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New U.S. Coronavirus Cases Soar to Record Thursday; Texas Hospitals Pushed to the Brink as ICU Beds Fill Up; India Crosses 9 Million COVID-19 Cases, Second Only to United States; Mexico Confirms More Than 100,000 COVID-19 Deaths; As Cases Soar, U.S. Unemployment Ticks Up; First U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo to Visit West Bank Settlement; Infamous New York Rodent's Copycat; Healthcare Workers Exhausted of COVID-19 Cases; Some Countries in Europe Seeing Decline in COVID-19 Cases; Disobedience Have Consequences; Joe Biden Don't Mind Trump's Tantrums; No Access to Data Means More Deaths. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired November 20, 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]
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DENISE MOURNING, ACUTE CARE NURSE PRACTITIONER, PDESSA REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER: I promise that with a little bit of time and a little bit of effort it takes outside of here is worth it. Because once you're here, wearing a mask is better than having a tube down your throat.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): CNN gets a rare access inside one Texas hospital filled to capacity with COVID-19 patients.
Plus, a dark winter is still ahead. President-elect Joe Biden underscores the continuing coronavirus battle in the U.S.
And Sweden's no lockdown strategy, their method of dealing with the pandemic is different, but didn't make a difference. We'll going to have a live report from Stockholm.
BRUNHUBER (on camera): Welcome to you our viewers here in the United States, Canada, and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. And this is CNN Newsroom.
U.S. Coronavirus cases surged to another new high Thursday. More than 187,000 daily infections confirmed, according to Johns Hopkins University. The previous record was less than a week old. The U.S. has reported almost 12 million cases since the pandemic began and during that time just nine months ago, more than 252,000 Americans have died.
The situation is deteriorating so quickly that an influential model has raised its protected winter death toll by 30,000. The CDC is warning Americans to stay home for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.
New York City schools are switching to remote learning after the city's test infection rate hit 3 percent. In fact, the numbers are headed the wrong direction across most of the country. Just take a look at this map of Texas. All that red there and dark orange shows the virus surging throughout the state.
And those extra cases are taking a toll on healthcare resources. Intensive care beds in Texas are filling up, pushing hospitals and healthcare workers to the brink.
CNN's Omar Jimenez takes an exclusive look at how one hospital is coping.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's a reality this part of Texas has only seen in its nightmares. The ICU at Odessa Regional Medical Center in Odessa, Texas is that its capacity with COVID-19 patients.
JIMENEZ (on camera): Even this hospital at maximum capacity, they're still trying to find places to put COVID-19 patients. All of the beds that you see in this section, curtained off, at the moment, did not exist before the pandemic. Now, it's filled to its absolute capacity while patients here, literally, are fighting for their lives.
ROHITH SARAVANAN, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, ODESSA REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER: We lost about 10 patients last week and one of them had been on ventilator for a month. The ones that are here now, on average they've been on a vent for about a week or so.
JIMENEZ: Denise Mourning --
MOURNING: We're getting closer, OK.
JIMENEZ: -- is an acute care nurse practitioner.
MOURNING: There's only a few times in the summer where we were really pushed to the extreme but now for the last few weeks, we're busting out at the seams.
JIMENEZ: But she and everyone else remain at war with the virus, even as some patients begin to take a turn for the worse.
When you first have to make that declaration, what is the first thing that those goes through your mind?
MOURNING: Please, not another one. You know? It's a prayer. Is inevitable and you know it's going to happen, but the probability of it being a good outcome is very, very low.
JIMENEZ: But most are able to fight it off.
UNKNOWN: Look at you. JIMENEZ: And turn the corner. Reuben Romero (Ph) is feeling better
after two weeks in the hospital, and says, this isn't a game. I asked why.
(SPOKEN IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
"Because this is really serious," he says. "This virus is not for people to be playing with. It's very dangerous. It attacks your entire body. I'm living it," he says.
And it's become life for so many in this part of the state. Hospital officials in Odessa say anywhere from 35 to 40 percent of the people getting tested are testing positive for COVID-19. They fear becoming what El Paso has become. Mobile morgues for the dead. Hundreds in the ICU amid record hospitalizations and roughly one in every 24 people actively with COVID-19. It's required a regional coordination like never before.
WANDA HELGESEN, EXECUTVE DIRECTOR, BORDERRAC: In a relatively short period of time, our hospitals have added over 600 beds.
JIMENEZ: Wow.
HELGESEN: Even with that, we have flown out about 84 ICU patients to other communities in Texas.
[03:05:00]
JIMENEZ: In smaller towns, once thought to have escape the viruses grip, find themselves right in the crosshairs. Towns like Lamesa, Texas near Odessa. Shelley Barron was hospitalized twice with COVID- 19. The diagnosis she has hearing more and more in her community.
SHELLEY BARRON, RESIDENT, LAMESA, TEXAS: The scary word is positive. I'm positive. You know. I tested positive. They've got two more right now. And we experienced a death in our church yesterday. And this stuff is real. It's scary.
JIMENEZ: Medical Arts Hospital where she was mostly treated now has an entire wing dedicated to COVID-19 patients. Transformations that have become shared experiences.
SARAVANAN: We are actually sending home patients on home oxygen to recover at home. That's not something we would normally do. But there's no space.
JIMENEZ: All for a months' long fight with no clear sign of an end.
MOURNING: People aren't taking the precautions that they need. Yes, we are frontline here in the hospital, but the real frontline is on the streets, in the grocery stores. Wash your hands, wear your mask, stay away.
I promise that a little bit of time, and a little bit of effort it takes outside of here is worth it. Because once you're here, wearing a mask is better than having a tube down your throat. I promise. JIMENEZ: Omar Jimenez, CNN, Odessa, Texas.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
BRUNHUBER (on camera): In his 36 years as a federal scientist, Dr. Anthony Fauci has been a part of five transitions of presidential power. And while he wouldn't comment for CNN about the current U.S. transition impasse, he did talk about why transitions are important. But that's not all.
The top U.S. disease infectious expert also says that he is feeling good about the two potential vaccine candidates.
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ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Vaccines are close by. They are coming. You know, I said help is on the way, which to me, I think should motivate people even more to double down. Because pretty soon, we are going to get a heck of a lot of help from a very efficacious vaccine.
Two vaccines that just two weeks ago, in this past week, were shown to be extremely effective, I mean efficacious, in 95 percent and 94.5 percent. You know, that's almost as good as measles vaccine, which is an extraordinary vaccine that crushed measles in this country.
I've been in five transitions. Transitions are obviously important. You do better with transitions. I've been through them and I know, I know I use the metaphor, it's like a relay race. When you're running a relay race, you have the baton, you give it to somebody who is not standing still. You give it to somebody that's actually starting to run. That makes the smooth transition. Of course, that's better than not doing it that way.
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BRUNHUBER (on camera): So, if they are approved, those two vaccine candidates could be ready for use as early as next month. The World Health Organization warns that Europe faces a tough six months ahead because of the coronavirus pandemic. New infections are holding steady or falling across much of Europe compared to last week, as you can see there. But those nations in red and orange have rising cases.
Officials in Germany say infections are stabilizing, but are still much too high. In fact, the country just confirmed its highest ever daily number of new infections. Still, they say lockdowns are having an effect.
Poland reported their record number of deaths Thursday with 637 people. And that broke the previous record of 603 deaths set just Wednesday.
And as hospitals surge in France, officials say intensive care units are receiving a new COVID patient every four minutes.
CNN's Paris correspondent Melissa Bell joins me now from the French capital. Melissa, so some optimism over the recent numbers, as I said, in Europe there, but WHO warning there's still a tough road ahead. What's the latest?
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kim. We are really at that point here in Europe where in some cases the restrictions and partial lockdowns are leading to a drop in the number of new cases. It is the case, for instance, here in France. It is the case also in Belgium. In other countries, as you mentioned, like Germany, we continue to see new highs achieved on the question of new cases.
But overall, I think there is that sense that the restrictions are beginning to bear their fruit. And simply that then takes time to translate. When it comes to lowering the number of people in the hospital, the number of people in ICU.
So, take the example of France, Kim, for instance, we are seeing lower numbers of new cases, the sense that the peak has passed here according to officials. And yet, we heard from the health minister last night who said look, over the course of the last 24 hours there has been a hospitalization every four minutes.
And that is still putting tremendous strain on the hospital system, and even now, even with hospitalizations down now in France and they fell again yesterday and the day before -- we are still, Kim, above the peak of the first wave in terms of hospitalizations.
[03:09:56]
So, things improving, but really a continent hit hard by a second wave that it has struggled to push back. And as you say, the number of countries those figures continue to rise.
So, I think what you can look to is both countries like France looking to have their healthcare systems hold until the hospitalizations can get back down to manageable levels, and countries like Germany, who are expecting to see a tightening of restrictions.
Angela Merkel said she would like to see that this week could not get the majority she wanted. Next week we'll be hearing about whether she's managed to or not. So, some -- in some cases were still looking at further tightenings, further restrictions rather than a loosening of any of the partial lockdowns for the time being, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: All right. So far from being out of the woods there. Melissa Bell in Paris, thank you very much.
Sweden is suffering from a second coronavirus wave and some doctors in the country are getting increasingly frustrated with the government's strategy. Now you might remember the country was an outlier in Europe, shunning a strict lockdown in the spring when other government is advising one but not mandating it. And the doctors in the worst-hit region are calling for stricter measures.
So, you can see here on the map, the steep rise in confirmed coronavirus cases in Sweden over the recent weeks. Well let's go to capital Stockholm, Our Phil Black is standing by
there. Phil, many conservatives here in the U.S. touted the so-called Swedish model, no lockdowns, no strict masters, an emphasis on personal responsibility. But now the government is changing its tune. Our Swedes, you know, tuning them out?
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, doctors on the frontline tell us, Kim, that people simply aren't paying enough attention to the information that they are being given. Sweden, the country famous for not being forceful with the coronavirus, is now deep into its second wave. And it is really changing its messaging.
There are still few rules, although a new one kicks in tonight, a ban of alcohol sales after 10 p.m. But the emphasis is still on recommendations. Giving people information. Allowing them to make the right decisions.
But there is now much greater urgency here and the government is increasingly blunt. It is saying, don't go out. Don't socialize. Avoid public places, including gyms, cancel your plans.
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BLACK (voice over): A gym in central Stockholm. Sweden's government says this is dangerous. But it won't shut them down. And those working hard at this socially distanced class don't want to stop.
ASA LARSSON, INSTRUCTOR: A work out for me is all I've got right now. So, I need to, I need to do this as long as I can. And for all the members as well. They are so happy that we are still doing it.
BLACK: Perhaps they feel differently if they saw this. Uppsala hospital at the ICU, a ventilated patient is being prepped for helicopter transfer to another facility with more free beds.
Are you surprised that you're already having to juggle capacity?
UNKNOWN: I'm not surprise. No. That we expect it.
BLACK: After a quite summer the coronavirus is again surging in Sweden. This isn't like the spring peak. It's nowhere near isn't tense yet. But it feels to the staff here so familiar. They are tired and frustrated because there is a sense that this could have been avoided.
A powerful second wave hasn't changed the essence of Sweden's distinctive approach to slowing the spread. Still no force lockdown, a few rules, mostly just advice on social distancing with an emphasis on personal responsibility. On the frontline, they say it's not enough.
RAFAEL KAWATI, HEAD OF INTENSIVE CARE, UPPSALA UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: We need to put some, you know, consequences for not doing this.
BLACK: Enforcement?
KAWATI: Yes. Enforcement. BLACK: Sweden official list have recommended behavior is tougher now.
It reads more like a voluntary lockdown. Discouraging all nonessential mixing.
ANDERS TEGNELL, SWEDEN STATE EPIDEMIOLOGIST: Can you hear me?
BLACK: But Anders Tegnell, the architect of Sweden's approach admits too many aren't following his advice.
So that's the key difference. Your recommendations aren't enforceable?
TEGNELL: So far, I mean during the spring this work pretty well. We managed to get people to stop meeting to greater extent. If we get back to that level of follow up on our advice, I think we can handle the situation also doing this fall.
BLACK: Going flex.
TEGNELL: Yes.
BLACK: Make him look angry. Tegnell is lionized here.
UNKNOWN: He has been our like, a national hero in this crisis. He put out guidelines that have kept our freedom.
BLACK: There is broad support for the country's policies. Even though officials admit Sweden failed its elderly. Almost 90 percent of people who died so far were over 70. And Sweden's total death toll is more than four times the combined figure of its Nordic neighbors, all of which embraced tougher measures.
UNKNOWN: Hello.
UNKNOWN: Welcome.
BLACK: But even among the sick, you meet advocates for prioritizing freedom. Anders Edsvik (Ph) knows the suffering COVID-19 can cause.
[03:15:00]
UNKNOWN: It shouldn't be too easy to close the society, I believe.
BLACK: Sweden is sticking with the model that relies on consent instead of legal thoughts. But it's now asking on people to voluntarily give up more than ever before and it's not yet clear they are willing to do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACK (on camera): Now the Swedish model is often associated with the concept of herd immunity. Officials here have always denied that's the goal. But they did hope that their more open approach would allow overtime some immunity to build up in the population and that could play a role in helping to slow down the spread of the virus.
They now say there is no evidence that greater immunity in the population is having any significant impact right now. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Very illuminating. Phil Black, great reporting from Stockholm, I appreciate it.
Well, Joe Biden is refusing to be boxed in by President Trump's refusal to cooperate with his transition, but even as Biden pushes ahead, he warns the unnecessary delays could cost thousands of American lives in the pandemic.
And another state finishes a laborious recount of millions of ballots, only to confirm that Donald Trump lost.
Those stories are just ahead after a short break. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER (on camera): U.S. President-elect Joe Biden is pressing ahead on his transition despite being shut out of all official channels into the government by the Trump administration. With his top priority taming an out-of-control pandemic, Biden is pursuing other ways to get up to speed.
On Thursday, he met virtually with the group of Republican and Democratic governors to discuss how to move forward in January. But Biden said, each day the official transition is delayed is costing American lives.
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: If nothing fundamentally changes between now and the beginning of February, we will likely lose up to 400 -- total of 400,000 lives, another 150,000 lives. So, it's real.
And there is no excuse not share the data and let us begin to plan. Because on day one it's going to take us time if we don't have access to all of this data. It's going to put us behind an eight ball by a matter of month or more. And that's lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER (on camera): We get more now from CNN's Jeff Zeleny.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: President-elect Joe Biden moving forward despite President Trump's attempts to sabotage the outcome of the election. Calling that inherently dangerous for the world and sending a bad signal.
Now clearly, Mr. Biden is trying to make the point that he is already in the job, working toward the job, he is on the job. Holding events virtually every day in different facets of government, from national security briefings, to economic briefings, and indeed, focusing on coronavirus.
[03:20:00] We are also learning that he is going to be forming his cabinet faster than once thought. He is going to be naming his treasury secretary, naming others around the Thanksgiving time mark.
Clearly, trying to show that they are in motion, they are setting up a new government and ignoring what President Trump is doing. But Mr. Biden did acknowledge for the first time in a significant way that what the White House is doing is causing significant damage here in the United States, and indeed, the message it's sending around the world.
But of course, there's nothing he can do about that but simply work towards forming his government and try and make the case that he still wants to be a unifying president. But there is no doubt all these false attacks that President Trump is leading from the White House are having an effect on the legitimacy of the election.
But Mr. Biden clearly believes that he is confident in his victory. Now nearly 80 million votes here, a record number of votes he's got the popular vote leading Donald Trump here in the U.S., and the popular vote by more than five million. So that is giving him something of a mandate as he moves forward to set up his government.
Jeff Zeleny, Wilmington, Delaware.
BRUNHUBER: An ally of President Trump tells CNN that the president knows he's lost his election and realizes he has almost no chance of remaining in the White House. So why doesn't he concede? Well, the source tells us Mr. Trump says he is delaying the transition to punish Democrats for the Russia investigation that stained his presidency.
Meanwhile, the U.S. State of Georgia has concluded its hand recount of all ballots and confirmed Joe Biden won the state by more than 12,000 votes. The state's deadline to officially certify the result comes later today.
CNN's Boris Sanchez is there.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): As the United States crosses another grim coronavirus milestone, President Trump remains largely in hiding, trying to block the transition of President-elect Joe Biden and furiously tweeting dangerous nonsensical falsehoods about the election.
In an unprecedented move, Trump is getting personally involved in certifying election results in Michigan. He called the two Republicans on the Wayne County board of canvassers who initially objected to declaring Joe Biden the winner there, but both eventually voted to certify Biden as the winner.
Now a source confirms to CNN that both say they want to rescind their votes, though it's legally too late. That source also telling CNN President Trump has invited Michigan GOP lawmakers to the White House as part of his effort to interfere in the results of the election.
All of this happening as the Trump campaign dropped its lawsuit to overturn the results in Michigan.
RUDY GIULIANI, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S LAWYER: This is a disgraceful thing that is done in this country.
SANCHEZ: Meantime, the president's legal team is flailing, even as some close to the president privately admit his lawsuits are destined to fail. His lawyers are desperately clinging to lies and incendiary claims while offering no proof.
SIDNEY POWELL, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S LAWYER: President Trump won by a landslide, we are going to prove it.
SANCHEZ: Despite those claims from Sidney Powell, a Trump attorney with a history of propagating debunked QAnon conspiracies, the facts tell a different story. Joe Biden won the election, and the results of a recount in Georgia reaffirmed Biden as the winner in the Pitt state, though Rudy Giuliani claims the numbers do not matter, and that his team has evidence of a centralized pattern of fraud. Though he declined to share details.
GIULIANI: And what emerged very quickly is, there's not a singular voter fraud in one state. This pattern repeats itself in a number of states.
SANCHEZ: But in Pennsylvania, the Trump campaign's lawsuit currently does not allege any fraud. And Giuliani, himself, admitted it in court.
UNKNOWN: So, the amended complaint, does the amended complaint plead fraud with particularity?
GIULIANI: No, your honor. And it doesn't plead fraud.
SANCHEZ: Adding to the circus, one of Trump's legal advisers, Jenna Ellis, also facing scrutiny after CNN's KFile discovered she made disparaging remarks about the president in 2016, calling him an idiot, un-American, and not trustworthy.
JENNA ELLIS, TRUMP'S ATTORNEY: Why should we rest our highest office in America, on a man who fundamentally goes back and forth and really cannot be trusted to be consistent or accurate in anything that he says?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER (on camera): And I spoke a short time ago with CNN political analyst Sabrina Siddiqui about President Trump's un- Democratic efforts to overturn the election. I asked her about him bringing Republican lawmakers and Michigan to the White House in a bid to subvert the electoral process.
But first, she addressed the significance of the ballot recount in Georgia. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SABRINA SIDDIQUI, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: What remains is for the
State of Georgia to certify its election results, and the secretary of state, Republican secretary of state, it's worth noting is expected to do that by Friday.
[03:24:56]
Now the Trump campaign had requested this recount, and it was done by hand, it did not meaningfully change anything. Biden's lead was still roughly 12,000 votes, and he is now the first Democrat to carry Georgia in a presidential election in 28 years.
And so, this is a significant achievement for Biden and his campaign, and really, the only measure left for the Trump campaign is to request a machinery count. But it's quite clear the writing is on the walls, there is no alternative left in the state. And it's a state that Biden did not even need in order to win the Electoral College.
So, at this point, again, Trump campaign-- the Trump campaign has a lot of efforts ongoing to try and overturn the results of this election. But it's very clear that that's just not going to happen.
It's extraordinary, really, to see a sitting president try and exert this kind of influence over a state legislature, really, in a last- ditch attempt, as we said, to overturn the results of an election where there is simply no evidence of widespread fraud.
There has been no evidence to support the Trump campaign's claims of fraud and irregularities, and what was more striking is that one of the lawyers for the Trump campaign told reporters who asked for evidence that that was a fundamental flaw in the question to actually seek the evidence for the claims that they were making.
And so, look, I think, you know, in terms of whether or not Trump can pressure some of the Republicans in Michigan, perhaps, but there really isn't a remedy for the Trump campaign to reverse what has already been declared as the outcome in Michigan.
Another state that Joe Biden carried by a significant margin. In fact, a margin that is roughly three times more than what Trump's margin was when he carried the state in 2016.
So, I think there is going to be a lot of ongoing tantrums on the part of the president and his campaign, but once again, it's not going to change anything.
But it really does erode the public's confidence in the outcome of the election, and the integrity of the electoral process in the United States. And that is really the long-term damage. To undermine the democratic process in a U.S. election and cast irreparable damage on the way in which the public perceives the electoral process here in the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER (on camera): India has reached a new milestone as it battles the coronavirus pandemic. Just ahead, we'll talk with a journalist in Delhi to find out how a surge of cases is affecting life in India's capital city.
Mexico also seeing a troubling rise in infections and deaths, passing a milestone that few others have reached. We'll take you to a hard-hit area where hospitals are filling up.
Stay with us.
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[03:30:00]
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): And welcome back to you, our viewers from around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber, and you're watching CNN Newsroom.
U.S. Coronavirus cases has surge to another new high. More than 187,000 new infections were confirmed on Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University. And those numbers are putting a strain on hospitals, especially in rural areas. Health experts say, the increase in cases has been a challenge on a number of levels.
Rural areas tend to have fewer beds, and limited ICU capabilities, as well as fewer health care workers on staff. And according to the U.S. CDC, people in rural areas are dying at substantially higher rates than those who live in urban areas.
Joining me now is John Henderson, CEO and president of TORCH Texas Organization of Rural, and Community Hospitals. Thank you so much for joining us. We have seen how bad the situation is in some urban centers, like El Paso. Your organization represents more than 150 rural hospitals. How bad is it there?
JOHN HENDERSON, CEO/PRESIDENT OF TORCH, TEXAS ORGANIZATION OF RURAL, AND COMMUNITY HOSPITALS (on camera): That's right, Kim. I work for the small hospitals in Texas, and Texas is really a big state, as you know. There are areas of Texas with a little bit of capacity left, but, most of west Texas, and northwest Texas, which is very rural, is in a bad spot. This is our worst week yet.
BRUNHUBER: And when you say it is bad, what kinds of problems are you seeing? Is it just in terms of capacity, or the number of cases? Or what are you seeing exactly?
HENDERSON: Well, cases and hospitalizations, and even deaths, are about as high as we've been at any other point during the pandemic. Where the rural hospitals are feeling it, most acutely is with regards to staffing. They're having trouble with nurses and respiratory therapists, and physicians. They have a lot of trouble with transfers and finding transfers for patients that exceed their ability to treat in any case. And they've just been pushed to the edge, and we are starting to see some pretty tragic outcomes this week.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, I mean, you mentioned the staffing issue we saw this week, that the Mayo clinic had reported hundreds of workers infected with COVID, according to the American Hospital Association, at least 25 states are critically short of nurses, doctors, and other staffs. So, you mentioned, the shortage, is that because the physicians, and nurses, and so on are themselves dealing with COVID? Or is it just that they are overrun and you don't have enough to deal with all of the cases?
HENDERSON: The answer is both. It is definitely a case of the frontline caregivers in rural Texas becoming positive for COVID. But it is also just a matter of patient volumes and an acceleration of the pandemic. And then the third factor, I would say, Chris, is there is a time where Texas was sending nurses to help in other states. And people were moving around to help when every state is escalating, you just can't bring in more health when you need it. All three of those factors accumulate.
BRUNHUBER: You mentioned the high death rate. I mean, those problems seem to hit rural areas harder, in terms of the mortality rate. I understand, that it is almost 45 percent, you are more likely to die of COVID in rural areas than in people living in urban areas. Why is that?
HENDERSON: Well, access to care is a big issue in rural Texas, and there are people that live a long way from care. And then, it has to do with scope of service. So most rural hospitals in Texas don't provide ICU level of care, for instance. That is OK. Most of the time, when you can transfer to an urban center that we have seen trouble with that this week.
BRUNHUBER: Underfunding, you know, has been a huge issue. I know you have to rely on volunteers, including, and I understand, Matthew McConaughey, who is donating, and ferrying masks to rural hospitals earlier this year. I understand, you yourself, you know, delivered hand sanitizer out of the back of a pickup truck. I mean, that is inspiring to hear that, but it hardly seems like the way a great nation, like the U.S., should be handling a pandemic. What do you need from the federal government?
HENDERSON: Well, we receive some federal stimulus, and it helped our hospitals make it through the summer. If this continues, we are going to need more, because that money, frankly, is gone. And we have seen the best in people, Matthew, and his wife, Kamila in particular, have been wonderful. But that has been temporary. People are just trying to help where they can. But we have to get out of this thing eventually.
BRUNHUBER: And you know, part of that, I imagine, as a coordinated national response. You probably not going to get one until at least, you know, the next president is sworn in. So, what are those 60 days until then going to look like?
[03:35:11]
HENDERSON: We are in for a pretty rough 60 days, at least, the next couple of weeks. You almost have a split screen camp where there is encouraging news on the vaccine development front, but this period of time, between now and when people actually getting the vaccine, that are going to be tragic in many cases across rural areas of Texas.
BRUNHUBER: Well, listen, we wish you and all of the staff and doctors that you deal with the best of luck. Thank you very much for speaking with us, John Henderson, we appreciate it.
HENDERSON: Happy to do it, thank you.
BRUNHUBER: India is reporting a milestone of its own, in the war against coronavirus. As of Friday, Indian health officials had confirmed more than 9 million cases of COVID-19. That makes it second only to the U.S. This comes as the country reports almost 46,000 new cases over a 24-hour period. New infections have been on the decline, until a recent surge in the capital, New Delhi, on Wednesday that as this caseload surpassed a half million.
So, more on this milestone, let's turn to journalist Priyali Sur, she is joining us from Delhi. So, the headline, India topped 9 million COVID cases, at one point, India was going to take -- overtake the U.S. in terms of the number cases. But it seems like that won't happen anytime soon. As we hear there are 12 million cases here and in India, the rates, generally, seems to be slowing down, if you believe the numbers.
PRIYALI SUR, JOURNALIST (on camera): Kim, you know, the rates have been slowing down, a little bit. You know, we reached our peak in mid- September when we reported about 100,000 cases on one single day. Ever since then, the cases have supposedly come down to about 45,000 -- 50,000 a day. But what is also a little worrisome is the testing in the last few weeks and days, have actually come down.
And yes, testing less than 1 million -- doing less than a million tests per day, and that is much lesser than what it was doing previously. Other experts are saying that the steady rise in numbers in India can be owed to like a couple of factors. One, given the fact that India just had its festive season. For example, we've celebrated to (inaudible) and other festivities.
And in those few weeks, there was pretty much almost no enforcement of physical distancing, also social distancing. Even mask wearing in public markets, or crowded places. The other thing is that the northern parts of India experiencing winter. And also very high and dangerous levels of pollution.
Now, we know that both of these factors can increase the COVID risks. In fact, experts have said that the air pollutant which is PM 2.5 can increase the COVID risks and COVID deaths. And in India, the northern parts of India is experiencing all of that. You know, it's interesting that you started by talking about the numbers.
So, the first six months of India, which is maybe starting from January, February, to about July, that is when India reach the first 1 million mark. So that's like the first six months. And ever since then from, July, until November, which is in four months, India has gone from 1 million, to 9 million.
So, this is something which is not just worrisome, but also, something which needs to be addressed and reinforced like by making sure that there is enough physical distancing, there is enough mask-wearing, and there is also control in terms of air pollution.
BRUNHUBER: More testing, I guess. Now, in this country, there is, you know, a lot of optimism over the efficacy of two vaccines. In India, there is fear that they might not have access to those two, but there are hopes over other vaccines that have been tested there. What is the latest?
SUR: So, the Serum Institute of India has actually said that, in fact, they made an announcement yesterday, that the Oxford vaccine, which it has been testing in India is going to be available in February for all health workers, as well as senior citizens. It saying that in terms of testing with the senior citizens, it is showing positive results.
So, that is something very positive for India, given the fact that the vaccines, which have been promised by Pfizer, or Moderna, even in terms of how, logistically, you can store them or distribute them, in a country like India, riding a cold storage and logistical issues are a huge problem.
Those kinds of issues will not be seen in the vaccine, which is going to be developed and distributed by the Serum Institute of India, which is the Oxford vaccines. So, hopefully, by February, for all the health workers and senior citizens, and by April, it's going to be distributed to the rest of the public.
[03:40:06]
BRUNHUBER: All right. Thanks for bringing us up-to-date on what is going on in India. Journalist, Priyali Sur, I appreciate it.
Mexico, is now confirming more than 100,000 deaths because of coronavirus, after months of a relative decline in cases. October turned into what some are calling, a nightmare. And that's fatality rate is the second highest in the world. CNN's Matt Rivers, is in Durango, a state that the country's highest COVID alert level.
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, Mexico has now surpassed 100,000 confirmed deaths as a result of the coronavirus making it just the fourth country around the world to reach that terrible milestone. And across the country, in parts of it that seemingly had had the virus under control, we have been seeing rising cases, rising deaths, including right here in the state of Durango, where we are quickly reminded that this pandemic, not only is not over, it remains a force to be reckoned with.
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RIVERS (voice over): This was January, people packed in to hear Pattuya 81 and lead singer Jose Angel Medina Sotto. Crowds like these will eventually come back when COVID-19 has forever robbed these fans in Durango State Mexico of a favorite song. Durango native Jose Angel died in a hospital last week after fighting the virus for nearly a month, at his daughter's home, she spoke to us as some of his ashes hung around her neck.
It's not fair, says his daughter, Alma Medina, he had so many plans for his life.
Before his death, his family says four different hospitals near his home in the bordering state of Chihuahua refused to accept him because they were too full. Officials say Mexico is grappling with a distinct second wave of cases in many parts of the country. Recent single day case counts have been some of the highest ever. Deaths are again on the rise. Mexico City's mayor says if current trends continue, she will force to once again close parts of the city.
Look at this scene from just outside Mexico City, an illegal concert where hundreds are grouped close together. The alert level on both the border state of Chihuahua and here in Durango has risen to (inaudible), or red level, the country's highest as cases have soared.
The state secretary of health says parties continue, reunions, family, social gatherings, where people easily congregate and infections are the direct consequence. In Durango nonessential businesses have been forced to close once again, and alcohol sales are banned. Cases have slowed slightly, though the state's health secretary worries what happens when restrictions eased.
He says, yes, we are afraid of another wave because we don't know how big it could be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIVERS (on camera): But the economic pain brought on by these restrictions has been brutal. Hundreds of thousands of people nationwide have lost their jobs, and Durango is no exception. All of these people are waiting in line at a pawn shop, and well of course people visit pawnshops during normal times, multiple people in this line told us they are here to sell something because of tough times during the pandemic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RIVERS (voice over): Miguel Camacho owns six restaurants across the city, three have shut down, and he has laid off 60 percent of his stuff.
He says it hurts me a lot to see some of them on the streets looking for work. I've even seen some cleaning windshields at traffic lights. Though Camacho says he understands putting people's health first, he says current restrictions are unsustainable.
He says with these restricted hours and no alcohol sales, we are worse off now than in the beginning of the pandemic. Restrictions are not, we still don't have an exact idea of how bad Mexico's pandemic truly is. The government continues to tests to one of the lowest rates in the world, calling more testing, quote, unnecessary.
But from the limited data we do have, and from the testimony of those it affects most, this pandemic seems to be as deadly as it's ever been.
My father was such a good person, says Alma Medina, he didn't deserve the death like this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIVERS (on camera): This is just the overall sense you get here in Mexico, is there is just exhaustion all around. On the part of health authorities, over people not following the rules, business owners, angst over the economy, and just from ordinary people who really want all of this to be over, and yet, unfortunately, we likely have many months of this ahead of us. Back to you.
BRUNHUBER: The U.S. Secretary of State, shatters decades of U.S. foreign policy, by visiting a Jewish settlement in the West Bank that is considered illegal, under international law. We'll have a live report from Jerusalem, just ahead. And with no stimulus in sight, there is more hardship for millions of Americans. We get the latest health check and the U.S. economy, next.
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[03:45:00]
BRUNHUBER (on camera): U.S. Treasury Secretary is cutting billions of dollars in emergency funding for businesses with no new stimulus insight. That is nearly three quarters of a million Americans filed for first time unemployment benefits last week. It was the first increase in a month. Millions remain jobless and more programs designed to help them are set to expire next month. Former Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan told CNN, more stimulus is needed, but agreement on one won't be easy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALAN GREENSPAN, FORMER FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: In a situation like this, you always have to say, what could go wrong? The major part of the solution there is going to be to get this back to where we were. And that can take a long time. And I'm not convinced at all that we have enough information to know how to deal with this type of problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: So, let's go to Abu Dhabi to discuss this with our John Defterios. John, jobless claims increased and two programs for unemployed Americans are expiring which could affect more than 13 million Americans now. I am not an economist, but that doesn't sound like a good combination.
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR (on camera): No, it is not, Kim. This is a very challenging window, because we have the cases spiking up here. While the programs are winding down. You talk about the jobless claims, historically that the number here that we've had in the last week, 760,000 is very, very high.
And you also have the long term unemployed, Kim, coming in at 3.8 million which is a 50 percent spike on the month before. So again, as tight in the caseload. There are a couple of other programs that stand out for me. That's the paycheck protection program, to protect employees of small businesses, which generate about 80 percent of the jobs in the United States. That faded away in August.
There is another program to support freelancers or contractors, or so called gig workers, 7 million are cover there. It is extraordinary in terms of the numbers that were talking about. And finally, we have the supplemental unemployment benefits, which was $600 a week.
That lasted for months and faded away in August. Just as a stimulus package talks started to take off and they never completed. So those people are left hanging with supplemental benefits, cut by 50 percent or more, under the current program.
BRUNHUBER: You mentioned the stimulus package there that broke down and then put on hold because of the election. So, is there any hope of getting a deal before the end of the year?
DEFTERIOS: Well, we saw Kim, a glimmer of hope and that was the first time in a long while, where Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority leader in the Senate, talk to Mitch McConnell, who is the Senate majority leader, and saying with Nancy Pelosi from the House Democrats side, who is the speaker there. Let's sit down again, and they said that they're willing to do so, but you do have to take a step back from all of that, Kim and say, what is the gap?
Its $2.2 trillion dollars, the House bill that's been sitting at that level for months. And I mean, five or six months now. The White House got up to $2 trillion, the Senate Republicans are at a $.5 trillion. So, how do you overcome that?
[03:50:11]
It's gotten so bad that one of the titans of Wall Street, JPMorgan Chase, CEO Jaime Dimon said that it is time to park the partisan politics, the childlike behavior and get something done before the end of the year when these programs expire, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. All right. Thank you so much, John Defterios, in Abu Dhabi, I always appreciate it.
U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo will soon depart Israel for the United Arab Emirates, as part of his latest official visit to Europe and the Middle East. Pompeo's final hours in Israel include a trip to the friends of Zion museum in Jerusalem, and also visiting a holy site on the Jordan River, considering the place where Jesus was baptized.
Earlier, he did what no U.S. Secretary of State has ever done, he visited a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. Now, an international law considers those settlements illegal, and while touring the Golan Heights near the Syrian border, he declared, this is a part of Israel.
Now, that is a radical departure from decades of U.S. foreign policy. We have CNN's Oren Liebermann, who has been covering the secretary's visit and joins us now from Jerusalem. Oren, so the Secretary of State breaking all sorts of foreign policy traditions during his visit. How is it being received first in Israel? And how is it being interpreted by Palestinians?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORESPONDENT (on camera): Well, Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, and his trip, might have been an unexpected, and unprecedented for that any other U.S. Secretary of State, but not really from Pompeo. Not really from the Trump administration that effectively been moving U.S. foreign policy in this direction for quite some time.
It was the State Department under Pompeo that ruled that settlements are not de facto illegal under international law and essentially left it up to Israel to decide the legality of them on their own. This is simply a step beyond that. A very big step with the changes in policy that Pompeo announced yesterday, including ruling that anything produced in area c, which is some 60 percent of the West Bank, can be considered made in Israel.
But make no mistake, this is very much the direction that Pompeo has been moving U.S. foreign policy. The back of this is the waning days of the Trump administration, that doesn't seem to bother Pompeo at all. Since he hasn't actually publicly acknowledge that President Donald Trump just lost the election.
In that sense, this is a celebration for a few different groups. First, obviously, the settlers in the West Bank in Golan Heights. Second, Israel's right wing and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and perhaps most importantly, Evangelical Christians. If Pompeo makes a run in 2024 for the White House, they are his base, and he is very much appealing to them.
His visit this morning at the Friends of Zion Museum that is a museum essentially run by Evangelical Christians, so he is very much playing to what he hopes will be his base there.
Palestinians have been infuriated by this. There are protests in the West Bank the day before Pompeo arrived and there had still been putting out very angry statements, essentially about Pompeo legitimizing Israel's occupation of the West Bank and the Golan Heights. They are furious and will continue to be furious as they look for that change in the administration come January.
BRUNHUBER: All right. Oren Liebermann, looking forward, then what are we expecting from Mr. Pompeo in Abu Dhabi?
LIEBERMANN: Well, I think there will be a celebration of the Abraham Accord, is the normalization agreements there. Certainly, the sale of U.S. F-35s to the UAE will come up. The UAE, now pushing that button quite hard in the waiting days of the Trump administration.
And the beyond that he has trip to Qatar in Saudi Arabia. Those are two countries the U.S. has been pushing to normalize relations with Israel, even the last couple of months here at the Trump administration. It looks like that push will keep going as Trump tries to add another foreign policy victory to his resume before he leaves the White House. BRUNHUBER: All right. I appreciate the analysis, Oren Liebermann, in
Jerusalem. Thank you. And I will be right back, after this short break. Please stay with CNN.
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[03:55:00]
BRUNHUBER: While when a rat in New York grab a slice to go, it not only went viral, it now has inspired a copycat. Our Jeanne Moos introduces us to pizza rat man.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Pizza delivery ain't what it used to be. Pizza rat man, the reincarnation of a certain real rat, celebrated by late night.
UNKNOWN: The internet blew up over this video of a rat, carrying a whole slice of pizza.
MOOS: Five years later, the internet is blowing up over buddy the rat, jumping off trash cans, posing then pouncing on the Brooklyn Bridge. Cruising mini mouse in Times Square, grabbing at a pedestrians bag of food and having his own tail grabbed. The tail, by the way, is attached to a belt, worn under his clothes and threaded through a hole in his pants. Who is this masked rat man?
JONATHAN LYONS, CREATOR OF BUDDY THE RAT: Everybody, I am Jonathan Lyons, the creator of buddy the rat.
MOOS: Jonathan is a professional puppeteer and theater performer, who first created his rat character 11 years ago. And brought it out of retirement to make a short movie. How did folks react?
LYONS: They responded three ways. It's either joy, fear, or radical indifference.
MOOS: Radical indifference was celebrated, when this guy casually went over the railing to get past pizza rat. As Ice T tweeted, rule one, mind your business. As we for the rules about mask, New York City transit thanked pizza rat for wearing a mask.
LYONS: The ayes are rigged to blink, you can see he blinks, and the whiskers are made of fiber optic cables, so they can light up.
MOOS: The papier-mache head is so hard, it would stand a four by two rat trap.
Unless he gets a swollen head, a naked guy wandering past in Times Square taught him a lesson.
LYONs: Even me dress as a giant rat, is not the weirdest thing on the street in any given time in New York.
MOOS: Since the pandemic has closed theaters, Jonathan said he's bringing performance to the streets.
LYONS: I have an order for tails coming in. I am going to try to make it with a material that I can wipe down with sanitary wipes.
MOOS: Until then, maybe reconsider grabbing his tail. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Why? That wraps up this hour of CNN Newsroom. I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back in just a moment with more actual news.
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