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Back To School Debate Remains Divisive Topic Across Europe; Schools In Some Countries Remain Open With Measures; Canada Designates The Proud Boys As A Terrorist Group; South Carolina Mom Explains Why She Left QAnon; Grief In The Age Of COVID-19; Tokyo 2020 President Apologies For Sexist Remarks; Australian Open Players In Isolation After Confirmed Case; Veterinarians Teaching Dogs To Sniff Out Coronavirus; United Kingdom Claps For The Late Captain Tom Moore; Three Women Nominated On The Golden Globe Award; People Now Trusting Vaccines; Sputnik V Reach 91 Percent Efficacy; Rep. Liz Cheney Remain in Her Post; Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's Fate Hanging by a Thread; Time to Stop Military Power in Myanmar; Janet Yellen Meeting with Regulators; Pilots Admit Their Rusty Mistakes. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired February 04, 2021 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. You are watching CNN Newsroom. And I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead, as a new survey shows more people around the world are willing to get a COVID vaccine Oxford scientists are testing a novel way to get more doses out there.
Plus, the battle for the GOP's soul hits a critical point as rival factions choose between a conspiracy theorist and the third ranking U.S. House Republican.
And airplane pilots say downtime during the pandemic is making them rusty at the controls and they are making mistakes.
Good to have you with us.
Well, more hopeful developments in the fight to contain COVID-19. We are learning that the confidence in vaccinations is growing as more doses become available. A survey of 15 countries shows that 54 percent of people now say they would get a shot if one is offered to them. That's up from 41 percent in November.
The survey from Imperial College London also found that people in the U.K. were the most willing to get a dose, that is a promising sign considering the country's infection numbers remain high, averaging more than 20,000 this week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Although today there are some signs of it, the numbers of COVID patients in hospitals are beginning to fall for the first time since the onset of this new wave. The level of infection is still alarmingly high.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): The good news is U.K. officials say the nation has likely past its peak of infections and at this point more than 10 million people there have received their first vaccine dose.
Well, after some early global skepticism a top medical journal's editor says Russia's Sputnik V COVID vaccine meets the same clinical trial and efficacy standards as other major vaccines. Phase three data published in The Lancet show Sputnik was more than 91 percent effective at preventing COVID-19 infections. But Lancet editor Richard Horton advises more information is needed.
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RICHARD HORTON, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THE LANCET: They've absolutely met the same standards in terms of the quality of the trial and the reliability of the data about vaccine efficacy. I would say that there is one caveat though, Becky, and that is around the safety data.
At the moment, we don't have the full safety data for the Russian vaccine, they're still in the process of collecting that. What we do know is that there are no serious adverse events from this vaccine but we don't know enough about the minor and moderate adverse events.
So, with that one provision (Ph), I would say that this vaccine should eventually get the green light for use. And indeed, many countries have already placed orders for the vaccine. Countries in Latin America across, the Middle East and even in Europe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): More than 15 countries have approved use of the Russian vaccine which has already been given to more than two million people around the world.
In the U.S., more than 450,000 people have died from COVID-19, that's according to Johns Hopkins University. And the new forecast from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention projects that number could rise to 534,000 by the end of the month. Even though nearly 34 million vaccine doses have been administered, top disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci says the U.S. is not moving fast enough.
CNN's Erica Hill reports.
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UNKNOWN: We are at war with this virus.
ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): That war is also a race against time. [03:04:59]
CELINE GOUNDER, MEMBER, BIDEN COVID-19 ADVISORY BOARD: We're getting a breather, and if this U.K. variant continues to spread as predicted here in the U.S., we are in for some very tough months ahead.
HILL: More vaccinations could help stop the spread, a boost in supply and access clear moves in the right direction. All teachers in West Virginia over age 50 are now vaccinated, in New York City a push to prioritize restaurant workers.
But with just 2 percent of the population fully vaccinated, the country still has a long way to go.
ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: If you want our society to get back to normal you have to get about 70 to 85 percent of the population vaccinated.
HILL: A new study in the U.K., finds AstraZeneca's vaccine which is not yet authorized in the U.S., may also help stop transmission. The study has not yet been peer viewed.
RICHARD BRIGHT, FORMER DIRECTOR, HHS BIOMEDICAL ADVANCED RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY: This is encouraging, and it's not actually totally surprising. It is what we would expect for most of our vaccines.
HILL: The numbers continue to move in the right direction, good news that comes with a warning.
ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: Although we have seen declines in cases and admissions, and a recent slowing of deaths, cases remain extraordinarily high, still twice as high as the peak number of cases over the summer.
HILL: Meantime, new findings on who is spreading the virus, in the U.S. that dubious honor goes to younger adults. Researchers in London estimating 20 to 49-year-olds account for more than 75 percent of new transmissions through mid-August. So, should that group have vaccine priority?
UCHE BLACKSTOCK, EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN: Absolutely not, what we need to do is get the vaccine to the arms of people who are at highest risk for doing poorly if they are infected.
HILL: As more areas loosen restrictions on activities like indoor dining.
GOV. PHIL MURPHY (D-NJ): We believe that we can make this expansion without leading to undo stress -- or further stress on our healthcare system.
HILL: One thing experts and officials are not encouraging, Super Bowl parties.
WALENSKY: Not wearing masks and participating in in-person social gatherings, have contributed to the variant spread. Please watch the Super Bowl safely, gathering only virtually or with the people you live with.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL (on camera): We just learned that opening day for Yankee Stadium is tomorrow for vaccinations that is 15,000 appointments will be available through the first week, now those are for Bronx residents only. Which is part of an effort to not only address the fact that the Bronx has the highest positivity rate of all the boroughs in New York City, but also to address issues of inequity.
In New York, I'm Erica Hill, CNN.
CHURCH: U.S. House Democrats are expected to vote later today to remove controversial freshman Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committee assignments. This after House Republicans chose not to take any action against her on Wednesday despite having Green's history of violent rhetoric and farfetched conspiracy theories prior to our election. But Republicans did vote secretly to keep Congresswoman Liz Cheney in her leadership position.
Cheney has been under fire from some Republicans for voting to impeach Donald Trump over the January 6th siege on the capitol. As for Greene, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said she has disavowed her past inflammatory statements.
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REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: I think it would be helpful if you could hear exactly what she told all of us. Denouncing QAnon, I don't know if I said it right, I don't know even know what it is -- any from the shootings, she said she knew nothing about lasers or all the different things that have been brought up about her.
And so, from that perspective, she is now a member -- if we are now going to start judging what other members have said before they've even members of Congress, I think it's going to be a hard time for the Democrats to place anybody on the committee.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): We get more now from CNN's Ryan Nobles on Capitol Hill.
RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It took four hours but the House Republican conference on Capitol Hill has ironed out at least some of their issues. They voted overwhelmingly to keep Liz Cheney as the third ranking member of the House leadership. Now this was an important vote and it tracks back to the impeachment vote where Cheney joined nine other House Republicans in voting to impeach President Trump.
The former president still enjoys a lot of support from House Republicans and there were many angry that Cheney took that vote and they demanded for her to be removed from her post. That lead to this meeting which got heated at times where many members stood up and yelled and angrily complained about Cheney voting to impeach President Trump but when the ballots are cast and they were all cast secretly, Cheney ended up holding on to her post comfortably, s vote margin of 145 to 60 to one member of Congress that voted president.
Now, that wasn't the only problem that the House Republicans were dealing with. They were also dealing with freshman Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and those past comments that she's made that have been very controversial, it's led the Democrats calling for her to be removed from the House education committee and the House budget committee.
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Now Republicans attempted to try and bridge some court of compromise, take her off the education committee, maybe put her on a different committee but House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy could not strike a deal with the House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer so Democrats are going to move forward. As a result, Republicans plan do nothing to hold Greene accountable for her actions.
That vote will take place on the House floor on Thursday. It is likely that even though she still has Republican support, that there will be enough Democratic votes to remove Greene from those committees.
Ryan Nobles, CNN, on Capitol Hill.
CHURCH: So, let's talk now with Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. Always a pleasure to have you with us.
LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Thank you so much, Rosemary.
CHURCH: So, the Republican Party is currently undergoing a reckoning of sorts. Attacking Liz Cheney for voting to impeach Trump while embracing whacky QAnon conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene in a meeting Wednesday. Cheney survived a secret House vote on her leadership position, 145 to 61. Greene got a standing ovation. What does all this reveal about where the Republican Party is heading right now?
SABATO: I think it confirms what we have seen for some time. The Republican Party ought to be renamed the Trump party or maybe the QAnon party. Maybe it should be instead of GOP it should be GQP.
It's pretty clear that Marjorie Taylor Greene either has more support than the leadership of the party in the House and maybe the Senate but certainly the House. Or, a lot of those members are afraid of her and the other QAon members. The energy is with the more extreme parts of the Republican Party.
CHURCH: It appears to be, and of course House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy condemned Green's crazy conspiracy comments but with no consequences. He left that to the Democrats who set a date for later today to remove Greene from committees. How big of leadership failure is this for McCarthy? Leaving it up to the Democrats to do his dirty work in essence? And how do you expect that vote to go?
SABATO: It's a big failure for McCarthy but it's just an extension of the earlier failure when at first, he condemns the insurrectionist riot at Capitol Hill and blamed correctly President Trump for energizing it and then took it all back.
This is -- this is a guy who can't figure out where he stands or he's doing a tap dance. He's trying to be everywhere at once and it's incredibly unimpressive, so that's the image he's projecting in the Republican Party, I think it's showing up, finally in a lot of polling about the legislative leaders.
A new one released today showed that the Democratic leaders Pelosi and Schumer doing very well relative to the Republicans, McConnell and McCarthy who worked very, very low. And people pay attention. They get a sense of where these leaders are coming from and whether they really are leaders as opposed to someone who is titled but a follower. That's what McCarthy is.
CHURCH: Yes, there's certainly an identity crisis right now within the party. We'll see where that goes. But in the meantime, the House approved a budget resolution 218 to 212 votes, that will allow Congress to pass a $1.9 trillion-dollar COVID-19 relief bill without support from Republicans, two Democrats voted against it.
President Biden still thinks though that there is room to make compromises with the GOP but if the bills not bipartisan in the end what are the consequences of that?
SABATO: Next to nothing. Because bipartisanship makes for a wonderful headline and it makes for an era of good feelings and the era lasts for about 72 hours. It doesn't mean anything. What matters is what you pass and whether you use your brief opportunity to get something big done or you blow it and don't use it.
If you bring those Republicans in, you need 10 of them. Ten of them have to rock solid be with you in order to pass the Senate. Then you're going to water down your proposal to the point where it won't have any great impact.
Instead, I think President Biden who's been around a long time understands that it's important to project the image of seeking unity because that's what he talked about in his inaugural address but he understands in the end he's going to get exactly 51 votes for anything he proposes. The Republicans will always find reasons not to support it.
CHURCH: Larry Sabato, always great to get your analysis. Many thanks.
[03:20:00]
SABATO: Thank you so much, Rosemary.
CHURCH: And still to come. Financial markets get back on their feet after the GameStop chaos. What's the U.S. Treasury Secretary wants to do about that turmoil.
And with air travel on the decline, pilots are out of practice. Now, some are making mistakes during flights. Ahead, what they're doing to shake off the rust.
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CHURCH (on camera): Welcome back, everyone.
Well, police in Myanmar have reportedly filed charges against Aung San Suu Kyi just days before the military coup ousted her civilian government. According to Reuters, the de facto leader is being accused of illegally importing communications equipment after walkie talkie radios were found in her home.
Now this comes as the military continues to clamp down, disrupting news services and internet access across the country. That includes access to Facebook, the largest online platform in Myanmar. The head of the U.N. is speaking out in strong terms. He says the coup will fail and pledges international pressure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONIO GUTERRES, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: It is absolutely unacceptable after elections. Elections that I believe took place normally and after a large period of transition it's absolutely unacceptable to reverse the result of the elections and the will of the people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): And this protest is taking place today in the city of Mandalay, students and activists turned out to voice their anger and speak out against the coup.
And I spoke earlier to Jared Genser, a managing director of Perseus Strategies. He previously served as pro bono counsel to Aung San Suu Kyi between 2006 and 2010 before she came to power. I asked him what the international community should be doing about the military coup.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JARED GENSER, MANAGING DIRECTOR, PERSEUS STRATEGIES: It's great that you see a range of international actors, whether it be the United States or the G7 or the European Union all calling this a coup. That is not remotely special to change what is going to happen in the country because Min Aung Hlaing is firmly in charge of the military.
So, there are a number of things that need to happen. One is sanctioning these military conglomerates, that themselves own, you know, hundreds of companies in the country with lots of international joint ventures that could cut off the funding that the militaries using, you know, off book in order to fund its weapons and at sustaining itself in power.
Another key thing would be to advocate for global arms embargo on the military and a referral of the situation in Myanmar to International Criminal Court. These two things are going to be harder to achieve because of the Security Council in the United Nations, it includes China and Russia which are not likely they want to support that.
[03:20:00]
But I think that, you know, the big variable that needs to be considered and we're going to have to see how this plays out in the coming days, is what are the people of the country are actually going to do?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH (on camera): Jared Genser, managing director of Perseus Strategies talking to me earlier.
Well, Wall Street is finally getting its breath back after a week of chaotic Reddit inspired turbulence. Now U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is calling on regulators to meet to address the volatility concerns. The meeting is expected to take place this week with regulators from the Security and Exchange Commission the Federal Reserve, and the New York Fed expected to attend.
Well, for more let's turn to CNN emerging markets editor John Defterios. He joins us live from Abu Dhabi. Good to see you, John.
So, a lot of attention obviously is being focused on this meeting which could actually take place as early as today, but isn't the idea of trying to regulate day traders a treacherous territory?
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN BUSINESS EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: It is very tricky territory indeed, Rosemary. Cannot go unchecked but at the same time it breaks new ground because this is looking at the influence of social media on Wall Street, right? And one of the most vulnerable institutions on Wall Street the New York Stock Exchange which is been around since 1817 and it's the biggest market trading platform in the world at $22 trillion.
So, Janet Yellen is pulling together those players you talked about led by the Securities and Exchange Commission but what is the mandate here? Is it to look at the volatility, potential manipulation, social media post? The volume of the social media posts are the regulators even prepared for that? They can just take one stock and then kind of encapsulates what I'm talking about. That's GameStop. It had traded less than $5 a share, went up to nearly $500 a share, 492 and then last night closed at 92.
So, somebody is making money on the way up and probably on the way down. But some are getting crushed but it has nothing to do with the fundamentals.
So, the mandate will include looking at Reddit as a social media platform and people trying to just manipulate the market. Robinhood, the trading platform why did it hold stocks, not for hours to stabilize the market but for days that even just fractionally opening up the stocks that we're talking about here like AMC entertainment as well, and then they're starting to track down the social media posts themselves.
So, this gets again into new territory looking at those who are posting and what they're doing online. It's so big wide-open game. And we're even talking about here in the Middle East, Rosemary, in Europe, in Asia, if you could see it spread to other market so why the U.S. wants to lead the regulatory process.
CHURCH: Of course, John, you mentioned Robinhood. It's Super Bowl Sunday this weekend a showcase of American football but it's also an opportunity offering a platform for Robinhood at the center of this trading storm to do a little bit of P.R. work there. How is that likely to pan out?
DEFTERIOS: Well, big sporting event as you know, Rosemary, because you live in the United States, also a big marketing event, right, because you have millions of people tune in probably not as much as they have in the past because the NFL season was kind of truncated, if you will, but we have Robinhood because of that trading per spot (Ph) that we talked about here. We're spending five and a half million dollars per spot to get out there and say we're the trading platform of the common men or women out there.
Students to take a break. Those who were working hard, trying to raise a family. We're not the Wall Street hedge funds here. It's going to perhaps aim to widen their base of course, but I think it's more about what you're talking about trying to repair the reputation.
We've seen this in the past in the last few years, Facebook, Uber, Wells Fargo was caught out in the financial mortgage crisis, all used the Super Bowl to try to reverse that image that they have today. We'll see if it works this much for Robinhood.
CHURCH (on camera): Yes, we will. John Defterios joining us live from Abu Dhabi, many thanks.
Well, air travel across the U.S. is down sharply just under 500,000 passengers were screened at airports across the country Tuesday. One of the lowest figures in six months. And with fewer flights taking off during the pandemic, pilots admit they are losing practice and are making more mistakes.
CNN's Pete Muntean explains.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Commercial pilots are now blaming unprecedented pandemic downtime for in-flight mistakes with passengers on board. While the latest safety data it shows flying is the safest it is ever. CNN analyze publicly available incident reports submitted by U.S. flight crews. Pilots self-reported being rusty and at least 26 separate cases since the start of the pandemic.
PETER GOELZ, FORMER MANAGING DIRECTOR, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: It's a serious issue.
MUNTEAN: Peter Goelz is the former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board. He reviewed the reports where pilots say they drifted from assigned altitudes and courses aimed for the wrong runway even landing without proper clearance from air traffic control.
[03:25:02]
In one instance, a pilot forgot to engage the planes critical anti-ice system. This was my first flight in nearly three months, the pilot said, I place too much confidence in assuming that it would all come back to me as second nature.
GOELZ: These kinds of barely mundane but appear to be mundane errors can really result in terrible events.
MUNTEAN: Goelz says he's reminded of the 2006 Kam air crash that killed everyone but the first officer who was partly blamed for taking off from the wrong runway. The reports which date back to the spring do not specify where the incidents happened or the airlines involved.
JIM THOMAS, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF FLIGHT TRAINING, AMERICAN AIRLINES: Day to day here's at least 400 that are in some sort of training environment.
MUNTEAN: American Airlines gave us an exclusive look at each program to keeps pilots in practice. At its simulator center in Dallas pilots are re-trained before they return to the flight deck.
There's a bit of butterflies.
CURTIS JOENS, CAPTAIN, AMERICAN AIRLINES: Sure. I acknowledge that. Sure, a few butterflies.
MUNTEAN: Twenty-nine-year American pilot Curtis Joens recently returned from a company leave of absence because of the pandemic.
JOENS: We don't just sit down and say, OK, start engines and fly by the seat of our pants. We -- there's a checklist and a methodology for everything that we do, all the way from pre-flight to starting engines to taxi to take off.
MUNTEAN: American analyzed its pilots and insist the pandemic has not led to a decline of their skills.
JOENS: Just realize you've got two pilots up there, they're supporting one another, they're watching one another, they're challenging one another.
MUNTEAN: The airline underscores that pilots discuss specific risks with each other before each flight and they can request extra training.
THOMAS: We're not going to allow them to go fly the line until they're fully trained and ready to go fly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MUNTEAN (on camera): As a pilot, I can tell you flying is a perishable skill and pilots are taught early on in their training to be especially careful after taking a break. There's been no up taking crashes during the pandemic but airlines say this is an issue they're going to keep an eye on.
Pete Muntean, CNN, Reagan National Airport.
CHURCH: We turn now to Italy's political crisis. Mario Draghi, the man widely credited with saving the eurozone from collapse in 2012, has accepted an offer from the Italian head of state to form a new government.
CNN's Delia Gallagher explains what's behind the crisis.
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Italy is set to have a new prime minister Mario Draghi, the former head of the European Central Bank accepted the invitation from Italy's president on Tuesday to form a new government. It's a solution which will avoid Italians having to hold new elections during a pandemic something which the president said was not advisable.
The government's crisis came about when some members of former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte's coalition withdrew their support from him criticizing him for his handling of the pandemic and Italy's economy.
Mario Draghi made some brief comments to the nation on Tuesday in which he said it is a difficult moment for Italy which has to overcome the pandemic rollout their vaccine plan and pre-launch their economy. Draghi's appointment does not become official until a vote of confidence from the parliament in the coming days while many people in Italy are happy with the announcement of Mario Draghi, a well- respected economist nationally and internationally.
The real question here is just how well he'll be able to govern given the deep divisions amongst Italy's political parties.
Delia Gallagher, CNN, Rome.
CHURCH: And still to come, why are bars open while stores are closed in some parts of the world? The contentious debate over how to safely educate students during a pandemic. We will get expert advice.
Plus, a former supporter of QAnon now says she feels foolish for being duped by its crazy nonsense. hear what she has to say about all of that.
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[03:30:00]
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Welcome back. Well, the debate wages over education during the pandemic. There is a risk that a generation of students will be disadvantaged with so little in- person learning that the risk of virus spread is also real. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday that children in England won't go back to school before March 8th, if then. Max Foster has more. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The holidays are long over but many classrooms across Europe are still empty. In the U.K., schools are being closed to the vast majority of students. Since the beginning of the year, the surge in coronavirus cases, a new more transmissible variants have forced the government to backtrack on earlier promises to get children back into school, for in-person learning.
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I must inform the House, for the reasons I've outlined, it will not be possible to reopen schools immediately after the February half-term.
FOSTER: But some education leaders say the government is being too slow in taking action.
KEVIN COURTNEY, JOINT GENERAL SECY. U.K. NATIONAL EDUCATION UNION: People are saying to the government that really they should be looking at allowing schools to go to online teaching in the last few weeks before Christmas. I think if they had done that we wouldn't have had the quite the level of the peak that we had in this country.
FOSTER: It's a similar story for many of Britain's neighbors. Schools in Portugal remained open even during the countries strict national lockdown in early January. But a devastating increase in both cases and deaths has since pushed the government to enforce tougher rules, ordering schools and universities to close for at least two weeks with few exceptions.
The government says it's an unnecessary measured to stem the spread of the variant first found of the U.K. but some parents feel it's too little, too late.
PEDRO ALMEIDA, FATHER (through translator): This is a measure they should have been taken a long time ago especially before Christmas when there are few of positive cases. There would've been fewer consequences for our children's learning.
FOSTER: The lack of consensus on whether school closures are necessary is evident across the continent. Along with the U.K. and Portugal, Germany and Harland have opted to keep school doors closed to students under most circumstances. Italy and Sweden are taking a regional approach allowing some in-person teaching in combination with online classes depending on local infection rates.
While the Netherlands will allow kindergarten and elementary school students to return next week. And in France, Spain, and Switzerland, schools are open but with precautionary measures in place such as mask wearing, social distancing, and staggered attendants. One expert at a leading medical journal told CNN that while it may not be consensus on the best approach, decisions on whether schools should remain open need to be considered on a local level.
JANE GODSLAND, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF THE LANCET CHILD AND ADOLESCENT HEALTH: Different countries have to make decisions based on their situation, not all countries have the same level of infection and I think school closures should be considered within the local prevalence.
FOSTER: While some evidence suggests that schools may not be drivers of transmission, scientists in the U.K. say that remote learning can help restrict the spread of the virus.
GODSLAND: I think schools do have a role to play in restricting the spread of the virus. So closing schools can contribute to a reduction in transmission of the virus but not in just closing schools alone is not going to be enough.
[03:35:00]
FOSTER: But with new variants on the rise in Europe and beyond, the issue of how soon governments are able to lift restrictions on schools remains a divisive topic. From whether children need to wear masks, to whether educators should be made to teach face to face. For now, there is little consensus and little clarity. Max Foster, CNN, Hampshire, England.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: So, let's discuss the difficult situation for parents, students, and schools. Devi Sridhar is a professor and the Chair of Global Public Health at Edinburg University School of Medicine? And she joins me now, thank you so much for talking with us.
DEVI SRIDHAR, PROFESSOR/CHAIR OF GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH, EDINBURG UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE (on camera): Thank you.
CHURCH: Now you have warned about the importance of getting kids back to school or we're going to face a lost generation. But how do you do that in a safe way for the students, the teachers, parents and extended families?
SRIDHAR: Yes. I think the important thing is it comes down to a community prevalence. If you have very few cases in the community then you won't have many in school. And we also know about the age gradient with this virus that we seem to have fewer outbreaks in nurseries and primaries, and dealing with the secondary schools or in universities and so when you start to bring children back trying to focus on the earlier years first and then doing in a staggered and cautious way.
CHURCH: Right, so how likely is it that Scotland will be ready to open to schools by mid-February which I understand is the goal and what are the challenges ahead particularly with new variance in the mix?
SRIDHAR: Yes, so in Scotland, schools have been open for in-person learning full-time from August till December. And actually was -- with remarkably smoothly about 76 percent of schools had no cases and of those which had a case is usually one case, and December, I got a little bit bumpy at certain parts of the country had rising community transmission and then we saw more cases in schools.
And now looking ahead to February when schools are potentially going back on the 22nd, we started with just the early years so first grade, third grade, if you want to (inaudible) and preschool in nurseries and then going to wait and see and we're also looking now for a positivity test, positivity to come back down.
Our case numbers to come down as well as keeping restrictions and other areas. This is not back to normal, this is prioritizing children while the rest of us sacrifice so they can go back to school.
CHURCH: And what about this argument of whether teachers should be vaccinated before they go back into these classrooms because that is a big debate here in America.
SRIDHAR: Yes, I mean I think that it is obviously a teacher should be prioritized as other essential workers are. The real debate though is do you take away the vaccine from someone who's at risk of death, someone who's in their 70s or 80s, who's more vulnerable to give it to the 30-year-old teacher who's at low risk of death match. Really there's no right or wrong answer to that. That is a political decision over how you prioritize different parts of society.
And so, I think it's definitely worth the debate and I don't think there's an easy or simple way through this until we get enough vaccine supplies to vaccinate everyone which is what we'd like to do anyways.
CHURCH: Right. And in parts of America, schools are closed, but bars are open. How is that situation ever allowed to happen and what long term impact would that have on students?
SRIDHAR: So, I think that's absolute madness. I think we've been really lucky and Scotland to had the first minister, Nicholas (inaudible), very clearly that children are the priority and they will be put first and schools will be the last thing to close and the first things to open and they've step by that, because children will suffer, you know, irreversible harm for years from this loss of learning of being around each other and it's not just about learning to read and write it's about socialization. It's about having a safe space, it's about play. It's all the things that children need to be together for and why they need to interact closely.
And we can say, I mean transmission among children especially outside is minimal and so we should give as much leeway and headroom to children as much as possible and prioritize them because you can't just throw money at it as you can with the full package to, you know, the hospitality sector or other businesses.
CHURCH: All right Devi Sridhar of the Edinburgh University School of Medicine. Thank you so much for your insights, I appreciate it.
SRIDHAR: Thank you.
CHURCH: Well, Canada is apparently going further than any other nation by designating the militant group, the Proud Boys a terrorist entity. The country's public safety minister says the group's violent actions are escalating, fueled by white supremacy, antisemitism and other factors. He says the U.S. Capitol attack provided new information on its activities. The U.S. has no law to designate a fully domestic group as a terrorist
organization and Canadian officials say they know no other nation that has taken the step. CNN has not heard back from the Proud Boys leader.
[03:40:05]
Well, the shadowy group known as QAnon has been gaining ground among the far-right for the past several years. One lifelong Republican says she was gradually drawn into its web of wild conspiracy theories. Only after Donald Trump lost reelection did she begin to realize that nothing QAnon said was true. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan spoked with her.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ASHLEY VANDERBILT, FORMER QANON BELIEVER: When President Biden was sworn in --
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I, Joseph Robinhood Biden Jr.
VANDERBILT: I was just crying. I mean, I couldn't stop. That ugly cry that you do. It just kept going and I was like, oh my gosh, like I'm seeing the funeral of our country. And instantly I went to panic mode, I had to call my mom and I juts told her like we are all going to die, we are going to be owned by China, and I was like, I might have to pull my daughter out of school because they are going to take her. I was scared to death.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER (voice over): Ashley Vanderbilt, a South Carolina mom who says she lost her job early in the pandemic fell deep down the QAnon conspiracy theory rabbit hole before November's election.
How did you get into this world and go down this rabbit hole?
VANDERBILT: Well, I started seeing TikToks, and I didn't know that it was conspiracy things, I just thought it was they were telling me something that nobody else knew, so that I would reach out to different friends of mine that were bigger Trump supporters. I would say, you know, I saw this on TikTok, what do you think? And they would start sending me YouTube videos.
They would start sending me different Facebook live videos, and one thing led to another, I just went down this rabbit hole, learning all the stuff. But I mean, what have we heard the last four or five years? Don't watch the news, fake news, fake news. I don't watch the news, I don't read newspapers, like I don't do anything. I've always been someone that you just tell me what to do, and I do it. I grew up being told we are Republicans. So, I've always been that straight red ticket.
O'SULLIVAN: How do you think that videos like this started showing up in your feed?
VANDERBILT: Well, originally I was just following like entertainment stuff, but sometimes when maybe people started like campaigning, I started liking a lot of Trump posts, and things that were anti Biden, and the algorithm must have just brought that kind of stuff to me.
O'SULLIVAN: Right before the inauguration, you didn't believe Biden was really going to get sworn in.
VANDERBILT: No, I expected a blackout. I expected the TV to go black and nothing to work, and so we wouldn't see anything. The assumption of what would happen would be that most of the Democratic leaders there, quite a few of the Republican leaders, all the Hollywood elite that had attended, they would all be arrested.
The military is going to haul them off. They said that Trump open backup Guantanamo Bay and then the military would run the country, put us in martial law because the left come to unhinged and they'd be a danger to us, and then Trump would come back when the government was rebuilt. I know it sounds crazy.
O'SULLIVAN: You believe this?
VANDERBILT: I did.
O'SULLIVAN: And then Biden got sworn in. How did you feel?
VANDERBILT: I was devastated.
O'SULLIVAN: The belief among QAnon supporters that Biden would not be inaugurated was wrong. Ashley Vanderbilt realized she had bought into a conspiracy theory.
VANDERBILT: Well, I was wrong.
O'SULLIVAN: How do you feel now knowing that you believed all this stuff?
VANDERBILT: It's weird. I think I spent a lot of time this year isolated from everybody. You know, I've just been home a lot, I've lost my job last April in 2020, and I was super depressed. And I think in a way I probably lost touch with a little bit of reality, and like almost like common sense. And so I'm not so much embarrassed for what I believe, but I mean, I feel foolish.
O'SULLIVAN: A spokesperson for TikTok said the company is committed to countering misinformation and content promoting QAnon is not allowed on its platform. After finding QAnon through TikTok, Ashley said the only thing that might have pulled her out of it before the inauguration was if Trump spoke out against it.
VANDERBILT: I was the biggest Trump supporter there was. If he would have said something, and if he were to just say, Q's illegitimate. Nothing is real in there, I think some people would leave. Maybe not all, but people that are way too far into it, but I think it would help a lot of.
O'SULLIVAN: It would have helped you?
VANDERBILT: I thought the world of him. So, if he would have said that's not real, I'm not coming back, it is over, I would believed him.
O'SULLIVAN: And while Ashley Vanderbilt was able to get out of this conspiracy theory out of QAnon, many other Trump supporters are continuing to believe this conspiracy theory. Continuing to believe these lies. Vanderbilt says, she hopes that by speaking out she will help others see the light. Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Thanks for that report. Well, the Australian Open has hit a major snag as players go back into isolation. Now organizers must race against the clock to test everyone for COVID. We will explain what happened.
And we take a look at the unbearable stories of grief in this age of COVID when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:45:00]
CHURCH: The coronavirus pandemic has taken more than 2.2 million lives worldwide. Many of those left behind can't grieve their loved ones properly because the virus is so contagious. CNN's Phil Black looks at how some are trying to get closure.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Like all of us now, Trish Skinner will find comfort in family video calls. Here, they connecting to dozens of people across England and the U.S.
UNKNOWN: My boys are so grown up.
UNKNOWN: Yes.
BLACK: For a brief moment there's joy seeing all those loving faces. But the feeling is quickly crushed as the screen shows why they have come together. They're watching live images from a grey windy cemetery near England's southern coast.
Where Trisha's father is being buried. Herbert John Tape died from COVID-19, he was almost 104. Remembered as the strong willed patriarch who held his family together for generations.
UNKNOWN: That was granddad. And I loved him.
BLACK: The pandemic means only a small number of young people can be there to mourn him.
Trish can only watch and listen and hope. The shaky image on a small screen is a limited window to the ceremony honoring her father's long, meaningful life. And then it is over.
UNKNOWN: Really lovely.
BLACK: But for a grieving daughter who longs to be with family it is not enough.
UNKNOWN: The saddest thing now is that we are all going to leave.
BLACK: Grief in a time of COVID is made worse by loneliness.
TRISH SKINNER, DAUGHTER OF COVID-19 VICTIM: Can't possibly be the same? There is no interaction physically. And that's the biggest thing that is missing during this terrible time.
EDWINA FITZPATRICK, WIFE OF COVID-19 VICTIM: He was like my best friend. Felt like I knew him forever.
BLACK: Edwina FitzPatrick also knows that pain. She and her husband Nick Devlin had both caught the virus. Nick deteriorated quickly.
FITZPATRICK: I held him through the nursing staff through the hospital and we went in and that's the last I saw of him. Breathing through window. Blow kisses to each other.
BLACK: Edwina was abruptly alone with her grief, lockdown in the home that shared surrounded by evidence of their life together.
How do they go for you?
UNKNOWN: I felt some very strongly and seriously about committing suicide on that first weekend.
BLACK: Instead Edwina chose to live, to ensure Nick's first novel was publish and to help others. She set up COVID speakeasy, video support groups for those experiencing the pandemics unique power to inflict trauma through grief and isolation.
[03:50:12]
FITZPATRICK: We don't want to (inaudible) just how terribly were feeling both physically and mentally.
UNKNOWN: I've never felt pain like it. Because I couldn't be with him I couldn't hold him. -- Sorry. I could not say bye to him.
UNKNOWN: I mean --
BLACK: Sammy Miller is describing what it was like losing her father to COVID-19.
This was David Miller only a few months before he died. 66 and healthy, loving, and loved. Sammy says everything about grieving him is harder because of the pandemic.
SAMIE MILLER, DAUGHTER OF COVID-19 VICTIM: I'm waiting for bereavement counseling. Because -- I don't know how to live without my dad.
BLACK: To find closure she turned to London's St. Paul's cathedral. For centuries, a building focused on remembering lost and sacrificed. Samie added her father's image to the cathedral's permanent online memorial. A project to help people cope with the specific challenges of confronting grief in the time of COVID.
MILLER: I just think it is a beautiful feeling that in St. Paul's cathedral has done. And I just want to keep his memory alive.
BLACK: He's not just a number?
MILLER: He's not just a number. He's my dad.
BLACK: David Miller, Nick Devlin, John Tate. Just three among the millions lost. A tiny sample from the pandemics infinite pool of grief. Phil Black, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: The president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee is apologizing for saying that women talk too much during meetings. Yoshiro Mori, a former Prime Minister made the comments during an Olympics board of trustee's event. Meanwhile, we are getting some new insight into what the Olympics will look like later this year. The new guidelines for the 2020 summer games are out and for now athletes and officials will not be required to get a coronavirus vaccine to take part. As you may remember, the games were delayed for a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Well, meantime, more than 500 players, officials, and support staff for the Australian Open are in isolation after organizers discovered a single case of COVID-19. A resident support officer working at a hotel tested positive on Wednesday sending hundreds involve in the tennis tournament into isolation until they test negative for the virus.
Angus Watson, joins me now from Melbourne Australia with more on this. Good to see you Angus, so what's been the reaction to this news and of course how long might they all be in isolation?
ANGUS WATSON, JOURNALIST (on camera): Rosemary, this is absolutely not what the organizers of the tournament wanted to hear so for a short time away from the beginning. Nor other government, nor the people in Melbourne who are just looking forward to the tennis starting on Monday.
[03:55:05]
But what we have now is the situation in which hundreds of people who all stayed at a hotel in Melbourne all connected to the tournament have been acknowledged as contact, potential contacts of this person who tested positive for coronavirus this week and broke a run of 28 days without a case of community transmission here in the State of Victoria.
So what has happened now is that all those players, 160 players plus their staff and officials connected to the tournament need to get tested. They did that today, and they need to isolate until they get their test results back. But these players, Rosemary, our use now to the kind of issues that
they've had to deal with as this tournament has progressed and gotten slowly closer, that had to quarantine for 14 days. Some weren't allowed out of their rooms for any reason at all, not even to train in the lead up to the tournament. So there's been some pretty serious issues to get on top of but at the moment, tennis Australia, the Victorian government say that the show must go on, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Indeed. Alright. Angus Watson joining us live from Melbourne. Many thanks.
In Germany, dogs are being trained to sniff out coronavirus infections, apparently those who are infected have a unique scent and trainers say the dogs can identify symptomatic and asymptomatic patients.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ESTHER SCHALKE, VETERINARIAN (through translator): It's not the virus sending out the odor, or when the virus infects the cell the metabolism changes and the cell releases different substances than a healthy cell and this is very virus specific. And these release substances of the cell that is what the dog can smell and shows us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And so far the dogs are right more than 90 percent of the time. A government official wants more test to see if the dogs can be used out in public.
Well, the United Kingdom has given Captain Tom Moore an ovation worthy of a national hero. The World War II veteran died on Tuesday and yesterday, people across the country stopped to applaud him in recognition of his simple act of walking in a personal fund-raiser that raised an astounding $40 million to fight COVID. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNSON: I encourage everyone to join in a national clap for Captain Tom. Captain, Sir Tom Moore dedicated his life to serving his country and others. Raising more money and achieving more in his 100 year than past any centenarian in our history. He knew instinctively which organization he wanted to thank and support. It was and is the NHS.
(APPLAUSE)
CAPTAIN TOM MOORE, WORLD WAR II VETERAN: (Inaudible) how service who are doing such a magnificent job for us all.
JOHNSON: He cheered us all up and he embodied the triumph of the human spirit.
(APPLAUSE)
Captain Tom repeatedly reminded us, please remember tomorrow will be a good day. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: May he rest in peace. Well it was a historic day for the Golden Globe nominations. The first time in the award, 78 year history three women earned nods for best motion picture director at the same time. They are Chloe Zhao, for Nomad Land, Emerald Fennel, for Promising Young Woman and Regina King for One Night in Miami.
Over the years, just eight women have been nominated in that category. Barbara Streisand won back in 1983, the only woman to do so. The Golden Globe show is February 28th.
And thank you so much for joining us, I'm Rosemary Church. I'll be back with more news after a very short break. Stay with us. .
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
