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New Day

Americans Travel Despite Pandemic; Wintry Weather From Rockies to Plains; NFL Tightens Protocols; Shooting During Nigerian Protests. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired November 24, 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]

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Workers, such as firefighters and police officers.

Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And we just have to get there. We just have to get to that one more month to that point where people -- all of those people that you just enumerated there can get it.

So, thank you.

COHEN: That's right.

CAMEROTA: Elizabeth, thank you for all of that reporting.

So coronavirus continues its rampage across America. A new model projects the number of cases will nearly double by Inauguration Day in January. Nearly 86,000 people are in the hospital this morning with coronavirus. That is a new record. Experts fear, of course, the Thanksgiving holiday will lead to another surge.

Joining us now, CNN political commentator and epidemiologist Dr. Abdul El-Sayed.

We're -- we're in the -- we're, I guess, in the middle of a surge, we're at the start of a surge? I mean where are we today?

DR. ABDUL EL-SAYED, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, unfortunately, we've seen cases continuing to grow since the middle of October. And what I'm really worried about is what's happening in just a couple days now, which is Thanksgiving. And we know that this surge is largely driven by the changing weather and the changing behavioral patterns that come with changing weather, people going inside and sometimes spending more time, less physically distant without masks, in settings like a home or other spaces. And so this is really concerning.

And Thanksgiving, of course, is a place -- it's a time where people come together with family. So it's really, really critical if you're concerned about the fact that hospitalizations are up, that hospitals are full in regions across this country, that maybe you consider spending time apart this Thanksgiving so that you know that every person in your family can spend time together every Thanksgiving after this because, of course, 258,000 families are thinking about a Thanksgiving with somebody who will never be with them again at that table. And so we've got to do what we can to protect ourselves, our loved ones and our communities.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Look, my kids, who are still in school two days a week in their public school, it was half full yesterday because parents pulled their kids out to self-quarantine before clearly having some kind of big gathering on Thanksgiving. And they think they're outsmarting this by taking them out of school three days beforehand. It just -- look, yes, I applaud them being a little careful. On the other hand, it just goes to show that people aren't going to heed the warnings here.

And we've got this map that was put together by researchers which shows the chances, if you go to a Thanksgiving with ten people, the chances that someone there will be positive. You know, and there are a lot of cities that are over a 10 percent chance. Some cities, like Chicago, 36 percent. Columbus, Ohio, 25 percent.

Look, you know, and then you have ten households doing that. There's 100 percent chance that someone's going to be at one of these larger gatherings with COVID. This is how you get a surge upon a surge, which is what Dr. Anthony Fauci talked about last night.

EL-SAYED: That's absolutely right, John. And those numbers should be really concerning. And I think it's always easy, in a situation like this, to say, well, that's not going to be me. That's not going to be somebody I love. This map lays it out and says, look, if you're one of the -- in one of these communities, this is the probability that one in ten of you is going to have it. And, of course, one in ten of you having it over the course of a one, two, three-hour meal together, that means that the high probability is that many, if not all of you have it over the long-term.

So the best thing to do right now is to physically distance, to avoid a large Thanksgiving gathering, to use the tools like we're using right now, things like Zoom and Skype that allow you to engage with each other. And -- and know that you're doing this so that you are protecting loved ones because you want them to be together Thanksgiving next year. And -- and so I can't emphasize it enough. There's -- there's nothing more that we can say aside from, you can't outsmart this. Don't expect that you're not the one. You don't know that. And it's most important that all of us come out of this whole this year.

CAMEROTA: Right. And we somehow have to make it another month, as we were just talking about with Elizabeth Cohen, for people to start getting what is predicted to be the first date of the vaccine.

And I'm wondering, Doctor, if the vaccine is able to be given at that time, a month from now, to the frontline workers in hospitals, to seniors in, you know, group-living homes, will that help all of us? Even if we don't get the vaccine, does that -- will that bring the caseload down and the just sort of contagion in the air down, that it will help all of us until we can get the vaccine?

EL-SAYED: Yes, so I want to reframe a term that we've been hearing a lot, that gets used in a lot of different ways, and that's herd immunity. Some people have been using this idea of herd immunity to say that we shouldn't be physically distancing at all. And they're misusing the idea.

But the proper use of herd immunity actually comes out of what we know about the added benefits of people being vaccinated in your community because, you know, let's say it's me, you and John and the two of you are vaccinated, and I haven't been vaccinated yet. I'm not going to get it from the two of you simply because you're vaccinated and can't pass it off to me.

And so the good news is that the more people in our society are getting vaccinated, the less likely it is that any of us are going to bump into somebody who could give us the disease. And so it's important to be getting this, of course, to folks who are most likely to have the worst outcomes.

[06:35:04]

So people, of course, who are on the front lines taking care of us courageously in hospitals every single day, but also seniors and people with chronic conditions that could portend a worse outcome. But all of us benefit, every time somebody gets a vaccine. And that really is important and reassuring.

CAMEROTA: Are you trying to signal to me that you've already been vaccinated? Is that what you're --

BERMAN: No. I'm going to get in line as soon as I can. He said if the three of us are vaccinated. I'm like, I'm going to be the one who gets vaccinated.

CAMEROTA: You are. You're going to like push me out of the way and get to the front of the line.

Thank you, Doctor, very much.

EL-SAYED: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: All right, the NFL issuing strict, new safety guidelines for players during coronavirus. "Bleacher Report" is next with that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:05]

CAMEROTA: Wintery weather posing a threat to parts of the U.S. today. So what will Thanksgiving look like?

CNN's Jennifer Gray has our forecast.

What are you seeing, Jennifer? JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Alisyn, yes, we are seeing some snow

this morning. Places like Chicago, even Denver, getting a quick shot of snow before it switches over to rain.

So this is that system that we've been talking about that's going to cross the country and bring quite a bit of rain and even some snow across much of the east in time for Thanksgiving.

Now, this weather is brought to you by Ninja Foodi, be proud of what you make.

So, as we move forward, you can see, there is actually a threat for severe weather for today across Oklahoma, Oklahoma City included in that. Damaging winds. The possibility of large hail. Even isolated tornados.

But here is the big picture. This system that's going to cross the country brings snow to the extreme northern tier of the country. We're talking about places in Wisconsin, Michigan, upstate New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and northern Maine. The rest of everyone will see just rain. Across the Mississippi River Valley, temperatures are entirely too warm.

Here's Thursday, and you can see where all of the rain is. The I-95 corridor. But I believe, John, if you wait until the afternoon, the big cities in the northeast will have a dryer, later evening, late afternoon. So if you alter your Thanksgiving plans, you might be able to get outdoors then, as we were talking about yesterday.

BERMAN: Go outside and walk off what you eat before.

All right, Jennifer Gray, thank you very much for being with us.

GRAY: Exactly.

BERMAN: So the NFL imposing stricter protocols to try to control the spread of coronavirus.

Andy Scholes with the details in the "Bleacher Report."

Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, John.

So the NFL, you know, hasn't had to do any major reshuffling to that schedule lately and they would certainly like to keep it that way. So the league's sending out a new memo to all 32 teams yesterday with additional safety measures. And the ones that fans are going to notice the most is, players now required to wear masks on the sideline unless they have their helmet on and are preparing to enter the game. Also, coaches calling plays now must wear a face mask or double-layered gator in addition to that face shield. These changes are going to take effect starting with the three games on Thanksgiving.

All right, Monday night football. Referee Jerome Boger and his six-man crew making history, becoming the first all-black officiating crew to work an NFL game. Now, this one was Tom Brady and the Bucks hosting the Rams. (INAUDIBLE) up 7 in the fourth. Watch Tom Brady here. Throws a pass and catches it himself, then throws it again to Mike Evans. Too bad that's illegal because it certainly was impressive.

Now, Brady would lead the Bucks down the field by Chris Godwin to tie the game here at 24. Brady then had a chance to go win the game with under two minutes to go, but this throw here picked off. Rams win that one 27-24.

All right, college basketball set to tip off its season tomorrow and it's already being hit hard by coronavirus. Duke's opener against Gardner Web is one of 20 games that are either postponed or cancelled on opening day. The Yukon women, meanwhile, halting team activities for 14 days after a positive test within their program. That means four games will need to be pushed back. Yukon says possible schedule adjustments may come at a later date.

But, you know, John, we've seen how much trouble college football has had trying to get through its season. And this is basketball, where they're always right next to each other. And this is not going to be like an NBA bubble. All of these kids are living on campus.

BERMAN: Yes.

SCHOLES: Certainly going to be interesting to see how they do this during a pandemic.

BERMAN: It will be really interesting to see what happens with the college basketball season. This might be just the beginning, Andy, beginning of cancellations by that.

SCHOLES: Yes.

BERMAN: Thanks so much for being with us.

SCHOLES: All right.

BERMAN: So we're seeing dramatic, new evidence of police opening fire on unarmed protestors in Nigeria. What the government now says after CNN's exclusive investigation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:47:29]

CAMEROTA: This morning we're seeing new surveillance video that confirms key findings of a CNN exclusive investigation into the shooting of unarmed protestors by Nigerian Army soldiers and police last month.

CNN's Nima Elbagir is live in London with more on what this new footage reveals.

Nima.

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What this footage doesn't show, Alisyn, is almost as important as what it does. Take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELBAGIR (voice over): This is government CCTV footage from surveillance cameras overlooking Lekki toll gate. Recorded without sound, it was shown as evidence in the judicial panel.

You see soldiers approaching, firing shots, here and here.

We lined up the footage, and it corroborates our previous reporting, to show the first time we see and hear gunshots. Notice the building to the right of your screen. Here is the same moment from that building.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are releasing fire.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They shoot! They shoot! They shoot!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are releasing fire.

ELBAGIR: CNN geo-located and verified the footage you see to mark the exact time and place. Moments later, more CCTV footage. People alarmed.

Here is the exact same moment from the other side of the gate. Shots can be heard.

But the CCTV doesn't capture everything. This is what it shows at the time we believe shots are fired towards the protestors. The surveillance camera pans away.

But this is what you see on the ground. In videos obtained by CNN, it appears to show the army shooting into the crowd, here and again at the top of your screen here.

At the judicial panel, the CCTV footage stops at around 8:00. The Lekki Concession (ph) Company (ph) says this is because it was tampered with.

What it doesn't show is this crucial moment where DJ Switch live streams on Instagram after 8:00 p.m.

DJ SWITCH: Everybody, look at this. These are the bullets that were falling. That were falling by our side. We are dodging bullets.

ELBAGIR: CNN has verified that these bullet casings are from live ammunition. They are of mixed origin. Some are Serbian. This one from 2005. Former and current Nigerian military sources verified to us that these munitions are currently in use by the Nigerian army.

At a hearing for the judicial panel of inquiry, the army made an admission.

[06:50:01]

AHMED TAIWO, BRIGADIER GENERAL, NIGERIAN ARMY: The soldiers would be given both live and blank bullets, OK. In this particular case, we saw that this protest had been infiltrated by hoodlums.

ELBAGIR: But eyewitnesses and families we spoke to say the ammunition used that night by Nigerian authorities was very real.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is where I was shot, and the bullet went through my back.

ELBAGIR: Up until this point, the army had denied they had live bullets at all on that night. It confirms a key finding in our investigation, that there was live ammunition at the scene.

ELBAGIR (on camera): This admission is the latest in a series of constantly-shifting narratives as to what happened on October 20th at Lekki toll gate. The minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed, said that the army fired blank ammunition into the air. He also dismissed CNN's investigation as fake news and misinformation.

ELBAGIR (voice over): Now, in the aftermath of our reporting, both the United States and the United Kingdom are calling on Nigeria to ensure that its investigation is free and fair.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ELBAGIR: The Nigerian government continues to dispute our reporting and threatens sanctions against CNN. But as you've just saw, the army has only just admitted that live ammunition was carried by soldiers at Lekki toll gate on the night of October 20th.

CNN reached out multiple times to the army with requests for comment ahead of broadcast, which were unanswered. And police and state authorities declined to respond until after the conclusion of the inquiry. We continue to stand by our reporting.

Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Nima, we wouldn't know this without your reporting. And thank you for all the transparency of being able to show, not only our viewers but, obviously, the government of how we reached that conclusion. And, I mean, all the complication and coordination of when the shots were fired and from what direction and by whom. And so, now that the army has confirmed it, now what? What will the government say?

ELBAGIR: Well, our concern is regarding the transparency of the inquiry. And you heard there that both the United States and the United Kingdom hold similar concerns. The fact that this CCTV footage was supposed to be a key piece in the army's defense, and we were able to pull it apart forensically and show all the places that it had been tampered with, that it had been moved away from key locations, so many of those we have spoken to, Alisyn, and I have to say, have been so incredibly brave. They are still in Nigeria. They are still attempting to get out witness testimony. And without them, we couldn't do any of this. So, they are going to continue to try and get justice.

CAMEROTA: Nima, please, keep reporting on this. Please, keep us posted as to what happens next and thank you for all of that reporting.

ELBAGIR: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Back here, "Jeopardy!," the game show, to resume production after Alex Trebek's death. The game show names its first guest host. We tell you who, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:57:24]

CAMEROTA: David Dinkins, the first black mayor of New York City, has died. He passed away from natural causes last night at his home here in Manhattan. Dinkins became mayor in 1989, defeating Rudy Giuliani. And in a rematch, four years later, he narrowly lost his re-election bid. Dinkins' death comes just a month after his wife Joyce's death. David Dinkins was 93 years old.

BERMAN: A trailblazer in many ways in New York City.

So the all-time "Jeopardy!" record holder, Ken Jennings, has been named the first guest host for the game show after Alex Trebek's death. Production of new episodes begins next week. Jennings tweeted, there will only ever be one Alex Trebek, but I'm honored to be helping "Jeopardy!" out with this in January.

Trebek lost his battle to pancreatic cancer two weeks ago at the age of 80. A long-term replacement has not been named. I will suggest, you know, Ken Jennings won a lot, but I think every "Jeopardy!" winner should get a fair shot to host.

CAMEROTA: Like who?

BERMAN: Just saying, if you won "Jeopardy!," you should get a chance to host.

CAMEROTA: Do you know anybody who won -- has won "Jeopardy!"?

BERMAN: I happen to know who --

CAMEROTA: Who?

BERMAN: I won -- you know, I may have won at "Jeopardy!."

CAMEROTA: You did win at "Jeopardy!" I didn't know that. How did I miss that?

BERMAN: And I only know -- well, phone lines are open. I'm available.

CAMEROTA: If anybody out there doesn't know that you won "Jeopardy!," they have been sleeping late, obviously.

BERMAN: It happened. It's a matter of historical record.

CAMEROTA: And it is impressive. BERMAN: And every "Jeopardy!" winner should get an equal shot. Just

because Ken Jennings won more doesn't mean he should get more of a shot.

"Jeopardy!," call John.

Thank you.

BERMAN: NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The GSA, they are moving forward with this formal transition.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is a recognition that the dominos have fallen in terms of the Michigan certification. That was key.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll better arm them to fight COVID-19 and focus our energies on protecting American lives.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President-elect Joe Biden's cabinet is taking shape, announcing seasoned advisers into new, history-making roles.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: CDC guidance is clear, don't travel over Thanksgiving.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What will happen, tragically, is that people are going to inadvertently kill people they really love.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Better be careful now than either endangering yourself or a vulnerable member of your family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

CAMEROTA: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. And we really are waking up to a new day in this country.

Overnight, the head of the General Services Administration finally triggered the official start of the transition to President-elect Biden.

[07:00:05]

In doing so, she put an end to these three, long weeks of limbo.