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Infrastructure Negotiations; Interview With State Sen. Shevrin Jones (D-FL); Half of U.S. Population Now Vaccinated. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired August 06, 2021 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:00]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: It's a brand-new hour. It's good to be with you. I'm Victor Blackwell.

And the U.S. is reaching a major milestone today. Half of the U.S. population is now vaccinated against the coronavirus, but the average U.S. daily case count is now above 98,000. And COVID wards are getting close to capacity.

The Delta variant is continuing to surge across this country, predominantly preying on the unvaccinated. And Republican governors of states with low vaccination rates are urging people to get the shots before it is too late.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JIM JUSTICE (R-WV): There's more and more and more concern about absolutely getting yourself vaccinated and we're running out of time. You're absolutely running out of time.

GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): We now live in a state with two groups of people, those who are vaccinated and those who are not vaccinated, two groups of people, those vaccinated, who are safe and, sadly, those who are not vaccinated, who are not safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now in Florida, the national epicenter of the pandemic, the crisis is deepening. It accounts for one-fifth of all cases in the U.S.

Now, the state also leads the nation in the number of adults and children hospitalized. Look at that chart. And yet Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is adamant that he will not allow any local mask or vaccine mandates.

CNN's Leyla Santiago is in Miami.

Leyla, where do things stand now?

LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, I actually just talked to the Florida Hospital Association, and they were stressing to me how concerned they are about critical staffing shortages, given the surges that we have seen in hospitalizations, in case numbers, new case numbers.

And so there's a lot of concerns, not just over at the hospitals, but also at the schools, where, next week, a lot of them will start with the first day of school. And this has just happened today. The Board of Education here has passed a new rule.

This falls under Governor DeSantis' executive order that he signed last week that basically says that if a parent feels that their child is in any way experiencing some sort of COVID-19 discrimination or some sort of harassment, that they can now use a voucher to take their student out of the school.

This is the latest coming from Governor Ron DeSantis, who has been in a bit of a feud with President Joe Biden, who told him, if you're not going to help, get out the way. And that didn't sit well with Governor Ron DeSantis. They have had an exchange of words.

The last thing President Biden said when he was asked about what the governor is doing, he said, "Governor who?" And now DeSantis is saying this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): I guess I'm not surprised that Biden doesn't remember me. I guess the question is, what else has he forgotten?

(LAUGHTER)

DESANTIS: Biden's forgotten about the crisis at our Southern border, I can tell you that.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Not only is Governor DeSantis not abiding by public health decisions. He's fund-raising off of this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANTIAGO: And so the concern for many here is that a health crisis is now turning into a political crisis in a state that, again, is seeing hospitalizations and case numbers surge.

I mean, they are opening more testing sites here in Miami-Dade County. They -- the county is requiring testing of its employees if they're not vaccinating. And now even the hospital, Jackson Health System just imposed a vaccine mandate for its health care workers.

[15:05:08]

So, on a local level, folks taking additional measures, but between the state and the federal government, you're seeing quite a bit of exchanges between President Biden and Governor Ron DeSantis.

BLACKWELL: Leyla Santiago for us in Miami, thanks so much.

Let's bring in now to talk more about this Democrat state Senator Shevrin Jones. Senator, thanks for being with me.

I want to talk more about this new rule that Leyla talked about. It caught my attention too. I just printed it out. I want to read for you a new term coming out of the Florida Department of Education called COVID-19 harassment. And here's the definition, "any threatening discriminatory, insulting or dehumanizing verbal, written or physical contact that an individual student suffers in relation to or as a result of school district protocols for COVID-19."

But they go on to define this as masking requirements, separation or isolation of students, testing requirements that have the effect of substantially interfering with a student's educational performance, opportunities or benefits.

Your reaction to this new rule and the definition of now COVID-19 harassment in Florida?

STATE SEN. SHEVRIN JONES (D-FL): Well, Victor, to be clear, in 2018, when we voted on the Schools of Hope, the Republicans made it clear that that -- the Schools of Hope was to be used as a voucher -- quote -- "if children were being bullied in school."

Now the Republicans in Florida have expanded that scope into making bullying fit their narrative to score political talking points. Texas and Florida are one-third of the country's total COVID cases. And the totals, this -- totals this one week and Florida are higher than any other point of the pandemic.

The governor has utilized the Department of Health, has utilized the Department of Education as his political pawns to be able to score political points on the backs of public health crisis that we're in right now.

BLACKWELL: So, this threat from the governor on not just the individual schools, but the districts that mandate these mask requirements, that he would potentially pull funding from them, Broward County, we know, is rethinking right now theirs under this new executive order from the governor.

What role does the legislature have in withholding that money? Can you stop it if you try?

JONES: Well, the -- it's unconstitutional and it's unlawful on its merits.

And that's why even the Democrats, although we're in the minority, when politicians can't do it, people do it. And so that's why I'm happy that the people on the ground, parents, are now suing the state of Florida for our negligence and what the legislature is doing currently right now.

The governor, he's a Harvard Law School graduate. So he knew, on the surface, that his executive order that he put forth last week was not going to fly. And so that's why he went the other way to go through the board to be able to do this unprecedented action in calling this emergency meeting, when school starts next week.

When they should be doing emergency things to make sure students are safe, they're doing the total opposite. And they did the total opposite today.

BLACKWELL: We don't talk enough about teachers and what this means for them in the classroom trying to keep their students safe, but also following the district guidance and what we're seeing from the state.

If I have this right, you're a former teacher?

JONES: I am. I'm a former AP chemistry teacher.

And, to be clear, to be in a classroom with 25 to 28 students, it is a petri dish of bacteria and germs inside of a classroom. And for the governor and for my Republican colleagues to go down this road is nothing but a political talking point that they're doing right now that's doing nothing but putting the safety of our teachers and our students at risk, again, when school starts next week.

BLACKWELL: All right, Florida State Senator Shevrin Jones, thank you for your time.

JONES: Thank you for having me.

BLACKWELL: Let's turn to Texas now.

It's reporting the second most cases behind Florida in the past week. And in a sign of how dire the situation is there, I want to show you these pictures. An 11-month-old girl from the Houston area needed to be airlifted to another hospital 150 miles away because there was no bed space for her.

One of the officials at the hospital says they were disheartened by the transfer, but not surprised.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. CHRISTINE PROPST, PEDIATRICIAN: The level of sick visits that we have seen this summer, June, July and now August, I have never seen in 20 years of practice here in Houston.

It is typical that, two weeks after the start of school, we see a great surge of strep, of other sources of infection. We are bracing ourselves, because, this year, it will -- it will -- it's not a question of whether it will -- it will be bad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: No, as Texas cases surge, officials are issuing updated guidance for public schools, some of which run counter to CDC recommendations. We have talked about them.

[15:10:07]

On the top of the governor's ban on mask mandates, the Texas Education Agency says that if a student is determined to have close contact with someone infected, the school is not required to notify the parents of the exposed student.

The guidance also says the schools are not required to conduct contact tracing. And CDC recommends that close contacts who have not been fully vaccinated should get a COVID test, and regardless of the results should quarantine for 14 days after exposure.

The agency also recommends that schools should notify teachers, staff and families of students who were close contacts as soon as possible.

Let's turn now to Dr. Ali Khan. He's the dean of the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. He's also a former senior official at the CDC.

Dr. Khan, thank you for being here.

I want to start here with what they have decided in Texas. I mean, we don't talk enough about contact tracing as a mitigation strategy against this virus. What do they lose now by not requiring that once they have identified a positive case?

DR. ALI KHAN, FORMER CDC OFFICIAL: So, thank you, Victor.

Yes, essentially, they're tossing public health measures completely out the window. And to be honest with you, what we have done is, we have made children in schools a political battleground.

So, let's replace COVID with measles. And let me -- let us say, you know what, if you get infected, if you get exposed to measles, don't worry about contact tracing, isolation, don't worry about vaccination. We would think it's absolutely crazy.

We should think the exact same thing for COVID.

BLACKWELL: You know, we heard from that medical professional in Texas after we showed the pictures of that 11-month-old girl who had to be transferred to another hospital.

The fatigue of our front-line workers, as we watch in states that have enacted these bans on mask mandates, on vaccine mask mandates -- on vaccine mandates, what should the concern be? What's the impact of that fatigue?

KHAN: So, a couple of slices to that.

One is, it breaks my heart as a pediatrician to see this happening. So, last week, I think we had 72,000 kids who were infected here, and that's about 20 percent of all our cases are now kids. It's going up about 3 percent a week.

So, again, because the adults aren't being responsible by getting vaccinated, we're putting this burden of this disease on kids. So we really need to think about how we get adults vaccinated and protect our children. BLACKWELL: So, on the vaccination point, we learned from the CDC

director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, is that COVID-19 vaccines no longer prevent transmission. They're fantastic at preventing severe illness and death, but not transmission.

How does a vaccinated person apply that to their life? What should we change now with that?

KHAN: So, prevents transmission if you happen to get infected.

So, let's be very clear. There's a small proportion of people who get vaccinated who then develop these breakthrough infections. And, yes, with the Delta variant, if you develop a breakthrough infection, you can transmit to others.

But vaccines are our solution to this problem. We have a small handful of people who are vaccinated and are problematic. This is really a pandemic of the unvaccinated. And it's all about masks, masks for our kids in school -- we know that works and protects them -- and masks for all indoor spaces, public indoor spaces.

BLACKWELL: So, let's talk about outdoor spaces. We know the reporting, our Omar Jimenez is following this out of Milwaukee.

After the huge crowds we saw at -- outside the Milwaukee Bucks game when they won the NBA championship, that 500 cases have been tracked back to this. Now, we don't know the vaccine status of them inside, outside, but should people be wearing masks, vaccinated people, outdoors in crowded spaces as well?

KHAN: So, in severely crowded spaces with individuals, you don't know if they're vaccinated or not, potentially.

But, in general, outdoor spaces are safe. I think you need to remember the Bucks game. There's lots of other examples. Probably people then go to bars. They go to hotels, restaurants, et cetera. And there's this sort of mixed indoor exposure.

So, pure outdoor exposures, lots of air and wind and sky around you, are probably really safe.

BLACKWELL: All right, good to hear.

Dr. Ali Khan, thank you.

KHAN: You're welcome.

And, Victor, remember mask on again.

BLACKWELL: All right, we remember. Dr. Ali Khan, thank you.

That's a big mask. Thank you very much.

(LAUGHTER)

BLACKWELL: All right. Governor Andrew Cuomo's legal team set to speak in just a few minutes,

after one of the women accusing him of harassment files a criminal complaint.

And Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer accuses the GOP of trying to slow down the passage of the infrastructure bill. Of course, this is coming ahead of a key vote set for tomorrow.

[15:15:04]

We are live on the hill.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: The bipartisan deal on infrastructure is getting closer to passage. Tomorrow, senators will meet for a key procedural vote. They couldn't reach a deal last night on quick passage of the bill.

[15:20:06]

CNN's Manu Raju is on Capitol Hill.

So, Manu, what has to happen tomorrow for this bill to move forward?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the next big hurdle is one to shut down debate in the Senate. That would require 60 senators to vote in the affirmative to advance this bill.

That means 50 Democrats, who are all expected to join ranks to go ahead, and also 10 Republican senators. And there were 17 Republican senators who initially voted to take up the bill. There's a wide expectation that right now they will get those 60 votes tomorrow.

And then, afterwards, there is time about 30 -- 60 hours of debate altogether that would have to occur before they can move to final passage. Now, they can agree to move up the final passage time to sometime tomorrow, but that requires an agreement of all 100 senators, and there are some that actually want amendments to be offered to the bill.

So they need to still negotiate some of those finer details. But, ultimately, Victor, this bill will pass the Senate. Then it goes on to the House. Questions still whether they can get that to the House, as Democratic leaders are trying to tie it to a larger $3.5 trillion plan that Democrats only will support.

And that's still uncertain whether that can also get through both chambers, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Yes, we will see if they can move both of those through.

Let me ask you about the Republican Senate candidates that we're hearing who are criticizing this bill potentially to align themselves with former President Trump. Tell us about that.

RAJU: Yes, increasingly, you're seeing all around in key primaries across the country that these Republican Senate candidates who are running for open seats are universally opposed to this bill, aligning themselves with Trump, who put out a statement saying that everybody, all Republicans have blocked this bill.

He didn't really give much of a rationale. But a lot of Republican candidates are falling in Trump's camp. That is much different than what's happening on Capitol Hill, where there are a number of Republican senators, including ones who are running for reelection, like Senators Todd Young, Senators Lisa Murkowski, Senator John Thune, who might run for reelection, who are indicating that they could move -- vote to move ahead or definitely vote to support it, in the case of Murkowski and likely Todd Young.

You're showing the split between Republicans on the Hill and the Republican candidates. Many of those candidates, of course, want to cater to that base and don't want to give an inch to the right. And they believe, if they were to break with Donald Trump, that could hurt them potentially come 2022, a sign of where this party is headed, at least in the primary electorate, but a different sign than on Capitol Hill, where even Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, is signaling he's likely to support this -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: One more here on voting rights, some new reporting about the next steps on that legislation in the Senate.

What do you know?

RAJU: There's talk among Democrats to try to unify behind one proposal to try to essentially combat what they believe are the efforts on the state level to clamp down on voting access all around the country.

But there's a problem, Victor. There are not going to be 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican-led filibuster in the Senate. So, right now, this is a messaging exercise among Democrats. They want to unify, potentially trying to force a vote before the August recess. But, ultimately, that's not going to become law. It will be a political argument on the campaign trail next year.

BLACKWELL: All right, Manu Raju for us there on Capitol Hill, thank you.

RAJU: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: So, any minute now, we're going to hear from Governor Andrew Cuomo's legal team. They're going to make their case about the sexual harassment allegations the governor is facing.

And live pictures here. This is South Dakota. Thousands of bikers are flocking to this Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. And there are new concerns, as there were last year, about super-spreader, this being a super- spreader event, I should say.

We are live there. We will get you the latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [15:28:25]

BLACKWELL: This weekend, hundreds of thousands of bikers will be in South Dakota for the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

And with COVID still a major threat, as we have discussed all day, health officials are giving attendees self test kits. This is an attempt to prevent an outbreak. But the CDC said last year's rally, which attracted 460,000 people, was, no question, a super-spreader event.

CNN's Adrienne Broaddus is in Sturgis.

So, tell us more about the rally and what they're trying to do to prevent the spread this year.

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Victor.

There are some mitigation factors in place. For example, all along this street, you will see hand sanitizing stations. And the city has partnered with the state health department to offer COVID tests for free for anyone who requests them.

But we do know, this year, more people are expected to show up. The pandemic and the rise of the Delta variant isn't enough to keep people away. An estimated 700,000 people will flood Sturgis. The town is a small town, population of about 7,000.

We spoke with a local doctor. And this is what he said about how those tests will work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SHANKAR KURRA, RAPID CITY HOSPITAL: These are rapid antigen test kits. You just take the swab out of the kit, take a sample from your nose, put it back in the kit. Fifteen minutes later, it'll tell you if you're positive or negative.

If you're having symptoms and it is a positive test, clearly, you're positive. If you're having symptoms and it's negative, you need to go and get tested, because, sometimes, these tests can fail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROADDUS: And the city is also offering masks to anyone who wants to wear one.