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Trump Signs COVID Relief Bill; U.S. Tops The World With COVID Cases, Almost Double Those Of India; December Worst Month On Record For COVID; 63,500 Deaths; Nashville Bombing Investigation Continues, Motive Still Unknown; Spain Begins First Vaccinations for COVID-19; Japan Bans Foreign Nationals from Entering Country; The Struggle to Get Americans to Stop Taking Risks; Revisiting British Grandfather Who Won Global Fame. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired December 28, 2020 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
MICHAEL HOLMES, ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: Their unemployment assistance.
The United States surpasses 19 million COVID cases as the vaccination rollout moves forward. And a leading expert weighs on what we can expect -- when we can expect return to normalcy.
Also, an update on British granddad, Martin Kenyon. How the 91-year- old is doing after being one of the first to get a COVID vaccine.
And welcome to our viewers from all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
And After days of nationwide frustration, President Trump begrudgingly signs the massive COVID relief package and government funding bill that millions of Americans have been counting on.
In a statement, the president said he only approved the bill after getting the U.S. Senate to agree to consider increasing the stimulus check amount from 600 to 2,000 dollars, which is what Democrats wanted all along.
Despite the lengthy delay, lawmakers are pleased the measure did pass.
The Senate Republican leader says, quote -- "The compromise bill is not perfect but will do an enormous amount of good for struggling people who need help right now."
And the speaker of the house calls it welcome news but she's urging President Trump to get congressional Republicans to approve large stimulus payments.
Democrats have said they are already on board but are clearly aggravated by how all of this is playing out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WASH): The president has finally decided to do that is good news. It points out his limitations as a president, he really doesn't pay much attention to the details of the legislation that he's working on or to the impact that it has on people or he would've signed this is the first place.
Because, as you noted, this is the deal that his White House negotiated.
So I'm glad he's signing it because it's going to help a lot of people but it does point out the frustration of his approach to the presidency.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now the president's reluctant signature came after unemployment benefits for 12 million Americans expired on Saturday and just ahead of an imminent government shutdown.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond with more details from West Palm Beach, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, five days after President Trump threw billions of dollars of desperately needed coronavirus relief into limbo by suggesting he might not sign a massive piece of legislation passed by congress, the president has now signed that legislation.
The president signing that 2.3 trillion dollar spending bill that includes 900 billion dollars in coronavirus relief on Sunday night here in South Florida.
The president, though, only signing this legislation after unemployment benefits for more than 12 million Americans lapsed on Saturday night after the president didn't sign the legislation then.
And the president's signature also comes after he threw millions of Americans into financial uncertainty by delaying signing this piece of legislation. Those Americans who were counting on those 600 dollar stimulus checks to soon be arriving, they will now have to wait longer for those stimulus checks.
And then, of course, the millions of businesses that were counting on additional PPP funds to come through. Now, they will be coming through but only after a period of five days of uncertainty here.
The president, in explaining why he finally signed this legislation, he says this in a statement released by the White House.
Quote -- "I am signing this bill to restore unemployment benefits, stop evictions, provide rental assistance, and money for PPP, return our airline workers back to work, add substantially more money for vaccine distribution and much more.
The senate, he says -- "will start the process for a vote that increases checks to 2,000 dollars, repeals section 230 and starts an investigation into voter fraud." Now those last two items, it's really not clear what the president is
talking about because there isn't stand-alone specific legislation to accomplish those goals.
But there is a piece of legislation being advanced by House Democrats on Monday that would increase those 600 dollar stimulus checks to 2,000 in accordance with the president's demand. And it appears that the president has now secured a commitment from the Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, to bring that legislation to the floor.
Whether it actually passes, though, is another matter given that a number of Republicans remain opposed to 2,000 dollar stimulus checks.
[01:05:00]
But, regardless, this only comes because the president had checked out of governing after the election, for weeks after the election, as these negotiations were underway.
And it was only after congress passed this legislation with overwhelming bipartisan majorities -- and, we should say, -- with the endorsement of the treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, who was negotiating on the president's behalf -- it was only after the legislation passed that the president began to raise his objections.
And so all the president accomplished was sinking more Americans into financial uncertainty at a time when we have 20 plus million Americans unemployed. And all of this, of course, during the holiday season.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, traveling with the president in West Palm Beach, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Let's go now to Los Angeles, and CNN political analyst, Ron Brownstein. Good to see you, Ron.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SNR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Michael.
HOLMES: So the president, he may have signed now but not signing that bill on Saturday triggered some real world impacts for millions of Americans.
Why you think the president let this happen at all, especially, of course, as he played golf all weekend?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think the initial motivation seems to be a desire to lash out at both Democrats and Republicans who he had felt, on the Republican side, were not fighting for him hard enough.
And look, he has enjoyed chaos throughout his presidency. He has believed that he benefits from chaos.
But I thought would gave away the switch was the fact that he tweeted a little before he tweeted that he was going to sign the bill, he tweeted that he was going to Georgia on January 4th. And I would bet that he was getting an earful from Republican senators
saying this level of disruption, the disruption of the benefits, the possibility of a government shutdown was a very dangerous game he was playing with those two senate seats that will decide control of the senate.
And the fact that he said he's going to Georgia right before he said he was signing this bill was probably not coincidental.
HOLMES: Yes. And what's crazy about this situation, I guess, is the president's own team negotiated the bill.
BROWNSTEIN: Right.
HOLMES: You had Democrats say yes, the president's right, let's increase the amount to 2,000, Republicans refusing to do so. So Republicans blocked 2,000 dollar checks but now will be forced to say yes, maybe. It's just bizarro world.
BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, it is of a piece, though, right? The president was disengaged from this throughout, he did not have an oar in the water in trying to bring this to completion.
And it's very similar to what we've seen -- this is on the economic side, it's very similar to what we've seen on the public health side. Where, really, since some point in the summer they have essentially checked out of the public health -- particularly after the election and left Americans fundamentally on their own.
Left states on their own trying to deal with hospitals that are overrun, trying to deal with a death toll that now amounts to a 9/11 or a Pearl Harbor a day.
So the fact that he was disengaged from this attempt to find an economic solution, I think, is totally of a piece with his really AWOL behavior on the public health challenge as well. A president who essentially has walked away from his job.
HOLMES: Yes, it's a good point. You and I have both often spoken about how Congressional Republican have stayed mute as they watch the Trump wrecking ball swing.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
HOLMES: But it's notable more and more are speaking out in recent days with some pretty harsh words.
Pat Toomey was saying that Trump would be remembered for chaos, misery and erratic behavior if he allowed this thing to expire. Congressman Kinzinger said that the president is trying to burn the place on the way out because he can't handle losing.
It's interesting that that this is starting to happen. But is it too little too late?
BROWNSTEIN: Oh, it's too little and it's too late. Those are familiar voices. Toomey has been one who has been a little more critical, obviously one of the last Republicans in a state that has voted mostly Democratic in presidential elections in this, essentially (ph) Kinzinger has been a lone voice in the House.
Really, the big story is, if you put all of the pieces together since the election; the disengagement on the pandemic, the 11:59 effort to torpedo this bill, the persistent efforts to subvert the election, the calls on the justice department to investigate his political rivals -- and again, here asking the senate to pursue this non-existent election fraud and then these pardons to his cronies --
HOLMES: Yes.
BROWNSTEIN: -- and people who were directly implicated in shielding him from the Mueller investigation, I think you add all of this up, Michael, it looks -- and you could probably notice better than I -- it looks like the final hours of some tin pot dictatorship.
HOLMES: (Inaudible)
BROWNSTEIN: A Noriega or a Somoza or a Ceausescu. The walls are closing in, the strongman knows that the clock is ticking, he is addled, he is angry, he is vengeful, he is lashing out. And I think it's just embarrassing.
The U.S. sends people all over the world trying to teach countries how to stand up a democracy and here we are watching ours being torn down day by day, mostly with silence by Republicans in congress.
[01:10:00]
HOLMES: Yes, you touched on this and I wanted to come back -- the pardon that still gets me is the guys who took part in the massacre in Iraq, the Blackwater men being pardoned --
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
HOLMES: -- which is just unspeakable. But you touched on this so let's touch on it briefly before we go.
How might the president's actions or inaction, his behavior, impact public sentiment with those January 5 senate elections approaching? Biden's ability to govern hinges on those elections.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Look, I think these elections are so tribal and the lines are so deeply engraved in every state and Georgia is so closely divided that probably not much that has happened since the election is going to affect it very much one way or the other. This really is a turnout battle.
But I do think that Loeffler and Perdue were looking at just a worst- case scenario if Trump allowed all of the other benefits to lapse, the eviction moratorium, the extended unemployment as well as a government shutdown.
And now, you can imagine a scenario where they get a chance on the floor of the senate to vote for a 2,000 dollar payment which might benefit them at the margin so I don't think anything is going to affect it that much.
But on balance, they're probably feeling better tonight then they were 24 hours ago, the two Republicans.
HOLMES: Yes, yes. And indeed, he's also called on his supporters to turn out in D.C. on January the 6th. He did that on Twitter as well.
BROWNSTEIN: Chaos. Chaos coming then too.
HOLMES: Yes, exactly. It's going to be interesting to see how that unfolds.
Ron Brownstein, I wish we had more time, we do not. Appreciate it as always.
BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me, Michael.
HOLMES: Well, the U.S. now has surpassed 19 million cases of the coronavirus. That's according to Johns Hopkins University.
Still by far the most in the world and almost double the next country which is India.
America's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, says cases may swell in January in part because of the millions of Americans traveling for the holidays.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We're really at a very critical point.
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 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 advised not to, it's going to happen.
So I share the concern of President Elect Biden that as we get into the next few weeks, it might actually get worse.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: U.S. health officials say nearly 2 million Americans have been vaccinated so far but that's nowhere near the Trump Administration's goal of 20 million by the end of the month.
Dr. Fauci believes those vaccination numbers though will quickly rise. But he says things may not get back to normal until late next year at best.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) FAUCI: Once you get there, what I call "open season," namely when anybody who's anybody, you don't have to be a priority person, should get vaccinated, I think we're going to get there probably end of March, beginning of April.
So if we start vaccinating the general population in April form a pure logistics standpoint, it's probably going to take several months to get those people vaccinated that would get us to the 70 to 85 percent group.
I think that's going to probably be by the middle to the end of the summer. So that I hope, I hope, better y the time we get to the fall we will reach that critical percentage of people that we can really start thinking about a form to some form of normality.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The U.S. capping off a deadly pandemic year with its most brutal month yet.
The vaccine approval's offered some hope to the country but that wasn't soon enough to stop the onslaught of coronavirus deaths. And the U.S., as we've been discussing, not out of danger yet.
Alison Kosik explains why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Data from Johns Hopkins university shows that December is now the deadliest month in the United States, since the pandemic began.
More than 63,500 people in the U.S. alone have died from COVID.
California is really being hit hard. It's facing the worst COVID spread of new cases in the U.S. The San Joaquin Valley and Southern California regions both have zero percent ICU capacity. That's according to a press release from the California Department of Health.
Some good news though in Michigan. Michigan's COVID-19 hospitalizations and daily coronavirus-associated deaths have continued to decline since mid-December. That's according to the state's COVID-19 dashboard and hospital bed tracking web page.
And as vaccines continue to be administered, health officials are saying it's important to remain vigilant, to wear your mask and remain socially distanced. But they are bracing for what could be coming next.
[01:15:00]
Despite warnings from health officials to stay home during the holidays, millions of people traveled in the days around Christmas.
And now it looks like health experts are projecting another spike in the number of coronavirus cases. And with January's COVID-associated deaths, they're projecting the number to be nightmarish.
KOSKIK (On Camera): Alison Kosik, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: We're going to take a quick break here on the program.
When we come back, on CNN NEWSROOM. Investigators say they know who set off that bomb in Nashville on Christmas morning. But they're still trying to figure out why. We'll bring you the latest.
Also details on why Japan is banning foreign nationals from entering the country. We'll be live in Tokyo after the break.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
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UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: This is the 100 Club. A look at companies that are 100 years old, or older.
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(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(100 CLUB)
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: This is the 100 Club. A look at companies that are 100 years old, or older.
NARRATOR: Levi's jeans have weathered gold rushes and depressions. They've been part of movements to promote peace and tear down walls.
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(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Authorities say they now know who set off that bomb in a parked R.V. in downtown Nashville on Christmas morning.
They've identified 63-year-old Anthony Quinn Warner as the bomber using DNA found at the scene.
An investigator says Warner was present when the bomb went off and obviously died during in the blast. No one else was killed, fortunately. Three people were hurt.
[01:20:00]
Investigators still aren't sure, though, why Warner did it. They say they're looking at any and all possible motives but have deemed it not to be terrorism.
Nashville police tweeted this video on Sunday. Just have a look at that, this blast from a new angle. The explosion happens just seconds after a police officer walks out of the frame to safety.
And we're hearing from the first police who were to arrive on the scene before the blast. They say the R.V. had cameras and all of its windows were covered from the inside.
We know that the computerized voice in the R.V. was broadcasting an evacuation warning but police have added an eerie detail saying it was also playing the song "Downtown."
One of the officers describing the moments after the bomb went off.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OFFICER BRENNA HOSEY, METRO NASHVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT: I made a phone call to a loved one to let them know that I was OK. And then I ran to the intersection to check on Miller (ph) and Llewelyn (ph) to make sure they are OK.
Saw (inaudible) running towards an intersection as well -- sorry.
That's when I got on the radio to make sure Wallace (ph) was OK, couldn't hear a response from him. But from the blast, he had some hearing loss. So that's when Amanda (ph) got on, said that he was OK.
So I was trying to make sure all of our people were OK. And then going from there, trying to figure out what was the best course of action to keep everyone that was either in the immediate blast area that we weren't able to evacuate or anyone that was coming in and how to best keep them safe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now CNN law enforcement analyst, Peter Licata joins me from New York. He's a former supervisory special agent and a former FBI lead bomb technician. Just the man for this conversation.
We know who the alleged bomber is now. A neighbor described him as a loner, a former employer said, essentially, nice guy. What will investigators be looking at in terms of his mental state or what led him to do this?
Police were asked about reports of 5G technology paranoia but police didn't confirm anything. What are they going to be looking at?
PETER LICATA, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Good morning, Michael.
What the police are doing right now is they're still processing this crime scene which was quite large. The crime scene will still be processed.
They're going to be taking deep dives into warner's social media accounts, they'll be pulling every cellphone he owns, every computer, every hard drive that he has access to. They're going to be on social media, tracking his websites, looking at his phone calls to see who he was potentially in contact with.
And then also to see what websites or what postings he had on social media to understand what his ideology was, if any, and what his motive was to conduct this attack.
HOLMES: Public records show that he was issued an exclusive permits handler license back in November 2013, that expired in 2016. So we can presume some sort of knowledge of explosives.
But you're the expert -- how easy is it to make a bomb of this size with what are fairly easily obtained materials?
LICATA: Well, in the United States, commercial military explosives are very well regulated. So not saying he didn't have access to those but they're very well regulated considering his license expired some seven years ago.
However, improvised or home made explosives are easy to procure and are really the explosives of any criminal's choice because the precursor materials are easy to get whether on the internet or at retailers. And it's general, it's pretty simple chemistry in order to make some of these explosive mixtures.
HOLMES: And so what pieces of the puzzle are most important then for investigators to put together now? The make-up of the bomb obviously but, I guess, motivation is key. Because if we don't know why he did this, we're kind of stuck, aren't we?
LICATA: Agreed. So obviously the make up of the bomb. L, the forensics don't end just because we know who the main subject is. So the forensics are going to continue to develop any leads to confirm that he, in fact, was the sole producer, manufacturer of this device and the only culprit involved in it.
So along with that, it's just going to be confirming that nobody corroborated with him, collaborated with him on this effort, no one pushed him forward to increase his motivation -- whatever his motivation ends up being -- to perform this catastrophic act.
HOLMES: The FBI confirmed threats against infrastructure earlier this month, unrelated to this, but apparently related to the election in some way.
Now obviously, we don't have that political connection in this case or know about it.
But the thing that's interesting. If it's shown that the AT&T facility was the target -- and this vehicle was parked right out in front of it -- does that show any weakness in infrastructure protection, is that a bit of warning sign?
[01:25:00]
Because there was sort of damage in terms of the cellphone coverage, and stuff like that.
LICATA: Well, infrastructure has always been a focus of law enforcement and corporate security. It has been since prior to September 11, 2011 when terrorism really hit the United States.
There was a boost in the way infrastructure from utility companies to communication systems to switches are maintained and managed, obviously to airports.
So those things have always been considered a target by terrorist groups or just any other group -- so in this case, Mr. Warner. So those things are always considered to be a target.
So their security has always been very heavy. Whether it's CCTV, whether it's a hardened (ph) infrastructure, all different means to trying to protect that. But it will always be a target and something that law enforcement and corporate security need to consider.
HOLMES: You're well practiced in this sort of field. But it strikes me that -- and it's worrying in some ways, that it's not that hard to do this kind of thing.
LICATA: Unfortunately, it's not. There's way too much information out there on the internet that just lead people down these paths.
HOLMES: Yes, if you have the right motivation. Peter Licata, fascinating to talk to you. Thanks so much, appreciate your expertise.
LICATA: Thank you. Thank you.
HOLMES: We'll take a quick break.
When we come back on CNN NEWSROOM, Spain has begun to administer its first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
We'll go live to Madrid to see how the rollout will work.
And the struggle to get Americans to take COVID seriously and stop spreading the virus. We discuss.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:30:28]
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM everyone. I'm Michael Holmes.
The coronavirus variant found in the UK is now making its way around the world. Authorities in South Korea say three people traveling from London tested positive, and have been placed in quarantine.
Japan now banning entry to foreign nationals through the end of January after several cases of the COVID variant were discovered there.
We'll have a live update on that in just a few moments.
Meanwhile the COVID vaccine rollout has begun in Italy, one of the hardest hit countries early on in the pandemic. The first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine administered there on Sunday.
And Spain has begun its first vaccinations. The country will receive 350,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine this week -- or per week. The government hoping to vaccinate as many as 20 million people within the first half of next year.
Journalist Al Goodman is joining me now from Madrid. You know, that is good news -- the distribution, and a big day for nursing homes too.
AL GOODMAN, CNN JOURNALIST: Hi Michael. That's right. A very big day for nursing homes.
A 96-year-old woman was the very first person in Spain to receive the Pfizer vaccine on Sunday. And she said, afterwards she hopes this vaccine will chase the coronavirus away. Now, all of Spain is hoping that as well because the virus has hit this country so hard. It is the ninth country in the ranking worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University of the number of cases. More than 1.8 million cases here, nearly 50,000 deaths. That is the tenth country -- tenth worst country.
So clearly, Spain has really felt the effects of the coronavirus since last March and especially at nursing homes like this one and others across the country.
We'll be going in a little bit later this morning to talk to some of the people in this home who got the virus -- who got the vaccination from the Pfizer on Sunday.
Now, the nursing home scenes (ph) were not always able to provide the kind of care that people, certainly the families, the health care workers themselves and the nation as a whole would've expected. There were some horrible scenes at nursing homes across the country. Dozens of dead in single homes alone when the military went into some of the homes. At the back end of the government, they found bodies.
So the whole country is pulling out of this fog of the coronavirus. There was the long first wave last spring, a bit of a respite during the summer. And then the second wave hitting this autumn.
They're trying to keep the third wave down with this vaccination. So, yes, not just at nursing homes, Michael, but right across the country there's a lot of hope that now people are starting to get their shots in their arms, Michael.
HOLMES: The nursing homes were such a horrible aspect of this around the world. So what's next for Spain and the vaccine and the rollout?
GOODMAN: Well, the ramping up, Spain on Sunday joined the -- the other member countries of the European union -- the 27 countries in getting the vaccine started here in the European Union some time after the United States and after the United Kingdom.
But now it's really going to ramp up. So here in the region of Madrid, that's the capital and the surrounding area, if they received 1,200 doses on Sunday, this day Monday, they're going to get 48,000 doses.
If on Sunday, they were doing vaccinations at this home and two others just 50 people here. This day, they're going to spread that out to 25 homes across the region.
And you're seeing that right across in the Barcelona area and right across the country as they really ramp this up.
Now, the first people, the people in the nursing homes and the residents and also the caregivers. But the next step is the hospitals, the frontline workers, the more than 50,000 medical workers across the country have had the coronavirus. Some dozens have died. So they are the next ones.
And then generally out to the population, starting with the older people, people over 65, then dropping down, and eventually getting to the younger people who have been a source of the problem, according to many officials by continuing to go to events, as well as families getting together during the holiday season.
So Spain is far from getting out of the woods on this, but a ray of hope here, Michael.
HOLMES: Yes, absolutely. Good to have you there, Al, thanks. Al Goodman there in Madrid in Spain.
[01:34:56]
HOLMES: And Japan, as we mentioned, is banning foreign nationals from entering the country after reporting several cases of that COVID-19 variant. It's a ban that will last until the end of January, at least.
Japanese citizens and foreign residents will be allowed entry but they'll will have to self quarantine for 14 days.
CNN's Selina Wang joining us now from Tokyo. Tell us about the concerns about the new variant and how this ban is going to work, Selina.
SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Michael, no surprise there is growing anxiety here. You have Japan reporting record high numbers of COVID cases. Hospitals becoming strained and now the confirmation of several cases of this new, potentially more contagious COVID-19 variant.
So in response, we're seeing these tightened border controls. Foreign nationals are being banned temporarily as well as the stopping of the issuance of new visas.
Now, up until this point actually, Japan have been slowly easing its borders. Japan, throughout the pandemic, has taken a relatively relaxed approach to COVID-19 without any of these strict lockdowns. But it did have one of the strictest border control rules in the world, at one point effectively banning entry for more than 150 countries.
But as you say, residents who are foreigners, are still allowed to enter, as are Japanese citizens, and businesspeople and students who are coming from countries that Japan has special travel agreements with. And this includes China and South Korea.
Now, the government in Japan here has really been struggling to strike a balance between COVID-19 prevention and preparing for the Olympics and reviving the economy.
In fact, up until this week, the Japanese government had been encouraging people to go out, travel, and spend money, Michael.
HOLMES: Yes. You mentioned China there and there has been some outbreaks there. And lunar new year is coming up. How is China dealing with that? WANG: Well, we're seeing China stick to the playbook, that we've seen
over and over again every time there is a local flare up. The area with the outbreak will go into wartime mode with mass testing, contact tracing, heightened restrictions.
And we can see that playing out in Dalian right now. Since December 15th, this northeastern city has reported some 60 coronavirus cases. And starting last week, they started implementing a mass testing campaign. And it's been reported that they've already completed testing of 6.4 million people.
And meantime, we're seeing this play out in Beijing as well where they're currently testing some 800,000 people in this northeastern district after reporting just two locally-transmitted cases.
Now, the government has also been sealing off residential compounds, as well as villages where these cases have been found. And Michael, we have seen China do this over and over again, but it is especially of concern right now because China is coming up against this lunar new year holiday. And we are expecting a mass travel, as we see every year, Michael.
HOLMES: Again, must be worried about that.
Selina Wang in Tokyo, thanks so much.
Now Georgia's two Republican senators are praising President Trump for signing that COVID relief bill. His delay had complicated their campaigns in the upcoming election that will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate.
Now, their joint statement said, quote, "Thanks to President Trump's leadership, COVID relief is again on its way to the millions of Georgia families and businesses who need it most." Now both senators had voted for the measure. They never did say whether they back President Trump's last-minute calls for higher direct payments to Americans.
Meanwhile, President Elect Joe Biden's team is preparing for the challenges he will inherit when he takes office. Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris will receive national security and foreign policy briefings in the hours ahead. Afterwards Biden will deliver remarks. He will be sworn into office on January the 20th.
When we come back, the scientist who studies public health and COVID guidelines still can't get her own family and friends to follow them. We'll talk about the challenges of convincing loved ones to stay home and be safe.
And he is known the world over but as you would expect fame has not changed this 91-year-old Brit, who led the line for a coronavirus vaccine. He is quite a gentleman. We will have him when we come back.
[01:39:28]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: Just in to CNN, an independent Chinese journalist who had documented the COVID outbreak in Wuhan early in the pandemic has been sentenced to four years in jail. Zhang Zhan had traveled to Wuhan in February to report on the pandemic and efforts to contain it just as authorities began reining in state run and private media from reporting on it.
But she disappeared in May, and was later revealed to have been detained by police in Shanghai. She was charged with, quote, "picking quarrels and provoking trouble", an offense commonly used in China to target journalists.
We're following that story. We'll bring you more, as we get it.
Now, with the U.S. now recording more than 19 million COVID cases, by far the most in the world, public health experts are still trying to get through to many Americans who just aren't following the guidelines whether it is due to COVID fatigue or denial or just plain stubbornness.
The struggle to get people to stay home, mask up, and wash is as real as ever. The top U.S. infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, says he believes the worst of the pandemic is still to come, meaning we are in danger of a holiday surge upon a surge.
Beth Prusaczyk teaches at Washington University School of Medicine Institute for Informatics and the Center for Population Health Informatics and joins me now from St. Louis.
And you do so because this article you wrote was so fascinating about how even your own friends and family take unnecessary risks, despite your professional advice.
As a medical professional that must be intensely frustrating.
BETH PRUSACZYK, FACULTY, WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Yes. It is interesting but really frustrating. It's not a situation I thought I would find myself in, and I wrote the piece to give voice to that because I have seen medical professionals, frontline workers, you know, writing things and posting videos, asking the public to take precautions.
And here I was, somebody whose professional career is how do we disseminate public health information to the public, and I couldn't get my own friends and family to follow the guidelines.
So I wanted to give voice to that piece, and I thought, there are a few people out there who will recognize this experience. I was overwhelmed with how many people emailed me and messaged me after the piece went up and expressed the same sentiment.
[01:45:05]
HOLMES: Yes. Because as you say, and it's important, you literally research how to implement public health practices with the public. I mean the facts of COVID are glaring, they should be terrifying to people. And yet there is such a sizeable slice of American society who, somehow either reject the science, or feel that's just not going to happen to them.
What do you make of the psychology of that?
PRUSACZYK: Yes. I think the important thing to think about and remember is that it is not a one size fits all reason for not following the guidelines. And it's also not black and white. People don't either follow them 100 percent or not at all.
There's a lot of people who follow -- some, not others. Follow them some of the time, but not all of the time. And the reasons for that are very variable.
So you have folks who of course, believe it's a hoax, and feel that taking any precaution is, you know, an infringement on their rights. You have people who just are frustrated with how long how this has gone on and just can't take it anymore.
You have, as you said, people who don't think it's going to happen to them. And then you have people who are willing to accept the risk because they are willing to have it happen to them. They are willing to get COVID if it means they can still go and dine out at restaurants or visit family.
And they don't realize that their risks are impacting others. That we are all literally connected.
HOLMES: I had a doctor on a couple of days ago who used that quote, you know, one death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic. I mean do you think a lot of people just don't comprehend the enormity of what is still unfolding, and the risks they take by not taking things seriously? Or too many people getting numb.
PRUSACZYK: Absolutely, I think there's a huge part of that, that people just really don't fathom the magnitude of this. I know, somebody like myself who understands statistics and math and knows the magnitude of these numbers I still find numbers the hitting me in different ways.
You know, the statistic that recent came out that one in a thousand Americans have died. That 9/11 is happening every day. Different ways to frame the statistics hits people in a different way and I think that's a really important health communication tool that we have is to phrase things in different ways to reach different people.
But beyond that I think people have -- they had to have been impacted from the get-go to now be numb to it. I do think there's a certain group and proportion of the society that was never sort of moved by the numbers.
HOLMES: Right. Yes.
PRUSACZYK: They weren't moved when it started and they're not going to be moved now. And I don't know how we actually get those individuals to care. HOLMES: Yes. I've met a few of those. I mean I was curious. Just
finally, what about the emotional toll on you personally? I mean you've seen the real world impact of COVID in your job. And then the added stress of seeing, you know -- family, friends ignore the risk.
I mean what does that do to you? And do you fear any lasting damage to your relationships once this is all over?
PRUSACZYK: It has been as emotional rollercoaster as most people have been on in the last 10 months. And I think it is just one more frustration in a very frustrating year. And I think my relationships will be able to be mended. But we have never gone through something like this before, so I don't know what this will look like on the other side.
And I wrote that in the piece that I really don't know how we move forward after this when we are so divided, and we're seeing sides of people that we have never seen before.
So when I'm feeling this frustration and this hopelessness and this helplessness, I do try and find ways to be helpful and to channel that frustration such as writing. I will be going on Thursday up to Washington University to volunteer to help administer the vaccine. That's given me great hope that we're starting to turn the corner or so.
As frustrating and as helpless as I have felt I'm trying to find outlets to try and at least help somebody. And this piece as I said, I got such an overwhelming response. And people thanking me that I had given voice to something they were experiencing too.
It made me feel really good in a weird way that I wasn't alone in this frustration and hopelessness.
HOLMES: Yes. It resonated with me too. I urge people to read it. It's on Huffington Post.
Beth Prusaczyk, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.
PRUSACZYK: Thank you. Appreciate it.
HOLMES: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. We'll be right back.
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HOLMES: Now, we have an update for you on the 91-year-old British grandfather who won the Internet with his blunt reaction to getting one of the first coronavirus vaccines.
Cyril Vanier had a second chat with Martin Kenyon earlier this month before the latest tough new sections went into effect in England.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN KENYON: -- interesting history about this.
CYRIL VANIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: 91-year-old Martin Kenyon is not an obvious candidate to become an overnight viral sensation. Yet that's exactly what happened after this.
KENYON: I said what's (INAUDIBLE) you're doing the vaccination. I said yes. I hurt my arm. I'm not going to have the bloody bug now. I don't intend to have it because I've got granddaughters and I want to live a long time.
Well, there's no point in dying now, when I have lived this long, is there?
VANIER: Martin was one of the very first Britons to receive the coronavirus vaccine. His dry wit, humor, and let's face it, bluntness --
KENYON: Had a rather nasty lunch (ph).
VANIER: -- won the Internet. Five million views and counting on Twitter earned him a star turn on "Good Morning Britain".
KENYON: Now, who are you?
VANIER: -- and gushing headlines. "The Sun" would even like to see him in the hit Netflix series, "The Crown". So what did Martin make of all this attention?
KENYON: 10 days of notoriety, more than I've ever had in anyone's life. I'm very old. It started to happen now, isn't it? Very ridiculous. All because I rang up a (INAUDIBLE) hospital.
VANIER: The embodiment of the British mantra, "Keep calm, and carry on", unruffled even in the face of a global and deadly pandemic.
[01:54:54]
KENYON: I haven't thought about it particularly. I'm sorry to be very boring about it. It really hasn't been something that I thought about.
VANIER: Were you concerned about the danger to yourself?
KENYON: Well, I told you, I took precautions against catching it. That makes sense, doesn't it?
VANIER: And if he's generally indifferent, why did he rush to get the vaccine?
KENYON: I'm also getting something done that you're told to get done.
VANIER: As a Oxford graduate he had hoped the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine would be available first but settled for the Pfizer BioNTech jab, the only one so far approved in the U.K. With a second injection scheduled late December and an extra week for his body to fully react according to British health authorities, Martin should be protected from COVID-19 by early January. If he is looking forward to it, well, it doesn't show.
KENYON: (INAUDIBLE) of having immunity (INAUDIBLE) until you succumb to the thing and then you realize oh damn, I didn't have immunity. You don't know that, do you?
VANIER: Martin does hope he can hug his grandchildren again before long. But prefers to talk about a life well lived. His travels to South Africa during the apartheid era, the lasting friendships, including with the Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
KENYON: Desmond used to call me Mr. Martin. I call him Mr. Tutu.
VANIER: Now godfather to his daughter. His encounters with Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King and he says the Queen's late sister, Princess Margaret. As for that cameo on "The Crown", don't hold your breath.
KENYON: For God's sake when I've read about "The Crown", I've never even been near it. Very unkind they've been about the Prince of Wales (INAUDIBLE) and totally ludicrous about Diana.
VANIER: Cyril Vanier, CNN -- London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: There should be more of him.
Thanks for watching. I'm Michael Holmes.
I'll have another hour of CNN NEWSROOM in just a moment.
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