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Capitol Rioter Says He Was Following Trump's Directions; Ground Rules Still to Be Set for Senate Trial; Super Bowl Host City under Tornado Watch. U.S. Vaccination Ramps Up ahead of Super Bowl; Making the Case for Easy Home Tests; Unique Locations around the World Become Mass Vaccination Sites; U.S. Democrats Pave Way for COVID-19 Relief Bill; New Video Shows U.S. Capitol under Attack; Thousands Protesting in Myanmar; Super Bowl LV Set to Kick Off. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired February 07, 2021 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes.
Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM, newly discovered videos that could play an important role in Donald Trump's impeachment trial.
New concerns about one of the COVID vaccines and how much protection it provides against the fast-spreading coronavirus variant.
Plus marching in Myanmar. Protesters voice their opposition to this week's military coup.
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HOLMES: Appreciate your company, everyone.
Democratic lawmakers say they have strong evidence against Donald Trump with his second impeachment trial about to begin in just a couple of days. Evidence like the new video of one of the Capitol rioters that we're about to show you.
CNN's Donie O'Sullivan has details but first listen to what the man known as the QAnon shaman has to say about the former president.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did you get out?
JACOB CHANSLEY, CAPITOL RIOTER: Get out of what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did you get out?
CHANSLEY: The Senate?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
CHANSLEY: Cops walked out with me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They just let you go?
CHANSLEY: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's your message now?
CHANSLEY: Oh, Donald Trump asked everybody to go home. He just said it. He just put out a tweet. It's a minute long. He asked everybody to go home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why do you think so?
CHANSLEY: Because, dude, (INAUDIBLE) day (INAUDIBLE) won.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did we win?
(CROSSTALK)
CHANSLEY: -- by sending a message to the senators and the congressman. We won by sending a message to Pence, OK, that if they don't do as their oath to do, if they don't uphold the Constitution, then we will remove them from office one way or another.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This guy is recording (INAUDIBLE)?
CHANSLEY: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
CHANSLEY: I'm fine with being recorded. All I can say is we won the (INAUDIBLE) day. Donald Trump is still out president.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have another question. There's a lot of people that doubt that you would be able to go in and come out.
What do you say to them?
CHANSLEY: Well, a lot of people doubted a lot of prophets, sages. A lot of people doubted Christ.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN TECH CORRESPONDENT: That video was originally posted to Parler, a social media website that was very popular to Trump supporters around the time of the insurrection. Parler is temporarily closed down, been taken offline.
But a computer programmer was able to download thousands of videos shot that day, many of which were at the insurrection itself. You saw in the video, Jacob Chansley, the QAnon shaman. We have seen him at multiple events leading up to the insurrection.
We saw him back in October where Trump's praise of QAnon supporters was celebrated. We saw Chansley there. We saw him 48 hours before the insurrection on Monday January 4th in Dalton, Georgia, outside a Trump rally on the eve of the Senate runoff elections.
Now as we go into the impeachment trial, which is beginning this week, very important what we heard there from Chansley. Clearly he was somebody who said he was taking his cues from president Trump. Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Donie O'Sullivan, our thanks.
HOLMES: We still don't know what the ground rules for the Senate impeachment trial will be. But 17 Republicans would have to join Democrats in order to get a conviction. Now that's a tall order, of course. But there has been some division in the Republican Party ahead of proceedings. Jessica Dean with the latest.
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JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Wyoming Republican Party voted to censure congresswoman Liz Cheney in response to her vote to impeach former president Donald Trump.
That resolution had a number of inaccuracies in it. Congresswoman Cheney did respond, saying that she was compelled by the oath I swore to the Constitution when she took that vote to impeach former president Trump.
Now all of this, of course, coming on the eve of former president Trump's second impeachment trial, which is scheduled to start on Tuesday. There's still a number of unknowns surrounding that trial, namely how long it will take.
We don't know exactly at this point how long this will go on and also if witnesses will be called.
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DEAN (voice-over): In this case, it's a very unique situation in that the 100 senators who will be serving as jurors were also witnesses in this case. They experienced the insurrection here on January 6th.
House impeachment managers have also requested former president Trump to testify. He said he will not be doing that. And right now there's just not an appetite for a subpoena to compel him to testify.
We're told that House impeachment managers instead intend to say his refusal to testify here for the Senate impeachment trial underscores his guilt as being singularly responsible for the insurrection on January 6th -- Jessica Dean, CNN, the Capitol.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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HOLMES: CNN White House correspondent John Harwood joins me now.
Good to see you, John. You look back over the last few months and the big lie, obviously, about the election, Marjorie Taylor Greene, her emergence, several things, really.
Does the Republican Party resemble the party of Reagan, let alone the party of Lincoln?
What has happened?
You've covered this for a long time.
And where is it headed?
JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It's not at all the party of Reagan or Lincoln. What has happened, Michael, is, over the last couple of decades, the Republican Party has become increasingly radicalized as it's become more dependent on the white working class voters, particularly evangelical Christians, who fear the way the country's changing.
America's becoming more diverse, more globally connected. The economy is changing and they feel that culturally and economically they're being left behind. They are angry about that and expressed their anger through Republican politics.
And that's caused the party to become increasingly militant. We saw that over the Obama years, confrontational stance with Barack Obama. Those voters saw Donald Trump as their champion and were enraged with the prospect of him being defeated.
That resulted, of course, in the insurrection on January the 6th. And Republican leaders in Congress don't have to strength right now to stand up and tell the base of the party that it was a big lie, that Donald Trump actually did lose the election.
HOLMES: The thing is, the demographics that you point out, it is a juggernaut, isn't it?
Those demographics are going to happen.
Why pander to a shrinking base?
There seems to be a shortage of forward thinking, really.
HARWOOD: Well, exactly. Republican leaders understand where the thing's headed in the long run. So do voters, as a matter of fact. The anxiety of many of those voters is fueled by the closer we get to the point, which will happen in 20 or 25 years, that America will be a majority minority country.
Whites will not be in the majority of the population. After Barack Obama won a second term in 2012, the Republican Party had what they called an autopsy of the election, came out and said, we've got to change course. We've got to be more appealing to non whites, young voters, women. Donald Trump just bowled over that recommendation, ran a campaign
heavy on racial resentment, won the nomination, won the election and set back those efforts by the Republican Party to move the party forward, to modernize the party.
It's not clear when they're going to get back to that. We saw what happened with Marjorie Taylor Greene. The Republican Party was unable to itself discipline Marjorie Taylor Greene.
You could see the concern from none other than Mitt Romney, who lost to Barack Obama, who said last week, our big tent is not big enough for conservatives and kooks. Right now the Republican Party depends on those people who are out of touch and angry. And they don't know how to get past that.
HOLMES: The Senate and House passing budget resolutions on COVID-19 relief. Zero Republican votes in either house.
When bipartisan rubber meets the road, who's going to get hurt or worse?
Does it hurt Biden to go it alone or Republicans to go against him?
HARWOOD: I don't think it hurts Biden to go alone and it probably doesn't hurt Republicans to vote against him. The good news for the American people is there will be a COVID relief bill passed. Joe Biden is able to take advantage with fellow Democrats in Congress. He does not need Republican votes.
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HARWOOD: He temperamentally and by his history, respects Congress, has good relationships with many Republicans, is willing to talk to them.
But they are so far apart, as he said at the end of the week, that they simply can't come up to compromise at a level I think is sufficient. Therefore he's going to move ahead and it appears that's the path we're on.
That doesn't mean some Republicans may not sign on, a small number at the end, if they see the package is popular. It does have some bipartisan support in the public. but that is a significant choke of Republican -- rank and file Republicans around the country like the idea of the package but not Republican lawmakers so far.
HOLMES: John Harwood, always a pleasure. Great to get your thoughts. Thank you.
HARWOOD: You bet.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, another winter storm set to hit parts of the U.S. in the coming hours. We'll check in with our meteorologist, Derek Van dam, for the latest. Also, right after saying its vaccine worked against the virus variant
first found in the U.K., AstraZeneca now says it doesn't seem as effective against the one identified in South Africa. We'll have a full report.
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HOLMES: A nor'easter set to batter the East Coast of the U.S. in a matter of hours. The latest winter storm expected to dump more heavy snow on the same regions still recovering from another nor'easter just days ago.
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HOLMES: Some worrying news to report on the vaccine front. AstraZeneca telling us its coronavirus shot seems less effective against the variant first spotted in South Africa when it is a case of mild illness.
The pharmaceutical company says it believes its vaccine could work against severe disease and is hoping to deliver shots better suited to the variant by the Northern Hemisphere autumn.
But even places where there has been an impressive vaccine rollout, hospitals are still under pressure in the U.K. A top doctor says intensive care units are, quote, "full to the rafters." He says it is because patients are staying there for long periods of time, even though new case numbers have been going down.
In Wuhan, China, people are honoring the whistleblower doctor a year after his death. Chinese authorities told him to, quote, "stop spreading rumors" shortly after he sounded the alarm about the coronavirus. He died himself after getting COVID-19.
Now a source telling CNN that the U.S. President Joe Biden plans on using the Super Bowl, which is happening in a few hours, to share a message on vaccines. We're expecting him to speak to those who are perhaps hesitant about getting their shot, as CNN's Natasha Chen explains.
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NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the past week, more than 9 million COVID vaccines were administered in the U.S. That outpaced the number of new cases 10 to 1.
In the last two days the number of people hospitalized came under 90,000 for the first time since November. Despite the trends health officials are warning us not to let our guard down. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're at halftime and things seem quiet in the locker room. But when we come out, the team we're facing is going to be a lot tougher than the team we faced in the first half of the outbreak.
CHEN (voice-over): As both the pandemic and the Super Bowl are on people's minds this weekend, a source tells CNN Joe Biden will take advantage of a large national audience Sunday to thank health care workers.
[01:20:00]
CHEN (voice-over): An administration official says the White House also hopes to combat vaccine hesitancy and speak to the African American and Latino and white rural non-mask wearing communities in particular.
Meanwhile, Americans are being discouraged from doing what so many people do this weekend, attending Super Bowl parties.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the Super Bowl, not the stupid bowl. Let's try and keep everyone safe. Don't drink, don't drive, don't bring multiple households together and create a superspreader event in your own home because, I guarantee you, it's going to be your own family who's the ones going to be jeopardized.
CHEN (voice-over): Speaking of the NFL, the league this week offered the Biden administration every one of its 32 team stadiums as mass vaccination sites. Seven are already in operation and the 49ers Levi Stadium is about to become California's largest vaccination site.
The Yankee Stadium's vaccination site opened Friday but only for people in the Bronx, an effort to reach underserved communities.
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D-NY), NEW YORK CITY: This is about equity, fairness, protecting people that need the most protection, because the Bronx is one of the places that bore the brunt of this crisis.
CHEN (voice-over): Mayor de Blasio and other officials say the problem continues to be supply.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Other than me just running up there and sitting on somebody, I -- we are doing everything. It's coming from all fronts.
CHEN (voice-over): A third vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson could help increase supply. But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory committee isn't scheduled to discuss it until February 26th.
CHEN: The event behind me was targeted for employees of local school districts. Vaccinations for educators being an important part of conversations to bring kids back into classrooms safely, especially in Chicago, where there's no agreement. The mayor Lori Lightfoot says those who don't show up could be locked out of the online system, which could trigger a strike by the union -- back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE) (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Dr. Michael Mina is an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Good to see you. Last time we spoke, you made the case for cheap home testing so people knew if they were positive before they left the house.
What has changed in the terms of availability or plans to get these to people?
DR. MICHAEL MINA, HARVARD T.H. CHAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: The biggest thing that changed, of course, is we have a new administration in the United States and President Biden has made it a priority to really ramp up rapid testing as a part of the overall COVID response he's been putting together along with his administration.
So I think we are now starting to see some evidence that they are carrying through. They're starting to make increasing investments in some of the rapid test companies to help scale them up and hopefully get those tests out to the American public.
HOLMES: They're looking at half a dozen, I think, rapid test candidates. But the one they're going to be pushing is from Allume. The current price on that is $30 a test. You pushed for these tests at, I think, pennies, is that right?
Is it realistic to have $30 tests that people are going to use more than once in a blue moon?
MINA: The Allume test is going to be a one-time test, not the frequent test I have been calling for. The frequent tests are really just plain, simple paper strip tests much like a pregnancy test. But no electronics, no batteries, no Bluetooth. Just a simple test people could use two or three times a week in their home.
That is the type of fast, frequent and accessible testing we really need to help get control of COVID in the United States.
HOLMES: And why don't we have them?
MINA: Well, I think that we are starting to see movement. We have had tests. You know, this is one of them here. They have been around for quite a while. There has been difficulty in evaluating them in terms of -- the FDA has a charge to evaluate these tests as medical devices.
But these tests that I want to see really should be evaluated as public health tools. And what that means is we want tools that will only detect people when they are infectious and contagious and need to be isolated.
But because of some nuances in the science and the way that the FDA evaluates these tests, we have yet to see the correct ones really be authorized in a way that could make them accessible to the American public. [01:25:00]
HOLMES: Just real quick, for people who don't know, the advantages of people having these in their bathroom cabinet, do it three times a week is --?
MINA: The best thing about having frequent tests is you can know you're infectious before you go out with other people. If you're using them two, three times a week, they take about 30 seconds to use and about 15 minutes to wait until the result comes up. That's enough. You brush your teeth, use a COVID test.
If it's negative, you go about your day how you otherwise would have. But if it's positive then you stay home for a number of days and you don't go to work, you don't go to school. You don't go to see your family for Friday night dinner.
You are empowered to make choices that would help you to prevent yourself from spreading the virus to other people. And if you're not testing very frequently for a virus like coronavirus, then it's much more likely that you will miss the transmission window.
If you're testing once every two weeks with a PCR test, you're unlikely to catch yourself before you go and transmit to other people. If the PCR test takes two or three days to return, then you're unlikely to catch yourself before you go to other people.
These type of tests are really cheap paper strip tests that can be antigen or RNA tests. These are the kind we need to see get out to people's homes so they can do it frequently, enough to stop their transmission.
HOLMES: It would make a massive difference in the speed of spread if people knew that before they left the house. I do hope, in a couple of months from now, we're talking about how widespread they are and not why they're not out there yet. Doctor, really appreciate it. Thanks so much.
MINA: Absolutely.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Cities around the world are finding innovative ways to get people their COVID vaccine doses. CNN's Robyn Curnow takes us through some of these unusual sites.
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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): All aboard this bus in France, the seniors taking their seats inside are not taking a trip but they are taking a big step. Protecting themselves from the coronavirus by getting vaccinated.
Many residents in this rural town do not have the means to travel to bigger cities to get inoculated. The initiative by the local government, this mobile vaccination site came to them. UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It is a very good initiative
to have done this with the bus. Because honestly I wouldn't have gotten vaccinated right now. I would've waited because I would've had to go to the nearest big city.
CURNOW (voice-over): The Vacci Bus is just one innovative idea to make it easier for people to get the shots that are needed. To help slow the transmission of the coronavirus. Another incentive is to transform large places, that people are already going to in their communities into makeshift vaccination centers like cathedrals, cinemas, department stores.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is nice and open. Plenty of space for everybody. Good idea to use it if the film's not put on.
CURNOW (voice-over): Even some of the grandest places in the world are doing double duty like Sweden's Nobel Prize banquet hall. In previous years the scene of black tie galas packed with patrons, its purpose now is more humble but no less important.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have this amazing place that is empty right now but is also a citizen's house. I feel like we should use it.
CURNOW (voice-over): Using it is just what people are doing around the world. From this parking lot in Disneyland to Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox, to Lords Cricket Ground in the U.K. Where empty spaces that once filled us with joy, now fill us with hope -- Robyn Curnow, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Millions of football fans are gearing up for the Super Bowl just hours from now. For those select few able to attend the game, myriad health precautions await. We'll have details ahead.
Also, President Biden says he's committed to getting direct payments to Americans hit hard by the pandemic and the campaign promises he says he can't keep, at least not yet.
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HOLMES: Welcome back, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Thanks for doing so.
In a new TV interview, U.S. President Joe Biden opens up about his family. He spoke to CBS News about his son, Hunter's, forthcoming book and became emotional when he talked about Hunter's struggle with addiction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BIDEN: You know, I'll bet there's not a family you know that doesn't have somebody in the family that had a drug problem or an alcohol problem. But the honesty with which he stepped forward and talked about the problem and the hope that -- it gave me hope reading it, I mean, it was like -- my boy's back, you know what I mean?
He's -- anyway. I'm sorry to get so personal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Hunter Biden's memoir is called "Beautiful Things." It is set to be released on April 6th.
Democratic lawmakers are prepared to approve a coronavirus relief bill without Republican support and President Biden says he is committed to sending $1,400 payments to some Americans. But he's also admitting he'll have to make a notable concession. CNN's Arlette Saenz with more.
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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As the push to get his COVID relief package passed continues, President Biden is acknowledging that one element of that proposal may not ultimately make it into the final deal. That is the $15 minimum wage.
That is something President Biden promoted during the presidential campaign and something he wanted to include in this COVID relief package. In an interview with CBS, the president said it may not survive due to the Senate rules process.
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NORAH O'DONNELL, CBS NEWS HOST: You also want to raise the minimum wage to $15.
Is that something you would be willing to negotiation on in order to get Republican support?
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, apparently that's not going to occur because of the rules in the United States Senate.
O'DONNELL: So you're saying the minimum wage will not be in this.
[01:35:00]
BIDEN: My guess is it won't but I do think we should have a minimum wage, stand by itself, $15 an hour and work your way up. It doesn't have to be boom and all the economics show, if you do that, the whole economy rises.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAENZ: Now if that proposal does not make it into the final package, the president indicated he does want to pursue the $15 minimum wage as a stand-alone measure down the road.
He's spending the weekend at home in Delaware, where he visited the doctor's office to receive an X-ray on his foot, which he fractured in November. The doctor says those fractures have completely healed -- Arlette Saenz, CNN, Wilmington, Delaware.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: It's been a month since that deadly attack at the U.S. Capitol and new video is emerging every day. Investigators are using that video to connect more faces to names. CNN's Brian Todd with the latest from Washington.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's our house.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's our house.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dramatic video capturing what's believed to be one of the first moments that the U.S. Capitol was breached on January 6th. At one point, the man in the blue jacket takes the jacket off, puts his make America great again cap on backward, seemingly ready to escalate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: USA. USA.
TODD (voice-over): Moments later, the escalation occurs. The man in the backwards cap and others push over a police barricade. A female officer is down. The FBI now says she was knocked unconscious and had a concussion.
Federal prosecutors have now charged the man in the backwards cap with forcibly assaulting a police officer, among other charges. They identify him as Ryan Samsel, on parole from prison in Pennsylvania, wanted in New Jersey for alleged assault in 2019, according to his criminal federal complaint.
An FBI document says he picked the female officer up off the ground and said, quote, "We don't have to hurt you, why are you standing in our way?"
CNN has not heard back from an attorney for Samsel.
That same video, posted by a reporter with the conservative website "The Blaze" shows hand-to-hand combat between officers and rioters, an officer here throwing punches, desperately trying to hold the crowd back.
GREG EHRE, ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: These people came here with the potential that they were going to commit violence to further this ideology. This was not in other terms an escalation that slowly turned up. TODD (voice-over): Meantime, more conspiracy charges are being filed
against members of far-right extremist groups. Two members of the group, the Proud Boys, are now charged with conspiracy in connection with the January 6th riots.
It's the first case related to the assault to charge members of the Proud Boys of working together to coordinate the attack. But these two defendants are not accused of planning the attack before they came to Washington.
And a new CNN analysis indicates current and former members of the U.S. military are overrepresented among the more than 175 people who have been arrested so far in connection with the assault. Experts say those who could be affiliated with extremist groups could be dangerous.
MICHAEL GERMAN, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Many of the people within these violent white supremacist and far-right militant groups were trained by the U.S. Army. That's the kind of training and experience that foreign terrorist groups don't have, would drool over.
TODD (voice-over): Tonight, sources tell CNN the FBI's probe into the Capitol assault is the bureau's largest investigation since the September 11th attacks.
EHRE: It's taking up a lot of the bureau's resources which are being redirected from other threats, which is going to be a concern that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies don't have a lot more bandwidth to stretch like this.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: CNN's Brian Todd there, reporting for us from Washington.
We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, social media blackouts and internet shutdowns aren't stopping protesters from gathering in Myanmar. We'll have a report after the break.
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HOLMES (voice-over): Thousands protesting in Myanmar. It has been less than a week since military leaders seized power from the sitting government. The civilian government, the elected government. And the demands for democracy continue to get louder. Selena Wang is following this from Tokyo.
Tell us about how protests have developed this morning and what strategies they're taking, given the communications shutdown. SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Michael, witnesses tell us that these
protests appear to be more organized than yesterday's and that it is gaining public support. With massive crowds of young people chanting, "We want democracy," military dictatorship against many hosting posters of Aung San Suu Kyi's image, saying, "We want our leader."
Witnesses say these protests are peaceful with crowds diverting to avoid roadblocks, to avoid face-to-face confrontation with police. We are seeing these protests again today after thousands took to the streets yesterday despite the state-sanctioned internet blackout, which has severely limited communication as well as coverage of this protest.
This happening after Facebook, Instagram and Twitter were already blocked. We're learning organizers are communicating through SMS, through voice calls, as well as word of mouth.
Myanmar has been ruled by the military regime for more than 50 years. It was brutally stifling dissent, plunging the country into poverty. And six years ago, however, there was hope that things would change for residents after Aung San Suu Kyi won the election by a landslide and formed the first civilian government.
That all now is changing after the military coup, after the arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi and residents are fearful that history is repeating itself. Even though Aung San Suu Kyi has fallen from grace internationally over her rejection of the alleged genocide, for refusing to accept and call it that, domestically at home, she still has huge support. Michael?
HOLMES: When it comes to what pressure could be put on from the outside, I mean, are sanctions or the threat of sanctions from the U.S. or anywhere else likely to have an impact on those who carried out this coup?
This is a country that has endured sanctions in the past and the military, obviously, knew there would be blowback.
WANG: Absolutely, Michael. We are already seeing massive international condemnation, threats of sanctions, including from the Biden administration. But experts say that is not likely to bother the military regime.
There are, however, fears of a wider crackdown on journalists, on critics, on activists. In fact, in Myanmar, a human rights group says at least 133 government officials and 14 activists have already been detained just as of Monday.
[01:45:00]
WANG: In addition to the fear among residents, foreign companies that have invested in Myanmar as the economy was opening up are also now under risk.
Here in Japan, these companies poured massive amounts of money into Myanmar and they are fearful as well. We learned that Japanese brewing giant Kirin has already ended a joint venture with a large brewing company in Myanmar.
HOLMES: Selena Wang in Tokyo, appreciate it, thanks.
The stage set for Super Bowl LV to kick off hours from now.
So how did the NFL get to this point during a pandemic?
Dr. Sanjay Gupta will fill us in ahead.
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HOLMES: Whatever happens at today's Super Bowl, the National Football League has reason to celebrate. It did manage to complete a full season in the middle of a pandemic, something that other sports were not able to do. Dr. Sanjay Gupta looks at how the NFL pulled it off.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is a sport defined by close contact, an environment ripe for transmission.
GUPTA: There's other people who say it's absolutely ludicrous to even try this.
[01:50:00]
GUPTA: What do you say to them?
DR. ALLEN SILLS (PH), NFL CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: I feel like it's the right thing to do to learn to live with this virus. I really do.
GUPTA (voice-over): Dr. Allen Sills (ph) is the chief medical officer for the NFL. He was brought in as a neurosurgeon, who thought he would be dealing with concussions. And then the pandemic changed everything. I initially met up with him at the beginning of the season.
SILLS: We just have to recognize we're dealing with an unpredictable pandemic, so we have to adjust along the way.
GUPTA (voice-over): On September 10, the Kansas City Chiefs kicked off against the Houston Texans in the first game of the season. At the time, there were more than 6 million confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States.
GUPTA: Now right before the Super Bowl, how did things go?
SILLS: I think what we have tried to do at every step is to make the best and the safest decisions we can and we've tried to evolve and learn along the way.
GUPTA (voice-over): While cases around the country exploded, now, with more than 26 million confirmed, the NFL was relatively untouched with a positivity rate of 0.8 percent.
So what worked for the NFL?
And what can we all learn from it?
SILLS: We had an outbreak in Tennessee. When we went in and really dug into that and tried to understand, how did transmission occur, despite our protocols, we began to realize it wasn't just six feet in 15 minutes.
GUPTA (voice-over): Put simply, Dr. Sills said it wasn't the playing or practices that were the largest concerns but these three things -- eating, greeting and meeting.
SILLS: Meeting inside, even if you're more than six feet apart, if you're in a poorly ventilated room for a long time if someone is positive, there can be transmission inside those rooms.
Eating together is the other very high risk activity. Most people don't have a mask on.
And the greeting part is the social interactions outside the facilities. When you interact in the community, if someone is positive and you get a haircut or have a massage at your house.
GUPTA (voice-over): How did the NFL know?
They tested daily and they contact traced and tracked the movements of more than 11,000 players and staff, even alerting them if they were too close to one another.
SILLS: If we move closer together than six feet, you'll start to see it blinking red.
GUPTA (voice-over): Keep in mind, the CDC defines close contact like this, being within six feet of an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period.
But the league's data found transmission was occurring with less time and more distance. These are considerations for anyone, anywhere, to assess their risk.
Ventilation: are you indoors or outdoors?
Are you in a car with the windows up or in a large, open stadium?
The more air circulation the better.
Masks: what kind of masks are being used and do they fit correctly?
And finally, time and distance: the longer and closer you are around someone, the increased risk for transmission.
SILLS: If you're failing in two or more of those categories, that's what we consider a high risk close contact. I think the biggest thing we learned, universal masking works. It's the most effective strategy we have.
GUPTA: How hard would it be to replicate what you were able to do in the NFL?
SILLS: It wasn't the fact that we tested every single day. It wasn't the fact that everyone wore a proximity fancy tracking device. What prevented transmission was mask usage, avoiding in-person meetings, staying in the open air environments, not eating together, prompt symptom reporting, isolation of anybody that's exposed.
GUPTA (voice-over): The same basic rules we have known since the beginning of this pandemic. With more evidence than ever that they actually work.
GUPTA: So who are you rooting for?
(LAUGHTER)
SILLS: We love all our children.
GUPTA: What is the deal with Tom Brady?
Just as a sports medicine guy, really?
And the Super Bowl again?
SILLS: I think his career has been amazing and outstanding and he's an inspiration to all of us. The closer he gets in age to me, I have thoughts maybe I still got a run at it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks for that report.
This is the first time in Super Bowl history that a team is going to be playing the big game in its own stadium. That team, of course, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And that's just one of the many ways today's game is breaking from tradition. CNN's Coy Wire with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COY WIRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is certainly the most unusual Super Bowl we've ever seen. Both teams normally arriving a week ahead of time to get adjusted. The Chiefs arriving the day before the game.
And yet another example of the audibles that had to be called playing a season during a pandemic. Even the players said they didn't think there was any way this season would make it.
But strict COVID-19 protocols and discipline all added up and here we are. There will be about 30,000 cardboard cutout fans in the stands acting as social distancing barriers for real fans, about 25,000 of them. About a third will be vaccinated health care workers, heroes invited by the NFL.
[01:55:00] WIRE: I spoke to one, Belinda Spahn, a critical care nurse manager here and I asked what went through her mind when she found out she was going to the Super Bowl?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BELINDA SPAHN, CRITICAL CARE NURSE MANAGER: The moment, you know, when you see it, OK, this is awesome. And it is. It's like a dream come true to go to the Super Bowl. And yet it never would have happened if this monster hadn't descended upon us.
And I would -- I would sit in my living room cheering the Bucs on if we could turn back time and not have this pandemic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: She leads about 30 to 40 nurses and her team is as tough as any playing in that Super Bowl. She said she's learned so much about the human spirit, how resilient we are. She said they have huddles every day, they go over their game plan and the mantra is mission possible -- Coy Wire, CNN, in Tampa, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Now dolphin named Nicholas from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida has predicted the winner of today's game.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. Nicholas has made his choice. And it looks like Nicholas is predicting the Kansas City Chiefs to win the big game this year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The 17-year-old dolphin correctly predicted the Chiefs to win last year's Super Bowl. He's actually on a six-event winning streak. And he agrees with me. Go, Chiefs.
I'm Michael Holmes. Don't go anywhere. Robyn Curnow will be here with more of CNN NEWSROOM in a moment.
