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New Texas Law Bans Abortion At Six Weeks of Pregnancy; Grand Isle, Louisiana Hit Hard by the Storm; Husband of Cancer Patient Slams Those Refusing COVID Vaccine; Morgue Capacity a Growing Concern in Florida; 70 Percent of EU Adults Now Fully Vaccinated Against COVID; Several Florida School Districts Stick with Mask Mandates; Prominent Vaccine-Skeptic Conservatives Later Hospitalized. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired September 01, 2021 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: More now on our breaking news. A new Texas law is now in effect banning abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy. Most women don't even know they are pregnant to that point. The U.S. Supreme Court and federal appeals court failed to rule on emergency challenges to the law which is one of the strictest in the U.S. The high court is set to rule next month on a similar Mississippi law that bans abortions at 15 weeks.
Well, Lindy Lee is a political activist who served as a women's co- chair with the Democratic National Committee. And she joins me now to talk more about this ruling. Thank you so much for being with us.
LINDY LEE, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you so much for having me.
CHURCH: So, let's start -- I want to ask you for your reaction to this new Texas law.
LEE: Well, I'm heart broken, but we all saw this coming. The Federalist Society and Koch Network have been working toward this moment for decades. This is a long time coming. And installation of Amy Coney Barrett on the Supreme Court was the final piece in the puzzle that they needed to make this possible. It's actually quite heartbreaking that we lost Ruth Bader Ginsburg only in October of last year, and already we're seeing so much of her and so many of her achievements being dismantled so quickly.
CHURCH: So, what will the new law ultimately mean for Texas, women and girls who have unwanted pregnancies particularly if they've been raped?
LEE: Absolutely, so many aspects of the law are particularly heinous. For example, neighbors or any random person can file a lawsuit against a woman or an abortion provider, even a friend who drives a woman to Planned Parenthood for instance. They can file a lawsuit and collect a $10,000 bounty. It's just inconceivable to me.
And also, you mentioned earlier that most women -- many women don't even know that they are pregnant at six weeks. This is very personal. My period has been notoriously erratic throughout my life. I doubt that I would even know. And this is the same for so many women. And I fear that this is a slippery slope because now it's abortion, but what about birth control. There are already making moves to prohibit the abortion pill. What about the birth control pill itself?
So many women use birth control not only to control or prevent pregnancy, but also for health reasons. I had an eating disorder when I was younger, and I used birth control to regulate my period. And I don't think many people know that women need birth control to have a healthy life, many of us do. So, it's not just with birth, it's also about women's rights and our livelihoods, our health. So many aspects of our lives are being negatively impacted.
CHURCH: And so, what can people do, what can women do specifically? Presumably they could travel to other states at this juncture.
LEE: Yes. Well, we are very depressingly awaiting the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court. There are few avenues that we could pursue. We could pressure Congress to enact legislation to render Roe v. Wade moot in that if we have the laws in place to enshrine reproductive rights in law, we wouldn't be solely dependent on a sole Supreme Court case.
But I don't think I'm not very optimistic about this Congressional session just given the antics that we've seen thus far. For women who particularly care about their own bodies and our physical but autonomy, they must vote. Because control of the Senate is hanging in the balance. We have the recall going on in California. We have a 2022 midterm election. All these factors will impact if women will be able to have control over their bodies in 2022.
And one quick thing I want to mention, we see a lot of Republicans and just people across the chattering class worry with the women in Afghanistan.
[04:35:00]
Yes, their situation is dire and our hearts break for them. But what about the women here in the United States. And I'm never stop fighting for us.
CHURCH: All right, Lindy Lee, joining us in Philadelphia, many thanks.
LEE: Thank you so much.
CHURCH: Well, the death toll from hurricane Ida has climbed to at least five people and more than a million homes and businesses are still without power in Louisiana and Mississippi three days after the storm. Food, water and other essentials are also running low in many areas. As CNN's Gary Tuchman reports, few places were hit harder than the small town of Grand Isle nestled along Louisiana's coast.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When you get your first look at the town of Grand Isle, which sits in a barrier island on the southern tip of Louisiana, you gasp. Utter devastation. Colorful Gulf side homes destroyed, vehicles still under flood waters. Most importantly though, there are no known deaths or injuries here, which is clear evidence how seriously evacuation orders were taken.
TUCHMAN: Grand Isle is a peaceful, beautiful place and that's why it's so emotionally wrenching right now to see it decimated like this. It's small, between 700, 800 people live here year-round. Most of the residents here are in the fishing industry or oil industry. Yes, there was lots of damage during Katrina 16 years ago. Remember the eye of Katrina passed over Mississippi. This eye passed over Louisiana.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Only a few miles to the west of this very town. Ricky Pokey built this home with his family when he was 19 years old. He is now 58. He and his family evacuated and he feared what he would find when he came back. His worst fears now realized.
RICKY POKEY, GRAND ISLE, LOUISIANA RESIDENT: With Katrina we had lost our front porched and the step but the house was intact, the roof was intact, everything was intact.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): His house now like so many other homes, unlivable.
POKEY: I'm trying to get a few things, my wife is wanting me to get some more wedding video and stuff from our wedding and trying to find that right now.
TUCHMAN: I'm so sorry for you guys.
POKEY: Thank you.
TUCHMAN: How are you coping with it right now? Is it disbelief?
POKEY: You know, we just trust the lord and, you know, as he gives and he takes away, so.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Ricky says he doesn't plan to rebuild. After almost 4 decades living here, he says and he and his wife will move to Kentucky where they have family. Most residents have not jet come back here, they will face similar decisions to rebuild or not to rebuild on this wonderful but very vulnerable barrier island.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: In our thanks to Gary Tuchman for that report.
Coming up, the U.S. hits a record for children hospitalized with COVID-19. But some hospitals won't be able to help any more if infections keep rising. What have the details ahead.
[04:40:00]
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CHURCH: The fallout from hurricane Ida is making it even more difficult to fight the coronavirus in Louisiana. Patients in the city of Houma had to be evacuated from the local hospital after losing power and water service due to the storm. In New Orleans some health care workers have been on shifts for more than 24 hours to keep patients safe. Louisiana's governor says the state is working to secure more generators to keep hospitals up and running.
Well, meantime five states have nearly run out of ICU beds for COVID patients. According to health officials, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia and Texas all have less than 10 percent of ICU beds available. Even children are getting very sick. The CDC says more children were hospitalized with COVID in August than any other month this year.
The American Academy of Pediatrics says more than 200,000 children were infected last week with Pennsylvania reporting a 300 percent increase in new cases in children over the past six weeks. The CDC director says parents play the biggest role in protecting their children.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: Parents should educate themselves on the CDC's recommendations for K through 12 school operations. Parents can ask questions of their school administrators and learn how these steps will be implemented in your district. Parents should encourage their children to wear masks in public indoor settings. And finally, and perhaps most importantly, parents can protect their children by getting vaccinated themselves. This will create a protective bubble around their children who are not yet eligible for their own vaccine.
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CHURCH: And one North Carolina husband says his wife is stage four cancer patient, is the tragic example of what happens when hospitals are too full of unvaccinated COVID patients. He slammed those refusing to get the vaccine in this TikTok video.
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JASON ARENA, HUSBAND OF CANCER PATIENT: Last week I had to bring my wife into the hospital. She has stage four breast cancer. She was dealing with some symptoms. Instead of draining her fluid and what they wanted to do, they had to -- they told us that she had to be discharged because they had no room left in the hospital because of COVID.
99 percent of everybody that is in the hospital with COVID right now is unvaccinated. What I'm going to argue with you about is you running to the (BLEEP) hospital once you get the virus. If you don't trust the medical field to prevent you from getting it, why do you trust them to cure you from it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And his wife has since died. Here is what he told CNN about his experience.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARENA: After numerous complaints from me, they just told me that they had no rooms available to bring anybody that was -- everybody that was in the E.R. was already admitted into the hospital and there was no rooms available upstairs to bring them into, so that my wife could go in the back. They put an oxygen mask on her and she sat in a wheelchair for four hours in the waiting room. She suffered for two additional days because got checked out of the hospital early and I know why they did it. It was not a logical choice for the doctor. My wife was stage four breast cancer.
She had severe symptoms. They've seen her scans. They did a scan. They saw her blood work. They understand that she is going to pass. They are in a position where they need to cut people that they can't help any further and try to get people out of the E.R. because of we're waiting 13 hours, so was everybody else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: A heartbreaking story happening again and again. And meanwhile in Florida, as local and state officials fight over masks, new cases are rising and the strain on hospitals is becoming dire. CNN's Leyla Santiago has our report.
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[04:45:00]
LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, where we are right now here at Jackson Health, one of the largest health systems in south Florida, they actually have refrigerated freight trucks on standby because of the upward trend that they have seen in deaths -- COVID-19 deaths. And you head a little further north and the central Florida disaster medical coalition, they've been talking to hospitals and health systems that have said that is what they need, more capacity.
So, by the end of the week, they expect to have 14 portable morgues that they will deliver to help with that capacity. I also spoke to a funeral director who told me that they too are witnessing an uptick in deaths and they are being inundated in a way that makes storage and capacity an issue here in Florida -- Rosemary.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Thanks so much for that report.
And it is a far different story in Vermont which is leading the nation on multiple fronts in battling COVID-19. It has the lowest hospitalization rate in the country with only 28 COVID patients statewide. It also has the highest percentage of residents vaccinated. That's the message. And the governor says 75 percent of children ages 12 to 17 have already gotten at least one vaccine dose.
Well meanwhile, the European Union is touting its own significant COVID milestone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
URSULA VAN DER LEYEN, EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT: Today we reached an important milestone in our vaccination campaign, 70 percent of adults in the European Union are now fully vaccinated. And that is more than 250 million people who are immunized. And this is a great achievement which really show what is we can do when we work together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: It's impressive. But the spread of vaccination in Europe is still uneven with Eastern Europe lagging way behind. And the W.H.O. warns another 236,000 people could die from COVID by December.
Coming up, Florida school districts are taking steps to protect children and families from the coronavirus. But a vocal contingent of parents are not happy about the mask mandates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maybe the reason why we have people in the hospitals is all this mask wearing. Did we ever think of that? Did we ever think of that?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[04:50:00]
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CHURCH: So, we showed you this yesterday, police stepping in to break up a fight between parents outside a Florida school board meeting. The scuffles erupted after district officials announced a mask mandate in schools due to surging number of COVID cases statewide. Emotions were also running high inside that meeting among parents opposed to masks. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These are demonic entities and all the school boards in all of the United States of America and all of us Christians will be sticking together to take them all out. Masks don't work. These doctors that sit up here, that were sneering at us. Looking at us like we're scum bags, they need to go back to (BLEEP) medical school.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Well, despite some of these vocal parents and new financial penalties from the state, at least a dozen school boards are moving forward with their mask mandates to protect children. A CNN analysis found more than 27,000 confirmed cases in Florida's 15 largest school districts since the beginning of the academic year.
A well, a new survey found an encouraging sign in the fight against the pandemic. The number of Americans who said that they are not very likely or not at all likely to get a COVID-19 vaccine has actually dropped from 34 percent back in March to 20 percent. And that is according to a new Axios/Ipsos poll. Perhaps it is because of the increased spread of the Delta variant and the subsequent spike in COVID death and hospitalizations. In recent weeks, several prominent voices on the right who were opposed to vaccines have died. Sara Sidner has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK WILES, PASTOR: Do not be vaccinated you must survive the genocide.
SARA SIDNER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There is a growing number of conservatives who have used their platforms to bad mouth COVID-19 vaccines but did not live long enough or are too sick to tell their public just how much they regret it.
AMY LEIGH HAIR, FRIEND OF DICK FARREL: I didn't want to be a guinea pig, he didn't want to be a guinea pig.
SIDNER (voice-over): Amy Leigh Hair is talking about her friend Florida conservative radio show host Dick Farrel. He repeatedly told people not to trust the vaccine. Why get a vax promoted by people who lied to you, he posted. And vaccine bogus bull shid, he proclaimed. That was early July. A few weeks later he was in the hospital dying from COVID-19.
HAIR: He told me this pandemic ain't no joke and he said, you need to get the shot and he told me he wish he had.
SIDNER (voice-over): The statistics that more than 600,000 Americans have died from COVID hadn't swayed him or her.
SIDNER: Why did it take Dick Farrel dying from COVID for you to say, I'm taking it.
HAIR: There's a pandemic of misinformation out there and I think there's no truer thing ever was said.
SIDNER: And didn't Dick Farrel add to that misinformation.
HAIR: Oh yes, he did.
SIDNER (voice-over): But she's sharing his last words to her hoping they resonate.
HAIR: There's just a whole bunch of people that said because of Dick I went, went and got it. So hopefully he did some good in the end.
SIDNER (voice-over): Farrel's story is not an anomaly. Two weeks after his death, conservative radio talk show host and vaccine skeptic Phil Valentine also died of COVID-19. Before he got sick, he wrote a song mocking the push to get vaccinated.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, SINGING: And I don't care if you agree ...
SIDNER (voice-over): Changing the Beatles Tax Man to Vax Man. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... because I'm the Vaxman.
[04:55:00]
SIDNER (voice-over): Valentine told everyone he was not getting the vaccine, he got COVID instead. His family had to relay his regret.
MARK VALENTINE, PHIL'S BROTHER: He recognizes now that his not getting the vaccination has probably caused a bunch of other people not to get vaccinated and that he regrets.
SIDNER (voice-over): Valentine died but his brother said his story influenced dozens to get the shot. No surprise to behavioral scientists.
HENGCHEN DAI, UCLA BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE EXPERT: When there was a vivid a story about someone you trust you know, got sick, got hospitalized or even died. That vividness story will carry more weight.
SIDNER: But there are a litany of other vaccine skeptics who got COVID and have yet to acknowledge the benefits of the vaccine. From conservative Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, who used his pulpit to spread baseless conspiracy theories about the vaccine and ended up on a ventilator.
RAYMOND LEO BURKE, CARDINAL: And even the kind of microchip needs to be placed under the skin of every person.
SIDNER (voice-over): To Florida pastor Rick Wiles.
WILES: I am not going to be vaccinated. I'm going to be one of the survivors.
SIDNER (voice-over): He too was hospitalized with COVID but remains defiant about the vaccine.
SIDNER: How big of an influence is our own ego?
DAI: So, they don't want to recognize that you have made a mistake, especially publicly.
SIDNER (voice-over): But Hair has no problem saying she changed her mind to honor her friend's wishes.
HAIR: I just thought it was important that I put it out there because I did change my mind.
SIDNER (voice-over): Sara Sidner, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: The message? Get the vaccine, wear a mask and let's get through this. Thanks for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Be sure to connect with me on Twitter @rosemaryCNN. "EARLY START" is up next. You're watching CNN, have a wonderful day.
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