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Texas, Mississippi Lifting Mask Mandates Despite CDC Warnings; Senate Prepares To Debate $1.9 Trillion COVID Relief Bill; China, Russia Distribute Vaccine To Much Of The World. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired March 03, 2021 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:30:03]
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody, it's Wednesday. This is EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Laura Jarrett. Almost 30 minutes past the hour here in New York.
The United States has three COVID vaccines and it is finally on the cusp of seeing daylight, but some states have decided the pandemic effectively over. They say masks that save lives no longer needed.
President Biden is invoking the Defense Production Act to form a rare partnership between competitors. Merck will now help produce Johnson & Johnson's vaccine, hopefully speeding up production.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As a consequence of the stepped-up process that I've ordered and just outlined, this country will have enough vaccine supply -- I'll say it again -- for every adult in America by the end of May -- by the end of May.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The president said Johnson & Johnson's vaccine manufacturing facilities will now begin to operate 24/7.
The president wants educators to have at least one dose by the end of March. At least one dose for teachers by the end of March.
And yet, some states say they're done. They are reopening businesses that have struggled. They're ending the mask mandates that helped those businesses reopen by slowing the spread.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R), TEXAS: Effective next Wednesday, all businesses of any type are allowed to open 100 percent. Also, I am ending the statewide mask mandate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Now, the move is baffling for many Texans, including those on the front lines.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRITTANY SMART, TEXAS ICU NURSE: I feel like we've finally hit a point where we all started breathing a little bit easier. We kind of saw a little bit of a light at the end of the tunnel and I kind of thought that was shut down. I think we're all pretty exhausted. I'm scared of what this is going to look like.
MAYOR SYLVESTER TURNER (D), HOUSTON: Just very disappointed. It's a -- it's a step in the wrong direction and doesn't make any sense.
MAYOR STEVE ADLER (D), AUSTIN: It just puts everything we have worked so hard to get at risk. I think everybody here in Texas and Austin is just -- is just dumbfounded.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: Mississippi is also lifting its mask mandate, and Ohio lifting its 300-person limitation on sporting events and mass gatherings there.
Now it is true cases numbers are falling in this country but you can see the trend is slowing and the numbers are still as high as they were in the summer when safety measures were put in place. Two thousand people a day are still dying in this country.
CNN has reporters covering the pandemic from coast-to-coast, starting in Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Lucy Kafanov in Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott, on Tuesday, announced that he is ending the statewide mask mandate and that all businesses in the state could reopen next Wednesday with zero-capacity restrictions.
Now, the action comes after health officials across the country warned governors not to ease restrictions because progress across the nation against coronavirus has begun to plateau and also because of increasing concerns about the more contagious and rapidly-spreading variants.
Now, the CDC director said we cannot give in to the false sense of security that the worst of the pandemic is behind us. And Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said every time public health measures have been pulled back we've seen a spike in hospitalizations.
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Dan Simon in San Francisco where things are beginning to open. With cases declining, the positivity rate is now down to 1.3 percent.
The city moves from the purple tier to the red tier. That means indoor dining can resume at 25 percent capacity.
Movie theaters can also open up also at 25 percent capacity. No concessions, though. The popcorn will have to wait.
And indoor gyms can also open up at 10 percent capacity.
The positive news is the vaccination numbers also improved. It's estimated that about 20 percent of San Franciscans have been vaccinated.
ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Erica Hill.
Saying her state is headed in the right direction, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announcing restaurants and bars can double their capacity to 50 percent starting Friday. Capacity limits also increasing for gatherings, retail stores, casinos, gyms, and stadiums. And those with a negative COVID test will now be able to visit their loved ones in nursing homes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JARRETT: Christine, it's just so unfortunate because if you think back to the early days of this pandemic, if there had been real leadership at the top -- at the federal level -- about masks and understanding --
ROMANS: Sure.
JARRETT: -- that masks actually save lives, then there wouldn't have to be this whole joyous, uproarious, as you can hear --
ROMANS: Yes.
JARRETT: -- for Gov. Greg Abbott -- the reaction to rolling back the mandates. If people actually believe they save lives we wouldn't be in this position.
[05:35:00]
ROMANS: You know, retail workers are very concerned about this. And one retail (INAUDIBLE) said this unfairly puts retail employees in the role of --
JARRETT: Yes.
ROMANS: -- enforcing guidelines.
And look, they're on the cusp here of having pharmacies and grocery stores really pushing out vaccine in places like Mississippi, in places like Texas. Also in Iowa where they've dropped the mask mandate as well -- in Montana.
And those workers are very worried. They are indoors. They're in close contact with other people. They're going to be giving a lifesaving vaccine but there's not a requirement for them to be protected against someone who might come in there sick and spread the virus. So --
JARRETT: It's so unfortunate. It's also avoidable.
ROMANS: It really is. It really is.
All right, 35 minutes past the hour.
The Senate could begin debating the president's COVID relief bill today. The $15.00 an hour minimum wage -- we know that's already out.
Now there are two big infrastructure projects -- a rail capital improvement in California, and a bridge in Upstate New York. Those are being pulled after the Senate parliamentarian ruled they could not be included.
Daniella Diaz covering this for us right there at Capitol Hill, live this morning. And, Daniella, the president spoke with Democratic senators yesterday. What was his message to the party?
DANIELLA DIAZ, CNN REPORTER: That's exactly right, Christine. President Joe Biden met with all 50 Democratic senators yesterday in a virtual meeting and he urged them to support his legislation -- this massive $1.9 trillion package -- even if there are provisions that they don't like and support in this bill.
This comes after there has been debate about this -- several parts of this legislation, including whether to scale back jobless benefits from $400 a week, which is what the House passed, to $300 a week. And there is discussion that some moderate Democratic senators don't like some versions -- some provisions of this legislation because it's not targeted enough or it's too much money.
But the bigger picture here is that this is a major test of unity for Biden for the major biggest legislation of his administration.
He needs every single Democratic senator to sign on and support this package because they're passing this using budget reconciliation, so 51 votes in the Senate needed to pass this. So if every single Democratic senator signs on, Vice President Kamala Harris is likely to be the tie-breaking vote. And we're not expecting any Republican support on this legislation in the Senate.
So that's the bigger picture here and what Biden's trying to push with all 50 Democratic senators --
ROMANS: Sure.
DIAZ: -- for them to sign on to this.
ROMANS: He needs 100 percent of his party onboard here if this is going to make it.
Now, Daniella, if the Senate takes this up today, what do we expect the rest of the week? I'm assuming there could be a few late nights on Capitol Hill and a lot of greasy pizza boxes.
DIAZ: Yes, we're expecting late nights definitely tonight and tomorrow. We're going to see how this plays out. It's going to be another vote-a-rama. That's what we call it when it's a late night in the Senate chamber and the senators are voting on amendment after amendment after amendment to either remove or pass and include in this legislation.
And unlike the first vote-o-rama series -- I actually talked to you about that last time when I was here a couple of weeks ago -- they are -- every amendment that they're passing in this legislation will be included in this final package.
So this is a huge point for Republicans. This is going to be their way of pointing out the amendments they don't agree with or parts of this legislation that they want to point out is not targeted enough or is too much money. So this will be a good time for Republicans -- what they see is a good time to point out what they don't like about this package, especially ahead of any midterm elections or the next set of elections for these senators.
And we are expecting a late night and Democratic senators are ready to try to pass all the amendments that they approve of in this legislation.
ROMANS: All right. It's going to be a wild week. Thank you so much for covering it for us.
Nice to see you this morning. Early bird Daniella Diaz on EARLY START -- Laura.
JARRETT: All right.
New York State lawmakers moving to repeal some of embattled Gov. Andrew Cuomo's expanded executive powers. The Legislature granted the governor emergency powers to issue executive orders during this pandemic. A vote is expected next week on this.
It comes as Cuomo faces an escalating crisis and growing calls for him to resign after a third woman publicly accused him of making unwanted advances toward her. New York's attorney general is investigating the allegations.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki, addressing the Cuomo situation, says both the president and the vice president believe every woman coming forward should be heard and treated with dignity and respect.
ROMANS: New this morning, the Defense Department is expected to release a scathing report today on Republican Congressman Ronny Jackson, detailing his time as the top White House physician during the Obama and Trump administrations.
According to the Pentagon's inspector general, Jackson made, quote, "sexual and denigrating" comments about a female subordinate, drank alcohol on president trips in violation of protocol, and took Ambien on duty, raising concern about his ability to provide care.
Jackson has denied these allegations and claims the report is politically motivated.
JARRETT: Global CO2 emissions have rebounded to their pre-pandemic levels and in some major economies even surpassed them. The International Energy Agency says governments around the world are missing a historic opportunity to build clean energy into their recovery packages.
[05:40:11]
Global CO2 fell an estimated six percent last year. But the U.N. says global greenhouse gases would have to fall that much every year through 2030 to meet targets in the Paris Climate Accord.
ROMANS: All right.
The best person in the world, country music legend Dolly Parton, putting a spin on one of her old classics and getting a taste of her own medicine.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back.
This morning, a new challenge to getting everyone vaccinated. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is urging Catholics to avoid taking the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine and to choose Pfizer or Moderna instead.
[05:45:05]
OK, the reason, they say, Johnson & Johnson used cells derived decades ago from an abortion to create its vaccine. The cells used now, however, are not -- they are not from the original fetal tissue.
The bishops' recommendation now puts it in conflict with the Vatican, which has been pro-vaccine. Pope Francis has yet to weigh in on the J&J vaccine.
JARRETT: Many Americans who want a vaccine can't find one. Now some medical centers are bringing the vaccine to you.
Adrienne Broaddus reports now from Chicago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jackie Bloomingburg (ph) just got vaccinated in her own home. Now, it's her mother's turn.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, here we go.
BROADDUS (voice-over): Jackie and her mom, 90-year-old Hattie, are getting the COVID vaccine thanks to a mobile program from Rush University Medical Center. They have limited transportation and Hattie can only get out of the house if someone carries her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is a blessing and it's great. I hope everybody that takes it that they do well.
BROADDUS (voice-over): A few miles away --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell her she's just going to feel a little pinch.
BROADDUS (voice-over): -- a vaccination team is at the Flores home. They're also among 120 people in the program targeting those hardest hit by COVID. Seventy-one people have received the vaccine.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is like a blessing to have somebody come to the house, especially when you have a Latina, 92-year-old beautiful mother that has dementia and cannot do hardly nothing for herself.
BROADDUS (voice-over): But there is a problem. Not everyone who needs the shot gets it, and it falls along racial lines.
The Kaiser Family Foundation tracks vaccination rates in 27 states by race and ethnicity. According to their data, the overall vaccination rate among white people is about three times higher than the rate for Latinos, and it's twice as high as the rate for Blacks.
The challenge in Chicago and cities all over the country is many of the most vulnerable residents are going unvaccinated.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's structural racism that underlies all of the structures in our city. We know that there's structural racism in the healthcare sector as well.
BROADDUS (voice-over): In this case, many on Chicago's West Side live in a pharmacy desert and can't get themselves to a vaccine. The effect is clear in the numbers.
As of mid-February, in Illinois, Latinos make up 26 percent of COVID cases but only nine percent of vaccinations. In Maryland, Blacks make up 33 percent of cases but only 16 percent of vaccinations. And in California, the numbers are staggering. Latinos account for 55 percent of COVID cases but only 18 percent of vaccinations.
It's a problem President Biden says he's trying to fix.
BIDEN: The fact is if you're 70 years old, you don't have a vehicle, and you live in a tough neighborhood, meaning you're -- it's a high concentration of COVID -- you're not likely to be able to walk five miles to go get a vaccine.
BROADDUS (voice-over): The president's COVID package includes funding for mobile vaccinations, which have begun in states like Texas, California, and Massachusetts. Texas is starting a door-to-door program.
Jackie and her mom say this program may have saved them not only from the virus but from an unequal system that nearly left them behind.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is nobody above no one. Every nationality and every race the same way. We bleed the same, we die the same.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JARRETT: Adrienne Broaddus, thank you so much for that piece. In the Netherlands, an explosion early this morning near a coronavirus test center. Police telling CNN it appears to have been a metal cylinder about the size of a paint can. No injuries were reported.
Last month, Netherlands police arrested two people after they allegedly set a fire near a different test center.
ROMANS: Europe's medicines regulator will consider the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on March 11th, and not a moment too soon. You know, the U.S. and Europe are focusing on vaccinating their own populations, but China and Russia -- they're sending millions of coronavirus vaccine doses around the world. They could save lives and establish goodwill with western adversaries.
CNN's Nic Robertson live in London with more. I saw one survey that said 60 percent of Russians are skeptical of their own Sputnik vaccine. Yet, the Russian government is sending it abroad in an attempt to maybe sow some -- sow some good intentions.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, you bet. I mean, there are three European Union countries -- the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary have all said to Moscow, send us some of your Sputnik V vaccine.
Now, there's a reason for this. As you say, the European pharmaceutical regulator here has been slow to roll out (audio gap) has criticized them for being so slow to the point that he wants to now team up with Denmark and Israel to improve Austria's access to vaccines to sort of work on new vaccine products or speed up vaccines that are coming.
[05:50:13]
Now, the World Health Organization has been critical of the European Union. They're saying of 447 million people only 5.5 percent have actually received a vaccine so far. The vaccines that have been approved by the regulator here are the Pfizer BioNTech, the Moderna, and the AstraZeneca.
So you have these countries like Hungary, like the Czech Republic, like Slovakia who are -- who are frustrated, like Austria, that the supplies aren't coming through in big enough numbers -- are just slow to regulate and approve. But also, the supplies have been bumpy and rocky at the beginning so they're turning to Russia and turning to China.
But I think there's also another detail that's sort of hidden in all of this as well. Hungary -- and we saw the Prime Minister Viktor Orban get a Sinopharm -- a China vaccine -- over the weekend in his arm -- have been sort of the first to shop around the world for alternate vaccines.
Yet, look at the European Union. Figures on uptick of vaccines among country -- countries, Hungary is at the bottom of the list. They've only distributed 44 percent of all the vaccines they've been given from the European Union. So you have to look at this and say is there a political dimension in
this. There's certainly something in it for China and Russia.
ROMANS: Absolutely.
All right, Nic Robertson in London. Thanks, Nic.
JARRETT: All right.
Back here in the U.S., Immigration and Customs Enforcement is investigating a horrific crash that left 13 dead and 12 others injured on a freeway in Southern California just miles from the U.S.-Mexico border.
Homeland Security officials are working to determine if human smuggling was involved after a semi-truck collided with an SUV that was packed with 25 people. The vehicle is designed to seat eight people.
At least 10 passengers were Mexican nationals, including the driver.
ROMANS: All right, 51 minutes past the hour. Let's get a check on CNN Business this Wednesday morning.
Looking at markets around the world, you can see gains across the spectrum here. Europe opening higher. Asia closing strongly higher there, especially Hong Kong stocks.
On Wall Street, watching futures this morning, up again. Dow futures above 31,500. You know, they finished down Tuesday. Tech stocks were under pressure. That led to the losses.
The Dow down about 143 points. The S&P and the Nasdaq also fell. The Nasdaq dipping about two percent.
Target saw record sales growth last year. Shoppers stocked up in stores and online. Sales increased -- get this -- nearly 20 percent. Digital sales, an astonishing 145 percent. The sales growth there in one year was more than the last 11 years combined.
And, of course, Target was a retailer that benefitted from all those people staying at home and it was a retailer that stayed open during the pandemic.
Tesla faces more U.S. competition. Volkswagen and General Motors have launched compact electric SUVs that cost under $35,000 -- well below most electric vehicles. They're also -- they are also less expensive than the cheapest Tesla, the Model 3.
Both GM and Volkswagen are hoping to catch up and even pass Tesla in total electric car sales. GM hopes to sell only electric vehicles by 2035, and its new Bolt EUV is a small step toward that goal, Laura.
JARRETT: Petaluma, California believed to be the first U.S. city to ban the construction of new gas stations. The move signals an acceleration of plans to move away from a dependency on fossil fuels and to embrace electric vehicles. California plans to ban the sale of fuel-based cars in 2035.
ROMANS: All right, favorite story of the millennium, maybe. Country music legend Dolly Parton gets a dose of her own medicine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOLLY PARTON, COUNTRY MUSIC LEGEND (Singing to the tune of "Jolene"):
Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, I'm begging of you please don't hesitate. Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, Cause once you're dead then that's a bit too late.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: She is, of course -- Dolly changing the lyrics to "Jolene." She had fun with the song, of course, but she said she is deadly serious about getting vaccinated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PARTON: I just wanted to encourage everybody because the sooner we get to feeling better, the sooner we are going to get back to being normal. So I just want to say to all of you cowards out there, don't be such a chicken squat. Get out there and get your shot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Don't be such a chicken squat. She did get her shot in Nashville on Tuesday.
Last year, she made a million-dollar donation to coronavirus vaccine research, so she literally puts her money where her bicep is there.
JARRETT: Love to see it. You know, she had talked about how she wasn't going to jump the line --
ROMANS: Yes.
JARRETT: -- even though she had made that generous donation. I just -- I love her. More Dolly.
ROMANS: I think a Dolly photo op is just priceless in terms of vaccine acceptance.
JARRETT: Yes.
ROMANS: Thank you, Dolly. We love you.
Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.
JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:59:41] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: This country will have enough vaccine supplies for every adult in America by the end of May.
ABBOTT: It is now time to open Texas 100 percent.
ROCHELLE WALENSKY, DIRECTOR, CDC: Now is not the time to relax the critical safeguards that we know can stop the spread of COVID-19.
CHRISTOPHER WRAY, DIRECTOR, FBI: That siege was criminal behavior, plain and simple, that we, the FBI, view as domestic terrorism.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The violence that the FBI is worried about is about racism.
