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Electricity Bills Skyrocket in Texas; Texas Families without Power and Water; U.S. to Surpass 500,000 Deaths; Grassroots Effort in Rural Georgia for Vaccinations. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired February 22, 2021 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

DEANDREW UPSHAW, RECEIVED $6,700 ENERGY BILL AFTER CRIPPLING WINTER STORM: They sent out emails at the end of the week, right before -- like right before the storm got bad and I attempts to switch but the new service provider that I switched to kept moving my switch date. So I made attempts to switch before the storm got bad, but it was a national holiday, it was President's Day, it was Valentine's Day, and they hadn't been able to switch me.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: And you, as I understand it, you know, they warned that your bill was going to skyrocket, but did you have any idea that that meant $6,700?

UPSHAW: No idea. In Texas, usually when we had a bad bill, which we were bracing for, our normal months' usage is about $80 for February. We were anticipating $300 or $400. But never in any stretch of the imagination did I think $6,700 would be what they charged me.

HILL: That is -- I'm kind of at a loss for words, as you can tell.

So we have this one issue, right, in terms of the energy bills. You had also lost power for a little bit, Rachel, as I understand. It came back. Then your pipes burst. Now you're dealing with a water issue. You've got four kid at home. I mean how are you guys doing and what's on your horizon?

RACHEL STEVENS, TEXAS MOTHER SURVIVING WATER AND POWER CRISIS: Well, we're doing OK right now. We're doing better than probably a lot of people I think. We have partial water. We have full electricity now. So we're able to take care of what we need to. And I'm thankful for that. That's snow from -- that we were collecting to melt. That's the burst pipe.

Yes, it was leaking for three days but we couldn't see because the water was flowing underneath the snow. That was a generator that we purchased once we could drive because we just didn't trust that the power would stay on.

So it's been, you know, difficult, but I really appreciate the outpour of support from community and different families and this has been bad for everybody throughout the state. Everybody's got a story and we're lucky that, you know, things are starting to turn around now. HILL: Things are starting to turn around, though, as I understand it.

You know, we talked a little about the shortage and -- of plumbers at this point because there's so much that need to be done. A local plumber told you it could be two to three months?

STEVENS: Yes. They -- they said, you know, I'm --

HILL: What do you do for the next two to three months?

STEVENS: Well, we're going to try our hand at it ourselves, I think. But, you know, there's so many people that have, you know, entire apartments and houses that have been completely flooded indoors. And the fact that ours is outside and our meter's just not spinning, it's just not a priority right now. And that's what's crazy is that the plumbers, who are independent contractors, actually have to be the ones that are prioritizing for repairs for people. They gave us some helpful tips -- hints and tips on what to do and right now, you know, like I said, we're better off than some just because we still have at least one working bathroom and, you know, we're able to access kitchen water. However, still boiling everything because it's not potable.

HILL: Yes. I mean there's so many questions coming out of this in terms of what happens next moving forward for the state of Texas and how planning will, hopefully, change moving forward.

There's also talk about these bills, right? So we're hearing more from officials, DeAndrew, about what you're facing.

Here's a little bit from over the weekend. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): I held an emergency meeting yesterday with legislative leaders to begin a legislative process to shield Texas families from unreasonable bills.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Are you saying you'll use the disaster relief funding from the federal government?

REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R-TX): Yes. Yes, that's the current plans with the federal assistance, to be able to help the homeowners both repair, because we have a lot of water leaks, a lot of water damage, pipes bursting, but also their electricity bills as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: DeAndrew, based on what you just heard from the governor, from Representative McCaul, how comfortable are you that you will not be responsible for that $6,700 bill?

UPSHAW: I'm not sure. This is the same government that allowed 30 Texans to die due to their negligence to maintain essential life- saving utilities. So my prayer is that it will be resolved and this $6,700 won't wipe out my banking account, my savings account, like I've seen -- I have friend who had it auto debited. They had their entire checking account wiped out. They can't pay their rent. They are dealing, just like Rachel, with pipe and plumbing and life issues. So this is the last thing Texans should be worried about. I hope that they get it fixed, but I'm not too confident.

HILL: Rachel, I know you emphasized how the community has really come together in this moment and that is, obviously, a positive to come out of this as we are seeing that. Are you seeing enough support, though from your elected officials, from your local and state leaders in terms of addressing these issues?

STEVENS: I feel like there was a lot of communications from local officials during the whole crisis.

[08:35:00]

I do feel like there was a lot of discussion that kind of kicked the can down the road and I didn't feel like there was a lot of ownership and accountability that was -- and there was just really no one stepping up and saying, like, this was a mistake, this shouldn't have happened until we're in the 11th hour and you've got over 300,000 people or more without power and electricity.

There were some people in critical conditions and, you know, I have a house with small children under like, I don't know, we never got over 38 degrees for a couple days within our home. So, I mean, again, a lot of people experienced the same thing and with colder temperatures with some more severe, but, you know, we had to take it upon ourselves to make sure that, you know, we were going to be able to take care of everything that we needed to.

HILL: Right.

STEVENS: And, like I said, our neighborhood, we all went to social media and people, as power came on, or water came on in their homes, we were just like, hey, if you need water, hey, if you need a shower, hey, if you need to come warm up for a little bit, come over. I mean people really did rally together. And it's unfortunate that we took it on ourselves and we put people (INAUDIBLE) that should be taking care of us.

HILL: Yes.

And, DeAndrew, I see you -- I see you nodding in agreement there. I know you've also had a hard time even getting in touch with the power company.

We appreciate you both joining us. Please keep us posted on both of your situations there because as you both point out, you are two stories among so many and we need to keep a focus on them.

DeAndrew Upshaw, Rachel Stevens, thank you, again.

STEVENS: Thank you.

HILL: For more information about how you can help Texas victims, just log on to cnn.com/impact. JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, breaking news, Dominion Voting Systems has just filed a $1.3 billion lawsuit against the My Pillow company and its CEO Mike Lindell. The voting company alleges that Lindell defamed the company with false accusations that it rigged the 2020 election for Joe Biden. Dominion has also filed a billion dollar suit against the former president's lawyers, Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani. A different voting company, Smartmatic, is also suing Giuliani and Powell, in addition to Fox News and some of its hosts for starting an alleged disinformation campaign against the company. A lot of money on the line here. It will be very interesting to see how those suits proceed.

Starting loss this morning. We are approaching 500,000 Americans dead from coronavirus. We have a new assessment of the pandemic from Dr. Anthony Fauci, next.

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[08:41:30]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I believe that if you look back historically, we've done worse than most any other country. And we're a highly developed, rich country.

So there were things back then that if you go back and think about what you might have done, the kind of desperate responses of different states rather than having a unified approach, it was just bad. It is bad now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That's Dr. Fauci just moments ago giving a dire assessment of how the U.S. responded to coronavirus. This as the nation is about to surpass 500,000 deaths. That is nearly as many Americans that were killed in World War I and World War II combined.

Joining us, CNN medical analyst Dr. Celine Gounder. She's an infectious disease specialist.

Dr. Gounder, thanks so much for being with us.

You know, it's obviously, I think, to all of us who have lived through this the last year, but it's still sobering to hear Dr. Fauci say we blew this. The failure to deal with this pandemic is simply almost uniquely American. We blew there uniquely compared to the rest of the world. No?

DR. CELINE GOUNDER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: John, I think that is almost an understatement. You know, I think for a country that is this wealthy, that has this level of technology, as smarts for us to have performed so poorly is really a testament to a lack of belief of under investment in the role of the public, of public health, of government. And when you're dealing with a societal problem, whether that's a pandemic or some of the others that were -- will probably be dealing with in the coming years, with climate change, for example, these really require all of government responses and everybody working together.

And I do think there are wonderful things about the American spirit, our individualism, our creativity, but we also really need to find a way to work together and look out for each other in the coming years.

HILL: You know, which really, I think, highlights as well something we heard from NIH Director Dr. Frances Collins, who told "Axios" that really the politicization of masks can't be ignored here. And he said it had dire consequences, noting, quote, you could make a case that tens of thousands of people died as a result.

GOUNDER: Some researchers at Harvard did an analysis looking at how many deaths may have resulted from the prior administration's policies and we're talking about 500,000 or more deaths that would be accounted -- that you could -- you could tally up to many of these failed policies. And it's not just COVID. There are other deaths that have resulted from those policies. But that is really a shocking number when you consider, you know, what is the role of government? First and foremost it's to protect its people and keep them safe.

BERMAN: One of the things Dr. Fauci also said yesterday, and when he was talking to Dana Bash, is he said he didn't know if we'd still be wearing masks in January. And I wonder, so many ask us ask the question, you know, when are we going to get back to normal? What does that mean? What does normal mean at this point?

And maybe we will wear masks. I mean should we consider wearing masks in perpetuity in certain situations? If you go ride the subway in Tokyo, everyone's wear a mask there and always has been. So what would be wrong with Americans doing some of these things going forward?

GOUNDER: I do think we're looking at some new normals. I think the handshake, for example, is probably going away.

[08:45:03]

I hope so. I do think masks in the cough, cold, flu season in the winter months would make a lot of sense. That clearly really insulated the southeast Asian countries from some of the worst of this, understanding the importance of wearing masks.

You know, I also think it's important to realize things really are looking up for the spring and summer. We are looking at having 400 million doses between Pfizer and Moderna by the end of June, another 200 million on top of that by the end of July. Johnson & Johnson will really come online in June. And so we're going to have a huge opening up of vaccine supply. And that certainly will help us get towards returning to a more normal life.

HILL: As we do return to that more normal, though, just having that message out there, I wonder, how much different does the messaging need to be if we do need to not only continue wearing masks, but maybe if it is, you know, seasonal, as, you know, as John said, or even as we heard from Dr. Hotez earlier this morning, if we have a hard enough time getting people to wear them now, how do you say we only have to wear it in the winter months, do you think that's, you know, easier or not?

GOUNDER: Yes, I think everybody has really suffered over the last year, all of us, from the social isolation, from the economic fallout. And I think if it's really clear, look, this is what it -- what worked in other countries. They did not suffer the way we did. I -- you know, I think people will not want to go back to 2020 in terms of how horrible that was. So I think really trying to get everybody to see the difference and learn from our mistakes moving forward.

HILL: Dr. Celine Gounder, always good to see you. Thank you.

Black Americans are risk -- are getting vaccinated at dramatically lower rates than white Americans. In southwest Georgia, there's actually a grassroots effort being led by black doctors and community organizers. They are knocking on hundreds of doors in an effort to build trust in the vaccine.

CNN's Amara Walker has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LINDA HARRIS, ALBANY, GEORGIA, COMMUNITY ORGANIZER: Hey, handsome, how you doing?

AMARA WALKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's hard to find someone who doesn't know Linda Harris.

HARRIS: What you been up to?

WALKER: Born and raised in Albany, Georgia, the community organizer and city employee of more than three decades spent the day with her team knocking on doors.

HARRIS: I just keep walking. They have to find me.

WALKER: And handing out 2,000 flyers --

HARRIS: I want to give you one of these flyers.

WALKER: Urging her neighbors to get vaccinated.

HARRIS: I'm tired of losing grandparent, grandmamas, granddaddies and some of our small children, too. We just want to get the word out, you know, that they can come and get this vaccine.

WALKER: Getting the word out about a pop-up vaccination site nearby is one thing, dispelling suspicions is another in the small rural city, three hours southwest of Atlanta. Nearly three-quarters of the population is African-American. Many living in poor and underserved communities.

DEREK HEARD, MEDICAL DOCTOR, PHOEBE PHYSICIAN GROUP: We know that years ago there were horrible experiments that were done on the African-American community. So African-Americans have had a very well- founded distrust of the medical community.

WALKER: As the medical director for primary care at the only hospital system in Albany, Phoebe Putney Health, Dr. Derek Heard is spearheading a grassroots efforts in specific neighborhoods that he knows are not getting vaccinated.

Phoebe Health is the largest vaccinator in Doherty County, which includes Albany. Hospital health officials say white people are being vaccinated at more than twice the rate of black residents.

Dr. Heard says a lack of access and trust both play a role.

HEARD: COVID-19 is still ravaging our community. We're bearing the brunt of this disease. A lot of that is due to the fact that we suffer from a lot of the diseases that causes us to be at high risk.

WALKER: So Phoebe Putney Health partnered with the city. Dr. Heard knows the value of having someone like Harris leading the charge on the ground, but the distrust is often deeper than a familiar face.

WILLIE HEATH, ALBANY RESIDENT, GEORGIA: My daughter wants me to take it, but I'm a little scared. But I'm going to see. I don't want nothing to make me sick.

WALKER: Albany was ravaged by the coronavirus emerging as the first hot spot in Georgia last March. Just days after two funerals, the virus swept through like a storm.

HEARD: One of the first patients who succumb to the disease was a patient of mine, who I had known my whole life.

WALKER: The vaccination drive was not publicized in hopes of preserving the shots for this community. When the day came, there was no wait. Less than 50 people showed up. Jesse Massey was one of them.

JESSE MASSEY (ph): A lot of my friends are not on the same page. A lot of people are still hesitant about getting the shot.

ALBERTA CHARLOT, NURSE AND ALBANY, GEORGIA, NATIVE: I think today with word of mouth again that those that have shown up go and go get other family members to say, hey, come on, it's free, it's helpful, it's keeping us alive.

WALKER: Harris isn't discouraged by the smaller than expected turnout within her community.

HARRIS: I got that area this morning I want to say.

[08:50:00]

WALKER: She focuses on the fact that dozen who may not have gotten vaccinated, did.

HARRIS: This is a blessing to the community. Because you know what it tells the people, it tells them we're here, we care about you, we're concerned about you. WALKER: In Albany, Georgia, Amara Walker, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: We want to remember some of the nearly 500,000 Americans lost to coronavirus.

Ned and Ellen Deville (ph) were just a weeks away from celebrating 68 years of marriage. After weeks apart due to pandemic restrictions, the staff at the hospital in Houston brought them together for this last photo. Ellen died last Wednesday. Ned passed two days later.

Sixty-year-old Leila Zapety (ph) was a nurse. She was known for her boundless love and generosity. Raising four sons, she worked night while her husband worked days at the post office.

[08:55:03]

In her 50s, she discovered stand-up comedy, taking her act all over Long Island. Her family says she believed deeply in the healing power of humor.

Joe Esobal (ph) was the beloved patriarch of a family in Bakersfield, California. He and his wife Nancy raised five grandchildren who thought of them as mom and dad, not realizing until they were older that Joe and Nancy were their grandparent. Joe was 91-years-old.

BERMAN: And may their memories be a blessing.

You can join Jake Tapper this evening for a special presentation, "We Remember 500,000: A National Memorial Service for COVID-19." That's tonight at 11:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN.

And a big day ahead. The confirmation hearing for Attorney General Nominee Judge Merrick Garland is about to get underway.

CNN's coverage continues right after this.

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