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U.S. Sets New Record with Nearly 100,000 COVID-19 Hospitalizations; Oklahoma Nurse Loses Husband and Mother to COVID Three Days Apart; Germany Begins Construction of First Mass Vaccination Center. Aired 11:30-12p ET

Aired December 01, 2020 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Help is on the way but it is not here, until it is here.

CNNs Rosa Flores is at a testing site in Miami Beach, Florida with more of the reality of today. Rosa Flores, was one of the hot spots towards the beginning of the pandemic and the virus is surging there once again.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Kate, it is. Let me show you around, because like you said, I'm in Miami Beach, this is a testing site. And the line is bumper to bumper and it curls around the block. This as the state of Florida is about to surpass the 1 million confirmed COVID-19 case mark. That is a grim reality here in the state of Florida.

Now, about 20 percent of those cases happened just in the month of November. So if you take a look at the numbers, you can clearly see that there was a surge in the summer, there's a dip in the numbers and then a resurgence. That is exactly where we are right now.

Now, when you see an increase in cases, you also usually see an increase in hospitalizations and that is what we're seeing. Hospitalizations across the state have increased 28 percent in the past two weeks with more than 4,100 people hospitalized right now in the state of Florida. Nearly 20 percent of all those are right here in Miami-Dade County where I am, where hospitalizations have increased by 37 percent in the past two weeks, ICUs by 35 percent and ventilator use by 46 percent.

Now, Governor Ron DeSantis had a press conference yesterday for the first time in 26 days and the governor doubling down, saying that he is not requiring masks to be worn in his state. Kate, he pointed to states in the Midwest and saying that masks do not work. And we, of course, know the contrary from experts. Kate?

BOLDUAN: I'm stunned into silence that he would say that right now. Rosa, thank you very much for continuing your great reporting on the ground in Florida. So, with hospitals straining under the weight of the pandemic, the

government's congressional watchdog agency is issuing a troubling new report. The medical supply shortages that plagued the response to COVID early on, they still remain persistent, the GAO reporting that about one-third of states are saying that they are greatly concerned about having enough vaccine-related supplies to administer a COVID-19 vaccine when they get it. And that's all despite efforts by federal agencies to expand supply chains. So what does this all mean?

Joining me right now is Dr. Kelly Cawcutt. She's an infectious disease and critical care physician at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Thank you for being here.

I was really struck, Doctor, what you said to The Atlantic a couple weeks back when you said, we're watching a system breaking in front of us and we're helpless to stop it. What do you mean by that? What are you seeing in your hospital and beyond right now?

DR. KELLY CAWCUTT, UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER: So, in our hospital, at the time of the article, and what we're seeing across the Midwest is our health care system breaking both with the number of patients coming into the hospital, our ability to have enough health care staff to take care of those patients and just as you mentioned, the supply line to ensure that we have adequate protective equipment, adequate resources for testing, all of those things as we see these surges in the Midwest and, really, in different hot spots throughout the country comeback into play and will we have the capacity to truly take care of these patients?

And the reality is we're seeing numbers that suggest we will not be able to do that. And people will die who otherwise should not have had to die in this pandemic.

BOLDUAN: And, Doctor, when you look at the numbers, what is -- what's the breaking point that you're seeing when you're looking at the system collapsing? What are you watching for, where are the cracks that you see, where you're seeing this already start to give?

CAWCUTT: I think the biggest crack that we're seeing right now is really in our health care workers. We are seeing areas like North Dakota, where they are stretched beyond the capacity for their health care workers to staff patient beds and have even talked about bringing in COVID positive health care workers to take care of COVID positive patients because they can't maintain that safe environment without bringing those staff back.

Here at our institution, we have really pushed up against our bed capacity. We've added additional teams to take care of COVID patients. So we're already stretching our staff to take care of more patients, to do more medical care than we would do routinely. And human resources are limited. There's only so much we can stretch to do.

BOLDUAN: Yes, you will run out of hands to actually save lives at some point. That's something that people don't seem to -- still not seem to grasp. I mean, in your -- and I think it's worth noting, I mean, your hospital, the University of Nebraska Medical Center, is a world class medical facility.

[11:35:03]

I mean, you're uniquely qualified to handle diseases like COVID, to be able to handle large capacities. You've got systems, you guys are top notch, yet you're still, as you're noting, even your medical system is being stretched thin by this disease. I mean, what does that tell you?

CAWCUTT: So, we are absolutely prepared to take care of highly contagious diseases and we have been preparing for something like this to a point. But when you have to stop surgical procedures that are elective to open more beds, when you have to stretch your physician teams and your nursing teams and our respiratory therapy teams so far that we are starting to have that capacity to see a degradation of standard of care, and even as much as you can prepare, you can't replace people when you get overrun with a number of patients that's just not sustainable for that level of care.

So, despite the preparation, despite all the expertise and skills that we are so fortunate to have here and that we have worked to maintain, we can only handle so much of a surge. The system is only made with so much capacity.

BOLDUAN: That's right, 96,000. That is a number that I'm sure keeps Dr. Cawcutt up at night, as well as so many physicians around the country who are trying their best, and everyone should take note. Thank you of your warnings. Thank you, Doctor.

Coming up for us, the pandemic has killed more than 268,000 Americans. One nurse out of Oklahoma, she lost her mother and her husband to the virus three days apart. Today, she has a message. She joins us next.

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[11:40:00]

BOLDUAN: Oklahoma is one of 47 states that saw coronavirus cases skyrocket in the month of November. There are now nearly 200,000 infections there. More than 1,700 people in Oklahoma have lost their lives to the virus. And the state hit a record number of hospitalizations last month as well.

But these are not just numbers. As we've all said so many times, every number that we talk about is a husband or wife, mother, father, daughter or son. And one ICU nurse knows this too well.

Lizanne Jennings not only treated COVID patients, she is now grieving the loss of her husband and her mother. Her mother, Linda Jennings, died from COVID on November 20th. Three days later, Lizanne's husband, Dennis, passed away from the virus as well.

Joining me right now is Lizanne and her son, Brayden. Thank you both so much. We were talking in the break, Lizanne, but our hearts break. How are you doing?

LIZANNE JENNINGS, LOST HUSBAND AND MOTHER TO COVID THREE DAYS APART: I think it's just so wrong. Sometimes I'm grieving for my husband and then I realize my mom is gone and then I'm grieving for my mom.

And I just think I'm going to go tell Dennis, but then Dennis is gone. So they're two people that would have been so supportive that the other one is gone. They're both gone. And I just -- it's my son and I, my older son. I feel like we're both drowning. But as we go down, we're trying to push the other one back up to take a breath.

And it didn't have to be this way. It didn't have to be this way. Our family didn't have to be gutted (ph). Everybody talks about it's 0.1 whatever percent, well, it's 40 percent of my family that's gone. So --

BOLDUAN: It's -- and a reminder to everyone. This is -- you guys are in the throes of it. I mean, your mother just passed away on the 20th, your husband, your dad, Brayden, just died a couple of weeks ago. I mean, and you were sick with COVID as well, Brayden. You've recovered. And now, you -- and now what you and your mother are dealing with collectively and what your -- just what you're going through, I mean, how do you describe what the last few weeks have been like for you?

BRAYDEN JENNINGS, LOST DAD AND GRANDMOTHER TO COVID THREE DAYS APART: It's kind of like we're broken, but we're continuing to break. My -- when I was diagnosed, it was from running in to try and help my father whenever he got hauled away in the ambulance. And at that time, when I got that positive result, that took away her support system. They were both in the hospital, and I couldn't come help my mom because I couldn't get her sick.

Luckily, I recovered well but we weren't able to be together because of COVID, and she was alone and grieving while they were both just gone.

BOLDUAN: Gone. Lizanne, you shared some photos with us that you took -- that were taken in the hospital that you wanted to share with us, that you took of you and Dennis before he passed, your private moments together.

[11:45:04]

Can you tell us about those final moments, what you were able to say to him? Anything you'd like to share with us about those moments?

L. JENNINGS: You know, even one person, my husband was working up until this happened. He had a push up contest with our son and he won, and Brayden can't stop and he said, oh, are you done, because I can keep going. I mean, he was --

B. JENNINGS: Full of life.

L. JENNINGS: He was full of life. And so they don't let you in there. I'm an ICU nurse. I would call but I didn't want to bother them because I know both sides of it. But I finally got in there I was just going to let him go because of so many discussions. And I knew he was suffering, and I got in there, he was laying on his stomach, his BiPAP was going at a 100 percent. And he had pneumonia where his chest had shifted. I was like, this isn't fair. It's not fair.

And I told my mom that he was fine when she passed and then I leaned down to him and I said, baby, I'm here. I said, you remember our talks and he said, uh-huh. And I said, are you ready to be at peace? And he said, uh-huh. And I said, okay. I said, mom's fine she's back at the house. I said she's going to stay with me because I knew he would keep fighting if I told him my mom had already died.

And so they started giving him morphine, Ativan, and I turned him over and rubbed his back and I said, I love you. He said, I love you. And I said you're going to go now, okay? You can finally be at peace. And he took his last breath about 30 minutes later. And I bathed him and cut his hair and put clothes on him. And then I left him. There's nothing else. I couldn't save either one of them.

If people don't wear masks, they don't want to wear a mask, (INAUDIBLE) and we finished putting him through law school and I have a 2,500 square foot house with a mother-in-law suite and everything he wanted, I'm alone. I have three dogs, I have four cars, two households and I just -- I just got -- you know, wear a mask. This got brought into our home, my mom never left the house, my husband was so careful. Stop being selfish, that's all.

BOLDUAN: Stop being selfish. I know you wanted to come on and you really want to -- in your grief, which is just remarkable how crushing, I cannot imagine, it is. You really have a message that you want to make sure that you get out, and you know this from both perspectives of the grief that you're facing and also as a medical professional yourself. What do you want to make sure that people are left with, that people know about what your family has gone through, and what you'd like them to take from this?

L. JENNINGS: Well, you know, in March, I knew it was going to get bad. I saw New York and I saw some other countries. I went upstairs to my husband and I said, hey, you know, I want to talk to you. He's like, yes. And I said, no, look at me. Look at me, this is going to get bad. This is going to get so bad. And I told our friends and our family, I said one of us, Dennis, one of us could die and I need you to hear that and I need you to wear your mask and I need you to hand sanitize. And so he did. Mom has been home for eight and a half months.

And so while you have people that are going everything right and we didn't get to hug my mom and we didn't go anywhere, and we still lost them, it doesn't matter how strong you are. People are like, Dennis is so strong, he's going to make it. That puts all the pressure on him, like if he was a little stronger, he could have made it. And this virus --

BOLDUAN: It happens no matter what. The virus keeps winning. L. JENNINGS: Do you not think I want a memorial services for my family? I can't even have memorial services. So the type of leadership, and the lack of accountability from our governor to the president, nobody cares. And so you have to care. You have to.

BOLDUAN: I know this comes -- no words come of any comfort, especially coming through a T.V. screen, but please know we do and we hear you and Brayden. And thank you. In your grief, I hope you do find love and peace. We are with you. Thank you so much.

[11:50:00]

B. JENNINGS: Thank you so much.

BOLDUAN: Thank you. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Germany is beginning construction of its first mass vaccination centers. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has a look on the side.

FREDERIK PLEITGEIN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Fred Pletigen in Eschwege, as Germany is beginning the construction of mass vaccination centers. And, essentially, what they're going to do here is they're going to put up a lot of fridges and freezers for those ultra cold stored vaccine and then bring a lot of people through here to get vaccinated.

Now, the way it's going to work is that, first of all, people are going to come into this room where they're, first of all, going to talk to a doctor to see if there is any prior medical condition.

[11:55:04]

Then they're going to go through one of these four rooms. And this is where people will get the actual vaccine jab. Now, you can see that there are four rooms because there might be a person taking off his or her shirt, another person might be putting their stuff back on, simply so they can get more people through these vaccination rooms.

Now, Germans are saying that they can vaccinate about 1,000 people in these centers every day.

BOLDUAN: A thousand people every day. Fred Pleitgen in Germany, Fred, thank you very much for that.

Up next for us, Joe Biden is moments away from introducing his senior economic team. We are live in Delaware for the announcement. We'll be back.

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