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U.K. Authorizes Oxford AstraZeneca Vaccine; U.S. to Fall Well Short of Vaccination Goal; Republicans Plan Disruption of Biden Win Certification; New Areas Enter Tier 4 in England; Florida's Chaotic First-Come-First-Served Vaccine Rollout; Deadly Explosion Rocks Yemeni Airport Just as New Government Members Land; Georgia Senate Runoffs; California Hospitals Running Out of Space and Resources; Photographer Captures the Human Faces of COVID-19. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired December 31, 2020 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Paula Newton, live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, where it's 2 am on the East Coast, 11 pm out west. I want to thank all of you for joining us.
Now for the third day in a row and the 23rd time this month, the number of Americans hospitalized with COVID-19 has hit a record high. At this very hour, there are more than 125,000 people in hospital with COVID-19, twice as many as there were just two months ago.
The crisis is still expected to worsen. But health officials insist help is on the way. So far, more than 12 million vaccine doses have been shipped around the country. But only 2.8 million have actually been administered. We get more details now from CNN's Sara Murray.
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SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the rate of coronavirus vaccinations falls far short of the Trump administration's optimistic projections ...
ADM. BRETT GIROIR, U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: Of course we need to be doing a better job, but all vaccine programs start somewhat slow.
MURRAY (voice-over): -- Operation Warp Speed officials are offering few specifics on how to speed up the pace.
GEN. GUSTAVE PERNA, U.S. ARMY MATERIEL COMMAND: Here's what I have confidence in: every day, everybody gets better. And I believe that uptake will increase significantly as we go forward.
MURRAY (voice-over): The administration coming under fire from the Biden team and other health experts for the slow rollout. DR. RICK BRIGHT, FORMER DIRECTOR, BIOMEDICAL ADVANCED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY: What this reveals is a failure to plan, a failure to have a national strategy to vaccinate individuals across the country, a failure to communicate, a failure to coordinate.
MURRAY (voice-over): This as the U.K. adds another vaccine to its arsenal, greenlighting the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, which is still being evaluated in the U.S. It's cheaper, easier to transport.
And the U.K. says it offers a high level of protection after the first dose, allowing the U.K. to vaccinate as many people as possible with the first dose and wait longer to administer the second.
DR. JAY VARKEY, EMORY UNIVERSITY: I think it could represent a game- changer, but I think we can wait and really kind of focus on letting our scientists vet the data.
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VARKEY: And make sure that we're using the product we have.
MURRAY: Vaccine developers still believe the shots will ward off new strains of the virus. In the U.S., Colorado confirmed one case of the U.K. COVID-19 strain in a member of the National Guard with no known travel history. Officials are looking into a probable case in another Guard member. Both were deployed to the same nursing home.
BRIGHT: What's really concerning is, it's taken so long to detect it in the United States. It tells us once again, if you're not testing for something, you're not going to find it.
MURRAY (voice-over): This comes as the U.S. continues to notch heartbreaking records, another 3,725 deaths were recorded Tuesday and nearly 125,000 hospitalizations, both new highs, the U.S. hitting daily hospitalization records 22 times this December.
As New York prepares emergency hospital facilities, including the Javits Center, in case of another COVID surge, California is warning hospitals to prepare for crisis care made and the possibility of rationing care.
DR. JORGE RODRIGUEZ, INTERNAL MEDICINE AND VIRAL SPECIALIST: In some hospitals, there is not enough infrastructure to deliver oxygen right at the rate necessary. California is going through a very tough time right now.
MURRAY (voice-over): Sara Murray, CNN, Washington.
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NEWTON: Dr. Esther Choo is a CNN medical analyst and professor of emergency medicine at Oregon Health and Science University and joins me from Portland, Oregon. I feel like the statistics are making us all so numb. And yet these
numbers are so sobering. We've just finished Christmas. You guys are just ending the Thanksgiving surge, never mind Christmas and New Year's.
What is your worst fear at this point?
DR. ESTHER CHOO, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: I do fear, Paula, that we are so disconnected from the numbers, that we think it doesn't make a difference what I do. I think a lot of people are making their individual decisions to go ahead and go out and continue celebrating the holiday.
And it's exactly as you say, we are feeling the effect of Thanksgiving. And that was a relatively short holiday. Here we have Christmas, right into New Year's, this extended holiday, a ton of travel. A ton of different kinds of gatherings. And I think this almost guarantees us a very terrible February into March.
NEWTON: What do you hear anecdotally from what's going on?
I hate to use that whole cliche, the front line but it is a front line. There are people dying.
CHOO: Yes, I know the comparisons to war, I felt at one point, were totally overblown. But it feels more and more right in the sense that we really are putting up a fight against this virus. And it feels right now that the tide has turned and the virus has just found its way into clever ways of spreading even as we try to respond with things like vaccines and medications.
But the vaccine uptake has been slow. It will take quite some time for those effects to really be felt on the ground and in the hospitals. And in the meantime, the numbers are just worse. There was a time where 1,000 deaths per day in the United States seemed very terrible. I don't know if you remember.
It was just a few months ago. If we saw 1000, it was really a mark of a terrible situation that day. And now, of course, we're approaching 4,000 a day deaths. And it is almost like that's no big deal as we triple some of these numbers --
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NEWTON: That's true, I hear you because, as you said, you tend to gloss over the statistics because they are just so staggering. And yet each one is a loved one that's gone.
I want to get to this issue of the vaccinations, though. We had hoped that even this would give us some kind of respite, even by March or April. That seems out of the question.
What needs to be done in order to pick up the pace of vaccinations at this point?
CHOO: It's really downstream at the level of the states and even individual communities and health systems. We need that money for states to be able to mobilize a huge health workforce, so they can get trained and educated, to talk to people about the vaccine, to ensure those uptake and also simply to be trained to administer the vaccine.
And we just need a lot of resources and actually a lot of central guidance, too, so that we can be really responsive to the different vaccines that are coming out, their supply, how we distribute them, how we inform the public about different vaccines as they come out.
We just need a huge support and direction of our public health workforce. And thus far, it has not happened.
NEWTON: Quickly, in terms of the U.K. saying, let's just try one dose. We'll worry about the second dose of the vaccine.
Would that help, considering we're really in an emergency right. Now?
CHOO: I definitely see and understand the instinct to say, let's do more for a greater number of people.
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CHOO: Let's do a single dose but be able to be more inclusive.
From an equity standpoint, that makes a lot of sense. At the same time, people cannot get the message that a single dose is OK. These were tested as a unit, as a 2-dose vaccine.
And I think it is just critically important that we really keep up the message, that you still need to get a second dose in order to realize the full efficacy and really have a chance to tighten the pandemic.
NEWTON: All good points there. Dr. Choo, I want to take the opportunity to thank you for all your time that you spent with us throughout this year, educating us and really protecting us from this virus. Dr. Esther Choo there for us, thanks so much.
CHOO: Thank you, Paula.
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NEWTON: Now president Donald Trump will be rushing back to the White House today, skipping his annual New Year's Eve bash in Florida. He plans to be in Washington when Congress meets to certify President- Elect Joe Biden's win next week.
There is no doubt, of course, that Biden won the presidential election. But Mr. Trump believes it may be his last chance to somehow overturn the results.
Now a Republican senator says he plans to vote against the certification. CNN's Kaitlan Collins has the details.
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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a move that will delight President Trump and rankle Republican leadership: Josh Hawley becoming the first Republican senator to say he'll object when Congress meets next week to certify Joe Biden's win, an effort that won't change the outcome but could set up a showdown in Washington.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: There is a very clear process to handle and dispense with objections from members of Congress to the counting of the result. And that's just what we'll do, dispense with them.
COLLINS (voice-over): Hawley writing, "At the very least, Congress should investigate allegations of voter fraud and adopt measures to secure the integrity of our elections."
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell warned his caucus against this very move, saying it was bound to fail and would force Republicans to defy Trump or vote against a fair election.
JOHN BOLTON, FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: So you've either got to say there was no systematic fraud or Donald Trump had the worst legal team in the history of Western civilization. This is a complete sham.
COLLINS (voice-over): Hawley is the first Republican senator to say he'll object but he may not be the last, as others also consider their political futures.
Meanwhile, the president argued that, because a Gallup poll found he was the most admired man of 2020, it also means he won the election. As $600 stimulus checks were being deposited into bank accounts of Americans overnight, the fate of the $2,000 ones that Trump pushed for the last minute remained in limbo, as he tweeted, "$2,000 ASAP."
McConnell made clear today the Senate won't move forward on a House- passed bill to increase checks to $2,000 and will only consider a bill that includes Trump's other demands as well, which, Democrats argue, will doom it.
SCHUMER: The only way, the only way to get to the American people the $2,000 checks they deserve and need is to pass the House bill and pass it now.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: The Senate is not going to be bullied into rushing out more borrowed money into the hands of Democrats' rich friends who don't need the help.
COLLINS (voice-over): The president is also lashing out at Republican officials in Georgia, once again urging the GOP governor he once endorsed to resign from office, while falsely claiming the secretary of state who voted for him has a brother working for China.
President-Elect Biden announced he'll visit the state on Monday ahead of a high-stakes Senate race, the same day President Trump is scheduled to hold a rally there.
TRUMP: Hello, Georgia. COLLINS (voice-over): The focus on the 2020 race and the fate of the Senate majority, comes as Trump is back to blaming states for criticism of his own coronavirus response, now saying it's on them to distribute the vaccine and telling them to get moving.
COLLINS: And on top of all that, we've now learned the president is going to be leaving his Florida club earlier than expected and going back to Washington. Typically he stays through the New Year, because they have that annual party at Mar-a-lago, where you often see the president walk the red carpet with the first lady, speak to reporters in front of all the cameras on all of his guests.
But instead this year, he's leaving Florida before that party has even happened, even though guests were told the president was going to be there. He'll be back in Washington, according to the schedule that we've seen so far by the time that actually happens.
Of course that comes as sources say he is single-mindedly focused on what's going to happen next week on Capitol Hill when he and his Republican allies are plotting a disruption to typically what's a pretty mundane event, by certifying Joe Biden's win -- Kaitlan Collins, CNN, traveling with president in Florida.
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NEWTON: All right, time to bring in Larry Sabato, he's the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.
Larry, thanks so much for being with us. And, again, another curve ball in Congress.
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NEWTON: In terms of where this is going and as many times as people say that, look, this is going nowhere, the election was won by President-Elect Joe Biden, is there any type of method to this madness at this? Point
LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Yes, individual ambition. You put it exactly correctly, this is going nowhere.
But that's not why it's being tried. This particular senator from Missouri has presidential ambitions on the Republican side. Well, he's jumping the line by doing this. He's endearing himself to President Trump and particularly President Trump's base. All he's doing is showboating and helping himself.
He Is putting his colleagues on the spot, at least those who understand that Joe Biden is absolutely going to be sworn in as president on January 20th but would prefer not to offend Trump and his backers, because, when they run for reelection, they could be challenged in the primary, based on this vote.
NEWTON: And yet, somehow, the depressing part here is that, do you think he will be rewarded for doing this?
Do you think this sends a message, a message that we thought we'd have a definitive end, at least for a little while, to Trump's presidency, and yet it will continue to have a long? tail
SABATO: He'll be rewarded in the sense that some of the Trump people will remember where he stood and how forthright and courageous he was. But he's also going to lose in other ways because not just Democrats but also I think independents and even some never Trump Republicans or I'm glad Trump is going Republicans, will remember that he put himself first.
And he made the party look bad, he made some of his colleagues look bad. Also it is just so incredibly obvious, if you're going to benefit yourself, try to do it with a little bit of subtlety. There's no subtlety here at all. It's embarrassing for him.
NEWTON: Right but look at -- Donald Trump was never about subtlety at all in any event. I guess some people are trying to take that on. Listen to get to the high stakes here in Georgia right now, less than a week to go, this is going to be a very busy weekend going into that campaign or that election next week.
In terms of I think everyone in the United States now knows what's at stake, it is really for the legislative agenda going forward for at least two years. It will be incredibly consequential.
Do you think the Democrats are getting ahead of themselves at this point in time?
Because I do hear a lot of optimism from them.
SABATO: They shouldn't be too optimistic but I think they are correct to recognize that they really are in this, race and normally Democrats are not in contention to win runoffs in Georgia. The runoff turnout normally goes down, it benefits Republicans. That's not happening, amazingly enough. And I think is because of what
you just said. The stakes are so high and everyone knows it. There has been so much coverage, so constantly since November 3rd about these runoffs that Georgians get it. They quite literally are determining the agenda for the country for the next year or two or maybe even beyond. That
Because of that, Democrats are getting a really good turnout, especially from Blacks in Georgia but also from young people. Young people often don't turn out in primaries or runoffs or even general elections. But they appear to be doing that now.
NEWTON: Yes, it'll be interesting, we will have to keep a lookout because, you know, Larry, the president with those late rallies really, even though he didn't win the election, got turnout going. And I guess that's what they're hoping for again here in Georgia.
SABATO: That's a very good point and he will be there on election eve. Of course, so will Joe Biden. But Biden isn't known for stirring rhetoric and Trump is. But remember, what is Trump going to do?
Is he going to spend the time promoting the two Republican senators?
Or is he going to spend more time airing his grievances with the various Republican officials in Georgia?
I can see him doing more of the latter than the former.
NEWTON: Yes, and if past pattern is correct, he's not disciplined on that and he will go into those grievances. Larry Sabato, Happy New Year, thank you so much for joining us.
SABATO: Thanks a lot, Paula, Happy New Year to you, too.
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NEWTON: OK, a new virus variant, a soaring infection rate and now tighter restrictions. We're live in London as the COVID curve spreads right across England. And Britain's prime minister signs off on a hard-fought Brexit trade deal, believe it or not. What it means to Britons and Europeans. Ahead.
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NEWTON: Coronavirus is raging out of control in England with more than 44 million people there now under the most severe or tier 4 restrictions. That's almost 80 percent of the population.
The explosion in cases is driven in part by the new COVID variant, which experts are warning is much more transmissible. Britain also recorded nearly 1,000 coronavirus deaths on Wednesday alone. Staggering. It's the highest figure since April.
This all comes soon after the U.K. approved the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine. The prime minister says tens of millions of doses of all approved vaccines will be ready by late March. But until then, everyone must follow the guidelines.
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BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We've seen a 40 percent increase in cases in England in the last week alone, almost 15 percent more patients in hospital, more than at the peak of the first wave.
So at this critical moment, with the prospect of freedom within reach, we've got to redouble our efforts to contain the virus.
(END VIDEO CLIP) NEWTON: Joining us now CNN's Matthew Chance is live with us in London.
Matthew, good to see you.
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NEWTON: I really can't fathom what New Year's Eve -- because it's New Year's Eve right now in Britain and what that's going to look like. And Boris Johnson illustrating the fact that cases have gone up 40 percent in one week alone.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. It's a real dire situation that the United Kingdom is experiencing at the moment. It's not been business as usual when it comes to the holiday. Period
Christmas was a very subdued affair. And the authorities are making it clear, that they want to make sure that people conform to the very severe restrictions that have been imposed across three quarters of the entire country. Recently, to make sure that people don't have New Year's parties and see in the New Year in the way that they would normally. Do
"COVID loves crowds," is one of the messages that has come out from the medical authorities here, to try and encourage people to stay at home. Not to circulate beyond their immediate family household groups, which is the message, I think, everybody in the country hopes the majority of people will stick to.
There are similar measures, of course, that have been imposed, not just here in Britain but elsewhere in Europe. France has tight restrictions that have been imposed. It has deployed tens of thousands of troops or will be deploying tens of thousands of police, rather, on the streets of the country to impose restrictions there and a curfew.
Germany, Italy, Turkey, they're all imposing these restrictions. On the flip side, though, there is some positive news, which is this new vaccine from Oxford University and AstraZeneca, has finally been approved by Britain. And that's expected to be approved elsewhere as well -- Paula.
NEWTON: Yes and, to give some people some hope. Britain has been doing relatively well in getting those vaccines out. Matthew Chance, Happy New Year. Good to see you. Matthew Chance there for us in. London
CHANCE: Thank you.
NEWTON: Now a frantically busy day, really, one of the busiest in the U.K. The U.K. right now closed with the passage of the post-Brexit trade agreement. Now more than four years of debate and negotiation are finally ending. Hallelujah.
Late Wednesday lawmakers approved the deal and the queen gave her assent. Salma Abdelaziz in London has the details. So much to take in today, Salma. This would've been such a lead story
and something we would've been discussing. But of course, there is the shadow of the pandemic. Really interested to hear from you on how people in Britain are reacting to this. News
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER: It was definitely a very big news day here, Paula. As you heard my colleague, Matthew Chance, very depressing virus figures coming out at the same. Time, really a chapter that has plagued this country for 4.5 years, finally closed, finally moving on.
A Brexit trade deal signed. But it comes at a time when more uncertainty isn't needed, Paula. Prime minister Boris Johnson, of course, touting this as a victory yesterday, saying this is something the British people wanted in their hearts but were told could never be true.
And he's finally handed them back sovereignty over their country, control of their national destiny, right to their own future. But for many in this country, this is, of course, a sad day, the conclusion to a bitter debate, a divisive debate that ultimately sees the U.K., of course, leaving the E.U.
And for those who are against it, it means losing great benefits of being in the E.U., like the freedom of movement, like the right to pick and go study in France or live in Spain. All of that now gone. And a great deal of uncertainty as well for businesses, which now have to figure out these rules so very quickly.
All of this, of course, going into place at 11 pm GMT today. The government is handling this new friendship new as a good and fair deal as zero tariffs. But the litmus test for this, of course will be the --
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NEWTON: As you point out there, just trying to parse some of these new details right now. Happy New Year to you as well, Salma, for us live from London. We appreciate it.
Now overwhelmed in long, hot lines as the elderly rush to get the coronavirus vaccine in Florida. Details of the confusion and the unfortunate chaos the new vaccination plan is causing. That's next.
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NEWTON: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. I'm Paula Newton, live from CNN Center in Atlanta.
Florida is one of the few states vaccinating people beyond the first wave of health care workers and long term care facilities. As you can see from this chart, Florida's total coronavirus case count is one now over 1.3 million.
But the new vaccination plan is creating a scramble among its elderly population for the limited number of doses now. Available. CNN's Ryan Young has details.
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RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This bumper-to-bumper traffic jam twists around the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, a line so long, drivers have more than enough time to get out and stretch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to be patient but it's a good setup.
YOUNG (voice-over): Not just in Orlando; elderly Floridians across the state, anxious to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, are dealing with a similar situation. In Ft. Myers, many bringing lawn chairs as they sit and wait for hours. Nine, to be exact, for this man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I personally feel there's got to be a better way.
YOUNG (voice-over): Because Florida has one of the largest populations over the age of 65, governor Ron DeSantis decided to break slightly with CDC recommendations, which calls for front line health care workers and first responders to be vaccinated first.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): We believe that the better approach is to focus on the elderly, first and foremost, then we will get in to essential workers.
YOUNG (voice-over): The vaccine, much needed in the Sunshine State, which is seeing dark days this year, more than 21,000 COVID deaths so far, many of them seniors.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We know people that have not survived.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Unfortunately.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unfortunately.
YOUNG (voice-over): But the problem is, all 67 counties are handling the vaccine rollout differently, creating some confusion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm grateful to get the vaccine. I feel there's got to be a better way to distribute this. For people that really need it, elderly that might be disabled in some way, they can't endure this process. So there's got to be a better way.
YOUNG (voice-over): The issue has not restricted the long lines. Some seniors have heard the vaccine is available and have started showing up at hospitals, only to get turned away while others flood hospital phone lines, looking to book appointments.
In South Florida, Broward Health said they already booked up with vaccine appointments and won't take on more patients until February.
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YOUNG (voice-over): Back in Orange County, 30,000 people signed up within 24 hours on the county's website. They vaccinated more than 1,500 seniors on the first day, a dose of hope during this awful year.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Great. I can't wait to see my grandkids. I can't wait to hug those little guys. It's like, it's just been so long in coming that -- so relieved. It's just wonderful.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are just feeling very blessed right now.
YOUNG (voice-over): Ryan Young, CNN, Orlando, Florida.
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NEWTON: Unfortunately, COVID-19 has also claimed the life of actress Dawn Wells, who played Mary Ann Summers on the 1960s TV show, "Gilligan's Island." Her publicist confirmed she passed away Wednesday at the age of 82.
Mary Ann was known for her pigtails and wholesome image. Wells was a Miss America contestant in 1959. She appeared in hundreds of TV shows, movies and Broadway productions. Later in life, she became an advocate for endangered elephants. Our condolences to her family.
Now the virus has taken so many lives. For the latest on the pandemic and the response, be sure to visit cnn.com. You'll get everything you need right there.
Still ahead, investigators still don't know a motive for that RV bombing on Christmas morning in Nashville. Police may have missed a key warning.
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NEWTON: Saudi Arabia is blaming Houthi rebels backed by Iran for Wednesday's attack on an airport in Yemen. The group still has not claimed responsibility.
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NEWTON (voice-over): You hear the explosions and see the reaction there. Officials say at least 22 people were killed in the attack, which happened soon after a newly formed government arrived from Saudi Arabia. There is now an investigation into what caused the explosion.
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NEWTON (voice-over): Saudi Arabia has managed to unite its two allies in Yemen's civil war against the Houthis to form a new cabinet. This attack that you're seeing right there is just the latest challenge.
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NEWTON: OK, so we're also following the bombing, of course, in Nashville, Tennessee. The girlfriend of the bomber warned police last year, apparently, that Anthony Warner was building bombs.
An attorney for Pamela Perry called police in August of 2019 after she threatened to kill herself. When officers arrived, she told them Warner was making explosives in his RV and his home.
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RAYMOND THROCKMORTON, PAMELA PERRY'S LAWYER: She was so convincing that morning and so distraught that I decided in her front yard in the middle of all those police officers on the spot, that even though it was a former client of mine, that somebody needed to go check him out right then.
If somebody had checked Tony out and gotten him the help that he needed, then this would've never happened.
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NEWTON: So police say they staked out Warner's home for several days but never had probable cause for a search warrant. Nashville's tells "The Tennessean" newspaper, law enforcement will have to take a hard look at what they could've done. Better
We will continue, of course, to follow that story here on CNN.
I'm Paula Newton. Coming up for our international viewers. "WORLD SPORT" is. Next and up next for us here in the United States, the faces of COVID-19. A war photographer captures the emotional stories of communities facing the coronavirus crisis.
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NEWTON: Donald Trump is calling for Georgia's Republican governor to resign. He claims Brian Kemp refuses to admit Trump won the state. In fact, Joe Biden, of course, won Georgia.
Now the infighting is making things complicated for two Senate Republicans facing runoff elections that will determine who controls the U.S. Senate. CNN's Kyung Lah reports.
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KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR U.S. CORRESPONDENT: You can feel the window closing here, as we are edging closer and closer to Election Day. Early voting ends this week and it's becoming very clear that this is, indeed, a proxy war between the national parties.
On Monday, President Trump will be here, in the state of Georgia, as will President-Elect Joe Biden. The Democrats are counting on Biden to juice the coalition that helped him flip the state of Georgia.
What they are counting on is the Asian American vote, the Latino vote and then the very critical Black vote here in the state. Delivering the closing message for Jon Ossoff, in a powerful commercial, President Barack Obama.
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BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (voice-over): Now America's counting on you again.
You can send Jon Ossoff to the Senate to beat this virus and rebuild our economy, to make sure everybody can afford healthcare and to carry the torch John Lewis passed to us with the new Voting Rights Act that secures equal justice for all. Georgia, you have the power and now it's time to vote.
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LAH: Health care, the economy and justice, that is essentially the message of the Democrats in order to get their voters out.
The question, though, is, with $500 million in campaign ads blanketing the state, will anybody hear that? -- Kyung Lah, CNN, Atlanta.
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NEWTON: California's hospitals are filling up and resources are dwindling. State officials have confirmed more than 2.2 million cases of COVID-19 so far. Healthcare workers are now treating some 20,000 patients statewide.
California's outbreak is, by far, the worst in the United States with more confirmed cases than most countries around the world.
NEWTON: Joining me now is Dr. Jennifer Ellice. She's an emergency room physician in California.
I've got to admit, Doctor, I'm almost afraid to ask you this question. What has it been like in California in the last couple weeks and what do you fear is going to happen in the coming weeks?
DR. JENNIFER ELLICE, EMERGENCY ROOM PHYSICIAN, CALIFORNIA: Hi, Paula. Thank you for having me.
What's been happening in the past few weeks has been pretty much the worst-case scenario that we could've imagined back in the summertime. We've seen this Thanksgiving surge that most recently occurred. We had just so many patients turning up in the emergency room, so many patients admitted to the hospital that our entire hospital is filled up with COVID patients and the entire emergency room is filled up with COVID patients.
We've had to turn people away, we've had to treat people in hallways. It's kind of the worst case.
NEWTON: You're already turning people away?
ELLICE: Well, it's not that we turn them away. It's more after a six to eight-hour wait, they leave.
On a recent shift I recently had to call back -- a patient I called and called for her in the waiting room, she wasn't there and I called her, she had gone home. And I called her back because she needed -- she had an emergency, she needed surgery.
So we're already rationing care in the sense that we don't have space and we don't have staff to take care of people.
NEWTON: And getting to that point. What is it like for you and the staff around you to have to deal with this when you've already been dealing with it for so many months now?
And Christmas and New Year's, those surges you know are just around the corner?
ELLICE: Yes. Quite frankly, were exhausted. My colleagues and I have been wearing full PPE for our entire shifts since March.
And when you're working like this, when you're pushing yourself like this, it takes a toll.
On a recent shift, I was working with one nurse who looked like she was about to collapse.
[02:50:00]
ELLICE: She had been wearing the PPE -- you sweat and it's really hot. She had been taking care of four ICU patients for hours.
And one of her patients -- our patients was crashing. And she would not take a break, she wouldn't leave because she knew that there just weren't enough nurses to take care of the other patients. So she wouldn't leave.
And I've seen my colleagues close to tears. This is not easy.
As you said, we are expecting because of the travel and because of the Christmas holidays, that it might be worse in the coming weeks.
NEWTON: We certainly wouldn't blame any of you for being exhausted, you guys have all given so much. And yet, I always try and remind people, you guys have families too. You guys are trying to protect yourself from this virus as well.
How difficult has it been -- we seem to be at a better point because we have vaccines. And yet now, even in California, now we know that a new variant that perhaps is even more transmissible is in California.
ELLICE: That has been one of the scariest things about this. Not only do I fear for my patients every night when I go to sleep but -- especially in the beginning, I did fear that I might bring this home to my family as well.
Right now, I just found out a few hours ago, that one of my colleagues just got intubated and is on a ventilator. So this is a very real concern for us.
And it's something that pales in comparison though -- that fear, it pales in comparison to what I see every day happening to my patients. And yes, the vaccine is here, it has offered us a lot of hope. But my patients haven't gotten the vaccine and they continue to suffer.
And fearing for yourself and your own family kind of fades when you see what we -- some of the things that we've seen in terms of what our patients are going through.
I had a phone call recently with a family member and his 90-year-old mother had COVID. And I had to call and tell him that we were going to keep her in the hospital.
And he asked a few questions and then his voice broke. And he said I'll take her home. He's 70 -- and he said I'll take her home, I don't care if I get it, I want to take care of my mom.
And then after that he said I know you've got a family too and I know -- and he wanted to thank us for what we had done.
We beg people to wear masks and we beg people not to travel and take it seriously. Not because we fear for our families but because we fear for our patients.
NEWTON: And I pray that everyone listening right now heeds those words. No matter where you are in the world.
I want to thank you and all of your colleagues for your sacrifice. And really, we are all hoping for better things in the New Year.
Dr. Jennifer Ellice joining us. Thanks so much.
ELLICE: Thank you for having me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: For so many of the reasons that you just heard from that doctor, 2020 may have seemed just like a complete blur. One photographer, though, is trying to put this year into perspective.
Peter Turnley traveled from New York to Paris, capturing really raw moments of this pandemic. He's created a visual tribute and is sharing some of those stories with us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER TURNLEY, PHOTOGRAPHER: In the beginning I didn't have any kind of goal. I was literally existing with my camera. And I met an ambulance EMT named Mike Galloway. And I asked him to tell me his story.
And among the other things he told me, that he was upset because he didn't think that he and his colleagues had enough PPE. And he said, you know, I don't think I'm the only one that feels this way.
After about a month, I got a phone call one night from Mike. And he told me that a legendary New York paramedic, Anthony "Tony" Thomas, had just passed away from COVID. There was going to be a ceremony at a funeral home in Brooklyn. And he wanted to know if I would be willing to come to photograph this ceremony because Mike and his colleagues wanted to give Tony the send-off he deserved.
And I said that would be an honor. Every night at 7 o'clock, many of the nurses and the doctors of Lenox Hill Hospital would come out. And many, many people from the Upper East Side neighborhood would come and express very heartfelt, large applause and thanks for these essential health care workers.
This particular night, a car pulls up. One of the young men gets up on top of the car with a microphone and he starts to sing the song, "America the Beautiful."
And I saw the woman that is in the cover photograph of my book, whose name is Erica, she happens to be from Brazil, has lived in the United States for a long time. She's a traveling nurse.
She had left North Carolina to work with COVID patients at Lenox Hill Hospital. As I looked at her, I saw her put her hand over her heart as she listened to this song.
[02:55:00]
TURNLEY: And I saw tears in her eyes. And what struck me after I made this photograph is I feel that Erica's tears are our tears. She cried for all of us that day.
When I returned to Paris, this city that I know so well, what struck me were two things: one was the universality of this moment, the feelings and emotion that people in Paris were feeling with each other, the similar kind of solidarity, the appreciation that people felt for the people that were saving their lives, the essential workers.
All of this was very similar to what I had seen in New York. What was different were some of the visual reference points. I would see Parisians that, now, for the first time in literally three months, could come and sit outside and not be isolated at home.
The Louvre opening for the very first day was incredibly emotional for me. I saw a young couple that were visiting in the Louvre from the Ukraine.
They said to me, "Would you mind making us a photograph of us because this moment means a lot to us?"
And I said of course. And they touched their masks to each other's lips in a kiss in front of the Mona Lisa and I thought that was so wonderfully symbolic of that moment.
As I've made these photographs during this period of time of COVID and have spoken to people and have shared their stories, what has struck me has been the need, that we all have worldwide, to identify with each other.
I believe profoundly that we are all members of our human family. Everyone on this Earth is my brother and sister. And it is with that kind of love for each other and the recognition of the beauty of our diversity that we can go forward. Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: Yes, we all definitely want to go forward. To learn more about Peter Turnley's work or buy a copy of his book, "A New York- Paris Visual Diary: The Human Face of COVID-19," you can go to peterturnley.com.
And that's it for me and this hour. I'm Paula Newton. CNN NEWSROOM continues, though, right here on CNN with Isa Soares, who will be live from London after a quick break.
