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Texas Child Is First U.S. Measles Death In A Decade; RFK Jr Downplays Measles Outbreak, Provides Wrong Data; Hospital Official Disputes RFK Jr's Claim On Measles Quarantine; Pentagon Plans To Kick Out Transgender Service Members; Jobless Claims Spike, Showing Possible Cracks In The U.S. Labor Market; Trump Won't Back Down on 25 Percent Tariffs On Mexican, Canada Goods & Threatens To Double Tariffs On Goods From China. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired February 27, 2025 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:33:33]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: We are keeping a close eye on this dangerous measles outbreak in west Texas. We actually learned Wednesday that a school-aged child there has become the first person in the U.S. to die of the disease since 2015.

Health officials in Lubbock say the child was unvaccinated. The patient was one of more than 130 confirmed cases across the region, including several in eastern New Mexico.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Now, yesterday, during some of his first public comments on the outbreak, the new Health and Human Services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, not only downplayed the severity of it, but got some basic facts about the crisis wrong, including the number of dead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR, HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: People who have contracted measles at this point, mainly in Gaines County, Texas. Mainly, we're told, in the Mennonite community, there are two people who have died.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's discuss this with CNN's Meg Tirrell.

Meg, that was not the only thing the secretary got wrong yesterday. To be clear, that we know of so far, only one person has died.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Boris. The entire way that Secretary Kennedy characterized this outbreak of measles dismayed people in the public health world.

Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KENNEDY: There have been four measles outbreaks this year in this country. Last year, there were 16. So it's not unusual if you have measles outbreaks every year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:35:03]

TIRRELL: So the idea that this is not unusual and we have measles outbreaks every year, it's important to note that measles was declared eliminated from this country in the year 2000, 25 years ago.

Because we have an incredibly safe and effective vaccine that's 97 percent effective essentially over a lifetime against measles. So we've seen cases really plummet since that vaccine became available.

Unfortunately, as vaccination rates fall, especially in some pockets of the country where they're especially low, we do start to see measles come back.

And so in Gaines County, the epicenter of this outbreak in Texas, the MMR, measles, mumps, rubella, vaccination rates about 82 percent.

Measles is so contagious, public health experts say we need to keep that higher than 95 percent in order to provide herd immunity, guys.

And of course, this is the first death from measles in a decade. So the size of the outbreak, the fact that a child has died do make this unusual.

KEILAR: Yes. It's horrible.

And the secretary also made an incorrect claim. Meg, downplaying why patients are being hospitalized.

TIRRELL: Yes, we know that at least 18 patients have been hospitalized in west Texas, all of them unvaccinated.

Here's how the secretary characterized why many of them are being hospitalized, and immediately following, we'll hear from how the hospital folks in Texas are saying what's actually happening?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENNEDY: Were watching it, and there are about 20 people hospitalized, mainly for quarantine.

DR. LARA JOHNSON, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, COVENANT CHILDREN'S: We don't hospitalize patients for -- for quarantine purposes. Quarantine is not something that would happen in a health care facility. We admit patients who need acute supportive treatment in our hospital.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TIRRELL: So measles is a respiratory virus. It's complications can include pneumonia. Many of these patients, they said, require oxygen support. That's why they're in the hospital -- guys?

SANCHEZ: Meg Tirrell, thank you so much for clarifying that for us.

We want to discuss further with Dr. F. Perry Wilson, who is an associate professor of medicine and public health at Yale University School of Medicine.

Doctor, thanks so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us.

What do you make of these claims from Secretary Kennedy that measles outbreaks are not unusual?

DR. F. PERRY WILSON, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH, YALE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Yes, I mean, the fact of the matter is that this particular outbreak alone is of larger size than the typical sum of all measles outbreaks in a given year in the United States since -- since 2000, when it was declared eliminated.

You see about 100 cases per year on average. Some years, you do see more throughout the U.S. Primarily, these are cases that are brought in by travelers from other countries where vaccination rates are even lower or nonexistent.

What we're seeing is, you know, this ongoing outbreak in Texas. And given the infectivity of measles, you know, we should certainly be concerned that there could be more spread.

KEILAR: And, Dr. Wilson, how are you looking at just this terrible tragedy, the death of a school aged child, the first measles death in the U.S. since 2015?

WILSON: I think I lost your audio.

KEILAR: Can you hear us now, Dr. Wilson? Can you hear us?

WILSON: Yes.

KEILAR: Yes. OK, good.

I was saying, how -- how are you looking at this, what is just so horrible to lose a school aged child. And it's the first time we've seen a measles death in the U.S. since 2015.

WILSON: It's incredibly tragic. I mean, we -- we have failed this child. Children should not die of vaccine preventable illnesses. That's on all of us. I grieve for them. I grieve for their family. But it's an unnecessary thing to happen.

SANCHEZ: Doctor, how far do you think that this particular outbreak could spread?

WILSON: Well, I'm fairly concerned. Measles is the most infectious virus that can infect humans. It's more infectious than HIV, than Covid, than the flu.

That's why, to achieve herd immunity, you need very broad vaccination coverage, because it's so infectious that any unvaccinated person who kind of is within a whiff of measles can get infected very easily.

Given the low-ish and declining rates of vaccination for measles across the country, outbreaks like this are that much harder to stop. So hopefully, people are adequately isolating themselves.

If symptoms are being reported rapidly and we can get a hold on this. But the environment is not very good for this. And measles is just the worst virus for -- for transmission in this setting.

KEILAR: How far could this spread, Dr. Wilson?

WILSON: Well, you know, you need about 90 percent-plus vaccination coverage to achieve herd immunity for measles. That's dramatically higher than most other viruses.

We are -- you know, around the country, we see vaccination rates for measles, mumps and rubella, on average, south of that. And so the potential to spread is large.

[14:40:09]

The proportion of the population that is vaccinated will slow the spread, because that is a dead-end host. Those -- those people do not continue to transmit.

So -- so we just have to hope that we get lucky here. A hundred, you know, 150 cases is feasible to get your -- get your public health officials around and be monitoring appropriately and hopefully stop transmission.

But I mean, to be honest, my -- I'm worried that in the next -- especially if we're going to start increasing exemptions for childhood vaccinations, it may be inevitable that measles reemerges and has to be declared no longer eliminated in the United States.

KEILAR: Yes. Hoping to get lucky is certainly not a public health strategy. I think we all know that.

Dr. F. Perry Wilson, thank you so much. We appreciate you.

WILSON: Sure.

KEILAR: Next, some new court filings revealing the Pentagon plans to kick out transgender troops, with one exception. We'll have what that is next.

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[14:45:31]

KEILAR: Turning now to a new Pentagon policy that targets transgender servicemembers. They're being disqualified from the military, and they will soon be kicked out.

SANCHEZ: This new plan marks a major shift from previous military policy that banned discrimination based on gender identity. CNN's Oren Liebermann is at the Pentagon.

And, Oren, what are the details here? What are the exceptions?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Boris and Brianna, we'll get to the exception in just a second here.

But the message here, the memo that was issued yesterday in a Wednesday court filing, is very clear here. Transgender servicemembers are, with very few exceptions, perhaps only one, out of the military.

It's worth pointing out this goes much farther and is much harsher than the transgender policy under the first Trump administration that was issued in 2017 and then, because of court challenges, went into effect in 2019.

That allowed transgender servicemembers who had completed their transition to stay in the military, to stay as servicemembers. This does not allow that.

And further, it says that "unscheduled, scheduled or planned procedures related to gender dysphoria or related to transgender servicemembers are effectively canceled."

The one exception is listed here. If there is, quote, "a compelling government interest that directly supports war fighting capabilities, then they may be allowed to stay."

It's unclear how many of those exemptions or exceptions will be granted.

The policy also says the individual that the individual is willing to -- to adhere to all standards, quote, "associated with the applicant's sex."

Regardless of the listed exception there, the intent here is clear. Transgender servicemembers are not welcome in the -- in the military any longer here.

As to the question of how many are there within the military, that is a much more difficult number to pin down. The estimate back in 2018 is that there we're 14,000 transgender servicemembers.

KEILAR: And does this mean basically that those who have completed the transition process can stay?

LIEBERMANN: Unclear. There is a line here in the memo, but it appears to be contradicted. It says, "A servicemember will be able to be retained if they demonstrate," quote, "36 consecutive months of stability in their sex, with no," quote, "clinically significant distress or impairment."

But the memo also says they need to prove they've never attempted to transition. Clearly, transgender servicemembers have attempted to transition in many of the cases here. And that means that even those who have completed the transition and shown stability for 36 months, not clear that they're welcome in the military any longer.

SANCHEZ: Oren Liebermann, live for us at the Pentagon, thank you so much for the update.

We could be seeing signs of cracks starting to show in the strong jobs market, because, last week, there was suddenly a lot more people filing for unemployment. So do DOGE cuts have something to do with that? We'll discuss in just moments. Stay with us.

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[14:52:40]

SANCHEZ: The once strong jobs market is showing some cracks. The Labor Department says some 242,000 people filed for unemployment for the first time last week.

That's worse than the previous week and worse than economists forecasted. And it comes just as a flood of government workers are now starting to lose their jobs.

KEILAR: That's right. CNN's Matt Egan is following all of this from New York.

So, Matt, how big of a concern is this report? And what does this say about the wider economy?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Boris and Brianna, it's something that we're definitely going to have to keep our eye on because it could be early sign of stress in the labor market.

Jobless claims are a proxy for layoffs, and this report showed the biggest increase in jobless claims in more than four months, and that they went up to the highest level since early December. So this clearly got our attention.

I do want to note, though, that these are weekly numbers and they can be volatile and noisy. So we need to pay attention to whether or not this is just a blip or the start of something more concerning.

And there were some factors that could have helped increase jobless claims, including extremely cold weather in many parts of the United States, and the fact that last week was a holiday.

But we do know that there's a lot of federal workers, tens or even hundreds of thousands, that are losing their jobs. It's hard to see just how big of a factor that was in this particular report.

Because, remember, a lot of those layoffs have just happened. So some people may not have filed for unemployment yet and others may not be eligible because they're still getting paid.

But again, we're going to have to pay very close attention to whether or not this is a sign of real stress in the jobs market.

SANCHEZ: And, Matt, President Trump isn't backing down from his tariff threats for Canada and Mexico. He now says he's actually going to double tariffs on goods from China an additional 10 percent. Do we know when that would start?

EGAN: Well, it would start on Tuesday, if it happens. There is a history, of course, of the president threatening tariffs and then backing down at the last moment, except for when he actually puts them into place like he did with China.

So the threat here is that it would be a 25 percent tariff on Canada, 25 percent on Mexico, and up to from 10 percent to 20 percent on China.

[14:55:03]

Now, this is a big deal because these are the three biggest trading partners to the United States. Mainstream economists have consistently warned that tariffs are going to cause higher prices.

And look, we get a lot of goods from those three countries. Canada is the biggest source of foreign crude into the United States. We get a lot of food, in particular tomatoes and avocados, from Mexico. Electronics, think about Smartphones, laptops, computers from China.

And then the big one is cars. Because the North American car industry, a lot of stuff is made in one country, and then it's shipped to another one before it ends up at dealerships in the United States. And -- and so every time that a part crosses the border, it could face this tariff.

That's why Anderson Economic Group says that the cost of a North American vehicle could surge by $4,000 to $10,000 just because of the Canada and Mexico tariffs.

That doesn't even take into account the threatened tariffs on steel and aluminum. There's also tariffs that could be on the way from the U.S. on stuff that's made in the European Union. So that could also increase costs for cars as well.

So look, there's a lot of concern right now about potential slowdown in the economy. Continued concern about inflation. And it's hard to see how tariffs or even just the threat of tariffs are going to help things -- Brianna?

KEILAR: All right, Matt, thank you.

And CNN has just obtained the 911 call from the moment the bodies of actor, Gene Hackman, and his wife were discovered inside their home. We'll talk about what it reveals next.

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