just said.

All right, coming up, an exclusive new interview with the coordinator of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, Dr. Deborah Birx.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. DEBORAH BIRX, COORDINATOR, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE: When I'm out and seeing them without masks indoors, it really worries me. I mean I'm worried for their health.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Why she says she decided to leave Washington, D.C., and take her message directly to the American people.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:46:22]

CAMEROTA: Developing this morning, there is political chaos in Peru. The country swore in its third president in just over a week on Tuesday. Protesters taking to the street, calling for a rewrite to the constitution.

CNN's Rafael Romo is live with more.

What's happening, Rafael?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: Good morning, Alisyn.

During the same time Donald Trump has been the president of the United States, imagine this, Peru has already had four presidents, three of those, as you mentioned, during the last week. Peruvians are fed up and earlier this month clashed with security forces demanding change.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROMO (voice over): A country in turmoil. Violent clashes erupted last week in Peru after congress impeached President Martin Vizcarra. Clearing the way for this man, head of Congress, Manuel Merino, to replace him.

Many Peruvians saw the impeachment vote as a power grab and show their anger by the thousands in the streets of Lima, the capital.

I felt indignant, ashamed, and powerless. Members of congress are swearing by their families, swearing by God, when in reality their motivation is something else. It's their desire and ambition for power, this protester told CNN.

We want congress to know that the people do not support it. That it's not only a few who are against them, this woman said.

Pressure kept building with more protests that turned increasingly violent. At least two people died and 94 were injured last weekend.

And then, on Sunday, only five days after being sworn in, Merino redesigned. Protesters erupted in cheers.

Two days later, a new president, Francisco Sagasti, chosen again by congress, was sworn in. Sagasti is a 76-year-old engineer and former World Bank official.

ROMO (on camera): Sagasti was Peru's third president in a week and the country's fourth in as many years. Facing likely impeachment, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigned in March of 2018. His vice president and successor, Martin Vizcarra, was impeached last week. Many Peruvians feel congress has too much power and are demanding a new constitution be written with more checks and balances. ROMO (voice over): Anger against the political class in Peru is still

boiling hot.

We want the whole congress gone because we truly don't believe in any of them, this protester told CNN.

Peruvians are scheduled to go to the polls next April to choose a new congress and president. When the winner takes office in July, he or she will be the country's fifth president in as many years.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMO: And President Sagasti in power since Tuesday, now has five months to bring some sort of stability to the country. Peruvians are scheduled to choose a new president in April. They've also been one of the hardest hit countries by the coronavirus pandemic in the region.

Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Just incredible to see all those videos and what's happening there this morning.

Rafael, thank you very much.

Well, the CDC is urging Americans not to travel for Thanksgiving, but what about college students planning to return home? We have the brand-new guidance for you, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:53:58]

BERMAN: So, this morning, the CDC is urging Americans not to travel for Thanksgiving, stressing that the safest way to celebrate is at home with the people you live with. The people who live in your house, all the time.

But what about college students? So the CDC is talking about them specifically in new guidance, writing, quote, people who do not currently live in your housing unit, such as college students who are returning home from school for the holidays should be considered part of different households.

CNN's Bianna Golodryga joins us now with what this all means and what colleges are doing. We have a generation of humans now on the move, heading back to different places. It's such a challenge.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: And many of them could be carrying the disease asymptomatically, John. Here's part of the problem, that guidance came one week before Thanksgiving. We knew the trajectory of this virus in the country and yet the CDC waited one week. And that's led experts saying, this is going to be a recipe for disaster come this Thanksgiving holiday. Many schools have made their own decisions because there hasn't been CDC guidance up until today. And, remember, many of these universities, specifically said to control the disease, they were going to end the semester by Thanksgiving.

[06:55:00]

So what are these students going to do?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD BIRX, PRESIDENT, PLYMOUTH STATE UNIVERSITY: Students come all through the day, by alphabetical order, and get tested.

GOLODRYGA (voice over): Sitting in a campus gym, refitted as a COVID- 19 testing site, Plymouth State University President Donald Birx has been preparing for a Thanksgiving break like no other.

DONALD BIRX: We've got them tested and going back home safely.

GOLODRYGA: The New Hampshire public university has been testing students and faculty weekly since September. The strategy appears to be working. The school currently has fewer than 20 confirmed active cases, all isolated off-campus.

DONALD BIRX: Students have been fantastic through the whole process.

DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE COORDINATOR: We will have to adapt this Thanksgiving, just like the students have adapted to how they interact with each other.

GOLODRYGA: Plymouth State recently hosted White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, Dr. Deborah Birx, as she toured campuses last month. She also happens to be Donald's sister.

DONALD BIRX: There was a time when I called her up and I said, do you really think we can do this?

GOLODRYGA: She has been focused on speaking directly to students and administrators about the rise of COVID-19 cases, as colder weather and the holidays approach.

DEBORAH BIRX: This virus can spread in -- among families and friends if you are -- take your mask off and you're primarily indoors.

DONALD BIRX: She spent 45 minutes just talking about all the background, what she'd learned.

GOLODRYGA: College students heading home for Thanksgiving are of special concern for Dr. Birx and other health officials.

A. DAVID PALTIEL, PUBLIC HEALTH PROFESSOR, YALE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Young asymptomatic individuals, the so-called silent spreaders, are fueling the epidemic in this country. And so colleges have a responsibility to ensure that they don't unwittingly unleash ticking time bombs into the nation's airports, train stations, and Thanksgiving dining tables.

GOLODRYGA: Despite that concern, the CDC hadn't published guidelines recommending against Thanksgiving travel until just one week before the holiday. That delay in guidance led to each campus setting their own protocols. Some more rigid than others.

PALTIEL: They're all over the map. I think it's a recipe for a very jumbled Thanksgiving dinner.

GOLODRYGA: New York state's university system will require all of its 140,000 students using on campus facilities to test negative for COVID-19 within ten days before departing campus. Those that test positive must isolate.

JIM MALATRAS, CHANCELLOR, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK: We want to give our families and our students and the families that are coming over for Thanksgiving and other things confidence that we are maximizing all of our public health protections.

GOLODRYGA: The University of Michigan will also require campus exit tests.

ANDREW MOLLARD, COLLEGE STUDENT: I think it's a good procedure to make sure everybody, you know, stays safe.

GOLODRYGA: The University of Wisconsin's system is mandating three COVID-19 tests, one before and two after Thanksgiving break, and even encouraging students not to go home at all.

ANDREW LEAVITT, CHANCELLOR, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN OSHKOSH: We normally would have maybe 60 or 70 students stay. We certainly would like to have more stay this time.

GOLODRYGA: Other schools are taking a more lax approach. Both Penn State and Indiana University are not making testing mandatory for students before leaving campus. And despite rising cases on its campus, Arizona State University officials say around half of on campus students have not complied with random testing.

GOLODRYGA (on camera): Should mandatory guidelines be instituted in colleges before students decide to leave for, quote, break?

PALTIEL: Absolutely. Voluntary programs sound wonderful, but they don't work.

GOLODRYGA (voice over): Fortunately, many college students are being extra cautious.

ELLIOT BOZ, COLLEGE STUDENT: My family's at home and, you know, grandparents are back. So I want to make sure that -- you know, that I'm cleared before I come back home.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GOLODRYGA: So hopefully there are going to be more students like that one who's responsible and you just heard from right there. But experts also warn that students, before they leave for Thanksgiving and even the winter break, should also get their flu shots. And that's something we're not hearing a lot about either, but that is a big concern this flu season, as well. Again, without those CDC guidelines coming until yesterday, this had

been a piecemeal sort of operation. To Dr. Birx's credit, she traveled to 32 schools across the country talking to campuses and students about what they should be doing. Donald Birx, her brother, said they are going to be having a separate Thanksgiving, a Thanksgiving like no other, very cautious. But, of course, that's the message for millions of families across the country.

But, John, you know, I'm a stepmom to college kids. No one wants to be that person that calls and says, don't come home this year. So this is going to be a very tricky situation.

BERMAN: No. It's -- look, in my town there's a real issue with the younger siblings who go to the public school in the town. If you're the younger sibling of a college kid, do you go back to school the week after Thanksgiving? It's a challenge.

GOLODRYGA: Right.

BERMAN: And, you know, Deborah Birx is talking about this all over the place.

Bianna, thank you very much for that.

GOLODRYGA: Sure.

[07:00:02]

BERMAN: So Dr. Sanjay Gupta has an exclusive interview with Dr. Birx as the coronavirus crisis is breaking new records in the country.