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New York City Health Commissioner: Do Not Have Enough Vaccine Doses; Transportation Officials Weigh How To Enforce Biden's Mask Order; Wuhan Returns To Normal Life One Year After Pandemic Began. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired January 25, 2021 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

DR. DAVE CHOKSHI, NEW YORK CITY HEALTH COMMISSIONER (via Cisco Webex): In doses of vaccination just in a single week. We think we could easily double and probably go even higher than that with respect to our total capacity for vaccination. We've really put our shoulders into getting the sites for vaccination up and ready and we know that New Yorkers are ready to put their shoulders forward to get vaccinated as well.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Why don't you have enough?

CHOCKSHI: This is a very important question but a difficult question to answer. What we know is that we have two good, safe effective vaccines, the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccine. There hasn't been enough manufacturing capacity to be able to provide the supply that we and other places around the country and around the world need.

The why is a more difficult question to answer. These are difficult vaccines to produce, we know, but we have to have this deep sense of urgency around getting our supplies up because we know it can save lives if we're able to get more people vaccinated quickly.

CAMEROTA: OK. So if you're saying that this morning you have a few thousand doses left, when will you be getting more doses?

CHOKSHI: We expect to get our resupply over the course of tomorrow and Wednesday, and so we will get about 100,000 more doses to be able to vaccinate. But that's a very small number against the number of New Yorkers who are ready to get vaccinated right now.

CAMEROTA: Have you had to cancel appointments that were on the books?

CHOKSHI: Unfortunately, we have had to reschedule appointments. We rescheduled over 20,000 appointments that were slated for the end of last week. All of those people have been contacted to reschedule their appointments for some time this week.

But also importantly, we're not able to schedule enough appointments. So beyond the rescheduling, there are just not enough appointments available for people who want to get themselves vaccinated, who want to get their loved ones vaccinated -- older New Yorkers, our grandmothers and grandfathers -- people who deserve and want the protection that vaccination can provide.

CAMEROTA: I know that the Biden administration has only been in office less than a week. Are you seeing any pickup now? Are you seeing better communications or is the problem just as intractable as it has been for weeks?

CHOKSHI: We are seeing better communication from our federal counterparts and it's critically important to start with that better communication. That's what helps us understand how we can plan over the coming days and weeks.

But that communication will have to be matched with additional vaccine as well, and we look forward to what the administration can do working with manufacturers, invoking the Defense Production Act and any other emergency powers that may be necessary because this is such a crisis with respect to allowing us to vaccinate more people as a critical arrow in our quiver against the pandemic.

CAMEROTA: Last question. If you're only expecting 100,000 more doses tomorrow, when are you going to burn through those?

CHOKSHI: That will happen over the course of the next few days. We expect by the end of the week we'll be in the same position that we are right now, which is not enough doses and far more New Yorkers who are ready to get vaccinated.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Dave Chokshi, thank you very much for explaining all of this. I know that you're in a real tough spot so we will check back with you. We really appreciate the information.

CHOKSHI: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We want to remember some of the nearly 420,000 Americans lost to coronavirus.

Eighty-year-old Larry Berry was instrumental in starting a volunteer fire department in Hickory Flat, Georgia which had no fire service before, and that was more than 40 years ago. Family members say he lived life to the fullest, dedicated to service to the very end.

One Georgia school district lost two educators to coronavirus on the same day last week. Dana Johnson was a teacher at Kent Elementary School in Cobb County. Cynthia Lindsey was a paraprofessional at Sedalia Park Elementary. The Cobb County School District offered its condolences and said the deaths were a reminder for all staff, students, and families to wear masks and social distance.

Thirty-six-year-old Ashley Bennett was 34 weeks pregnant with her 10th child when she and her whole family tested positive. When her health began to slip, doctors delivered the baby by emergency Cesarean. Ashley died a week later without ever having held her baby girl.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:38:38]

BERMAN: This morning, a manhunt is intensifying in Indianapolis after five people and an unborn child were shot to death early Sunday. Police are calling it the city's largest mass casualty shooting in more than a decade. Officers found a young male shot and less than a block away five people ranging in age from 13 to 42 all dead. Among them, a pregnant mother.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR JOE HOGSETT, INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA: I want those responsible to know that the full might of local, state, and federal law enforcement are coming for them as I speak.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Police say they have not identified any suspects. The young male is expected to survive.

CAMEROTA: Protests in Tacoma, Washington overnight after a police officer drove his cruiser through a crowd on Saturday night.

We want to warn you this video is graphic. It shows the officer hitting multiple people and running over at least one person before driving away. Two people were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.

Tacoma police say a crowd had surrounded the police car and they say fearing for his safety, the officer drove forward. That officer has since been placed on leave.

BERMAN: So this morning we're learning a lot more about the former president's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and now that he's out of office it's far worse than we thought.

[07:40:05]

John Avlon with a reality check.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (on camera): With President Biden in office it's time to deprive Donald Trump of the conversational oxygen he craves, but that doesn't mean we can just turn the page without truth, accountability, and justice.

So here's some new reality check rules. We're only going to focus on Trump going forward when there's an impeachment trial, indictments, or critical new information -- and there's going to be a lot of that coming to light over the next few months.

Just this weekend, thanks to journalism, we learned more about how close Trump came to abusing the power of the presidency to overturn the election. "Stop the Steal," the slogan of his more seditious supporters, turned

out to be just another one of President Trump's projections because, of course, he was the one trying to steal the election while playing the victim and encouraging the kind of aggressive defensiveness that resulted in the attack on the Capitol.

And we knew that Trump tried to threaten and pressure the Georgia Secretary of State, but we didn't know until recently that the U.S. Attorney for Atlanta, Byung Pak, was forced to resign because he refused to prosecute Trump's fictitious voter fraud.

We knew that Trump backed the baseless lawsuit pushed by Texas A.G. Ken Paxton, along with 126 Republican members of Congress. But we didn't know that Trump tried to force the DOJ to appeal directly to the Supreme Court to try to get them to overturn the election on his behalf.

We knew that Trump loyalist A.G. Bill Barr resigned as tensions rose for his refusal to endorse Trump's lies about election fraud, but we didn't know that Trump plotted to fire Acting Attorney General Rosen and replace him with an apparatchik who wanted to overturn the election.

We knew that Trump and his top surrogates spoke at the rally before the attack on the Capitol, but we didn't know that former Trump campaign staffers helped organized that rally.

And this all came out less than one week after Trump left office, and more information is coming. And if the recent past is prologue, it's going to be damning.

We're going to find out more about the pro-Trump, anti-government, self-styled militias that stormed the Capitol, whether any members of Congress were aware of the plans, and whether Trump backers tried to hide financial support for the protests, all while Trump essentially ignored the deaths of more than 172,000 Americans from COVID between Election Day and Inauguration Day.

And as more information comes in, it's going to increase pressure on the Senate to convict Trump for his actions after the election -- for committing treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors in his attempt to overturn our democracy, which certainly would constitute a violation of his oath to faithfully execute the office president and preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution.

Now, those Republicans who stood up to Trump deserve all our thanks. They were the bulwark that stopped our country from sliding into autocracy.

But those Republicans who enabled, encouraged, or excused his autocratic impulses need to be held accountable for their actions by voters, courts, and history books. So, the Senate and Republicans are going to face a reckoning -- a final time for choosing between Donald Trump and democracy.

And that's your reality check. (END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Our thanks to John Avlon for that dose of reality.

Nearly 60 million Americans are under winter weather alerts this morning from California all the way to Maryland. CNN meteorologist Chad Myers has our forecast. Wow, a lot of purple, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: An awful lot. All the way from Chicago to Omaha and Des Moines, winter storm warnings -- even some potential for some icing in D.C. over the next couple of days, and even to California at this point.

This weather is brought to you by O'Keefe's. Guaranteed relief for extremely dry, cracked skin.

So let's get to it. There is some severe weather even in the Plains possible for today. There is snow on the northern side -- much a late- season winter, almost-spring-type storm for the south where all this lightning is already occurring.

And then snow to the north where you get up into Omaha and then to Chicago. There could be six inches of snow into Chicago and even a little bit of a light mix even toward D.C. as we work our way into Tuesday morning.

Here's tomorrow morning about this time. A little bit more snow in Upstate New York. And then by tomorrow afternoon and into the evening, really only New England and Upstate New York.

But there will be ice on the south side, there will be snow to the north. Some of these spots from Detroit, Upstate New York somewhere between six and 10 inches of snow.

Now, that's nothing like what's going to go on in California over the next two weeks. Places around Yosemite will pick up 20 feet of new snow with three separate storms. A producer asked me whether it wanted to go to do a live shot. I told her I'm not tall enough for 20 feet of snow -- guys.

CAMEROTA: That's a lot of snow, Chad. That got John Berman's attention.

BERMAN: Twenty feet?

CAMEROTA: Twenty feet.

BERMAN: Twenty feet?

CAMEROTA: Yes, that's -- we're going to take note of that.

OK, Chad, thank you very much.

[07:45:00]

MYERS: See you. CAMEROTA: President Biden mandating masks on planes, trains, and other forms of interstate travel. We have new information on how that order will be enforced, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Federal transportation officials are considering how they will enforce President Biden's new mask requirement for interstate travelers. Sources tell CNN they could include hefty fines.

CNN's Pete Muntean is live in Washington with more. What do we know, Pete?

[07:50:02]

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, this is really more about politics than it is about policy. The Biden administration taking the reins here after the Trump administration failed to act on this for months.

Here is what will be different. Airports require that I wear a mask inside here. Airlines require that I wear a mask onboard. Instead, this would be one universal federal rule requiring masks on all forms of transportation during all parts of your trip.

Biden's executive order essentially compels several agencies to act here -- DOT, FAA, and the TSA. And sources tell us they would essentially deal with this like smoking onboard an airplane. Up to $20,000 in fines if you do not comply with this new mask rule, and it would be part of the pre-flight safety briefing.

Flights attendants and workers have been begging for this for months. Videos on social media keep popping showing in-flight fights over these mask rules.

Airlines are also behind this, as well as other parts of the industry. Delta has banned about 900 people for not complying with its mask rule.

This is a really big problem even still, although it could take a few weeks, we're told, for this final rule to go into effect. The Biden administration also implementing new travel restrictions on international destinations. Things changing here very quickly with this new changing of the guard, John.

BERMAN: All right, Pete, thanks so much. Pete Muntean for us.

It is one year since the beginning of the pandemic and when it began the epicenter was in Wuhan, China. So one year later, where is that city now? What have they done and what have they learned?

CNN's David Culver -- he was there at the beginning. He has the answers and he joins us now -- David.

DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, it's strange to think 12 months has passed here and when you look at where China is now, in many ways for those of us living here it feels safer than the rest of the world. That certainly was not the case one year ago.

And you had to break this down into stages -- what we experienced here over the past year -- particularly the people of Wuhan.

You had first, a mystery, the unknown, the uncertainty. That created this adrenalin that fueled them into what was a crippling lockdown that came into place about a year ago to this day. And then that lockdown led to a fatigue and seemed to be effective even though it was quite harsh. And that led to life resuming to near normal.

However, as that has happened you also have to understand that it is still, in many ways, far from normal. And for many of the folks who live there, they're still trying to process on a human level what the past year has been like.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CULVER (voice-over): It is a city whose name evokes mystery, allegations of cover-up, and agony -- Wuhan, China. CNN returning to this, the original epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.

On January 23rd, 2020 this metropolis of more than 11 million residents locked down. We left hours before beginning a two-week quarantine in Beijing. For 76 days, Wuhan remained sealed off.

CULVER (on camera): And here we are again back one year later at the Huanan Seafood Market. This, at one point, was believed to have been, by Chinese authorities, the ground zero of this outbreak.

CULVER (voice-over): This time last year, security had ushered us away within minutes of reporting.

CULVER (on camera): Now, January 2021, no security here. We've been walking around for several minutes. They don't seem to care.

CULVER (voice-over): That was until we started looking inside. We noticed some people working behind the gate. Suddenly, a seemingly random passerby on a bike shouted at us, saying don't be sneaky. He later identified himself vaguely as working for the government and told us to walk around and try the entrance.

CULVER (on camera): Can we go in? We can go in. That way? He said apparently we can go in, so we'll see if we can actually get inside the market.

But I'm going to ask this guy. Can you go in? You can't go inside? Tell him we have a COVID test -- a negative COVID test.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).

CULVER (on camera): We can't get --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't take their picture.

CULVER (on camera): OK, no pictures. So clearly, a bit sensitive. Perhaps it's because we're foreigners or because we're journalists. CULVER (voice-over): The virus's origin has become highly

politicized. U.S. officials accusing China of covering up and allowing the virus to spread. China defensive, saying the Trump administration was deflecting blame for its own mishandling.

A team from the WHO is now in Wuhan tasked with trying to find out the truth. And yet, geopolitics aside, the human suffering -- it is universal.

Yang Min spoke with us knowing she could face pressures from officials, but a mother who has lost her only daughter has no more to lose.

CULVER (on camera): When I sat down, you thanked me for getting the truth out. What is the truth as you know it?

YANG MIN, MOTHER OF COVID-19 VICTIM: (Speaking foreign language).

CULVER (voice-over): The local officials did not tell us about the pandemic, she said. If measures were taken I would not have sent my child to the hospital, which was the source of the infection.

Last January, Yang's 24-year-old daughter had been receiving treatment for cancer. She contracted COVID-19 and died in early-February.

[07:55:07]

When I speak about this, some parts of my heart still ache, she said.

Amidst the deep pain we also encountered moments of hope in our return. On the eve of the lockdown last year we visited this fruit market. This woman selling sugarcane told me at the time that she was terrified. She stayed, fearing the financial burden.

Twelve months later, we met again. At that time, I was crying all the time, she told me. We were suffering and scared. Above her face mask, the pain still visible in her eyes. She says the people of Wuhan are resilient, likening them to heroes.

CULVER (on camera): I'm so glad to see you in person and to know that you made it through the lockdown and you're healthy.

CULVER (voice-over): The market mood, remarkably different from last year -- business bustling, people much more at ease.

CULVER (on camera): Would you say Wuhan is back open and on the path to recovery?

LAOJI, DELIVERY DRIVER: (Speaking foreign language).

CULVER (voice-over): It's not just starting from now, he says. It started very early to be honest. In my opinion, Wuhan had already begun to recover since mid to late-March.

Delivery driver Laoji has become well-known on Chinese social media as he chronicled life during the lockdown. The then and now are striking. A city desolate amidst the lockdown,

followed by a summer with packed pool party images that shocked a socially-distanced world outside of China. And a New Year's celebration that brought Wuhan residents shoulder-to-shoulder.

Though with new cluster outbreaks in the north of China, many here in Wuhan once again wearing face masks, cautious of the lingering unknowns and still surrounded by the haunting memories of a lockdown that kept millions of residents, along with their grief, sealed inside. For some, only now, 12 months later, it is just beginning to surface.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: David Culver back with us. David, I have to say it's amazing to hear from those people. The folks speaking out -- the ones you talked to -- how risky is it for them to do that?

CULVER: Well, I'll put it this way, John. As we were doing that interview with Miss Yang there, just a few feet outside the door were two gentlemen who likely work for the government given that on their phones were pictures of us. We were trailed through much of our time in Wuhan for the several days that we were down there leading up to this one-year anniversary. And we've later learned that she received calls to say, essentially, keep quiet.

But I need to tell you this, John. The realization for me goes deeper than that because we've been talking about the geopolitics. And it's so easy to label at this level, China v. the U.S. and there's a lot of blame to go around.

But I think what was realized for many of us on this trip back is that at the human level, you don't need a translator to feel another human being's agony, and that's something that came across in our now-12 months into this that people are still suffering and it something that is not likely to go away anytime soon.

BERMAN: David Culver, I have to say, what a journey for you as a reporter there at the very beginning to be able to go back now a year later and see where things are. You are still finding new, important information and we appreciate the work you're doing.

CULVER: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Joe Biden says the American rescue plan is a top legislative priority.

XAVIER BECERRA, SECRETARY-DESIGNATE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: You can't just tell the states and the local governments here's some vaccines, now you go do it. We have to provide the resources.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): What we cannot do is wait weeks and weeks to go forward. We have got to act now.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: This will be history again as we gear up for the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): I think the trial is stupid. I think it's counterproductive. It's like taking a bunch of gasoline and pouring it on top of the fire.

SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): What we saw, which is incitement to insurrection, is an impeachable offense. If not, what is?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

BERMAN: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY.

And we do have breaking news. A $1.3 billion lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani for spreading disinformation in his effort to overturn the election. We are reading through the suit now. We'll have more on that in just a second -- $1.3 billion.

First, major new developments on the push for economic relief for millions of Americans. New information about a conference call held by White House officials with a bipartisan group of senators to discuss President Biden's $1.9 trillion relief plan.

Some Republicans are pushing back, including Susan Collins and Mitt Romney. And if President Biden can't get those two, realistically, how can he get any Republicans?

Later today, President Biden will reinstate and expand coronavirus travel restrictions that President Trump tried to lift on his way out the door. There is growing concern this morning about the new virus variants.

CAMEROTA: And in just hours, the House of Representatives will deliver the Article of Impeachment against former President Trump to the Senate. Mr. Trump's second impeachment trial is scheduled to start in two weeks with a number of Republican senators now opposing that.