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California Surpasses 2 Million Confirmed Cases of COVID-19; NBA Fines James Harden $50K for Violating COVID Protocols; Pope Francis Holds Scaled-Back Christmas Eve Mass. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired December 24, 2020 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:33:48]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: California has become the first state to surpass 2 million cases of coronavirus. That means the single state of California has more infections than the entire nations of Germany or Spain or Mexico. Just follow that red line.

CNN's Dan Simon joins me now from San Francisco.

Unfortunately, Dan, that red line is going in the wrong direction. Any sense that the stricter measures that the state has taken are making an impact?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDDENT: Well, it's a little bit of a mixed picture, Bianna. We'll get to the numbers in a minute, but, of course, there is the concern with people holding gatherings over the next few days and people congregating at shopping malls. We'll have to see what happens in the weeks ahead.

In the meantime, let's go through some of the statistics: 361 deaths yesterday, that the second highest since the beginning of the pandemic. The record was actually set on December 16th with 379 deaths.

Now, the state did record nearly 40,000 cases yesterday. That is a huge number by any stretch. Nonetheless, it is down 27 percent from the previous week. So, there is some good news there.

The state's seven day positivity rate also slightly down. It's 12.6 percent down by about 1 percent.

[13:35:02]

This is how Governor Gavin Newsom is framing these current numbers. Take a look.

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GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): It's a modest indication of a possible sign of some good news, but again, we have to be mindful of what we're walking into over the course of the next number of days into Christmas holiday season more broadly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: And despite that possible good news, ICU capacities statewide has continued to go down. It's now just at 1.1 percent as many state officials have acknowledged. Right now, we are in a surge on top of a surge -- Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Yeah, everyone is anticipating a post holiday surge as well as the governor there alluded to.

Dan Simon, thank you.

Well, let me turn now to Dr. Mark Ghaly, who is the secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency.

This is a very busy time for you, Doctor. Thank you for coming on with us.

Why do you think the state is going through the most severe surge in the nation despite having rather tough restrictions in place for most of the year?

DR. MARK GHALY, SECRETARY, CALIFORNIA HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES: Yeah. It's a question we're all working on very hard here in California, but I think it comes down to the fact that COVID, if you give it an inch, it will take a mile. Some of our fatigue and the gatherings that we saw over the Thanksgiving holiday and the days since have caused us to have this real increase in case numbers.

And the measures the state is taking to try to bring that back down, as you just heard, are starting to show some signs of working, but, we know the next couple weeks is going to be very concerning.

GOLODRYGA: Yeah. I want to pick up on that because more than 1 million people are traveling through airports just yesterday alone for the holiday.

What are you doing to prepare for what may come from this holiday travel these next couple of weeks?

GHALY: Well, it's two things. It's first, continuing to point out our number one defense is that people don't travel, that they decide to stay at home and not mix with others outside of their household. But then on the other side, it's really the preparation of the hospitals. We've done a lot in California to prepare. And although we're seeing this incredible surge now, we continue to work with our hospital systems up and down the state to make sure that they can handle patients that come in.

And so far, we've been able to do that, but we're worried over the next couple weeks.

GOLODRYGA: Yeah, we know and we've been reporting that hospitals there, so many are at near full capacity and the relentless work done by the nurses and doctors there. Hats off to them and you. You have some of the best of the best in the country there and we're all wishing you, you know, as much of a speedy recovery in terms of getting those numbers down as possible.

Dr. Mark Ghaly, thank you.

GHALY: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: And still ahead, after losing their wife and daughter to coronavirus, one family turns their grief into action. How they're hoping to help other families detect the virus early and hopefully save someone else's life.

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[13:42:53]

GOLODRYGA: After COVID-19 took the life of 30-year-old Danielle Kater of Bloomington, Illinois, her parents and husband decided to turn their grief into something positive. They partnered with a local health care group to start the Dani Rubin Kater COVID-19 care kits fund.

Their hope is that the kits that will this fund provides will help others in their community detect the coronavirus early. More than 1,000 kits are being handed out. And in them, something called a pulse oximeter which the family believes is missing link when the virus turns bad.

I'm joined now by Danielle Kater's parents, Tina and Bob Rubin, and her husband, Tim Kater.

Let me begin by saying how sorry I am for your loss. How are you doing during this holiday season without your Dani?

Let me begin with mom and dad.

BOB RUBIN, LOST DAUGHTER TO CORONAVIRUS: Well, thanks for having us, Bianna.

We're banding together with our friends and family to make the best of her situation.

GOLODRYGA: And, Tim, I know you met Danielle while you were both in high school. You were high school sweethearts, or did that come later?

TIM KATER, LOST WIFE TO CORONAVIRUS: No, you're absolutely right on that.

GOLODRYGA: Tim, can you talk about what happened then when your young wife got sick and when you realized that she was actually in dire trouble?

KATER: Yeah. So, she got sick on a Tuesday and it was just a loss of smell and taste, which is COVID right away. It wasn't until that weekend that she had a little bit of a harder time breathing, but we just thought that was part of it. And we didn't know that, you know, this was something that we should

be in the hospital for. So we were trying to fight it at home. It wasn't until we learned about the pulse oximeter and got the first reading off one of those that this wasn't something we should fight at home. So we got her to the hospital. And the doctors put her on a ventilator. She passed away less than 24 hours later.

GOLODRYGA: It's hard to square what you're just describing as we see these pictures of a young vivacious, beautiful Dani.

[13:45:03]

Your wedding photos, travels around the world. Obviously gone way too soon and from a parent's perspective, she's always going to be your baby.

Mrs. Rubin, I can't imagine the loss of a child, but to take that moment and to turn it around into a way you could help others is just entirely selfless. Can you talk to us about the fund that you've set up, including the kits that you're providing and I know you're holding right there?

TINA RUBIN, LOST DAUGHTER TO CORONAVIRUS: Sure. So the evening that we were at the hospital, one of the -- nurse liaison, kind of family liaison, you know, one of the questions we asked her was, how do you keep doing this everyday? You know, and especially seeing someone so young.

And she pretty much pleaded with us, you know, please be an advocate for her. So right away I got to thinking, you know, that there's got to be some way that we could take our story, get these pulse ox's out into the public. I had never heard of them. I didn't know you could buy them over the counter.

So, we right away started trying to think how could we do this. And I had in mind that maybe we could put a kit together of some sort with instructions of symptoms. So, after just a few phone calls I got in touch with the foundation that we're working with and they described to me before I could even describe what I was thinking of getting a kit, having instructions, maybe a thermometer as well, have one of the pulse ox's monitors available in the kit.

And within a week they had their website updated with the memorial and this is the kit. You can see it.

GOLODRYGA: Uh-huh.

T. RUBIN: Available for distribution. And now, we're about $75,000 at last count that the foundation has been able to raise through the community. We were present for passing those out to some healthcare workers who were then delivering them to patients that have gotten news that they are positive. So what this will allow them to do is to monitor their symptoms so we kind of look at this as being two ways of helping.

One, it allows them to know when they're in trouble. But likewise, we're hoping that it will also help the healthcare workers in the fact that they don't have people up needlessly if they're not truly in need of healthcare. So it hopefully will relieve the efforts from a healthcare standpoint as well.

GOLODRYGA: And it's a life-saving tool no doubt. And hopefully folks at home watching will pay attention now and do their research as to why that pulse oximeter is so vital.

Tim, let me end with you because, again, you're 30, you're young. You and your wife were healthy and traveling around the world, had so many plans. When you hear people down play this virus, say that this only impacts older, elderly, sick people, compromised -- those with an immune system that's compromised.

What is your message to them given what unfortunately you've just experienced?

KATER: Yeah. It's not true. I mean, it can happen to anyone. You know, we were kind of in that boat. We took all the precautions, but we didn't expect that it would happen to us, that I would lose my wife over it. But here it is.

GOLODRYGA: Well, Bob, Tina and Tim, may her memory be a blessing and thank you for advocating on her behalf, her memory to hopefully save other's lives. We appreciate it. Happy holidays to you.

T. RUBIN: Thank you.

KATER: Thank you.

B. RUBIN: Thanks for the opportunity.

GOLODRYGA: And please visit their website to learn more about the memorial fund at www.maconcountygives.org/thedanirubinkatermemorialfundforcovidcare.

Well, an NBA game is called off and one player is slapped with a $50,000 fine for violating protocol all just two days into the new season. The challenges facing the NBA without the protection of the bubble, that's coming up next.

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[13:54:34]

GOLODRYGA: On the second day of the new NBA season, a Houston Rockets/Oklahoma City Thunder game was postponed due to COVID-19.

, the NBA fining James Harden $50,000 for violating the league's health protocols by reportedly attending a private indoor party on Monday. The NBA says Harden can return for Saturday's game if he continues to test negative for COVID-19. The postponing of tonight's Rockets/Thunder matchup comes after three Rockets players had COVID tests that are either positive or inconclusive and four others are quarantining.

[13:55:08]

Joining me now is CNN sports analyst Christine Brennan. She's also a sports columnist for "USA Today."

So, Christine, I'm not going to be objective here. I am a Houston Rockets girl. That's my home team, but I am going to tell you I'm very disappointed in what's transpired, especially with James Harden. We can talk about that in a moment.

But, first, what does this say for the challenges ahead for the NBA season, given what happened last tonight?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Bianna, this is not the way the NBA wanted to kick off this new season. This is the complete opposite of what they wanted to have happen. It shows when the NBA is not in a bubble -- and boy, was that a success --

GOLODRYGA: Right.

BRENNAN: -- the NBA, WNBA, one of the highlights, the way they pulled it off. But they could not, they decided (AUDIO GAP) mental health of the players, the issues, how difficult it was, the owners didn't want to do it, they want to try to have fans at some point in the season, and recoup some of that revenue.

So, now, they're doing it the way the other leagues have tried to do it in college sports. We have seen over and over again how difficult it is. My guess is, Bianna, we will continue to see the stops and starts in the NBA. We've got 158-page protocol for health and safety. They know how to do it. They did it right the first time, but this is a whole different situation, and I think it's going to be very difficult to have a smooth kind of season the way they did during the bubble.

GOLODRYGA: Yeah, that bubble was one of the only few successes in the sports world of 2020. Now you do have a situation it appears each team and each arena have their own protocols and their own guidelines in terms of how many fans can attend and what have you and monitoring players.

How is this going to work? Are we going to have these stops and starts? Financially, what impact does that have for the league?

BRENNAN: We are going to have stops and starts. I think it's going to be very chaotic. I hope I'm wrong. As I've said over and over --

GOLODRYGA: Me too.

BRENNAN: Yeah, exactly. I mean, you're a fan. You know, what you're describing is the reason we want to try to have sports. Especially during the dark days of the pandemic, people unable to travel, you can turn on a game, it's fun, it's interesting, it takes you somewhere else for a few hours and you can enjoy that. That's the whole goal.

The question is the coexistence with a team in its city and being good citizens and following protocols. And James Harden, you know, obviously, did not do that. And for an MVP of the league a few years ago and multiple-time all-star to mess of badly right away I think just shows how difficult it's going to be.

And while we want to come down hard on James Harden, and we should, I mean, he's 31 years old, he knows better, he's also had other issues, he's disgruntled in many ways with Houston, but it shows these players are human. It's very, very hard for these young athletes to toe the line, even though what a gift they've been given to play their sport and they should know better.

GOLODRYGA: Look, if anyone knows me, I'm one of James Harden's biggest fans. I'm disappointed in his attitude this entire past few months here, and especially with this latest case, going out apparently to a club, and being -- caught on video with other people, not even apologizing.

Given what the league did in fining him, is this a sense of what could happen with other big names, other big egos if they act -- if they do similar things that Harden apparently did?

BRENNAN: Absolutely. Expect more of this. Frankly, the $50,000 fine for a guy that's making millions and millions is probably a bit of a slap on the wrist. He's lucky that the game was postponed, because he would have lost his entire paycheck had it not been they were missing other players.

And the contact tracing, it feels like -- I feel like a broken record. It's the exact same thing we talked about with NFL, with college football, with college basketball, men's and women's, here we are again.

And so, they do need to send a signal. The NBA has a shining reputation from the bubble, and in the history -- when we look back at 2020, the NBA and WNBA will be a part of those headlines. I just wrote a column for "USA Today" talking about that seminal moment when the NBA shut down on March 11th. And that really triggered everything, not jest in the sports, but our culture, that NBA was our North Star.

Is the NBA going to be our North Start this time? Or is the NBA going to be the problem child? I think that's the decision and the choice that these players have to make.

Look, Adam Silver has a long road ahead of him, a lot on his plate. He doesn't need to hear it from James harden and his attitude. I hope he can readjust that attitude. He disappointed my 8-year-old last night. I can tell you that.

Christine Brennan, thank you. Always great to have you on. I appreciate it.

BRENNAN: Thank you, Bianna. A pleasure. Thanks.

GOLODRYGA: Well, happening right now, Pope Francis is holding a scaled-back Christmas Eve mass. The pontiff presiding over today's mass at St. Peter's Basilica. According to the Vatican, Pope Francis is delivering his Christmas Eve

message two hours earlier, to allow the limited number of people attending today's event to return home by Italy's 10:00 p.m. curfew.