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Hill Leaders Struggle to Finalize Deal Amid Looming Shutdown Threat; Key Model Now Projects 561,000+ Americans Could Die by April 1st. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired December 18, 2020 - 07:00   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEW DAY: 3,270 new deaths reported overnight.

[07:00:03]

Hospitals in California reaching breaking point, ICU capacity in L.A. County is now 0 percent. 0 percent is about the level of public concern expressed by the president of the United States to this new wave of death.

ERICA HILL, CNN NEW DAY: We're learning overnight that Biden adviser, Congressman Cedric Richmond, has tested positive for coronavirus. Richmond was at the same event as the president-elect in Atlanta on Tuesday.

Now, the Biden team, for its part, says they were masked and outdoors. He's not the only positive case we've learned about, the wife of Health Secretary Alex Azar also testing positive.

Meantime, congressional leaders still struggling to hammer out a desperately needed stimulus deal. And talks may likely continue into the weekend. A government shutdown though looms at midnight tonight. That's, of course, all hanging over these horrific numbers, as John pointed out.

CNN's Dan Simon has our top story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The pandemic ravaging the nation. Thursday, the United States reported more than 233,000 new infections and over 3,200 deaths. More than 114,000 Americans are currently hospitalized with coronavirus, the 12th straight day of record hospitalizations.

DR. FRANCIS COLLINS, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: We have another couple of dark months ahead of us if we don't do something at this point to try to stop this dreadful upward curve of hospitalizations and cases and deaths. This is not the moment to be throwing down your guard and gathering for the holidays, like nothing was happening. We have a lot of trouble here in front of us.

SIMON: 48 states have positivity rates above 5 percent over the past week, including Pennsylvania, which recorded more than 10,000 new cases on Thursday, and a test positivity rate of nearly 39 percent. In neighboring Ohio, more than 11,000 cases reported.

GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): There's nothing to be happy about as we look at these numbers.

SIMON: California, a major hot spot for this wave of the pandemic. In just the last two days, the state has reported more than 109,000 new cases.

BARBARA FERRER, DIRECTOR, L.A. COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH: I would estimate at this point probably 1 in 50 people in L.A. County may be infected. And that's going to include people you know and you care about and who are in your family. Anybody can become infected and anybody may be infected. And you've got to keep your distance, wear your mask.

SIMON: In Southern California, ICU beds are at 0 percent capacity, something Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti had warned would happen by Christmas Eve. Los Angeles is looking at ways to up capacity, such as converting regular hospital beds for ICU units and setting up triage tents in parking lots of hospitals.

MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI (D-LOS ANGELES, CA): One hospital administrator conveyed to me in a Zoom call that if we see a similar spike after Christmas, and these were his words, we will go under.

SIMON: But as hospitals across the country face the brunt of the surge, the Food and Drug Administration's vaccine advisory committee recommending Moderna's coronavirus vaccine be granted emergency use authorization.

DR. JAMES HILDRETH, MEMBER, FDA ACCINES ADVISORY COMMITTEE: Because the data that was presented to us was very strong. The efficacy was consistent across all the age groups. They included people with chronic conditions.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIMON (on camera): And as for the Moderna vaccine, it now just needs the final green light from both the FDA and the CDC. That is likely to happen this weekend with hopefully the vaccine being administered next week.

And we're also learning that CVS and Walgreens will begin administering the vaccine in long-term facilities beginning today. John?

BERMAN: All right. Dan Simon for us in San Francisco, Dan, thank you so much.

We have something very special right now. Joining us, CNN chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He is live at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, and Sanjay along with Dr. Valerie Montgomery, about to receive the coronavirus vaccine. And we will see Sanjay get it live.

Sanjay, before that happens, we want to talk for a few minutes about where we are as a country. And this is so important, because as positive as the news is with people starting to get the vaccine, that you will get in just seconds, we are seeing more death now than we have ever seen. We are seeing more hospitalizations than we have ever seen.

In the IHME model, which is the one the government relies on and we all watch so closely, came out with a revision overnight which has raised the level of projected death to 560,000 by April 1st. It had been as low as 502,000 a few days ago. They're now saying 561,000 dead by April 1st. It's staggering. Why?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. John, look, I mean, as important as this vaccine is, the basic public health measures that were supposed to go into effect and make such a big difference, many of those things still haven't happened in many places.

If you look around the country, what you find is that once we hit certain benchmarks in this country, roughly, for example, eight deaths per million people and those 2,400 deaths, you were supposed to see these mitigation efforts start to happen in most states around the country.

[07:05:08]

The country is supposed to compensate like the body compensates when it's in trouble, when a disease has spread. That's not happening. It was expected to happen, and as a result, the numbers continue to go up.

I mean, it's a concern. There's no question. Who knows where these models go. We're starting to look from moderate case scenarios to worst case scenarios, as a result of that. And it's not surprising to the people who are making these models that the numbers continue to go up.

We'll see, John, if states start to respond or not, but that's the big concern. Again, the vaccine is wonderful, but the vaccine is a really big tool that takes a while to work. And that's a message that, you know, we need to convey to people over and over again.

HILL: Yes. The masks are here to stay along with all of those other measures, as we know.

I think that California really -- I mean that really made me sit up this morning when we saw some of the most recent numbers, specifically out of L.A. County. Two deaths being reported per hour, we're talking about ICUs that are basically full. The ripple effect of that, Sanjay, can't be underscored enough.

GUPA: No. I mean, you're running into a situation where you just don't have beds. I mean, at the beginning of this, when you're looking at the northeast, if you had a situation where there weren't enough beds, you can at least adapt to regional structure, to move patients to different parts of the region or even different parts of the country. That's difficult when every place that you might send patients is also struggling with resources, beds, manpower, whatever it might be. So, you know, you have to sort of think about this idea that, what are the escape hatches here.

And they talk about the fact that they don't have any ICU beds in some of these communities, what does that mean, exactly? If someone needs ICU care, they're going to have to triage, they're going to have to make some tough decisions. I mean, they have been anticipating this and they're going to do a great job trying to find the extra square footage and try to take care of these patients. But it's a real challenge and a situation we did not have to be in right now.

BERMAN: All right, Sanjay. You are at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, along with Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice. You are both receiving the vaccine now. I'll let you take it away and walk us through this process.

GUPTA: Yes. I am here with my old friend, Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice, the president and dean of the Morehouse School of Medicine.

I've got to say, I want to say something before we start, because, you know, I'm sort of in an interesting position, right? I work here as a health care worker, therefore I'm getting the vaccine. Health care workers are more at risk. I've also been covering the story so intensely for a year. I've talked to the people who make these vaccines. I've talked to the FDA commissioner. I've talked to the data scientists. I am comfortable getting this vaccine.

And yet there are so many people who are still not comfortable. And I was surprised, Dr. Rice, that even here at Grady, about a third of people, health care workers, say they would get it, a third say they need more information, and a third say they would not get it. That kind of surprised me.

So a couple of questions, first of all, you are totally comfortable getting this vaccine?

DR. VALERIE MONTGOMERY RICE, PRESIDENT AND DEAN, MOREHOUSE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Totally comfortable, totally comfortable.

GUPTA: How have you approached this decision for yourself?

RICE: For me, personally, as a clinician scientist, I have followed all the data. I listened in at the ACIP, I'm on one of the, in NIH panels, so I've had the opportunity to look at the phase 0, phase 1, phase 2. But like you, I have gotten a lot of calls from people.

So over the last couple of weeks, three of my mentees called me who were on the frontline, I don't know if I'm going to take this vaccine. I said, really? We're scientists, okay? So let's go through the data. I went through the data with them.

And then even just yesterday, one of my staff people came into me, we were in the office, and she says, Dr. Rice, my husband is on the frontline and he works in one of the technical areas, but he's on the frontline, he says in a hospital. He's concerned about taking it. And I said, I went through the data with her and said, you know, this is probably one of the most important steps that we can make to mitigate the virus and do the health prevention measures that we've been doing.

GUPTA: Was there something about the data that stuck out to you specifically for black Americans?

RICE: When I looked at the Pfizer data, about 3,900 blacks, right, who were in there, when you looked at the ones who got the vaccine, 1,900 or so, very effective, even more so effective than the other demographics. And then the early data that I looked at from Moderna yesterday, the blacks who were in the vaccine treatment arm, 100 percent effective.

And so, it does show that it is not -- we're not seeing a distinction that is negative based on race or ethnicity, age or even obesity.

[07:10:05]

So that's very positive to me.

GUPTA: Do you think this issue of vaccine hesitancy, especially among black Americans, is addressable or, I mean, is this going to change, do you think?

RICE: I think it is addressable. We're already seeing it.

Back in August, when we first started the black coalition against COVID-19, the black -- the four black historical medical schools, the NMA, the National Urban League, we've been doing these town halls. In fact, we did one last night, about 30,000 to 40,000 people in there. And we are starting to see a difference in the number of people saying that they would continue to think about it, but now moving on from vaccine hesitancy to vaccine acceptance.

And then the Kaiser Family Foundation, initially in August, 60 percent of people said they wouldn't. It was down to 42 percent or 45 percent. So we're making some progress. But it's about communication, communication, communication, and demonstrating and modeling. So that's what we're kind of here for today, right?

GUPTA: Absolutely. And, again, I'll say it. I've been following this for a year, from the beginnings of this vaccine. I am totally comfortable taking it. I feel it's important to say. You are comfortable taking it.

There is a reason why people are -- I don't want to minimize people's hesitations, especially when it comes to black Americans. The history of medical science and medical experimentation, I think a word I can use, has really fostered some of this, right?

RICE: Yes. So we went back and people can name the Mississippi appendectomy studies, people can name the Tuskegee, people can name even some of the modern day things where we're hearing that women in Georgia, who are being -- having hysterectomies unnecessarily.

But what we know that's different now, is that there are black scientists in the room where decisions being made. There are black scientists who are in the development of the vaccine. There are black scientists who are on the FDA advisory panel. There are black scientists on the ACIP. There are black scientists on the CDC advisory boards.

And there are people like me who are looking at the data, helping to interpret it, working with the national academy, giving our recommendations of the allocations. So we're in the rooms where it's happening. So we clearly are not going to go against ourselves, right, because we understand how critical this is for black America and Latin X America who have been disproportionately impacted by the virus. I would not actually recommend anything if I did not believe it was safe.

GUPTA: All right. Your voice is so important. Are you ready to do this?

RICE: We're ready.

RICE: All right.

GUPTA: Mary Katherine will come in here and do the jabs. Mary Katherine, thank you, I think, in advance.

While we're getting ready, I should tell you as well, Dr. Rice is one of only three black mother/daughters, Harvard Medical School, and your daughter just graduated her vascular surgery resident.

RICE: She is a vascular surgery resident. You came (INAUDIBLE) giving her a shout-out. So, yes, we've probably embarrassed her now, so she won't forgive me for that. But, yes.

So I'm going to sit down.

GUPTA: Now, we are both going to get this shot in our left arm because we are right-handed, so they do the non-dominant arm.

RICE: My friends know I'm afraid of needles.

GUPTA: Is that right?

RICE: Yes, I don't like needles. I don't like needles.

GUPTA: You're a doctor.

RICE: Yes. I am a doctor. I'm a surgeon too.

GUPTA: You prescribe a lot of needles and scalpels but you don't like getting it --

RICE: It's different when you're driving the needle. It's a lot different when you're driving the needle. I should just relax and breathe.

GUPTA: Big moment.

RICE: Yes, yes, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All done?

RICE: That's it? Oh, piece of cake.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All done.

RICE: Now, seriously --

GUPTA: You're afraid of needles, that wasn't so bad.

RICE: No, no, no, she's good. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Anytime.

RICE: All right. Okay. She has a new job. All right, that's it.

GUPTA: You know, it really does strike me that it's such an amazing scientific feat.

RICE: Oh, my goodness.

GUPTA: And yet it's such a mundane act.

RICE: Right. Yes, yes, yes. I mean, that was a piece of cake.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You ready?

GUPTA: I am ready, Mary Katherine. Thank you.

I really feel good about today. I have to tell you.

RICE: I feel good. We're making progress, to be able to do this at Grady, as we call it, The Grady. Having trained here, it has been one of the highlights of my career to be able to come back here and be a part of this continuing advancement at Grady so I'm really excited to do this.

GUPTA: I, by the way, as a surgeon am also a little bit afraid of needles.

RICE: Yes, and that's scary. Yes. You're not wincing at all.

GUPTA: Is it in?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's done.

GUPTA: It's done. You are really good.

RICE: Oh, yes, that's good.

GUPTA: Thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Anytime.

[07:15:00]

GUPTA: Do you get thanked a lot for jabbing somebody -- UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do, actually.

RICE: Yes. I mean, no, seriously.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Especially in the last couple of days.

GUPTA: Thank you very much, Mary Katherine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're very welcome.

GUPTA: You got any words?

RICE: I mean, you know what, I was -- as I think about this, I think about how honored I am, right? And I think about the people who, several years ago -- because you and I know this technology has been worked on for a while, right, this messenger RNA. They didn't just do that it at warp speed. There have been people who have been working on this for years, right?

And the fact that we see all of this coming together, you think about all the people who did -- the animal care facility who worked on taking care of the animals when they were doing the pre-clinical studies. You think about the people who had the idea that you could actually take a genetic code and put it inside of a lipid particle, mix it with some salt and create a vaccine, you think about those people.

Then you think about the people who are doing the supply chain. Think about the people in Kalamazoo and the big deal this is for them. I think about the UPS drivers. I think about the people who are flying the planes from -- who are carrying the vaccine. It's a big deal. And so I'm just honored. And I say thank you to all of those people. Thank you.

GUPTA: And it's important that they'd be protected as well because they're often most at risk.

John, Erica, I mean, it was a mundane sort of thing to get a shot. I mean, people have seen this so many times. But I've got to tell you, I didn't know exactly what to expect. That felt very significant.

RICE: Yes, very significant.

BERMAN: It felt like history.

RICE: Thank you.

BERMAN: It felt like history to me, Sanjay.

GUPTA: Yes.

BERMAN: And it felt like a moment of scientific achievement, a microcosm of the remarkable year that we've just gone through. People need to know, Sanjay, first of all, that you operate on patients every week. You're in the O.R. every week. You're getting -- you just received the shot today because you need it, based on what you do in your day job when you're not talking to us on CNN. So we're so happy that you did it not just for your career, but also for the example that it sets.

And now just tell us how you feel, what you're experiencing right now, and what the steps are over the next several minutes.

GUPTA: Yes, you know, I just have to say that, again, it is a really -- it feels like a very profound moment. I mean, this is sort of my day job here, health care workers are more at risk. That's why they're at the front of the line with regard to these vaccines. But the reality is, you know, I think about my parents living down in Florida. They're in their late 70s. I want them to be able to do what I just did.

I've been thinking about them a lot. I'm sure a lot of people who were watching are thinking about the people that they love. And the fact that this could help them from getting sick, 90 to 95 percent efficacy, it's a pretty remarkable thing.

What happens now, I think, is that we're going to sit here for a little bit, I think 15 minutes or so. There's -- you know, there's been these very few cases of allergic reactions. So in a situation like this, they monitor you for 15 minutes to see if you develop any kind of allergic reaction. You have epinephrine, Benadryl, things like that. Obviously, we're in a hospital.

You know, I should point out, it's rare. It makes news because we're in the middle of all of this. We're all learning about this together. Even with other vaccines, about 1 in a million people do have some sort of allergic reaction. If you think about 300 million people, we'd see hundreds of these around the country during this rollout.

So that's basically it. I think after 15 minutes or so, we are free to go, feeling like we have at least gotten the first half of our vaccination.

HILL: Sanjay, you talk about what a profound moment it was for you. I have to admit, and I felt this way watching some of the vaccinations earlier this week. Perhaps it's because you're a friend, perhaps it's because I know you, but also listening to what Dr. Montgomery Rice had to say before her vaccination, as well, it is a profound and I think emotional moment for people in many ways as they watch this, because the last year really has been so difficult.

And I'm just user curious, you know, as you continue in this day job, do you think knowing that you have this first dose will impact you on a daily basis? Will it change anything in your daily life or when you're there for surgery?

GUPTA: You know, that's a really good question, Erica. I think there's a physical component to this, there's a psychological component to this. You know, I'll preface by saying this. I've talked to so many people this year who have been -- you know, who had COVID of people who have lost somebody with COVID. And a lot of times, it wasn't that they didn't believe that this existed, they believed it. They just didn't believe that it would happen to them. That is what it really was.

And then all of a sudden, they got a few symptoms one day, and then those symptoms got worse. And then they needed to be hospitalized. And then they were in the middle of the worst days of their life.

[07:20:00]

That's what happens so many times.

And so you -- you keep this in the back of your mind. And I guess, did I really worry that I was going to get sick? You know, I was confident that I was doing things to keep myself safe. But you always worry, I guess, a little bit.

And now that you think, after I get my next shot, I'll be 90 percent- plus protected from getting the symptoms of COVID-19, that's a pretty remarkable thing. So, yes, physically, I'm very confident in the vaccine but there's a psychological sort of piece, I think, that comes with this, as well.

BERMAN: Just to be clear, you --

RICE: Definitely, definitely feel a little relief, right? A little relief, like you've done something. And what I hope, Sanjay, that this is showing those health care workers, those persons who are on the frontline that we care about you. And the fact that we're here getting this live is to give them confidence that this is safe. We believe it's safe. And that they must do this to protect themselves. And they deserve it. Because they have been there on the frontline, taking care of everybody, and now here is something to take care of themselves.

GUPTA: Yes, that's a good way of putting it.

RICE: So I hope the 30 percent who are sort of in doubt, we hope that you will use this as an opportunity to think about, okay, you should be sitting in this chair.

GUPTA: And I hope they do. I hope everyone gets to sit in these chairs where we are.

BERMAN: So, Sanjay, you've done half the job now, because you both need to get the second shot, and because it's the Pfizer vaccine, you'll be getting the second shot three weeks from now, just so people know that. The process is now halfway through for you.

But is it, what, December 18th today, Sanjay. And I'm just struck by the fact that it was January where we started learning about this virus. We didn't even know what it was. That wasn't even 12 months ago. And we've gone from that moment, that moment of mystery to this just remarkable moment of achievement.

And I just wonder if you can reflect back on your personal journey through this.

GUPTA: You know, I did not think this was going to happen, to be perfectly honest, that we could create a vaccine that we, meaning the scientists and everyone who's been working on this, so quickly. You know, having said that, and really celebrating the scientific achievement, I think I really have been struck by the fact that as good as science is, science cannot necessarily rescue us from ourselves.

There was so many different ways this could have gone. If you were to ask in January, even knowing what we knew out of Wuhan at that point in terms of what this virus was, how it was behaving, what the mortality rate was, I still didn't think that we would suffer as much as we did here in the United States. I didn't think that the best that we could do was be the worst in the world. I just didn't think that.

I mean, we're one of the wealthiest countries, we have all of these resources, we have a public health system, all of that. So I did not think that ultimately we would get to the end of the year and may have a vaccine or be so dependent on the vaccine. That was something that really has sort of struck me, I think, over the last couple of months.

Like, we -- we would not lean into the basic public health practices because we were just weight for the touchdown pass, the knockout punch, the home run. That's what we wait for. And maybe that's theistic characteristic of a country that has so many resources like we do in the United States, that you can't be bothered by doing the simple things.

We are tracking right now in this country what happened 102 years ago during the 1918 flu pandemic. Obviously, the population is different. It's three times greater now. But if you look at it, we track just the same. Back then, they didn't have ICUs, they didn't have some of the therapeutics, they didn't have the resource. And even back then, basic public health behavior sometimes were not abided by. If we don't lean into those basic public health behaviors, science can't rescue us.

This vaccine is so critically important. It's going to take a while for it to take effect. But between now and April, the numbers you just shared, which are awful, it could save a lot of lives by just doing what we're doing in terms of basic public health.

RICE: Preventative measures. We call it the three Ws, wash your hands, wear your mask, watch your distance. We cannot stop doing that, right? And it has continue. People ask me all the time, so now that you're going to take this vaccine, are you going to stop doing any of those? No, I'm going to even be more diligent.

GUPTA: Yes, right.

RICE: And because I want to model the behavior that we know makes a difference and we will probably -- even when we get to 70 percent of people doing this, well, I'm a germaphobe, so I'm always going to be washing my hands, right? But doing those other things, I mean, I would like to take off this mask, but it's just not possible right now.

And so we've just got to keep doing what we know works and we're going to keep doing that probably for the rest of the 2021.

[07:25:00] GUPTA: I'm so struck by the fact that we talk about an mRNA vaccine wrapped in these lipid particles, really created at this warp speed. It's so important. And yet the masks that we are wearing, are equally important.

RICE: Equal.

GUPTA: And I'm not just saying that as a euphemism because it's true.

RICE: Right, and all the other measures. I mean, I think the other thing is that, you know, we are going to continue to need to see people being tested and quarantined and isolated and then being able to mitigate what happens when somebody really does get infected. So we can control these hospitalization rates.

And you said something the other day that was really important, that the impact of the vaccine, we're going to see first, sort of an opposite expectation, right? We're going to see a decrease in the deaths, then a decrease in hospitalizations, then a decrease in cases.

And we've got to continue to say that to people, because people think because we're only seeing a increase in cases, that the vaccine may not be working but that may be because we're testing more and make the tests more available. But we want to see that decrease in hospitalizations and deaths for sure. And I think that's when we'll know the vaccine is having its impact.

GUPTA: Can we have a data get our second shots together as well?

RICE: I think we're going to get this little card, yes, so we can make it a date.

GUPTA: All right. And it's not the kind of dates that I -- lunch would be better, but (INAUDIBLE) the vaccine for now.

RICE: One day, we might to have a date without the mask on. We'll bring our spouses so there's no --

GUPTA: Right, just to be clear for anybody who's watching.

Hey, look, I don't know what that felt like for you guys watching, but it really -- I mean, it really felt momentous for us to have these vaccines. It's just hard to get a sense of this, but this felt good today.

RICE: And it was less painful than the flu vaccine, for sure.

GUPTA: Yes. I think Mary Katherine has very good skills.

RICE: Right, yes. I think -- okay, yes, it's Mary Katherine. All right, thank you.

BERMAN: It felt like history. It felt like we were watching history. It felt we were watching a triumph of science, Sanjay. And we appreciate both you and Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice being willing to share this moment with all of us, to be an example, I think, for all Americans in this moment, so we can all be in it together. So thank you, Sanjay. Thank you, Dr. Montgomery Rice, for being willing to do this for us.

GUPTA: Thanks, guys.

HILL: So, so important. And in just moments, just a few minutes from now, Vice President Mike Pence, his wife, the second lady, and the surgeon general will also receive the coronavirus vaccine live. You see pictures here as they're preparing for that moment. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

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