Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Henri Takes Aim At Northeast As Category 1 Hurricane; Sunday Landfall Anticipated As Hurricane Henri Eyes Northeast; Inside The Afghan Government's Chaotic Final Days; Pentagon: U.S. "Fighting Against Time And Space" With Evacuations; Florida May Fine School Districts Over Mask Mandates; Volunteers Travel To Remote Regions Of Haiti As Desperation Grows; VP Harris To Campaign For Embattled California Governor Newsom. Aired 11p-12a ET
Aired August 21, 2021 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AMARA WALKER, CNN HOST: Let's get right to Meteorologist, Tyler Mauldin, who's been tracking all this. What's the latest, Tyler?
TYLER MAULDIN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, the 11 pm update is in on Henri. This is hot off the presses. This is first time I'm seeing it, so let's analyze this together.
The first thing that I noticed is that they keep the track a little to the east of Long Island. The sustained winds are still at 75 miles per hour, but the forward speed has sped up to 21 miles per hour. I'll go ahead and tell you, hurricanes don't like a forward motion that fast, so that could help weaken a little bit as it comes ashore here along Long Island to Connecticut on into Rhode Island.
Now, we still have a hurricane warning in effect for Long Island and Connecticut. All of Connecticut and Rhode Island is under some sort of warning, whether it's a tropical storm warning or a hurricane warning. New York City is under a tropical storm warning. Nantucket is also under a tropical storm warning.
We expect the conditions to go downhill very quickly after midnight, especially the closer we get to daybreak. Then, once we get to two o'clock in the afternoon, this thing has come ashore as either a strong tropical storm or low in category 1 hurricane.
Notice the track here. This is with the 11 pm update, so this is new. They have shifted the track just a little bit to the east and it looks like instead of a direct hit on the eastern edge of Long Island, we're now looking at possibly a direct landfall right on the line of Connecticut and Rhode Island. So that's an update here with the 11 pm update from the National Hurricane Center.
And again, that will be a strong tropical storm or low in category 1. Once it makes landfall tomorrow afternoon, it's going to meander across New England for about 24 to 36 hours and rain itself out. That's problematic because we're already dealing with rainfall streaming off of the system.
In addition to the rainfall and those strong winds, we're also going to see Henri come ashore right around the time high tide for some areas. That's going to lead to some pretty high storm surge up to five feet.
In addition, we have a full moon this weekend, so those astronomical high tides or even higher. Not a good recipe. I mentioned there's going to be a lot in the way of rainfall here. We could see from New York City up through Hartford, Springfield on in Manchester about four to six inches of rain. The National Hurricane Center warns that some areas, some isolated spots could see up to 10 inches.
Mind you, we have been dealing with rainfall for the past week in this area. We've already picked up about three inches. You add in what we're going to see from this system and that's going to lead to flash flooding in some areas. That ground is saturated. You add in the wind and that's going to lead to some power outages, because the tree limbs are going to come down. Tree limbs are some of the leading causes of power outages here.
So we are looking at minor, some, I would say moderate to possibly major power outages here across New England. I've got a buddy that works for the Edison Electric Institute. He tells me that we have mutual assistance coming in, power crews coming in from about 30 states, D.C., in Canada that encompasses a large swath of the country. Power crews coming up here to New England to help restore power after Henri makes landfall. That's more than 12,000 crews, Amara.
And then you can see here the timing, conditions are just going to go downhill very quickly and we're going to be dealing with this for a little while, Amara.
WALKER: All right. You'll be with us, Tyler. Thank you for that.
MAULDIN: Got it.
WALKER: Heavy rains from the hurricane have already forced nearly 300 flight cancellations in the New York City area. Governors of the states under threat from the storms spent much of Saturday warning residents to be prepared.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D) NEW YORK: And I feel confident saying to New Yorkers that they could not be in better hands in terms of an experienced team. Now, that doesn't mean that Mother Nature doesn't win. She wins. She wins. She wanted Superstorm Sandy. She wins every time. But we will be doing everything that we can do to be prepared.
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER (R) MASSACHUSETTS: We plan and prepare for the worst and hope we never have to use those plans and may be that in this particular time, that'll be the case.
GOV. NED LAMONT (D) CONNECTICUT: We're prepared for what could be a tough storm. We got the folks on the ground ready to hit the ground running and do everything we can to keep you safe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: In Connecticut, some coastal towns are under mandatory evacuation orders. A state utility is predicting half of its customers could lose electricity due to the storm and people are being told to prepare for the worst. CNN's Brian Todd reports from New London.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Amara, there's a growing sense of concern, of unease here in New London and in Groton, Connecticut just across the Thames River from here.
[23:05:03]
Not only because these are heavily populated areas along the coastlines of Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, but also because this region just doesn't get hurricanes very much. The last hurricane to make landfall in New England was Hurricane Bob in 1991, exactly 30 years ago.
They did experience Superstorm Sandy when it came through this area nine years ago in 2012. But that was technically not a hurricane, even though it had devastating effects here and elsewhere in this region. But basically, they're preparing for hurricane Henri to hit this area of New London and Groton just across the river, could get much of the brunt of that storm and I just, a short time ago, spoke with the Mayor of Groton, Connecticut. His name is Keith Hedrick.
He talked about ordering mandatory evacuations in at least two neighborhoods of Groton and he talked about what his concerns were. Here's the Mayor of Groton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR KEITH HEDRICK (D) GROTON, CONNECTICUT: The thing that I'm worried about here is if you look at the concrete beach that we have here, the tide is going to come up and over. And if you're talking about a three to a five foot storm surge, that's higher than the top of the concrete beach and then that will flood this street and then go over to the houses that basically the way their landscape, a lot of times they're going to form a bowl.
TODD (on camera): What are you most worried about here?
HEDRICK: Well, I'm worried about that once we get flooding, I can't get access to them, so if they have a medical emergency, I can't get my first responders here and that's my concern. If somebody has a medical emergency or they have a fire or anything else, then if the waters flooded, we're not going to put a boat on there to go out and go to somebody's house.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: So Groton is expecting a lot of storm surge at least three to five feet, a lot of flooding, a lot of power outages expected here and elsewhere in Connecticut. The main company that serves the power in Connecticut is expecting at least half of their customers to be without power.
Much of that is because this region has been saturated. A lot of rain in this region in recent weeks, so they're expecting a lot of trees to be uprooted and just a lot of power outages around here. The Groton Mayor voicing a lot of concern about just not being able to get to people during the height of the storm, so that's what they're bracing for, Amara.
WALKER: All right. Brian Todd, thank you for that. And right now severe weather is also taking its toll on Tennessee. Officials in Humphreys County tell our affiliate WSMV that at least 10 people are dead after flash flooding there. And tragically, at least two of the bodies they have recovered, we are told, are toddlers, 31 people are still said to be missing.
The Tennessee National Guard says they sent a Black Hawk helicopter to the scene to assist with the water rescues and some devastating pictures we are seeing tactical vehicles and humvees also being used in rescue operations. Make sure to stay up to date on extreme weather in your area by signing up for email alerts from CNN's meteorologists and our reporters in the field. Just visit cnn.com/weatheralerts to subscribe.
Turning now to the crisis in Afghanistan, seven Afghan civilians have died today in the crushing crowds desperately trying to get on flights leaving Afghanistan. Also today, U.S. defense officials tell CNN that ISIS may be plotting an attack on the Kabul Airport. The U.S. is now developing alternative routes for safe passage and scenes of joy at Dulles Airport near Washington as some of the first evacuees from Afghanistan arrive in the U.S. and they are reunited with their loved ones. A bit of positive news and happy pictures to see concerning the story.
The Pentagon says 4,000 people have been evacuated in the last 24 hours, but thousands upon thousands are still awaiting their escape to freedom. Tonight, we learned that President Biden will again address the nation tomorrow. It will be his third time in a week.
And one of the first people to flee Afghanistan as the Taliban took over was the country's now former President. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh got an exclusive inside look at Ashraf Ghani's chaotic final days in power.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They were the final days of the Afghan government; Kandahar falling, Kabul on the edge and then suddenly the Taliban in the presidential palace. Now, a former senior Ghani administration official has given CNN for the first time their detailed account of what happened.
"Before the president," the official said, "fled to Termez in Uzbekistan for one night and then on to Dubai where he is now. There was no money with him," the official said. "He literally just had the clothes he was wearing." But why did the collapse happen so fast?
First, the official said they've estimated the local and tribal political deals the Taliban made to ease their advance.
[23:10:05] And hoped under American advice to fall back, consolidate in cities.
The cities like the vital Kandahar fell before they could. He said they've underestimated too the effect the U.S. withdrawal would have on morale. As Kabul began to look precarious, the U.S. help focus on negotiated settlement that would lead to Ghani stepping aside and transition. The president agreed to leave to ensure peace.
The official said the concern was war inside a city of 6 million people. We knew that if Ghani left, the guns would be silent. Talks were meant for Monday in Qatar, but on Sunday, the Taliban hit Kabul's outskirts. Then, Ghani's National Security Adviser got the final demand to surrender from a man the U.S. wanted as a terrorist, Khalil Haqqani, from a network affiliated with al-Qaeda.
Haqqani, a long-term Taliban negotiator wanted a peaceful transfer of power and that the government should issue a statement of surrender. But Ghani fled and the official insists there was no single scapegoat here because the process was never fully controlled by Afghans in the first place.
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Doha.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: And we have some breaking news out of Chicago, civil rights leader Jesse Jackson and his wife, Jacqueline, have been hospitalized tonight after testing positive for COVID-19. Rev. Jackson's group, Rainbow PUSH Coalition, has not released any information on their conditions. Jackson is 79 years old. His wife, 77. And we will stay across the story to bring you updates on their health as soon as we get them in.
Meantime, full FDA approval of the Pfizer vaccine is 'imminent' according to officials. Full approval could come as early as Monday. Now, this comes as the Delta variant fuels a surge of coronavirus cases. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, one in five hospital ICUs now has at least 95 percent of beds occupied and now the CDC says the rates of hospitalizations for children and young adults are at their highest level since the beginning of the pandemic.
Meantime, in some states the battle over masks continues. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis is threatening to withhold funding from schools that require masks. CNN's Evan McMorris-Santoro has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This Tampa 11- year-old had a strange first week of middle school.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANA GOMEZ, 11-YEAR-OLD STUDENT IN HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS: In two classes, I had like five kids quarantined.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO (off camera): That seems like a lot.
GOMEZ: It is scary.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was it scary?
GOMEZ: No, but one of my friends said that everyone around her was quarantined, so I'm pretty sure she was scared.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO (off camera): Are you worried you might be quarantined.
GOMEZ: Maybe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice over): At least 15 states have now mandated universal masking inside school buildings, following CDC guidelines for safer reopening amidst the Delta surge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mask were like uncomfortable, but it's for safety.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I wear my mask, that means I get to see my friends. I'll just wear masks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice over): CDC data showing last week that the hospitalization rate for children is 33 percent higher than it was in January, the previous peak. As cases have stacked up, school systems have faced widespread quarantines and rushed to make policy changes.
Between the 1st and 13th of August, Mississippi reported around 6,000 cases among students, 1,500 among staff and that's just from the county's reporting data. Mississippi leaders reinstituted hybrid learning options. Despite the urgency of these numbers, pandemic politics remain.
In Florida, the State Board of Education vowed to punish two school Boards that passed mask mandates. Other Boards voted mandates too, defying Gov. Ron DeSantis who opposes universal masking rules.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NORMA MAIZ, MOTHER OF STUDENTS IN HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Just try to (inaudible) as much as possible. If you look at your guidelines, it just said if everybody wears the mask, what I understand from it, there will be less quarantine, even if you have the same positive cases.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice over): More than 8,000 cases among students and staff have been reported in Florida's largest school districts. More than 29,000 people have quarantined so far in just those districts. And the largest district, Miami-Dade, hasn't started school yet. President Biden has said he'll step in, vowing legal action to protect school leaders battling DeSantis over masks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're not going to sit by as governors try to block and intimidate educators protecting our children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice over): But DeSantis is refusing to budge on school policy, seeming to relish a fight with the White House over schools.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R) FLORIDA: Think seriously about if the federal government can come in and overrule the rights of the parents with COVID enforce masking of kindergarteners and first graders ...
[23:15:03]
... given how COVID is such a small risk relative to past flus and other respiratory viruses, then will they be able to do that every single school year?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice over): Evan McMorris-Santoro, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: Could Florida school Board members actually be punished for telling students they need to wear masks? We'll ask the head of Broward County Schools why she is fighting state leaders. For Rosalind Osgood, it is personal. She moved to defy Gov. Ron DeSantis' mask mandate ban after three Broward County teachers died of COVID within a day of each other. We'll be speaking with her.
Also coming up this hour, Dr. Jonathan Reiner on whether we can really vaccinate our way out of the pandemic.
And then saluting the U.S. troops right in the chaos of Kabul, putting themselves in danger to get Afghan allies to safety. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:19:33]
WALKER: Scenes of joy at Dulles Airport near Washington as some of the first evacuees from Afghanistan arrive in the U.S. and are reunited with their loved ones. Finally, we can talk about scenes of joy regarding Afghanistan.
The Pentagon says 4,000 people have been evacuated in the last 24 hours, but thousands upon thousands are still awaiting their escaped from the country.
[23:20:01]
And the Pentagon says time is the enemy.
CNN Pentagon Correspondent Oren Liebermann has more now on this shift by U.S. troops to humanitarian mission.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Kabul has become a tale of two cities. Outside the gated walls of the airport; panic, despair. Inside the compound, there is what so many Afghans feared was lost, a measure of hope.
There are 5,800 troops at Hamid Karzai International Airport, some for security of the most important real estate in the country right now.
But for many others, this is a humanitarian mission. The military has come with food, water and medical supplies. Here, something as simple as water, large, clear plastic bottles, something that's small, has an impact on those fleeing for their lives, especially after hours of waiting in the summer heat of Afghanistan.
A father passes his child to a Marine for medical help. The Marines say the infant was treated and reunited with family at the airport.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Having prepared and partially executed a NEO, a non-combatant evacuation operation like what we're seeing right now, it is the toughest mission the military does. So many challenges that require continuous adaptation to changing circumstances.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIEBERMANN (voice over): Here, another child passed to Marines, a picture that underscores how important Afghans feel it is to leave the country they once knew. Powerful images like this have helped define this evacuation effort, pictures of the crowd and pictures of the people.
It is a difficult mission. One the White House acknowledged is a dangerous one, under pressure from the clock, the environment and the enemy. But it is one that presses on and brings some hope, maybe even some happiness to those who have known days of fear.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: And that was CNN Pentagon Correspondent Oren Liebermann.
For the past few weeks, CNN's Clarissa Ward has been doing some really extraordinary reporting from Afghanistan as the Taliban steamrolled the sitting government and then took over the country. We are grateful to report that she and her crew are now safely in Doha, Qatar after getting aboard a flight packed with Afghan men, women and children, some of them infants.
Before leaving, she filed this report from Kabul airport and that a sea of people desperate to get out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): After three weeks in Afghanistan, we joined the crowds at Kabul Airport. Now, the only way out of the country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (on camera): There's a huge block here. Lots of cars.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (voice over): Hundreds of people wait in the blistering heat, hoping for a flight out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (on camera): So we just managed to get into the airport compound and I have to say it was pretty intense. It's just like this crash of desperate people and screaming children, women and babies. And, yes, it's not often you really see desperation like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (voice over): The few people that do make it are exhausted and scared, but they're the lucky ones. They've made it past the Taliban checkpoints, Afghan security guards and finally the airport gate. But they can't forget those who they left behind.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're getting out. We're happy for that. But we're heartbroken for our country, especially for those who can't get out. Those who are stuck here. We're really heartbroken. Our heart bleeds for them.
WARD (off camera): What do you feel for all the mothers with young daughters who will now be growing up under Taliban rule?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pain. Lots of pain.
WARD (on camera): The back of a pretty long line now transportations under strain, they said, and obviously the priority is getting children and babies out as soon as possible. But I think we'll probably be here for a while.
Do you work for the U.S. military or ...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not military but we are working with the Ministry of ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Defense. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... Defense.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Afghanistan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But we are also work with the foreign people too.
WARD (off camera): And so you have visa?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes we have documents and visa too.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (voice over): As we interview this couple, suddenly shouts behind us, a vehicle speeds through.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (on camera): That's a newborn baby that just flew past in that vehicle. That was a newborn. Did you see the baby? It was this big.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[23:25:00]
WARD (voice over): The baby we find out has heatstroke and needs treatment. A reminder for these families that they're close to safety, but not there yet. We stand in the blazing hot sun for hours. Everyone's seeking what shelter they can. Patients wearing thin.
It's an agonizingly slow process but finally we're allowed inside. Out on the tarmac now safe but the chaos continues.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been waiting for two days, yesterday since 3 am.
WARD (on camera): Yesterday since 3 am.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
WARD (on camera): Tell me what the situation was like trying to get into the airport.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was really busy and a lot of people are just fighting and trying to make way for themselves. But we push through.
WARD (on camera): We are certainly some of the very lucky ones here. Others, as you heard from that young man have been waiting for two days. Others we saw getting turned around, sent back, told you don't have the appropriate paperwork and there's no question everybody here is doing their best, but it's not clear if it's fast enough, if enough people can get out and how much longer they have to finish this massive operation. Clarissa Ward, CNN Kabul.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: Thanks to Clarissa for all that reporting.
Now, the ongoing Delta surge is a big part of back to school anxiety this year understandably. The Chair of Broward County Schools says her district is not backing away from its massive mandate despite a threat from the Governor, repeated threats. She joins us next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:30:24]
WALKER: In Florida, the battle over school mask mandates keeps heating up. Governor Ron DeSantis has forbidden them, but in Broward County, the state's largest school system -- second largest school system, School Board Chairwoman, Rosalind Osgood is pushing back. She saw three teachers in her district die of COVID within a day of each other.
Rosalind Osgood joining me now to talk more about this. Rosalind, good evening to you. Thanks so much for being with me.
So, you and I spoke just the other day. We know the clock is ticking. You and the rest of the Broward County School Board were given what -- a 48-hour deadline as of Friday to comply and relax your mask mandate. Are you guys going to meet that deadline?
ROSALIND OSGOOD, SCHOOL BOARD CHAIRWOMAN, BROWARD COUNTY: Well, we're going to meet the deadline in a sense that we're going to respond and give a letter, a written response. But we will open school Monday and still mandate masks. We cannot have students and staff in school in closed environments where we can't practice social distancing, and not have people wearing masks.
It's just not something that you could do with the COVID virus rising so highly. Our positivity rates is so high. Florida continues to break records with new COVID cases every day. We just can't risk people's lives.
WALKER: So you're not budging. You will maintain that mask mandate that does not allow parents to opt their children out. And if you go that route, as you say, you and the board members will, how soon will it be before the Broward County School Board starts to be financially penalized? And what will that mean for the students?
OSGOOD: Well, we don't know yet exactly what the timeframe is. But it looks like the governor is now saying that he is going to withhold the salaries of the eight school board members that voted for the mandate. So, it'll be about $31,000.00 per month that he will withhold.
And I just personally don't understand why the governor will want to defund education in Florida. We have seven or eight other school boards that have gone to mandatory mask, some of them opened up with masks being optional, and saw such rise in COVID cases and people having to quarantine, and they've had to change their position.
It's just not something you could do in the midst of a global pandemic and put people's lives at risk.
WALKER: And do you guys have a plan? I mean, $30,000.00 is quite a lot of money per month. Will you be tapping into the Federal funds that the White House offered up -- at least President Biden did, to, I believe it was you or the interim superintendent over the phone?
OSGOOD: Well, what President Biden said is that he would allow us to take the money from our extra dollars. Those are our elementary and secondary education dollars, but it still means that we will be short of those funds because if we didn't have to take them from that pot of money, we could use that pot of money to help students and put those dollars into the classrooms.
You know, it's one of those things where I guess, our love for our students and our staff is becoming now something that's being used to penalize our district. And it's just such -- I don't know, it's just such a horrible predicament to be in because people's lives are invaluable, and there's no amount of money that the governor could withhold that would make me personally vote to risk somebody's lives and put them at a chance of getting the COVID virus.
WALKER: You know, and I know you've been at the center of this. You've heard these debates between parents and community members, some who don't even believe masks work. And of course, there's a science and the studies and just commonsense would tell you.
And you know, countless studies show that. I mean, JAMA, one of the most respected medical journals in the country, "The Journal of the American Medical Association" says masks prevent transmission quote, "Blocking exhalation of virus containing droplets into the air. And secondly, masks protect uninfected wearers by forming a barrier." I'm quoting a study.
Also, a recent AXIOS/Ipsos poll shows nearly 70 percent, 69 percent overall of Americans support mask mandates in schools. So, I'm not sure what this controversy is about.
But I'm just curious to know like what kind of feedback have you been getting from the community since you voted with much of your school board to require masks inside the classroom?
OSGOOD: Our community is happy. Of course, everybody is living in disarray because of this pandemic. But I visited seven schools on the first day on Wednesday when we started school and got to talk to a number of parents who expressed how grateful they were that we put their children's lives first, talked to teachers, and bus drivers and they feel much safer with the masks.
[22:35:13] OSGOOD: You know, it's basic. What we do know is that when positivity
rates were lower, we wore masks and they helped us. Wearing a mask can help you.
There has not been one study that says wearing a mask can kill you. We know that the coronavirus can kill you. If you're not wearing a mask, you put yourself at risk for losing your life or suffering some lifelong complication from the COVID virus.
Wearing a mask, if we're wrong, and we put everybody in mask, nobody's going to die or lose their life for wearing a mask. We just can't play games, play Russian roulette with people's lives.
WALKER: That's a very good point. Rosalind Osgood, I thank you for staying up late with us. Thank you for that conversation, and best of luck to you.
All right, let's talk more about this. And joining me now with more on this sadly hot button issue is CNN medical analyst, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, Professor of Medicine at George Washington University.
Good evening to you, Doctor. So, I just spent this past week in a COVID hotspot, Florida. In talking to officials there, the hospitals are overwhelmed. The mask fight clearly, highly politicized, very irrational, very emotional and I'll tell you, I was super concerned. I have little kids at home we don't have the option of being vaccinated.
And I took my -- my husband made me, but I took my N95 with me wherever I went. Should we all be dusting off those N95's if we have access to them for routine trips to the grocery store or elsewhere?
DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Absolutely. Look, I think the Federal government should make these masks available to everyone in the country. N95 masks and NK95 masks sort of the civilian version of the medical mask are very effective at preventing infection.
During the hottest months of this pandemic, the safest places to be have basically been in hospitals where staff had been wearing N95 masks. There have been several studies that have shown that the infection rates in hospitals in communities that have high positivity rates, the positivity rates in the hospital are substantially lower, so we know these masks work.
There was a plan in the Trump administration that the Trump administration canceled to send masks to every household in April of 2020, and I would love to see the Federal government make it easier for every American to have a supply of KN95 masks. That would go a long way to quell some of the transmission right now.
WALKER: Well, let me ask you this because we know that more and more companies like Disney and Walmart and Google, they are requiring their employees to be vaccinated. But Dr. Reiner, we also know on the other side that the efficacy of vaccines and studies have shown this. I think the Pfizer CEO was talking about this that the efficacy wanes after six months or so.
So how comfortable should the fully vaccinated be around other fully vaccinated people unmasked indoors?
REINER: Well, what we've seen in Provincetown, Massachusetts, on the cape, the beginning of the summer was the ability for vaccinated people to transmit the virus to other vaccinated people. So I think indoors, when you can wear a mask, you should wear a mask, I do.
I go into a store, I have a mask on. I wear a KN95 mask outside the hospital, I wear an N95 mask in the hospital. So I think, you know, I risk nothing by wearing a mask, and I don't need to stress the vaccine.
I will say that everyone in this country will be boosted. I think -- we've seen actually in Israel, that boosting people more than six months out has the ability actually no to suppress infection and hospitalization rates. So, that's coming to the United States. That's going to give us another level of safety.
WALKER: Well, and lastly, I mean, the Pfizer vaccine, we were saying could get full F.D.A. approval as early as Monday. So, if that happens, do you see this to be a game changer at least when it comes to compliance or mandates in states or school districts?
REINER: Well, I hope so. First of all, I think once the vaccine is approved for our children 12 and over, that vaccine should be mandated for children 12 and older. Just about every state in the country mandates vaccines for school aged children. Some states mandate about 10 vaccines, and this should be the 11th mandated all across the country.
I think we'll see businesses mandate vaccines. We've already seen the Federal government start to do this with the military and other parts of Federal employees.
[09:40:10]
REINER: And moreover, the Kaiser Family Foundation surveys have shown that there are about a third of the folks who are currently unvaccinated, have stated a willingness to become vaccinated once the vaccine is fully approved. So, I think we will see an increase in vaccine uptake once the vaccine is approved.
WALKER: Yes, but obviously, a lot of concern amongst parents as well regarding this school year, right, and what a winter will hold. We're going to have to leave it there, Dr. Jonathan Reiner. Very interesting conversation. Thank you for that.
REINER: My pleasure.
WALKER: All right, coming up, a week after a devastating earthquake hit Haiti, many areas still have received little or no help at all.
Next, we'll see why rescue crews and volunteers are struggling to get to the places earthquake aid cannot reach.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WALKER: One week after a massive earthquake devastated Haiti, injured
Haitians from remote parts of the country continue to flood hospitals near the epicenter. More than 2,000 people are dead, many more thousands are injured or homeless, and the ongoing wait for humanitarian aid to reach them is adding to the desperation.
CNN's Matt Rivers is in Haiti, witnessing firsthand what rescuers are up against.
[23:45:04]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Our chopper takes off with no clear destination in mind, flying with charity group World Central Kitchen or WCK, we want to find remote villages in Haiti that still need help. A week after this earthquake just finding out where the needs are, remains a challenge. A tip led us to Grande Cayemite an island off Haiti's coast.
On the ground, we're told damage is actually a bit further west, which it is seen from above. Dozens of structures were damaged and the contact in town told us no one has come to help them yet, but we can't either.
RIVERS (on camera): So, there was damage in that town and the people there clearly wanted us to land, but the problem was there was no safe area for us to touch down and that gives you an idea of how difficult it is to access these places.
Just because you want to go somewhere doesn't mean that you can, at least right away.
RIVERS (voice over): Another tip leads us back into Haiti's mountains and the remote town of Minish. Destruction greets us as we land and the charity starts to assess the damage.
RIVERS (on camera): In terms of figuring out exactly what needs what, you really need to go to the ground?
JEAN MARC DEMATTEIS, BOARD MEMBER, WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN: Correct and unlock these areas are remote for the cell service has been knocked out and due to damage from the earthquake. So, there's no substitute for just getting out there and on the ground.
RIVERS (voice over): Their team fans out and so do we, the damage is as bad as anything we've seen. Entire blocks destroyed, near some damage, the distinct smell of bodies lingers. Amidst all the rubble, there is grief.
Rose Mika Fontus' mom died when her home collapsed. "My mom was everything to us," she says, "And now she's gone. We're just waiting for help."
Rose is now homeless, saying the government has yet to visit her town. They've had to make do with what they have, not easy in such a remote place. That's where charities like WKC are trying to help fill the gap.
People crowd around as the team drops off a few hundred sandwiches. Now that they know where to go, aid workers save thousands more meals will likely follow soon.
RIVERS (on camera): And of course, it is a good thing that organizations like the World Central Kitchen have identified. This town is in dire need of assistance, and that they're starting to figure out exactly what those needs are. But those are just first steps, unfortunately. Getting those substantive resources actually moved into that area is a different challenge altogether. And this is not the only town affected by this earthquake. They're scattered throughout the region, affected by all of this, many of which haven't gotten any help so far.
Matt Rivers, CNN, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: Still ahead, an up close look at the leading Republican candidates in the California recall race, a radio host with a long history of sexist comments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:51:22]
WALKER: California Governor Gavin Newsom is getting some help as he tries to keep his job, Vice President Kamala Harris plans to campaign for him next week. Posing a serious threat is the top Republican running against Newsom who has never held elected office. CNN's Kyung Lah has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's going to be no question so.
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): California Gubernatorial Candidate Larry Elder won't stop to answer our questions outside his public rally, what he prefers -- the prepared stage and his fans.
Elder is the leading Republican candidate in the recall election of Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom.
LARRY ELDER (R), CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: This man that I'm going to defeat on September the 14th.
LAH (voice over): A Trump supporter and talk radio fixture, Elder is energizing the Republican base.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Larry Elder.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know it's a Democratic state. Larry Elder is the one that can save us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The momentum is going with the Republicans hopefully.
ELDER: Good morning, road rangers.
LAH (voice over): A first time candidate, he's never held office, better known for inflammatory take no prisoners talk in conservative radio. His sharpest comments are on race and gender.
ELDER: I argue that the welfare state has incentivized women to marry the government.
I've always felt that minorities and women complain too much about racism and sexism.
LAH (voice over): In May 2000, Elder penned this editorial writing, "Women know less than men about political issues, economics, and current events." Adding, "The less one knows, the easier the manipulation."
And family leave, Elder tweeted in 2016, "You have no right to maternity leave." Just this week, Elder said employers should be able to ask women if they plan on getting pregnant.
ELDER: And I believe that a female employee-her could ask questions of a female employee-he or a male employee that directly impacts on whether or not that person is going to be available to work full time, a full 40 hour a week.
LAH (voice over): On climate change, this was Elder's position in 2008.
ELDER: The bad news is that global warming is a crock.
LAH (voice over): It's a position his campaign indicates he has evolved from, now believing man may be partially involved in climate change. But Elder spent years online promoting global warming as a myth.
He also posted a 10 steps to fix America plan which include abolish the I.R.S., eliminate corporate taxes, take government out of education, arguing it should be in the hands of the private sector, legalize drugs, and abolish the minimum wage.
That position has not changed.
Elder tweeted this month, "The ideal minimum wage is zero." One position shifting just this month, who won the 2020 election to "The Sacramental Bee."
ELDER: I do believe that Joe Biden won the election.
LAH (voice over): Then just two weeks later after blowback from the Trump base.
ELDER (via phone): Do I believe that Joe Biden won the election fair and square? Give me a mulligan on that one, Jen and Grant, no, I don't. ELDER: Was there election fraud in 2020? Are you kidding me?
LAH (voice over): But the factual flip flop isn't sitting well with Trump supporters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Elder, you're beating around the bush. Do you believe that Joe Biden won the election fairly and squarely? Please address the question.
ELDER: I'm answering the question.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, you're not.
LAH (voice over): He didn't want to talk to us about it either.
LAH (on camera): There was that last question, the second and the last question.
ELDER: Why don't you talk about --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sorry.
ELDER: Why don't you talk about what else I talked about? Are you concerned about any of those things?
LAH (voice over): He didn't stick around long enough for me to ask.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: Extraordinary reporting by our Kyung Lah reporting from Los Angeles.
[23:55:00]
WALKER: "A free form jazz odyssey of a concert," that is how our own Anderson Cooper described what was meant to be New York City's celebration of pandemic progress. That was until the party was put on pause for hours due to lightning.
"We love NYC: The Homecoming Concert" was ultimately called off. But here's a look at some of the amazing performances that did make it onto the air.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK CITY: This is the greatest concert in the history of New York City, you were all there for you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: Bummer. But is still a beautiful night. Thank you for joining me this evening. I'm Amara Walker. "Newsroom" with Michael Holmes is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:00:00]
