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Fists Fly after Florida School Announces Mask Mandate; Florida Group Buys Portable Morgues to Help with Surge of COVID Deaths; Poll: Vaccine Hesitancy May Be Fading Away; Desparate Afghans Crowd Border Seeking Asylum in Pakistan; McCarthy Rips Biden's Decision to Leave Afghanistan with Americans Still There; Thousands Evacuated Around Lake Tahoe as Caldor Fire Intensifies. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired August 31, 2021 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[13:34:07]
ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: To Florida and ground zero in the battle over mask mandates. Last night, police had to break up physical fights after another school district put new safety measures in place.
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UNIDENTIFIED NEWS CORRESPONDENT: So as you can see, fists are now flying. All this on live television. Fists are flying.
(SHOUTING)
UNIDENTIFIED NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Unbelievable what we are seeing here today. Unfold live.
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CABRERA: Oh, boy.
CNN correspondent, Leyla Santiago, is in Miami.
This is just plain ugly, Leyla. But the situation is growing more dire in the state. How so?
LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It is not a pretty picture.
We are right now, at Jackson Memorial, one of the larger health systems in south Florida. I'm told they have refrigerated freight trucks on standby to have precautionary means, given the influx of deaths they're seeing.
[13:35:08]
It's not just south Florida. This central Florida disaster medical coalition, they, too, are bringing in additional mobile morgues. They say they're doing that at the request of the hospitals that say they need more and more capacity given the deaths.
You're looking at four of what will be delivered this week. They are delivering four of those today to hospitals that have requested them. And then they'll have an additional 10 by the end of the week.
The coalition telling me that the number-one priority right now is Volusia County, the Daytona Beach area.
Let's keep this in perspective. Some of these hospitals and health systems are taking them in as a precautionary measure. In other words, they don't have immediate need for them.
But then you have some like a health system we spoke to out of Broward County that says they're already using additional coolers to deal with the influx in COVID-19 deaths right now -- Ana?
CABRERA: Wow.
Leyla Santiago, thank you for your update.
And at least there's a sign of progress here. New surveys showing a potential shift in the number of vaccine hesitant Americans.
And senior data reporter, Harry Enten, is tracking that for us.
Walk us through it, Harry.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yes. Finally good news. I like talking about good news.
CABRERA: Me, too.
ENTEN: Take a look here of adults. What you see is that the percentage who say they're not likely to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, we're at half the level we were in January. It even drops significantly from mid-April.
It is look at children. Will parents get their kids the vaccines? Look at this. My child will definitely not receive a COVID-19 vaccine. In early June, it was 34 percent. Dropped to 25 percent in early August. Now down to 19 percent.
So we're seeing some real progress on people, sort of that hesitancy and that reluctancy slipping away.
CABRERA: Is there reasoning behind this shift? Why the change? And is there any indication of what else could change more minds?
ENTEN: I think there are two things going on. Number one, when it comes to why we've seen the slippage in the hesitancy over the past few months, I think fear is a factor.
What you see is, do folks see a risk in going back to their normal activities that they saw before the COVID-19 pandemic? And look at this. Look at this. And 60 percent say there's a larger
moderate risk now to going back to the normal pre-COVID life. Now it's 30 percent, half the level in early June.
Looking forward, what might get more people to get the vaccination? Number one, that full FDA approval. We see 35 percent of people who are unvaccinated say it's more likely they'll now get the vaccine because of the full FDA approval of Pfizer.
Also team it up with employer mandates for vaccinations, 43 percent say that would make them more likely.
I think the combination of the FDA approval and employer mandates could get the number to go even higher in terms of the number people vaccinated.
CABRERA: As always, Harry Enten, good stuff. Thank you.
ENTEN: Thank you.
CABRERA: The U.S. might have hit its deadline to withdraw from Afghanistan. But desperate Afghan refugees are still trying to flee the Taliban there. The problem is they're running out of options.
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[13:43:04]
CABRERA: There are still thousands of Afghans desperate to leave their country. And with no more U.S. evacuation flights, the options are limited.
Many are fleeing to Pakistan by land. But even if they can reach the border, crossing the border is another big obstacle.
CNN's Clarissa Ward takes us there.
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CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're here at the border crossing that separates Pakistan from Afghanistan. And you can see behind me, a lot of Taliban fighters, they're standing here under the white Taliban flag. That is the official flag at this border crossing.
What you're not seeing a lot of, if you come over here with me, are people getting into Pakistan. This is the line of Afghans who are waiting to get into Pakistan.
But only people who have Pakistani documents or residency are being allowed in at this stage. That has been a rule that's been in place for a few months now, partly because of COVID regulations, partly because Pakistan says it can't cope with the flow of refugees.
If you look over here just behind me, you can see this grouping here of people who are very sick. I want to draw your attention to a particularly serious-looking woman
with a young boy. He has some kind of bandages with blood on them on his lap.
And these people are basically appealing to Pakistan for immediate medical attention. Some people have been allowed through to go to hospitals.
But basically, what Pakistan is saying now is we have more than one million Afghan refugees, and we simply can't cope with anymore.
Clarissa Ward, CNN, at the Torkham border crossing.
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CABRERA: The end of the war in Afghanistan marks the beginning of a new political fight on Capitol Hill.
CNN's Jessica Dean is in Washington with more on how some Republicans are trying to use the chaotic final days of the war to their advantage -- Jessica?
[13:45:04]
JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's certainly true, Ana.
I just left a press conference with House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy.
He and a number of House Republicans were gathered together with yet another press conference this week, talking about the Afghanistan withdrawal, and really trying to put an enormous amount of pressure on the Biden administration, as well as President Biden himself.
Now, the Minority Leader McCarthy still deflecting when asked if he supports fellow House Republicans' calls for President Biden to be impeached or resign. He'll dodge that question and say he believes the focus should be on getting all Americans home.
The press conference coming after House Republicans tried to go into what's known as a proforma session. Remember, the House is out right now. It's on recess.
They went in and Democrats did block a bill they wanted to get through that was focused on evacuations from Afghanistan for the remaining Americans and American allies who are there.
But the bottom line remains, Ana, that House Republicans and Republicans at large certainly want to keep this in the forefront. They want to hammer this home as a political issue.
Here, I've been told -- we have McCarthy when he was asked if he agreed with fellow House Republicans on whether President Biden should resign or be impeached.
Take a listen.
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REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): I believe right now we should get every American home. I believe there should be accountability for what I see as probably the biggest failure in American government on a military stage in my lifetime.
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DEAN: And, again, it's important to remember that McCarthy was supportive of former President Trump's decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan.
But, of course, he's been sharply critical of that process under President Biden and his administration.
And we anticipate that we will continue to hear this over and over again. He has promised what he called a day of reckoning for President Biden over this. But, Ana, he's been nebulous about what that means, not talking about specifics.
Remember, the Republicans remain in the minority right now, which means they don't have the power to launch investigations. But you can certainly anticipate they'll continue to talk about this as time goes on -- Ana?
CABRERA: And are Democrats planning any counter to the Republican efforts?
DEAN: They've certainly, on the whole, they've been supportive of President Biden and his administration.
We did hear from one House Democrat who said that the evacuation was egregiously mishandled.
For the most part, Ana, they've remained in lock step with the president and his administration.
CABRERA: Jessica Dean on Capitol Hill. Thank you.
A popular tourist destination now deserted as intense wildfire flames launch closer.
Dan Simon is live in south Lake Tahoe.
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DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And you can see how empty the community is with the Caldor Fire approaching. We also have very smokey conditions. Ash falling from the sky. The details coming up.
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CABRERA: We have talked a lot about Hurricane Ida in the southeast, but wildfires continue to ravage the western U.S.
Tens of thousands are now forced to flee the Lake Tahoe area as the Caldor Fire closes in. The lake's blue waters now obscured by thick, heavy smoke. And nearby resorts are in danger of being damaged or destroyed.
CNN's Dan Simon is on scene.
We know there are people who are injured. Tens of thousands have evacuated. What are you seeing, what are you learning, Dan?
SIMON: Well, hi, Ana. We are looking at a potential worst-case scenario with the Caldor Fire approaching the Lake Tahoe area.
You can see how smoky it is out here. It is also barren. But you should have seen what things looked like yesterday as this community came under a mass evacuation, a total evacuation order for the city of south Lake Tahoe.
Take a look at what the roads looked like. It was bumper-to-bumper traffic with people headed towards safety. And take a look at what things look like now.
Keep in mind, this is a popular tourist area. And normally, you would have lots of cars in this area. You would have people going to the hotels, the restaurants and the shops.
This place, of course, known for its skiing in the winter and its boating in the summer. But look at this. It is obviously going to have a devastating impact on tourism.
But in the meantime, the concern is just getting all the folks out of here. It appears that most everybody -- it appears that everybody heeded these evacuation orders.
I want you to listen to one woman as she packed up her belongings and hit the road.
Unfortunately, Ana, we do not have that sound.
But authorities have been warning us for some time that this was going to be a very challenging wildfire season, and it has been everything like that and more.
Of course, this fire, this Caldor Fire driven by the winds. But we're also talking about an historic drought in California, also driven by climate change. Of course, authorities, experts tell us that those two things are related.
[13:55:03]
This fire just 16 percent contained, and it has already charred more than 191,000 acres. So the race is on now to save all of the communities in and around Lake Tahoe -- Ana?
CABRERA: Such a tragedy.
Dan Simon, thank you.
And thank you all for being with us today. We will see you back here tomorrow at 1:00 Eastern. In the meantime, you can follow me on Twitter, @anaCabrera.
We are standing by for the president to address the nation on Afghanistan.
The news continues with Alisyn and Victor, next.
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