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CDC Advisory Committee Set to Meet Next Week; European Union Pursuing Vaccine Deal with Moderna; The Real Toll of Coronavirus in Russia; United Airlines Testing Everyone On U.S.-London Flight; SpaceX Crew Dragon Astronauts Welcomed on ISS; Tesla to Join S&P 500 Index in December; Hurricane Iota Threatens Central America; What is Trump's Endgame; Moderna with its Promising Vaccine; President-elect Joe Biden Eager to Combat Coronavirus; Hope Without Cooperation Isn't Good; France's COVID-19 Cases Declining; Hurricane Iota Battered Central America. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired November 17, 2020 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): This hour, new hope for the fight against COVID-19 as another drug maker says its vaccine shows promise.
Plus, as COVID-19 spreads and cases climb in the U.S., President Donald Trump is still refusing to work with President-elect Joe Biden to pull the country together.
Then Central America is still recovering from Hurricane Eta and now it's facing Hurricane Iowa. The category four storm just made landfall. We will have the latest.
Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church and this is CNN newsroom.
Good to have you with us.
Well across the globe, the coronavirus pandemic is spreading with dangerous speed and shattering new records every day. But now, another glimmer of hope. American biotech company Moderna says its vaccine is nearly 95 percent effective. It will join Pfizer in seeking FDA approval and there is hope, the first doses could be available next month.
These potential breakthroughs come at a critical time. Nearly 55 million cases have been confirmed around the world since the pandemic began. And more than 1.3 million people have died. Here in the U.S., more than 73,000 people are hospitalized nationwide with the virus, the most ever according to the COVID tracking project.
And while there are hopes a vaccine will help bring an end to the global pandemic, America's top infectious disease expert says we can't let our guard down yet. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: The cavalry is coming, but the cavalry is not here yet. So, what we should do is that we should make the hope of a vaccine motivate us even more to be very, very stringent and very, very attentive to fundamental simple doable public health measures.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): And here in the U.S. Johns Hopkins University has tracked more than 11 million confirmed cases. Nearly 250,000 deaths from COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
CNN's Erica Hill reports on what kind of impact a vaccine breakthrough might have.
ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Amidst grim records nationwide, a bright spot, Moderna's coronavirus vaccine, more than 94 percent effective according to early results.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAUCI: Now we have two vaccines that are really quite effective. So, I think this is a really strong step forward to where we want to be.
HILL: The Moderna vaccine is also easier to store. It doesn't require the drastic cold temperatures needed for Pfizer's vaccine which could make distribution easier when it's widely available sometime next year.
LEANA WEN, FORMER BALTIMORE CITY HEALTH COMMISSIONER: This is another call to action to all of us that help is on the way, that there is hope on the horizon. But we have to make it through this winter.
HILL: The numbers point to tough weeks and months ahead. A million new cases added in just six days, the national average nearly 150,000 a day. Among the hardest hit South Dakota where the governor has consistently resisting public health measures.
UNKNOWN: Even after positive results come back some people just don't believe it.
HILL: The seven-day average positivity rate in South Dakota almost 60 percent. The goal is under 5 percent. North Dakota just added a mask mandate, so did West Virginia.
GOV. JIM JUSTICE (R), WEST VIRGINIA: I strongly urge, strongly urge, us all to wear a mask. That's all we got to go on right now.
HILL: Michigan banning indoor dining, closing casinos and movie theaters, moving high school and college classes online.
GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): I'm not going to be bullied into not following reputable scientists and medical officials. HILL: More than a million children have tested positive since the
pandemic began. Twenty-three states reporting record hospitalizations over the weekend, including Ohio which just added new restrictions on weddings and funerals at Missouri.
ALEX GARZA, SSM HEALTH CHIEF COMMUNITY HEALTH OFFICER: Healthcare is a finite resource. Healthcare workers are finite resources. We just can't make those on a spur of the moment.
[03:04:56]
HILL: With no national plan two former FDA commissioners are urging states to work together, writing in the Wall Street Journal, coordinated state and local leadership can make more manageable. The states that don't act quickly put the entire nation at risk.
Meanwhile, these pictures are stark reminder of a nation in need. More than 600,000 pounds of food distributed in Dallas over the weekend, enough to feed 25,000 people.
UNKNOWN: They can't find a job, they cut unemployment. It's a big deal. It's a real big deal.
UNKNOWN: This is a big blessing for us to be able to get this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL (on camera): The single greatest failure in the U.S. response to this pandemic, a failure to effectively communicate. That's the blunt assessment from the former director of the CDC, Dr. Tom Frieden.
In New York, I'm Erica Hill, CNN.
CHURCH (on camera): And one doctor whose university is participating in Moderna vaccine trials says he is optimistic about the drug's effectiveness. Dr. Carlos del Rio also talked to CNN about the challenges surrounding the distribution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARLOS DEL RIO, EXECUTIVE ASSOCIATE DEAN, EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: What's fantastic because, you know, last week we have Pfizer this week, we have Moderna, and they both are lying. They both showed over 90 percent efficacy in this interim analysis. So, it shows that this platform is effective and it also shows that the target of the vaccine, which is the spike growth and the virus is the right target to produce neutralizing antibodies that will protect you from getting COVID as a disease.
So, I think the news are very good. Now the issue is, you know, the vaccine production has started. There's already probably about 20 million to 30 million for each one of these vaccines to produce precisely through Operation Warp Speed.
Now we need to get, you know, the companies to apply to the FDA for an emergency use authorization. The FDA has to review the data, do the approval. If everything goes well probably late December or early January, we'll start seeing some of the vaccines being administered to some people.
But you know what, at most right now, there is enough maybe to vaccinate 20 million, 30 million Americans, because remember each one of these vaccines requires two doses. And that's a long way ahead from getting to 300 million Americans.
So as Dr. Osterholm said, we need a plan. We need a strategy. And we need that to be implemented. This is going to be one of the most complicated public health efforts that we've ever done as a country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): So, I want to bring in Dr. Robert Wachter for more on the Moderna vaccine. He is the chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco. And he is also the author of the "Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype and Harm at the Dawn of Medicines Computer Age."
Thank you, doctor, for being with us.
ROBERT WACHTER, CHAIR, UCSF DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE: Thank you.
CHURCH: So, amid all the bad news of record COVID cases and hospitalizations, some good news at last with Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine candidate proving to be nearly 95 percent effective, even better than Pfizer's proposed vaccine announcement last week. What is your reaction to this news of a second vaccine option on the horizon?
WACHTER: It's staggeringly wonderful. I think as a physician and a scientist I'm supposed to be calm and dispassionate, but it's almost -- almost makes you giddy how good it is.
You know, as of a month ago, we didn't know for sure that any vaccine would work and we were hoping that maybe they might prevent two-thirds of the cases. The fact that we now have two vaccines that are at least 90 percent effective is just actually unbelievable.
CHURCH: And Moderna says they could start vaccinations by the end of the year for high-risk categories frontline workers and the elderly of course. How smoothed do you expect that distribution process to be and how different is Moderna's vaccine candidate to Pfizer's?
I mean we saw there on the chart the difference in storage temperatures. That would certainly have an impact on the distribution, wouldn't it?
WACHTER: Yes. That's the main difference, otherwise they are fairly similar. But the Pfizer vaccine needs to be stored in a deep freeze, very different than you have in your kitchen, whereas the Modern vaccine can be stored in a regular freezer.
So, if you are in urban hospital or an urban setting where there are big hospitals around, there probably will be capacity to store the Pfizer vaccine, but trying to get it into less wealthy countries into rural areas and any other country I think is much more difficult.
So, the Moderna vaccine is an option not only increases the amount of vaccine, so it will enable us to get more people get vaccinated more quickly, but it's also going to be easier to distribute.
How easy is it going to be to do? Well, we'll have to see. I'm more confident about that than I would have been before the American presidential election. This new administration is going to take this matter very, very seriously. And I think set up a distribution system. But I'm pretty confident they will be able to sort out at least in the United States.
CHURCH: Yes. And I do want to ask you about that. Because I wanted to find out how concerned you are about the blocking of the transition of President-elect Joe Biden's administration by Donald Trump.
[03:10:00]
Could that interrupt the smooth running of any distribution process come the new year? Presumably they will get it in motion toward the end of this year, so that could make things easier.
WACHTER: Yes, I hope so. I mean, it is going to mock up the transition in all sorts of ways. I have to say I have been entirely critical of the Trump administration's handling of the coronavirus. It's been actually quite awful. But on vaccines, they got it right.
Vaccines they invested early in companies that made a big bet that the vaccines were going to work. And they invested in the distribution channels, purchasing vaccines. They were going to make them available for free.
So far at least, they have done this part right. And I'm hoping that they will see it through to the end, actually it would be a positive part. It will really be the only positive part of Trump's legacy if they get the vaccines out in record time and get it distributed.
Obviously, it doesn't work until it's in people shoulder, -- you can have -- you can have the vaccine demonstrate to be effective, but we actually have to distribute it to tens of millions of people now very quickly.
CHURCH: Doctor Robert Wachter joining us from San Francisco, many thanks.
WACHTER: Thank you.
CHURCH: Well, U.S. stocks rallied on that promising news about Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine, and the Dow and the S&P 500 both hit new record highs on Monday. A different story for markets across Asia, which were mixed during Tuesday's trading.
Well coronavirus and the Moderna vaccine are just making headlines in the United States. The vaccine is front page news in India. This is the newspaper, the Hindu. In New Zealand, a country that was lauded for its coronavirus efforts. The Southland Times says masks are making a comeback on public transport in Auckland and planes nationwide.
In the U.K., The Guardian reports on a scramble for vaccines amid fears the country may miss out. And that's not all that's worrying some U.K. papers with reports that current lockdown could extend toward Christmas.
While meanwhile in France, the health minister says the country has passed a peak of the pandemic as case numbers decline, but hospitalizations are still at a record high.
So, let's bring in Jim Bittermann. He joins us live from Paris. Good to see you, Jim. So, good news about the decline in cases, but what more are you learning about hospitalizations and deaths across the country?
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, exactly, Rosemary. It's kind of a mixed message in the statistics this morning. Basically, the hospitalizations have never been higher in France. There are 3,466 people are currently hospitalized with COVID. That's about half as many as the United States but in a country worth about one-fifth the population. So, it really is a disproportionate number that are hospitalized.
Having said all that, the positive side of this is that, in fact the testing positivity rate is slowly going down. And the increase in the number of hospitalizations is slowing down.
So that's what prompted I think the health minister to say that it looks like France has reached the peak here. It doesn't mean it's on a decline yet. Now we are about a little more than two weeks into this lockdown that began October 30th. And it's going to continue at least he says until the 1st of December.
So we'll see what happens over the next couple weeks, but at the moment things are looking a little bit better with this lockdown in place. One small positive note I should add here, Rosemary, and that is the agricultural minister was on radio this morning saying in fact that in the next few days he's going to publish a decree saying that people can go out and buy Christmas trees. Rosemary?
CHURCH: There you go. There's a step in the right direction. Jim Bittermann joining us live from Paris. Many thanks.
So, let's speak to Dr. Peter Drobac. He is an infectious disease and global health expert at the University of Oxford. Great to have you with us.
PETER DROBAC, GLOBAL HEALTH EXPERT, OXFORD SAID BUSINESS SCHOOL: Thanks for having me, Rosemary.
CHURCH: So, what's your reaction to news of a second vaccine candidate, this one from Moderna that's nearly 95 percent effective and coming just a week after Pfizer's announcement that its vaccine candidate is more than 90 percent effective?
DROBAC: I'm always cautious about overreacting to press releases, but this is really good news that we have seen two vaccine candidates in a row showing such high degrees of effectiveness, higher than many of us expected, and because both the Moderna and the Pfizer vaccines have a similar mechanism of action. And something that's quite novel really the two results reinforce one another. I think it's real cause for optimism.
CHURCH: While this vaccine news is very encouraging, they both have to be approved and then distributed of course, so how difficult will that task be and how far and wide will that distribution be outside of the United States? Because we know the U.K. is getting nervous it may miss out.
DROBAC: It's a massive challenge. There is the manufacturing challenge. And we are talking about billions of doses of course that will need to be manufactured of vaccines, distribution around the world. And of course, some of these vaccines have cold chain needs, particularly the Pfizer vaccine which needs to be stored at minus 80.
[03:15:07]
The Moderna is minus 20, which is a bit more manageable. So many more vaccines in the pipeline may not require such cold chamber, that's going to add an added level of complexity. You can't give a jab in the GPs office and things like that that has those kinds of requirements.
So, that's a big issue that needs to be addressed. And you're right, that we need to really be pushing now against this idea of vaccine nationalism. That rich countries are scrambling to gobble up as many doses as they can for their own populations. And if that excludes the rest of the world, that's a huge problem.
You know there are some modeling estimates that say most of the first vaccines go to just the wealthy countries versus equitably distributing them around the world. You know, we can only say that about half the lives over the course of the next year. So, it has real consequences if we don't cooperate.
CHURCH: So, what controls have to be put in place to ensure that happens, and that those poorer countries don't get left off?
DROBAC: It's tricky because these things are voluntary. The most important thing is something called the COVAX facility, which is a facility that is trying to ensure equitable distribution over 170 countries have signed on. Those who can pay in, pay in.
What that's done has allowed the facility to invest in a whole bunch of the leading vaccine candidates and give it advanced manufacturing agreements, the idea being that every country participating to get enough doses for 20 percent of its population by the end of 2021.
So at least the most high-risk people could be vaccinated everywhere. Most countries are agreeing including a lot of European countries have actually invested in joined COVAX. The United States and a few other notable exceptions have not. CHURCH: Right. And of course, while we await the arrival and
distribution of these vaccine options, many countries are experiencing record COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths. So, what is the best way for everyone to safely get through these next few weeks and months before many people will get any access to these vaccines?
DROBAC: Across the northern hemisphere right now we are still in such difficult place with this really massive surge of infections. And that's not going to go away as we enter even colder months and as we face, you know, holidays where there is going to be a temptation to have informal gatherings with family and friends and loved ones.
We have to remember now that for the first time really that these advances and vaccines in therapeutics are really coming. And they are not going to be a magic bullet, but you know, come spring we are going to be able to turn the corner. And there is a bit of a light at the end of the tunnel.
So, we need to do right now is understand that we need a strategy to pull together over the next four months or so and really get through this. That's a combination of our individual behaviors, masking up. Making good choices about physical distancing and not going out when we don't need to. And also, really smart policy decision.
A lot of what we're seeing now even in the European area, is that a lot of these policies are very kind of short term focused. What I'd like to see is more plans to really get us through to about April.
CHURCH: Right. Yes. And as you say, wear those masks. Dr. Peter Drobac in Oxford, England, many thanks for joining us.
DROBAC: Thank you.
CHURCH (on camera): Right now, we are tracking an extremely dangerous storm. Hurricane Iota is slamming into Central America at this moment. It made landfall on Nicaragua's east coast just a few hours ago. And already record-breaking hurricane season is still going strong and we will of course continue to monitor this with more on Hurricane Iota later this hour.
Plus U.S. President-elect Biden calling out President Trump over his handling of the coronavirus. More on that, next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: More people may die if we don't coordinate. They say they have this Warp Speed Program that not only dealt with getting vaccines, but also how to distribute this. If we have to wait till January 20th to start that planning, it puts us behind over a month a month and a half, the idea that the president is still playing golf and not doing anything about it is beyond my comprehension.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[03:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH (on camera): President Trump is showing no signs he is ready to concede the election and work with President-elect Biden. That's not stopping Biden from forging ahead with coronavirus advisory council meetings even with COVID-19 deaths averaging more than 1,000 per day last week.
Mr. Trump has been virtually silent about the crisis. Meanwhile, the president-elect and his team are being very public about their plans. President Trump has been vocal about the progress made with vaccines.
CNN spoke with one member of Biden's team who has both praise and reproach for the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH AND POLICIES: He does deserve credit and we have to give where credits due. But at the same time, remember, a vaccine is nothing until it becomes a vaccination.
And right now, we are in this critical time to figure out how to get these vaccines delivered. We have no program right now coming out of the federal government to convince the average citizen they want the vaccine.
And we know that in many circles there is a great deal of skepticism about the safety of the vaccine. So, I'll give anyone credit once we have the vaccines in people's arms for all that they did to make that happen and until that happens, we still have an incomplete job that's not done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): And we are told Biden's team is hoping to work with the Trump administration on a coronavirus transition. Well, Joe Biden says the president's behavior is embarrassing, but it's not stopping him from moving forward with plans for his own administration, and that's even if President Trump stonewalls all the way to inauguration day.
Jeff Zeleny reports the president- elect's focus is on tackling the pandemic now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: More people may die if we don't coordinate.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): President-elect Joe Biden is raising his voice saying allowing his team access to the Trump administration's coronavirus planning is not about politics, but a matter of life and death.
BIDEN: If we have to wait until January 20th to start that planning, it puts us behind over a month, a month and a half. And so, it's important that it be done that there be coordination now.
ZELENY: Along with rapidly rising cases of coronavirus, the nation's economic headwinds are among the monumental challenges he and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will inherit in just about 65 days. Biden and Harris are trying to show they are moving ahead on both fronts, receiving a briefing in Wilmington from top American leaders and CEOs of General Motors and Microsoft and other countries.
Yet, their transition to power is still being complicated by the Trump administration's refusal to acknowledge the outcome of the election.
BIDEN: I find this more embarrassing for the country than debilitating for my ability to get started.
ZELENY: Biden hinted how he plans to work with cooperative Republican governors on the frontlines of the fight with coronavirus. But said he remains puzzled at those who voiced concern about the wisdom of wearing masks or working with a new Biden administration.
BIDEN: There's nothing macho about not wearing a mask. Do you guys understand this? Does anybody understand why a governor would turn this into a political statement? It's about patriotism. It's about being patriotic, it's about saving lives, for real.
ZELENY: As some Senate Republicans have called for Biden to receive intelligence briefings, he noted that Harris already is.
BIDEN: The good news here is my colleague is still on the intelligence committee, so she gets the intelligence briefings, I don't anymore. I am hopeful that the president will be mildly more enlightened before we get to January 20th.
[03:25:02]
ZELENY: Biden said he and family members were discussing how to plan for Thanksgiving as the pandemic intensifies. He offered guidance to all Americans.
BIDEN: There should be no group more than 10 people in one room at one -- I mean, inside the homes. Look, I just want to make sure that we're able to be together next Thanksgiving, next Christmas.
ZELENY (on camera): Joe Biden clearly trying to use the mantle of the president-elect trying to talk specifically about the coronavirus, holding up a mask and trying to tell Americans and indeed others around the world what they need to do to fight this virus, but he also was speaking in stark terms about the administration and how he needs their help as well.
No question, in about two months' time he owns this crisis. That's why he's trying to get his arms around it and work with the Trump administration as he says to save lives.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH (on camera): The story Russia doesn't want you to see, just
ahead on CNN Newsroom. Russian hospitals reeling under the strain of the pandemic. A CNN exclusive investigation when we come back.
And is this the feature of air travel? We will take you on the first flight where everybody needs a negative COVID test before they board.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH (on camera): For the second time in a week, promising news about a coronavirus vaccine. American biotech company Moderna says their vaccine is nearly 95 percent effective. It will join Pfizer in seeking FDA approval, and there is hope the first doses could be available next month.
The news comes at a critical time here in the United States. More than 73,000 people are hospitalized nationwide with the virus, the most ever according to the COVID tracking project. And there have been more than 11 million confirmed cases in the U.S. since the pandemic started, and nearly 250,000 people have died.
And while there are high hopes a vaccine will help bring an end to the pandemic, CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta warns it will take more than a vaccine to end the health crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: We put a lot of eggs in the vaccine basket, you know. It is the home run, it's the knockout punch, whatever metaphor you want to assign to it. But at the same time, we kind of ignored everything else, right? I mean, the things that we should have done all along and can still do haven't been done.
You know, it reminds me of this, there is this commercial I remember seeing on TV, Larry the cable guy would come on and basically eat whatever he wants, and then take a purple pill, right? I can't eat whatever I want as long as I have the purple pill.
[03:30:00]
The metaphor is the same here. We're doing whatever we want, not really paying attention to this, and the vaccine is the purple pill, still got to eat right, still got to do the right things. And we haven't been, as a country, doing that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): An advisory committee to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is scheduled to meet next week to decide who will get a COVID-19 vaccine first once a drug is approved.
Well, Europe also wants in on a coronavirus vaccine. In fact, the E.U. is trying to secure millions of doses of not just Moderna's vaccine but other candidates as well. And here's why they are so keen. Europe is battling its third and so far worst wave of COVID-19 infections. Over the past few weeks, countries have been imposing tighter restrictions to try and slow the spread. Austria is just one example. It has entered its second national lockdown, after reporting a higher than expected infection rate.
Well, Russia claims to be doing quite well at controlling the coronavirus, but a CNN investigation reveals something very different. Video provided to CNN shows overcrowded hospitals and grizzly images of bodies strewn across the floor in morgues.
Matthew Chance joins us now live from Moscow. So, Matthew, what all did you find in your investigation?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, first of all, Rosemary, Russia is one of the worst affected countries in the world when it comes to COVID-19 with nearly 2 million confirmed cases around the country and an official death toll of just over 33,000 people.
Now, the Kremlin says the situation, despite a surge in COVID cases, is under control. But as we found when we speak to frontline medical workers, look at the videos, very harrowing, they are emerging from clinics and morgues across the country and the real picture seems much bleaker.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHANCE (voice over): This is the pandemic response Russia wants us to see. A vast, state-of-the-art field hospital set up to manage the coronavirus surge.
And we are just about to head into the red zone.
Once a world championship ice skating stadium called the Ice Palace, now the view from the stands, these 1,300 beds and the staff of highly protected medics, apparently in control of this COVID-19 crisis.
We have all the necessary diagnostic equipment, including ultrasound, and ventilators, the chief doctor on the left tells me.
The Russian government is taking serious anti-coronavirus measures, he insists, not just here, in Moscow, but far beyond.
But there's another side of Russia's raging pandemic. While the authorities here would prefer that we ignore with shocking evidence of an overloaded healthcare system, buckling under the strain of COVID- 19.
On social media, there are heartbreaking scenes like this one, of an ambulance medic trying in vain to get a 90-year-old patient admitted to an overcrowded ward.
I won't take her home to die, the paramedic checks. Why do I have to weep and beg you for taking a patient, she cries. The Russian authorities admit hospitals in some regions are at more than 95 percent capacity.
But there's mounting evidence of a surge in death toll too. In this video, recorded last month and sent to us by an opposition link, Russian Doctors Union, a dead, woman dangles unattended from her hospital bed while other patients grasp for breath just feet away.
We lost another two in the ward overnight, says a male voice in the video. This is how COVID-19 is killing everyone, he says. There were horrific scenes of inundated morgues too, some too graphic to show, of corpses strewn across floors and stretchers.
It has also emerged that official Russian COVID figures suspiciously low compared to other badly affected countries made grossly understate the real toll by excluding people who are presumed to have COVID postmortem, even those with pre-existing conditions that proved fatal due to the infection.
If they were counted as in many other countries, Russia's official death toll of over 33,000 people would be higher, much higher according to a former government statistician, those compiled figures are on excess deaths and spoke to CNN.
ALEXEY RAKSHA, FORMER RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT STATISTICIAN: I think -- I think its 130,000 people.
CHANCE: 130,000 people who have died in Russia with COVID-19?
[03:35:03]
RAKSHA: Because of COVID. Because of COVID.
CHANCE: And do you believe that the Russian government is purposely hiding the real cost of the COVID death toll?
RAKSHA: Yes, of course. They need to make people not afraid of the virus. It's very helpful for providing a good picture. So we are Russians. We are Russians. We're very proud of our country. Everything is good with us.
CHANCE: Russian authorities haven't responded to the allegations they are downplaying the figures. But outside the highly organized and spacious field hospitals, the authorities are happy to showcase there are signs Russia's pandemic is getting worse.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHANCE (on camera): Well, Rosemary, certainly the figures are getting worse on a daily basis. The latest 24-hour period just come to us within the past hour or so, more than 22,000 new infections in the past 24 hours, and 442 deaths across the country in the past 24 hours. Although, as we have seen, the real figure of deaths could be much higher than that. Rosemary, back to you.
CHURCH (on camera): Yes, it is a true tragedy there, and of course, in other hotspots across the globe. Matthew Chance joining us live from Moscow, many thanks. Well, meanwhile, airlines are struggling to make travel feel safe
during the pandemic. So United Airlines is trying something new. It is testing everyone, passengers and crew, on its New York to London flights.
CNN's Richard Quest was on board for the very first flight, guaranteed to be COVID free.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR: Newark airport, once a thriving hub for travelers, now our comparative ghost town. As COVID-19 runs rampant towards the United States and Europe, many travelers are shunning planes, worried about catching COVID on their travels with onerous quarantine restrictions when they get there and when they get back.
International travelers face specific problems, a patchwork quilt of quarantine restrictions and regulations. For instance, who's going to flight to London if it means they have to quarantine for 14 days, if they're just going on holiday.
Testing could be the way to avoid lengthy quarantines. And United is experimenting with testing all passengers over the age of two for free on select New York to London flights. They guarantee everyone on board, crew and passengers, has tested negative.
You have to think of this not about what's happening now with one flight to London, but imagine that this is the way it's going to be for multiple flights across the ocean as testing becomes more accepted by various governments. Then you're going to have, five, 10, who knows how many flights of passengers doing the COVID tests. Yes, we are ready. The nurse will see now. Now, that was a piece of cake.
Easy for me, a potential lifeline, to the ailing airlines. United's chief executives Scott Kirby told me that trying to prove the governments testing is the answer.
SCOTT KIRBY, CEO UNITED AIRLINES: We're hoping that a negative test can give confidence to governments around the world to let people come in and avoid to quarantine requirements. Because as you know, if there's a 2-week quarantine, people simply aren't going to travel in these international markets.
QUEST: Public health experts remind us testing has its limits. There's a small chance the test could be wrong and the risks someone could have the virus, and still be in the incubation period, testing negative in New York but testing positive in London.
A recent attempt to restart cruises in the Caribbean required all passengers to test three days in advance and on board, only to end up with seven passengers contracting the virus.
United's chief executive says he knows testing is not 100 percent foolproof, but believes as the world waits for a vaccine, testing, air filtration systems, and hands cleaning, along of course with masks, help passengers get back into the friendly skies.
We are now underway to London. And I have since learned that one of the respective passengers did test positive for coronavirus. And I did have a plan in place for such an eventuality, and that person has been isolated and is being taken care of.
As for the flight, the airline regards it as great success. After all, it has managed to weed out their passengers that would have been a greater risk for others. As a result, it means the rest of the passengers can fly with greater confidence and safety.
Richard Quest, CNN, aboard UA-14 heading to London.
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[03:40:03]
CHURCH (on camera): Richard, traveling in style there. Well four more astronauts are now on board the International Space Station. There were hugs and cheers as the crew was welcomed by a U.S. astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts.
The SpaceX crew Dragon docked with the station a few hours ago. The docking ends the first leg of this landmark mission between NASA and Elon Musk's rocket company.
The Crew One astronauts are expected to spend about six months on board the station, working on scientific experiments as well as space walks to update and repair the station.
And while still on the ground, the astronauts used Tesla cars to get to the launch pad. One day later, we have learned that Tesla is set to join the S&P 500 in December.
Tesla's shares were up more than 10 percent on the news. The automaker reported its largest quarterly profit to date in October. Shares in Tesla have soared more than 400 percent this year. It is now valued at more than Toyota, Disney and Coca-Cola.
While President Trump hasn't conceded yet, President-Elect Biden is moving forward. Is Mr. Trump's refusal all part of his big plan for life after the White House? We will discuss, back in a moment.
Plus, we are following hurricane Iota, the powerful storm threatening parts of Central America. The areas most at risk, that is next.
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CHURCH (on camera): Right now, an extremely dangerous storm is hitting Central America. Hurricane Iota made landfall in Nicaragua as a powerful category four storm just a few hours ago. It has since dropped down to a category two hurricane, but there is still strong wind and devastating waves. And this is new video in to CNN that shows what some people are experiencing. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
CHURCH (off camera): So, as you can see, many areas are being hit hard with the extent of the damage still unknown at this time.
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CHURCH (on camera): Tens of thousands of people have left the danger zone ahead of the storm. And a short time ago, journalist Maria Delgado describe the dire situation.
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MARIA LILLY DELGADO, JOURNALIST: We have talked with citizens, you know, in (inaudible) and some of them are really scared. There is no energy -- energy since noon. The winds are extremely strong. This is what they are describing and according to authorities, according to the Ortega government, at least 40,000 people have been evacuated at this moment.
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[03:45:06]
CHURCH (voice over): And Iota is just the latest major storm in a record breaking busy hurricane season. And it is impacting many of the same areas that are still recovering from the devastating effects of Hurricane Eta.
Our meteorologist Pedram Javaheri, is tracking the storm for us. He joins us now live. So, Pedram, what are you seeing?
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST (on camera): Rosemary, you know, it is incredible. You know these areas have been hit so hard, so frequently. Of course, Nicaragua impacted with a category four just two weeks ago today. The State of Louisiana, this hurricane season has been impacted five times with tropical systems. The country of Vietnam impacted eight times this season with tropical systems.
But across the Atlantic basin and where we really end up here with Iota, storm number 30, an average season only brings 12 storms. We nearly tripled that number. And storm 31, believe it or not, is potentially on the heels of this.
But notice the landfall proximity of Hurricane Eta, that was two weeks ago today, category four. But on average, it happens once every 37 years for our friends in Nicaragua, and again, twice in the span of 14 days.
But they made landfall in about 24 kilometers apart from one storm to the next. Then that's the biggest concern here, because we know levies have already been damaged, the dams across this region at capacity, and certainly with a category four at landfall, destruction going to be widespread. At this point, as Rosy noted, this is a category two system, quickly
going to weaken, and unfortunately, fall apart across this region. But of course, the damage is already done. In fact, storm surge, the biggest threat with any landfall in tropical system, is what we look for here. And typically, when you're talking three or four meters, that is going to decimate these coastal communities.
The baseline for the landfall point there, across this region, just south of Puerto Cabezas came in at 4.5 meters with maximum storm surge up to 6 meters high. So, we know it's going to lead to significant damage across this region.
Two weeks ago, Eta, for areas across Nicaragua, left behind about $200 million in losses. In Honduras next door, estimated $5 billion in losses, which accounts to about 20 percent of the nation's GDP there. So, really speaks to the severity of what is happening here.
But this system will continue to fall apart and rain itself out. Unfortunately, this is a very elevated terrain. So, a lot of these will lead to landslides, mudslides across very isolated communities, Rosemary. So, the stories worth following as we head in towards this weekend.
CHURCH: And we all appreciate that too. Pedram Javaheri, many thanks.
Well, still to come, President Trump has a few weeks left. So, what is his endgame? We will discuss with the author of the new book, Will he go? That is next.
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BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We would never accept that out of own kids behaving that way if they lost, right? I mean, if my daughters in any kind of competition pouted and then accused the other side of cheating when they lost when there was no evidence of it, we would scold them.
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CHURCH (on camera): That of course is former U.S. President Barack Obama speaking out, criticizing President Trump for failing to concede the election.
On average in the past week, about 1,000 Americans have died each day from COVID-19. Our CNN's Kaitlan Collins explains President Trump's potential inaction on the virus could hurt his successor's COVID response.
[03:50:08]
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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the president has obviously been looking to make a lot of changes. That started with last Monday when he started purging the leadership at the Pentagon. But of course, the question is now, what are they going to do in the next two months?
And so, that has a range of topics whereas the president continuing to fight the results of this election, urging his team to keep this fight going, even though we see, as it's playing out, they went into different courts and different states, their chances are dwindling -- their chances of success, that is, not that they were ever that strong to begin with.
So, we are already seeing the struggles that they were facing there. But then, of course, you've got to look at what the question is, what does the president do in the next two months? And so, the question of the transition is more than just the president conceding the race and recognizing Joe Biden's victory. But it's also whether or not the president has checked out from the coronavirus response.
And that is something that we are hearing increasing concerns about. Because if you notice, you know, the president gave an update on Operation Warp Speed last Friday. That was really one of the only times we've heard from the president talked about the pandemic without, you know, accusing Pfizer of holding data on a vaccine to hurt him politically or things of that nature, those kind of conspiracy theories that the president has been pushing.
And so, I think that is a big question that people have is, what does the president not do over the next two months when it comes to coronavirus, and how does that effect? And are damage really the standing of where the nation is and what the Biden administration is going to be coming into.
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CHURCH (voice over): Lawrence Douglas joins me now. He is a professor of law and social thought at Amherst College in Massachusetts. He is also the author of "Will He Go?," a book on the legal and constitutional consequences of a possible refusal by President Trump to acknowledge defeat in the 2020 election. Thank you so much for being with us.
LAWRENCE DOUGLAS, PROFESSOR OF LAW AND SOCIAL THOUGHT, AMHERST COLLEGE, MASSACHUSETTS (on camera): My pleasure to be with you.
CHURCH (on camera): Well, you seem to have a vision into the future. Here we are, confronted with the president who refuses to concede after free and fair elections. And now, The New York Times reveals Donald Trump had plans last week to attack Iran. Thankfully, he was talked down a bit by senior advisers. But he clearly doesn't plan to go quietly.
What does that indicate to you about his exit strategy and what else might he have planned for the next two months?
DOUGLAS: Right. Well, I mean, one thing I think it's important is to distinguish between conceding defeat and to submitting to defeat. So, conceding I really think of this when a loser -- a losing candidate recognizes the legitimacy of their opponent's victory, recognizes that it was a fair fight, and again, just kind of acknowledges the legitimacy of the opponent's victory.
Submitting to defeat, I think is just kind of a real world recognition that any further fighting and struggle is futile. So, I do think that Trump is ultimately going to submit to defeat. I do not think he is going to concede. I don't think he's ever going to concede defeat that is. I don't think he's ever going to recognize Biden's victory as legitimate. And that does suggest that for the next, you know, couple of months things could be really quite unstable.
CHURCH: Yes, and of course, as you are speaking to us we were looking a vision there of Donald Trump out playing golf. And of course, he is doing this while people are dying from the coronavirus pandemic, and that is a real concern.
What do you think he is trying to achieve by blocking President-Elect Joe Biden's transition to power? And how will this likely end come January 20th?
DOUGLAS: Right. Well, I do think it will end on January 20th. That is I do think that Biden will be duly inaugurated as the next president. That's something I don't think we need to worry about.
You know, again, if I was predicting things, I'd also probably guess that Donald Trump will not be participating in that inaugural ceremony. I would imagine he will boycott it. It is even possible to imagine that he would stage some kind of separate, simultaneous event simply to draw attention away from the limelight being on the President's-elect Biden.
And I think it is also worth pointing out that over the next couple of months, to the extent that he continues to block this transition from occurring, you know, it's one thing to kind of peevishly be sending out tweets, but these tweets have real world consequences.
I mean, we've seen that the head of the general services administration is yet to ascertain Biden's victory. That is -- she hasn't made the technical statement that would permit his transition team to really get up to speed.
[03:55:00]
And that does have these very real world consequences, which is as you point out, can, you know, really incapacitate the power of the Biden team from getting full control over the government's response of the pandemic. So, that is obviously a very, very disturbing thing to observe.
CHURCH: Of course, at the same time, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are out there -- they were talking to the American public on Monday explaining what their plans are. So, they are not letting this stand in their way. Certainly, they are giving the appearance of that.
But what damage has Donald Trump done to the United States, the Republican Party, and of course, the trust in the American institutions in his time in office, and what impact will he likely continue to have on the sidelines throughout the Biden administration?
DOUGLAS: Right. So, I mean, obviously this is a president who's engaged in a foundational attack on basic norms of constitutional democracy. And we can say that there is no norm more basic than the electoral process itself.
And that you really can't have a constitutional democracy if the people don't believe in the integrity of the electoral process and the trustworthiness of its results. And we've already seen these very disturbing polls, which suggests that upwards of 70 percent of Republicans question whether this was a fair election.
CHURCH: Lawrence Douglas, thank you so much for your analysis and perspective on this. We do appreciate it.
DOUGLAS: My pleasure to be with you. Thank you.
CHURCH: Well, Donald Trump has two months left in the White House, and he is evidently looking for ways to make a big impact before he goes. We touched on this. The U.S. President reportedly asked senior advisers last week what options he had for attacking Iran's main nuclear site.
The New York Times reports Mr. Trump asked about potential strikes after international inspectors reported a significant rise in Tehran's nuclear stockpile. But several top officials reportedly talked him out of it, warning a military strike could turn into a broader conflict in the final weeks of his presidency.
And thank you so much for joining us this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. I'll be back with more news in just a moment. Do stay with us.
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