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Merck's COVID-19 Pill; Hope for a New Normal in Japan; Belarusian Leader Dismisses Reports of Human Rights Abuses; Investigation of WhatsApp Group with Metropolitan Police Officers; Taiwan: Highest Ever Incursion by Chinese Air Force; Afghan Embassies in Diplomatic Limbo; Finding Homes for Thousands of Afghan Refugees. Aired 2-2:45a ET
Aired October 02, 2021 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:00]
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello, welcome to CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Michael Holmes, appreciate your company.
Coming up on the program, it looks like a medical breakthrough.
Could this be a COVID game-changer?
Also, CNN's exclusive interview with the president of Belarus. How he responded to our questions about widespread human rights violations.
Plus, a daunting task, finding homes for thousands of Afghan refugees in the U.S.
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HOLMES: The staggering U.S. death toll from the coronavirus, reaching another level, once unthinkable. More than 700,000 Americans, now, losing their lives to COVID. Far more than any other nation. It comes as the surge from the Delta variant appears to ease around the globe.
But daily deaths remain high in the, U.S. as case numbers steadily fall. Meanwhile, a new COVID treatment, is being called a potential game-changer.
Merck says, data shows, its antiviral pill reduces the risk of hospitalization or death, by half. And it is pledging to apply for regulatory approval, as soon as possible. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, with more, on what we are learning about Merck's new drug.
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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a pretty big deal. In fact, an independent data safety monitoring board, looked at the trial results, as they were ongoing, for Merck. They decided they look so good to be that they wanted to stop the trial and encourage the company to apply for emergency use authorization.
That is unusual. Often, trials stop because they're it looks too futile to continue. But in this, case it was promising. Let's show you the data. This is what we're talking about here.
Basically, these were participants in the early stages of disease. Quite important, they weren't super sick, they were not in the hospital early. They were diagnosed with COVID-19, had mild symptoms.
Those given the drug, 385 of them, 28 were hospitalized. In the placebo group, 377, 45 were hospitalized and 8 died. When you do the math on that, that is the 50 percent reduction in likelihood of hospitalizations or death.
Again, no one died in the group that received the medication. Now all of this information, so far coming from the company itself, must be reviewed by the FDA. It needs to see if the efficacy data actually holds up and, also, how safe it is. That's a big question as well.
If it does go through and gets emergency use authorization, this is an option for people who've been diagnosed with COVID. It is not a substitute for the vaccine. I think most people realize that.
But the vaccine is to prevent illness. This is to treat illness. That is a major, major point that will come up, over and over again. We still encourage the vaccines very much.
One thing I want to point, out we don't hear a lot about antivirals. We hear a lot about antibiotics for bacterial infections, but we don't hear about antivirals. Viruses replicate within human cells. They need the human body and human cells to replicate.
That is what makes antiviral development challenging. Because the virus is within the human cell. The way this medication seems to work is by, basically, interfering with how the virus replicates.
It takes all these various components to allow the virus to replicate and this drug is, essentially, sticking a Trojan horse in the machinery of the replication, so that the replication can't continue. People don't develop a significant amount of viral load. They don't get as sick. They aren't as likely to transmit.
That is the expectation, if it all pans out. It will be another important tool, when it comes to fighting COVID. Again, let me emphasize, not a substitute for vaccine.
The cost?
Probably around $700 per course, 2 pills per day, for 5 days. As we get more news about this, certainly, we will bring it to you.
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HOLMES: Dr. Jayne Morgan is the executive director of the Piedmont Health Care COVID Task Force. She joins me now.
Thank you for doing so, Doctor.
With this pill to come, do you see it as a, I don't know, a useful tool in the toolbox?
Or, a potential game-changer, in terms of COVID treatment?
DR. JAYNE MORGAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PIEDMONT HEALTH CARE COVID TASK FORCE: Absolutely. This is a tool and certainly, we are welcoming this tool.
[02:05:00]
MORGAN: As we look at patients who can't have breakthrough infections or, unfortunately, the unvaccinated who may become infected, this is an opportunity to keep people out of the hospital and certainly, out of the morgue.
HOLMES: It is promising.
Is there a risk, that this and other treatments, which may be on the way as well, could disincentivize the unvaccinated?
To stay unvaccinated and say, I'll take the pill if I get sick.
If so, what impact might that have on overall virus control if that were to happen?
MORGAN: Certainly, I hope not. I hope we can get ahead of this messaging, because it won't be the first pill to come. We have a plethora of other companies, making all types of medical therapeutics.
But this is not prevention and like your grandma used to tell, you an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. You don't want to get infected. You don't want to have exposure to the virus and risk being sick and then, having to take a medication or a therapeutic, to contain a virus that, is already, inside of you. HOLMES: I guess if you're unvaccinated, you can rely on the pill, the
horse has bolted, in many ways. There are studies, evaluating whether antivirals can prevent infection after exposure.
Will this drug prevent transmission or is it to early to tell?
MORGAN: We don't have all the data and don't forget what we have seen is an interim analysis, so not all of the data. What we do know is there is a 50 percent reduction when they look at the control group, versus the group that got the pill, with regards to death and hospitalizations.
In fact, there were no deaths in the group that receive the pill and all of the deaths occurred in those who had not received the pill. This was the not incredibly large phase III study trial, just over 750 patients. But very promising data and I think it is the first of many therapeutics, that come to market, as we battle this pandemic. HOLMES: I want to ask you to, more broadly, pills aside. Politics are
still clearly, in this pandemic, Johns Hopkins University data, showing, deaths from COVID in non-metropolitan areas, are happening more than twice the rate of deaths in metropolitan areas.
How concerning is it to you, as a health care professional, that that continued political divide, exists?
MORGAN: Michael, it is so concerning and so distressing, because not only are we in the fourth surge of the pandemic, this is the first surge we have had, which has been entirely preventable. The vaccines are readily available and accessible.
It is, also, the first surge that has been driven, largely, by misinformation. So this is incredibly, incredibly distressing and disturbing. And we want to combat it directly at all costs and whenever we can. We want people to follow correct information and come out of those social media rabbit holes.
HOLMES: Really quick, with only one minute left, I want to ask you, there are also signs that parents seem to be ambivalent about vaccinating their kids. There is a Kaiser Family Foundation study, that found that only 27 percent of parents of 5-11-year-olds, say that they are definitely vaccinating their child, when they become available for that age group.
Are you worried about that, are you confident that the numbers will improve over time?
MORGAN: We don't want to set this tragedy upon our children. Even though, by and large, they do better when exposed, we are beginning to see long term effects, of this virus on children -- hallucinations, seizures, GI complaints.
These are things that not only can cause absenteeism in school but also, if you are present in school, can decrease your success rate, because they can interfere with learning. Absolutely, we want to prevent infection with this virus, with whatever vaccines.
HOLMES: Dr. Jayne Morgan, we have to leave it there. Thank you so much.
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HOLMES: COVID optimism seems to be catching, the hope that we can put the worst of it behind us, is something else that is spreading around the world.
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HOLMES (voice-over): Dinner and drinks, the return of one of the simple pleasures of life in Japan. It's just one of the signs of getting back to a sense of normal in some spots around the globe, where the number of new coronavirus cases has declined.
Japan lifted a state of emergency in, all regions of the country, for the first time in 6 months, allowing restaurants to increase their hours of operation and sell alcohol, once again.
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HOLMES (voice-over): New infections, in Japan, have dropped dramatically. From over 20,000 a day in August, to just under 2,000 now. Welcome progress for people who have been encouraged to skip nonessential gatherings.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I was just commuting between my home and my company. Because of the lack of communication, I felt lonely.
HOLMES (voice-over): The WHO, saying, globally, the numbers of weekly new COVID-19 cases and deaths, are declining. Most recently, down 10 percent, from mid-September. Cautious optimism, though the virus is still circulating and killing.
Experts warn, it could quickly rebound. Vietnam, also, easing some coronavirus measures after a gradual decline in cases there. A stay- at-home order, lifted, in Ho Chi Minh city. People in the capital of Hanoi, now, exercising outside and small groups and malls and retail stores, have opened, Something that, many, hope will revive the economy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): This year, the outbreak is more complicated than the last. There has been jobless now with no income. So staying at home feels very suffocating.
HOLMES (voice-over): Masks are required on Havana's famous seaside promenade but the popular spot to fish or soak up the, sun is also open again, after being off limits for nine months, because of Cuba's COVID-19 restrictions.
Even the traditional double kiss is Paris, is making a slow comeback after falling out a favor during the outbreaks in France.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I stopped kissing people on the cheek during COVID, due to social distancing. But now, I do kiss people I know but only to the loved ones, not people I don't know very well.
HOLMES (voice-over): The power of the human touch or a breath of fresh air, small reminders of life before the pandemic and what could one day bring us closer to normal.
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HOLMES: The ongoing feud over migrants is escalating between Poland and Belarus. The Poland border guard says a record number of migrants tried to cross the border last month. That is almost double the number reported in August.
Polish officials say, 5 migrants have died, so far near the crossing. The E.U. accuse the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, of funneling migrants into E.U. border states in retaliation, for sanctions imposed for human rights abuses. But Mr. Lukashenko says, there is no proof he is pushing migrants to
his borders. Known as Europe's last dictator, he has led Belarus for nearly 30 years. But last year's election was highly disputed and provoked huge protests by the opposition, which his forces brutally put down.
Now in an exclusive interview with Matthew Chance, Mr. Lukashenko is dismissing reports of human rights abuses and insisting, he has nothing to be sorry for.
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is what the brutal crackdown in Belarus looks like.
Opposition activists detained then beaten by police. After disputed elections last year, the mass protests that followed were crushed. Human rights groups called it a catastrophe. And widespread reports of torture, even killings in police custody.
Now CNN is confronting the man responsible, dubbed Europe's last dictator.
CHANCE: Would you take this opportunity now to apologize to the people of Belarus for the human rights abuses that they've suffered at your hands?
ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO, BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): No, I would not like to take this opportunity. I don't think this is even a relevant question. And in principle, I have nothing to apologize for.
CHANCE: Well, you say you've got nothing to apologize for but Human Rights Watch says multiple detainees have reported broken bones, broken teeth, brain injuries, skin wounds, electrical burns.
Amnesty International speaks of detention centers being becoming torture chambers, where protesters were forced to lie in the dirt, stripped naked while police kicked and beat them with truncheons.
You don't think that is worth apologizing for?
LUKASHENKO (through translator): You know, we don't have a single detention center, as you say, like Guantanamo or those bases that the United States and your country created in Eastern Europe.
As regards to our own detention centers, they are no worse than in Britain or the United States. I suggest you discuss concrete facts and not the views or statements of some dubious human rights organizations.
CHANCE: Well, I don't think Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are dubious. They're internationally recognized, you know, standards and human rights activism.
[02:15:00] CHANCE: And they all got testimony a former detainees in your prison camps, in your prison detention centers, both men and women who spoken of sexual violence against them, including rape and threats of rape. Are you saying that that is just made up, that it's fake?
LUKASHENKO (through translator): Everything that you've just said is fake and fantasy.
CHANCE (voice-over): For the past 27 years, you Lukashenko, the former Soviet collective farm boss has ruled Belarus with an iron fist, is its first and only president. He's known as a maverick who makes controversial remarks on issues like COVID-19.
LUKASHENKO: (Speaking foreign language).
CHANCE (voice-over): What he famously dismissed as a Western psychosis to be battled with vodka and saunas.
He told CNN those remarks were just a joke but only after he'd become infected himself and more than 4,000 Belarusians have died, according to official figures.
But no one's laughing on the streets of the capital, Minsk, where people are reluctant to speak out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I can't.
CHANCE: Why?
What do you think about Lukashenko?
Are you happy with your president?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very interesting question. I can't tell you the truth.
CHANCE (voice-over): It's understood here. Openly criticizing the regime can have life-changing consequences.
(Speaking foreign language).
CHANCE: Do you think it's a free country?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language).
CHANCE (voice-over): It was a lesson passengers on board this Ryanair flight flying over Belarus in May learned the hard way. It made an emergency landing in Minsk after local air traffic control told the pilot there was a bomb threat.
Once on the ground, Belarusian police arrested a dissident on board, along with his girlfriend, before allowing the aircraft to depart.
CHANCE: Do you continue to insist that there was a genuine bomb threat or do you now admit that the whole incident was manufactured by you and your security forces in order to capture a critic that you wanted in jail?
LUKASHENKO (through translator): Matthew, I'm not going to admit to anything in front of you. I'm not under investigation. So please choose your words carefully.
But if this had been a premeditated action planned by our security services, you would be flattering me because, for security services to carry out such an operation without breaking a single international law or even instruction, well, that would have cost a lot. So this is your fantasy.
CHANCE: But it's not just me that doesn't believe your story. Most airlines in the world have stopped flying here.
Isn't it true that you will do anything even violate international laws in the skies in order to get the people you want to get your critics into custody?
That's the truth, isn't it?
LUKASHENKO (through translator): If you are afraid to fly over our territory, I can personally guarantee your safety. But if I or the law enforcement authorities see any threat to the Belarusian state, we will force any plan to land, be it from the United Kingdom or the United States.
CHANCE (voice-over): There's growing evidence of international norms being violated on the ground as well. European officials accusing Belarus of using migrants as a weapon, encouraging them to cross its borders with the E.U., an act of revenge, they say, for sanctions and support for dissidents,
LUKASHENKO (through translator): Do you take me for a madman?
Only weak people care about revenge. And pardon my modesty but I don't consider myself a weakling.
CHANCE (voice-over): But it is weakness that Lukashenko's critics is pushing him ever closer to another strong man next door. Vladimir Putin of Russia has provided hundreds of millions of in financial aid. Kremlin support like that is likely to come with strings.
CHANCE: This talk of closer integration, closer economic, political as well as military ties. Isn't that the real price of Vladimir Putin support that this country of Belarus will be slowly absorbed into Russia? Is that what you've agreed to pay?
LUKASHENKO (through translator): To say that Belarus would become part of the United States, Britain or Russia, is an absolute fallacy. Putin and are intelligent enough to create a union of two independent states that would be stronger together than separate. Sovereignty is not for sale.
CHANCE (voice-over): But it is unclear if Belarus has much of a choice. Already Russia is stepping up joint military drills and adding to its permanent presence in the country. [02:20:00]
CHANCE (voice-over): Fueling concerns that, with Belarus, Russia is gaining a new western outpost -- Matthew Chance, CNN, Minsk.
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HOLMES: The U.S. House throwing a lifeline to a victim of the Democratic feud over infrastructure. A 30-day extension to fund road projects was approved late on Friday, after federal money stopped flowing, resulting in thousands of layoffs.
U.S. Senate approval expected on Saturday. Now earlier, President Biden met with Democrats to rally support for his stalled economic agenda, reaffirming his commitment to invest trillions of dollars in both infrastructure and social programs.
A quick break and when we come back, London's Metropolitan Police, facing backlash over safety tips they are giving women in the wake of Sarah Everard's murder. We will be right back.
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HOLMES: London Metro Police are facing harsh criticism after issuing advice to women on what to do if approached by a lone police officer. The tips were given after a former officer, Wayne Couzens, was sentenced to life in prison for the raped and murder of Sarah Everard. CNN's Nina dos Santos with more.
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NINA DOS SANTOS, CNNMONEY EUROPE EDITOR (voice-over): Former Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens may now be behind bars but the Sarah Everard case is by no means behind the Metropolitan Police.
They have said that they've issued new guidelines for people who feel unsafe if they're approached by a lone undercover police officer, they can now ask for help, call 9-9-9 if they feel unsafe, ask for identification or draw attention to themselves and hail down a passing bus.
Here on the streets of London, many women saying that, that is wholly impractical and also it wouldn't have saved Sarah Everard's life.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If people took misogyny and stopped crimes against women more seriously, it leaves me feeling very angry. They need to have training and any signs of, you know, a bad attitude toward women needs to be rooted out straight away. People need to understand this cannot go on.
DOS SANTOS: Do you want a public inquiry?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
DOS SANTOS: The woman at the helm of the Metropolitan Police Dame Cressida Dick said that she wants to ensure that all of the lessons that need to be learned are learned by the institution.
But this has rocked a 200-year-old force, a crucial one which is the most important police force in the country. And for that reason, opposition politicians are saying there needs to be a full cultural review and a public inquiry into how exactly Wayne Couzens was vetted and how bad behavior is dealt with inside policing in the U.K.
On Friday, it emerged that the police conduct watchdog was investigating five officers and former officers of the Metropolitan Police for being in a WhatsApp group with Wayne Couzens back in 2019 that was allegedly sharing indecent material.
[02:25:00]
DOS SANTOS: For now, Dame Cressida says that she won't resign and continues to enjoy the support of both the mayor of London and the home secretary. But questions about how the Sarah Everard's case undermines trust in policing in the U.K., for now don't appear to be going away soon -- Nina dos Santos, CNN, London.
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HOLMES: Still to come, Taiwan says that it has now witnessed the largest ever incursion by Chinese military aircraft. We will go live to Taipei, with the latest, when we come back.
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HOLMES: Beijing is showing off its latest generation fighter at an air show on Friday, in South China. The J-16D is billed as an electronic warfare jet, careful of jamming enemy radar and anti aircraft systems.
Until now, only the United States has had military aircraft with that kind of technological capability.
Taiwan's defense ministry, meanwhile, reporting the largest ever incursion by China's air force. The self governing island saying 38 military aircraft entering its Air Defense Identification Zone on Friday. This, coming as Beijing celebrates the founding of the People's Republic of China. CNN's Will Ripley is following the story from Taipei.
It is important to note, these weren't incursions into sovereign airspace but there has been a lot of them. Explain to what happened in the message behind it.
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Beijing is not violating international law by entering Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone. Taiwanese airspace extends 12 nautical miles from its coast.
Then, there's a buffer zone, known as the Air Defense Identification Zone. When aircraft enter the area, Taiwanese air traffic control would ask them to identify themselves and potentially alert the military if there were an incoming threat.
So it was through this Air Defense Identification Zone that Beijing staged another air incursion. They just did one last week, with 24 planes. This time, it was two separate waves, totaling 38 warplanes.
You can look at the list of the type of aircraft, that flew very close to Taiwan. It's a pretty intimidating list, by any measure, when you have a total of 32 fighter jets, two different kinds; four nuclear capable bombers; one anti-submarine warfare aircraft, one early warning aircraft; 32 -- I'm sorry, 38 planes, altogether.
This is, at a time, when tensions are already escalating between the mainland and Taiwan. The choice of day here, particularly, interesting, analysts say. It was national day in Beijing. Friday marking 72 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China.
One analyst speaking to CNN said, this is tantamount to political and propaganda warfare, showcasing, to the domestic audience, in the mainland, the strength of the Communist Party, the PRC. Showing force to the domestic audience and intimidating the leadership here in Taiwan.
Also, at the same, time gathering valuable intelligence and military training, in the event there was actually a military escalation. The main dividing point here, across the Taiwan Strait, is the mainland considers this self governing island of about 24 million people, its own, sovereign territory.
They felt that way since the end of China's civil war. But for more than 70 years, the entire duration of that time, this island has governed itself.
[02:30:00]
RIPLEY: And there is a pretty clear statement, put out by the ministry of foreign affairs in Taipei, trying to spell out their position here, saying, quote, "Taiwan is Taiwan. And it is not part of the People's Republic of China. The People's Republic of China has never ruled Taiwan for a single day."
But the Communist Party and President Xi Jinping, in Beijing, say they have not ruled out taking back what they consider, a renegade province by force. If necessary, and these flybys are, certainly, now the largest one yet. Certainly, a pretty clear sign on the thinking, of the People's Republic of China, 72 years after its founding.
HOLMES: Yes, pretty clear, indeed. Good to see you, Will, thank you, in Taipei for us.
Now the Taliban controls Afghanistan but not everyone recognizes their government, including some of their own embassies. The story of their diplomatic limbo, coming up.
Also, helping Afghan migrants hunt for housing and the problems caused by a surging U.S. real estate market. More, after the break.
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The Taliban might now run Afghanistan but some of the country's own embassies refuse to recognize the new government. As CNN's Ben Wedeman reports, that has placed them in a sort of diplomatic limbo.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Taliban have seized control of Afghanistan but 5,000 kilometers away in Rome, the old Afghan flag flutters over the embassy.
KHALED AHMAD ZEKRIYA, AMBASSADOR, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF AFGHANISTAN: So what we do is we issue visas and also we extend the duration of our -- the passports.
This is called the Golden Room.
WEDEMAN: Ambassador Khaled Ahmed Zekriya continues to work and live with this elegant villa that has housed his country's embassy for almost a century.
ZEKRIYA: We, from 1964.
WEDEMAN: Boasting relics from a different era.
ZEKRIYA: Two Electra 225 were bought by former Prime Minister Musa Shafiq. The king sent one to the embassy of Afghanistan to Italy. We have 11 local employees.
WEDEMAN: Since the Taliban takeover, Ambassador Zekriya says he's had to let some staff go. Others received their last paycheck in September.
The new boss in Kabul gets a cold shoulder here.
ZEKRIYA: They have contacted us twice, once via an official memo.
[02:35:00]
ZEKRIYA: We declined to respond because we do not recognize the current caretaker regime of the Taliban.
This is called the Oriental Corner --
WEDEMAN: Many Afghan embassies are in a similar situation, getting by collecting consular fees, yet refusing to deal with the new regime.
ZEKRIYA: And then --
WEDEMAN: Italy and Afghanistan established ties in 1921. King Amanullah visited Rome seven years later. The last king of Afghanistan, Mohammed Zahir Shah, lived in Rome before returning home after the Taliban were ousted 20 years ago.
With the Taliban back in power, Ambassador Zekriya shrugs off the notion the group has changed, warning the world may have gone full circle back to 2001.
ZEKRIYA: Has the war ended in Afghanistan?
Against global terrorists, I don't think so. I think this is based on naivete and I think ill calculation. The Biden administration has indicated that the American war has ended. This is my message. I think a world war with transnational terrorism has begun.
WEDEMAN: Or to put it diplomatically, the more things change, the more they stay the same -- Ben Wedeman, CNN, Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Meanwhile, thousands of Afghan migrants are trying to find housing. But with a white-hot housing market in the United States, that is proving to be difficult. About 53,000 migrants are at military bases in the U.S., as resettlement agencies work to find them permanent homes.
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HOLMES: Krish O'Mara Vignarajan is president and CEO of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. Joining me now.
One migrant group, saying, they will have to do in a few months, what they would normally do over a 4 year period, in terms of finding housing.
How serious is that issue?
KRISH O'MARA VIGNARAJAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, LUTHERAN IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEE SERVICE: There is nothing, more important right now, than getting a roof over the heads of these families.
As Americans, affordable housing is, probably, one of the issues that these families and Americans share together. We've been facing the affordable housing crunch for months. But now imagine you are a refugee. You have no community ties, no nest egg.
That is what we are dealing with. We are dealing with landlords who are fearful, because these individuals don't have a fixed income. They don't have jobs. So there is some nervousness and hesitation. We've been working through it but it's a challenge.
HOLMES: If there is a shortage now, what then, the outlook from the many thousands of Afghans, currently at U.S. bases in, Europe in the Middle East, who are waiting to come? What needs to happen to accommodate not just those who are here but those who are yet to come?
VIGNARAJAN: Part of it is recognizing, some number of these families do have ties, here, in the U.S. I can tell you, my family fled Sri Lanka when I was 9 months old and we lived in the basement of my aunt and uncle, when we came to the U.S.
We know that 80 percent, to 85 percent of these families to have ties, so, we are going to have to see if those individuals can move in, for a short time periods, with family members.
Other family can move into affordable housing. We've been including FEMA into these conversations. We have Airbnb and other companies, who have stepped up and provide short term housing. We have had Americans, offering rent free housing, to actually bring in these families, in the short term.
It won't be easy but I am confident we can get thousands of people into homes.
HOLMES: I hope so. You touched on this and I think it's important. Try to give us, briefly, a sense of the challenges faced by the migrants themselves, as they arrive in a, truly, strange, new land.
VIGNARAJAN: So many of these families are coming with, literally, the clothes on their backs or a knapsack. So imagine just having to start over from scratch in a new country; for many, a new language.
We are trying to make sure we can find them affordable housing, that we can furnish the housing, move them in quickly. Some of them, the legal status is questionable because they're coming in as humanitarian parolees, so they don't have the guaranteed legal status coming as special immigrant visas or refugees.
[02:40:00]
VIGNARAJAN: So working through the paperwork. We are trying to make sure that we can get employment for them as soon as possible. The questions I get from them, quickly, is that one, what can I do to get my family who remains in Afghanistan out of harm's way?
And the second is, can I get a job?
Those are the key challenges facing them immediately.
HOLMES: I want to ask you this. Immigration is such a hot button issue. It's a politicized issue in the U.S. It is difficult to generalize.
But do you have a sense of a local in communities and how welcoming they've been?
Hopefully, not unwelcoming.
VIGNARAJAN: The outpouring of support, has been incredible. You can see that in polling, we can see it in the grassroots mobilization. And just to give you a couple of examples. There was an informal poll done, a few months ago. It showed that 79 percent of Trump 2020 voters believed and supported that Afghans should come to the U.S.
We have seen 37 governors come out in favor of welcoming Afghan refugees and allies. Only two have come out against. That is compared to 2015, when we had the Syrian refugee crisis and 31 governors came out against it.
So we have seen a sea change in terms of the support. From our vantage point, we see that every day. We have nearly 50,000 Americans, who have gone to our website and signed up to volunteer.
So really, this is a bipartisan issue. Even the legislation that got passed yesterday was a bipartisan vehicle. So it has been amazing to see. Wherever you are in the country, in terms of partisan support, they have come out in favor of this.
HOLMES: Really, I am heartened to hear that. I do hope that the housing issue does get result. It's a crucial one, in terms of welcoming them. Thank you so much.
VIGNARAJAN: Thank you for having me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Venezuela's president, Nicolas Maduro, is urging businesses to not raise prices, following the introduction of the nation's latest currency, the digital bolivar. It is the equivalent of 1 million of the older sovereign bolivars still worth just 20 cents in U.S. Currency.
The IMF, predicting inflation in Venezuela, reaching 5.5 thousand percent this year. This is the third time since 2008, that the country has launched a new currency.
I'm Michael Holmes, you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram, @HolmesCNN. I will see you back here, in about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, "MARKETPLACE AFRICA" is after a short break.
