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Criticism for to Both Republican and Democrat Lawmakers Post Second Impeachment; New COVID Variant Identified in the U.S.; Auckland in Lockdown; South Africa Now Opening Land Borders; Lebanon Kicks Off Vaccination Program; Aung San Suu Kyi To Stay In Detention Until Wednesday; Prince Harry And Meghan Announce She Is Pregnant; UAE's First Mars Mission Sends Back Picture Of Red Planet; $1.9 Trillion COVID Relief Bill Top Priority For Democrats; CDC: Nearly 53 Million Vaccine Doses Administered In U.S. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired February 15, 2021 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN HOST (on camera): Hi. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. Thanks for joining m. I'm Robyn Curnow. So, coming up this hour, the debate over the future of the Republican Party amid fallout from the Senate vote not to convict former U.S. president, Donald Trump.

Plus, the U.S. appears to have a worrisome coronavirus variant of its own. Researchers say they found homegrown mutations. Plus, three cases of COVID send New Zealand's largest city into lockdown. How strict measures like that have helped to control the spread.

So, it doesn't seem to matter which side of the aisle they are on, Republican and Democrat lawmakers alike are facing a backlash for the way they handled the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump. That trial, of course, ended in an acquittal this weekend.

Senate Republican Leader, Mitch McConnell, is taking a lot of heat primarily from Democrats after he blamed the former president for January's insurrection, but still voted not to convict.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): I voted for allowing witnesses, but I think in the end, when you look at what people said after the trial, it wasn't more witnesses that were going to change their mind. Mitch McConnell, who didn't vote to convict, said himself, there is no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day.

Chris, he said, he basically said right there that they've proven their case. They prove their case on the facts. What happened here was a number of Republicans used as what I would call an excuse, not as a reason of faux constitutional argument that somehow you couldn't convict a president after he was out of office. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW (on camera): Meantime, Democratic impeachment managers are facing questions of their own. After that decision not to call witnesses. One of the managers is also pushing back against the argument that witnesses could have turned the tide in favor of conviction. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STACEY PLASKETT, IMPEACHMENT MANAGER: Just so the American public is aware, witnesses in a Senate hearing do not come and stand before the senators and make any statements. It's a deposition. It's a videotaped, and that is brought before the Senate. So I know that people are feeling a lot of angst and believe that maybe if we had this, the senators would've done what we wanted, but listen, we didn't need more witnesses. We needed more senators with spines.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW (on camera): Well, the trial may be over, but Republicans now face a crucial debate about their party's future. Some argue that the GOP must proceed without former President Trump, while others say he should play a key role in upcoming elections.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARRY HOGAN, GOVERNOR OF MARYLAND: What was interesting to hear, Leader McConnell's words were pretty strong. It didn't match how he voted but I think he was moved by some of the arguments. And I think, you know, there was yesterday's vote, but there is definitely a number of court, potential court cases.

And I think he is still going to face, you know, criminal courts and the court of public opinion. And this is, you know, not over and it's -- we're going to decide over the next couple of years what the fate of Donald Trump and the Republican Party is.

JEFF FLAKE, FORMER REPUBLICAN U.S. SENATOR: If you look at what's happened since President Trump was elected, we lost the White House, we lost the House, we lost the Senate, we lost more than 400 legislative seats nationwide. So, there is really no future with Trumpism. So, we've got to move on. It's difficult because the president's base is still there, but we have to move on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW (on camera): Well, for his part, Donald Trump now appears relieved that his trial has ended. He spent Sunday golfing at his course in Florida. And soon as Boris Sanchez now reports, he is also contemplating his own political future with the Republican Party.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump and his legal team expressing relief over the weekend after his acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial. The former president, putting out a statement, making clear that he is not done with politics.

Specifically citing the 74 million plus voters who cast ballots for him in the 2020 election, and promising he has more to share with his supporters. Allies of the former president believe he is going to go after Republicans who he feels betrayed him. Those who voted for impeachment, those who voted to convict him, or simply those who did not defend him strongly enough.

One Republican senator who remains on Trump's side is South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham.

[02:05:02]

He says he spoke with Trump after his acquittal and wants to stick with the former president because he believes it is a formula for winning for the Republican Party. Listen to more now from Lindsey Graham.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Yes, I spoke to him last night. He was grateful to his lawyers. He appreciated the help that all of us provided. You know, he's ready to move on and rebuild the Republican Party. He's excited about 2022.

And so, to the Republican Party, if you want to win and stop the socialist agenda, we need to work with President Trump. We can't do it without him. And to you President Trump, you need to build a Republican Party stronger. I'm into winning. And if you want get something off your chest, fine, but I'm into winning.

SANCHEZ: Graham also making clear that Trump is still openly mad at several lawmakers. But on that point about winning, there are a lot of prominent Republicans that would disagree with Graham and want to move the party away from Trump.

People like Senator Ben Sasse and Congresspeople Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, who would be quick to point out that by following Trump's lead in the 2020 election, Republicans lost the White House, the Senate, and could not win a majority in the House of Representatives.

Before any talk of 2022 or 2024 get serious though, Trump has a number of legal hurdles that he would have to potentially overcome. Keep in mind, sources close to Trump reveal that he is concerned about potentially facing charges, not only for his role in inciting the violence we saw on Capitol Hill on January 6th, but on a litany of other issues.

Boris Sanchez, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW (on camera): Thanks Boris for that. So let's do take a look at some of those legal battles facing former President Trump. In Washington, D.C., the city's attorney general is investigating whether the former president violated district law by inciting the insurrection of the capital. Meantime, here in Georgia, the secretary of state is looking into Trump's efforts to overturn election results during two phone calls with state officials.

In New York, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office is investigating, whether the Trump Organization has ever violated state laws including insurance and tax fraud.

Well, let's go now to Inderjeet Parmar. He is a professor of international politics at City University of London and a visiting professor at the London School of Economics, and he joins me now from London. Thank you sir for talking to us. So, it's the start of a new week. The impeachment trial is over, but the division is clearly not. What still lingers after Mr. Trump's acquittal, politically?

INDERJEET PARMAR, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICS, CTY, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON: Well, politically, I think pretty much the fallout of this whole episode. In fact, the last four years, which we all though was going to live for a lot longer because of -- because Trump being a symptom and exacerbator of the crisis, I think it just shows that the United States political system is still in a very dark place.

That the divisions are still very, very deep and wide and raw, and I think the fallout of the Trump phenomenon is going to continue to rile both political parties, the Biden administration, but also, the Republican Party in particular. So, I think we are in for a very, very kind of rough turbulent, continued turbulent period because the Trump phenomenon has not gone anywhere.

CURNOW: Let's talk about Mr. Trump, and the Republican Party. They are two schools of thought. One that Mr. Trump is a spent force. You just had to listen to Mitch McConnell's scathing speech and look at the list of his legal troubles that he faces. Or that as you suggest perhaps, that Trumpism and the possibility even of an extreme version of it, without or with him, has now taken hold of the Republican Party. What do you think this will morph into over the years? Coming weeks even.

PARMAR: What it looks like is that - yes. And I think it's very difficult to sort of put timelines on these things because the situation is very, very dire. I think for the Republican Party itself, I think they are going into a little period perhaps where they're nationally, as a force for the White House, they are unlikely to be very powerful.

I think President Trump is going to remain ex-president Trump. He's going to remain very powerful within the party, and you could see that with McConnell's vote to acquit, but at the same time, to suggest that Trump was totally liable for what happened on the 6th of January.

And I think they want to try to hold on to as much of Trump's base without -- and not alienate Trump himself, but I think they're playing a very difficult kind of game. They're trying to ride two horses at the same time.

So the GOP is going to be very, very in a tough position in the next few years. I think nationally, the GOP looks like it's on the road to being a party, which is a European style far-right party.

[02:09:53]

Kind of rump (ph) white nationalists false with white supremacists and other armed groups around it which who may be frustrated enough to carry out some level of intimidation, violence, and even terror attacks.

CURNOW: There's that and then just the fact that America is still very much gripped in the trauma of January 6th. People, as you say, still very much so feeling these divisions of the Trump presidency. With all of that in mind and everything you've said, how can President Biden shake off the shadow of all of this? What will it take to move forward?

PARMAR: I think, really, if you look fundamentally, it would require a massive effort to investigate the 6th of January riots and the entire kind of run up to it and the sort of kind of politics and economy that led to it itself.

Not just Trump's role, but much more broadly than that because it's quite clear there is some serious security issue which were raise by 6th of January. But I don't think that is necessarily going to happen in a thorough going way. But I do believe that I think President Biden and the Democrats are also playing quite a tricky game because Trump actually serves as quite a major unifying force for the Democratic Party as well.

And so having him as a kind of specter haunting the American political system, he's actually politically quite functional, even for the Democratic Party remaining a united force. And so what we see is McConnell and Biden playing a very, very dangerous kind of game.

But going forward, I think what we've got is a very fractured political system. And I'm not sure that President Biden can rely on a very right-wing party to support the kind of far-reaching radical program, which actually I think he seems to have in mind.

So, I think we're going to be in some sort of a deadlock for quite some time and I think 2022 is going to be a guiding (ph) first key test of really all these different forces and how they're actually playing out. But one thing is that there is a recent poll by the American Enterprise Institute, which showed that 57 percent of Trump supporters are willing to work with Democrats to solve national problems.

And I think President Biden's grassroots bipartisan strategy may be able to put feelers out through his policies to that kind of a constituency. And that maybe one way in which there can be some degree of unifying the country behind that sort of program that he has in mind.

CURNOW: Okay, we're going to leave it there on that optimistic note. Thanks very much. Professor Inderjeet Parmar there coming to us live from London. Thank you PARMAR: Thank you.

CURNOW: So, coming up next here on CNN, it certainly seems that there are new coronavirus variants and they're popping up all over the world. Well, U.S. health leaders now tell us how well they think the vaccines will be able to stop them. We have that story.

Plus, at least two COVID variant cases have put Auckland and New Zealand on lockdown after that nation showed the rest of the world how to deal with the pandemic. Stay with us for that story, too. You're watching CNN.

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CURNOW: Welcome back. Its 16 minutes past the hour. And U.S. scientists have now identified at least one new homegrown coronavirus variant like the British and South African variants that appears to be more transmissible.

But the U.S. is ramping up its vaccination campaign and hoping it will be successful against all of these virus mutations as Natasha Chen tells us.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Nearly 53 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in the U.S. And on Saturday, fewer than 70,000 people were hospitalized, continuing a downward trend to levels we haven't seen in about three months.

But looking forward to the next three months or so, another 130,000 people are projected to die of coronavirus by June 1st. That's based on a model from the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

But what could make things worse, analysis of existing research in the U.K. suggest that the variant first identified there could link to more severe disease. But Dr. Anthony Fauci said the Pfizer, and Moderna vaccines currently being distributed do work against that variant.

Teachers in many states are now becoming eligible for the vaccine. CDC director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky said safely reopening schools really hinges on the level of transmission in the larger community. So, if the transmission levels come down, schools can safely reopen with guidelines like universal masking, learning pods and contact tracing.

She did say that vaccinating teachers is not a prerequisite for reopening schools. And that differs from the opinion of Dr. Leana Wen, CNN medical analyst and former Baltimore health commissioner, who says that vaccinating teachers is essential especially when schools in many parts of the country are in what she describes as poorly ventilated and cramped places without universal masking and social distancing. Back to you.

CURNOW (on camer): Thanks Natasha there. SO, New Zealand's largest city, Auckland, remains on lockdown until the end of Wednesday. Two of three new coronavirus cases reported there are confirmed to be from the variant first found in the U.K.

Now, New Zealand's prime minister acted immediately to stop the spread. I want to go to Will Ripley who joins us from Hong Kong and gives us more on what's been playing out in New Zealand. Hi, Will.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRRESPONDENT (on camera): Yes. You know, for some people on the ground, Robyn - hello, by the way, it's kind of like on again, off again with these lockdowns that they just get a handful of cases. Remember six months ago, and Auckland went into this massive lockdown where people have to stay home unless they're going to the supermarket or the pharmacy.

Essential workers can work, but everybody else is not allowed. And some may say, look, when you just have three cases confined to a mother, a dad, and their teenage daughter, why disrupt this many people?

But the message from the prime minister is that this is the formula that has worked, that is helped New Zealand, if not eradicate COVID- 19, drastically reduce it to the point that they don't have a community transmission for weeks and weeks on end or months on end.

[02:20:00]

And that allows life to return to normal quickly. Listen to what the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, is telling people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: Now, keep in mind. We don't necessarily have to get to the bottom of that precise issue in order for us to lift restrictions. What we would like to do though, is really put a ring around things. Make sure that we're testing all of those places of interest, getting those results of close contacts beckon (ph), to give us a level of confidence that whatever has happened, we feel confident that we've got a bit of a ring around it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY (on camera): So what has happened because these people did not have a recent travel history, Robyn, but the mother, one of the three people in this family who are infected, she does the laundry at an air catering and hospitality company that services dozens of airlines and some international travelers might have come in contact with items that this woman would have come in contact with when she was working.

But keep in mind, they are wearing a mask, they are wearing gloves, they're wearing face visors, protective arm sleeves, all of the PPE that is supposed to prevent this kind of thing. That's why the contact tracing is so crucial right now to try to figure out if there is any other length or if this case did somehow come in from the outside.

CURNOW: With that in mind then, how will that affect travel in and out of New Zealand? RIPLEY: Well, this is what kind of gets disruptive because New

Zealand has already said that its borders will remain closed for most international visitors, Robyn, for the rest of this year, most likely. That said, they did get their first batch of COVID-19 vaccines about a month early.

They've just arrived and they're going to start putting those shots in the arms of frontline workers as soon as this weekend, which is certainly good news in accelerating the process of getting enough people in New Zealand vaccinated that they can consider more options in terms of international travel.

But there is a travel bubble between New Zealand and Australia or there was. It has now been suspended again for 72 hours. Australian health authorities are now saying that instead of people from New Zealand being able to freely fly into Australia, they will now have to go through that mandatory 14-day quarantine at the government managed isolation facility.

And this is kind of the problem that we see with these travel bubbles, Robyn, is that people make plans for business travel, personal travel, only to find out at the very last moment that the bubble is suspended because of a few cases and maybe they now have to completely upend their plans. But look, this comes with the territory in the age of COVID-19 before you have enough people vaccinated to provide, you know, herd immunity, if you will.

CURNOW: Yes, exactly. Will, thanks for that update there. We'll keep an eye on what's happening in New Zealand. Appreciate it.

So while Auckland is locking down, South Africa is opening up. Specifically, 20 of its land border crossings that were shut last month to try and stop the spread of COVID. Now, travelers will also be required to show a negative test upon entry, and the government is also cracking down then on fake tests saying they carry a heavy penalty.

So let's go to David McKenzie. David is in Johannesburg with more details on all of this reopening for us. Hi, David. What can you tell us?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey Robyn. Yes, you know, that is good news that they are opening these 20 land borders. People will have to have a negative COVID test before coming across from regional countries. And it really is the latest sign that the second wave, which has been brutal in South Africa really driven by that more serious variant discovered here is easing off.

I just looked at the numbers, you know, the test positivity rate is down considerably. The deaths have been going down steadily for a couple of weeks or at least the last little while, Robyn. And it does seem like authorities are comfortable enough to open up slightly because of those rates going down.

The worry though is that there will be another wave -- and another wave because of the issue with vaccines and dealing with this variant discovered in South Africa. Robyn?

CURNOW: Yes. Well, let's talk about vaccines. I know that some health care workers are going to be the first to get the vaccines, but it's a pretty unusual strategy, isn't it. Why?

MCKENZIE: That is correct, you know. What they're doing is they're going to get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine out to a large number of health workers, but it's part of a phase 3 trial. It's not really an overall rollout of the vaccine.

You remember, Robyn, we've been talking about how the AstraZeneca Oxford vaccine was the first vaccine purchased by South Africa, came in 1 million doses several weeks ago, but then that very depressing news that the new variant here was shown to be stopping that vaccine from being affective against mild and moderate disease.

So they paused that rollout. They've switched gears now. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is not approved here, or in fact, anywhere for emergency use. That process is ongoing. In the meantime, they are using test doses. You know, doses of the vaccine which were set aside for ongoing trials to get to a large amount of health workers as part of an implementation trial.

[02:54:58]

During that trial, they will then see the effects of the vaccine. Already, there is good news, though, in trials already held in South Africa against the variant. It's shown to be at least 85 percent effective for severe cases and hospitalizations. And that's really what scientists here in South Africa are focusing on.

Not the other vaccine that's like a silver bullet to eradicate COVID- 19, which I say is unrealistic, but, stopping the health system from being overburdened by this virus and stopping future waves because most people I speak to now say, well, they expect another wave of COVID-19 as we head into the winter here in the southern hemisphere. Robyn?

CURNOW (on camera): Okay. Always good to speak to you David McKenzie. Thank you so much for that update. A little bit of good news as well. Thanks so much, David.

So, Lebanon's vaccination campaign is underway now that the country has received its first batch of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine. Ninety staff members at a Beirut hospital were among the first to receive the shots. But as CNN's Ben Wedeman now reports, that's likely to be the easy part.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): And so it begins. Perhaps the beginning of the end here of the coronavirus pandemic. Alas, just one of Lebanon's myriad of misfortunes. The first to get a shot was Dr. Mahmoud Hassoun, the head of the intensive care unit at Beirut's Rafiki Hariri University Hospital. MAHMOUD HASSOUN, ICU DIRECTOR, RAFIK HARIRI UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: For

us as Lebanese population, we should take the vaccine because it is only solution to finish this pandemic.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): Trust in the authorities in much of anything is in short supply here. A recent survey found that less than a third of those polled are willing to take the vaccine.

For more than a year, the country has been convulsed by sporadic mass protests and violence. Lebanon was already careening towards financial and economic collapse before COVID-19 reared its head. And last August, massive Beirut port blast, added more injury to injury.

(On camera): In a country where the rich and powerful tend to get all the brakes, the vice president of the World Bank, the institution which is financing this vaccine campaign has warned that nobody should be using (inaudible). That's Arabic for connections to jump the queue.

(Voice-over): Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab was scheduled to receive the first vaccination, but stepped out of the queue deferring to frontline medical workers. The country has been under a total lock down for a month. Those workers, pushed to the brink.

FIRASS ABIAD, DIRECTOR, RAFIK HARIRI UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: The fight is going to be a long fight. We know that, but I think that today, really, we turned a big corner

WEDEMAN (voice-over): One corner turned, many more to go. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Beirut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW (on camera): Thanks to Ben there. Great piece. So, coming up on CNN, after 10 days of protest, Myanmar's military are losing patience and cracking down harder on dissent. That's next.

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[02:30:00]

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ROBYN CURNOW, INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Myanmar civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi will remain in detention until a court hearing on Wednesday. That word coming from her lawyer. She's been jailed since the military coup two weeks ago. Right now, thousands of people are protesting against the coup, and for Suu Kyi release. Security forces, we know are being deploying, armored vehicles in major cities. And they've been shutting down internet access, and monitoring group says service is just being restored now or after an 8 hour, near-total internet blackout.

And then, just a short time ago, we learned this that Myanmar's commander-in-chief of the armed forces signed several amendments to the country's penal code. It appears that change targets protesters, journalists, and critics of the military coup. Well, joining me on the phone, a journalist in Myanmar. For her safety, we can't give you her name or tell you her location. Thank you for joining us. I hope you can hear me. What's happening right now in the streets?

CNN JOURNALIST, LIVE FROM MYANMAR (on phone): Thank you for having me. So, right now on the streets, despite the fact that, yesterday was a very frightening night, especially with tanks rolling in, seeing more soldiers in the street as opposed to simply police. People are backout their protesting. One large protest at the Yangon in the central bank. Private banks have now are not functioning right now, but essential they've all shut down. And the government is trying to make sure, or the military is trying to make sure that the private central bank remains operational, and so, people are trying to prevent that from happening.

CURNOW: And would you make of these new amendments to the country's penal code that seems to target protesters, journalists like you and critics of the crew, that's certainly another escalation.

CNN JOURNALIST (on phone): Yes. Definitely, yes. The military is clearly trying to ensure that any level of the fence is from the line (Ph), and that they are able to arrest anyone for any reason. And one of the amendment - one of the orders they've given out recently is for media to stop referring to them as the military regime or (inaudible). And we're not allowed to (Ph) use the word coup either. And so, there is not only sort of a general trend of intimidation, there is also essentially a war for the trip. And the ability to describe what is happening accurately, with correct language.

CURNOW: Absolutely. That is censorship and itself. What has then been the reaction by people on the street to the news that Aung San Suu Kyi will be kept in detention that she will remain in detention till this court hearing in the next few days? How much does her leadership, her inspiration still going to support?

CNN JOURNALIST (on phone): You know, when you are out on the streets, especially in Yangon and especially in Burma dominated regions. You see a lot of times that having her freedom. Then lots of time that's saying, you know free our mother, save our mother. A lot of people here see her very much as a parental figure who guided them and protected them for years. But you know, if you look at other regions, she is either less popular or her freedom has not been as much as a priority.

[02:35:00]

Or at least, her freedom specifically, and the fans and slogans are more about freeing (inaudible). Right now, you are not seeing as much leadership from the NLD, I mean obviously she isn't defensive and not able to communicate. But the party itself, the party that won the election is not necessarily beating their civil disobedience usage. And it's very much - a very dispute largely leaderless or at least the leadership is very, very dispute in terms of who is organizing what and the direction in which the protests are going.

CURNOW: Thank you very much for joining us. Stay safe. I know that the nights are particularly scary. That was a journalist in Myanmar. We couldn't identify her or her location for her safety. We'll continue to monitor events on the ground. I wouldn't take you straight to break. There will be more news after that.

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CURNOW: So, there is some happy news from Prince Harry and his wife Meghan. The Duchess of Sussex, the couple announced their family is expecting. An addition is Max Foster now explains. Max?

MAX FOSTER, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: We can't confirm that Archie is going to be a big brother. That was the announcements made by a spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Only adding that the couple are overjoyed to be expecting their second child. Their first born, Archie, currently 19 months old, and they announced in November that the Duchess suffered a miscarriage over the summer. With this announcement came a photograph. We don't know much more about it, apart from it was taken by tablet computer, we are told, and remotely by the photographer. A spokesperson from Buckingham Palace said, the Queen, Prince Charles and the entire family are delighted and wished the couple well.

[02:40:00]

The Duchess side of the family were also notified about this news ahead of the announcement. Max Foster, CNN, Hampshire, England.

CURNOW: And finally, we leave you with this incredible image of Mars. It was taken by the United Arab Emirates first Mars mission known as the Hope probe. It arrived on the Red Planet on Tuesday and successfully entered orbit in its first attempt. The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi tweeted the picture on Sunday, along with a caption that said in part, we hope this mission will lead to new discoveries about Mars, which will benefit humanity. So, thanks for watching CNN. I am Robyn Curnow. For all of our international viewers, world sport is next. Enjoy, but for our viewers here in the United States and in Canada, I will have more news. After this quick break. Stick around for that.

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[02:45:00]

CURNOW: Welcome back. I am Robyn Curnow. So, U.S. President Joe Biden and house Democrats are pushing to pass their $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill by the end of the month. Now the goal is to have it signed into law by mid-March. And Mr. Biden is also focused on getting more cabinet nominees confirmed by the senate. Now that Donald Trump's impeachment trial is over. So, to talk about all of that, let's go to Arlette Saenz. Arlette?

ARLETTE SAENZ, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN: With the senate impeachment trial in the rear-view mirror, President Biden can now push his agenda up on Capitol Hill with their full attention. That includes trying to get his nominees confirmed, as well as passing that $1.9 trillion COVID relief package. The house is expected to continue its mark up of that legislation later this week, and the President will also be holding meetings here at the White House on that COVID relief package. And President Biden will also be taking his sales pitch on the road. He is participating in a CNN town hall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Tuesday.

And then on Thursday, traveling to a Pfizer facility in the state of Michigan. All of this as the President is trying to promote that COVID relief package. Now there are still some details relating to that measure that need to be hammered out in the coming weeks. The President said that he is willing to negotiate on who would receive those $1400 stimulus checks, as Democrats and Republicans have talked about the need for them to be more targeted. But right now, that key priority is getting that $1.9 trillion package passed. Arlette Saenz, CNN, the White House.

CURNOW: And as Arlette mentioned, that CNN is hosting a town hall with U.S. President Joe Biden. It will be moderated by our Anderson Cooper. Joined us Tuesday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern time. That's Wednesday morning in Europe and Asia. Now promising sign for the U.S. on the COVID vaccine front. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 53 million vaccine doses have been administered so far. That's translates to a seven-day average of about 1.6 million doses per day. On Sunday, the CDC Director gave an optimistic prediction for vaccine availability over the next few months.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: I am proud to say that, as of yesterday, we have put 50 million vaccines into people's arms. We anticipate by the end of the summer we will have enough vaccine in order to vaccinate the entire U.S. population that is eligible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: Dr. Walensky there is also advocating for teachers to get vaccinated, although the CDC says it's not a prerequisite to reopening schools. Now, that echoes the message from America's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES: So vaccinating teachers are part of it, but it's not a sine qua non. It's not something that you can't open a school unless all the teachers are vaccinated. That would be optimal, if you could do that. But practically speaking, when you balance the benefit of getting the children back to school with the fact that the risks are being mitigated. If you follow the recommendations in these new guidelines from the CDC. Hopefully, I think, that will alleviate the concerns on both sides.

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CURNOW: New guidance from the CDC highlights these key measures for reopening schools, universal mask wearing, social distancing, washing hands, cleaning facilities and improved ventilation, plus contact tracing, isolation and quarantining. But a CNN analysis found that nearly all U.S. children, 99 percent, live in a county considered a red zone with high levels of coronavirus transmission. Under the CDC's reopening plan.

So, I want to take a closer look at how the U.S. is managing the virus right now. Dr. Jorge Rodriguez is CNN medical analyst and viral specialist. From Los Angeles joining us now with his perspective. Doctor, lovely to see you. What do you make about the CDC guidelines about school re-openings? But then also the fact, that they're counterintuitively deny, you know, contradict themselves by saying, listen, most of them can't open because they're in red.

DR. JORGE RODRIGUEZ, MEDICAL ANALYST, CNN: Well, it's an oxymoron.

CURNOW: Yes.

DR. RODRIGUEZ: Because we have two conflicting tales here in the city. So, the first thing is, I personally believe that all teachers need to be vaccinated, so that we can safely open schools. And so, that teachers can feel safe in school. Secondly, if you look at the CDC guidelines, they are very, well specific, but I don't know if they're practical. Like you said, a lot of the cities that they're talking about have rates of infectivity that are over the 10 percent or have them until recently, which is something that the CDC says schools should not open.

[02:50:00]

And again, they also are requesting and recommending that students be six feet apart, which is going to be very difficult, because classrooms were already so jam packed with students. So, I do agree that schools should open. I think that teachers should be vaccinated. And I think that maybe it's going to have to be a rotating system of students being present in the classroom itself.

CURNOW: It's important to remember that there are quite a lot of schools open across the U.S., particularly private schools. And they have been open throughout the whole pandemic using masks, social distancing, maintaining the cohorts, and when there is an outbreak, children in specific classes are asked to isolate, and then they go back in. This is a year into the pandemic. Why can't that be replicated? It's pretty organic, but why can't that be replicated in public schools or in the wider communities?

DR. RODRIGUEZ: I think it can be replicated, but as usual one of the things that has stood in the way of this pandemic being handled as correctly as it could is politics. And remember, public schools are usually regulated by an elected school board in the county at which those schools occur in. So again, if there were a federal mandate that could uniformly tell us, this is what needs to be done, I think it would be a lot easier to control. But schools are controlled by the school boards of certain counties, and they usually go by the political makeup of that county. So that's why I think, it's very difficult to do. It shouldn't be, but it is.

CURNOW: Let's talk now about the more information that we are getting on this W.H.O. trip to Wuhan, especially now that the team has left. What strikes you about the details that were picked up by the team when they investigated origins of COVID? What are you hearing? And what do you understand about the size of the first outbreak - the first outbreak and what we don't know before?

DR. RODRIGUEZ: Well, what I am getting is the fact that there is still more information to be gotten, but I think it's pretty clear that the infections in Wuhan started before we were told they started, and that by December of 2019, it was pretty widespread. I found it a little bit disconcerting by some of the reports that the people that went there, could not get as much information as they needed of prior infections to see if this infection started maybe in October or November. I remember very vividly, I think in December when I read an article that they were building hospitals just for people with COVID in December and January. And I thought, oh, my goodness, this has got to be worse than we are being told. And I think, indeed, it was worse than we know.

CURNOW: Yes, I remember reporting that as well. I think we might have had a few conversations about it a year ago as well. That's a very good point you make. So certainly, more details, more questions to be answered there. After a year, it's normal for a virus to mutate. We've heard about the so-called variants that were discovered in the U.K. and South Africa. We are now hearing reports of seven different U.S. variants, they are home grown and they also seem to be more transmissible. What do you know about that?

DR. RODRIGUEZ: Well, what first needs to be remembered is that variants, which are mutations, are going to happen when the virus replicates. It's just something natural that happens. They are mistakes in the replication. Replication only happens when the virus is in somebody's body. The virus cannot mutate in the air, it needs a host. It needs human cells in order to replicate.

So, I am not surprised that we have variants. I am not surprised that we will have more variants, but what needs to be hammered home is the fact, that we will continue to have more variants, and the stronger ones are the ones that are going to survive as long as people get infected. So, if you think that, oh, this illness is not going to be too bad for me because I am young or I'm healthy. You are potentially creating a variant.

And again, the second point, as long as half of the world is not immunized, vaccinated, the poorer parts of the world, those replications will lead to variants. We're one world and there is one solution to this, and that is for the whole world to be healthy, to be vaccinated, and to have herd immunity worldwide.

CURNOW: Dr. Jorge Rodriguez there, thank you very much. Really appreciate you joining us.

RODRIGUEZ: Thank you. My pleasure.

CURNOW: So, U.S. President Joe Biden, has declared an emergency in Texas as parts of the state are under winter storm. This is storm watches for the first time in decades. Now, snow, ice and plunging temperatures are spreading across the country from the Pacific Northwest to the South-Central states. At least 120 million people are affected.

[02:55:00]

For the latest, I am going to go to Tyler Mauldin. With more on this crazy weather. And I am hearing there is even something called thunder ice coming.

TYLER MAULDIN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. It's crazy, indeed. Not only it's crazy, it's also historic. We have wind chill warnings and affect from Canada, all the way down to Mexico. First time ever that Houston, Texas, has ever been under a wind chill warning. Can you see why here, Robyn.

We have wind chills going all the way down to minus 30. That's what it's going to feel like on your exposed skin up there across Northern Plains. Down here across Texas, Houston, it could feel like it's five degrees tomorrow morning. And then, minus nine in Dallas, minus 10 in Lubbock. Overall, we are looking at temperatures possibly being as low as 50 degrees below average for this time of the year.

There will be hundreds of records broken through Monday and on into Tuesday. On top of that, yes, we are dealing with that thunder snow and thunder ice as you mentioned, Robyn, as you toss to me. You can see the snowfall here. You can see that really heavy snowfall across Southeast Texas. And some of that is transitioning into some ice, and a little bit of sleet as well going into the lower Mississippi Valley.

This is where we are going to have extremely impactful weather over the next 48 hours as the system retreats to the north. Winter storm warnings are in affect from Texas all the way up into New England, as this heavy snow falls on the really cold side. And then, where you get a little bit of warm air, you're talking about some ice secretion, and especially across Alabama, Robyn, where we can see half an inch of ice.

CURNOW: Tyler, great to see you. Thank you so much for that update. So, I am Robyn Curnow. Thank you so much for watching. Another hour of CNN starts right now.

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