Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Some Boeing Planes Grounded After Near-Disaster; United Airlines Temporarily Grounds 24 Boeing 777 Aircraft; Millions in Texas Remain Without Clean Water; Biden to Hold Vigil as U.S. Death Toll Nears 500,000; U.S. Expects to Catch Up on Vaccinations After Delays; Equity Problems with Vaccine Rollout in California; W.H.O. Panel to Recommend Deeper Look at Early COVID Clues. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired February 22, 2021 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM and I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead, Boeing faces scrutiny. Some airlines ground planes and the U.S. steps up investigations after this midflight engine fire over Colorado.
Texas still recovering from a severe winter storm and searching for answers after massive power failures caused chaos.
And the U.S. struggling with a vaccine supply still falling far short of demand as the COVID-19 death toll in the country approaches half a million.
Good to have you with us. Well, grounded planes and stepped up inspections coming just days after the terrifying midair engine failure over Colorado on a United Airlines 777 jet. A passenger captured this dramatic and disturbing video on Saturday shortly before the pilots returned safely to Denver. Now Boeing is recommending all 777s that use the same engine, the Pratt and Whitney 4000 series ground the planes. United is removing 24 planes from service and the FAA says it will step up its inspections. And we are learning new details about what happened in the air. Our Pete Muntean has the latest on the investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETE MUNTEAN CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: We are getting our first window into what may have played a major role in that dramatic inflight failure of United Airlines Flight 328. The National Transportation Safety Board now says one of the fan blades of the right hand engine of that Boeing 777 broke off, damaged another one, and other fan blades. In fact, investigators were able to find parts inside the inner containment ring of the jet engine.
Now begins the process of piecing this altogether and the focal point of the investigation will really be the Pratt and Whitney PW 4000 engine, but one specific to the Boeing 777 in this incident. In fact, the FAA has ordered emergency inspections of the fan blades on the Pratt and Whitney PW 4000. And United Airlines says it's removing all of its Boeing 777 200s with the Pratt and Whitney engine from service. That includes 24 airlines, United Airlines the only operator of that airline with that specific engine in the United States even though the Pratt and Whitney PW 4000 engine a workhorse in civilian and commercial aviation. More than 2,500 of them in service.
Pete Muntean, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And in Japan officials are ordering the country's domestic airlines to stop operating all Boeing 777 aircraft powered by the same type of engine under scrutiny in the U.S. That affects 32 planes operated by all Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines.
And there's been another plane incident easterly similar to what happened in Colorado. Two people were injured in the Netherlands after pieces of a cargo plane broke off and fell to the ground. CNN's Melissa Bell joins us now from Paris. Good to see you Melissa. So what more are you learning about this disturbingly similar story.
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, what we know is that it was just seconds after this cargo plane, a Boeing 747 this time, has taken off from Maastricht Airport that air traffic controllers realized that there was a fire in one of the engines. The pilots were instructed to turn around. The decision was made to land the plane in neighboring Belgium, at Liege Airport, not because the plane couldn't make it back to Maastricht, but because to runway is longer there and therefore deemed better for an aircraft to land on that might have been facing some difficulty.
And we can see from those images that have come from the neighboring town of Meerssen. There is bits of metal that have fallen onto cars. And that of course would have been very dramatic for anyone who happened to be in the area in those moments just after that Boeing 747 took off from Maastricht Airport.
It had been headed to JFK, a cargo plane carrying mainly general cargo, but also pharmaceuticals. And it was able then to land safely. But what is of interest?
[04:05:00]
Is that although this is 747, not a Boeing 777, it is a Pratt and Whitney engine of the 4000 family that was also involved. So a different type of engine, because a different type of plane, but it was an engine fire in the Pratt and Whitney engine that is now the subject of investigation as authorities are trying and figure out exactly what happened on Saturday afternoon just after that plane took off from m Maastricht -- Rosemary.
CHURCH: Yes, very important. Melissa Bell bringing us the very latest on that, many thanks. And earlier I spoke with Geoffrey Thomas, the editor and chief of Airlineratings.com about the questions and concerns following the 777's engine failure over Colorado.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEOFFREY THOMAS, MANAGING DIRECTOR, AIRLINERATINGS.COM: This particular incident raises some serious questions because now that we know the NTSB has said that one fan blade sheared off and damaged another and then was ingested to the engine, this is now identical to a similar incident in 2018. Again, United Airlines Pratt and Whitney 4000 777 flight from San Francisco to Honolulu.
And in that particular case, exactly the same thing happened. One fan blade sheared off, damaged another one, ingested into the engine and fell away. Fortunately that airplane was just about to make its decent into Honolulu and it landed safely.
So the question to be asked here is whatever action was taken after the 2018 incident, why did this incident happen again or appear to be identical, happen again? Or appear to be identical happen again? So there's something to be looked at as far as the service bulletins that were sent out after that previous incident.
CHURCH: Boeing has had some very serious issues with its planes in recent years. What is going on here?
THOMAS: Well, look, yes, you're absolutely right, and all manufacturers have serious issues from time to time. Certainly, Boeing's having a very bad run at the moment. This is a Pratt and Whitney issue. It's not a Boeing issue, although it's on a Boeing airplane and we all call it the Boeing 777 engine. It's a Pratt and Whitney issue and they need to step up very robustly to fix up this engine for their customer airlines. And move forward and get the airplane back in the air.
The Boeing 777 has an extraordinary good record. It's the backbone of international airlines and international travel right across the globe. And it actually has an excellent reputation for reliability and safety. So, yes, it is a black eye for Boeing right now. They don't need another black eye, but it is a Pratt and Whitney issue.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH (on camera): That was Jeffrey Thomas, editor in chief of Airlineratings.com talking to me earlier.
Well Texans are waking up to warmer weather this week, but the massive disruption caused by winter storms hasn't let up. At this hour 8.8 million Texans remain without a clean water supply. An estimated 18,000 homes and businesses still don't have electricity. Governor Greg Abbott says he expects power to be fully restored today. But that's still leaving many in Texas to clean up the damage on their own. CNN's Natasha Chen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RACHEL STEVENS, AUSTIN, TEXAS RESIDENT: So we lost power on Sunday night and we got it back Wednesday. Things have defrosted enough that we were able to get in and check out stuff and we have lines that were just gushing water so now we've got zero water in the house. Just having to turn it off until someone can come out here to start fixing things.
NATASHA CHEN, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Rachel Stevens was without power and water for days. Now her family is left to clean up the damage left behind from frozen pipes. Conditions found across much of the state.
SYLVESTER TURNER, HOUSTON, TEXAS MAYOR: Right now with so many homes across the city having pipes that burst because of the frigid and major leaks, major water damage, we need a lot of plumbing materials and supplies like right now.
CHEN (voice-over): In the meantime, Texas officials are investigating the massive bills come customers who pay variable rates for their energy, are now facing.
DEANDRE UPSHAW, DALLAS, TEXAS RESIDENT: While I'm trying to get, you know, gas and groceries, and make sure that my pipes don't explode. The last thing that I'm thinking about is a $7,000 bill from my utility company.
TURNER: All of this was foreseeable. I wrote about it in 2011 and so for these exorbitant costs, it's not the consumers who should assume that cost. They are not --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well who should then?
TURNER: The bills should go to the state of Texas.
CHEN (voice-over): Call for accountability are also coming from the other side of the aisle.
WILL HURD, FORMER U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN: This was preventable. This wasn't a problem with any individual fuel source, this was a problem of lack of leadership and lack of long-term planning.
[04:10:00]
DELORES LOZANO, HUSTON, TEXAS RESIDENT: We all have a voice, and we all need to use it accordingly because there's a lot of people in leadership that are just really just chilling in Cancun.
CHEN (voice-over): Also this weekend, embattled Texas Senator Ted Cruz is tweeting pictures of himself handing out bottled water to residents. Cruz has been under fire after he was spotted jetting to Cancun with his family while many Texans suffered through the storm.
REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R-TX): Look, when a crisis hits my state, I'm there. I'm not going to go on some vacation. I know Mr. Cruz called it a mistake and he's owned up to that, but I think that was a big mistake. CHEN: The Texas governor Greg Abbott said on Sunday that the Texas
Public Utility Commission called an emergency meeting to issue a moratorium on disconnection of service due to nonpayment and to also restrict electric providers from sending invoices at this time. Abbot said that would allow time to address those skyrocketing energy bills.
Natasha Chen, CNN, Houston.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: So what went wrong. Texas Congressman Michael McCaul blames infrastructure failures on a lack of cooperation and a lack of preparation for cold weather.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCAUL: Yes, I think power sharing would have been helpful. If we could have shared with other power grids. Texas does have its own grid called ERCOT. It was set up that way to be independent of federal oversight and regulations. And you know, that's very good with things like cybersecurity. Not so good when it comes to an arctic blast like this one.
The difference between Texas and say the Northeast, is we're not prepared for this. We're not used to this kind of weather. So when it happened our entire energy system was not winterized for subzero degree temperature as it is in the Northeast. That is what we're going to be taking a look at moving forward are these recommendations that were made in 2011. And how can we move forward to winterize these operations, so this never happens again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And earlier I spoke with Daniel Cohan, he is an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rice University, and I asked who's to blame for the crisis in Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANIEL COHAN, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING, RICE UNIVERSITY: A lot of this comes down to state leadership, to the governor, to the state legislature, to the public utilities commission. ERCOT only handle what happens on the grid itself. It doesn't have authority to enforce some aspects, and it doesn't have any control over the gas system.
What we really saw this time was a breakdown of the gas supply system, so no matter how well operating the power plants were, if they didn't have any gas to burn, then the lights went out for all of us.
CHURCH: And with these storms causing multiple power outages, also halting one-third of U.S. oil production, and impacting COVID vaccinations in about 20 states, it is a wakeup call with increasingly extreme weather hitting America, and its aging infrastructure. How can we make sure this doesn't happen again? And how likely is it that it will happen again if we don't move swiftly? COHAN: We saw this happen is Ocalan, but you know, it was stronger than we've had in at least 10 years. But it's at a level a storm we've had before and we're going to be threatened by other climate risks, floods and hurricanes and droughts, and we need our systems to be more resilient for a wide range of weather risks.
CHURCH: So, who needs to make the first move to ensure that happens?
COHAN: Well, this is happening while our state legislature is in session. We have a legislature that only meets every two years, and so there is the opportunity for the legislature to act on this. And it's really a matter for the legislature, for the governor, for the public utilities commission to address. It's not something that ERCOT can address on its own ...
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH (on camera): And my thanks the Daniel Cohan speaking to me earlier.
Well the U.S. is on the verge of another heartbreaking COVID milestone, but experts say there is hope as long as people follow the guidelines. Details on what they're recommending, that's next.
And demonstrators in Myanmar are protesting the military coup in huge numbers despite the threats of violence from their leaders. The latest when we return.
[04:15:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: The United States is fast approaching another grim milestone. 500,000 COVID-19 deaths since the pandemic started. President Joe Biden will mark the occasion later today with a candle lighting ceremony and a moment of silence at the White House.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, meantime, is offering some promising news in the battle against the virus. CNN's Polo Sandoval explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some hope from the nation's top infectious disease expert. Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN's State of the Union it's possible the country may start returning to normal by the end of this year, but until then, he says, masks wearing, and social distancing measures are critical.
DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: You're fully vaccinated. Are you seeing your family?
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, U.S. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Right now, not yet. Not yet. I mean, I would look forward to it within a reasonable period of time as the rest of my family gets vaccinated. SANDOVAL (voice-over): Fauci also insists for now the U.S. is sticking
with a two dose schedule backed up by data and clinical trials. This comes in a debate about delaying second doses to make more first doses available to the public.
The White House promises to make up for lost ground after winter weather delayed the delivery of about 6 million doses last week. New York's vaccine counter showing fewer than 1,000 first doses remaining in the city.
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: So we've been able to get about 2 million of those 6 million doses out. We expect to rapidly catch up this week. Fill that back log, make sure they're out to communities and also meeting out deadlines and our timelines of the doses that due to go out this upcoming week.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): Despite delays, vaccines are still making it into arms at a rate of about 1.5 million a day nationally, even in parts of the country difficult to access by land. This VA clinic in rural central Oregon became the first to fly their vaccine doses, making them available to older veterans.
[04:20:00]
And described as a massive a "vaxathon." This Philadelphia 24-hour vaccination clinic got more than 4,000 people their first shot this weekend.
DR. ALA STANFORD, BLACK DOCTORS CONSORTIUM: They see this as potentially saving them their lives but also giving them their livelihood back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have a husband, I have children, grandchildren and I want to be around to be with them.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): Expect global attention to once again focus on the origins of the virus.
JAKE SULLIVAN, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: We do not believe that China has made available significant original data into how this pandemic began to spread both in China and then eventually around the world. And we believe that both the W.H.O. and China should step up on this matter.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): Investigators tell CNN, a preliminary report from the World Health Organization will soon be released. It's expected to call for extensive contact tracing of the first known COVID-19 patient back in late 2019. Investigators believe the patient was an office worker in his 40s from Wuhan, China.
Also key to the investigation, a closer look at supply chains in the Wuhan seafood market that's thought to have played a role early stages of the pandemic, before the virus started spreading in the United States.
SANDOVAL: New York City reported that there were less than 1,000 available COVID-19 vaccines just yesterday, meaning that this next allotment cannot come soon enough. The city describing the doses on hand as the total number available for providers in New York City to administer.
A spokesperson for Mayor Bill de Blasio's office said over the weekend, that weather delayed shipments actually put the city's entire vaccine effort at a standstill last week. City health officials said that deliveries are expected by today. This means more sought after appointments for first doses will likely open up here very soon. As of yesterday New York City has administered about 1.5 million vaccines. That's a quick update on New York state's single day positivity rate. That dropped to just 3 percent for the first time since Thanksgiving.
Palo Sandoval, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And that was the snapshot in New York. Here is CNN's Paul Vercammen with what the vaccine rollout looks like on the other side of the country in hard-hit California.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: California Governor Gavin Newsom came here to the Faithful Central Bible Church, Inglewood, California. This is where they have set up a vaccine pop-up site. It is aimed at getting shots into the arms of the underserved, under vaccinated African-American and Latino communities. It's a spinoff of the Biden/Harris supersite at Cal State Los Angeles -- a FEMA site.
When he got finished with the tour Newsom stopped and talked to the media. And he said that they own the fact that they have not been doing enough to get the shots into the black and Latino communities.
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): We have to not only save lives, but vaccinations save lives. But we've to get people back to work, and we've got to get people back into church, and we've got to get people school. And we can safely do that by truly delivering on this promise. So this is a down payment in that perspective, but we have a lot more work to do.
VERCAMMEN: In California there's a contentious debate when to reopen all schools. The members of the largest teacher's union in the state, L.A. Unified, say they just don't want to go back to school yet, it is not safe, and they point out that many schools are in poor neighborhoods where there have been huge coronavirus outbreaks.
Governor Newsome reiterated that he is going to set aside 10 percent of all future vaccine distributions for teachers and staff members at schools. He also said that he sees a bright light at the end of the tunnel. The numbers out of California much better. At last count, just 6,700 new cases and the positivity rate shrinking to 3.1 percent.
Reporting from Inglewood, I'm Paul Vercammen. Now back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE) CHURCH: Thanks for that.
And as Paulo Sandoval reported just a short time ago, a World Health Organization panel is recommending a deeper look into the origins of COVID-19. And CNN's Nick Paton Walsh joins us now from London with more details on this CNN exclusive report. And Nick, what can you tell us?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Rosemary, we know this W.H.O. panel has been expected to put its report out for a year after now finally getting it last month into China itself. And remember why this is so important. The origins of the coronavirus.
Finding out how this started so we can stop it from happening again. Now we understand from those investigators involved in drafting their report, there will be two key recommendations here.
The first one revolves around the first known patient that China has said contracted COVID-19. That's a man in his 40s who lives with his wife and child. An officer work from Wuhan who got it on December 8th they say. Now the report will recommend deeper contact tracing of this individual, specifically in reference to something he said in an interview with the W.H.O. team.
[04:25:03]
And his parents went to, quote, a local wet market. Now that's important because wet markets in China were fresh produce but also live animal, some very exotic wildlife are sold, are part of the focus. Is to try and work out whether or not the disease jumped from animals into humans at some point during that trafficking or sale of wild animals. That's the first recommendation. Let's look more deeply at who the first patient met.
The second revolves around the more commonly referred to wet market in all of this. The Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan. Now that's a place which is thought to have had a significant in the early spread of the disease. You may have heard of it already. They are now saying, the W.H.O. panel, that they want to see a more thorough look into the supply chains of that particular wet market, specifically a list of farms in the south of China that they want to see properly examined.
These are farms in provinces that are known the have species in them but potentially can harbor the coronavirus. So they want to see that examination being done as well by them or possibly with Chinese scientists doing the work for them.
The big thing here, Rosemary, is these two recommendations are things that other independent scientists who aren't on the W.H.O. panel, are frankly startled haven't already been done. One said it was implausible China hasn't already done this, given the amount of resources they pour into this sort of research on a daily basis. The other said it was surprising China haven't already gotten into it.
China says, look, an independent report isn't the same as us agreeing with Western prejudice that we're to blame and says they're being transparent. But I have to tell you, if the two key recommendations of the report focus on deeper contact tracing of the first patent, and looking into that well know seafood market, many questions are going to be asked as to what China's been doing in terms of looking into this for the past year -- Rosemary.
CHURCH: Yes, very critical points there. Nick Paton Walsh bringing us the very latest on that. Appreciate it.
Well meantime, China thinks its relationship with the U.S. has been damaged immeasurably by the Trump administration. That was the message delivered by foreign minister Wang Yi in a major speech a few hours ago. He said relations between the two countries are the worst they've been since diplomatic ties were established. But he added that he hopes the U.S. and China can work together to improve relations going forward.
You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. Still ahead, all eyes are on Washington as lawmakers decide the fate of President Biden's COVID stimulus package. Will a nearly $2 trillion bill survive the week fully intact? We'll take a look.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
