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Police Identify Person Of Interest In Nashville Explosion; Unemployment Benefits Expiring As Trump Delays COVID Relief; U.S. Surpasses 19 Million COVID-19 Cases; E.U. Rolls Out Mass Vaccination Plan; Black Doctor Dies Of COVID After Alleging Racist Treatment; Coronavirus Pandemic Has Killed 1.76 Million Worldwide This Year. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired December 27, 2020 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:00:11]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin in Nashville where we're learning new details on the investigation to a downtown explosion on Christmas morning.

Shimon Prokupecz is in Nashville, Tennessee and CNN's Brain Stelter joining me as well. So Shimon, you first. You have new reporting on a person of interest?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And this is the first time that the police have publicly addressed a possible person of interest. The police chief here telling our colleague Natasha Chen that Anthony Quinn Warner who is 63 is a person of interest.

Now authorities that I have spoken to here on the ground, sources that I have talked to have said that they believe that it is Warner's remains that they found at the scene.

Remember we've heard from police talk about the human remains that they found. The FBI and the ATF are waiting for the medical examiner to confirm the identity of the human remains, but authorities here on the ground believe that those human remains that they found belonged to this individual. As we've said and as we've been reporting that authorities here believe that this was a suicide bombing.

So they believe the person responsible for this is dead and those are the human remains that they found.

Now the whole question about well, if they can't identify the human remains, how do they know that this is the person? Well, I'm told that they have other information, other things that they have discovered that puts this individual at the scene here.

And that is what they're working off of. The FBI, the ATF -- they have all sorts of resources, of course, to try and put this together. And that's what they've done here.

We also know that they've been at it the home of this individual in Tennessee here and part of Tennessee in Antioch. They were searching the home yesterday. What authorities are also trying to do, they're trying to find DNA. They went to his home, they were trying to find DNA there. They're also trying to get family members to give them DNA so they can have something to compare it to.

But as we've been saying now for two days, authorities are not looking for anyone in connection to this. There's no manhunt. The level of threat obviously is low at this point. There is no threat, the authorities here have said. And that's because they believe that the person responsible for this at this point they believe is dead.

WHITFIELD: And then Shimon, is any more being said about whether there were potentially other people involved, or whether they believe that it was possibly be carried out by one person?

PROKUPECZ: Right. So right now, the belief is that one person was responsible for the actual bombing. But always with authorities and specifically working these kinds of investigations, they are looking to see if anyone may have helped this individual.

How did he get all of these supplies, the bomb-making material? That is something that they're going to look at. They're going to also look at whether or not anyone knew that this was about to happen? Did he tell anyone that he was going to do this?

And those are people that they would want to talk to. But in terms of suspects, in terms of people who may have been responsible for this, at this point they believe that person is dead, and so they're not looking for anyone in connection with that.

But of course, they always want to question other people who may have known something. And of course, the big question is motive. And that is something authorities are still working on. They're trying to figure out what led this individual to do this. And there's a lot of questions about that.

But for one thing, you know, I've been out here now for two days, it's very obvious that law enforcement, the posture from law enforcement is completely calm. They're out here searching for evidence, putting some of this evidence together.

The other thing, they've been at the blast site now since Friday, Friday afternoon. And what's happened here is the wind. It's a windy day here in downtown Nashville, so that has hindered some in their efforts to collect evidence from the scene. There's been debris flying around, stuff flying off the buildings.

The sheer size of this explosion has damaged so much here in downtown, there's still a lot of debris in the area, still a lot of material that's hanging from buildings. So that has slowed some of their efforts. They're continuing to work through that. And of course, they're hoping they could start reopening some of this area in the coming days. [14:04:46]

WHITFIELD: All right. Still lots of unanswered questions about this Christmas Day blast -- Brian, I'm bringing you into this -- particularly because of the proximity of this blast to communications building of AT&T -- a big communications company.

A lot of folks describe this building, it's iconic there in downtown Nashville. It's the Batman building because of its shape. But what are you learning about any possible connection between the proximity of the AT&T building, AT&T also the parent company of CNN?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Right. That Batman building, iconic on the national skyline. And then a couple of blocks away on Second Street is this nondescript red-colored building, we've all seen on television, that's the network hub in downtown Nashville, where so much Internet traffic travels through.

And that is why there've been outages for wireless service, in some cases 911 systems have gone down not just in Nashville but other parts of Tennessee and surrounding states.

AT&T has been working overtime to get these facilities back up and running. But as the hours have turned to days, it's become increasingly clear just how much damage has occurred at the network hub.

You know, initially when this explosion occurred, wireless service, Wi-Fi service did not go down right away because backup power came online, generators came online. But as the hours went on this facility was flooded by water, damaged by the explosion and the fire as well. And so service has gone down.

And it's become increasingly clear that the network in and around Nashville was severely compromised by this explosion. That raises the question about motive, and about whether this suicide bombing suspect was targeting the network hub at AT&T.

I've spoken with executives at AT&T in the past couple of days and recently in the past few minutes, there is no comment from the company, no suggestion from the company that that is the case.

However, we have heard police, law enforcement looking into this possibility. And today the mayor of Nashville brought this up on CBS. Here's what was said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR JOHN COOPER (D), NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE: Those of us in Nashville realize that on second there's a big AT&T facility and the truck was parked adjacent to this large historic AT&T facility which happens to be in downtown Nashville somewhat surprisingly.

And to all of us locally, it feels like there has to be some connection with the AT&T facility and the site of the bombing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STELTER: So you hear him kind of speculating there but stating the obvious in some ways, wondering if this is the result -- the violent result of a conspiracy theorist.

You know, there have been cases, wireless companies deal with this where somebody tries to light a cell phone tower on fire, someone tries to cut a cable cord. These kinds of things have been going on for a long time.

What we're seeing at Nashville is something potentially of a much grander scale. And I think the obvious concern, Fredricka, is that it could go on the Internet, go into the dark corners of the Internet, look on Qanon message board, you'll see all sorts of crazy theories about 5G cellular service, about wireless service.

This stuff is not hard to find. And I think the concern now in Nashville is are we seeing the violent result of a conspiracy theorist? And Of course, we don't know, authorities have not said so far, but the Nashville mayor is clearly pointing in that direction, Fred.

WHITFIELD: And then Shimon, have any of the investigators, whether on the local or the federal level, commented on the remarks from the mayor?

PROKUPECZ: No, they have not a comment on it, but I think Brian makes a good point. That is something that authorities are going to look at as well.

Conspiracy theories unfortunately dominating a lot of the work that law enforcement is conducting all across the country. There's a lot of concern over the way people are reacting to conspiracy theories, the things that are online and people are being radicalized by what they're consuming.

That is certainly something that authorities are going to look at. That's why it's very difficult at this point for authorities to pinpoint one thing here.

It could be several things, so they're a little bit -- I mean concerned about all of this, but they just don't know. And that's why they're still trying to work through things.

And one of the things -- and they reason why they went to his home yesterday, was to try and gather more information about perhaps a motive here.

WHITFIELD: All right. Shimon Prokupecz, Brian Stelter -- thanks to both you. We'll check back with you of course as there are more developments.

19 million infections and counting. The United States just broke a new coronavirus record this afternoon. And health experts say the situation will only get worse because of holiday gatherings and travel. We'll have a new warning from Dr. Anthony Fauci coming up. Plus a new chapter in the pandemic overseas, the first vaccinations now under way in Europe as a new variant spreads to more countries.

[14:09:40]

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WHITFIELD: Millions of Americans are set to lose crucial benefits as we enter the new year. President Trump's delay in signing a $900 billion relief package passed by Congress last Monday, leaving many working families on the brink of financial crisis.

And while millions of Americans sit on the verge of homelessness, President Trump is back at his Florida golf club this morning.

Let's get straight to CNN's Jeremy Diamond who is in West Palm Beach traveling with the president. So Jeremy, has the president given any indication whether he will sign or outright veto that relief deal $900 billion relief deal that Congress already passed?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, it's been five days since President Trump made that threat, calling this $900 billion COVID relief bill a disgrace and arguing that Congress should amend it.

And so far no clear sign as to whether President Trump will actually veto that legislation or whether he will ultimately agree to sign it. The president has been golfing. He's golfed three days so far that he's been at Mar-A-Lago including today, but what he hasn't been doing is doing the hard work to actually get that legislation amended to address some of his changes and actually get this desperately needed relief for millions of Americans actually passed.

The president, you know, suggesting that the $2,000 stimulus checks is what he really wants here, but in fact the ultimate result of what he's doing is really sowing chaos and sinking millions of Americans deeper into financial uncertainty.

And that is what we heard Republican Senator Pat Toomey express his concerns about as he talks about what the president's strategy is here. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR PAT TOOMEY (R-PA): As he leaves office, he will -- I understand he wants to be remembered for advocating for big checks. but the danger is he'll be remembered for chaos and misery and erratic behavior if he allows this to expire. So I think the best thing to do, as I say, sign this, and then make the case for subsequent legislation.

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[14:14:48]

DIAMOND: And the president's refusal to sign this legislation so far has already resulted in those supplemental unemployment benefits provided by the federal government lapsing this weekend for an estimated more than 12 million Americans.

And more pain is on the way if the president continues to delay and refuses to sign this legislation. The government could shut down as soon as Tuesday if President trump doesn't sign this legislation or another short-term spending bill. And then at the end of the month, at the end of this year, that eviction moratorium expires and we could be entering 2021 with millions of Americans facing eviction.

It is just remarkable what this president is doing especially during this holiday season at a time of so much economic pain across the country, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Indeed. All right. Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much for that.

So for millions of Americans, unemployment benefits and eviction protections are already expiring or set to expire without a bill. At least 12 million people have already received their last payments. And as long as relief is delayed, those still eligible for payment won't get that additional $300 in federal money.

CNN Business lead writer Matt Egan with us now. So, Matt, you know, this bill was far from perfect, say a lot of people, but it was urgently needed. So can you give us some sense of, you know, what would potential happen here?

MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS LEAD WRITER: Yes. Fred, millions of Americans really find themselves innocent bystanders in this political debacle this holiday season. And you know, let's remember, this is not a surprise. It's not like these benefits just lapsed out of nowhere. We knew this was going to happen back in the spring when the government came to the rescue with $2 trillion stimulus package.

And so that's why we had Republicans and Democrats worked for months to tried to reach a deal that is yes, imperfect but at least was going to help many people. And now we have the president, you know, threatening to basically blow up the whole thing, because he hasn't yet signed it.

The other thing is you know, there has been a lot of disagreement over state and local aid. Stimulus checks but, you know, extending benefits -- unemployment benefits, that was never really to be.

Everyone agreed that had to happen, you couldn't let these benefits lapse in the middle of a pandemic. And yet that is exactly what is happening here.

So let me take you through some of the details.

The (AUDIO GAP) bipartisan package that got through Congress was going to extend two unemployment programs that expired yesterday. One impacts gig workers and independent contractors. The other is for those on long-term unemployment. Because President Trump did not sign the bill, about 12 million Americans in these programs are not going to receive the final week of benefits for the year.

Also the package calls for a $300 federal boost to unemployment benefits for all workers under mid March. And again, because Trump hasn't signed the bill, people are going to lose a week of benefits.

So, Fred, let's hope that this whole thing doesn't collapse, because as we know, so many Americans are relying on this aid just to get by.

WHITFIELD: Right, because of this ongoing pandemic. I mean, that really is still at the root of, you know, why so many people are in great need and why there have been so many incredible losses.

So on top of, you know, surging unemployment, we've got this looming eviction crisis. So what happens potential come January if this bill isn't passed?

EGAN: Right. So Fred, this is a looming eviction crisis. About 9.2 million renters are behind in their rent because of the recession that has impacted so many people, you know, in restaurants, in small businesses, in the travel industry.

And so the CDC in September, they had -- they put up a moratorium on some evictions. That moratorium expires at the end of the year.

So if President Trump does not sign this bill, all rent that was owed is going to be due on January 1st. However, if Trump does sign the bill, then the eviction protection would be extended until the end of January.

Also, the bill provides $25 billion in rental assistance for people whose income was sidelined by the pandemic. So again, let's hope that something happens here because we're talking about an eviction crisis not just in the middle of winter but in the middle of the pandemic.

WHITFIELD: And then, you know, there's a broader economic, you know, impact being made here. What is it?

EGAN: Well, listen, we know that the economy was crushed by the pandemic in the spring. It came back big time in the summer as the economy reopened.

But unfortunately, things are slowing down. We have seen the job markets slow down and we're seeing small businesses really, really struggle right now because the pandemic has intensified.

[14:19:42]

EGAN: And so the risk is that all this uncertainty caused by the debate over the stimulus package and in fact, the loss of income for some people who are unemployed, the delay in aid to small businesses, that all could cause a further slowdown in the economy.

Some economists even fear that there could be a double-dip recession as we start the new year. So it is absolutely critical that this relief gets through Congress and that the president signs it.

WHITFIELD: Lots of urgent needs. Matt Egan, thanks so much.

EGAN: Thank you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up businesses struggling to stay open during the pandemic. I'll talk with one restaurant owner who says the COVID relief bill doesn't go far enough.

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WHITFIELD: All right. The U.S. just reached a terrible milestones. More than 19 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported. That number is expected to get much worse by millions of Americans traveling and spreading the virus during this Christmas holiday season.

Dr. Anthony Fauci warns a post-holiday surge is coming.

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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: If you put more pressure on the system by what might be a post-seasonal surge because of the traveling and the likely congregating of people for, you know, the good, warm purposes of being together for the holidays, it's very tough for people to not do that. And yet even though we advice not to, it's going to happen.

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WHITFIELD: CNN Medical Analyst, Dr. Ester Choo is a professor of emergency medicine at Oregon Health and Science University. Good to see you.

DR. ESTER CHOO, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Hi, Fred.

WHITFIELD: So what are you -- great - I know we have a big delay there.

All right. So what are you bracing for? Are you expecting a significant post-holiday surge? And if so, how bad do you anticipate?

[14:24:58]

DR. CHOO: I really do anticipate a surge. I mean we've reliably have had a surge after every holiday because we love to gather during holidays. And this winter holiday is a set up for a really devastating surge because it's so prolonged.

I mean Christmas goes right into New Year and we're seeing a ton of travel. I also think that, you know, that travel is likely to be -- select out people who in general are less worried about the spread of coronavirus.

So probably when we have people colliding in those situations who maybe haven't been the most careful in general, we're likely to see a lot spread across states. And hospitals, like you said, I mean we are drowning in patients across the United States. And the issue is not just that we're crowded because in regular times, from time to time we get people crowded in near capacity. It's that when people are really sick with coronavirus, they don't just stay for a day or two and we can turn over that volume and take new people.

They tend to be very sick and some of those hospitalizations are weeks or even months. So we can't turnover people if it tends to be a kind of sick system in our ICUs and yet we keep on adding more and more patients.

Right now, one in 1,500 Americans over the age of 25 is hospitalized with COVID. We can't -- we aren't designed for that and we can't take much more.

WHITFIELD: It does seem that when you look at the numbers, it's worsening. So I mean, what do you blame here? Do you think that people in large volume are letting down their guard, not taking all these precautions doing all these things -- handwashing, masks, you know, wearing, proximity to one another? Or do you think it's more of a sign of this virus is much more virulent, still that much more mysterious and all the answers are just not there about this virus? And that is precipitating some of these numbers.

DR. CHOO: Well, I think -- I think we know how virulent it is. We've known for a long time now that it's so easily transmissible even when people are not symptomatic or minimally symptomatic.

That is this virus' super power. Why it has been so successful in propagating itself. I think people are tired. The numbers are so big that they are just hard to wrap our minds around. And there just hasn't been enough economic relief that people are able to do some of the simple things we need them to do like stay home when you're sick.

So I think it's a combination of a lot of factors. Certainly there's fatigue and just how -- how unbelievably big these numbers are.

I think your mind just tends to shut down and not really absorb the magnitude of this. And it's very hard to sustain some of these isolating behaviors for a long time. And we feel like we deserve the holidays, and of course we do. It's just that that inevitably has consequences

WHITFIELD: Yes. All right. Dr. Esther Choo, thank you so much. Appreciate it and continue to have the best kind of holiday season that you can, we know, safely. And be careful, but also wishing the best for a better new year too, to you.

DR. CHOO: Thank you, Fred. You too.

WHITFIELD: All right. The E.U.'s mass vaccination program is under way. Nursing homes are first in line. The shots began today with the E.U., European Union, planning to vaccinate more than 450 million people.

CNN's Cyril Vanier joining us now from Paris. So Cyril, how is this roll out being received.

CYRIL VANIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes Fredricka, good evening. It's hard to overstate how significant Sunday is for the European Union, you know.

It's just -- it's a tremendous logistical endeavor to roll this vaccine out across all 27-member states and yet, that's exactly what's happening.

So the first shots here in France, for instance, were delivered early this morning and it was a 78-year-old former housekeeper with a very French name Mauricette, who got the first dose. She said she was moved. She was applauded by her nurses and the doctors.

She was followed shortly thereafter by a cardiologist at the same hospital. She is a patient at a geriatric hospital ward outside Paris in a suburb that's been particularly hard-hit during the first wave of the pandemic.

And you know what struck me about those pictures of her getting the jab is how unremarkable they were in so many ways. It's just a regular vaccine. And we saw that same scene play out across the European Union today -- Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic -- everybody doing the same thing.

In Italy it was medical professionals who got the first jabs including doctors who had received some of the very, very first patients back in January, COVID patients in Italy.

So it was a relief to see this starting, but we can't overstate how long this is going to take. According to the European Commission, all adults might be vaccinated by the end of next year, so prepare for a long 2021, Fredricka.

[14:29:54]

WHITFIELD: Oh boy, a long wait.

All right. Cyril Vanier, thank you so much, in Paris.

All right. Coming up next, a doctor's chilling words sending shockwaves throughout the medical community and beyond.

[14:30:04]

Her death sparking an important conversation about racism, and it's now the subject of a new article in The Washington Post. Two of the writers joining me live in a moment.

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WHITFIELD: The recent death of a black doctor who posted video of her suffering and accusations of being treated poorly because of her race is magnifying longstanding experiences and implicit bias of medicine. Dr. Susan Moore died of COVID complications two weeks after sharing this video describing how she felt her white doctor at Indiana University Health North Hospital dismissed her complaints of pain and requests for medication.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SUSAN MOOORE, PATIENT WHO DIED FROM COVID COMPLICATIONS: I look forward and I maintain if I was white, I wouldn't have to go through that.

I was in so much pain from my neck. My neck hurt so bad, it was crushed. He made me feel like I was a drug addict and he knew I was a physician.

This is how black people get killed, when you send them home and they don't know how to fight for themselves. I had to talk to somebody, maybe the media, somebody, to let people how I'm being treated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And her words especially in post mortem have struck nerves throughout the medical community.

Take a listen to New York Dr. Steven McDonald and what he told me yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. STEVEN MCDONALD, EMERGENCY MEDICAL PHYSICIAN, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IRVING MEDICAL CENTER: This is the second time this year -- at least the second time that we're seeing a black person caught on video complaining of I can't breathe, and then later passing away. And, you know, this just shows that racism is really baked into so many systems in American life, from law enforcement all the way to medicine, which is designed to protect people, both are designed to protect people, and black people do poorly in the hands of both.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:35:10]

WHITFIELD: Four black women, four black women physicians, have just released this op-ed in The Washington Post headlines, say her name, Dr. Susan Moore, a group of doctors writing, quote, her experience is all too familiar in black and brown communities. That persistent experience of being ignored and harmed is the cornerstone of why black and brown people don't trust or healthcare system.

Two of the authors joining me right now, Dr. Camara Jones, a public health expert and a former president of the American Public Health Association, and also joining me is Dr. Joia Crear-Perry, many people call her Dr. Joia, the president of the National Birth Equity Collaborative. Good to see both of you ladies.

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

WHITFIELD: Well, sadly, this is heartbreaking conditions in which to meet. So, Dr. Joia, you first, your thoughts, what were your thoughts when you first heard Dr. Moore describe her experience in her own words, and, you know, from the hospital bed?

DR. JOIA CREAR-PERRY, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL BIRTH EQUITY COLLABORATIVE: You know, Fred, honestly, it was still hard for me to hear it just then when you played it. It reminded me the first time that I heard and watched George Floyd murder. For all of us, when you're watching it, it's like watching a morality play, like an old Shakespearean, you know at the end of it, it's going to be that the black person dies, right?

And we know that she was crying out for help, and she's just like us. She's a block woman who is a physician, who is a mother, a black mama, struggling hard for black mamas every day. And here she is with all of her degrees and all of her stature, and she's not being listened to, she's not being heard. And so I felt it deeply in my spirit, and I still do, that this devaluation of black people has to end. We have to see us all as fully human and capable and valuable, invest in us fully.

WHITFIELD: Dr. Jones, you know, you helped to write in this The Washington Post op-ed saying, this injustice often remains invisible to the public, unless, of course, you are a member of the community experiencing it. You've felt this before even before, of course, Susan Moore, a doctor, a black woman, posting her pain-filled video. Has Dr. Susan Moore's voice, her experience giving kind of new fuel in this generations-old fight against structural inequities such as in medicine, in your view?

JONES: Well, I think it's another voice penetrating the deeply held racism denial in this country. So there are times, you know, with COVID-19 and the disproportionate impact, people say, oh, there's something wrong, and then now we don't even talk about the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on black and brown communities. It's become normalized.

So, her voice is another voice out there saying racism exists. In fact, there are four key messages we need the nation to here, that racism exists, that racism is a system, that racism saps the strength of the whole society, and that we can and we must act to dismantle racism.

The loss of Dr. Moore, her genius, her vibrant humanity, is just one more, you know, loss in the long tally of human potential that racism is cutting the whole society from. And when you dehumanize people of color, when you don't recognize their pain, their value, when you then -- then I would say that is not just too bad for them, it's too bad for the whole nation.

WHITFIELD: It's powerful. I mean, racism denial, as you put it.

And, Dr. Joia, to add to that, I mean, as a patient, as a black woman, I've experienced it. My mother, a black woman, has shared and continues to share her experiences of these kinds of inequities when at a doctor's office, you know, during a hospital visit. I mean, this mistreatment or dismissal, you know, can be obvious and blatant without a care provider actually saying, verbally, you're black, and so I'm going to value you less. It's not actually verbalized as such, but racism speaks volumes in so many different ways.

So now for you, black women who are health care providers, how do you address it? How do you combat it? How do you get these messages across that will translate into equitable care?

CREAR-PERRY: Well, first, Fred, I'd like to thank you for sharing with us, because a lot of times, we don't share that we are all harmed. I mean, no matter or stature, you know, we have all these stories of famous people who have not been listened to. So I just want to first acknowledge and thank you for being gracious in sharing that view or your mother's experience.

[14:40:02]

What we really need now is accountability. We need federal and global policy, we need a White House that's going to commit to undoing racism in all the policies. People think about racism as an opinion, as someone -- if you think about the response of the hospital administration to the murder and the death of Dr. Susan Moore, it was all about perceptions and both sides and who was right or who was wrong without looking at the structure.

If we create a structure that says, some people have more value by law, by policy, for generations, then you got to get outcomes based upon that structure, those policies, not just personal opinion or taste or who's believed to be part of the in-club or not. This has been created inside of policies. So we need a policy response.

If we're going to end the racist policy that were baked into our community, not just to our infrastructure as a country, not just through slavery, Jim Crow, mass incarceration, redlining housing discrimination today, all of it has been baked down in policy. We need actively anti-racist policy to undo it. We have to believe that all people, no matter their religion, their race, their gender, where they live, should be able to thrive, that health is a right.

When we talk about Dr. Susan Moore, she's a great example of having health care. She's a physician, she has access to information as a physician, but her well-being, her ability to thrive or to help in her community being seen that she should get all the access that even if it's an experimental drug that anybody else should have, that's what we are missing.

So that ability to really have policy that's driven by a belief that all people are equal and not this belief in a hierarchy of human value based upon skin color, gender, religion, class, where you live, that's been harming all of us. And we're all in this together to believe that we all should be able to thrive.

WHITFIELD: When you talk about that policy and the promise inside policy, the incoming Biden administration has committed to addressing existing racial disparities in health care with some of the people that he has appointed, but, of course, we shall see, right? But there is a statement coming from the president and CEO of the Indiana University Health North Hospital shortly after the demise of Dr. Moore, and accusations, saying that after our preliminary medical quality review, I am fully confident in our medical team and their expertise to treat complex medical cases.

I do not believe that we failed the technical aspects of the delivery of Dr. Moore's care. I am concerned, however, that we may not have shown the level of compassion and respect we strive for in understanding what matters most to patients. I am worried that our care team did not have the time due to the burden of this pandemic to hear and understand patient concerns and questions.

So, Dr. Moore, what is your response to that statement -- Dr. Jones?

JONES: So, yes, I could be Dr. Moore. All of us could be Dr. Moore.

WHITFIELD: I'm sorry, she's really on my mind.

JONES: Absolutely. And I know I could be Dr. Moore. My response is that sounded apologetic, and it sounded defensive, and it sounded like they need to actually look at their practice over time and to say, are we treating people differentially by race? Why did she have to beg to have the pain medication?

Why did she have to prove that she had a basis for pain by having a C.T. scan show that she had new scarring, a new (INAUDIBLE)? Why did she have to go through this? So, yes, maybe they gave her what she needed eventually. And even when they decided to give her pain medication, it was still two hours after that order had been given.

So care delayed is not good care. Care that is not -- the value of her life and her experience was not readily recognized. So I challenge them to look at your records and see not just one by one, oh, well, we can (INAUDIBLE) good enough care there. Look at the patterns of what you've been doing over time and over a space.

Is there something differential going on by race, by gender, by language, by immigration status, by zip code? Shine that bright light of inquiry to examine your practice, and then when you see what you see, then take steps. Don't just say, well, maybe we didn't do things a little differentially, then you need to move to action.

WHITFIELD: All right, we'll leave it there. Go ahead, Dr. Joia.

CREAR-PERRY: I just wanted to add that so many times the language they use is what I could see in the work that we do in the National Birth Equity Collaborate, having the difference between technical versus how you treat people, and they're no different. Anti-racism is explicitly a part of how we're going to have safety for the black and brown communities. Saying that we did the technical aspect without acknowledging that racism is part of the technical aspect is not being intellectually honest.

So, that is the part where racism shows up in health care, saying that these disparities or this other work, that's different.

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We did our job. You didn't do your job, actually, because a person died and you didn't listen to them, you didn't value their pain. And that's part of technical and it's also part of caring and listening.

WHITFIELD: Well, ladies, thank you so much. Thanks for what you do. Thanks for enlightening so many. Dr. Joia Crear-Perry, Dr. Camara Jones, I appreciate you ladies. Thanks so much.

We'll be right back.

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WHITFIELD: All right. To say 2020 has been a year like none other seems like an understatement, civil unrest, racial tensions and, of course, the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed more than 300,000 lives in this country and 1.76 million worldwide.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta has a closer look at the origins of the disease, the treatment challenges and the development of life-saving vaccines.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I have never covered a story of such magnitude. The story has impacted everyone across the globe. And when I first began reporting on it a year ago, I didn't suspect that we would be where we are today. I've reported on pandemics before, outbreaks before, H1N1, Ebola, but never has a virus taken hold of a planet in such a vicious and efficient way. At first, it was a story that just seemed so far away.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Growing concerns across Asia as the new coronavirus --

GUPTA (voice over): And within weeks of those initial reports from China, the first confirmed case in the United States.

GOV. JAY INSLEE (D-WA): On January 20th, samples were confirmed by the CDC.

GUPTA: Scientists immediately got to work on a vaccine.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I have cautious optimism that we would be able develop a vaccine against this and other coronaviruses.

GUPTA: But little did we know just how efficient this novel coronavirus really was.

In China, to accommodate the crush of patients, hospitals with 1,000- plus beds were built in just days.

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And it was a warning for the rest of the world.

We saw what happened in China. We hear about hospitals being filled to the brink. Do you anticipate that happening here? DR. THERESA MADALINE, EPIDEMIOLOGIST, MONTELIORE MEDICAL CENTER: We certainly hope that we won't need to make tough decisions like that, but we have to be prepared to do so.

GUPTA: It was heartbreaking. And we quickly learned how the virus would take advantage of our behavior, how we traveled, how we gathered. But we were stymied in tracking this virus from the get-go. The CDC's initial test to diagnose COVID-19 faulty.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It seems that CNN's reporting is pointing to a larger problem, whether all of this happened because of just a contamination problem or just a manufacturing problem, or some combination.

GUPTA: But we were our biggest obstacle. We thought we could outsmart it.

This is spreading, it's going to spread in communities. That's the expectation.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: It may.

GUPTA: Yes, does that worry you? Because that seems to be what worries the American people.

TRUMP: No, because we're ready. It is what it is. We're ready for it. We're really prepared. We have -- as I said, we have the greatest people. We're very ready for it. We hope it doesn't spread. There's a chance that it won't spread, too and there's a chance that it will.

GUPTA: And it did.

By March 1st, the CDC counted 32 confirmed cases in the United States. But according to some estimates, there were already 28,000 cases or more around the country, invisible to our eyes, in part because our testing was behind, but also because 40 percent of all cases don't show any symptoms.

The first images we really saw the disease, an outbreak at the Life Care Center of Kirkland, an elderly care facility in Washington State. It makes sense. Earlier studies have shown the disease was more severe and more deadly on people who were older and had underlying conditions.

Soon, hospitals in New York were overrun.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The line snaking through, getting longer as the day goes on of people who were just trying to get tested, just trying to get care.

GUPTA: And it wasn't just older patients needing beds.

NICOLE BUCHANAN, HUSBAND DIED OF COVID-19: The hospital is on lockdown.

GUPTA: We began hearing more and more stories like this. BUCHANAN: No, that was it. I never got to say, I love you, nothing.

GUPTA: Nicole Buchanan's husband, Conrad, was just 39 years old, healthy, in the prime of his life.

And just as puzzling, the long-haulers, those experiencing symptoms for months with no end in sight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Blood clots, seizures, tremors.

GUPTA: But why so the symptoms linger in some people? Why are seemingly healthy young people dying? We still don't really know. For some, it could be their immune systems react too violently resulting in a storm of inflammation, a cytokine storm. Other experts say, the answers, maybe in our genes. But on top of that, this disease exacerbated and unmasked existing inequities.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): African- Americans are dying at a rate nearly 2.5 times than white. Latinos and Native Americans are dying at a rate more than 1.5 times higher.

GUPTA: What we do know is that the virus has remained fairly constant, but how we have reacted to it has made us our own worst enemies. By March 16th, the number of confirmed cases exploded to nearly 5,000, and we were worried.

TRUMP: We've made the decision to further toughen the guidelines and blunt the infection now.

GUPTA: But we didn't stay shut down for long. We made masks political.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're not anti-masks, we're not for masks, we're for choice.

GUPTA: And young people became significant drivers of spread.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Those are my friends. Obviously, they're definitely not social distancing.

GUPTA: Now, half of all confirmed cases are under the age 40. By June, our numbers had spiked.

FAUCI: We are now having 40,000-plus new cases a day. I would not be surprised if we go up to 100,000 a day if this does not turn around.

GUPTA: We hit more than 100,000 cases in a single day on November 1st, and have continued to do climb from there. As the weather has turned cold, we have come back indoors. Fatigue has really set in. And after months of not seeing loved one, many people are traveling and visiting with their families again. And that's a cause for alarm.

DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, DIRECTOR, CDC: It's small family gatherings, family gatherings, where people become more comfortable. They remove their face mask when they get together. It's a silent epidemic that begins to transmit.

GUPTA: As we hit the third on what is now the highest peak of this pandemic, the outlook is sadly grim.

[14:55:00]

The number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths have been on a meteoric rise. Hospitals are buckling. And we are seeing scenes similar to what we saw in the spring in the northeast, except now they're all over the country.

I suppose you had a hard time, Ambassador, figuring out how to represent how we've done in this country. 250,000 people have died. Was this failure in this country? I mean, did you expect it to go this way?

DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE: I always worry when we have an outcome that none of us want.

GUPTA: The good news is that there are now treatments, drugs like Remdesivir and monoclonal antibodies, the steroid, Dexamethasone, and blood thinners to reduce clotting, and in part, helping to lower mortality rates.

But most significantly, 11 months after the first case in the United States was confirmed, we began administering the first vaccines, a triumph for science and a triumph for humanity.

GUPTA: It's done.

A message I want to make sure everyone hears, which is why, when it was my turn, I shared the moment and got vaccinated on camera.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (on camera): We are so close now to seeing the end of this pandemic. Seeing the vaccines roll out is a true light at the end of the tunnel. But we can't forget that we do have some of our darkest days ahead still. I hate to say it but it's truth, to know that, on average, more than two people would die every minute in the United States from COVID is just jarring.

We can bring an end to this pandemic but the vaccines won't necessarily be its silver bolt. They may not rescue us from ourselves. We need to act ourselves. We're only going to end this if we remember to wear a mask, be kind and get vaccinated.

WHITFIELD: All right. Straight ahead, Congress passed a coronavirus relief bill nearly a week ago, but President Trump has yet to sign it. And now, more than 12 million Americans are losing their unemployment benefits. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee will join me live in a moment.

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