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Slow Start Hinders U.S. COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout; Fast- Spreading Virus Variant Cases Found Worldwide; U.S. Congress Meets Wednesday to Certify Biden Victory; Court Throws Out Gohmert Lawsuit; Georgia Hits Daily Record of New COVID-19 Cases; Violence Spikes in Some U.S. States; Companies Redefining Plastic Waste. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired January 02, 2021 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hi. Welcome to all of our viewers in the U.S. and around the world. I'm Robyn Curnow.
Coming up, an ominous start to the new year in the U.S.; 20 million coronavirus cases and counting.
Plus, more vaccine vials in freezers than shots in arms.
And a federal judge weighs in on a lawsuit against Vice President Mike Pence in yet another desperate attempt by Trump allies to undermine the U.S. election.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Robyn Curnow.
CURNOW: Great to have you along this hour.
When Joe Biden begins his first full day as U.S. president on January 21st, it will mark exactly one year since the first case of COVID was confirmed in the U.S. Now it is 20 million and counting.
In fact, the coronavirus is racing so quickly through the U.S. population, that another 1 million new cases are being added every five or six days. And the U.S. government's goal of vaccinating 20 million Americans by this time hasn't happened. Not even close. Some 10 million doses sitting in freezers across the country.
It is not because Americans are refusing to get the shot. Long lines of waiting for the tests are in high demand. But the infrastructure to support the massive undertaking is not there.
Meanwhile, soaring numbers of new infections have strained many U.S. hospitals to the breaking point. The country hit 100,000 COVID patients at the beginning of December; 31 days later, a jaw-dropping 125,000 Americans are fighting for their lives in overcrowded facility in the country. For more, here is Nick Watt in Los Angeles -- Nick.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From Wuhan, where all this began, to New York, not much fondness in the farewell to a terrible year.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: And 2020 is gone.
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ANDY COHEN, CNN HOST: 2020 is freaking gone.
WATT (voice-over): 2020 was tough but:
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are still going to have our toughest and darkest days.
WATT (voice-over): A L.A. County official says hospitals are, quote, "on the brink of catastrophe."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like treading water from 100 feet below the surface. You're already drowning but you just have to keep trying because that's what you can do.
WATT (voice-over): In Atlanta, a field hospital reopens for business at the Georgia World Congress Center. Meanwhile:
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In many parts of rural Georgia, both in the north and the south, there is vaccine available and literally sitting in freezers. That's unacceptable. We have -- we have lives to save.
WATT (voice-over): They're just not getting the hoped-for uptake from medical workers. In West Virginia, 42 people were given antibodies, not the vaccine, by mistake. In Wisconsin, a pharmacist now in custody after destroying 500 doses, taking them out of refrigeration.
The administration projected 20 million would have had vaccine dose number one by now.
The reality?
Not even 2.8 million reported.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: States and localities need resources. They need funding. I expected that we would see bumps in the road, but I didn't expect that we'd see this lack of consistency across the states.
WATT (voice-over): And that new faster spreading coronavirus variant now detected in Colorado, California and maybe Florida.
DR. SAJU MATHEW, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: I think we have to assume that this strain has been in the U.S. for a long time.
WATT (voice-over): December, by the numbers, was the worst month of the pandemic, the most confirmed cases, the most deaths, 10,000 lives lost in the last three days alone.
MATHEW: We do have these vaccines. We just need to hunker down and get there.
WATT (voice-over): In 2020, 345,737 people confirmed killed by COVID- 19 in America.
In 2021, how many more?
WATT: And here in California, a grim start to 2021, a record death toll reported New Year's Day, 585 lives lost, beating the previous record, which was set on New Year's Eve -- Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
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CURNOW: Turkey is suspending flights from Britain after identifying 15 cases of the coronavirus variant first found in the U.K. It said all the infections were detected Friday in passengers on flight from the U.K.
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CURNOW: Tighter border restrictions are in effect in Taiwan after its first case of the variant. At least 30 days, Hong Kong and Taiwan have cases of the new strain. The U.K. is facing a dire situation as cases are rising. Salma Abdelaziz has more on all of this.
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER: Robyn, it's a very dire situation. I'll run you through the latest numbers so you know what the authorities and what health care workers are facing.
You had yesterday for the fourth day in a row 50,000 new COVID cases in a 24-hour period. This last week, record numbers of infection rates. More patients in hospital than at any point before.
Health care workers are saying they are reaching the brink. They are stretched almost to the limit, Robyn. The government is opening a center, which is essentially extra hospital capacity.
Here is the catch with that.
Who will staff it when hospitals are already short staffed?
Where do you get the equipment when the equipment is already stretched inside the hospitals?
All this is due to the variant of COVID-19. The study by Imperial College London shows how dangerous this new variant is. In the study, researchers say this is the most significant change they have seen from the virus since the pandemic began.
This new variant, which is more transmissible, tripled in prevalence during a lockdown in November. The original strain of coronavirus was decreased by one-third. So, you are talking about the prevalent variant spreading through the population.
There is some hope on the horizon with the Oxford University and AstraZeneca vaccine. But there is a concern how it is rolled out. The government will give one injection and then keep people waiting up to three months before the second injection.
The idea is, according to the chief medical officers, is the first dose should give significant protection from serious illness, keeping people out of hospital and then they can wait on the second injection up to three months.
It shows how dire the situation is even when health experts are split on this. It is a bold strategy. But if you ask anyone in the government, they say you need a bold battle plan to defeat the variant and virus.
CURNOW: Salma, thank you. Live in London.
This is how thousands of people in France rang in the new year despite the country facing a surge in the virus there; more than 2,500 people attended an illegal rave. Police say they were met with, quote, "violent hostility" when they tried to break up the party. This comes as France is extending its curfew for some of the hardest hit regions.
I want to talk about all of this with Keith Neal. He at the University of Nottingham in England and is an expert on infectious diseases.
Sir, good to see you.
KEITH NEAL, UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM: Good morning, Robyn.
CURNOW: Hi. We had a lot of French ravers there before we came to you. That shows the dangers that are out there. I do want to talk about the fact this is the beginning of the year. The vaccine rollouts have barely got off the ground. Infection rates are soaring. Now the U.K. signaling the possibility of emergency use hospitals opened up in London again.
How much worse will this get?
NEAL: We don't actually know. It will probably carry on getting worse through at least two or three weeks. We don't know how much mixing happened over the holidays. Some of the Nightingale Hospitals are to start treating people with non-COVID illnesses in a secure environment, where they won't be able to catch COVID.
CURNOW: That is interesting.
Do you think it is a good idea that the military would perhaps get involved in the Nightingale Hospitals?
NEAL: I think the military have quite a lot of expertise in dealing with medicine in a very unusual environment. We need to get every skilled and trained person we can get our hands on.
I noted in a previous report, you have vaccines in fridges in the United States. Surely, the answer is to recall recently retired doctors and nurses. I have been given emergency registration to allow for my contribution.
CURNOW: That is interesting. Absolutely, the need for all hands-on deck.
With that in mind, what is your take on the so-called mix and match vaccine regimen?
I know an article in "The New York Times" is suggesting the U.K. is a bit of a Wild West with vaccinations and the cross-use potentially of these different vaccinations.
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CURNOW: What do you make of that?
Is this a pragmatic policy or mixed messaging?
NEAL: I think it is a highly pragmatic policy. The first line in the guidance is what you do with somebody when you don't know which vaccine they've had. You know they've had a vaccine but don't know which one it is.
Do you send them away?
Or do you give them a vaccine that is almost certainly going to have an effect?
We have not done mixed trials. There's little evidence about other vaccines that, if you present the antigen, your body doesn't know, and it responds appropriately.
CURNOW: The U.S. taking a different take on that but no doubt the vaccine rollout is still good news. It is slow. It is hesitant. We are hearing AstraZeneca coming online soon.
How quickly do you think the U.K. and U.S. and other places can catch up with the virus, so the vaccine starts overtaking new infections?
NEAL: We have vaccinated over 1 million people in the United Kingdom with at least one dose. That will give them 80 percent protection. That is the 1 million people most at risk. We have only got 65 million people in the country, of which about 30 million in the target age group of over 50 or with risk factors.
I think the main thing is we keep getting the vaccine rolled out to the highest risk groups, which have the most impact on the deaths and hospitalizations. We will be coming into the warmer months, where we saw the benefits last year in 2020.
By the time the winter comes around again, we will be thinking have we got the right flu vaccine and we should have vaccinated those at risk and possibly gone down further.
CURNOW: That is potentially the end of this year. We are hearing about the new U.K. variant. What more can you tell us about the mutation?
There's research is coming from Imperial saying it is a significant change. It tripled infections during lockdown.
What kind of mutation more do you expect?
NEAL: These viruses always mutate. That is the way they are put together. Viruses tend to mutate in two ways, one to become more infectious. If you got one virus better at spreading than the other, it will spread further and quicker through the population.
They also have a tendency to become less dangerous. You are not very good at spreading it if you are stuck at home or in a bed. Fortunately, we have not seen an increase in the virulence or ability to produce serious illness in this new strain.
The main concern is it was spreading in southeast of England during lockdown. So, we might need very tight restrictions to interfere with its spread in parts of the country.
CURNOW: OK. It is great to have your perspective. Thank you, Professor Keith Neal at the University of Nottingham. Thank you for your expertise.
NEAL: Thank you.
CURNOW: Congress is set to certify the presidential election next week and Republican representatives are trying to change the results. And that is going nowhere. Some of his colleagues say they will try to overturn the will of the people.
Early voting turnout was heavy in Georgia's state runoff will decide which party controls the Senate for the next two years. Election Day is Tuesday; we will have a preview.
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CURNOW: Welcome back.
A Trump appointed federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit bent on forcing Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election results. Texas representative Louie Gohmert and several Arizona Republicans want to give the vice president the authority to discard votes in several key states when Congress certifies the presidential electoral vote.
But in the ruling the judge said Gohmert lacks the standing to sue. Gohmert has just appealed to the higher court.
And on Friday, the Senate delivered a rare bipartisan rebuke to Trump, voting to override his veto of the National Defense Authorization Act. The tally was 81-13. The House already had voted to override the president.
The defense bill has pay raises for American soldiers and updating equipment. It's the first override of Trump's presidency. Phil Mattingly has more on the override and what to look for when Congress certifies the election -- Phil.
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PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As the 116th Congress comes to an end, the president, with a pretty sharp rebuke from Republicans and Democrats. That doesn't mean the relations with Congress are officially over. The Republicans are more than 140 in the House and one in the Senate, perhaps more, are lining up behind the president this time around when it comes to trying to overthrow or overturn the U.S. election.
Let's make something very, very clear. On January 6th, when the joint session convenes to count the electors, Joe Biden will be confirmed to be the next President of the United States of America.
How long it takes to get to that point?
Those Republicans, when paired with the senator, if they raise an objection to the electors counted, that requires both chambers to recess and have a debate and then a vote on the objections.
That vote will fail. However, many time it is happens, it will fail. Democrats control the House. Democrats have a decent size minority in the Senate. And a number of Republicans in the Senate are acknowledging reality, that Joe Biden is the next President of the United States.
So tangibly, all these objections mean is it will mean be a very long day.
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MATTINGLY: Politically, it is a big issue inside the Republican Party, particularly with senators. Mitch McConnell made, clear this was not a pathway he wanted Republicans to go down. Think of the dynamics. You vote for reality, that Biden is the next President of the United States, or you vote for President Trump.
Well, that's against reality and obviously there are political implications there and incentives that Republicans don't want to fight and vote on. Yet it looks like that is what's going to happen.
Just another page in the final weeks for President Trump. What it means for the party and the president himself and senators and Congress members still in office when he leaves, they will try to figure it all out.
The bottom line is this, Joe Biden will be inaugurated President of the United States on January 20th.
What happens to the party Trump oversees?
That is an open question -- Phil Mattingly, CNN, Washington.
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CURNOW: So, Trump and Biden both plan to campaign in Georgia on Monday. The pressure is on Republicans to turn out on Tuesday because registered Georgians, Democrats, have come out at a faster than expected pace. Kyung Lah reports now from Atlanta.
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KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR U.S. CORRESPONDENT: We're getting new numbers from the secretary of state here in Georgia that shows as early vote is closing, more than 3 million Georgians have already voted, and this is all before Election Day on Tuesday.
Democrats are welcoming the news. Stacey Abrams, the well-known Democrat here, who ran for governor in Georgia, says it is an early sign that Democrats are doing well.
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STACEY ABRAMS, FORMER GEORGIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: I wouldn't say that it's better. I would say that it's incredibly gratifying to see so many turning out. We are pleased with the level of energy and excitement, especially given how often pundits were discounting the likelihood of Democrats performing in a runoff.
According to current analysis, we are running at or ahead of where we were in 2000 in 28 November election, but we know that this is just the beginning. We still have to get to Election Day, and I don't count anything until it's done.
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LAH: That early vote number is adding pressure on the GOP, who also believes Democrats are outperforming what they did in November 2020. They need to bring out more of their voters on Election Day.
And a lot of GOP are pinning their hopes that President Trump, when he's here the day before the election, will be able to increase enthusiasm as long as he stays on message -- Kyung Lah, CNN, Atlanta.
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CURNOW: James Davis is a political science professor and director of The Institute of Political Science at the University of St. Gallen in Munich.
Good to see you. Thanks for speaking to us.
JAMES DAVIS, UNIVERSITY OF ST. GALLEN: Good morning.
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CURNOW: Good morning. I hope it is a wonderful year for you. We are all looking day by day and Monday is not far away. Georgia, you know, is expecting these VIPs, Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden, to come in.
Do you think they can create momentum for supporters, particularly with voter turnout?
DAVIS: It sounds like the Democrats are doing well enough as it is. I think, you know, President-Elect Joe Biden will come in and try to close the deal. I think where there needs to be momentum for Republicans is -- they need the momentum. They seem to be lagging behind.
The president has to stay on message. But he isn't able to do that. He has been tweeting overnight that these special elections or runoff elections are illegitimate and illegal. It seems hard for me to understand how, on the one hand, you are championing democracy and, on the other hand, trying to undermine the legitimacy of the elections.
So, I think Republicans have to be nervous today.
CURNOW: We also are hearing about the lawsuit, trying to compel the vice president to help Mr. Trump override the election results. We are hearing it is being appealed.
What is the strategy behind this?
It is not legal, is it?
DAVIS: No, I would encourage all Americans to pull out a copy of the Constitution or Google it and read Article I. Excuse me, Article II, which makes clear what the job of the vice president is. It is to open the envelopes and tally the results from the states.
There is no constitutional basis for this suit to go forward. I think what is going on is you have upwards of two-thirds of the Republican House caucus joining a losing effort for a variety of reasons.
Some of them are under the cult of personality, devoted to Trump and, whatever Trump wants, they are giving him.
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DAVIS: And for some it is a cheap vote to curry favor with the party. As Senator Sasse said already, there are a few people looking ahead four years and thinking about how they will run for president.
So, getting on the bandwagon and making a stand may cost them nothing, maybe helps then with the base when they decide to run. The problem is it erodes the norms of democracy and our status worldwide.
CURNOW: It does for many people watching this. What we also see is this continued effort on various levels to undermine the election results.
What we are expecting and talking about in Congress in the coming week, do you see it more of a loyalty test to Trump by Republicans?
And in trying to get Republicans to be stretching either way, what does that mean for the party after Mr. Trump leaves?
DAVIS: That's the big question. The Republican Party is going to have to do soul-searching after President Biden is inaugurated.
Are they the party that stands for small government and free trade, the party that stands for strong American presence, or are they the party of Trump, a party that follows the whims of someone who doesn't understand the Constitution and doesn't understand the norms of democracy and basically is focused on whatever gets him in the paper or press on a daily basis.
I think that is an interesting thing that we have to watch.
CURNOW: What do you make of the Senate breaking with Mr. Trump and overriding the National Defense Authorization Act?
It's the first time in four years.
Does that signal anything?
DAVIS: It signals a number of senators are not too worried about Trump in any retribution that he will mete out on them, should he ever come back into the political fray.
It may be a positive sign for some kind of reform in the Republican Party. But it certainly is a slap in the face for the president in really his last few weeks of office, this override of the veto. It can't make him very happy.
CURNOW: Professor James Davis, thank you very much for your expertise.
DAVIS: Thanks, Robyn.
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CURNOW: Vaccine distribution in the U.S. is falling far short of expectations from delays to accusations of sabotage.
And at long last, we are done with 2020. We are looking at how people around the world trying to make the new year much better.
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CURNOW: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. Thanks for joining me. I'm Robyn Curnow.
The United States is beginning 2021 with a staggering 20 million cases of COVID since the pandemic began. It crossed that number on Friday. Americans account for one-quarter of the world's documented cases. The U.S. death toll now approaching 350,000. It's far higher than any other country. Hospitalizations also topped
100,000 COVID patients for 31 consecutive days. Across the U.S., states are scrambling to ramp up their vaccine rollout. So far almost 12.5 million doses have been shipped but just under 3 million Americans have only received the first dose. Kristen Holmes has more.
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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: State officials say the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine has been an incredible undertaking. They are stretched thin responding to coronavirus as a whole. We want to point out why this could be so difficult.
One is that states are now in charge of not only actually administering the vaccine, they are in charge of choosing who gets the vaccine and when. They also are in charge of storing the vaccine, which is a complicated drug. Many states don't have the infrastructure to do that. They had to put those in place and train people on the vaccine.
Now we are seeing incidents within several states that really show how wrong things can go in a complicated rollout.
In West Virginia, we know 42 people went in and thought they were getting the vaccine. Instead, it turns out got COVID antibodies. Officials say they don't believe there is risk of harm to the individuals. But they could not or would not say how a mix up could occur.
In terms of human error or interference, Safe Way, in D.C., threw out two doses of the vaccine after vaccinating 28 people. There were two doses left and threw them out. Now they are trying to figure out how to handle remaining doses.
When it comes to human interfere interference, in Wisconsin, a pharmacist is accused of taking 500-plus doses of the Moderna vaccine out of the pharmacy refrigerator, knowing it would render them useless. Heartbreaking there when you realize how many doses there were there. He has been arrested and charged with three felonies.
To end on a positive note, health experts I'm talking to say they believe the next couple of weeks a lot of the kinks will be worked out and more and more people will get the vaccine. Of course, that is something we will watch closely.
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CURNOW: Thanks, Kristen, for that.
There is an alarming spike of infections here in Georgia, more than 8,700 new cases on Friday, a daily record. Right across the street from the CNN Center where I am right now, a facility normally used for trade shows and conventions is being converted in a COVID ward to handle the influx of new patients. We get the details from Nick Valencia.
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NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: 2020 has come and gone but the latest numbers from Johns Hopkins University shows that the pandemic is still, very much so, raging. Johns Hopkins says, in the last three days of 2020, over 10,000 Americans died as a result of being infected by the coronavirus.
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VALENCIA: As it stands right now, California seems to be the center of the pandemic. But things here in Georgia aren't faring much better.
Governor Brian Kemp, so concerned with the latest winter numbers of the -- of coronavirus, that he's opened up the Georgia World Congress Center to act as a makeshift field hospital, where there will be 60 temporary beds, acting as overflow center for the health systems that have just been overwhelmed by the rising cases.
The governor addressed his concerns about the rising numbers.
GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): And if the people of Georgia will hunker down for a little bit longer, stay vigilant and do the things we've been talking about -- wearing a mask, washing your hands, socially distancing themselves and following the health guidance in our executive orders -- we can all have a safe, happy new year.
VALENCIA: This field hospital is expected to be open until at least the end of January. And earlier, when I spoke to the governor's office, they said they are admitting patients as of today. Just a quick note here on hospitalizations in Georgia, about 5,000 Georgians woke up in the hospital; numbers here, continuing to spike.
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CURNOW: Nick Valencia there.
East Asian countries are struggling to cope with coronavirus. South Korea is banning gatherings of five people or more nationwide and it is keeping social distancing measures in place until January 17th. The health ministry says daily cases there are in the high hundreds.
Japan, with a larger population, is reporting daily cases in the thousands. The ministry of health confirmed that 716 patients were in serious condition due to COVID on Friday. That is a new record there.
2020 likely will be known forever as the year of coronavirus pandemic, a year filled with tragic circumstances, and many people are desperate to forget. Zain Asher takes a look at how the new year has some people looking ahead to better times.
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ZAIN ASHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fireworks erupt over a now infamous city in China. What a difference a year makes, especially in this place, where the virus that would change the world was first detected. The World Health Organization in China with informed on New Year's Eve
in 2019 of a sickness spreading in Wuhan and pneumonia without an unknown cause. It would be an outbreak that would sweep the world, a universal heartbreak that has so far killed more than 1.8 million people.
A year later, survivors in Wuhan turn to time-honored traditions, like praying at this Buddhist temple for better luck this year and to close the door on an unthinkable year.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I hope that health takes priority. I hope I become healthier and feel more safe and sound.
ASHER (voice-over): Similar prayers around the world: in India, priests perform the cleansing fire ritual overlooking the holy Ganges. Others prepared for an upcoming year by taking a renewing bath in rivers and in temples.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 2020 was a challenging year for a lot of us. But, yes, it has taught us many lessons.
ASHER (voice-over): One of the lessons, to try to find joy in daily life, like these brave souls, underdressed for winter temperatures but perfectly suited for the yearly plunge into the Tiber River in Rome.
Or families on a mountain slope near Frankfurt, Germany, where shops and restaurants may be closed but the thrill of sledding, that is something that cannot be regulated. There is a saying that time heals all wounds. Here's to a collective wish from the world, that 2021 is that remedy -- Zain Asher, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Homicide rates are increasing in Chicago. The pandemic could be a contributing factor. We will head to the Windy City for more on the violence spike.
Plus, 2021is starting off with record snowfall across the central U.S. We will have the latest details and what's ahead -- that's coming up, too.
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CURNOW: A winter storm, a powerful one, left over 100,000 homes and businesses without power in the central U.S.; snowfall ranged from 5-4 inches or 12-35 centimeters with a daily record set in Oklahoma City with a half a foot of snow.
Ice accumulations downed trees and power lines and left tens of thousands of people in the dark without power in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. In the South, at least two tornadoes hit east central Georgia. One person was injured after a manufactured home was flipped.
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CURNOW: Of course, the pandemic brought tremendous hardship to many people. Here in the U.S., it is contributing to a dramatic rise in shootings and murders. As Adrienne Broaddus reports from Chicago, there is a troubling link between depression and substance abuse and the coronavirus.
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ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As the pandemic rages, we have seen crime spike across the country, including here in Chicago. Devastating: that's how one top law enforcement official describes the latest number of homicides, as well as a former gang member.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I normally don't talk about it.
BROADDUS (voice-over): Sometimes, talking about a painful past lead to healing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been shot 10 times at one time, multiple times, and left for dead.
ROBERT WHITE, CHICAGO CRED: You got to do something with this second chance.
BROADDUS (voice-over): Mentoring from the bed of a pickup truck is Robert White, a former gang leader with the Black P. Stone Rangers in Chicago.
WHITE: The average shooter who really get down in this city, age is from 14 to 19.
BROADDUS (voice-over): Fifty-year-old White now works with Chicago CRED, an anti-gun violence organization.
White said the latest homicide numbers are troubling. Of the country's largest cities, New York, Los Angeles, Houston and Phoenix, all saw homicide increases of greater than 30 percent compared to the same time last year. But Chicago had an increase of 55 percent, from 491 to 762 homicides through December 27th.
JOHN LAUSCH, U.S. ATTORNEY, NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS: 2020's been a really tough year, nationwide, for violent crime. In particular, in Chicago. We've seen homicides and shootings get really at a staggering number.
BROADDUS (voice-over): John Lausch is the United States attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.
LAUSCH: The shootings and the homicides are up significantly. And if we look, just anecdotally, at what we are seeing, the offenders just seem to be emboldened. BROADDUS (voice-over): Jens Ludwig runs the University of Chicago's
crime lab. He helps people understand what the data doesn't show.
JENS LUDWIG, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: If you look at the gun violence problem, that's usually concentrated among young people, say, 18 to 24. And if you look at the CDC data on mental health, something like 70 percent to 75 percent of people 18 to 24 are showing signs of anxiety, depression, increase in substance use in response to the pandemic.
And I think one of the things that people haven't maybe fully appreciated is how much the social service sector does to help control crime as well. And everything that the social service sector does has also been turned upside down by the pandemic as well, starting with the public schools as well as after-school programs, weekend programs, job training, mental health services, everything.
LAUSCH: And this has been a challenging year, in that regard. So, I think, for a lot of reasons. You know, one, people are walking around wearing masks. You know, that -- that -- that has an impact.
BROADDUS (voice-over): As White and his mentee, John, pledge to help, tears fall faster than both can wipe away.
WHITE: It's not tears of sadness. These are good tears. I want to be able to, like, help other folks get through their pain and suffering because it's -- you know, life is too short.
BROADDUS: And remember, some people shot in 2020 will die in 2021 or later. And those numbers aren't captured in this most recent data -- Adrienne Broaddus, CNN, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Plastic pollution is certainly a huge issue for the planet. But one company has found a new way to recycle by turning the waste into an organic sludge. We will tell you how it works. Stay with us.
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CURNOW: So the world is pre-occupied, of course, with COVID-19. But researchers are also tackling problems like plastic pollution. A Hungary startup has developed a bacterial cocktail that breaks down plastic and turns it into recyclable sludge. Lynda Kinkade has more.
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LYNDA KINKADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Plastic pollution washing up on shores around the world, no continent left untouched. Despite efforts to reduce plastic waste, the United Nations predicts there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans by 2050.
One startup in Budapest, Hungary, is trying to change that.
LIZ MADARAS, CEO, POLIOOP: We saw plastic waste pollution as a very, very pertinent issue. So we decided to try to combine biotechnology and chemical engineering to create a media (sic) which can actually bring plastics back into the natural life cycle to which they once belonged.
KINKADE (voice-over): These two young biochemists created a bacterial cocktail, as they call it, which can degrade any type of plastic. It takes just seven weeks.
MADARAS: This is how it's going to look like in two weeks. In seven weeks' time, it goes to this, this sludge, which is the end a product of our process.
KINKADE (voice-over): That resulting brown liquid can then be used to develop more bioplastics or possibly even serve as a soil enhancer. That's what initial tests are showing.
While local and national governments have tried to curb plastic production through single-use plastic bags and other restrictions, the numbers are clear: plastic production continues to rise steadily each year.
And most of those plastics will never be recycled. It's estimated that only 9 percent of the plastic produced worldwide has been recycled. The problem has inspired a new wave of creative solutions by companies across the world, all looking for a more efficient way to repurpose plastics.
In 2010, Taiwan based company Miniwiz created EcoARK. The company calls it a natural disaster-proof building, constructed from bricks made of old water bottles.
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KINKADE (voice-over): Now the company has developed a device called Trashpresso that allows people to feed their used plastics into the machine and, in minutes, walk away with a new household item that's been upcycled from their waste.
Then there's Bureo, a California company which collects fishing nets, often made from one of the more harmful plastics polluting our oceans and recycling them into a material called NetPlus. That can then be turned into goods like skateboards, sunglasses and hats.
So what do all these companies have in common?
They are creating sustainable solutions that bring value back to used plastics and, in effect, show people that single-use plastic can be more than just trash.
MADARAS: The problem with plastics up until now was that they lingered on in the environment forever. But once we can biodegrade them, bring them back into the natural environment, they become part of nature again, become part of the global recycling system, not just the human one.
KINKADE (voice-over): Linda Kinkade, CNN.
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CURNOW: U.S. College football's national championship game is set. Number one Alabama is facing off against number three Ohio State. The Buckeyes pulled off an upset win against the number two Clemson Tigers at the Sugar Bowl on Friday.
Alabama trounced the number 14 Notre Dame. The Tide will take on the Buckeyes on January 11th.
Thanks for watching. I'm Robyn Curnow. I'll be back with another hour of news. Stick with me. I'll be back after the break.
