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America Back on Deck; GOP Not Welcome by Dems in Biden's Administration; President Trump to Join His Attorney in Pennsylvania; More Dark Days to Come; Aviation Industry Saw Increase in Travel; Families Allowed to Gather on Christmas Holidays; Stock Markets React Positively; Trump Official Expect to Brief Biden Team in Next Few Days; U.S. Sets Record for COVID-19 Hospitalizations; U.S. Could Ship Vaccine Doses Soon After Authorization; Millions Traveling for Thanksgiving Despite CDC Warnings; Ethiopian Human Rights Commission Saying at Least 600 People were Killed in Tigray Massacre in Early November. Beijing Interference Needed in Hong Kong as Hong Kong Leader Claims; Mysterious Metal Monolith Found in Utah; Monika Seryu, Defying All Odds. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired November 25, 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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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. You are watching CNN Newsroom. And I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead. From America first to America's back. Joe Biden steaks out his anti-Trump presidency.
Millions of Americans are traveling for Thanksgiving as COVID cases soar. One expert warning the holiday could be the mother of all super spreader events.
And a major milestone on Wall Street. The Dow has its best day ever topping 30,000 for the first time.
Good to have you with us.
With just 56 days to go until inauguration day the formal presidential transition is finally underway in the United States. President-elect Joe Biden has wasted no time moving forward.
On Tuesday, he introduced key cabinet picks as he announced to the world America is back and ready to lead. All this as Biden becomes the first presidential candidate in history to get more than 80 million votes. And ballots are still being counted. Earlier, the president- elect struck an optimistic tone about America's place on the world stage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: America is back. We are at the head of the table once again. I've spoken with over 20 world leaders. And they all are literally really pleased and somewhat excited. America is going to reassert its role in the world and be a coalition builder.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The White House has now signed off on a major step in the transition process. Presidential daily briefings for Joe Biden.
CNN's Jeff Zeleny has the latest from Delaware.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: It's a team that reflects the fact that America is back.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A changing of the guard tonight, yet familiar faces of the Washington establishment as President-elect Biden introduces the first wave of nominees to his cabinet.
BIDEN: Ready to lead the world, not retreat from it. Once again, sitting at the head of the table, ready to confront our adversaries and not reject our allies. Ready to stand up for our values.
ZELENY: Three weeks after election day, and 17 days after declaring victory, a roadblock finally lifted for Biden's peaceful transition of power. He made no mention of President Trump. But in the biographies of his nominees and through their own words, Biden and his team sent an unmistakable message that the chief goal of his administration is to return the country to a pre-Trump era.
ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE NOMINEE: America, at its best, still has a greater ability than any other country on earth to bring others together to meet the challenges of our time.
ZELENY: For secretary of state, Biden nominated longtime adviser Tony Blinken, who told an emotional story of his stepfather's Holocaust survival.
BLINKEN: He ran to the tank. The hatch opened. An African-American G.I. looked down at him. He got down on his knees and said the only three words that he actually knew in English that his mother taught him before the war. God bless America. That's who we are. That's what America represents for the world.
ZELENY: For homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, an immigrant and 20-year veteran of government service.
ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY NOMINEE: The Department of Homeland Security has a noble mission to help keep us safe, and to advance our proud history as a country of welcome.
ZELENY: As director of national intelligence, Avril Haines, the first woman to lead the intelligence community.
AVRIL HAINES, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE NOMINEE: You selected us not to serve you but to serve on behalf of the American people. To help advance our security, our prosperity, our values.
ZELENY: A special climate envoy, Kohn Kerry in a new cabinet level post.
JOHN KERRY, U.S. CLIMATE ENVOY NOMINEE: To end this crisis, the whole world must come together.
ZELENY: As U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas- Greenfield.
LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS NOMINEE: In my 35 years in the foreign service across four continents, I've put a Cajun spin on it. I called it gumbo diplomacy.
ZELENY: And as national security adviser, longtime aide, Jake Sullivan.
JAKE SULLIVAN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER NOMINEE: You have also tasked us with reimagining our national security to the unprecedented crises we face at home and abroad.
ZELENY: Tonight, across the government, so-called landing teams from the Biden transition are getting their first look inside agencies. There are sighs and signs of relief, particularly with the looming fight against a deadly pandemic.
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One CDC official telling CNN, this is what we've been waiting for is for them to send their landing team here and set up shop.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY (on camera): Now President-elect Biden said he would receive his presidential daily briefing as early as Wednesday. He said he will be receiving this regularly. Now the White House, we know, did sign off on that. So we really are seeing this transition really kick into motion here. The Biden transition team has met with every one of the Trump agencies.
Now clearly, the question here how cooperatively will they be going forward. So, all this coming on a day when President Trump clearly still not conceding. As for the Biden side? They don't seem to care.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Wilmington, Delaware.
CHURCH: CNN political analyst Toluse Olorunippa joins me now. He is also a White House reporter for the Washington Post. Great to have you with us.
TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Great to be here.
CHURCH: So, America is back. That was the message from President- elect Joe Biden Tuesday as he introduced key cabinet picks. A team that signals a rejection of Donald Trump's isolationist policies, and Wall Street welcomed the news. The Dow hitting the 30,000 mark. How different will this team be to the one assembled by Trump? And now that contact has been made with all federal agencies, what comes next?
OLORUNNIPA: Well, night and day is how different it will be in terms of the foreign policy establishment regaining control in the U.S. government. We saw with President Trump sort of a disruptive approach in which he brought in outsiders, he brought in people who did not have government experience. They came into office and really created a lot of disruption on the global scene.
Joe Biden is saying America is back. He is saying he wants to restore some of the global world order that was in place before Trump came into office. Reestablish connection with allies, maybe distance America from some of our adversaries that President Trump has sided up to or gotten very close to in the last four years.
And when it comes to actually preparing for that, the fact that Joe Biden now has access to the traditional transition experience, he's able to connect with government employees to be able to have funding from the government or make it easier for him to try to move forward and put forward foreign policy platform that is more in line with what we have seen before President Trump came into office and really disrupted a lot of American foreign policy.
CHURCH (on camera): Right. And in an interview with NBC on Tuesday, Joe Biden said he would consider nominating a Republican on his team. Let's just listen to what exactly he said.
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LESTER HOLT, ANCHOR, NBC: Have you considered, for the sake of national unity, selecting or nominating a Republican? Someone who voted for President Trump?
BIDEN: Yes, and we still have a lot more appointments to make. I want this country to be united. The purpose of our administration is once again reunited. We can't keep this virulent political dialog going.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): Toluse, is that a wise move? I mean, how would progressives respond to that?
OLORUNNIPA: Well progressives definitely would not like Joe Biden selecting a Republican to any of the cabinet positions, especially if it's a high-ranking cabinet position. They are jockeying not only to get progressives into that position, but to make sure that moderate Democrats or Republicans don't end up in some of those positions.
So, there is a big fight going on on the left wing of the Democratic Party. But Joe Biden realizes that he won with a record number of votes, more than 80 million Americans voted for him. But the second highest number of votes ever to vote for anyone in American history was for President Trump. That was more than 74 million people who voted for President Trump.
He had much more support this time around than he did four years ago. So, Joe Biden realizes that he is going to have to govern those Americans too. And some of those Americans feel like their voice is not going to be heard.
And I think Joe Biden is trying to show that he will be willing to have someone representing the Trump supporters within his government and try to govern as a uniter, which has been his model from the beginning of the time he ran his campaign.
CHURCH: Meantime, the timing of the GSA decision to start the transition of Joe Biden and his team got attention Tuesday. Trump tweeted that he was recommending that transition proceed, but that wasn't actually the timeline at all. And he is still not conceding. Does any of this matter anymore, now that the transition is well underway?
OLORUNNIPA: Well it does matter in terms of the American transition of power, the peaceful transition of power, which is a hallmark of our democracy. It is still sort of an Iraqi place right now. We have not heard President Trump concede. He has not engaged in the tradition of bringing over the incoming president to the White House.
We don't know how smooth the transition is going to be. We don't know whether President Trump is going to appoint people to take care of the transition who do not want to see Biden succeed. We want to come up the works. We want to have the facade of a smooth transition, but are actually behind the scenes making it harder for the Biden administration to come in and get started on day one.
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So, there are a lot of things that can be done to make it harder for Joe Biden to take over the reins of government. And based on how President Trump has been responding so far, with his lawsuits, with his specious claims of election fraud, it doesn't appear that he wants to make it easy for his successor to succeed.
And I wouldn't be surprised if in the next two months, we see President Trump do more to undercut and to handicap the incoming Biden administration, and to question the legitimacy of Biden's win.
And as long as Trump is doing that, it will be very hard for a transition to be smooth and to take place without major impacts on American policy and the handover from one government to the next.
CHURCH: Toluse Olorunippa, thank you so much for talking to with us. I appreciate it.
OLORUNNIPA: Thank you.
CHURCH (on camera): And while the Biden team transitions toward the White House, sources say President Donald Trump is expected to join his attorney, Rudy Giuliani in Pennsylvania. They are said to be in Gettysburg later today for what's being called a hearing on voter fraud allegations.
Pennsylvania has already certified the votes, giving Biden the win. But Trump's visit signals he is not ready to concede, or abandoned his allegations about a rigged election. Here is CNN's Jeremy Diamond reporting by phone with more developments.
(BEGIN VOICE CLIP)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is going to be a meeting of the Pennsylvania Senate majority policy committee. So basically, a group of Republican state senators who are going to be meeting and certainly not official legislative business, but they are expected to have some witnesses who, according to the Trump campaign, who have filed affidavits attesting to election fraud in the 2020 election.
Now we know based on the pattern of these affidavits that they've been bringing forward, they have been filled with hearsay, hearsay, hearsay and, hearsay according to one judge. So certainly, you can expect to hear a lot of unfounded allegations.
(END VOICE CLIP)
CHURCH: President Trump has largely avoided public appearances since losing the election. And this trip would be his first outside the Washington, D.C. area since November 3rd.
Coronavirus cases are continuing to surge across the United States as the country gets ready for Thanksgiving. And one health expert is giving CNN a dire warning of what that could mean for the weeks ahead.
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JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: This is potentially the mother of all super spreader events. One of the ways we think the Midwest was seated with virus during the summer was with the Sturgis, South Dakota motorcycle rally where people were infected and then dispersed out through the Midwest. Now imagine that on a massive scale, with people leaving from every airport in the United States and carrying virus with them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): The average numbers remain disturbingly high. More than 170,000 people were infected in the last 24 hours, but despite the warnings, air travel is at its highest level since the pandemic hit, with millions flocking to airports nationwide.
CNN's Pete Muntean reports.
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PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Caroline Osler says she could not stay home anymore, so she took a coronavirus test and boarded a flight home to Kentucky for Thanksgiving.
CAROLINE OSLER, TRAVELING TO KENTUCKY: I think at some point, it's too hard to stay away from family especially for the holidays. MUNTEAN: It is the rationale of 50 million Americans, according to
triple A, who will travel by plane, train, or car this week. The new forecast is only a 10 percent decrease from last year's pre-pandemic levels. But AAA thinks the actual number could be even lower, as coronavirus cases surge. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control said to cancel holiday travel.
YASMINE DEHGHANI, TRAVELING TO CONNECTICUT: I understand the risk that I'm taking, but I want to see my family.
MUNTEAN: Passenger levels are already starting to rise again, and set a new record of the pandemic on Sunday. This past weekend was the busiest three days at airports since travel cratered. Major airlines are gearing up for more passengers, and adding new flights for the first time since March. Airline industry groups say they are not encouraging travel, but they are not discouraging it either.
NICK CALIO, CEO, AIRLINES FOR AMERICA: I think it's perfectly ethical. I think we would not fly people if it were not safe.
MUNTEAN: Airlines feel empowered by new research that says cleaning like this, plus heavily filtered air on board an airplane, and everyone wearing masks, keeps virus transmission rates low.
LEONARD MARCUS, DIRECTOR, HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: It's a layered approach.
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MUNTEAN: Dr. Leonard Marcus is on the team of Harvard virologists who study the air inside airliners. Their findings that being in a passenger cabin is maybe safer than a grocery store, but Marcus cautions travelers to plan every step of their trip to reduce risk door to door.
MARCUS: Everyone has to make a decision about their own personal risk. It's a very personal decision.
MUNTEAN: Airlines are starting programs to test passengers for coronavirus, but only on limited international routes. For Caroline Osler, that means taking another coronavirus test before gathering around the table for a Thanksgiving like no other.
OSLER: I think it reaches a point where you have to decide what's best for yourself and how you can best protect yourself and those around you as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MUNTEAN (on camera): The TSA thinks not many people are canceling their trips, meaning Wednesday could set a new air travel record of the pandemic, when that could be broken come Sunday, that's when the TSA thinks everybody who left for the holiday could be coming home all at once.
Pete Muntean, CNN, Reagan National Airport. CHURCH: Germany is setting a disturbing new coronavirus record. It has recorded at least 410 COVID related deaths in the past 24 hours. Health officials say that's the highest single day jump since the outbreak began.
Later today, Chancellor Angela Merkel is expected to announce more restrictions to help slow the virus's spread. Meantime, Reuters reports that Germany's 16 federal states will permit gatherings of up to 10 people over the Christmas and New Year's holidays. This allows families and friends to celebrate, but on smaller and hopefully safer scales.
Meanwhile in the U.K., Boris Johnson is not wanting to look like the prime minister who stole Christmas. The U.K. government is loosening COVID restrictions in time for the holidays, and will let members of up to three households form a Christmas bubble for a few days, at least.
CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is live in London, she joins us now. Good to see you, Salma. So how will this bubble plan work and what's been the reaction to it so far?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER (on camera): Rosemary, the 12 days of Christmas will now be 5. Essentially, the government is going to be easing social restrictions for a five-day period between the 23rd to the 27th. They are calling that a special Christmas time dispensation in which up to three households can mix together exclusively.
Those three households can mix together, go to church, celebrate in a safe but limited way and form their own social bubble, a Christmas bubble. That's been the idea for some time now. And it's across all of the United Kingdom, all four nations working in coordination, which has been very rare during this second wave.
Now the government has called this a very cautious approach. Take a listen to what one member of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government said. Michael Gove.
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MICHAEL GOVE, CHANCELLOR OF THE DUCHY OF LANCASTER: A balance needs to be struck. People want to be with their loved ones, with those close to them. What is the most important holiday of the year, but at the same time, the limits and restrictions that we are placing just five days and just three households, are a way of seeking to ensure that while we can have an opportunity to be with those that we love, it's also the case that we are taking a cautious approach.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABDELAZIZ (on camera): Now as you can imagine, this has caused some controversy. There are those on one side who say three families is not enough. I want to see more, and maybe I will not be abiding by these rules. Some of what people are saying after there's been so much confidence loss over the last few months, controversy after controversy with Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government. But then there is the scientific response to this. And we've already
heard from one government advisor saying this is going to be like throwing fuel on the fire, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Yes. It is a problem. People do not like this, and of course, you can't police it, so we'll just see what happens. Salma Abdelaziz, joining us live from London. Many thanks.
Well France will start lifting COVID-19 restrictions this weekend. President Emmanuel Macron says the worst of the second wave appears to be over. And there is hope for the French that they will spend Christmas with their families.
Jim Bittermann joins us now from just outside of Paris. Good to see you, Jim. So of course, it's always a concern that if you ease restrictions too much, cases may surge again. So how has France weighed those concerns?
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, exactly, Rosemary. President Macron announced last night that basically they are going to start easing restrictions, as you mentioned, on Saturday, but it's only a start. Basically, the French have got to stay the course if they want to go all the way through this and have the brakes off for Christmas and New Year's and later on.
Basically, it's a three-phase program that starts on Saturday with the opening of shops. People can go out for three hours at a time instead of one hour at a time. And houses of worship can be open.
[03:20:05]
And President Macron seems to be trying to help out with rather meager freedoms that he is now extending to the French, as I've of Saturday, with a little bit of praise for the way the French are behaving. Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMMANUEL MACRON PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): During my last speech, we were sure of having figures that were worse, and we have avoided them. On one, hand our efforts, your efforts, have paid off. The civic spirit that you have demonstrated has been efficient.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BITTERMANN (on camera): In fact, what happens next after Saturday is that on the 15th of December, Rosemary, the president said of things go well, and if people are able to keep the number, daily number of coronavirus cases from 5,000 per day, just to give you an idea at the beginning of this month, there were around 60,000 per day, they keep to 5,000 per day, then restrictions may be lifted, including the idea that Christmas and New Year's will have no bands for those two days.
Then later on, if again, if the French remain disciplined and if things continue to go well, perhaps by January 20th, the bars, restaurants, and whatnot can open again and things will be pretty much back to normal. But that is still a ways off, and there's still a lot of time to count between now and then. Rosemary?
CHURCH: Yes. And of course, as we have learned, the key to all of this is wearing a mask.
Jim Bittermann joining us live from France, many thanks.
And just ahead here on CNN, the Dow is facing uncharted territory after surging to its all-time high. How world markets are reacting. That's ahead.
And Ethiopia fears hundreds have been killed in ethnic violence. Why the U.N. is warning things are only going to get worse.
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CHURCH: While so many are struggling, Wall Street continues to thrive and set new records. The Dow is in unprecedented territory after reaching 30,000 points for the first time ever on Tuesday. Here is a look at where futures stand right now. And Asia's markets are closing up.
CNN's John Defterios joins me now from Abu Dhabi. Good to see you, John.
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN BUSINESS EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Thanks.
CHURCH: There you are. So in a historical context, did reaching 30,000 come much faster than hitting 20,000? And why the sudden burst in this latest rally?
DEFTERIOS: Well it's interesting. It was almost time compression, Rosemary. Yes, indeed, we hit this threshold much faster than history would suggest in the past. This was only nearly four years, and it was induced by Donald Trump cutting corporate taxes, boosting up spending in terms of the budget, crossing a trillion dollars in terms of the budget deficit, but it did helped corporate profits, and that's why we saw that rally.
And this march to 30,000 in the latest leg here with the election clearing forward here, and Joe Biden the president-elect coming in, happened during the most unusual year where we have the collapse in prices in March and April, and then a rally there forward.
So, let's focus on the president. Joe Biden, Janet Yellen as his treasury secretary pick, Jerome Powell, as the Federal Reserve chair, they're banking now in the present that they can get a stimulus package through, vaccines can get distributed in six to nine months nationwide, but also around the world.
And in context of the past, it took what, 18 years to get from 10,000 to 20,000. So, this is historic. Now, there's a couple of good indicators here today. U.S. futures are holding up. We have the international markets faring pretty well at the same time.
And then on the Tuesday rally, we had a broad base rally with Boeing, Disney, Chevron, these are traditional companies that are rotating out of technology to the older economy, if you will, because people think it will be a broad based recovery, at least in the second quarter and beyond next year.
CHURCH: And John, of course, because of those stunning numbers, most are focused on the Dow index. But it is a broad-based rally. Are there similar gains worldwide?
DEFTERIOS: Yes. The Dow is in historic brand. Right? It's 124 years old. Right? So, you can see why people focus on it, but the S&P 500, to your point, the Russell 2000 which is focused on small cap stocks hit a record yesterday as well. And this is a worldwide phenomenon, because it is a stimulus and the low interest rates that remain.
Tokyo at a 29-year high, Rosemary. Europe, 60 percent higher from the lows that we saw back in March. And if you take a look at oil prices, this means that there's commodity demand in the pipeline. This is the highest level for oil for Brent and WTI since March.
Remember, we went negative on the U.S. benchmark there in April, so pretty solid times. We don't see any major selling, even though we are getting to those lofty levels again. And the bar is very high for Joe Biden.
CHURCH: Yes. Amazing. We'll see how sustainable all of this is of course. John Defterios joining live from Abu Dhabi, many thanks.
Elon Musk has surpassed Bill Gates to become the second wealthiest man in the world. Bloomberg's billionaires index values Musk's net worth at $136 billion dollars.
For a moment, the two innovators were tied, until Musk pulled ahead. The bump comes as Tesla stock hit a record high this week, increasing almost 524 percent so far this year. Musk comes in second to Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos, valued at $183 billion dollars. Hard to imagine, isn't it?
All right. Still to come here on CNN Newsroom, with the Biden transition now full steam ahead, what one Trump administration health official says about giving them briefings on the coronavirus pandemic. That's next.
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): A senior member of the Trump administration says he expects to brief the incoming Biden administration in the coming days. Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Brett Giroir says he is anxious to do this in a professional way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ADM. BRETT GIROIR, HHS ASSISTANT SECRETARY: Public health is not a
matter of politics. Many of the people on his team, we work with on a regular basis already, because they are in the public health community. We are putting together materials and putting everything together. You know, we are not as far apart in our approach as the reports are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: It comes as the number of hospital admissions across the U.S. sores. It now stands at more than 88,000, a new national record. Well, the number of deaths are rising as well on Tuesday. The U.S. reported more than 2,000 new deaths from COVID-19. That is the highest number since May.
CNN's Athena Jones has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHIRLEE XIE, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF HOSPITAL MEDICINE AT HENNESPIN HEALTHCARE: I can't prevent anyone from getting COVID. All I can do is try to keep COVID from killing you.
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): As coronavirus infections explode across the country, with no signs of slowing down, health care providers are pleading with Americans to do their part to stop the spread.
XIE: What we need is for people to step up and to wear masks and to distance from people and just try to keep themselves safe and everybody else safe.
JONES: New COVID-19 cases topped 100,000 for the third week straight. 14 states reporting their highest number of hospitalizations yet. Officials warning if the virus continues to spread out of control --
JEROME ADAMS, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: You may not be able to go in and get your heart attack treated. I've heard of hospitals not being able to provide care for pregnant women because they are filled with COVID beds. So that's the reality.
JONES: In fact, Ohio's Governors said hospitals in his state are approaching capacity, and health officials in Pennsylvania warned they could run out of ICU beds in the week. In California, where ICU emissions have risen to 55 percent over the past two weeks, the Los Angeles board of supervisors is considering more closures. New Mexico is seeing an uncontrolled spread of the virus, with infections more than doubling week over week, the states setting new records for cases, hospitalizations and deaths. And in Kentucky --
GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): We are being overwhelmed with a record number of cases, with hospitalizations going up, with numbers of individuals in the ICU increasing every day.
JONES: This as when new model predicts COVID-19 cases in the U.S. could nearly double by Inauguration Day to 20 million cases. And another well-known model projects 140,000 more people could die over the next two months. And more children are becoming infected, with more than a quarter of 1 million new COVID cases in children in the two weeks ending November 19th according to a report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association.
[03:35:05]
Meanwhile, a new Axios IPSOS poll, found more than half of Americans now say they would take a first generation COVID vaccine, an increase of 14 points since September. And FDA committees is set to meet December 10th to consider an emergency use authorization for Pfizer's vaccine, and if all goes, well the U.S. could start disturbing doses soon after.
ALEX AZAR, U.S. SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: We believe we can distribute vaccine to all 64 jurisdictions within 24 hours of FDA authorization. Then we hope administration could begin as soon as the product arrives.
JONES (on camera): And now their transition to a Biden administration has officially begun, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar says his department will ensure coordinated briefings with Biden's team, and ensure that transition planning and execution will be professional, cooperatives, and collaborative.
Meanwhile, over at the CDC, a senior official telling CNN that with President-Elect Biden's transition getting underway, the expectation is that there will be a rebuilding of sorts at the agency. And a federal health official said there is more enthusiasm that the CDC may restart regular briefings, something the Trump administration halted at the beginning of the pandemic.
Athena Jones, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH (on camera): Dr. Esther Choo joins me now. She's a professor of emergency medicine at Oregon Health and Science University. Thank you Doctor for being with us and for all that you do.
ESTHER CHOO, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AT OREGON HEALTH AND SCIENCE UNIVERSITY: Thank you, Rosemary.
CHURCH: So, U.S. hospitalizations are at the highest level since the COVID pandemic began. Cases and deaths are surging, and now the White House COVID task force is considering shortening the 14-day quarantine period to 10 days instead, as long as a negative test is in the mix there. What do you make of that?
CHOO: Well, I think it's part of our ongoing struggle to balance best practice with what pragmatically people will do. It's clear that people are having a hard time adhering to all the rules. Some of them feel restricted, or are not compatible with people's lives. And sometimes we don't go perfect because that can be the enemy of the good. So, yes, nothing official yet, we definitely want to see more data and
modeling around this to see what that will do to infection rates. But I think it is balancing out, you know, the idea that we might get more people engaged in quarantine to begin with if it's a little bit easier to comply with.
CHURCH: Yes, that makes sense. And Doctor, we are also hearing that if all goes well with the approval process, Pfizer's vaccine could be available to frontline health workers by mid-December. How do you feel about that timeline and what do you think it means in terms of the rest of the population getting access to this vaccine?
CHOO: Yes. It's exciting news. It's really just around the corner. Again, availability is one thing and actually getting people to accept the vaccine and take it when it's available is another. I'm hearing even among my peers and health care, there is some hesitancy around the vaccine. So we have some work to do if the vaccine is coming that quickly.
We have to really get to work, making sure that people understand the safety data that we have conversations now about risk versus benefit. And that we make sure that as many people as possible are ready to actually receive the vaccine.
CHURCH: I am quite surprised to hear that some of your medical colleagues feel that way. Because certainly, a new Axios IPSOS poll asked Americans how likely it is that they will take the vaccine when it's available. Only 51 percent said they would. Another poll had put that around to 58 percent mark.
How surprised are you that even after so many deaths, hospitalizations, and cases that so few Americans are convinced this vaccine are safe? And how do you go about changing people's minds and making them trust the medicine and the science?
CHOO: Yes. This is a really tough part of the job that I think it should be our number one priority now. I mean, I think it's immeasurable, the damage that was done by conversations around rushing to a vaccine. The very name Operation Warp Speed, I think conveyed something really terrifying, like we are rushing through with all haste. It makes it sound like we are skipping steps, or not, you know, caring much about safety.
I think we now have to reverse that messaging and make sure that people understand that these studies were done with rigor, with a lot of careful examination of potential side effects, and that, you know, these are not vaccines that would be approved unless we felt pretty confident about safety.
[03:40:05]
But I'm not surprised by those numbers. It's a brand-new vaccine. It sounds -- I think it can feel really unfamiliar and scary to people, whereas the risk of COVID, we are seeing it still seems very distant for people if they haven't had somebody immediately in their family or their close circle affected by the disease. So, again, we have to work very hard. There's a lot of information and
logic we need to get out there so that people feel like this is a good course of action and one that is safe for them and their family members.
CHURCH: Yes. We are seeing the pushback at all levels, aren't we? Because we are all counting down to Thanksgiving here in the United States, just days away, and a record number of Americans are traveling, despite recommendations from the CDC to stay home. What advice would you give those people who clearly have already traveled anyway? How do they stay safe, if they are flying or they are traveling by car, or any other means?
CHOO: I think if people are taking on the risk of travel itself, then layer on top of that anything that you can to try to make that unsafe situation as safe as possible. So, if you are going out there, you are not staying home for Thanksgiving or for Christmas, then face masks have to be a part of that. Social distancing as much as possible has to be a part of that, keeping gatherings small and out of doors, whenever possible.
Making sure that time indoors while eating is limited as much as possible, lots of handwashing and good hygiene and good ventilation is so key. So, I think, you know, it's not like anyone thing makes a difference. We've really been talking about layered protection, and I think if you open up risk in one area, then you really layer on the other protections as conscientiously as you can.
But of course, if people still have the power to change their plans, staying home is really the best decision. That is what is going to get us safely to all the other holidays we want to celebrate in the future.
CHURCH: Yes. We just have to get to the point, this vaccine being available. People have to stay safe and stay alive. Dr. Choo, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.
CHOO: Thank you so much, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Ethiopia's state appointed Human Rights Commission says hundreds of people were killed during an ethnically charged massacre earlier this month. The investigation claims a youth group with the help of local officials and police killed at least 600 civilians in the Tigray region. Tensions have been rising between the federal and regional government for weeks now.
David McKenzie is covering this live. He joins us from Johannesburg. So, David, what more are you learning about this alleged atrocity?
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, the tension you describe really is now a full blown conflict with reportedly tanks and artillery surrounding Mekelle the regional capital of Tigray. Now to that atrocity that to you are talking about, as you said, the state appointed Human Rights Commission in Ethiopia now saying that at least 600 people were killed. They say mostly Amaras and Welkite (ph) people in the Tigray region in a place called Mai-Kadra. Now they describe a horrific situation of loosely affiliated youth
groups and security officials going door to door beating people to death and stabbing them. Horrible details there. And it's backed up by Amnesty International's Investigation and CNN's own reporting on this matter. That it appears to be in this very serious and deadly massacre that happened earlier this month.
Now, the attention -- while of course, that shouldn't be forgotten and will be investigated. The attention is turning to this -- the situation right here and now. The Prime Minister said 72 hours for the regional authorities in Tigray to lay down their arms. That expires later today. Tigrayan officials on their part understandably say they will not do that.
And so the theory is that this ongoing conflict will escalate significantly in the coming days. Recently, the incoming National Security Adviser, just today, for the Biden administration, warning that they must get to the table and talk. No signs of that just yet, Rosemary.
CHURCH (on camera): David McKenzie keeping a very close eye on that story from his vantage point there in Johannesburg. Many thanks.
Well, Hong Kong's Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, says the situation in the city had developed to the point that Beijing's interference was needed. In her annual policy address at the legislative council, she credited the national security law implemented on June 30th for putting an end to pro-democracy protests.
[03:45:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARRIE LAM, HONG KONG CHIEF EXECUTIVE (through translator): In the past year or so, Hong Kong has experience the most severe political challenges since its return to the motherland. One of our urgent priorities is to restore the Hong Kong special administrative regions constitutional order and political system from chaos.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Lam also addressed the coronavirus crisis, warning that the city is on the brink of another wave of outbreak. Hong Kong has already experienced three waves of the pandemic.
Well, pilots couldn't believe what they had found after stumbling upon a tall metal pillar in the deserts of Utah.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: Turnaround. Turnaround. And I was like, what. He's like, there's this thing. There's this thing back there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): Now, the hunt is on for who put it there. We will have details when we return.
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CHURCH (on camera): Pilots in the U.S. State of Utah came across a puzzling metal monolith sticking out of the ground while on a routine flight. The structure is embedded in the region's red rock, with no sign of who may have put it there. Andrew Adams from CNN affiliate KSL attempts to unravel its mysterious origin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDREW ADAMS, CNN AFFILIATE KSLTV (voice over): Captains logs, started 11/18, 2020. The crew of the Utah DPS helicopter traveled to southern Utah on a mission to count bighorns lifeforms with wildfire officers.
UNKNOWN: He was like. Turnaround. Turnaround. And I was like, what. He's like, there's this thing. There's this thing back there. We got to go look at it.
ADAMS: The crew had spotted an object of unknown origin on the wedge surface.
UNKNOWN: The intrepid explorers go down to investigate the alien life form.
ADAMS: In the middle of the Barren deserts stood a mysterious metal monolith.
UNKNOWN: It's probably between 10 and 12 feet high.
UNKNOWN: This is wild.
BRET HUTCHINGS, PILOT: We kind of joke around that one of will suddenly disappear stand out. I guess the rest of us will make a run for it.
ADAMS: Pilot Bret Hutchings says it didn't look like it was dropped there. It was firmly planted into the ground.
HUTCHINGS: I think, OK, is this something like NASA stuff got there or something, you know, where it bounce and satellite (inaudible) or something.
[03:50:07]
ADAMS: It seemed less scientific and more artistic.
HUTCHINGS: I am assuming it is some new wave artist or something, you know, or somebody who is a big 2001 space odyssey fan.
ADAMS: The similarity to the space movie was unmistakable, as was the bizarre effect it had on observers.
HUTCHINGS: It's just kind of unusual stuff. ADAMS: The universe is filled with the unexplained, and its journey
to southern Utah only raise more questions. As the crew headed home, they only wish they had the answers.
HUTCHINGS: Yes. We never -- that's been about the strangest thing that I've come across out there in all the years of flying.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH (on camera): Someone is having a bit of fun. Utah's Department of Public Safety doesn't know yet who or what place the monolith. But reminded the public that it's illegal to install any art or structure on public land without authorization, no matter what planet you are from.
And still to come, the inspiring story of a Japanese Paralympian who has defied all odds to excel in the sport of canoe sprints. That's next.
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CHURCH (on camera): All this week, we will be meeting inspiring Paralympians from around the world who are fighting for athletic glory in the upcoming Tokyo games. Today, we meet a Japanese athlete specializing in the sport of canoe sprint. She has hopes of winning when her hometown host the Paralympics.
Here is CNN's Christina MacFarlane.
[03:55:10]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Stroke by stroke, Monika Seryu canoes down the Kyunakagawa River in Tokyo's Koto Ward, which will play host to many of the water sports in next year's games. The 23-year-old knows the waterway well. She has been coming here for more than a decade.
MONIKA SERYU, CANOE SPRINT, JAPAN (through translator): What I like about being a canoeist and an athlete is that I have gained so much muscle and physical strength, and as I gained this strength, I've become more confident in myself.
MACFARLANE: One day, in a high school gym class, Seryu's life changed forever.
SERYU (through translator): We were practicing a mat exercise called a handstand forward roll, but I lost my balance and fell vertically towards the ground in a strange manner. Then I heard a crack from my back, which I had never heard before. I was not able to breathe.
MACFARLANE: Seryu was rushed to the hospital, the injury had left her paralyzed below the chest.
SERYU (through translator): After I was injured, I was deeply shocked by the fact that the life I was envisioning vanished all of a sudden. I was canoeing before I got injured and thought I would never be involved with canoeing again.
MACFARLANE: In 2014, only a year after her injury, the Tokyo Paralympics were announced for 2020. And Seryu decided to begin training in para-canoe, but shortly after it was added to the games. At the 2016 games in Rio, there were only two years of training under her belt. Seryu was able to place 8th.
SERYU (through translator): As the Olympics and Paralympics will be held in Tokyo, I personally. Feel very secure and I think it will be a great advantage to compete in my hometown.
MACFARLANE: Christina MacFarlane, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH (on camera): And you can watch more of Monika's story this Saturday on the Superhero Program right here on CNN.
And still ahead on CNN Newsroom, we will return to our lead story as President-Elect Joe Biden stakes out his anti-Trump presidency, plus we will have the latest on the response to COVID-19 as Americans prepare to travel for the Thanksgiving holiday. That's all ahead.
And thanks for joining us. I am Rosemary Church. I'll be back with more news in just a moment.
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