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Gas Prices Rise Ahead of Thanksgiving Holiday Travel; 11 Senate Democrats Urge Biden to Take Action on High Gas Prices; DOJ Asks Appeals Court to Lift Order Banning Vaccine Mandate; CDC: Over 300K Kids Ages 5-11 Have Gotten 1st Vaccine Dose; Some Schools Dropping Mask Mandates Though Cases Are Trending Up; KKF Poll: 78% of Adults Aren't Sure or Believe Some Misinformation about Vaccines; Broken Toilet Forces Astronauts to Return in Diapers. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired November 09, 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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[13:32:58]
ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Travel returning to normal. However, gas prices are anything but. Right now, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded is $3.42. That's up from around $2 a year ago.
CNN correspondent, Pete Muntean, is at a gas station in Alexandria, Virginia.
Pete, what do these prices mean for holiday travel?
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's not going to be cheap for so many, Ana. AAA predicts the numbers for holiday travel, especially during Thanksgiving, will be huge. In fact, the increase will be the biggest that is recorded since 2005.
Of course, the vast majority of people will drive, 48 million will hit the road. The numbers that far up from where they were in 2019 before the pandemic.
So this won't feel like 2020 in a lot of ways. Traffic will be bad and so will the expense. The average price of a gallon of price now up $1.30 from where it was this time last year. We've reached a seven- year high.
But what's so interesting here is that AAA says it will not stop people from getting out and going during the Thanksgiving travel period.
Here's what they said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW GROSS, AAA SPOKESPERSON: A lot more confidence. People are feeling better about traveling. And no matter what the gas prices are -- and they are quite a bit higher than last year -- people are still going to take the trip. (END VIDEO CLIP)
MUNTEAN: The national average of a gallon of gas, now $3.42, was $2.11 last year. And $3.27 here at this station in Alexandria, Virginia.
Which is so interesting because AAA says it's not a big demand on the horizon that's driving the increase in prices but really a bit of a constriction of the supply.
Oil-producing nations might try to cut down on the supply a little bit in order to recoup some pandemic losses.
A little bit of hope on the horizon. A new government survey says that crude right now at $84 a barrel could go down to $72 a barrel sometime in 2022. So a good sign there -- Ana?
CABRERA: But 2202, though, nobody wants to wait.
Pete Muntean, thanks for that reporting.
And the White House is facing growing pressure to do something about these prices sooner rather than later. Lawmakers from the president's own party are demanding action now.
[13:35:07]
Let's bring in CNN's Tom Foreman.
Tom, the first step in finding a solution is identifying the root of the problem, right? So help us understand why gas prices are so high.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Pete touched on it a moment ago, supply and demand, a basic old rule.
Last year, when everyone was staying home and not commuting to work and not able to travel, the demand went way, way down. And when it went down, the supply went down with it because they didn't want to produce as much oil and gas that was going to sit around somewhere.
On top of that, we had Hurricane Ida rip through the gulf. So even though the United States is now the biggest oil-producing country in the world, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, North Dakota, Colorado, all those places and the gulf, they were dropping off in their supply. So that created the problem.
People say Joe Biden restricted new issues (ph). That's not the issue. That's a time thing. We're talking immediately. This is why that happened.
On top of which, OPEC and Russia, notably, are refusing to worst their output. They're easing up a little bit at a time, trying to make sure they can recoup their losses and make a lot of money and just get back in the money as they see fit -- Ana?
CABRERA: Then, realistically, what can President Biden do about this, if anything? FOREMAN: Two words, not much. He can release money -- oil from the
strategic petroleum reserve. That's underground reserves in Louisiana and Texas.
But everyone says, look, you're talking about a tiny bump that won't last long even if you do that.
The other thing that he could possibly do would be to ban exports to say, look, we produce so much oil here, let's not sell any of it here. Let's keep it all at home.
The problem with that, you do that here, and other countries may do the same. And you may not come out winning in that equation but, in fact, exacerbate the problem. And then maybe make it drags on even longer.
Bottom line, Ana, presidents always get way too much credit when the cost of gas is low and way too much blame when it's high, no matter who that president may be.
And it's worth remembering, you know, back in the pandemic, gas prices were pretty low. We just weren't going anywhere.
CABRERA: That's why they were so low.
There was the come fill up your tank.
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CABRERA: Tom Foreman, thank you.
As least we're informed now about all of it, even though it's not the answer that we want to hear.
OK. Cities like Atlanta are lifting the mask mandates and now some schools across the country are as well, but is it too soon?
Also ahead, an update on the number of young kids getting their first shots of the COVID vaccine.
Stay with us.
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[13:42:25]
CABRERA: New developments in the court battle over vaccine mandates. The Justice Department overnight asking a federal appeals court to lift a temporary order that was put in place this weekend.
That order blocks the Biden administration's new vaccine rules set to take effect January 4th and applies to private businesses with 100 or more employees, certain health care workers and federal contractors.
The DOJ argues that those challenging this mandate have not shown that their claims outweigh the harm of stopping a standard, it says, that will save lives.
Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, board-certified internal medicine specialist and viral researcher, joins us now.
Doctor, good to see you.
How critical is a White House win here? How critical is this vaccine mandate to ending the pandemic?
DR JORGE RODRIGUEZ, INTERNAL MEDICINE SPECIALIST & VIRAL RESEARCHER: I think mandates, which I like being called requirements, because nobody is being forced to be vaccinated, will be essential, right?
We've let this happen just sort of laissez-faire over the past year and it hasn't come to fruition. People need to realize that not getting vaccinated has consequences, not just for them but for others.
And I think the health of the general population at this point supersedes the rights of the individuals.
CABRERA: Right now, more and more people are eligible to get vaccinated. And new CDC data shows 360,000 children ages 5 to 11 have received their first COVID dose.
It's just been under a week or so since this group got the green light. So what's your reaction to that start?
RODRIGUEZ: I think that's great. I was really expecting less than that. And I think that the parents, who have gotten vaccinated themselves, are probably going to take their children to be vaccinated.
And they should. That's the one segment of the population that is most susceptible at this time.
And listen, the virus is going to land on people that are not vaccinated. And those are the ones that are going to get the sickest. And in this case, it's children.
CABRERA: My kids are ready. I'm ready. We've got our appointments set for Thursday for both my kids to get vaccinated and we're all looking forward to it.
I should note, the American Academy of Pediatrics reports that COVID- 19 cases among children jumped more than 6 percent last week. And that's after weeks of declines. And now some schools are getting rid of mask requirements.
Doctor, is the country in a place where it's OK to take this step? And if not, not now, when will it be?
RODRIGUEZ: Well, first of all, I think it's too early to stop requiring children to wear masks.
That's one of the biggest pitfalls that we've fallen on is the fact that -- that, in the past, whenever we think that things are good, we go ahead and take off our masks. And the CDC says we can take them off.
[13:45:01]
That's what happened in July when we prematurely stopped taking our masks. Delta came along and just blew that theory out of the water.
Listen, this is not just the United States doing better. This is the whole world needs to do better.
We've opened up travel, effective yesterday. And Europe is seeing its highest COVID percentages that it has seen almost in a year. There's a storm in the horizon, and it's coming over.
Yes, I think it's too soon to lift mandates for masks, especially in children at this point.
When will it be safe? Your guess is as good as mine. But would I say hopefully a year, maybe two.
CABRERA: Wow.
So, you know, whether it's masks or vaccines, one of the biggest challenges all along in overcoming this pandemic has been all the misinformation. All of this disinformation that's influencing people's behavior.
A new Kaiser Family Foundation poll finds 78 percent of Americans aren't sure or believe some aspect of COVID-19 misinformation. This pertains to concerns about fertility, approved treatments, and even whether the vaccine contains a microchip.
Too many people aren't sure about the science. Your reaction?
RODRIGUEZ: It's very sad, you know, to me. But I think this is a unique situation in the fact that America and the world is basically seeing how the scientific sausage is being made, right?
Usually, in the past, when we've had a scientific dictum, it's because it's been tried for years. And now we know that this is what is the truth scientifically.
Here, people are seeing things as they change. And not because things were wrong to begin with, but because we're getting more information. That can lead to some doubt.
The rest is really just malarkey, if you will, that I think has some political force behind it, impetus.
At the end of the day, truth will prevail. And I think the best way of combating misinformation is continuing to tell people the truth. And eventually, their own experience will show them that that, indeed, is what is correct.
CABRERA: Well, you have such a crucial role in all of this. And it's always a pleasure and a privilege to have you on the show.
Thank you so much, Dr. Jorge Rodriguez.
RODRIGUEZ: Thank you, Ana.
CABRERA: A broken piece of plumbing creating an uncomfortable re-entry for these four astronauts. Why they had to make a long journey home wearing diapers.
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[13:52:23]
CABRERA: After six months in space, it's all smiles for these four astronauts who are now safely back on earth. But the return home did have a problem. Nine hours and no working toilet.
CNN's Kristin Fisher joins us.
Kristin, NASA officials are making it clear, when it comes to talking about this challenge, they will not say diapers were part of this mission.
KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE & DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, don't use the word "diaper." The proper word is undergarment. And these are essentially high-grade astronaut diapers that are built into their space suits.
And these four astronauts of the Crew-2 mission were given a choice, you either hold it for nine hours on the return to earth or use one of these undergarments.
And the reason this happened, the reason this toilet was out of order for the trip home is because SpaceX discovered an issue with another Crew Dragon capsule that had already returned back to earth.
There was a problem with the urine collection tube. It had essentially started leaking. And so they were able to fix that one back on earth by just welding it back in place.
But this Crew Dragon capsule had been attached to the International Space Station, and so they couldn't fix it back while it was in space.
So, out of an abundance of caution, that's why they decided to keep this toilet out of order for the return home.
But you know, keep in mind, these astronauts are essentially trained for these types of situations.
And they were on board the space station for six months, and they had to deal with lots of other issues as well.
They had to deal with that Russian module thrusters inadvertently firing and spinning the space station out of control.
And on the return home, you can see right there, those parachutes, only three of the four fully deployed. That fourth chute did deploy but it got stuck for about a minute. So, diapers in the grand scheme of things, Ana, probably near the
bottom of their list of concerns. The astronauts described it as suboptimal but that they were not too worried about it.
Though we'll see if those parachutes cause another delay for the next mission, Crew-3, which is slated to launch tomorrow night -- Ana?
CABRERA: I guess it is what we would consider the creature comforts of being here on earth, on land, the toilets that we all have to use.
It sounds like they had a glass-half-full attitude about all of that. What a unfortunate mishap for them. But back home, back safe, that's what matters most.
Kristin Fisher --
FISHER: And all smiles.
CABRERA: All smiles. Exactly. What's not to love? They overcame so many adversities.
Good to see you, my friend.
[13:54:59]
And thank you all for being with us today. A reminder, you can always join me on Twitter, @AnaCabrera. I'll see you back here tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. Eastern.
But before I go, I want to show you these live images. This is at Arlington National Cemetery where, for the first time in nearly 100 years, members of the public are able to lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Now, this rare two-day access marks the centennial commemoration of the memorial, which honors unidentified fallen American servicemembers.
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