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New Day

More States Expand Vaccine Eligibility To All Adults; V.P. Kamala Harris Calls For Gun Reform After Colorado Massacre; 15-Member Jury Seated In Derek Chauvin Murder Trial. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired March 24, 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. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH (via Cisco Webex): The problem is there's still a lot of very vulnerable people in these states that haven't gotten a shot at all -- people in their 60s and 70s who haven't gotten a shot. And my take is we should prioritize them. We should make sure that we're giving access to older people -- to people who are at higher risk. And without working on access, if we just expand eligibility, we'll end up leaving a lot of people out.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: It shows you're not getting a high enough percentage of the people that you've identified as higher risk. And, you know, yes, it's great to get as many people vaccinated as possible, but not if those first high-risk people don't get the shots, ultimately.

Dr. Jha, if we --

JHA: Exactly.

BERMAN: If we can put up the caseload where we are -- where we are right now in cases -- you know, 50,000 or so a day at this point, which is still a very high level.

One thing I'm hoping that people understand and if you can explain, is there are risks. In addition to more people ending up in the hospital and dying, there are risks to the virus itself. As long as this many people are getting sick and it's being passed at this high rate, it creates new opportunities for the virus. How so?

JHA: Absolutely. So remember, these variants that we've been hearing about -- the ones that are more contagious -- some of them actually do a better job of escaping our immune response -- they show up because basically as you've had lots and lots of chances for the virus to replicate. The more chances you give the virus to replicate the higher the risk that you're going to develop variants.

And so that's one of the problems of big outbreaks is the bigger the outbreak the more opportunities the virus has to mutate, the more likely we're going to see variants. That's why we want to bring the case numbers down as quickly as possible. ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: But it seems as though hospitalizations

and death toll numbers are coming down. Do you think we've dodged the bullet of a fourth surge?

JHA: Yes, I think we may see a bump in cases still. We've been at 50,000. We're creeping up. I'm worried that we're going to see a mini- surge.

But I actually feel pretty confident we're not going to see a crush of hospitalizations and a crush of deaths that we saw in December and January, largely because we've vaccinated so many vulnerable people. So, that's the best news of all of this, is we're not going to see that horrible outcome.

BERMAN: Let's put up hospitalizations right now because they've actually been pretty static for the last week. As cases have been static around 50,000, hospitalizations have been around 40,000, 39,000 a day and not dropping at the steep rate they have been dropping before. Is that just because the caseload continues to be up?

JHA: Yes. We still have a lot of people who are getting infected every day. That's still a problem.

But one of the things that has happened is because so many high-risk people are getting vaccinated, I think we're going to see hospitalizations -- even though they've been (INAUDIBLE), I do think we're going to see them creep down slowly.

And deaths are continuing to come down. We're under 1,000 deaths a day now, thank goodness. And I hope and expect that number will continue to come down as well.

CAMEROTA: Our Kristen Holmes has new reporting in terms of the inspector general report on what the toll -- the toll that all of this has taken not on us regular people here but the doctors and nurses in the hospitals. The level of PTSD, the level of trauma, which is the untold story as of yet. I mean, there -- you know, you doctors are still in the thick of it.

And what do you think that story is when it's fully told?

JHA: Yes. You know we've been in crisis mode for, what, 13-14 months. And as we pull out of the kind of acute phase of this pandemic over the next few months, I think with that toll it's going to start becoming obvious.

I think you're going to see a lot of people drop out of the profession. I think you're going to see a lot of people with PTSD. We've already seen increases of depression and anxiety among healthcare professionals, suicide rates.

So I think there's a lot of work to do to kind of unwind all of the ill effects of the pandemic. You know, in a crisis you can't tell how people are faring. It's only afterwards that you see the full picture.

CAMEROTA: Yes. Dr. Ashish Jha, thank you very much. We always appreciate talking to you.

JHA: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Brazil is reporting its deadliest day since the start of the pandemic. The country's hospitals are at a breaking point.

CNN has reporters covering the pandemic around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Matt Rivers in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Another brutal day for this country on Tuesday with health officials announcing yet another single-day record for the most coronavirus deaths recorded. More than 3,200 deaths from the virus recorded on Tuesday alone. That is the first time since this pandemic began that officials have recorded more than 3,000 deaths in a single day from the virus.

Part of the reason that number is so high is because of what is happening here in this state -- the state of Sao Paulo. More than 1,000 deaths recorded on Tuesday from the virus in this state alone. It's the first time since this pandemic began that Sao Paulo has recorded more than 1,000 deaths in a single day.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Kristie Lou Stout in Hong Kong.

Due to concerns over packaging problems, Hong Kong health authorities have suspended the use of two batches of the European-made BioNTech vaccine distributed by folks from Pharma.

[07:35:00]

The vaccine rollout here in Hong Kong has been slow. As of Tuesday, only 5.4 percent of the population has been inoculated. Medical experts say 70 percent of the population needs to be inoculated to reach herd immunity and it may take more than 300 days to reach that goal.

BLAKE ESSIG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Blake Essig in Fukushima.

On this day last year, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games were officially postponed. After a year's delay, all eyes will be on the torch relay event set to begin here in northeast Japan on Thursday, albeit a scaled-back version due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Masks will be worn, fans will be limited, and cheering will be prohibited.

Now, this is the clearest sign that the Olympics will take place this summer -- an event that will be held without overseas spectators.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BERMAN: Thanks to our reporters all around the world.

We want to remember some of the nearly-544,000 Americans lost to coronavirus.

Sixty-four-year-old Fred Posavetz was chief of police in the Detroit suburb of Clinton Township. Officials say after 40 years working his way up through the department he'd expected to retire soon.

He was especially proud of his two sons, Ryan and Eric. They both followed in his footsteps and became officers in the same department.

Reverend Francisco Valdovinos was the beloved pastor of a Catholic church in California's Coachella Valley. Throughout the pandemic, he led the distribution of food, face masks, information to the many farmworkers in his parish, pushing them to get tested and now vaccinated.

Rev. Valdovinos was 58 years old.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:40:48]

BERMAN: All right. Happening now, a brand-new, highly-animated interview with Vice President Harris. She's calling for immediate action to prevent gun violence, including an assault weapons ban.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is time for Congress to act and stop with the false choices. This is not about getting rid of the Second Amendment, it's simply about saying we need reasonable gun safety laws.

There is no reason why we have assault weapons on the streets of a civil society. They are weapons of war. They are designed to kill a lot of people quickly.

GAYLE KING, CBS HOST, "CBS THIS MORNING": Yes, we all agree --

HARRIS: Let us all agree that we need --

KING: Yes.

HARRIS: -- background checks. But the point here is Congress needs to act -- and on the House side, they did.

KING: Yes.

HARRIS: There are two bills, which the president is prepared to sign, and so we need the Senate to act.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: CNN's Jeremy Diamond live at the White House. Jeremy, what does this tell us now then about what the White House intends to do? How hard it intends to push here?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think it makes very clear that this issue of gun reform has moved very close to the top of the White House's priority list in the wake of this deadly shooting in Boulder, Colorado, as well as the shooting last week in Atlanta.

What you are seeing now is the beginnings of a press -- of a pressure campaign from the White House to push Congress to act on this issue. You saw President Biden, within 24 hours of the shooting happening, yesterday making this appeal for Congress to not only pass those two pieces of legislation from the House to close some background check loopholes, and also calling for an assault weapons ban, a high- capacity magazine ban.

And now, you see the vice president, Kamala Harris, following up that appeal with some pretty passionate rhetoric here, clearly, in this interview this morning with CBS.

And so, what's also interesting is that when she was pressed on this issue of executive action, clearly, the White House is considering executive action. We know this from the White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who said this just yesterday. Cedric Richmond and other top advisers to the president have said this as well.

But Vice President Harris there -- you can see her really putting an emphasis on Congress needing to act. And I think that's interesting, especially given the fact that they know what a steep uphill climb this will be to get anything substantive on the gun reform front passed through the Senate with the filibuster -- the 60-vote threshold still very much intact.

But this is also why you have a president and a vice president to try and lead on issues and to try and change the conversation -- to change those political dynamics. Whether or not that can actually happen is a whole other matter. But this is what the presidency and the vice presidency is for -- is to try and set the tone, to try and set the agenda, and to try and see if they can shift those dynamics -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Jeremy. Thank you very much for all of that -- the developing news.

So, a 15-person jury is now seated in the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. He's accused of murder in the death of George Floyd. Opening arguments are scheduled to begin on Monday.

And, CNN's Omar Jimenez is live in Minneapolis with more. What have you learned, Omar?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, for starters, the jury is set. The people who will be deciding the fate of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin are in the 15 selected. And while we don't know their identities, we do know some things about them, including their ages and their racial breakdown.

For starters, nine are black -- or nine, excuse me, are white, four are black, two are mixed race. But more specifically, we have three white men in their 20s and 30s, six white women in their 20s to 50s, three black men in their 20s to 40s, two mixed-race women in their 20s to 40s, and a black woman in her 60s.

Now, note there are 15 jurors selected instead of the necessary 14, and that's because the judge wanted a little bit more of an insurance policy here, basically saying the whole point of a 15th juror is to ensure we have 14 come Monday -- 12 seated jurors, two alternates.

But important to note that 15th juror is a white man in his 20s, so if he's necessary it could skew the demographics of that final jury even more. But if all 14 show up, then that 15th will be dismissed.

And, of course, Monday is opening statements for this trial. And when we look ahead to testimony we're going to be hearing from a whole host of witnesses brought by both the prosecution and the defense.

[07:45:06]

But most recently -- or notably, I should say, we'll hear from a paramedic who responded to a May sixth, 2019 George Floyd arrest, a portion of which was admitted into this case by Judge Peter Cahill, basically arguing that we have medical evidence of what happens with George Floyd when he's faced with a similar set of circumstances.

In 2019, he also was confronted by police at gunpoint and he had ingested drugs. And so, they look -- the defense attorneys, at least, look at what happened in May 2020, see the drugs that were in George Floyd's system based on the autopsy, see the violent confrontation with police, and that is part of the argument that the judge took to allow this in.

Though I should note, as prosecutors did, that the key difference between 2019 and 2020 is that in 2019 he was not forced into a police car. And in 2019, officers got him the medical help he needed and he survived the arrest -- John.

BERMAN: Omar Jimenez, this will be a fascinating trial to watch. We're lucky to have you there. Thanks so much for your reporting.

New this morning, allegations of sexual assault mounting against Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson. A total of 16 civil suits have now been filed -- one of them accusing Watson of being a quote "serial predator."

Watson's attorney denies any wrongdoing, saying any allegation that Deshaun forced a woman to commit a sexual act is completely false.

The NFL has opened its own investigation into whether Watson violated the league's personal conduct policy.

CAMEROTA: White House advisers are working on the next piece of President Biden's economic rescue plan. And chief business correspondent Christine Romans joins us now. So, Christine, what do we know about it?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT, ANCHOR, "EARLY START": So, Alisyn, it's not on his desk yet but aides are working on this $3 trillion spending package.

And it's split into two parts -- big infrastructure and clean energy investments first, then what's being called the care economy, with potential tax increases to fund key domestic goals. Together, this would be a recovery plan to build on his first achievement -- that $1.9 trillion rescue package.

Now, the infrastructure push has money for roads, bridges, rail, and clean energy, and for domestic manufacturing. Potentially, 5G investments in there, too. There's also $100 billion for education infrastructure.

Part two of the domestic agenda could include free community college, a $15.00 minimum wage or a work toward that, universal pre-K, and making that child tax credit permanent. That's critical for addressing income inequality. With it, potential tax increases on the rich and on companies.

This is about fairness and creating jobs. That's what Biden campaigned for on this promise that infrastructure investments could create five million new jobs and bring back pandemic jobs lost.

The economy, as you know, is still down nearly 10 million jobs since February and there's more to go. But so much cash has already been spent and the Senate is so closely divided, it's just not clear on how hard this will be.

Both the Fed chief, though, and the Treasury secretary testifying this week on the effect, so far, of stimulus. Both have praised congressional actions, so far, but have said the recovery in the economy, Alisyn, is not yet complete.

CAMEROTA: Christine, thank you very much --

ROMANS: You're welcome.

CAMEROTA: -- for breaking all of that down for us.

So, the pandemic has affected all of us, but no one more so than doctors and nurses on the frontlines. CNN has just obtained a newly- released inspector general report on the enormous toll it has taken on them. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:52:56]

CAMEROTA: CNN has just obtained a new inspector general report that details the dire toll that the global pandemic has taken on America's doctors and staff. CNN's Kristen Holmes is live in Washington with more. What does it

say, Kristen?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

Well, there are some truly disturbing findings in this report. It was done by Health and Human Services and they surveyed over 300 different hospitals, talking to administrators and staff.

Now, some of the findings were not just about those staff workers. They talked about rural hospitals struggling to stay afloat. In some cases, these hospitals are the only healthcare facilities within miles.

They talked about an impending health and mental crisis. Mostly, there -- I mean, people not getting those routine checkups for serious diseases because of the pandemic -- diabetes, cardiac issues, cancer. In that way, making them later -- for the later stages there when they actually do get diagnosed.

But perhaps the most alarming was what this has done to the healthcare workers and the staff there on the frontlines. I want to read you part of this. It says, "Hospitals reported that long hours, more shifts, time away from family, and increased responsibilities caused by the pandemic caused staff to be exhausted, mentally fatigued, and sometimes experiencing possible PTSD."

And I want to add there they also talk about the toll that all of this death surrounding these hospital workers has caused. In some cases, hospital workers seeing their own co-workers dying from coronavirus. In other cases, they were the last people that their patients got to see because family members weren't actually allowed in these hospital rooms.

So one thing is very clear from this report. The country needs to examine these problems, examine this response, and prepare itself for the next possible global pandemic or global health crisis because this time around almost devastated the healthcare industry, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Kristen, thank you very much for all of that.

BERMAN: A growing number of states expanding vaccine eligibility. But for some hard-hit communities of color, the reality of the rollout is a lack of access to the vaccines they desperately need and want.

[07:55:02]

CNN's Amara Walker has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRENDA HONG, BIRMINGHAM RESIDENT: I know what racism is and I know what inequality is.

AMARA WALKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Brenda Hong says she's spent hours online trying to register for a COVID-19 vaccine. HONG: It's ineffective, inefficient, and very frustrating.

WALKER (voice-over): The 75-year-old who is a two-time breast cancer survivor with diabetes says she should have been first in line to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Instead, Hong resorted to calling her commissioner's office for help.

SHEILA TYSON, JEFFERSON COUNTY COMMISSIONER, DISTRICT 2: This is a matter of life and death for a lot of us because we have seen our parents, our brothers, our church members, our neighbors, and our co- workers die from COVID-19.

WALKER (voice-over): Jefferson County Commissioner Sheila Tyson helped Hong register. She says her office has been fielding more than 200 similar calls a day and believes there are just too many barriers for some to get a coronavirus vaccine.

TYSON: But we still are willing to take the vaccine if they would give it to us because we are trying to live.

WALKER (voice-over): A CNN analysis of data from more than a dozen states found white people, on average, are getting vaccinated at twice the rate of black and Latino people. The most recent data from Alabama's Department of Public Health shows a noticeable difference in the number of African-American and white residents receiving vaccines.

Commissioner Tyson says the Jefferson County Health Department received roughly 500 initial doses of the vaccine, while a neighborhood business, Ritch's Pharmacy, in an affluent white neighborhood in Jefferson County received 1,200 first doses.

TYSON: In my heart, I would think it was an oversight, but I don't think it is because we were never in the plan to receive them.

WALKER (voice-over): The owner of the pharmacy tells CNN it had nothing to do with its zip code and everything to do with its readiness to store the vaccines and administer them.

HONG: The issue is availability, accessibility, even to the point of our commissioners providing transportation to go and get it.

WALKER (voice-over): The University of Alabama at Birmingham says it has started identifying areas that do not have access to vaccine sites, and it's addressing issues with its online vaccine registration.

DR. SARAH NAFZIGER, VICE PRESIDENT, CLINICAL SUPPORT SERVICES, UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA BIRMINGHAM: We know that we have more ground to cover, and so that's why we're focusing resources on making sure that we address equity and making sure that we reach those communities that maybe don't have access.

WALKER (voice-over): Hong finally received her first dose. She refutes the perception that vaccine hesitancy amongst African- Americans is leading to lower demand.

HONG: It is absolutely not the fact that black people don't want -- or people of color don't want to take it.

WALKER (voice-over): Commissioner Tyson says there's a waitlist of over 100,000 people in Jefferson County.

TYSON: You will see that the majority of the people that's on the waiting list are black and brown people.

WALKER (voice-over): Hong hopes others don't give up and get vaccinated.

HONG: I think that once more people are vaccinated, of course, it will move the clouds over and let the sun come through.

WALKER (voice-over): Amara Walker, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was up front and I happened to glimpse to the side. I saw a body and I saw that it was Rikki.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The weapon used was an AR-15-style firearm, but still no word on what was behind the violence.

MICHAEL DOUGHERTY, BOULDER COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: The victims were engaged in an everyday act and it turned out to be their last day on earth.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't need to wait another minute to take common-sense steps that will save lives.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): Every time there's a shooting we play this ridiculous theater. What happens on this committee after every mass shooting is Democrats propose taking away guns from law-abiding citizens.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To Sen. Cruz, I would say thoughts and prayers are good but they're not enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY.

As Americans mourn the 10 victims of the Boulder grocery store massacre, the flag at the White House flies at half-staff for the second time in a week. It was also lowered to honor the victims of the Atlanta spa shootings just days ago.

The people of Boulder gathering outside of the grocery store to mourn and remember the lives lost. We now know all of the victims' names. These are some of their faces. And we'll tell you more about them this morning and bring you the latest details on the investigation. BERMAN: We'll also tell you what Congress will do about this. It might not take very long. A pessimist or maybe a realist might say it will take one word -- nothing. But we'll see.

They have a choice. Are they OK with the status quo that allowed for the murders in Boulder and Georgia? Are they OK with that or is there something they will try to do to stop it?

This was the vice president moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: It is time for Congress to act and stop with the false choices. This is not about getting rid of the Second Amendment, it's simply about saying we need reasonable gun safety laws.