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New Day

Increase in Coronavirus Cases; March Jobs Report; Reckoning over Policing and Voting Rights. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired April 02, 2021 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:33:10]

JOHN AVLON, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. added more than 78,000 coronavirus cases just yesterday. Now, the seven-day average is on par with where it was last summer. Twenty-four states across the country are seeing new cases rise in the past week alone.

And joining us now, Dr. Ashish Jha, he's the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.

Dr. Jha, thank you so much for joining us on NEW DAY.

You say we're at a tipping point. That April is going to be the month that really decides the trajectory of our country and coronavirus. Explain.

DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Yes, good morning. Thanks for having me on.

You know, we really are at this inflection point, right? On the one hand we're seeing this surge of cases in about half the states. The variants have become dominant. B117, the U.K. variant, is now probably 60 percent to 70 percent of all infections in the United States. But vaccinations are going great. We're vaccinating 3 million people a day.

So if we keep going on vaccinations and we prevent large outbreaks in the month of April, by the end of April we're going to have a large chunk, almost half of all adults, I think, should get a -- have at least one shot by the end of April. And, boy, May, June, July, all of that starts looking way better. So the key at this point is prevent the big outbreaks, keep going on vaccinations. This is the month I think we turn the corner.

CAMEROTA: That's great news. And that's really promising. And vaccines are going to continue apace regardless of what people do. But if people take their eye off the ball, then what will May and June look like?

JHA: Yes, if we -- you know, look, if we just let these surges continue and get worse, then we're going to go into May, again, with more people vaccinated, which is going to be helpful, but a lot of unnecessary infections and a lot of unnecessary hospitalizations and deaths. Deaths are starting to climb again in the U.S. and so this is really about, we're in the last days of this battle and nobody should be losing their lives right now when we're this close to the finish line.

[08:35:01]

AVLON: But, of course, they are. And the new variants are -- seen to be incredibly serious, galloping out of control in several states, and putting younger people in the hospital. And I think for a lot of younger folks they thought they were somehow invincible. That if they got it, they would just have a -- a bad --

CAMEROTA: And that was true. I mean that was true. That is what ended up happening with the past variant.

AVLON: But it's not anymore. Yes, but not anymore.

So what kind of message do folks need to internalize? Tell us how serious this is and what people should be doing about it.

JHA: Absolutely. Yes, so no doubt the younger people are safer than older people, but I think the message of younger people are immune has not been helpful. And the truth is, the younger people do get sick and some of them end up getting quite sick, some of them end up having long-term complications.

And my message to young people is the same message as to everybody else, when we're -- when everybody is, you know, a month, at most two months away from getting their vaccine, why is this the moment you want to get sick and put something -- put yourself at risk for potential long-term complications?

So it's really -- we're at the, you know, five-yard line and we're so close to having this pandemic or the worst days of this pandemic behind us. I really think we've just got to keep going and get to that end zone.

AVLON: Don't give up now.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Jha, thank you very much.

AVLON: Thank you.

JHA: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: OK, the March jobs report is in. Is the economy recovering? What does it look like? Christine Romans has our answer, next.

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[08:40:18]

CAMEROTA: OK, the Justice Department -- sorry, the Labor Department has just released the March jobs report.

Here to give us the big headline is CNN chief business correspondent Christine Romans.

What do you see, Christine?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: A boom in March. Jobs added back in a big way, 916,000. That compares with a revised up January and February. And the unemployment rate slipped to 6 percent. That is a pandemic-era low.

That's what it looks like, though. The governor pointing out we're still 8.4 million jobs in the hole since this pandemic began. So I want to be very clear, these are jobs added back after millions and millions lost in the beginning of the crisis.

Three things going on here, vaccines, warmer weather and the reopenings. And you can see that, Alisyn, in the sectors. We had jobs in schools added back, in construction, in manufacturing, at bars and restaurants, especially in some of these states where they are loosening their restrictions. So that's where you saw the jobs gains.

Really important the timing here because we still have so much work to do, but it shows you that these combinations, the way we're trying to fight this virus, are starting to work. This is the best jobs growth we've seen since August.

Meantime, more reordering and more stimulus for the American economy in terms of that big infrastructure push that the president has embarked on this week. Some arguments about how to pay for what is a really ambitious agenda from this White House. You've got companies and Republicans saying they don't want any higher taxes, but you also have some Democrats who are saying they'd like to see that cap on SALT taxes deductions pulled away from here so that some of the people who live in these expensive blue states where they have really high taxes, they want to write off some of those state and local taxes, they'd like a break on that. Unclear how this administration is going to address all that.

Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Indeed it is. Christine, thank you very much for that breaking economy news.

OK, also new this morning, Hunter Biden, the youngest son of President Biden, is opening up about his struggle with drug addiction. In a new interview with CBS News, Hunter talks about an intervention at the Biden family home in Delaware during the 2020 campaign and this exchange with his father.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTER BIDEN, SON OF PRESIDENT BIDEN: And he grabbed me in a hug and grabbed me, put -- give me a bear hug, and he said -- he just cried and said, I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. Please --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you -- what did you think when you heard that?

BIDEN: I thought, I need to figure out a way to tell him that I'm going to do something so that I can go take another hit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

BIDEN: It's the only thing I could think. Literally, that's how powerful.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

BIDEN: I don't know of a force more powerful than my -- my family's love, except addiction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: That's intense.

Hunter Biden's memoir is coming out next week, John.

AVLON: Oh.

All right, the recent attacks on Asian-Americans are just the latest reminder that prejudice and bigotry remain a serious problem in our country. But this week CNN Heroes salutes two tattoo artists in Murray, Kentucky, for their efforts to fight intolerance by covering up hate tattoos for free. Since last June, their Cover the Hate campaign has helped dozens of people by erasing symbols of their racist past.

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CROWD: George Floyd!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seeing people risking their lives for the Black Lives Matter movement on TV, that moved me greatly. This is genuinely helping people move past their past. It's powerful.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Growing up I was never raised to be racist. I just was around the wrong people and I wanted to show everyone that I was above them. And one day you just realize this racist thing is stupid. Everyone's equal. I look back on it now, I'm ashamed of it, you know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go ahead and take a look at a design here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most of these tattoos are pretty old, worn and outdated, just like that ideology.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got two granddaughters and they're mixed. I love my grandbabies to death. It's like a change in life and this is the last step and this man's here to help you to fulfill it.

That is so cool.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: What an extraordinary, powerful and hopeful story.

Now, to get the whole story, nominate someone you know to be a CNN Hero. Go to cnnheroes.com.

We'll be right back.

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[08:48:27]

CAMEROTA: The Derek Chauvin trial resumes this morning after four days of very emotional testimony. The trial comes at the same time that many states are trying to restrict voting rights and some civil rights activists see a connection.

Joining us now is Bernice King, she's the daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. and the CEO of The King Center. Also with us, Al Vivian, he's the son of the Reverend C.T. Vivian and the CEO of Basic Diversity.

Friends, great to have you both here.

I want to start by just getting your thoughts, Bernice, on -- it's been, obviously, a very emotional week of the Derek Chauvin trial. You tweeted, watching a human call out for his mother while another human hands nonchalantly in his pockets, presses his knee into the distressed human's neck, it's an evil inhumanity that's traumatic to witness. Twenty dollars. $20. $20.00.

What are your thoughts as you've watched what's happened this week?

BERNICE KING, DAUGHTER OF MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., AND CEO, THE KING CENTER: Well, I mean, obviously, it evokes a lot of emotions to replay all of this again, to see it again. And, you know, we have a long way to go in terms of respecting black people,. black bodies, black lives in this country. And it's my hope and prayer, through this trial, that there will be a conviction to send a loud message that we, as black people, are worthy -- not just worthy, we should be treated with the respect and dignity at the hands of everyone, including law enforcement, because that was very, extremely inhumane in the way that he was handled.

[08:50:18]

CAMEROTA: And, Al, at the same time, we've also seen, I think, tremendous humanity in terms of the witnesses. I mean every witness from a teenager -- a teenage girl with her cell phone, to an off-duty firefighter, to a store clerk, to a nine-year-old girl, I mean everyone has talked about how this affected them. How it, you know, devastated them, has made them feel guilty that they felt helpless. And so what have you taken away from this week, Al?

AL VIVIAN, SON OF THE REVEREND C.T. VIVIAN: Basically what you just said, everything Bernice said and what you just said is -- to me it's the -- the whole humanity piece. I'm a true believer that people are genuinely good. There are not a lot of bad people out there. There are some, but the vast majority of American citizens and people in the world are good people. It's just the problem is there's so much that we don't know, we don't know. We're fed so much that just isn't so that people end up believing things that are not true. And when we give people facts, the truth and we show them real realities of what's going on out there, people -- they -- they step up to the plate and do the right thing.

This case was a case where it was on television, where we saw the entire time frame of this murder, because that's what it was, a blatant murder on screen and everyone saw it.

KING: Right.

VIVIAN: And so people are responding very emotionally. That's the key thing for me is the emotion in this. Almost every witness has been very emotional, which shows you, again, that people are genuinely good. It also shows you that if we start treating people in a humane manner, everything works out well for everybody. Then we can become the society that we claim to be.

CAMEROTA: So, at the same time that this is happening, you both wrote this joint letter about the voting rights law in Georgia. And you were trying to get the attention of business leaders, CEOs.

Bernice, what was your message to them?

KING: Well, essentially, we believe that corporate America has a lot of power and influence in our country. In fact, they have the greatest influence and -- many of our state legislatures and with our state legislators and on Capitol Hill. And we were disappointed that they didn't go far enough with SB-202 here in Georgia. You know, people start touting, you know, how, you know, this really is making voting safer and really we've provided some access.

But the reality is that the little bit of good that came out of this does not supersede the very bad that has come out of this. If the bad is very bad, the good is not that great because when you talk about putting local elections throughout the state, when you talk about taking away local power and removing power from the people's elected official, the secretary of state, there's no excuse for that. And corporations can do what is necessary to ensure that these kinds of things don't happen. And, unfortunately, that did not happen. So we were calling on corporations to, you know, step up to the plate. They made these racial equity commitments down here in Georgia and this was a chance for them to put it to action.

CAMEROTA: And, Al, it sounds like your letter got their attention. Here is the response from the CEO of Delta and Coca-Cola.

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ED BASTIAN, CEO, DELTA: When we got a chance to finally see it all put together and had a chance to digest it, as well as listen and hear it from the voices of our people about it, we realized that this was restricting.

JAMES QUINCEY, CEO, COCA-COLA: Let me be crystal clear and unequivocal, this legislation is unacceptable. It is a step backwards.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CAMEROTA: Al, was that gratifying?

VIVIAN: Well, it's gratifying, but it was kind of late.

KING: Yes.

VIVIAN: I applaud them now coming forward, and I guess I would say to make up for that what they and all the other CEOs throughout the country can do is now step up and push for the John Lewis bill to be signed into law and for the We the "People at the federal law to be signed in. That would supersede and kind of destroy some of the things in these other states because there are, at least count I say, 43 different states that are planning very similar actions.

And I want to stress that piece about -- so as what Bernice was saying about giving them control to just take away. And they can -- they can basically, by this law, they can supersede any county in the -- in the state. If they didn't like the outcome, they can pretty much override it.

I'm a former Army captain. So, for me, democracy is immensely important.

[08:55:03]

There's nothing more un-American in a democracy than take -- than to take away people's right to vote. That's what makes us a democracy. (INAUDIBLE) that is un-American.

CAMEROTA: Al Vivian and --

VIVIAN: Can I add one thing to that?

CAMEROTA: Yes, go ahead.

VIVIAN: The -- the -- so -- so if these ballots are fraudulent, which is what they're saying the they're, you know, the November election was fraudulent, et cetera, if those ballots were fraudulent then why are they still in office in Georgia because all 236 members of the Georgia assembly were elected off of those exact same ballots. And I have yet to hear anybody ask that question and them answer it.

CAMEROTA: That is the irony that they haven't quite been able to square, that math that you just pointed out. And I appreciate you pointing that out to everyone.

Bernice King, Al Vivian, thank you very much for your time. We really appreciate you coming in to talk about these important issues.

KING: Thank you.

VIVIAN: Thank you for the opportunity.

KING: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: All right, John, what a week. AVLON: What a week.

CAMEROTA: It's been great to have you here.

AVLON: It's been wonderful to be your co-pilot. A lot of news. And it's been a lot of fun.

CAMEROTA: Yes, everyone, have a great weekend.

AVLON: (INAUDIBLE).

CAMEROTA: And CNN's coverage of the Derek Chauvin trial continues, next.

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