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Trump Holds Superspreader Rally In Georgia; Millions In California Face New Stay-At-Home Orders; Trump's Continuing Lies Could Hurt Georgia Senators; Countries Prepare For Vaccine Rollouts; Trump Supporters Still Believe Election Was Stolen; Venezuelans Head To Polls To Elect New Assembly; Frontline Health Care Workers Suffer, Too; MLB Clubs Sue Insurance Firms For Lost Revenue; English Premier League Fans Return To Stands. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired December 06, 2020 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. You're watching CNN. I'm Robyn Curnow.
Just ahead on the show in a few hours, millions of Americans will face new stay at home orders aimed at curbing the pandemic. Why the crisis in California has pushed state officials to take that step.
Plus the president visits battleground Georgia. Donald Trump rallied support for the state's Republican senators.
But will the mixed messaging help get the vote out?
Hundreds of millions of have been donated to Stop the Steal campaigns to help Mr. Trump fight the presidential election. That coming up. CNN investigates where all the money is going.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Robyn Curnow.
CURNOW: Thank you for joining me this hour.
And there are many ways to measure the explosive spread of coronavirus which is ravaging the United States. There's the daily tally of new cases. New records set daily. A staggering 1 million Americans tested positive in the first five days of December.
Then there's the soaring death toll. Each day it's enough to fill every seat in the Kennedy Center in Washington. A front line doctor in Minnesota describes the crushing emotional burden shouldered by nurses and physicians.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DR. SHIRLEE XIE, HENNEPIN HEALTHCARE: I think that, sometimes, when you hear statistics like that, you become numb to what those numbers mean.
But -- but for us, you knowing, people that are taking care of these patients, every single number is somebody we have to look at and say, I'm sorry, there's nothing more I can do for you. And it's just another family we have to call to tell them that their loved ones are going to die.
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CURNOW: The clearest picture is of hospital beds. They're filling up all over the country and filling up fast. As of now, a record 101,000 Americans are so sick they need to be in a medical facility.
And health experts warn the worst is yet to come. Los Angeles says its hospitals could run out of beds within a month and, if that were to happen, the consequences would surely be catastrophic. So millions of people in California are facing new stay at home orders as Paul Vercammen explains.
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PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The number of new cases in California, just alarming; shocking, really. Let's go right to a graphic and show you: 25,000 new cases, in California, more than 10,000 hospitalizations, more than 200 deaths.
And, all of this, helping contribute to these new stricter stay-at- home orders, which means people cannot go to wineries, to nail salons, hair salons, playgrounds and the rest. And they must wear a mask.
Let's look at where this is being impacted. In Southern California and in the San Joaquin Valley, 27 million people, one minute before midnight Sunday, the order goes into effect.
Well, it's not being embraced throughout California. In fact, let's hear from the sheriff of Riverside County, who calls these strict regulations ridiculous.
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SHERIFF CHAD BIANCO, RIVERSIDE COUNTY: While the governor's office and the state has threatened action against violators, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department will not be blackmailed, bullied or used as muscle against Riverside County residents in the enforcement of the governor's orders.
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VERCAMMEN: These stricter rules, also, affect other parts of California. Some Bay Area counties, also, joining in on the new regulations. And the order's being applauded here by top brass at UCLA Medical Center. They say they need something to help bend this curve, somehow, someway, with all these doctors and nurses facing a tsunami of new patients.
Also UCLA playing another huge role in the fight against the pandemic. It can store 1 million vaccines in seven freezers and expects to be able to put shots in people's arms in about two weeks -- reporting from Los Angeles, I'm Paul Vercammen. Now back to you.
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CURNOW: Dr. Larry Brilliant is a CNN medical analyst and joins me from Mill Valley, California.
Doctor, good to see you. Lockdowns, like you're seeing in California, of course a lot of criticism because of the damage to the economy.
Is it such a binary choice, lives or livelihood?
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DR. LARRY BRILLIANT, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Thanks for having me.
No, it's not binary. Well, first of all, I don't think you can solve the problem of the economy until we throw COVID into the dustbin of history, which we will be doing as the vaccines come on board.
Until then, we're going to have two or three or four months that's going to be catastrophic. So the lockdown is prompted mostly by overrunning hospitals with the COVID cases. We now have 100,000 hospital beds occupied by COVID patients in the United States. There's some communities that just don't have any more ICU beds.
So what I like about the California stay at home, not lockdown, what I like about it is that they're allowing retail stores and other community activities to stay open but reduced to 25 percent or 50 percent of capacity. And the trigger for closing down more is when they exceed 85 percent of the ICU beds being used.
Once you get to only 15 percent of beds left, then it's just too dangerous. You're almost forced to do a lockdown.
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CURNOW: CNN medical analyst Dr. Larry Brilliant, speaking to us a short time ago.
President Trump lost to Joe Biden one month ago. Ever since, he's kept up a steady drumbeat of false claims that the election was rigged. On Saturday he told Georgia Republicans to vote anyway in the Senate runoff elections.
He rationalized the contradiction in a tweet. He called the upcoming vote "an act of revenge" against Democrats for denying him a second term. But Saturday's campaign event seemed more about the airing of grievances than trying to help two Republicans win elections. Here's CNN's Ryan Nobles. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Donald Trump came here to Georgia, seemingly, with the goal of helping support the two candidates running in the runoff election, here, to the United States Senate.
But he spent far more of his time here in Georgia, talking about the election that he has just lost than he did supporting those two candidates in their upcoming fight.
President Trump went through a laundry list of perceived grievances that he had about the electoral process, specifically the electoral process here in Georgia while, at the same time, trying to convince his supporters that they need to come out and vote in January.
Take a listen to this one excerpt of the president's speech, where he talked about how he feels that this election was stolen from him.
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TRUMP: They cheated and they rigged our presidential election. But we will still win it. We will still win it. We'll still win it. And they're going to try and rig this election, too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBLES: President Trump spoke for more than 90 minutes in Valdosta, Georgia, which is right along the Florida border. And it was just a speech filled with lies.
He talked about evidence of fraud and malfeasance in elections, not just here in Georgia but in Wisconsin and in Arizona. Much (sic) of these claims have been debunked. He even played clips from the conservative news networks, Newsmax and OAN, that claim to show evidence of voter fraud.
Those examples have, also, been debunked and he did it to the glee of this crowd, that said repeatedly throughout his speech that they wanted the two Republican candidates to "stop the steal" and they also asked them to fight for Trump.
It's not necessarily the message that Republicans for looking for here tonight. They wanted the president to focus on Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, those two candidates running for the Senate.
But as is often the practice with President Trump, this speech was all about him and his hope of trying to overturn an election, a hope that, really, is not based in any kind of reality -- Ryan Nobles, CNN, Valdosta, Georgia.
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CURNOW: Ryan Nobles, thank you for that.
Leslie Vinjamuri is the head of the U.S. and Americas Programme at Chatham House in London.
Great to see you. Thank you for joining us this hour.
LESLIE VINJAMURI, HEAD OF THE U.S. AND AMERICAS PROGRAMME, CHATHAM HOUSE: Thank you.
CURNOW: You saw there, this was a campaign rally, a laundry list of perceived grievances. The president was supposed to get voters mobilized.
But could it have accomplished the opposite?
Can the voters square this contradiction when he says the election process is a fraud but at the same time is urging them to vote anyway?
VINJAMURI: It's a contradictory message. This is a president who has not accepted the results certified by enough states that it's a final result. Nonetheless, we've seen that having President Trump turn up, having him really speak to his base at these rallies, having him on the ticket, turns out voters.
And I suspect that just the fact that he's traveled to Georgia and is speaking to people at length will really stoke enthusiasm and drive voters.
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VINJAMURI: Nonetheless, he's certainly cast doubt on the legitimacy not only of the presidential election but on the voting process in Georgia. So it's a very tricky game to play.
But remember, in the state of Georgia, the real game for those runoffs for the two critical Senate seats on January 5th is really whether the Democrats can get that large turnout that they saw in the state for the presidential election.
That's what has changed the outcome in Georgia, a state that has historically gone Republican. This is in many ways a dilemma for the Democrats even more than for the president and the Republicans.
CURNOW: Yes. I was going to ask you that as my next question. Despite Biden winning, Georgia is certainly still the heart of the Bible Belt. I live here. There's still a devotion to guns and church and conservative values. It's very deeply rooted.
How likely is it that these Senate seats can flip blue?
VINJAMURI: Well, I think it's a difficult push. The Democrats are certainly campaigning. We've seen Obama be directly involved. We know Stacey Abrams has been critical to the state over many years, getting more minority voters registered.
I think right now the electorate nationally and in Georgia see how high stakes this is. Nonetheless, getting two of those seats flipped could be quite difficult. But I think it hangs in the balance as we know. We know also how critical this is for the future of governance, for
the Biden team. So much of what that team needs to do after January 20th will depend on Congress and so much of it is a domestic agenda that affects the interests of a lot of the people in Georgia, whether it's about spending more unemployment benefits, jobs, investment and infrastructure.
So these are really issues that will hit Republicans as well as Democrats. And it's going to take Congress being on board the Biden administration's agenda to get those packages through the Congress.
CURNOW: Yes. I mean, you are right. What happens in Georgia will have a significant, significant impact on how the Biden administration can move forward on many of its policies and what it can get done in Congress.
But what's clear is that, whoever wins, Mr. Trump is going to continue to cast a shadow over this administration. Isn't he?
VINJAMURI: Yes, he is. And many people have taken to saying that Trumpism will live long after Donald Trump. Certainly, there are many people who are loyal to him. I think we overestimate the numbers. We saw a lot of districts across the United States vote Republican down ballot but vote against the president.
Nebraska, the 2nd Congressional District in Nebraska is the one I like to talk about. It's my hometown, voted against Donald Trump and for Republicans down ballot. I think that tells us a lot of the Republicans would like to see a functioning government. They want to see real problems solved.
The pandemic, we all know the devastation and the death and the economic crisis this has created for so many Americans. I think if Trumpism is seen to be something that undercuts the ability of the American government to function, it will wither in terms of its support over time. I simply don't think that's where most Americans are right now.
CURNOW: Well, with that in mind -- and we're talking about Republicanism versus Trumpism -- Mr. Trump has also, as we know, pressured the Georgia governor to overturn the results just because he wanted him to, even after the vote was counted three times here.
How much credit do you give the Georgia Republicans for holding the line in a very direct, almost anti-democratic pressure from the president?
VINJAMURI: Quite frankly, it's been an extraordinary effort. Their integrity and maintaining that they checked the election results are legitimate. And, as we know, for many individuals, this comes with threats to their personal security.
This is incredibly dangerous. We all know it. We're witnessing it. I think this is the dark side of a president who is not accepting the results and doing it in such a dangerous way that it not only undermines the legitimacy of the democracy, it slows the transition and the efficacy of that transition.
But it really puts a lot of individuals, who have done an extraordinary job, it puts their own personal safety and their families' safety at risk and at a time when they're really trying to manage the election, manage the transition and really help Americans, who are suffering with respect to their health and their own personal economic circumstances.
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CURNOW: Yes. It certainly has been extraordinary to witness all of this. And it's not over yet; that election in a month's time. Leslie Vinjamuri at Chatham House in London, thank you for your expertise.
VINJAMURI: Thanks for having me.
CURNOW: So with global coronavirus cases surging, nations are now anxious for this working vaccine, as you well know. So after the break, we'll have the state of play for some vaccination programs around the world. Stay with us for that.
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CURNOW: The world is waiting for a vaccine that could end the pandemic and return our lives to normal. In the U.S., authorization is expected for Pfizer's vaccine later on this month. But a member of President- Elect Joe Biden's COVID advisory board warns the full impact won't be felt for some time.
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DR. CELINE GOUNDER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: The impact of the vaccine is going to be at least in the next couple months. I think it is going to be a while before we have manufactured enough doses for everyone who wants to be vaccinated, before we have vaccinated our priority groups, the health care workers, nursing home staff and residents and others.
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GOUNDER: Including essential workers and before we're able to provide vaccination to the general population.
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CURNOW: Meantime, states are learning how many doses they'll get in the first shipments and it's just not enough. There will not be sufficient numbers for everyone designated as a priority, front line health care workers and residents of care facilities.
Meanwhile nations around the world are preparing for the approval and rollout of several vaccines that have proven effective in trials. Britain is set to become the first country to roll out the one from Pfizer. Michael Holmes shows us how the anticipation is building.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the shot in the arm the U.K. is waiting for. Hospital workers, preparing for the rollout of its first emergency-use vaccine for the coronavirus. Up to 800,000 doses expected to be available for 400,000 patients this week.
ANDY JONES, ICU NURSE: Nervous, excited that there's something out there that can protect us, as well as our patients.
HOLMES (voice-over): But, while the West looks to companies, like Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca, for upcoming emergency-use vaccines, inoculations in other parts of the world are already underway.
Russia started a mass vaccination campaign on Saturday, with its Sputnik V vaccine. The vaccine approved for use, even though it's still in the midst of phase III human trials, raising serious, safety concerns, which the head of a Moscow clinic dismissed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We don't have any problems with the vaccine. We have it and it's being delivered regularly, just like any other vaccine.
HOLMES (voice-over): The CEO of the Russian direct investment fund says more than 50 countries have already requested 1.2 billion doses of the vaccine. He says a freeze-dried version is in the works so it's easier to distribute to developing countries in Africa and Asia.
Bahrain is the second country to approve emergency use of the Pfizer- BioNTech vaccine. It's been vaccinating frontline workers using China's Sinopharm vaccine since November. In addition, thousands of people in 10 countries have gotten the Sinopharm shot by taking part in its ongoing clinical trials.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We would like to offer anything we can to humanity. This is a simple thing. We hope this pandemic ends and we can return to our normal lives.
HOLMES (voice-over): China has five vaccine candidates in the final phase of clinical trials and it says, in the coming months, it will ship hundreds of millions of doses to countries around the world.
Other options also on the horizon. Chile began phase III trials of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine on Thursday, giving priority to its healthcare workers. More choices, better chances to end the pandemic that has, so far, killed more than 1.5 million people worldwide -- Michael Holmes, CNN.
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CURNOW: Let's find out more about the developments in Europe. Cyril Vanier joins us live from London.
What can you tell us about what's happening in Europe and particularly in the U.K.? CYRIL VANIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Good morning. Look, we are on
the eve of a momentous week in the U.K. There's a lot of hope. There are a lot of questions, too, and there's going to be a lot of patience needed. Hope for all the obvious reasons Michael laid out in the report.
It's the beginning of a mass vaccination campaign. It is the biggest vaccination campaign that the country has ever undertaken, according to the prime minister. And the country believes that this is going to be the way to beat the pandemic. So that's the hope. And that's fairly obvious, fairly self-explanatory.
However, a lot of questions because we don't know whether this virus actually stops transmission. It's a huge deal. You were talking about it with doctors yesterday on your show. And this point bears repeating.
If the vaccine protects you from developing severe symptoms, that is great. However, if it does not stop transmission, then it's still -- your lifestyle is still curbed by this pandemic. It means, for instance, if you're a contact case, if you've been vaccinated but you come into contact, in the U.K., you would still have to self-isolate.
You may be able to transmit it to somebody who is not vaccinated and could suffer severe complications and possibly die from COVID. So that's a big question mark.
The other, how long are you protected with the vaccine, the Pfizer vaccine and others when they come online?
Doctors have been saying at least month but we don't know how long. With the regular flu vaccine, you have to do it every year. With COVID, it may require repeating after eight or nine months. We just don't know.
And there's also going to have to be a lot of patients, because it's going to be months before this vaccination campaign actually makes a dent in the number of infections.
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VANIER: And actually brings down the pandemic and the spread of the virus in the country.
CURNOW: Yes, still so many unanswered questions. But a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel. Cyril Vanier, live in London, thank you.
Coming up, Donald Trump's election lies are now more than just a distraction. They're also creating financial upside for the president and his allies. How baseless claims are being used to convince supporters to dig into their wallets.
Plus Venezuelans are headed to the polls to elect a new national assembly. Why many are saying the outcome is already decided.
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CURNOW: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. Thanks for joining me. I'm Robyn Curnow. You're watching CNN. It's 28 minutes past the hour.
More now on President Trump's efforts to impact the crucial runoff elections in Georgia, the outcome of which will determine who controls the Senate. Mr. Trump held a packed rally Saturday for the Republican candidates. But it may well have been for himself. The outgoing leader spent much of the time repeating false claims about the presidential election. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I have to say, if I lost, I'd be a very gracious loser. If I lost, I would say I lost and I'd go to Florida and I'd take it easy and I'd go around and say I did a good job. But you can't ever accept when they steal and rig and rob.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW: To be clear, none of that is based in reality.
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CURNOW: Donald Trump did not win. But many of his supporters are buying into the lies literally. Drew Griffin reports on how the president and others are using election falsehoods to rake in big bucks.
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PROTESTERS: Stop the steal! Stop the Steal!
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They believe the election was stolen and believe their protests can stop it and Donald Trump can stay in the White House.
And amidst the political fury, fueled by lies and disinformation, is an opportunity to make a buck.
Conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones, who showed up at a recent rally in an armored car, is just one of the Stop the Steal promoters embracing the chance to cash in, using the slogan to help sell male enhancement supplements and Armageddon survivor supplements. Others asking for money are much more direct.
GRIFFIN: Drew Griffin with CNN.
How are you doing?
ALI ALEXANDER, PROTEST ORGANIZER: Get out. GRIFFIN (voice-over): That's Ali Alexander. I called him a Roger Stone wannabe in the past story about how Trump's ally, Roger Stone, began Stop the Steal back in 2016.
Alexander has launched a Stop the Steal website, seeking donations and claiming he doesn't have time to start a stupid nonprofit or LLC, so just send him the money by Bitcoin, LikeCoin, PayPal, Cash App, to be used, he says organize protests across the country like this one in Atlanta.
How much money are you making on all of this?
ALEXANDER: Zero, zero. I'm dedicating my time and my company's --
GRIFFIN: How do we know that with all the money that's going to your private account?
ALEXANDER: They're not donors.
Are you from the Democrat Party, Drew?
You called me a wannabe like a racist mother (INAUDIBLE). You're a racist mother (INAUDIBLE).
GRIFFIN: Since Alexander's money is going to him, he doesn't have to report how he spends it. But whatever he is collecting pales in comparison to the tens of millions being raked in by Donald Trump from these true believers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I donated to the Trump campaign.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Directly to Trump, to defend, him yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, I donated money to Donald Trump.
GRIFFIN: Since Election Day, Republicans and the president, have taken in $207 million according to the Trump campaign, fueled by a fraudulent belief that the election was stolen.
All of it being egged on by an aggressive outreach campaign to supporters who received more than 420 emails since Election Day alone, purportedly from the president and his family, with messages like, "My team has given me a list of patriots who have stepped up to help us. I noticed your name is still missing. My father wants to know is who is standing with him. Democrats are doing everything they can to steal the election."
Have you ever seen anything quite like this before?
LARRY NOBLE, FORMER GENERAL COUNSEL, FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION: I've seen people trying to raise money off of all sorts of crises, all sorts of problems both fake and real but I have never seen one like this, connected to our elections and, basically, challenging the legitimacy of our elections and our democracy.
GRIFFIN: The emails say the donations are being solicited for the official election defense fund. But read the fine print and you see 75 percent of the money goes to Save America, a type of PAC with such loose rules, the president can spend it on personal expenses.
John Scott-Railton has been tracking the bogus "Stop the Steal" messaging and says there may be lasting impact here beyond money. The conspiracy organized and motivated by lies is turning out to real protesters. The potential beginning of a new, powerful and easily manipulated political movement.
JOHN SCOTT-RAILTON, CITIZEN LAB, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO MUNK SCHOOL: I think it represents an interesting core of people and true believers. And the real question is, what's going to be the pivot?
What are they going to be fed next as calls to action?
And what's going to happen with those contact lists?
GRIFFIN: A disgruntled Trump leaving office with piles of political cash, maybe just the catalyst they need -- Drew Griffin, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Thank you, Drew, for that.
It is Election Day in Venezuela. The country is wracked by political turmoil, especially over who actually leads the nation. Some are calling for a boycott, fearing the vote will not be fair. Isa Soares explains.
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ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Venezuelans are preparing to head to the polls for an election that the United States, the European Union and many citizens here see as rigged. They will be electing a new national assembly, the only branch of government controlled by the opposition, led by Juan Guaido, the man seen by more than 50 countries as the rightful leader of Venezuela.
Embattled president Nicolas Maduro is vying to take control of the assembly, the last democratic body of Venezuela.
Campaigning this week, he said his future is in their hands.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICOLAS MADURO, PRESIDENT OF VENEZUELA (through translator): Your position says the elections on December 6th, 2020, are a plebiscite. Let's see who wins. If we win, we will continue pushing forward but if we lose the national assembly, I will step down as president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: There won't be much competition, though. So a win is a given.
[05:35:00] SOARES: Juan Guaido and a majority of opposition parties are boycotting the election on the grounds it's rigged in favor of President Maduro and his allies.
JUAN GUAIDO, INTERIM PRESIDENT OF VENEZUELA (through translator): When they say come December (ph), there is no election. What there is is fraud. You can't vote because there is no election.
SOARES: On the ground here many people tell me they won't be voting. They're disillusioned with politics or they say it's rigged and some quite simply say they have bigger problems, such as looking for their next meal.
So to entice them, Maduro's government is using hunger as a mechanism to boost turnout.
MADURO (through translator): The person that doesn't vote, doesn't eat. For those who do not voter, there's no food.
SOARES: And although experts tell me the vote will be preordained, it still matters. Nicolas Maduro will have full control of Venezuela and in his eyes, Juan Guaido, will no longer be a relevant player -- Isa Soares, CNN, Caracas, Venezuela.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: And coming up, health care workers are struggling to keep up with increasing numbers of COVID-19 patients and things could even worse. The pressure people are under. That is next.
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CURNOW: Welcome back. It's 39 minutes past the hour.
The coronavirus pandemic is soaring to new levels here in the U.S. with more than 1 million new cases during the first week of December, according to Johns Hopkins University. Saturday was the fifth consecutive day where more than 2,000 people in the U.S. died from the virus. And those surging cases can lead to surging hospitalizations.
On Saturday more than 100,000 people were hospitalized because of the virus for the fourth straight day. Those numbers translate into patients who have to be cared for by health care workers. And the pandemic is taking its toll on them as well. CNN spoke with one doctor in the U.S. getting therapy to cope with seeing so many patients die alone and with a nurse urging everyone to wear masks.
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CURNOW: Here's Lucy Kafanov with their stories.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DR. SHANNON TAPIA, GERIATRICIAN: We might not show it if we're interacting with you, but it's so hard.
LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The words of a Colorado physician who's had enough. Dr. Shannon Tapia is one of thousands of health care workers on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic.
TAPIA: Sleep is on short supply right now.
KAFANOV: A geriatrician and single mom who works with the elderly. She switched to telehealth to keep her patients and herself safe.
What do you want people to know about the experience of the health care workers including yourself under COVID.
TAPIA: We might not talk about it because we know people don't want to hear it. We know everyone is struggling. We know COVID changed everybody's lives.
It's just, it's been so hard and I don't want to say it's been harder for us than it has for everybody else, but the truth is it has. It has. It's not the same and it's not the same when you feel responsible for people's -- whether it be their life or their quality of life because you care.
KAFANOV: Colorado is in the midst of its third pandemic surge. Cases and hospitalizations have been breaking records.
GOV. JARED POLIS (D-CO): What matters now is in Colorado, one out of 41 people are contagious. So it could be anywhere.
KAFANOV: More than 14,000 Coloradans have been hospitalized since the pandemic began. Among those facing the brunt, doctors and nurses like Allison Boerner.
ALLISON BOERNER, ER NURSE, CENTURA-PARKER ADVENTIST HOSPITAL: As an ER nurse, I haven't cried a lot on the job, you hold that back and, you know, you want to stay tough for the family and stoic/
And there's been a lot of tears shed in ER rooms during COVID because we are treating that person dying like our loved one dying, because they don't have anyone else and they need that grace and they need that human touch.
And they need someone to be there when they're taking their last breath.
KAFANOV (voice-over): Before the pandemic, she said work had never caused her to lose sleep. Now she regularly has nightmares.
KAFANOV: How has the COVID crisis impacted nurses and yourself on a personal level? I mean, you're saying this day in and day out.
BOERNER: Yes, on a personal level, it's hard. You know, we lean on each other. The holidays have been rough for a lot of us. We're not seeing our families. We're doing everything we can to keep the public safe and so it's extremely frustrating for us when people are not doing that.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here on the front lines, this virus is incredibly real.
KAFANOV (voice-over): With cases climbing, her employer, Centura Health, released this PSA.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please, let's have each other's backs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAFANOV (voice-over): A message Dr. Tapia shares. She has seen firsthand the devastating toll on residents of long-term care facilities who account for 40 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in the country. Many die alone.
TAPIA: It's so hard on their loved ones and their families because they can't grieve it the way they should be able to.
KAFANOV: She's found new ways to cope, a puppy, therapy and antidepressants. But with a virus raging unabated she worries how much more she and other frontline workers can take.
TAPIA: I think there's going to be a huge reckoning when things calm down and people get to really process what's happened to them.
KAFANOV: Lucy Kafanov, CNN, Denver.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Powerful piece. Thanks to Lucy for that.
A little bit earlier, I spoke to another one of the front line health care workers. Grover Street is a travel nurse who goes to hot spots around the U.S. and helps boost staffing at hospitals, those hospitals that need extra staff. He spoke to me earlier from Southern California. I began asking him what the experience has been like.
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GROVER STREET, FASTAFF TRAVEL NURSE: It's a great opportunity to learn more about the virus and about the way people act, you know, different treatment modalities that we're experiencing.
You know, it's also interesting to me that some of the hospitals, you know, they approach it differently than other hospitals. Not everybody has the same approach.
I think if they were to develop an algorithm that could be used for the treatment of COVID-19 -- in health care, it's always based on evidence-based practice. And when you get an algorithm, then I think that would help treat some of these patients in a better way.
CURNOW: Are you saying there needs to be more consistency? I understand you started off in New York with the surge there; then Miami, now in California, you're helping out at different hospitals.
Are you saying there needs to be more consistency across the U.S. in how to manage it?
STREET: Yes, ma'am, more consistency in the way they treat it and the approach that they do it. Now it's different, based on the patient. You know, not everybody has the same symptoms.
[05:45:00]
STREET: And you can't approach it with the same treatment modalities or regime in one patient versus another. It just depends on the patient.
CURNOW: You started your career, your medical career, as a nurse in the Air Force. We've got pictures of you on the front lines with your military training.
How has that helped you?
I know our previous guest on Sara Sidner's piece said this is like a war zone on the front line.
Does it feel like that?
STREET: Yes. It's interesting. It is that simple fact that people are making that comparison, that it's sort of like -- it is a war. And the weapons that we have to use is not guns or grenades or ammo or bombs. It's actually wearing a face mask. That's the weapon we need to use.
And that's what we're going to have to do and get better at doing in order to be able to contain this and have more control over what's going on in our society.
CURNOW: From a personal perspective, what's it like, what's been hardest about having to parachute into many of these hospitals where the staff need you so much?
What is one of the most difficult things?
STREET: Well, I've seen several things with other employees and staff members. There's a lot of job burnout in different facilities. And you see nurses quit and doctors walk off the job and they just can't handle the stress load.
With me, however, I mean, I've learned to adapt to change. I think that's something the military taught me. I'm always ready to take on a challenge. And it actually motivates me to see somebody get better. And I've had patients that actually have gotten better. But the majority of the patients that I've taken care of have not gotten better.
CURNOW: And what is that like, to be with people, particularly if they're dying, and you know they're alone? STREET: You know what, these people are alone in the hospital. They have families. I've been on the phone, letting family members know, hey, your mother may not make it tonight, your father, your loved one. They have people on the outside.
But it's hospital policy and the CDC recommendations that we control the population of well people that are coming through the hospital and to limit visiting hours. There's actually no visiting hours right now.
And to know that their loved ones may go into the hospital one day and not come out, they'll never see them again, this is happening.
CURNOW: What do you tell those people, who might not leave the hospital and they can't say goodbye properly or have a hug with their loved ones and you might be the last person they speak to?
What do you tell them?
STREET: Well, if -- if they're in a position -- it depends on the patient now. I work ICU. If they're intubated, they really don't have any reference. You can't really talk to them in that manner.
But if they are on BiPAP or treatment -- if they're not intubated, you talk to them and just give them a level of confidence that, you know, we're here for you. We are your family.
And that's just like working in every hospital, when nurses and doctors get together, respiratory therapists, CNAs, all the medical professionals that are working together, we're like a family. We have to bring it together like a family. And not just us as workers but with the patients as well.
We have to accept them. And it becomes emotional. There's a lot of emotional things involved with this kind of disease.
CURNOW: Grover Street, thank you very much for joining us. Thank you so very much for all the work you've been doing and no doubt all the hands you've held over the past few months. I hope you keep up your strength and have a beautiful Christmas.
STREET: Thank you, you, too. All right.
CURNOW: All the best.
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CURNOW: You're watching CNN. More news after the break.
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(MUSIC PLAYING) CURNOW: Major League Baseball clubs are suing insurance providers to
recoup billions of dollars lost in the pandemic. Now the suit cites severe economic damage from the shortened season and the lack of fans. All clubs purchased coverage to protect against the risk of catastrophic economic losses.
CNN reached out to the defendants named in the suit. So far, no response.
The National Basketball Association issued new COVID safety guidelines as the season gets underway. The ESPN is reporting players and staff are banned from bars, clubs, live entertainment and gaming venues as well as spas and pools while in their home markets.
During road trips, teams may only eat at approved restaurants or fully private spaces. Nearly 50 players tested positive earlier in the week.
The English Premier League kicked away some of that loneliness that comes with COVID-19 isolation. Half of the 20 teams can have fans up to 2,000 people. Teams where the virus is more prevent will have to keep their doors locked just a little bit longer.
"WORLD SPORT" contributor Darren Lewis was at the game between West Ham and Manchester United.
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DARREN LEWIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A game-changing weekend in the Premier League with fans back in the stadiums across the country for the first time in nine months.
Clubs in the Premier League and the championship have been breathing a sigh of relief as the game takes its first steps towards normality after the coronavirus outbreak. Football without fans just isn't football. It's soulless, it's joyless, as the Everton manager, Carlo Ancelotti, said midweek, a very, very different experience.
At West Ham they did their best to ensure the experience was as safe as possible for the fans coming back for the first time since February.
[05:55:00]
LEWIS: Health declaration forms, temperature checks, hand sanitizer, masks, social distancing.
After a thrilling game against Manchester United, you'd think it was all worth it. But the fans we spoke to, they had mixed feelings about the experience.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was fantastic to be back. I nearly lost my voice. It was fantastic to be back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was just a little bit eerie, really, a little bit dodgy. You got the sense it was very empty. The fact that I had to sit four seats away from my son, still a little bit strange. But no, it was nice. Nice to get back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Felt very, very good to be back. Didn't get the result tonight. Good to be back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it was OK. A bit strange. Gary had to sit behind me in the row behind me. Yes, and it's very empty. But, yes, it was good.
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LEWIS: As for the game itself, West Ham look set to extend their three-match winning streak. They went ahead through Tomas Soucek in the first half but blew a string of gilt-edged opportunities to put themselves out of sight. You don't do that against Manchester United.
A goal in the second half from Paul Pogba, a close finish from Mason Greenwood, a cheeky chip from Marcus Rashford saw the points go up to Manchester, a big result for the United boss, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, on a big weekend for English football -- Darren Lewis, CNN, London.
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CURNOW: And that wraps up this hour of CNN. For our international viewers, "Connecting Africa" is next. For viewers in the U.S. and Canada, it's "NEW DAY."
