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Thirty-Three-Plus Million People In California Under Stay-At- Home Order; Loeffler And Warnock To Hold High-Stakes Debate For Georgia Runoff; White House Vaccine Chief Says He Expects FDA Panel To Recommend Pfizer Vaccine. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired December 06, 2020 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:01:07]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello again. Thank you so much for joining me this Sunday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

In just hours, the majority of California will be under a new stay-at- home order, one that is set to last through Christmas as the COVID-19 case numbers continue to grow and hospital capacity dwindles. By tonight, more than 33 Californians under stay-at-home order, this, as the number of coronavirus cases become so numbing, it's hard to truly comprehend how devastating this virus has become in this country.

More than one million new cases in the last five days over 100,000 Americans in a hospital bed. And more than 2,200 deaths reported just yesterday. That's equivalent to one death every 38 seconds. Just let that sink in for a moment.

Today on CNN, the leader of Operation Warp Speed warned a new vaccine cannot dig us out of this current hole.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MONCEF SLAOUI, CHIEF SCIENTIFIC ADVISER, OPERATION WARP SPEED: There is light at the end of the tunnel, but we will not all have the vaccine in our arms before May or June, so we need to be very cautious and vigilant.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: But as scientists and health experts raise the alarm, we're getting barely a whimper from the White House. President Trump's scarcely mentioning the pandemic at a packed crowd in Georgia last night, instead continuing to falsely claim that he will win the presidential race that he already lost to Joe Biden.

He also barely touched on the reason for his visit, which was supposed to be the Georgia U.S. Senate runoff race. Well, later on today, two of the opposing candidates, Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler and Reverend Raphael Warnock will square off in a debate that you can see right here on CNN for one of the two U.S. Senate runoff races.

All right. That's just one of the two races in Georgia that will decide which party controls the U.S. Senate. The showdown comes as there are new worries among a growing number of Republican leaders that President Trump's relentless attacks on the election in Georgia may actually cause G.O.P. voters to skip next month's senate runoff election.

Ryan Nobles join me now. Ryan, this is the first time that we will see a head to head debate between Loeffler and Warnock, so what's to be expected?

RYAN NOBLES, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: You're absolutely right, Fred, you know, so much of this Georgia runoff is kind of focused on the macro issues surrounding this race and that is what's at stake in these runoffs. If the Republicans are able to win at least one of these races, they'll retain control of the Senate Majority.

Tonight, we're expected to see this race boil down to more of a micro level, and specifically the credentials of both Raphael Warnock and Kelly Loeffler. And we do expect these candidates to go after each other, they have both been very critical of each other on the campaign trail. Just take a listen to some of the attacks that both have leveled on the other.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D), SENATORIAL CANDIDATE IN GEORGIA: When you vote, we will send a signal all across the United States of America, that there is a new Georgia rising.

SEN. KELLY LOEFFLER (R-GA): Georgia, we need you to vote January 5th. If you're our voice on January 5th, we'll be your voice for years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBLES: And so both of these candidates are making this argument about what's at stake in terms of the control of the United States Senate. But of course, President Trump overshadowing so much of this as he continues to make these false claims about the results of the election, not just across the country, but specifically here in Georgia.

There are Republicans concerned that he is undermining the process here. On one hand, you have these candidates begging Georgians -- or Republicans in Georgia to get out and vote on January 5th, and then you have the President saying that their system here is broken and that they cannot rely on it is a very difficult dichotomy for these candidates to deal with.

Last night, Kelly Loeffler was on stage with President Trump asking people to vote absentee. As she is asking them to vote absentee, they are yelling out "stop the steal" based on what President Trump has said about the vote by mail system here in Georgia. So we do expect that to come up in this debate here tonight.

But Fred, both Republicans and Democrats are hoping that President Trump isn't the dominating issue that it instead can be about these candidates and where they stand and give voters a very distinct choice -- Fred. [15:05:26]

WHITFIELD: All right, Ryan Nobles, thanks so much.

Let's talk more about this. Joining me right now is Teresa Tomlinson. She is a former mayor of Columbus, Georgia, and she also ran in the 2020 Georgia Democratic Senate primary. Her former opponent, Jon Ossoff is now the Democratic challenger and she is actually rooting for him.

Teresa, thank you so much for joining us.

TERESA TOMLINSON (D), FORMER MAYOR OF COLUMBUS, GEORGIA: Very much so.

WHITFIELD: So talk to me about --

TOMLINSON: Very much for John and Reverend Warnock.

WHITFIELD: That's right. I was going to say -- so tell me why you -- you obviously are rooting for both of them, you know, Ossoff and Warnock. But tell us why you think they can win in a state that just went blue in the presidential contest? But of course, the contest for the Senate races, different dynamics.

TOMLINSON: Yes, well, I'll tell you Fredricka, actually, we've known we've had more Democrats in Georgia than Republicans for about the past five or six years. It's just they didn't vote as often and when they did vote, they had trouble getting their votes counted, and then came Stacey Abrams.

Fair fight and LaTosha Brown, and many, many others, through Black Votes Matter and we have remedied much, not all, but much of the systemic issues we had for so long. Now you see with the popularity of mail-in balloting, already one million people have requested mail-in ballots for this runoff election.

And so you see that higher engagement and frankly, also, the stakes are much higher. I think we're having this higher engagement, particularly on the Democratic part, because they were, you know, we're unsettled, we're exhausted with the instability that's been brought about by the Trump administration.

And so the question is going to be will people come back out and understand that January 5th is critically important to finish the job. We made a change at the top of the ticket, but unless we have Democratic control of the Senate, then President-elect Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris will not be able to relieve us of the stranglehold that COVID has on our lives, and so many other of these issues that really have frozen, you know, job growth in Georgia and across the nation.

WHITFIELD: You touched on one of the things that always, you know, concern people in politics, those runoff races, that perhaps while turnout may have been very impressive as it was in the general election. It isn't usually met by the same kind of enthusiasm in a runoff election. Do you think that it will be met with the same level of enthusiasm? Or

are you concerned that say, for instance, at the rally, the Trump, you know, campaign rally, you had people who were, you know, shouting out the, you know, "stop the steel" kind of chants? I mean, do you think that all of that might impact turnout.

TOMLINSON: But I think it will impact Republican turnout. And I think we're all watching in amazement nationally, and certainly here in Georgia as the Republican leadership seems to be shooting themselves in the foot politically, with a sort of rhetoric is really coming home to roost, I think in a negative way.

And so I think what you're going to be seen is Democrats are going to be having an engagement consistent with the turnout on November 3rd, but of course modified for the fact that it's going to be an odd time January 5th, it's going to be a runoff.

And so I'll tell you, just to give you a little history about Georgia, we usually have somewhere between, you know, 40 percent to 45 percent turnout as compared to what the general election was. That was the case in 2018. There was a runoff for Secretary of State, which was very politically engaging for both parties. And there was about a 40 percent turnout as compared to what the general election had been.

The fact of the matter is, I'll tell you this is what's going to be key, Fredricka, and why we appreciate your interest in this election and CNN covering this issue so closely, and that is with charismatic candidates like Reverend Warnock, who will be debating later today, someone who was born in Savannah, of course now lives and has a great presence in Atlanta, you're going to see these other metropolitan areas around Georgia actually delivering this runoff for Georgia.

What do I mean by that? In the November 3rd election, we had 267,000 votes just from Columbus, Georgia, Macon, Savannah, Augusta and Athens that netted for Biden, net Democrat votes for Biden. Those are hardcore Democrats, those are solid blue, 60 percent blue areas. They're going to be coming back out because they do faithfully come back out and in a state where Biden just won by 12,000 votes, that's going to be your difference.

[15:10:13]

TOMLINSON: So it is about turning out your base, turning out those people sick of what we have here with the COVID grasp on our lives and looking for some leadership, someone who puts service over power and that's certainly the candidates the Democrats are fielding.

WHITFIELD: So of course, the debate this evening, you know, people will see Loeffler and Warnock. They will not see David Perdue and Jon Ossoff, you know, debating because Perdue is -- you know, said no to being part of the debate.

So you have asked before, you know, are Warnock and Ossoff, able to optimize each other's voters. What do you mean by that? And how will you be perhaps assessing that during or post-debate tonight? TOMLINSON: Well, you're going to see, Georgia had 21 percent of its

vote that were 39 years old or younger. So John Ossoff certainly, and that was the highest in the nation by the way for what we call young voter -- younger voter turnout.

So John Ossoff has an appeal there. He also does quite well in those Atlanta suburban areas where we did have a lot of turnout we expect to in a runoff. They make a great team, however, because as I said, Warnock has really worked the entire campaign and resonates very, very well outside of Metro Atlanta as well as within Metro Atlanta.

So he is going to be bringing those voters in, those Democratic voters that will make the difference in this election from those five outlying metro areas that I spoke about. So I'd say watch those on election night.

Now as for the debate, it's going to be interesting. David Perdue is seated at the field, but that's what he's done his entire tenure as senator. He has not spoken with the people. He's not made himself accessible, and here again, he demonstrates that.

What you're going to see in the Warnock and Loeffler debate will be interesting as well, because Reverend Warnock is quite a substantive candidate.

As I said, he has been in the trenches for a long, long time working on voter rights, healthcare, and prosperity issues. He knows these issues. People are going to be impressed by him.

He is a great orator, he will command that stage, and you know, Kelly Loeffler was not elected to this position, she was appointed, and then the first thing she did, of course, was trade her stock on COVID inside information. So she is going to be dealing from a position of weakness, and she's not really a particularly substantive candidate, even though she has served for several months as an appointed senator.

So I think there's going to be quite a contrast and you know, what is she going to say about healthcare, which is so critically important for Georgia? You know, repeal and replace? That bus has left the station and it was empty and the Georgians know it because we've lost 10 rural hospitals in the last 10 years.

These are critical issues. And I think Reverend Warnock is going to impress folks with his knowledge of them.

WHITFIELD: All right, we'll leave it there for now. Teresa Tomlinson, thank you so much for that. And of course, we should also mention we did invite Senator Kelly Loffler's campaign, a surrogate, anyone on her behalf to join us on our program today, but we did not hear back.

And this reminder, you can watch the Warnock-Loeffler debate tonight on CNN starting at seven Eastern Time.

All right, a leading adviser of Operation Warp Speed says a coronavirus vaccine may be available by the end of the week. The White House vaccine chief saying he expects the F.D.A. to issue Emergency Use Authorization for Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine after a key meeting scheduled for Thursday.

CNN White House Correspondent, Jeremy Diamond joining me now from Washington. So Jeremy what more are we learning?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, the F.D.A.'s Vaccine Advisory Committee is set to meet on Thursday to determine whether or not it can issue this Emergency Use Authorization for the Pfizer vaccine which would be the first vaccine, a coronavirus vaccine to receive that authorization.

Dr. Moncef Slaoui, the Chief Scientific Adviser to Operation Warp Speed, he says that he believes the F.D.A. will indeed grant that authorization and that we could see vaccines distributed as soon as the end of this week.

When we do see those vaccines distributed though, we're now expecting about 35 to 40 million doses of that vaccine to be available by the end of this year. That is far short from the hundreds of millions of doses that the Trump administration initially set as its goal.

Dr. Slaoui though explained that they ran into some challenges, and that ultimately, this is still a pretty big accomplishment. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SLAOUI: Frankly, the goal was barely achievable. I described it as it's credible, but incredibly challenging to achieve it. The hardest piece in it, frankly, was to identify the vaccines, do the Phase 3 trials and scale up and do the manufacturing.

On the manufacturing side, it has turned out to be somewhat more complicated and more difficult than we planned. We probably are six or eight weeks later than an ideal scenario where we would have had a hundred million doses by the end of this year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:15:19]

DIAMOND: And so obviously, you can hear there, Dr. Slaoui explaining they ran into some of those manufacturing challenges, putting them six to eight weeks behind, but nonetheless, we could see some of those top priority groups begin to be vaccinated, Dr. Slaoui said by the end of this week.

In the meantime, he urged the rest of the population to continue to wear masks, noting that the light is at the end of the tunnel. But of course, we're not there yet -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jeremy Diamond, thanks so much, at the White House.

All right, coming up, a woman frustrated with coronavirus restrictions makes a passionate plea. She'll join us live after going viral.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They have not given us money and they have shut

us down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:20:00]

WHITFIELD: All right, this breaking news out of California. The state is now reporting its highest single day COVID case count to date, more than 30,000 just today. Hospitalizations are also hitting an all-time high with more than 10,600 suffering right now.

As cases spread, California is taking drastic measures. By midnight tonight, 33 million people in California will be under new stay-at- home orders. It is part of the Governor's plan to help keep hospitals from being overwhelmed as the coronavirus hits new levels. The cases hit new levels across the state.

These are new restrictions on top of the Bay Area which self-imposed stay-at-home orders on Friday as numbers there were surging. They banned people from playgrounds, hair salons, barber shops, movie theaters, restaurants and so much more for the next three weeks.

CNN's Paul Vercammen is in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood of Los Angeles, one of the places that will go under these new restrictions tonight. So Paul, how are people reacting to all of this?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, many people, especially small business owners are just devastated and some of them had already been closed by some county measures. Among them, right here in Sherman Oaks, this restaurant, the Pineapple Hill Saloon and Grill. Angela Marsden is the owner and she went to the internet to describe how a movie set was able to operate a feeding area near her business while her business was completely shut down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELA MARSDEN, OWNER, PINEAPPLE HILL SALOON AND GRILL: They have not given us money and they have shut us down. We cannot survive. My staff cannot survive. Look at this.

Tell me that this is dangerous, but right next to me as a slap in my face. That's safe. This is safe, 50 feet away?

This is dangerous. Mayor Garcetti and Gavin Newsom is responsible for every single person that doesn't have employment, does not have a job, and all the businesses that are going under and we need your help. We need somebody to do something about this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: And we should note that Mayor Garcetti said that his heart does go out to Angela, he went on to say that there were concerns about these ICU numbers, and we should also note that it is not in a sense, an LA City rule that first closed this business down. It was an LA County rule.

So we're going to bring an Angela now and talk to her about what has happened here.

I know you're devastated. Can you illustrate for people how much you invested to try to stay open with the outdoor dining and the rest?

MARSDEN: We took out a loan of $150,000.00 from the disaster loan. We were lucky enough to apply and get it. And we spent around $80,000.00 between the inside doing what we needed to do for COVID to keep our clients safe because that is our number one priority. We want our people to be safe and building the outdoor patio just so we could stay open.

VERCAMMEN: And what has your reaction been to the political inactivity on many fronts to help restaurants like yours?

MARSDEN: I'm at a loss. I'm devastated. I am trying to -- I feel like they're living in Lalaland. I feel like what they're wanting us to do is just not very realistic, and that science isn't backing the outdoor dining.

And I'm just -- I am at a loss of words, you know, it's -- I'm at a loss of words.

VERCAMMEN: And describe for us what it's like to have to tell the employee, I'm sorry, I just don't have work for you and what they're going through.

MARSDEN: It's unbearable. I mean, you try to put on a good face, you try to say, don't worry, we're going to reopen. I'm going to make it happen. But to look at -- to look at my staff, give them their last paycheck right before Christmas and some of them are newer staff that have been shut down over and over. And their unemployment is running out. And they have kids and children. It's the most excruciating feeling, you know, but you try to be strong and you try to give hope, because people need hope, you know.

VERCAMMEN: And I want to bring in some of your employees and ask them about that real quick. I do want to ask you this, do you feel as if restaurant workers and restauranteurs are treated somehow as a substandard group when it comes to these relief bills?

MARSDEN: Yes, I do. I feel like there's not a face, it's just numbers and the numbers aren't even right because the effect that it's having as far as how many restaurants employ, like I was doing my protest on Saturday. There were five restaurant owners there and bar owners.

Between five of us, we employ a thousand people, all of which are saying they have another month left, if they're lucky. They're not going to make it through the shutdown.

[15:25:15]

VERCAMMEN: So let's hear from one of your employees. Sunni, step in here really quick, please. Sunny, you now live on a couch. You don't have a job. You were working here at the restaurant.

SUNNI ASTEVES, EMPLOYEE, PINEAPPLE HILL SALOON AND GRILL: Yes, I was working at a bar before this, managing a bar actually doing pretty well for myself, and then right before the pandemic hit, I lost my apartment. And that didn't seem like a big deal at the time and then everything shut down and it was a big deal.

And it's not out of lack of will or laziness to go out and get a job. I found another job, I found another job and everything keeps -- I begged Angela for this job, basically, and she told me like, I'll hire you. I don't have a lot of anything for you right now. And I told her I was like, I'll clean tables for you. I'll do the door for you, I'll do anything.

But there's no possible way for me to even think about getting into a place right now. I've been so blessed with people that have been letting me stay with them. So in that manner, I'm extremely grateful. But without them, I don't know what I would do. I don't know -- there's no options. There's no options for our entire industry. And it's not because we're trying to stay on unemployment, and just you know, sit on that. Mine is almost out and I have no idea. I have no idea what I'm going to do. I have no idea.

VERCAMMEN: Sunni and Angela, we wish the absolute best to both of you, so I'll also step over in here for one second. And I really appreciate your sharing your time and your stories with us.

There you have it, Fred. The pain and suffering in the restaurant business, not only here in California, but throughout the nation as they urge Congress to do something in terms of a relief bill. Back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right, that is huge. It's overwhelming. And I think all of us are feeling for them exactly what they expressed. Thank you so much and thank you very much to them for sharing their stories. All right, thank you Paul Vercammen.

We've got this breaking news now out of the White House into CNN, President Trump tweeting just moments ago announcing that his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani has contracted COVID-19. I want to go straight to Jeremy Diamond who is at the White House for us. What do you have?

DIAMOND: That's right, Fredricka. President Trump announcing on Twitter that Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and the President's personal attorney, who has been leading the charge in terms of trying to overturn the results of this election by any means possible, has now tested positive for the coronavirus.

The President tweeting, "Rudy Giuliani, by far the greatest mayor in the history of New York City and who has been working tirelessly exposing the most corrupt election by far in the history of the U.S.A. has tested positive for the China virus. Get better soon, Rudy. We will carry on."

Obviously, the President's claim there that this has been the most corrupt election is false and has no basis in reality. But frankly, it is surprising that Mayor Rudy Giuliani hadn't previously tested positive. We know that he has been in close contact with several people including his son, Andrew Giuliani, a White House official, as well as one of his aides, Boris Epshteyn , who is on the President's legal team who have both tested positive for coronavirus in recent weeks.

And yet, Mayor Giuliani did not abide by those quarantine guidelines from the C.D.C. He continued to travel to numerous cities, to numerous states across the country to try and overturn the results of the election.

And some of these events, you saw Mayor Giuliani not wearing a mask. He was in indoor spaces where most of the attendees were not wearing masks as he was recently at that hotel ballroom in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where you saw most of the attendees in that room were not wearing masks in an indoor space that goes exactly against all of the public health guidelines.

So at some point, obviously, if you don't follow these guidelines, and you continue to, you know, not change your behavior, this is going to happen.

Now, of course, we wish Mayor Giuliani a speedy recovery. We hope he doesn't have too serious symptoms. But obviously, it has to be noted that people who engage in reckless behavior as it relates to coronavirus guidelines do face a higher risk of contracting the virus as Mayor Giuliani now has.

WHITFIELD: And I wonder, Jeremy, do we know much about the concerns in the people in, you know, his immediate space? I mean, he just came off making the rounds at state legislatures, you know, trying to push for investigations to overturn or recount as it pertains to the presidential race and we were just looking at video of him out of Michigan, no masks there, not in the proximity of the young lady who was sitting right next to him.

DIAMOND: Yes, certainly Jenna Ellis, the President's other attorney on this attempt to overturn the election, she has been traveling with him, alongside him without a mask during many of these so-called hearings that they have been holding.

So she certainly should be someone who would likely have to quarantine according to C.D.C. guidelines, but of course we know that Mayor Giuliani also should have followed C.D.C. guidelines and quarantined previously to this and chose not to.

[15:30:08]

DIAMOND: Of course, it is notable because the President's efforts to overturn the results of the election have been repeatedly marred by coronavirus diagnoses among his team.

The day after, I believe it was, the President had tapped Dave Bossie, one of his political advisers to lead the charge on this front. Dave Bossie tested positive for coronavirus. Shortly thereafter, the President then put Rudy Giuliani in charge of those efforts. So it is notable, of course, that as we're seeing the President try

and overturn the results of the election, not focusing on the coronavirus, not talking to Americans about these public health guidelines, we have seen aide after aide after aide to the President contract with coronavirus.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much from the White House. Appreciate that.

We have much more right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:35:17]

WHITFIELD: A coronavirus vaccine could be available for emergency use by the end of the week. Officials say the vaccine won't be available for average Americans until April, but many Americans remain hesitant about being vaccinated overall.

A new Pew Research poll finds that just 42 percent of black Americans say they will definitely or probably get a coronavirus vaccine. Joining me now to discuss is Dr. Camara Jones, a public health expert and also a former President of the American Public Health Association. Doctor, so good to see you.

DR. CAMARA JONES, FORMER PRESIDENT, AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION: Thank you for having me.

WHITFIELD: So black and brown people disproportionately are affected by coronavirus, yet you've got this high hesitancy rate among that very population. What could change that in your view?

JONES: I think what we need to do is not blame people for having questions. I think we need to hear the questions and answer the questions and in our answers, some of the answers might be we don't know yet, because we haven't been studying this long enough, but we don't know yet because we haven't seen enough people yet to know about rare complications.

But if we honor people's questions and answer them and what we do is instead of trying to cajole people or convince people to get the vaccine, we enable them to have -- to make their own informed decision, and they might say, yes, I'll take it now. They might say yes, I will wait for six months. Or maybe they say no, not, not really not for a year.

WHITFIELD: Right. So who needs to answer those questions? Because among the reasons why black and brown people are hesitant, look at history, and you know, that's probably number one, actually. So then, who can address that as it pertains to what may be available soon?

JONES: Well, I think that we have to certainly involve black doctors and black clergy, but not to convince. You never wanted to put people in a position to try to make people trust, you need to become trustworthy. So you need, I think, if there were a bank of questions, and they were

plain language answers and then those answers were respectfully -- you know, people in communities were engaged in conversation, then I think people would know you are hearing me, you are respecting my right to ask questions and get a legitimate answer. So now, let me make up my own mind.

I think that if we approach it trying to convince other people, we will never succeed. But if people get the information they need and can make up their own minds, that's the way to go.

So certainly, the National Medical Association is an association we have, but you know, the National Urban League and NAACP. We have churches. There are lots of people who can be the brokers in this, but not to convince, to inform.

WHITFIELD: Here's the point of view of Congresswoman Karen Bass earlier, listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KAREN BASS (D-CA): People often think of Tuskegee, but that mistreatment has carried on until this day, and not just the black community, but you know, just a couple of months ago, there were the stories about in the detention centers for immigrants, inappropriate gynecological surgeries. And so that kind of stuff really spreads in communities.

And because we could not trust the President, it's not surprising that people would doubt the vaccine. You know, he was trying to rush it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And so when you also hear, you know, one of the leading advisers from Operation Warp Speed address some of the concerns earlier today on CNN and on other networks, and he said, no, no one will be a guinea pig. How does he or anyone else convince those who are apprehensive?

JONES: So we have to recognize that what's going to happen next Thursday for Pfizer and the following Thursday for Moderna is an Emergency Use Authorization if it gets through.

So it's not even a full approval. So in a way, what's going to happen is the F.D.A. is going to say, well, the likely benefits outweigh the likely risk, but in a way, we are still learning. We have to be still learning, because we can't tell you anything about six month, you know, side effects because we haven't been studying any of these vaccines for six months.

WHITFIELD: That long.

JONES: So can't talk to you about something that is once --

WHITFIELD: Particularly like the human trials.

JONES: The human trials started for both Pfizer and Moderna on July 27th.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

JONES: Right? And then they are two doses. So you have one dose and a month later, you get the second dose and then you start studying people, so we haven't been looking at it for enough time now. Clearly, the C.D.C. has put in place monitoring -- very strict monitoring so when people get the vaccine, they will be able to opt in to be contacted by text and answer surveys.

There's the vaccine adverse event registry, which always is there, if you feel like something is off and you've got a vaccine, and if they become aware of cases, something that seems really, really out of line, then the C.D.C. folks will be doing case investigating.

[15:40:29]

WHITFIELD: Yes, Dr. Camara Jones, we're going to have to leave it there for now, simply because we're looking at the clock here. But we really appreciate your insight, your input, and certainly I want you back. Thank you so much.

JONES: Thank you so much. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, coming up next, students in the nation's largest school district returned to the classroom. We'll have details on that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: In Atlanta, parents are out protesting, asking schools to reopen for their children. It's a growing sentiment nationwide, but families are frustrated by the demands of distance learning.

Meanwhile some New York City schools are reopening for in-person learning tomorrow. Evan McMorris Santoro joins us live in New York with more on this. Walk us through it.

[15:45:13]

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, the short version of this is that a small percentage of students in the New York City public school system will be returning to five-day-a-week school starting on Monday. That's the basic story. It's a bit more complicated than that.

But the big story is that the largest public school system in America now feels like it has enough control of the science to reopen school safely, even as the pandemic surges in the city, which is a very, very different story than we saw in the spring, when school shut down as the virus came.

Let's break into the details just a little bit. On Monday, kids starting at the ages of like pre-K all the way through fifth grade, they return to a five-day week school. And on Thursday, student with disabilities they also returned to five-day week school. There are some important caveats to that, for example, only students

who signed up for the hybrid in-person learning in October are returning, meaning that in total, it's only about less than a third of the students who go to the New York City public school systems are returning to school, but it's a very, very big step for this city and a huge step for fighting this virus moving forward -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Evan McMorris-Santoro, thank you so much in New York. And we'll be right back.

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WHITFIELD: Tonight, Lisa Ling is back with two all-new back-to-back episodes of "This is Life." First up, Lisa will take us inside families torn apart by heroin addiction, from kids forced to grow up too soon to mothers fighting to get clean and keep their children. It's a heartbreaking look at a massive problem. Here's a preview.

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LISA LING, CNN HOST, THIS IS LIFE (voice over): For many years, Jocelyn has kept silent about her parents' addiction. But a few months ago, she found it directly affected. A support group for students whose families had been impacted by the opioid crisis.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The same way people overdose in my house with like heroin, like needles hanging up their arm like a spoon or something.

LING: How old were you when the first time you saw someone OD?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eleven, twelve.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not used to Zack really talking that much. Because I know that our generation right now is scared to talk, but I think they just needed an actual push.

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WHITFIELD: Joining us now is the host of "This is Life," Lisa Ling. Good to see you. Boy, it seems like you know, the children are always the hardest hit in struggles like this. But, wow, that they were willing and able to talk about it, you know, so freely with you.

LING: Yes, Fred, thanks for having me on the show. That was an incredible support group that was started by the child of someone in the throes of addiction herself.

And it was really powerful moment to sit there with these kids who shared such heart wrenching stories of what it was like to or what it has been like to live with parents or relatives who are addicted.

And this whole episode really is about different members of communities throughout Ohio who are really stepping up and trying to give the children of addicts, the babies born addicted to opioids who have to be weaned off a fighting chance and we profile people like the kids that you saw, but also judges and magistrates who oversee these family treatment courts where they hold the hands of addicts and help them recover even if they've gone -- go through -- even if they relapse in an effort to try and regain custody of their children.

WHITFIELD: Wow. And then what a contrast. You've got a second episode this evening. But it looks like, it looks at the illicit massage parlor industry. What did you find?

LING: Well, this is a story that I also found fascinating because not all of these massage parlors that have been popping up throughout the country have illicit activity attached to them, but a surprising number do.

And what we try to do is explore the lives of the mostly immigrant women who work inside these parlors and what we found was just really both fascinating and devastating.

WHITFIELD: We're looking forward to seeing all of it. You always open our eyes for sure. Lisa Ling, good to see you.

LING: Thank you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Be sure to tune in to two all-new episodes of "This is Life" with Lisa Ling, airing back-to-back tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific. Only on CNN.

And thank you so much for joining me today, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. CNN NEWSROOM continues with my colleague, Ana Cabrera in just a moment, but first I want to leave you with this sobering perspective.

Since Monday, the U.S. is averaging just under 2,400 deaths from COVID-19 every single day. The White House has made little to no effort to acknowledge this, demand some sort of urgency.

The President did leave Pennsylvania Avenue to speak for 99 minutes at a rally in Georgia last night not to talk about coronavirus, but being fired up about the presidential election that he lost a month ago.

Simultaneously last night, for every 38 seconds, one American died. So we end our show today with 38 seconds of silence as the nation continues to await leadership on this calamity from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

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