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New Day

26 States Report Coronavirus Increase; Pfizer and Moderna Conduct Trials on Kids; Key Moments in Chauvin Trial; Biden Family Dog's Second Biting Incident; UCLA Goes to Final Four. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired March 31, 2021 - 06:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:37]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: So, this morning, 26 states are reporting an increase in new coronavirus cases in just the past week. Nearly 29 percent of the U.S. population has received one dose of the vaccine. Sixteen percent of the U.S. are fully vaccinated now. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky says these vaccination rates are a hopeful sign, but again cautioned that the hope is tempered by rising infection rates.

Joining us now is Dr. Megan Ranney. She's the director of the Brown- Lifespan Center for Digital Health and an emergency physician at Brown University.

Dr. Ranney, great to see you.

Can we pull up that map again of all of the red back on the U.S. map? For so long we were in the green. Now all of this red is popping up. And I just want your take on what's happening because it doesn't actually make sense. There are some states, for instance, Connecticut, that had been doing really well. I mean Connecticut's positivity rate was something like 2.5 percent for weeks and they're doing a great job at vaccinating. They opened up their vaccination program to much younger people earlier than a lot of other states, and yet here they are in the red.

So this can't just be about vaccinations and mask wearing. I mean what else is happening?

DR. MEGAN RANNEY, DIRECTOR, BROWN-LIFESPAN CENTER FOR DIGITAL HEALTH AND EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY: So it's really a combination of a couple things. The first is the variants are here and they're spreading. We're seeing outbreaks, we're seeing rises number of B117 cases across the country.

The second is, states are opening up. You mentioned Connecticut, right? They're opening up indoor dining. They're opening up public gatherings. It's true across the country. Certainly many states have lifted those mask mandates. That sets people up to catch the virus.

And the third thing is, even in the states that have done the best job of vaccination, if you combine the people who have been fully vaccinated, with the people who developed natural immunity because they happen to get COVID, that's still not enough. And I'll tell you, in my ER, Alisyn, I am seeing more and more people come in with COVID- 19 who, of course, have not yet been vaccinated. So it is spreading in the community because of those three factors.

JOHN AVLON, CNN ANCHOR: So one of the many things that this raises is, as more people get vaccinated, there's this increasing debate about this idea of vaccine passports. It's very controversial to some people. For other folks it just seems like a practical way of -- of indicating who's in the free and clear.

What is your take as a doctor and a public health professional on vaccine passports? How should they be implemented?

RANNEY: So I think we can debate all day the privacy and ethical implications of them, but the reality is they're coming. Walmart, cruises, grocery stores, sporting events, they're all going to be asking for proof of vaccination. I think it's essential for the federal government to set standards for what that looks like to ensure that there's basic privacy regulations, that people aren't taking our vaccine history and our birthdates and using it however they want, and to make sure that they communicate with each other. And for people who are worried about it, I mean, any of us that have ever gone to Disney World have worn a magic brand. It doesn't have to be any more invasive or privacy threatening than that magic band is and can really serve as a way for us to reopen safely and with confidence.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Megan Ranney, thank you very much for all the information this morning.

AVLON: (INAUDIBLE).

All right, and following on that, there's currently no approved vaccine for children, but this month, Pfizer and Moderna began testing their coronavirus vaccines on children under age 12.

CNN's Gary Tuchman spoke with a pair of siblings participating in the Moderna trial.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This little boy and girl are about to make history. Six-year-old Arlo (ph) Swenson and his nine-year-old sister Phoebe (ph) are getting COVID vaccines.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ready?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. All done.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That was it.

TUCHMAN: Phoebe becoming the very first child to get the shots in the Moderna children's COVID vaccine trial at this Phoenix clinical research facility, and one of the first in the U.S. and Canada. The day began about 90 minutes earlier. Arlo and Phoebe walking into

the facility with their parents, a big brother on the left who was too old for this trial and a baby brother on the right who was too young. The trial is for infants 6 months old through and including children 11 years old. But this initial stage of the trial begins with children at least six years old. Parents Ashton and Stephen (ph) take a seat and sign consent forms.

[06:35:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to have you write your name --

TUCHMAN: And children who are seven or above also will have to sign. Pre-vaccine medical procedures then begin. Blood pressure, an ear check.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good. (INAUDIBLE).

TUCHMAN: And then a requiring COVID test.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you pull your mask down for me and look up to the ceiling. Thank you. All the way up. There. Right. Perfect.

TUCHMAN: The children are brave throughout.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Keep your arm straight.

TUCHMAN: Even with the blood test.

It's then almost time for the COVID vaccine. And we take some time to talk to the proud parents.

TUCHMAN (on camera): Was it a hard decision to allow your children to be in this trial?

ASHTON SWENSON, MOTHER OF CHILDREN IN VACCINE TRIAL: No, it was not a hard decision at all for me. We believe in the science of vaccines and we were excited about the opportunity to be a part of it.

TUCHMAN (voice over): Among this first group of participants, also known as the first arm, a lesser dose is given than the dose adults receive.

Jason Wallace is the clinical research site manager for the Phoenix Medpharmics facility and says this regarding placebos.

JASON WALLACE, CLINICAL RESEARCH SITE MANAGER, MEDPHARMICS: So for the first 750 patients nationwide, they're doing -- it's going to be open label, which means all the children that are going to be in those first arms for that 750 are guaranteed to get the actual vaccine.

TUCHMAN: Placebo will be used later on in the trial.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There you go.

TUCHMAN: The youngest children will start getting scheduled soon. Three-year-old Alley (ph) and two-year-old Charlotte (ph) will be two of those participants.

Their parents are Rachel and Derek (ph) Guthrie.

RACHEL GUTHRIE, MOTHER OF CHILDREN WHO WILL BE IN VACCINE TRIAL: We knew that this was something we wanted to participate in, the opportunity for them to be vaccinated at such an early stage. We jumped at the opportunity, honestly.

TUCHMAN (on camera): Alley and Charlotte are scheduled to be vaccinated within a few weeks. These small children, unbeknownst to them, will soon be leaders in the effort to help humanity.

TUCHMAN (voice over): Which brings us back to Phoebe's brother Arlo. The six-year-old is getting his COVID vaccine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ready.

ARLO SWENSON: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're going to do great. And go. Good job. Not too bad, was it?

TUCHMAN: Both children will come back in four weeks. Their health will continue to be monitored.

TUCHMAN (on camera): You're done getting your shot now, right?

PHOEBE SWENSON: Yes.

TUCHMAN: How did it feel?

P. SWENSON: It felt good.

TUCHMAN: Was it easy?

P. SWENSON: Kinda.

TUCHMAN: Do you know that you're a hero?

P. SWENSON: No.

TUCHMAN: You're a medical hero. It says it right there on your sticker.

A. SWENSON: I know what ten times ten is.

TUCHMAN: What's ten times ten?

A. SWENSON: A hundred.

TUCHMAN: You're absolutely right. You're not only a hero, you're smart, right?

A. SWENSON: Yes.

TUCHMAN (voice over): Gary Tuchman, CNN, Phoenix. (END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Our thanks to Gary.

AVLON: Yes.

CAMEROTA: And our thanks to those families because they -- we do owe them gratitude that they're willing to be the guinea pigs for the rest of our kids.

AVLON: Well, it -- absolutely. Look, we've been incredibly blessed in the context of this pandemic. A hundred years ago, that pandemic killed a lot of children. The new variants are starting to infect kids, so there's an urgency behind this. And, you know, having kids is like having your heart walk around outside your body. And seeing those kids get vaccinated, realize that our kids could get vaccinated.

CAMEROTA: Yes, but some parents have to go first.

AVLON: Absolutely.

CAMEROTA: Somebody has to be first out of the gate. And so we thank them for trying to figure out how this will affect the rest of our kids.

AVLON: Thank you. Wow.

All right, well, several key witnesses are giving emotional testimony in the Derek Chauvin murder trial. We're going to break down the key moments for both sides, next.

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[06:42:23]

AVLON: In a few hours the Derek Chauvin murder trial resumes after emotional testimony from six witnesses, including a firefighter, a nine-year-old and several teens who described actions they wish they'd taken that day to prevent George Floyd from dying.

Back with us now to break down the key moments, CNN legal analyst Elie Honig.

What did we see from prosecution yesterday and what are the major themes you see so far?

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, John, so we saw a steady stream of witnesses from the prosecution yesterday who provided devastating evidence. Any of those witnesses, by the way, could have been a star witness in an ordinary trial. This is no ordinary trial. They give firsthand accounts of what they saw outside of Key Foods (ph) that were vivid and detailed and compelling. And the key theme is emerging here. Every person who saw what Derek Chauvin was doing to George Floyd that day recognized that it was wrong, that it was dangerous, and that it was potentially lethal.

Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENA SCURRY, 911 DISPATCHER: My instincts were telling me that something's wrong. Something is not right. I don't know what, but something wasn't right.

DONALD WYNN WILLIAMS, WITNESS: I called the police on the police.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. And why did you do that?

WILLIAMS: Because I believe I witnessed a murder.

UNDERAGE EYEWITNESS: I almost walked away at first because it was a lot to watch, but I knew that it was wrong and I couldn't just walk away.

GENEVIEVE HANSEN, MINNEAPOLIS FIREFIGHTER: He wasn't moving, and he was cuffed. And that's a -- three grown men is a lot of putting all their weight on somebody. That's too much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HONIG: A couple key details emerged yesterday. That witness we just saw, that firefighter/EMT said she tried to intervene. She tried to come to George Floyd's aid, take a pulse, and she was turned away by the police.

The second recurring them, several witnesses told us that it looked to them like Derek Chauvin was trying to drive his knee harder into George Floyd's neck. Both of those things go to intent. Those details really matter to a jury.

CAMEROTA: Elie, how about the defense of Derek Chauvin? Have they made any dents in the prosecution's case?

HONIG: Well, they're still probing. It's still early. They're looking for a weakness. I don't think they've identified a major weakness yet.

The main defense we've heard so far is this sort of unruly crowd defense, which, to me, is completely not compelling, completely not convincing whatsoever, this notion that the police officers were so upset or distracted by the crowd, which was hardly unruly, that they couldn't do their job is really hard -- hard to swallow. And that defense backfired on the defense lawyer in a major way when he was cross-examining the EMT firefighter.

Let's watch that one.

[06:45:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC NELSON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY FOR DEREK CHAUVIN: Do you think it would make your job fighting the fire harder if someone started yelling and you and telling you that you were doing it wrong? GENEVIEVE HANSEN, MINNEAPOLIS FIREFIGHTER: I'm very confident in the

training that I've been given, so I -- I would not be concerned.

NELSON: What if they started calling you names?

HANSEN: Like I said, I know my job and I -- I would be confident in my job and there's nothing anybody could say that would distract me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HONIG: She just annihilated that unruly crowd defense.

The defense also made another mistake. When they were cross-examining the young witness, a woman named Darnella, the defense at one point asked, how has your life changed since this event happened? The problem is, they left the door open. And when the prosecutor got back up, he picked up on that line of questioning and it led to the most dramatic moment of this trial so far.

Let's watch that moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JERRY BLACKWELL, SPECIAL ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: Would you tell the ladies and gentlemen how your viewing, experiencing what happened to George Floyd has affected your life.

DARNELLA FRAZIER, WITNESS: When I look at George Floyd, I look at -- I look at my dad, I look at my brothers, I look at my cousins, my uncles.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HONIG: The jury absolutely will remember that moment. I think we all will.

AVLON: Elie, look, in your experience, and this is a tough question in some respects, what's next? What are we going to see today and in the coming days?

HONIG: Yes, so the firefighter/EMT, who we saw before, she'll be on the stand when this trial resumes in a couple hours. I think we're then going to see more eyewitnesses who were there outside of Key Foods.

Now, at some point down the line, this trial will start to get more technical. We'll get into the expert witnesses. And we're going to see two types of expert witnesses. One, we will see experts on the police training and police use of force, including the Minneapolis Police Chief Arradondo. That is going to be remarkable testimony to see a police chief testifying against one of his own former officers.

And, second, we'll start hearing from medical experts about the various causations of George Floyd's death and whether that death can be tied to Derek Chauvin's actions. That's going to be a key aspect of the defense. That's going to be a key issue for the jury to decide here.

CAMEROTA: Both of those will be fascinating.

Elie, thank you very much for breaking it all down for us.

AVLON: Be well.

HONIG: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Well, there's a major problem at the White House. The Biden's dog, Major, John, is involved in another biting incident. OK. So what --

AVLON: Ruff.

CAMEROTA: John, stop. Stop. I'm the punster here.

Listen, what happens now? We have a live report.

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[06:51:44]

CAMEROTA: OK, developing this morning, two U.S. Capitol Police officers, who battled the violent mob at the Capitol, are suing former President Trump for the physical and emotional injuries they suffered in the siege. The officers are the first members of law enforcement to sue in court. These two officers allege in the lawsuit that they suffered physicality and emotional damage because Trump, quote, inflamed, encouraged, incited, and directed the mob. These two officers have been with the force for a combined 28 years.

AVLON: And there's a Major problem at the White House. Yes, we repeated that joke. The Biden family's dog, Major, involved in yet another biting incident. The White House confirming a National Park service employee got nipped on Monday on the South Lawn.

CNN's Kate Bennett live in Washington with more.

Kate.

KATE BENNETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, as you say, this is the second incident that we know of where Major has nipped, the White House says. My people, my sources are telling me it's more -- more a biting incident of two staff.

First, earlier this month, there was a Secret Service agent that also required medical attention. Monday's nip/bite was a Park Service employee on the South Lawn. The White House told me that Major was out for a walk on the -- on the lawn when this incident happened. The worker, I'm told, needed to stop work and, again, be treated by the White House medical unit. The White House says the worker later returned to work.

This is becoming an issue. And I don't think anyone blames the dog here. I want to make that clear. The dog is in a new environment. The White House has a lot of people, unfamiliar faces. The president himself said -- addressed the issue, the first issue, earlier this month in an interview and said, 85 percent of the people there love Major and the other 15 percent perhaps might be afraid of dogs is what he said. But that he said Major's loveable. He said Major was receiving training. Major returned to the White House within the week and here we are again talking about yet another incident with the dog.

Perhaps the White House environment is not the best place for Major. He's three years old. And this might be just too many people, too many new environment, too much unfamiliar faces. This could be something that maybe the White House will experience again. So certainly people are talking about poor Major and his -- and his problems with staff.

AVLON: Who will speak up for Major? Three-year-old Major. Well, it's good to see dogs back in the White House at least.

Thank you very much, Kate.

BENNETT: Thanks.

AVLON: All right, we've got a Cinderella story advancing in the Final Four. The big upset that has UCLA still dancing. Details up next in the "Bleacher Report."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: UCLA from the first four to the Final Four.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[06:58:45]

AVLON: UCLA continues its bracket-busting run in the NCAA tournament from the first four to the Final Four.

Coy Wire has more in the "Bleacher Report."

Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

I know you know about brackets being busted. Hey, but isn't this what we love about March Madness? Have to be on one of the teams needing that first four play-in game win just to have a chance in the big dance. Almost no one expected UCLA to get this far, but the Bruins still dancing.

UCLA holding off top seed Michigan to grab the last spot in the Final Four. Bruins win 51-49, becoming just the fifth eleventh seed to reach the national semi-finals. They will face number one overall seed Gonzaga. The Bulldogs cruising into the Final Four with an 85-66 beat- down of USC. They've won every tournament game by at least 16 points. Gonzaga now 30-0 for the season. Just two wins away from the first perfect season since Indiana did it in 1976.

And my alma mater, top overall seed Stanford, in the women's tournament, reaching their 14th Final Four by defeating Louisville. They will met South Carolina on Friday. Dawn Staley's Gamecocks beat Texas by 28 points. That means for the first time ever two black head coaches will be coaching in the same Final Four, John.

[07:00:01]

Staley joins Arizona's Adia Barnes on the sport's biggest stage. She says it's sending a strong message to athletics directors all across the country.