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L.A. County Sees Drop in Key COVID Numbers; Teachers Fear for Safety Amid Calls to Reopen Schools; Democrats to Unveil New Bill Boosting Child Tax Credit; Protesters March in the Streets of Myanmar for Third Day; Netanyahu Pleads Not Guilty to Corruption Charges; Tennis Fans Descend on Melbourne as Tournament Begins; The Highs and Lows of Super Bowl Entertainment. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired February 08, 2021 - 04:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[04:30:00]

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: From what we saw a month ago. It also is a very good indication as to why they opened up restaurants for outdoor dining. But that death toll is still haunting. Doctors in intensive care units. It's way too high for them. So we check in with Dr. Tom Yadegar here at Providence Tarzana and he says on a daily basis he wants people to know this is what he sees.

DR. THOMAS YADEGAR, PULMONARY AND CRITICAL CARE SPECIALIST: What's unique about this virus is that it kills people in a very slow, methodical and cruel way without any mercy. First it ravages the patient's body physically. It takes over the lungs, the kidneys, the heart and patients are struggling just to do the simplest thing. What we have all done since we were first born. What we have all done without even thinking about it, which is to take a breath.

VERCAMMEN: Dr. Yadegar also saying that he would vaccinate 24 hours a day, rotating nurses and doctors on shift. And he thinks his colleagues in Southern California would do the same. Also in Southern California this weekend Dr. Barbara Ferrer, the county director of health, saying we will not see any indoor dinning any time soon.

Reporting from Tarzana, I'm Paul Vercammen. Back to you now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks for that report.

Well amid concerns about learning outcomes and student mental health. There has been a push to get back to in person learning. The country's third biggest school district may be close. Chicago's mayor says city officials have reached a tentative agreement with the teacher's union. The union hasn't approved it yet, but if it passes, students will return to school in phases.

The plan also includes vaccinating hundreds of employees. The nation's top infectious disease expert says more is needed to reopen safely.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: What they need, is they're going to need some help. And that's why we want the American rescue plan, the American rescue act to get through so that the schools can have the capability with masks, with the ability to get better ventilation. All of the things you want to do. Of course, vaccination helps, Chuck. It would be great to get all the teachers vaccinated as quickly as you possible can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And earlier I spoke to CNN medical analyst Dr. Esther Choo and I asked her about the debate over school reopenings.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. ESTHER CHOO, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: The situation about teachers is one where there really are no absolute right answers on either side of the debate. Of course you could certainly argue that everybody wants their kids back in school consistently. It is not fair to ask teachers to go back to school feeling unsafe. And we haven't clearly defined what it means to be in a safe environment.

And so it's natural to want all the layers of protection that you can get including testing and social distancing. Plenty of PPE and if possible, the vaccine. But the vaccine rollout has been slow and who should be prioritized. There is an argument that teachers should be up there if we are planning to open schools everywhere.

On the other hand, vaccines should really be going to communities and to groups like the elderly and racial and ethnic minorities who have been getting severe disease and dying at the highest rate. That's also a strong argument and clearly there's a strong equity argument there.

So I think there will need to be layers of decision making and prioritization. We certainly cannot leave groups behind who have been neglected already in this pandemic. And so we'll have to combine that with our concern about getting teachers ready to go back. And they should have autonomy in this decision to choose to continue teaching online. So a hybrid model may be what we're looking at until we get to the fall. And we're closer to herd immunity.

CHURCH: Right, yes, these are difficult decisions to make while there are supply issues with these vaccines. And also how concerned are you about the Super Bowl parties, that we know were held last night across the country and present the potential for being the super spreader events just as we're getting past the holiday season.

DR. CHOO: Yes, these parties, the Super Bowl itself where it seemed that everybody was treating their masks like a chin guard. Those were concerning. It is enough of a national pastime that I'm worried it could have real epidemiologic impact. So this may be the next wave of COVID that we see. Of course, occurring right as we are realizing that variants are everywhere and is more easily transmissible. So time will tell but that may be the next wave that we encounter. And of course, you know, already 100,000 deaths just in 2021 alone. We

are far from being in a place where we can feel comfortable doing things like big group gatherings.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH (on camera): Dr. Esther Choo, professor of emergency medicine at Oregon Health and Science University talking to me earlier.

[04:35:00]

Well, in just a few hours U.S. House Democrats will put forward a proposal that would give cash to millions of Americans with children. For one year it would provide a tax credit of up to $3,600 for each child under the age of 6. And a $3,000 credit for children ages 6 through 17.

It is a key part of President Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID relief package. The U.S. treasury secretary told CNN's Jake Tapper that adopting the President's plan now could quickly speed up job creation. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANET YELLEN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: I would expect that if this package is passed that we would get back to full employment next year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And CNN's emerging markets editor John Defterios joins me now from Abu Dhabi. So John, we heard there from the Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen. That in addition to a sluggish labor market offers President Biden exactly the justification he needs for his COVID rescue plan. How likely is it this will be accepted and passed by Congress?

JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN BUSINESS EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Well, as you suggested here, Rosemary, Joe Biden wants to live to the spirit of his campaign pledge. But I think he believes that the stimulus plan will define his presidency. That's how big of a deal it is and why there's such a major focus on it. I think the case is stronger after the report that we saw Friday. Let's take a look at the details.

There's only 49,000 jobs created in the month of January after losing, we have to remember 140,000 the month before. The headline number on unemployment, most would say that's great, it went down 6.3 percent. But it's because Americans are no longer looking for work. Many just dropping off the payroll system entirely at the Labor Department.

And finally we've had nearly 10 million people have lost jobs since February 2020. I know unemployment was very low, historically low back then. But still it is nearly 10 million jobs. And Janet Yellen saying, I've looked at the data here, we have a case where minorities, women, small businesses are taking the brunt of the economic pain. And that's why she's trying to justify the $1.9 trillion along with the rest of the administration. But there's a robust argument being made, that's $5 trillion if that passes in the last year.

And another Democratic voice, Lawrence Somers who served as U.S. Treasury Secretary under Bill Clinton, and economic official under Barack Obama, says it could spark a wildfire of inflation like we haven't seen in a generation. He's thinking back to the late 1970s when we had Paul Volker as the Federal Reserve Board Chairman, had to spend years to stamp it out again.

Now Janet Yellen served at the Fed, she said, look, I'm aware of all the risks that are out there. But the number one risk right now in her view and this of the Biden administration is the job destruction we see today. She says, we won't get back to full employment until 2025 unless we pull out a cannon not a shotgun. I think that's a good way to summarize it. Rosemary, Back to you.

CHURCH: Yes. I think you're right. John Defterios many thanks, live from Abu Dhabi.

Well, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in court today as his corruption trial gets underway. We are live outside the courthouse with the details.

[04:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: This is the moment a deadly wall of water roared down a riverbed in northern India. It happened Sunday after a glacier in the Himalayas broke apart. Search and rescue operations are underway. Authorities say more than 150 people remain missing. 15 people were rescued from a tunnel where they were trapped but the death toll has risen to 19.

Well, thousands of anti-coup protesters are marching in Myanmar today. It is the third straight day of demonstrations against a military coup which seized power a week ago and detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

And you can see many in the crowd giving the three fingered salute. That's a reference to the Hunger Games movies and a popular symbol of recent pro-democracy protests.

Our Paula Hancocks is monitoring these events from Seoul. She joins us now live. Good to see you, Paula. So what is the latest on these protests and of course the police response so far?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, it does appear as though these protests seem to be picking up momentum. As you said there, that's the third day in a row that we're seeing thousands of people coming out onto the streets. Now the first wave of protests this Monday today was led by student unions. And within those protests we also saw teachers, engineers, nurses also came out to protest and also monks were involved.

So a real cross section of society calling for those members of the NLD, National League for Democracy, the party that won the democratic election back in November of last year to be released. Aung San Suu Kyi to be released. And what they call the military dictatorship to step back and not be in power anymore.

Now we have been seeing these protestors going through the streets of Yangon. We have seen over the last couple of days other cities as well involved. And we're seeing people coming out of their houses, of their businesses to cheer them on as they're going past. Cars are honking their horns to show their support as well.

So it really does seem to be a -- it certainly is a grass roots protest calling for the military to pull back and allow the democratically elected government to go back into power.

But, of course, the question is, and the concern is, what will the response from the military, from the police be? Now we have seen some Reuters video where water cannon was used against some protestors. It's unclear at this point whether there were any injuries amongst the protestors or not.

But for the vast majority of the social media video that we are seeing, they are definitely peaceful on the protestor's side. They say that they want to make sure that they are showing civil disobedience but that it is peaceful. And making sure that they're not causing any trouble or giving any reason for the police or military to respond in any other way -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: The world is watching very closely. Paula Hancocks joining us from Seoul. Many thanks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared in court just a short time ago where he entered a not guilty plea to charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. Mr. Netanyahu is charged in three separate corruption cases. He has

described his indictment as a stitch-up calling it an effort by Israel's liberal and media elites to topple him from power.

CNN's Sam Kiley is outside the courthouse. He joins me now live. Good to see you Sam, so what is the latest on Netanyahu's corruption trial? And where is all of this going?

[04:45:03]

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, he pleaded guilty in that he agreed with an earlier written statement from his legal team some weeks back denying any and all roles in three different sets of corruption allegations, three different cases labeled 1,000, 2,000, and 4,000.

He spent about 20 minutes in court in the building behind me, the Jerusalem District Court, Rosemary, where he was seen to be taking notes, wearing a mask for most of it, on a yellow legal pad before leaving. Where he is in pretty much in about ten minutes time going to be chairing a meeting of the cabinet and other members of his government administration to deal with the COVID pandemic. Which is something of a focus obviously for Israel and the Israeli Prime Minister. Because he also faces legal jeopardy, political jeopardy in the form of the March 23 elections and

a good deal of criticism in part certainly from demonstrations on the ground here for his what they would say a failure to deal with the COVID pandemic.

That said, Israel is actually leading the world in terms of a vaccination campaign. He was hoping to be able to capitalize on the success of that and see this court case get ignored or at least postponed until after the March 23rd elections. Because of course there's great potential political damage to be done to him in terms of seeing a rollout of prosecution witnesses against him.

Many of them part of the prosecution's argument that he was part of a series of corrupt deals in exchange of political preference in some media in exchange for preferential legislation. Which led in the case of one set of allegations to the prosecution is going to allege undue profits of some $280 million equivalent in a Israeli company here. So this is a highly problematic time for the Israeli Prime Minister as he goes into this six-week election campaign.

CHURCH: All right, many thanks to our Sam Kiley bringing us the latest live from Jerusalem, appreciate it.

Well, today is the first day of a major tennis tournament. After the break we'll go live to Melbourne for the latest on the Australian Open. Back in just a moment.

[04:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, it is day one at the Australian Open, one of the world's premiere tennis tournaments. Of course, the pandemic means it looks very different than it usually does. Areas are sectioned off as a way to maintain social distancing. Masks are only required indoors. Organizers expect up to 400,000 fans to show up and watch some of the biggest players in tennis.

Angus Watson joins us now from Melbourne, great to see you, Angus. So after a three-week postponement and quarantine dramas for players, the Australian Open eventually got underway. How's it been going?

ANGUS WATSON, JOURNALIST: It's going well, Rosemary, we've had some fantastic tennis today with stars on show like Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams. There were 30,000 tickets on sale for Melbourne Park Tennis Center today for this first day. Around half of capacity. But it doesn't seem like they've all been sold.

I was there earlier today and there was a slow trickling in of fans as people here in Melbourne get used to living with coronavirus restrictions in their life. People have to wear masks while they're indoors here in Melbourne. That's a rule that's been transferred to the Tennis Center as well.

So everybody while they're indoors at the Tennis Center needs to wear a mask including players. But then when they're outdoors sitting in their seats, they don't have to.

So people are able to enjoy some great tennis today because Melbourne has only had two cases of coronavirus over the past month. You'll remember that last year Melbourne underwent a very long and deep lockdown, 111 days where people's restrictions were severely curtailed to try to get on top of this coronavirus -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: I mean Australia has done a great job. One of the few countries that have really got this under control. So talk to us, Angus, about these measures though because organizers are still being careful about how people socially distance and do other things. But talk to us about these masks too, only indoors, not outdoors, right?

WATSON: Yes, absolutely. So social distancing is still the watch word at the tennis there. Inviting 30,000 people to come to each day. But they're sectioning off the three stadiums here as you mention to make sure that people do keep apart a little bit. So if you buy a ticket to one stadium, you can't move around to others. You have to wear a mask when you're indoors at the center. But you won't have to while you're sitting in the seat. Interestingly, on court the line judges have been replaced by technology that Hawkeye technology that you'll be seeing a lot of in this Australian Open -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: Yes, just amazing. It is astounding those of us living in countries where we're sort of drowning in cases, it's marvelous to watch life getting somewhere close to normal. Angus Watson joining us from Melbourne. Many thanks.

Well, the social media site Reddit is capitalizing on recent headlines by running a blink annual Super Bowl ad this year. The five second ad starts with what appears to be a car commercial then the screen seemingly glitches and this message pops up. Reddit says it was inspired by the community of users who disrupted the Wall Street markets in the last few weeks.

And the Super Bowl halftime show featured a performance from the weekend which left some viewers wishing it was already Monday. Also making headlines of course, the commercials, here's CNN Chloe Melas with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[04:55:00]

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: The Super Bowl may have lacked some of the star power of years past, but there is one ad that everyone is talking about. It's a commercial for Jeep. It's 2 minutes long. And it features none other than Bruce Springsteen calling for unity in the country in the wake of a deep political divide.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, MUSICIAN: We can make it to the mountain top, through the desert, and we will cross this divide. Our light has always found its way through the darkness. And there's hope on the road up ahead.

MELAS: And when it comes to big moments, aside from football, The Weekend took the stage as the halftime performer. But despite his highly anticipated performance he did receive some criticism with some fans calling the show visually chaotic. His manager previously told Billboard magazine that The Weeknd actually chipped in $7 million of his own money into this year's show. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Thanks for that.

Well, among some of the fans lucky enough to be at the game, were nearly 8,000 front line health care workers who got free tickets from the NFL. That includes these nurses who cheered on their hometown team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Of course, the icing on the cake for all of them was getting to see their Tampa Bay Buccaneers win the championship.

And thank you so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. "EARLY START" is coming up next. You're watching CNN. Have yourselves a wonderful day.

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