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New Day

Trump Holds Rally in Georgia; Highest Day of Air Travel Since Pandemic; Vaccine Distribution So Far; Pandemic Update From Around the World; Stocks Rise After Stimulus Signed. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired December 28, 2020 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

STACEY ABRAMS (D), FORMER GEORGIA GUBERNATORIAL NOMINEE: Making certain that no progress happens and no relief comes to Georgia. We need real relief and that means we need Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock who will go to D.C., not to enrich themselves as Perdue and Loeffler have, but who will do their best to ensure that Georgia families get the real relief they need, the $2,000 checks, the actual delivery of PPE and the supports they need to really recover from this pandemic.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: OK.

President Trump is going to go down to Georgia. He's going to stage what he's calling a victory rally the day before the runoffs on January 5th. I wonder if you think that President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have invested enough time down there to help turn these races? Do you want to see more of Biden and Harris before January 6th?

ABRAMS: We're always excited to have the president-elect and the vice president-elect here in Georgia. But the numbers tell their own story. More than 2 million voters have cast their ballots, including 65,000 voters who did not vote in November, who have been disproportionately under the age of 29 and people of color. We are seeing active engagement across the state, including in rural parts of the state. Among black and brown voters, we are seeing turnout rates that are incredible for the state of Georgia. And so while we are always excited to see our leaders on the ground here in Georgia, we know that Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff have done an exceptional job of engaging voters, increasing participation and leading the kind of turnout that we need to win this election on January 5th.

SCIUTTO: You have been given credit for turning Georgia blue in this presidential cycle through things like registration drives, door knocking, getting people out to vote. I mean there's been an enormous amount of attention on the amount of money flowing into this race, hundreds of millions of dollars. But the fact is, in so many Senate races this cycle, we saw Democrats outraising Republicans in South Carolina, in Kentucky, in Kansas, Alaska and still losing those races. I just wonder, in this race, is that money, is the effort going in the right place to win the races in your view for Democrats there?

ABRAMS: Georgia's a unique state. We have the single highest population of African-American voters for any battleground state. We have burgeoning population of Asian-American and Latino voters. Asian population participation increased by 91 percent over 2016. Latino population participation increased by 72 percent. We also saw an increase in young people, black people and white voters. All of that requires investment. And that's what we're seeing in Georgia, not just an influx of cash, but an investment of those dollars in organizing and mobilizing and engaging.

As I said, 65,000 voters who did not vote in November are now engaged in this election. And that is a testament to the thoughtfulness that we have seen coming from these candidates, raising money not simply to talk about who they are but to talk about what they will do. And we know that Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock have invested in communities in ways that we have never seen from previous senator candidates and certainly they are doing more than Jon -- than, sorry, than David Purdue and Kelly Loeffler have either as candidates or as senators.

SCIUTTO: I want to ask you a big picture question here because, you know, the president still denies the outcome of this election and Republicans around the country drawing on that to already begin writing up voting restrictions, right, to bring back some of the voter expansion measures we saw in this cycle, including mail-in ballots, et cetera.

Do you see that effort ticking up again after this cycle in state legislatures around the country where, frankly, Republicans have an enormous advantage? And, if so, what are you going to do about it?

ABRAMS: We're going to do what we've been doing, which is we are going to work to mitigate voter suppression. You are absolutely right that when voter suppression was put on its heels in the 2020 election, through the work of Fair Fight 2020 and other organizations around the country, we saw voters turn out in record numbers and in record composition in Michigan, in Wisconsin, in Pennsylvania, in Arizona, here in Georgia. When we create access to the right to vote for eligible citizens, more people participate. And Republicans do not know how to win without voter suppression as one of their tools. That's why we see True the Vote down here in Georgia challenging 364,000 voters nine days before -- eight days before the election because voter suppression is their modus operandi.

We, as voters, as Americans, have to stand up to our state legislatures and say that the right to vote is sacred. It belongs to all of us. It is not a partisan effort. It is a people effort. And we will stay hard at work through Fair Fight here in Georgia and around the country to defend the right to vote and to defend access to the right to vote.

SCIUTTO: Stacey Abrams, we know we'll be talking to you more as we get closer to January 6th. Thanks so much.

ABRAMS: Thank you for having me.

SCIUTTO: Well, this is now the deadliest month so far of this entire pandemic. We're going to have more on hopes to stop the spread, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:39:29]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: December is the worst month of the pandemic in the United States so far. Nearly 65,000 people have now died this month alone and more than 5.5 million new coronavirus cases.

Dr. Anthony Fauci is among the health experts warning about a worsening surge because of holiday travel. And, moments ago, the TSA announcing that Sunday was the busiest day for air travel since the start of this pandemic.

[08:40:00]

Nearly 1.3 million passengers were screened at U.S. airports.

Joining us now to talk about this, as well as how the vaccinations are going, is CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen. She's a "Washington Post" contributing columnist and the former Baltimore City health commissioner.

So I know that that is not good news to your ears, Dr. Wen, that yesterday was the busiest travel day.

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: That's right, Alisyn. I am really worried about this. We know that after every major holiday, that there was a spike in the number of cases. We saw this after Memorial Day, after Fourth of July, after Labor Day. And those holidays were relatively short in comparison to Christmas and New Year's. And, also, there was opportunity at that time to gather outdoors versus as much harder than that now.

And I hope that people will keep in mind that it's not too late, that individuals who have traveled, as an example, they can choose to quarantine and then get tested understanding that they were part of high-risk events, and that they can avoid spreading the infection further in their communities when they return.

SCIUTTO: So let's talk about vaccines, if we can. So it's December 28th, three years, obviously to the end of the year -- three days till the end of the year, 2 million doses distributed so far. The goal was 20 million by the end of the year.

But Dr. Fauci, Admiral Giroir, who's in charge of this to some degree, say that that probably underestimates how many people have actually been vaccinated at this point.

Tell us your view of the rollout so far, but behind schedule, should we be concerned?

WEN: I think we should be concerned, Jim, and this is because a lot of the vaccine rollout is beginning to sounds like testing. You remember at the beginning of testing, there were all these numbers that were given about how everybody who wants a test should be able to get one and they -- and when the numbers were given, it sounded impressive and certainly in this case 2 million sounds like a lot, but 2 million is well short of the 20 million goal and it's also less than 1 percent of what we need in order to get to herd immunity.

So I think what we need at this point is not a justification of how well we're doing, but rather an understanding of what went wrong. It's expected that there are hiccups, that there are bumps in the road, but what were they, because without that we won't have the course correction that's needed.

The next stage in the rollout is going to be much more complicated when we get to community settings and not just institutions like hospitals and nursing homes and we really need to understand what happened.

CAMEROTA: But, Dr. Wen, I'm confused, is this a logistical problem? The fact that only 2 million Americans have been vaccinated so far. It's been two weeks. Is that a logistical problem, that people aren't showing up at the right places or the vaccine isn't getting into arms somehow, or is this a report problem, because I understand that it's also very tough to have an exact number on this because I guess the CDC is having a hard time tracking how many have been administered?

WEN: Yes, which is already a major problem. Why is there not a national database, a way for us to understand in real time how many shots are given and also for people to have their vaccination records all in one place.

But I think, overall, it's not just a reporting issue. I think it's a distribution issue. It's also a -- the last mile problem.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

WEN: What happens once the vaccine is actually distributed to storage sites but then from the time it goes to the storage site to the arms of people, there are a lot of steps involved. And I think there are lots of kinks that need to be worked out. But we need to understand where the barriers are.

SCIUTTO: Dr. Reiner (ph) made that point earlier as well, saying, you know, it's one thing to get it to big urban centers, hospitals, et cetera, very centralized, another challenge, right, to get it out to -- to folks in the general population.

The fact is, though, we're going to have a new boss in 23 days with a plan. Joe Biden, I mean, he's appointed the team. Some familiar names on the team, Fauci, et cetera.

What do they have to do from day one to then jumpstart this, right, to get -- to get the vaccine rollout done right?

WEN: Well, I think part of it is understanding what's gone wrong so far and then -- and then unpacking it all and seeing if the barrier, as an example, is that there's lack of coordination and communication, how can they fix that? If there are supply chain issues and the reason is that vaccines are not being manufactured quickly enough, can the Defense Production Act be implemented? Are there things that they can do to make sure that there aren't raw ingredients that are running out. And I think, critically, local and state health departments also need the funding because they are the ones on the front lines who are in charge of doing the coordination and they are already under resourced and understaffed and they really need the funding in order to implement this.

SCIUTTO: I mean it's amazing we're still talking about the Defense Production Act nine months into this, right? I mean it's -- it's --

CAMEROTA: Agreed. But -- but with everything that you've seen, Dr. Wen, do you still think that average Americans will still be able to be vaccinated by June?

WEN: So I think that the average American can probably have access to the vaccine by late spring/early summer.

[08:45:00]

I am now beginning to wonder if the average American is able to get the vaccine, because availability is different from access. And I fear that the most disadvantaged, those who are the most vulnerable, are going to be left out once again unless we can really dramatically ramp up production and distribution.

CAMEROTA: OK, Dr. Wen, thank you very much. We really appreciate getting your take on this status report of where we are this morning.

WEN: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: So vaccines have finally arrived in one European country that was ravaged by coronavirus earlier this year and CNN has reporters across the globe covering the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I'm Barbie Nadeau in Rome, where here in Italy the second day of the vaccine rollout is underway. Italy was the original epicenter in Europe, the first major shot spot outside of China when this pandemic began last year. The focus in this country is to vaccinate first the frontline workers, the health care workers that work in infectious disease hospitals, who work in emergency rooms. All of this comes against the backdrop of a continually rising death rate. More than 71,000 people have died in Italy since the beginning of the pandemic. That's the highest number in Europe.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jomana Karadsheh in Amman.

Authorities here say that two people tested positive for the new coronavirus variant first identified in the United Kingdom. The two, husband and wife, returned to Jordan on December the 19th and they were identified following an effort to track down and test all those who have recently returned from the U.K. Both are in, quote, excellent health according to the health minister. Jordan suspended all passenger flights from the U.K. last week until at least January the 3rd.

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ivan Watson in Hong Kong. State media says there have only been about a dozen new cases of

coronavirus detected in Beijing since the middle of this month, and yet this city has embarked on a mass testing spree in one neighborhood of more than 800,000 people. The city's main amusement park has closed this week and canceled a new year's concert and theaters, libraries, and museums are all operating now at 75 percent capacity, just in case.

SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Selina Wang in Tokyo.

Japan is working on a GPS tracking system that it plans to roll out ahead of the Tokyo Olympics in order to prevent the spread of COVID- 19. According to a government official, the country will require visitors to install this mobile app that will track their movements after entering the country. Now, Japan is currently dealing with record high daily COVID-19 cases and the country has temporarily banned the entry of foreign nationals after finding new cases of the potentially more contagious COVID-19 variant.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Thanks to all of our correspondents there.

Meanwhile, stock markets are minutes away from the open. How are investors feeling about the news of more stimulus money? Christine Romans joins us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:51:34]

SCIUTTO: Well, stock futures pointing up on the final week of 2020 after President Trump signed belatedly a new stimulus and government spending bill.

CNN chief business correspondent Christine Romans joins us now.

It's late. A lot of -- millions of Americans are going to have to wait for that help and they need it, but does this give a jolt to the economy at some point?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, it's a relief, huge relief that a shutdown was averted and struggling Americans will get money soon, hopefully soon. Futures are higher this morning after the president finally signed that coronavirus stimulus package, adding to what has been a terrific year for investors. Jim, the Nasdaq is up more than 40 percent so far this year. Look at those gains in stocks. It's a split screen, really, the soaring stock market and utter misery for millions of people in the real economy.

The important question now is, when will relief arrive? It's going to likely take a couple of weeks for the Treasury to get those $600 stimulus cash into bank accounts. But the president's dithering, it means lost money for some unemployed people because President Trump did not sign the bill on Saturday. People in two pandemic relief programs will likely not receive a payment for the final week of the year. And because of his delay, many jobless Americans may only get ten weeks of payments instead of 11.

Still, the COVID rescue money is critical to containing the damage of this pandemic. Goldman Sachs, Jim, forecast the economy could grow 5 percent in the first quarter because this money injects $900 billion into the economy.

And it can't come soon enough. You have lines stretching at food banks, millions remain unemployed, and the U.S. poverty rate, Jim, just had the biggest jump in a single year since tracking started 60 years ago.

SCIUTTO: Listen, you see it in the food lines, right?

ROMANS: Oh, yes.

SCIUTTO: I mean people having trouble feeding.

Quickly, Steve Mnuchin, I mean he negotiated this deal, right, for the president. He was on vacation in Mexico and blindsided by the president's delay?

ROMANS: What really is so confounding here is that the president didn't seem to be checked in at all to this process. I mean he came after it had already been negotiated with Republicans and with the Treasury secretary, and then suddenly started asking for $2,000 in stimulus checks, not $600 in stimulus checks. Completely out of sync with what, you know, what the negotiators had been doing. You know, so the president coming late to the game, it's a -- it's kind of a weird irony really that the president said, you know, vote for the Democrats is a vote for socialism but it's the president who came back and was sort of mirroring Senator Bernie Sanders' call for more money for people.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

ROMANS: I just -- it's unclear what his real passion or view is on what relief should look like.

SCIUTTO: Well, regardless, it's going to hurt some people. They're going to have to wait for this money.

ROMANS: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Christine Romans, thanks very much.

CAMEROTA: OK, Jim, I really feel that it is needed, "The Good Stuff" now.

Here's the story of a little hero. A Tennessee boy went back into his burning home earlier this month to save his baby sister. His parents only managed to grab two children and run outside when their home caught fire. But they couldn't get to 22-month-old daughter Erin. She was still in her crib as the flames and smoke began to take over. And that's when seven-year-old Eli sprang into action.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ELI DAVIDSON, SEVEN-YEAR-OLD WHO SAVED HIS BABY SISTER: Well, dad busted the window and then -- and then I said, I can't do it about two times and then -- and then I said -- and then I said, I got her, dad.

[08:55:01]

And then -- and when we got down there, I said -- I said that -- I -- I was scared, but I didn't want my sister to die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh. Thanks to Eli, she is OK. The Davidson family has fostered more than 30 children, including Eli. They have adopted two others. They lost everything in this fire. A Go Fund Me page was set up to help them raise $5,000. As of this morning, it's raised $325,000.

SCIUTTO: Goodness. I've got her, dad, he said. You see why I'm -- I've got some hope for 2021?

CAMEROTA: Yes. Yes.

SCIUTTO: Little boys like that.

CAMEROTA: Seven-year-old Eli is going to save all of us, I hope.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Jim, great to see you. I'll See you tomorrow.

SCIUTTO: Good to see you. I'll be here.

CAMEROTA: OK, CNN's coverage continues next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)