Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

U.S. Surpasses 13 Million Coronavirus Infections As Cases Surge; Expert: Upcoming Case Surge Will Be Destabilizing For The U.S.; Former Trump Cybersecurity Chief: Election Most Secure Ever; Appeals Court Rejects Trump's Effort To Undo PA Certification; Food Banks Struggle To Meet Demand During Holidays; Ohio State Cancels Game Against Illinois Due To Additional Cases. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired November 28, 2020 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And unlike seedlings, seed vessels don't need to be buried in the ground.

GRANT CANARY, CEO OF DRONESEED: Instead of taking three years to grow a seedling in a nursery, we're doing it in 30 to 60 days by utilizing seeds in a seed vessel.

CRANE: Based on its trials, DroneSeed claims it can grow 140 trees per acre, promising results but from a small sample size. DroneSeed isn't the only company with reforestation drones but it is the first with FAA approval to operate in nine states including California and Oregon where it's already restoring forests impacted by wildfires.

CANARY: We need all the trees we can get to be able to sequester that carbon and avoid the worst effects of climate change but we've got to be able to do it faster.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMARA WALKER, CNN HOST: Hello everyone. Thank you for joining me. I'm Amara Walker. We begin this holiday weekend with a grim reality. The U.S. has now surpassed 13 million coronavirus cases. This following a Thanksgiving Day that saw more than 100,000 new infections and over 1200 deaths despite 20 states not reporting any data on the holiday.

One of our nation's top infectious disease experts now warning that the post-holiday case surge will be destabilizing for the U.S. health care system, economy and Homeland Security. Nearly 90,000 people are spending this holiday in the hospital and where's the president?

On a golf course for the 307th time during his presidency while still focusing on the election he lost. Today marks three weeks since the race was called for Joe Biden but President Trump has yet to formally concede defeat.

Meanwhile a member of Biden's coronavirus advisory board says the president-elect will stick to the scientists and let health experts decide who gets the vaccine first. This as a CDC's independent vaccine advisory committee scheduled an emergency meeting and vote for this Tuesday to discuss who will get the vaccine first.

More than 10 million Californians will be banned from public gatherings under a new stay-at-home order starting on Monday. Officials in Los Angeles County, the nation's most populated county issuing new restrictions as cases continue to surge. CNN's Paul Vercammen joining me now from a coronavirus testing site in LA and Paul, what sort of lines are you seeing ahead of these restrictions about to take effect?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the lines have been long for the last few days, we set a record of testing in California some 219,000 people were tested on Friday and we've got brisk business here. This is the veterans' campus in West Los Angeles.

The UCLA baseball city behind me. They're using this parking lot several lines wide to test as many people as possible and as you pointed out, we are moving into some will call them modified restrictions Amara and what is happened here as we passed a threshold, a daily average of 4500 cases in LA county so starting on Monday. You pointed this out.

We've got basically a 3-week ban on gathering with people outside of your household. That's whether it's indoor or outdoor so parks and beaches and the like stay open but you are to wear your mask when you are in these locations so keep open golf courses and the like.

They also want to reduce capacity at essential businesses to some 35 percent and then they want to continue tracing as they are doing here in LA county getting as many people tested as possible and we're seeing this throughout the west. Arizona for example has tripled its hospitalizations up to 2300, that in the last few weeks.

New Mexico reporting a record number of deaths so in California we are seeing this move to test as many people as possible and these restrictions and these restrictions by the way, they are going to last for 3 weeks. The hope is by keeping these households separate by the time we get to the Christmas holiday, they can lift these restrictions but tough times ahead here in California, Amara.

WALKER: Compliance will be tough to enforce. Paul Vercammen, appreciate you joining us. Thank you and with the pandemic surging across the country, small businesses continue to be hit especially hard on the small business Saturday. Struggling business owners are banking on a much needed boost from holiday shoppers as a fight to keep the lights on and pay their employees.

Let's go to CNN's Natasha Chen in Lawrenceville, Georgia just outside Atlanta and tell us more Natasha, about what you're hearing from business owners, especially during this weekend where you know a lot of people are shopping?

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Amara, one of the concerns is talking about this current surge in cases and whether new restrictions would have to come into place just like Paul was talking about there, you know if anything like a lockdown or any type of restrictions were to happen again, the question is would small businesses survive a second round of that.

[12:05:00]

We've been talking to some restaurants here in Lawrenceville as well as the owner of that flower shop, Lovin Florist. Brandon Neisler actually bought the place in February from local owners. What a time to become a new business owner. We've got Brandon actually with us here right now. What timing. You had to go pretty much directly into lockdown after you opened the shop, what was that like?

BRANDON NEISLER, OWNER, LOVIN FLORIST: It was frightening. It was a lot to take on. My husband and I bought it. We literally dropped everything. We stopped our life; we left our job in three days. I knew the previous owners. He's a friend and it was a dream of ours to have our own business so to buy the shop in end of January, beginning of February and then here comes March and you saw it in the news and everything's going through your head.

Your like your livelihood, you've invested everything you have into it and you could lose it instantly before you even get a chance really make your mark and experience the benefits of having your own business.

CHEN: How close were you to feeling like you were going to lose the shop you just bought?

NEISLER: I think definitely the week before we went to our first lockdown in Lawrenceville, we had a lot of sleepless nights and it was - it was a lot to take on emotionally, mentally, everything but fortunately we were able to make it through.

We did have a second shut down in July. Personally we had no cases, testing everything was fine all that kind of stuff but we had a scare so as a precautionary for the safety of our employees and our customers, we made the decision as a business to shut down for two weeks. Luckily everything was on time.

CHEN: How important is the holiday season and the sales you're making this weekend and in December, how important is that to the health of your business?

NEISLER: It's vital. Definitely we're doing well for the year. Everything's been very beneficial. However this holiday season just really needs to come through supporting small business knowing that you can contact your small business versus going to a big box store versus going online to large collection sites and having them send it up to us anyways.

We're going to have it anyways and they take a big cut off the top and you should just call your small business and let them take care of you, the way we do anyways. CHEN: Thank you so much Brandon so a lot of small businesses having

the same experience, really hoping these holiday sales push them through to a healthier 2021. Amara.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WALKER: It's such an important message. We all should do our part to support the local businesses, the local restaurants, the small businesses who are really having a hard time during the pandemic. Natasha, thank you. Well, the U.S. is on pace to have more than 4 million COVID cases in November.

That would be more than double last month's total and let's say yet another grim record. This comes as the CDC advisory panel is getting ready to hold an emergency meeting, Tuesday. They're expected to vote on who they believe should get the vaccine first. With me now is Dr. Khalilah Gates. She is the pulmonary and critical care specialist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Doctor, thank you so much for joining us. It sounds like the CDC is leaning toward making the vaccine first available to health care workers, support staff and elderly people who live in nursing homes. What are your thoughts on that and it seems like demand is going to outpace supply?

So hard decisions are going to have to be made as the first of the vaccines are distributed.

DR. KHALILAH GATES, PULMONARY & CRITICAL CARE SPECIALIST, NORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: Absolutely so very tough decisions ahead but it makes sense to target the most vulnerable and that would be the front line workers as well as our elderly population and that's what we really have to look at.

We have to see what the data will bring us on Tuesday and then really make some decisions about who would best benefit from the first does.

WALKER: Also people with higher risk with comorbidities will be able to get towards the front of the line at some point. I'm just curious in terms of little logistics, I mean that's got to be difficult even verifying that someone has a comorbidity depending on you know where you go and if you're actually in a system.

GATES: Absolutely. So there will be some difficulties. There are difficulties with how we administer - who has the supplies to actually hold some of the vaccines that are coming out like Pfizer's vaccine requires to be at frigid temperatures and so those are just some of the logistics and then it's not very difficult to confirm you know who has comorbidities and who does not.

That's the least of my worries I think at this point. I think we have a large enough population to focus on initially, that there will be time available so that when more doses come, we can expand who gets it.

WALKER: Even when a vaccine becomes available, polls are showing large portions of the American public say they're not going to get the vaccine and Axios Ipsus poll this week showed that just 51 percent of Americans were willing to get immunized when the vaccine first becomes available and 48 percent saying they won't get vaccinated.

[12:10:00]

Doctor, how does the medical community win over those skeptical of the vaccine and if half the population doesn't get immunized, what's the impact of that?

GATES: Absolutely, so like any other vaccines, education is key so we have to have the data to be able to provide our patients. This is the efficacy of it, this is the safety of it, this is why we are recommending this be done. And so with every other vaccine, it's the same phenomenon. We have to have the data. We have to have education campaigns and we have to reach tabulations that we know traditionally are more subjected to not getting the vaccines.

And what is the outcome of not getting the vaccine. Unfortunately is prolonged persistence of coronavirus or COVID-19. The idea is that if we can get the majority, I believe I read somewhere 60 to 70 percent of Americans vaccinated, then we could potentially eradicate coronavirus. If we can't achieve that, we could potentially be battling coronavirus for quite some time.

WALKER: Oh goodness. Lastly, how concerned are you about the next couple of weeks when we may start seeing a spike in corona virus cases because we saw so many people traveling against CDC guidelines to go, see family over the Thanksgiving holiday and I heard some doctors saying look, if you did or if you had a gathering with people outside of your immediate household, you should be quarantining for a couple of weeks which I'm sure a lot of people won't be doing as well.

GATES: Absolutely so if I'm honest I have last week since Thanksgiving worried about what this - what will happen with this. We know that we're already in midst of a surge and the concern of adding additional cases to that is very concerning. The biggest thing as we talked about at the beginning of this is not to overwhelm our health care system, not to overwhelm our resources so that we can take care of those that are sick.

And my biggest concern right now is we'll have such a rush across the nation that we won't be able to take care of the patients that present and that's what we're - this is what this is all about is we're not saying people aren't going to get sick, we're saying let's not overwhelm our hospitals, our ICUs so that we can take care of people and that's what we're asking everyday still.

WALKER: It hits home when you tell us that you yourself Dr. Khalilah Gates are losing sleep over the concerns of a pending spike in COVID- 19 cases. Appreciate you joining us. Thank you very much doctor.

GATES: Thank you.

WALKER: Much more to come in the CNN NEWSROOM. Outrage in Iran after its top nuclear scientist is killed in an apparent assassination. Tehran now accusing Israel of being behind it. Also ahead president playing a round of golf after losing another legal round in a Pennsylvania court.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: Iran is promising swift retaliation after a key scientist in its nuclear program was killed in an alleged assassination plot. Iran's defense ministry confirming he died, Friday when his car was attacked outside Tehran. Top Iranian officials are pointing the finger at Israel. The U.S. says it is closely monitoring the developments and the U.S. also sending an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf though the Pentagon says it's unrelated to escalating tensions with Iran.

CNN's international security editor Nick Paton Walsh joining me now from London with more. Hi there Nick. Where is this headed?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Well, I have to say I'm not entirely convinced we're about to see conflicts break out in the region. You just heard from an Israeli cabinet official according to Reuters saying that "they have no clue who was behind this."

Standard procedure frankly for Israel even if it was involved. At this point there is no evidence pointing to that rather circumstantial facts that they've being behind similar attacks in the past. No evidence pointing to their involvement here and standard procedure for them would be to deny involvement but essentially, they are the people with the capacity to do this and a track record of doing it in the past.

What is Iran's likely move next? Well, the - has been exactly what you would expect, frankly. They have - we heard from their supreme leader that he thinks they have two things on their to-do list. Firstly to swiftly retaliate against the killers and secondly, also to continue the work of this prominent nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, kind of the public face of Iran's nuclear program, very reclusive as he was still when they had one.

It's important to point out that they say they're no longer pursuing a nuclear weapon though they have been saying they're enriching various parts of uranium at a rate which is outside of the terms of the nuclear deal they were a party of.

Now remember, the Trump administration got out of that deal, put on heavy sanctions against Iran, a policy of maximum pressure. The administration of Joe Biden, the president elect, all saying they want to pursue diplomacy at this point so what does this assassination at this point do?

Well, it makes hoax in Iran say potentially well, listen, there's no point talking to anybody here, some of our most prominent people are being killed in the outskirts of Tehran, our adversaries don't want peace.

But at the same time too you might argue too that it makes any potential diplomacy with Joe Biden, a stark relief from what's happening at the moment which is clearly Iran's adversaries trying to embarrass it by killing its top officials. This isn't the first time this year they've had something like this occur. Back in January remember, essentially the most prominent military character Qassem Soleimani, a revolutionary guard chief was killed by U.S. drone as he left Iraq's Baghdad airport.

That was again penetrating Iran's most secure circles. They promised revenge back then too at a time and place of their choosing. We've yet to publicly see that. So for this comparatively lesser figure, are they likely to retaliate on a large scale? They say they will. I'm not entirely sure. We'll see it in the next two months.

[12:20:00]

And then Joe Biden's bid for diplomacy may pick up again. Tense times certainly but doesn't look like at this stage like we're on a fast path to conflict.

WALKER: Yes, the assassination happening just as Trump is about to leave the White House and it'll be interesting to see how that factors into when and how Iran does indeed retaliate. Nick Paton Walsh, good to see you in London for us. Thank you.

When we come back, a Pennsylvania judge dealts a blow to the Trump campaign's baseless - baseless rhetoric up election fraud writing quote charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here. More on that ahead. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:25:00]

WALKER: The Trump campaign is facing yet another legal setback in their efforts to overturn the presidential election. The latest loss came in Pennsylvania where a Trump appointed judge penned a scathing opinion, rejecting the campaign's request to undo certification. White House reporter Kevin Liptak joining us now. Yet another legal blow Kevin.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, this is just the latest in a string of failures for the Trump campaign. Their legal case to overturning the election is collapsing and reaching a dead end. Now they say that they'll appeal this latest one to the Supreme Court.

It's not even really clear that the Supreme Court will be willing to take this up though all indications are that they don't necessarily want to get involved in this. The appeal that the Trump campaign lost yesterday was structured fairly narrowly so even if the Supreme Court did take it up, that would essentially just put it back to the beginning in that District Court.

In that court the judge essentially laughed the Trump campaign out of court. In the next court that happened yesterday, the Appeals court this judge who was appointed by President Trump issued a very scathing decision, said that ballots determine presidents not briefs. It was the second setback yesterday.

Remember that recount in Wisconsin that the Trump campaign requested and paid $3 million for. Well, in Milwaukee County, the recount came back with a 132 votes but they were in favor of Joe Biden. Joe Biden gained 132 votes in that recount. The deadline in Wisconsin to certify the votes is on Tuesday so all of this is coming as the president continues to issue these false claims even as his cases collapse in court.

The president is on the golf course now but he tweeted yesterday that he needed to see proof from Joe Biden before he could enter the White House.

WALKER: And Kevin, President Trump's former cyber security chief was on 60 minutes for his first interview since he was fired I think via Twitter. What did he have to say?

LIPTAK: Yes, this is Christopher Krebs. Remember him. He was the Director of the cyber security and infrastructure security agency, essentially the head for election security in the United States. After the November 3 election, he put out a statement that said that election was the most secure an American history. The president then fired him on Twitter and now Krebs is speaking out on 60 minutes.

He was asked about the president's continued false claims about the validity of the election. He called them farcical, he said the proof is in the ballots and he said that Americans should have 100 percent confidence in their vote. And now before he was fired, Krebs is telling people around him that he was fully expecting to be terminated by the president and he was asked about that moment on 60 minutes.

He was asked if he was surprised when the word officially came down. Listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER KREBS, FMR DIRECTOR, CISA: I don't know if I was necessarily surprised. It's not how I wanted to go out. I think I - the thing that upsets me the most about that is I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to my team. And I've worked with them for 3.5 years in the trenches, building an agency, putting CISA on the national stage. And I loved that team and I didn't get a chance to say goodbye so that's what I'm most upset about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: So giving a nod to his team there but also pushing back very hard on these continued baseless claims being made by the president. Amara.

WALKER: Kevin Liptak at the White House. Thank you very much. Let's discuss more of this with Shan Wu. He is a former federal prosecutor, defense attorney and a CNN legal analyst and he's joining us now from Washington. Shan, great to see you. Let's go first to Pennsylvania and can you tell us more about what happened there because it sounded like the judge was a bit frustrated saying, look, there's no specific allegations being made. No evidence being presented. You don't have a case.

SHAN WU, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Absolutely Amara. I think this judge was just the latest in a series of judges kind of fed up with the Trump team's weak legal arguments. I said in a piece back on November 8 with CNN that it was time for the Trump legal team to put up or shut up and they haven't done either.

I mean judge after judge has rebuked them for not having any actual evidence, even their claims are inconsistent. We hear president publicly. Rudy Giuliani, the so-called mastermind talking about fraud and yet also Giuliani publicly has said, this is not a fraud case.

[12:30:01]

So they're all over the board.

WALKER: So, if anyone is keeping count, I think that's 30 plus legal cases that have basically fallen apart for President Trump and his team. Why are his lawyers and President Trump himself continuing to put up a fight? I mean, do they have a path?

WU: I don't think they have a legal path. I mean, the President's motivations, as has been speculated about may really be political or face saving but, you know, his lawyers are really getting themselves in the hot water. I mean, these are such weak claims that they could be sanctioned for them for bringing frivolous lawsuits. And, frankly, they should be. Not only that, some of his lawyers have made very disparaging statements about the courts calling the Pennsylvania judiciary activist machine.

If I got out in front of the courthouse steps and sat down about a case I was in, I find myself right back in there facing sanctions, as well as probably a gag order.

WALKER: Yes. Well, let's say on the Supreme Court, because it ruled against New York's restrictions on religious gatherings. Tell us more about, you know, what we're going to see with this new court because this was really the first significant indication that the power dynamics at the Supreme Court have really shifted, but also it almost sounds like there was some bitterness or some, I don't know, personal anger, or what I venture to say, when you were reading some of the opinions written by the judges.

WU: I agree, Amara. It's really a remarkable decision actually, because this was an unsigned opinion. And, typically, this was striking down the New York restrictions on COVID saying that violated freedom of religion. It was an unsigned opinion which typically the court does to one speak with unanimous voice and two, to make it seem like this is not a big deal. It's not a big important opinion. But instead, it generated as much controversy as any major opinion does.

And in many ways, it is a major opinion. It's the first one that shows the new extreme conservative majority with Amy Coney Barrett joining in on this. And it immediately shunted Chief Justice Roberts off to the side. He ends up voting with the liberal portion of the court dissenting. Roberts saying that he thought implying this was a rash decision to reach out beside this case. So, it's definitely a herald of things to come.

WALKER: And also, a sign of Chief Justice Roberts influence on the court now.

WU: Absolutely. He has moved away from being the center of power to possibly being in the liberal wing, not because he's a liberal, but because he's trying to stay more moderate. I think Justice Gorsuch who I have great personal respect for, we're in the same office, really, it comes out very harshly. He attacks the New York edict as being a color-coded executive edict that the constitution won't tolerate.

I mean, the ideology is really showing through and despite Justice Chief Justice Roberts' efforts to keep the court perhaps more in the middle of the road, I think he's going to end up on the losing end of that very often. And we'll see a lot more of that to come.

WALKER: Shan Wu, thank you for your analysis.

WU: Good to see you.

WALKER: As we head into the holiday season, many families are teetering on the edge of economic disaster. The images of long lines at food banks are becoming all too familiar. When we come back, I'm going to speak to the Director of Central Texas Food Bank about what he is seeing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:37:27]

WALKER: As we near the end of Thanksgiving week, experts warn the COVID-19 virus will likely get worse in the coming weeks and it's already bad. The U.S. has now surpassed 13 million coronavirus cases. More than 205,000 new cases reported Friday, which likely consists of both Thursday and Friday reports in some cases, because at least 20 states did not report COVID-19 numbers on Thanksgiving. The U.S. has now reported more than 100,000 infections every day for 25 consecutive days. On Friday, more than 89,000 people were in hospitals because of the virus.

And as many of us enjoy Thanksgiving leftovers, let's not lose sight of what this pandemic is doing to people who have lost their jobs across the U.S. right now. People who are accustomed to taking care of themselves are now waiting in long lines at food banks. I thought that was an airport.

Joining me now from Austin, Texas is Derrick Chubbs, he is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Central Texas Food Bank. Sir, appreciate you joining us. You know, just anecdotally I've been hearing that there's a lot of people in line now who are there for the first time, what's the demand been like? DERRICK CHUBBS, PRESIDENT & CEO, CENTRAL TEXAS FOOD BANK: Well, and thank you for the opportunity to be here. And here in Central Texas or the Austin essential Texas area, we're still continuing to see unprecedented need based on job losses due to the pandemic. Just to add a little context over the past 90 days, during the month of September, we saw almost 300,000 individuals in need of our services. During the month of October, we saw that grow to 343,000 in need of our services.

And we're almost finished with November and we're anticipating around a 25 percent increase over October. So the need just continues to grow. And these are not, you know, individuals that you would normally see a considerable number of those that are depending on our services are coming to see us for the very first time.

WALKER: And, you know, I would only imagine that the lines will continue and perhaps get longer because there is no pandemic stimulus package in sight what's in a lot of these unemployment benefits expire after Christmas. Where are you getting the donations and volunteers? Do you have enough volunteers?

[12:40:08]

CHUBBS: Well, we've been very fortunate even though the pandemic did add some constraints on volunteerism in order to maintain social distancing, so that we can minimize the risk for our clients, our staff and our volunteers. We almost had to drop the number of volunteers by 70 percent at the onset of the pandemic, and we are still in need of volunteers. We're just doing more distributions, larger distributions, with smaller numbers of volunteers and staff members so we can minimize the risk.

WALKER: And where are the donations coming from? How can people help? And how are you -- are you able to meet demand? Are you struggling?

CHUBBS: Like all of my peers across the country, we are all struggling to meet the need. As you and I are having this conversation today, we are around 30 percent short of meeting the demand that we're already saying, however, we've been very fortunate, our community has stepped up our retail grocers. We have, you know, we're getting donated food, and we're getting donations. The challenges, that's a statement of today.

All of our data tells us that we are -- we will see these elevated levels through 2021 almost through 2022 and in a worst-case scenario into 2023. So, our concerns are more long term than they are immediate. So, making a donation to our food bank or to your local food bank regardless of where you are is going to be beneficial to helping us try and meet this unprecedented demand.

WALKER: We don't want to lose sight of so many Americans struggling, we're all struggling. This is an unprecedented time and it's nice to see communities trying to help each other.

Derrick Chubbs, thank you for what you do.

CHUBBS: It's a pleasure. Thank you for having me.

WALKER: College football is being hit hard by the coronavirus outbreaks among teams have forced more than 11 games to be canceled or postponed.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:46:39]

WALKER: To London now where anti-lockdown protesters took to the streets, more than 60 people were arrested. Video shows some protesters clashing with police. Demonstrators can be heard chanting freedom. Protests in London are currently banned under coronavirus legislation. London police say they expect the number of arrests to rise.

And back in the U.S., one Minnesota family is giving thanks this holiday weekend for surviving a COVID-19 outbreak that ripped through their home. All seven family members caught the virus at the start of the pandemic, and some are still suffering from the after effects. Now they're making it their mission to warn others about just how dangerous this virus is.

CNN's Adrienne Broaddus reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Charles and Kirsten Johnson-Nixon pledged for better or worse, the Minneapolis coupled didn't know where life would lead.

CHARLES JOHNSON-NIXON, RECOVERED FROM COVID-19: COVID --

BROADDUS (voice-over): And they had no idea the coronavirus --

KIRSTIN JOHNSON-NIXON, RECOVERED FROM COVID-19: I've had pneumonia before. I didn't feel what I felt with COVID.

BROADDUS (voice-over): -- would write life's most painful chapter.

C. JOHNSON-NIXON: My father-in-law tested positive and was hospitalized. My mother-in-law tested positive and was hospitalized. My wife and I tested positive.

K. JOHNSON-NIXON: I'm a black woman. I am -- I'm overweight. I have some underlying issues. But I thought, how could this happen, you know, to us? We are doing all the right things.

BROADDUS (voice-over): The virus attacked everyone in their family, including the couple's three boys. And while recovering, this family received a call they hoped would never happen.

K. JOHNSON-NIXON: I felt hopeless.

BROADDUS (voice-over): At this hospital, Kirstin's father, William, was placed on a ventilator. CALEB JOHNSON-NIXON, RECOVERED FROM COVID-19: My grandpa was in the hospital for 50 days and the doctor just kept saying that, when a person over the age of 80 years old went on a ventilator, they usually didn't come off.

BROADDUS (voice-over): According to the COVID Tracking Project, black people in the U.S. are dying at more than double the rate of white people. Native Americans and Latinos are also dying at significantly higher rates than whites and Asian-Americans.

Charles feared he wouldn't be around to watch his kids grow up or see them play another lacrosse game.

C. JOHNSON-NIXON: That, for me, was my biggest fear. You know, I'm a -- I lost my father when I was young. And one of my goals when I became a father was to make sure that I was going to be here for my kids. And the idea that this thing could turn on me and take me away from them was the hardest thing to deal with.

God kept me here for my boys and got me through this.

BROADDUS (voice-over): So, in this season of Thanksgiving --

C. JOHNSON-NIXON: I said, you can cut the apples when we get home.

BROADDUS: -- the Johnson-Nixon family overflows with gratitude.

C. JOHNSON-NIXON: We're alive.

K. JOHNSON-NIXON: I'm also thankful that my parents are alive.

BROADDUS (voice-over): Six months have passed since Kirstin wrapped her arms --

K. JOHNSON-NIXON: It's hard not to hug him.

BROADDUS (voice-over): -- around her father.

K. JOHNSON-NIXON: Or to kiss him.

BROADDUS (voice-over): He still needs oxygen.

K. JOHNSON-NIXON: I'm glad I still get to, you know, hug and kiss these guys, so.

BROADDUS (voice-over): Charles and Kirstin say, for better or worse, their work isn't done.

[12:50:02]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The cough, loss of appetite.

BROADDUS (voice-over): They're speaking on panels and vowed to educate the hardest- hit communities about a virus that changed their lives.

K. JOHNSON-NIXON: I thought it's important to wear your mask, to wash your hands.

C. JOHNSON-NIXON: It makes you want to yell out and be on a mission to bring awareness to people and say, hey, we have to take this serious because we're already dealing with all the other problems that we have to deal with being black in this country. 2020 will be gone soon, thank God. 2021, hopefully, will give everyone an opportunity to rethink how they do things, change how they do things, if they need to.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: A harrowing story. And let's hope this family's story serves as a warning to so many of us. Thank you to Adrienne Broaddus for that.

Well, this year's CNN Heroes and all-star tribute will be a special celebration of the heroic efforts of those who stood up to do more when faced with COVID-19 and racial injustice. Here is one of this year's most inspiring moments.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER (voice-over), CNN HOST: Hans Christian Anderson wrote where words fail, music speaks. In the early days, the pandemic, we didn't have the right words or know the right way to be together. We have songs that filled the air.

In Florence, people saying the Italian National Anthem. In Chicago, they countered the sorrow and loss with living on a prayer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Living on a prayer.

COOPER (voice-over): In Dallas, they made sure their neighbors knew they could lean on me.

CROWD: (Singing).

COOPER (voice-over): In Boston, they belted out Sweet Caroline.

CROWD: Sweet Caroline.

COOPER (voice-over): And a Broadway legend, Brian Stokes Mitchell, serenaded us with "The Impossible Dream" from his balcony.

BRIAN STOKES MITCHELL, ARTIST: Follow that star.

COOPER (voice-over): All across the world, people found a way to sing and spread hope and offer thanks and celebrate life. They posted on social media.

CROWD: (Singing).

COOPER (voice-over): Communities belted out hits from balconies and neighbors brought their musical skills to the streets. All over the world, we found a way to lift each other up and connect through the power of music. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: Nothing like music to suit our soul. Go to cnnheroes.com right now to vote for this moment or any of our most inspiring moments. And once you vote, you can also upload your own videos telling us why it moved you. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:57:49]

WALKER: The NFL has now ordered all 32 teams to shut down practice facilities on Monday and Tuesday due to an increase in coronavirus cases around the nation and around the league. CNN's Sports Correspondent Carolyn Manno joining me now with more. Carolyn, how did Thanksgiving gatherings factor into this decision?

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Amara. I think they played a large role. The league trying to be cautious here. I mean, so far this late in the season, they've yet to outright cancel a game. They're doing everything that they can to avoid that scenario.

And this is a very complex puzzle. Every single hypothetical, you know, situation seemingly in play here for the league, but the Thanksgiving holiday is cause for concern and that's why they're ordering their teams to close their facilities on Monday and Tuesday.

They believe that a number of players and staff members have had out of town guests over the Thanksgiving holiday so they want to really ensure that they're tested properly before resuming activities in an effort to keep everybody safe. That, however, will not apply to the teams that are playing the Monday night and now Tuesday night game.

The Ravens, the undefeated Steelers squaring off on Tuesday after a widespread coronavirus outbreak on the Ravens squad. So if that ends up happening as it's scheduled to the Ravens game against the Cowboys, which was initially scheduled for Thursday night will also be moved back.

Coronavirus also wreaking havoc on college football, seven games will not be played today, including fourth ranked Ohio State's game at Illinois that was due to begin at the top of this hour, but the Buckeyes team facility is shut down. All team activities are suspended after Head Coach Ryan Day and several other members, the program ended up testing positive for COVID-19. So this is the second Buckeye game called off this season, Amara.

One more may lose them shot at the Big Ten title. So, coronavirus continuing to wreak havoc both at the professional and college level and in addition with college basketball season underway as well. We're going to continue to see these cancellations as the nation goes so does sports as it relates to coronavirus.

WALKER: Yes, it'll be on, it'll be off. Vanderbilt Sarah Fuller could become the first woman to play in a Power Five conference college football game today as Vanderbilt takes on Missouri in a C.C. matchup. I mean how likely is she to take to the field?

MANNO: Yes, this is a great story. I would say likely in theory, you know, she's the only kicker that traveled with the team.