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Worldwide Concern over New COVID-19 Variant Omicron; Several Countries Restricting Travel from Southern Africa; English Channel Tragedy; Ukrainian President Alleges Coup Plot; The U.S. Great Resignation; Stephen Sondheim Dead at 91. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired November 27, 2021 - 04:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world, I'm Paula Newton.

Ahead here, a new COVID-19 variant is spreading around the globe and bringing with it fear. Health experts worry it could be more transmissible and question how vaccines will work against it.

That variant has markets tumbling, as countries shut down travel from affected regions just in time for the holidays. We'll have the latest.

And the president of Ukraine warns that there are plans for a coup against him.

The suspects?

He says powerful Ukrainians and, yes, Russia. What the Kremlin has to say about it.

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NEWTON: And we begin, of course, with a new coronavirus variant that is, of course, unsettling so many around the world. The WHO is calling the Omicron variant a variant of concern. It was first identified in South Africa and now detected in several other countries in the region.

But cases have also been confirmed further afield, including Israel, Hong Kong and Belgium. It is not yet known whether it is more deadly or whether it can blunt vaccine efficacy or natural immunity. But scientists fear it could be more contagious and health experts say more research is needed right now.

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DR. MARIA VAN KERKHOVE, COVID-19 TECHNICAL LEAD, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: This variant has a large number of mutations and some of these mutations have some worrying characteristics. Right now, there are many studies underway. There is a lot of work that is ongoing in South Africa and in other

countries, to better characterize the variant itself, in terms of transmissibility, in terms of severity and any impact on our counter measures like diagnostics, therapeutics or vaccines.

So far, there's little information but those studies are underway. So we need researchers to have the time to carry those out.

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NEWTON: And it will be at least a few weeks before we hear about that. Governments around the world have responded by limiting or banning flights and travelers from several southern African countries.

And all of that, of course, made global stock markets jittery. Our CNN producer Nada Bashir is in London, following all the reaction from Europe.

Europe is already dealing with a punishing surge in COVID cases.

How are they proposing to deal with this next challenge?

NADA BASHIR, CNN PRODUCER: That's right. In the last week alone, we've seen record-breaking figures in several countries, reporting record numbers of daily cases. And, of course, yesterday, that confirmed case, first confirmed case in Europe in Belgium.

So serious concerns over how governments in Europe can keep control over the pandemic, particularly as we move into the winter months. And we've seen in previous months during this pandemic the impact of Alpha variant, identified first in the U.K., which had immense impact on the health structure, hospitals following under massive pressure and the rate of hospital admissions rising.

So that is a serious concern. And, of course, with the Delta variant, which has been highly transmissible. So there are serious concerns over what the risks posed by this new variant will be.

Part of that effort to bring that under control is, of course, these travel restrictions that we've seen just yesterday, announced by the European Union, to restrict travel from the southern African region.

But of course, there will be national measures that need to be taken into consideration. But for now the focus is on the international effort. Take a listen.

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BASHIR (voice-over): As concerns mount over the spread of a new coronavirus variant named Omicron by the World Health Organization, European Union states have agreed to halt air travel from South Africa, where it first identified, and other neighboring countries in the region.

URSULA VAN DER LEYEN, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN COMMISSION: It is now important that all of us in Europe act very swiftly decisively and united. All air travel to these countries should be suspended.

They should be suspended until we have a clear understanding about the danger posed by this new variant. Travelers returning from this region should respect strict quarantine rules. The U.K. was one of the first nations to make the announcement.

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SAJID JAVID, BRITISH HEALTH SECRETARY: We will be suspending all flights from six southern African countries and we will add in those countries to the travel red list. Those countries are South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini and Zimbabwe and Botswana.

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BASHIR (voice-over): The move prompted swift criticism from South Africa. Its foreign ministry, tweeting, the UK's decision seemed rushed, despite warnings from the World Health Organization, against hasty travel restrictions.

CHRISTIAN LINDMEIER, WHO SPOKESPERSON: Countries can do a lot already in terms of surveillance and sequencing and work together with affected countries or globally to work scientifically to fight this variant and to understand more about it so that we know how to go about.

So at this point, again, implementing travel measures is being cautioned against and taking the risk based on a scientific approach.

BASHIR (voice-over): But with cases now confirmed in several places, including Belgium, Israel and Hong Kong, there are growing concerns about both the transmissibility of the variant and its impact on vaccine efficacy.

With winter ahead, world leaders are acting quickly, to stop the situation from once again spiraling out of control.

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BASHIR: And that is the concern, the spiraling out of control, that we've seen in the past. There is an emphasis to tighten restrictions, some countries now even going into lockdown. So that will be the focus as health experts continue the investigation into the risks posed by this new variant.

NEWTON: Yes, absolutely chilling really to see what Europe is dealing with, considering the caseload there. Nada, thank you.

Will Ripley is in Hong Kong, where two people tested positive for the variant.

Will, this is in the quarantine hotel that you are currently in right now? WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Two floors down from me. It was quite a surprise to check in and hear about this cluster of cases on the 5th floor. I'm on the 7th.

And it is having a big impact for the people in those two rooms, a South African man in his 30s and, across the hallway, a man in his 60s, both of whom tested positive within one week of each other.

When they tested for the virus in the hallway, they found traces of the virus, even though these two men did not have physical contact with each other, authorities say, and were both fully vaccinated.

Initially authorities suspected it might be because one of the men was wearing a mask that they think is an improper type of mask, the kind of mask that has a valve on it. Every time we open our doors, we're supposed to change the mask every single time.

So put on a new mask whenever you open the door to put out food, the trash or, in my case last night, I stuck my arm out to put my camera out to take some video. And I had hand sanitizer and the whole nine yards, doing our best to stay safe here.

But you can see every plastic covered chair down that hallway is a room, with somebody in it who is quarantining right now. There are hundreds of guests. And on the 5th floor, many of the people in the adjacent rooms, once they complete either their 14- or 21-day quarantine, will have to do an additional 14 days of isolation at a government facility at Penny Bay.

Hong Kong has one of the strictest quarantine procedures in the world. The minimum is 14 days even if you're vaccinated. That is what I'm doing because I came in from Taiwan. Most people have a 21-day quarantine, and some countries are blocked all together because of different, you know, outbreaks in those countries.

Certainly, we can expect to see Hong Kong authorities tightening their rules as they try to get in sync with Mainland China, which has a zero COVID strategy. But that could prove to be a challenge if this new variant is as contagious as some scientists fear.

NEWTON: And I want to talk to you about that because one of the problems in South Africa is the fact that there is a good portion of the population that is not vaccinated.

Do you think that might change the posture toward that?

RIPLEY: I'll tell you, from what I've observed, there is nothing that gets people motivated to get people vaccinated than a major outbreak. That is what happened in Taiwan.

I was there beginning of May; they had less than 1 percent of their population fully vaccinated. They were having a hard time getting vaccine shipments into the country. You fast forward to where we are now, they have 77 percent of the population has had at least one dose and well over 50 percent are now fully vaccinated in Taiwan. People were motivated because they had their worst outbreak of the

pandemic in May after having many, many months with almost no local transmission whatsoever. Here in Hong Kong, local case numbers are very low.

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RIPLEY: But certainly, news of a new, potentially more dangerous Omicron variant, the possibility of the fact that you have guests in different hotel rooms catching this, certainly has people in Hong Kong alarmed.

Will it lead people to get those vaccine doses or the booster shots?

Only time will tell.

NEWTON: Will, you've been tracking this virus for nearly two years now and there you are, right now again, giving us very important information on the ground there, live for us from Hong Kong. Appreciate it.

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NEWTON: To help sort out everything we're learning about this new variant. I'm now joined by Dr. Peter Drobac. He's an infectious disease and global health expert.

Do you believe that this could potentially be the variant that we have all feared?

Is this the one that evades the vaccines?

DR. PETER DROBAC, OXFORD UNIVERSITY: Hi, Paula, good to be with you.

I think there is real reason for concern, and we've seen that, with scientists across the world and we've seen that with the aggressive responsive, some countries have taken around travel bans. The answer is we don't know. But there are some concerning signs, so some real cause for concern and vigilance.

The two things that have worried us about this variant are the high number of 32 mutations on the spike protein, the part of the virus the vaccine trains the immune system to fight.

That would make the vaccines, potentially, less effective than they are right now. And based on very limited evidence, so far, from the tremendous surveillance being done in southern Africa, this variant, appearing to be outcompeting the Delta variant, at least in the area around Johannesburg.

That suggests it may be more transmissible or has a survival advantage. Now remember, if we go back a few months to the spring or summer, there was a couple of different variants that we were worried about.

The Alpha variant was dominant and then Delta spread throughout the world and really became the dominant strain because it was more infectious and was able to outcompete other variants.

So, there is a real concern that this could be the case here. But the answer, is we just don't know yet. So, border measures might buy us some time. I think the most important thing we can do, right now, is continue to push vaccinations and taking other measures to drive down transmission, until we know more and see what happens.

NEWTON: And what about that?

What if you do find that these vaccines do not work well against this variant?

Is it possible, even though we see more breakthrough cases, the vaccines that we have right now, will still protect against severe disease and death?

DROBAC: I think it's actually very likely. Remember, immune escape, the word we use for the vaccines -- or the virus being able to escape vaccine generated immunity, is one of degrees. It's not like a light switch, on or off.

So if we have a vaccine, currently, 90 percent effective, with the new variant that could decrease by any sort of measure. It's likely there will still be some protection, as you say. The really tremendous thing about our vaccines is they're very strong protection against severe illness and death.

Certainly, there is no evidence, so far, that this new variant causes more severe disease. We just don't know enough yet. I think it is very likely, that the vaccine will still have some effectiveness, and be a very important tool, in our tool kit.

All of the companies, making vaccines, are already starting to tailor their vaccines, to the genetic code of this new variant. So if need be, new versions of vaccines could be just months away. But only time will tell.

NEWTON: Doctor, Moderna announced it is rapidly, trying to advance this variant, the specific variant, this booster candidate that they have. And Pfizer says it's working on a potential solution.

What I want to ask, you however, is should this alleviate our fears, really?

Or should we still be concerned about those billions throughout the world, who are still unvaccinated, whether they are unwilling or, in most cases, haven't had access to a single dose of vaccine?

DROBAC: I'm so glad you asked, that Paula. Right now, there are about 100 million doses of vaccine going unused in wealthy countries, set to expire next month. We continue to hoard vaccines and we have more than we can use.

Around the world, there are billions of people who have not yet received a first dose. In South Africa, only 25 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated. South Africa is a middle-income country, has the resources; they just haven't been able to get the vaccines.

And a situation in which we have high levels of transmission, where there is lots of virus replicating, and relatively low levels of vaccination, create the perfect conditions for the emergence of new variants.

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DROBAC: So allowing this to continue, in this fashion, around the world, is actually putting all of us at risk. Probably the most important thing that we could be doing globally, right now is working in more solidarity, trying to get vaccines to everybody who needs, them around the world. We have to radically increase our supplies to do that.

NEWTON: We will leave it there for now. I'm sure we'll be talking about this every hour in the next few weeks and Dr. Peter Drobac, appreciate it.

DROBAC: Thank you.

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NEWTON: Still to come here, why the French president is accusing the British prime minister of not being serious about tackling the migrant crisis.

Plus, Ukraine's president warns there is a coup being planned against him, set to be carried out in just a few days. Who he says is behind the plot?

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NEWTON: The diplomatic spat between France and the U.K. over how to handle migrant crossings is escalating. French President Emmanuel Macron has accused British prime minister Boris Johnson of behaving seriously.

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NEWTON: This after he tweeted out a letter, he sent to Mr. Macron, laying out ways to prevent future crossings.

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EMMANUEL MACRON, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): I am surprised at the methods, when they are not serious. We do not communicate between one leader, to another, on these issues by tweeting and writing letters and making them public. We are not whistleblowers. Come on, come on.

(END VIDEO CLIP) NEWTON: And here is where it gets messy. France has also uninvited the British home secretary from a key weekend meeting on the migrant crisis. This after 27 people died Wednesday while attempting to cross the English Channel. CNN's Jim Bittermann is joining me now from Paris, where he is following developments.

You know, Britain suggested in that letter that we looked at, the joint patrols with France, more intelligence sharing.

But what about that suggestion that the migrants should be sent directly back to France as a deterrent?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: I think the French would say that that is not in line with the kind of international treaties and agreements that are already in place.

Basically, when a person applies for asylum, they are supposed to stay where they are until their asylum claim can be evaluated. The fact is that the French, I think, would say that that wouldn't be the case if you were sending people back.

They have suggested -- and this is something we've heard from the French side -- that the British send asylum evaluators over to France and have the claims being evaluated in France. But they don't like the idea of this lack of sovereignty that they would have over the claims, if the British were simply turning them back without processing them.

They would say that's a violation of the international agreements on asylum. So that I think is part of it.

The other thing is I think that really rankled the French about this whole affair over the letter that Boris Johnson published, something the government spokesman said yesterday, that is they felt the British were being two-faced, that Boris Johnson had said one thing in his private telephone conversation with Emmanuel Macron.

And the letter seemed to say a different thing. And because of that, they felt like the dealings with Britain has been underhanded and, of course, it comes after all the acrimony that we've seen, all this fall over fishing and the submarine deal and all of that. So relations right now are not in particularly good shape.

NEWTON: Not at all. And given the fact that not everyone who should be at the table of this meeting is there, that is obviously going to slow things down in terms of finding a solution. Jim Bittermann in Paris, appreciate that.

Solomon Islands are reporting the first casualties after days of antigovernment riots. Police say they found three charred bodies in a burned out building, in the capital's Chinatown district.

Police say the city is still tense but it's starting to get back to normal. They also say over 100 people have been arrested, since rioting began, Wednesday. Meanwhile, an Australian army unit landed in the capital, Papua New Guinea also deployed a security team. Their mission will be to help the local police defend the prime minister whom protesters want to resign.

Ukraine's president says his government has uncovered a coup that's to be carried out in the coming days. Volodymyr Zelensky claims that a group of Ukrainians and Russians are plotting to oust him from power amid heightened tensions over the recent buildup of Russian troops along the Ukrainian border. CNN's Matthew Chance explains.

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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are disturbing allegations from the Ukrainian president, a serious and new threat posed by Russia against his government.

"We have information that will soon be a coup in our country," he announced in a roundtable discussion, with journalists. "It's in just a few days," he says, "on the 1st or 2nd of December."

The Kremlin denies any such plot. But it's a dramatic escalation in the war of words as Russia is accused of amassing forces, poised to invade, which the Kremlin also denies.

Now President Zelensky says he has intelligence, including an audio recording of Russians and Ukrainians discussing the plot against him. But no evidence has been yet made public.

He also suggested Ukraine's richest man, this powerful oligarch called Rinat Akhmetov, owner of several critical media outlets, may also be involved, something strenuously denied to CNN by Akhmetov himself.

"Information made public by Volodymyr Zelensky about attempts to draw me into some kind of coup is an absolute lie," Akhmetov said, in this written statement.

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CHANCE (voice-over): "As a Ukrainian citizen, the country's biggest investor, taxpayer and employer, I will defend a free Ukraine and do everything I can to prevent authoritarianism and censorship."

For years Ukraine has been facing enormous pressure from its powerful Russian neighbor, fighting a trench war with Russian-backed rebels in the country's east. It was the threat of holding back U.S. military aid that led to former president Trump's first impeachment.

Now U.S. officials say Russia is engaged in destabilizing activities inside Ukraine as well against the Zelensky government. It's one of the reasons the Ukrainian leader seems on edge, conscious he has enemies outside the country and within.

But there are also fears that he is using real concerns about Russia to crack down on his opponents, too -- Matthew Chance, CNN, London.

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NEWTON: Now U.S. President Joe Biden said he is concerned about Mr. Zelensky's comments on the alleged coup. And meantime the U.S. and its NATO allies will be discussing ways to further deter Russia from its aggression toward Ukraine at a summit in Latvia this week.

And the NATO secretary-general says the military buildup on the border is raising tensions. And he is calling on Moscow to deescalate the situation. Take a listen to what he told CNN Friday.

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JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: So what we see is a significant Russian military build-up, unusual concentration of forces, heavy weapons, battle tanks, drones, armored vehicles and also electronic warfare systems and many combat-ready troops.

Of course, this is serious, also because it's the second time this year. We don't know the Russian intentions but what we do know is that Russia has used force against Ukraine before. They annexed Crimea. They destabilized eastern Ukraine, and they have conducted hybrid and cyber attacks against Ukraine many times.

So this is serious and, therefore, we need to monitor very closely and assess this very actively.

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NEWTON: So Stoltenberg also says that there will be consequences if Russia uses force against Ukraine.

Russian (sic) president Alexander Lukashenko is urging migrants stranded at the border with Poland to push on into the European Union if they want to, promising that he and his military will not force them to go back to their home countries if they do not wish to return.

Now the comments came as Mr. Lukashenko's first public appearance at the border since the migrant crisis began, a crisis the E.U. says he created by granting visas and pushing thousands of migrants to the border, a claim he denies.

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ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO, BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): If the migrant crisis in Belarus is not solved now, it will grow much bigger, not only in spring but winter.

We understand that a large flow of people will be arriving here in Belarus and it will be hard to hold them on the border. This problem must be solved now before it grows much bigger.

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NEWTON: While Mr. Lukashenko encourages migrants to just go into the European Union, neighboring countries are struggling to deal with the growing crisis.

Lithuania on Friday said that it may shut down its border crossings altogether if more migrants attempt to cross over. And in Poland, police video seems to show migrants rioting at a detention center, trying to break down a fence and smashing windows. Polish authorities say the migrants were demanding better conditions and to be transferred on to Western Europe.

Still ahead, more travel restrictions are going into effect over the new Omicron variant. The latest on which countries are being impacted.

Plus variant fears also send global markets tumbling. The Dow just saw its worst day in more than a year.

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NEWTON: Welcome back to viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Paula Newton. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.

Some news just in to CNN regarding our top story: 61 travelers from South Africa have now tested positive for COVID at an airport in the Netherlands. Dutch health authorities say those positive test results will be examined as soon as possible to see if they are potentially infected with the new Omicron variant.

That, I'll remind you, was first identified in South Africa. Meantime, world health authorities and health officials are scrambling to contain the potential spread of a new COVID variant.

And for that reason more than 2 dozen countries will be curbing travel in the coming days by limiting or banning flights and foreign travelers from several southern African countries.

Those travel restrictions are already being felt in the country where the variant was first identified, as we told you, South Africa. CNN's David McKenzie has more on how the global reaction is playing out there.

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DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a world fatigued by waves of COVID-19, now renewed fear. In South Africa, scientists identifying a troubling new variant of the virus that is dominating infections here.

DR. JOE PHAAHLA, SOUTH AFRICAN HEALTH MINISTER: A variant of serious concern which is now driving this spike in numbers.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): More than 30 mutations, say scientists, in the spike protein alone. It's a worrying sign. Scientists are working in labs like this one in South Africa, scrambling to confirm if the variant evades immunity from previous infections or, crucially, if it weakens vaccine efficacy. Definitive answers could take weeks.

SALIM ABDOOL KARIM, EPIDEMIOLOGIST AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST: We think it may be a more transmissible virus and it may have some immune escape. Now we don't know that for sure but that's what it looks like.

URSULA VON DER LEYEN, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN COMMISSION: The European Commission has today proposed to member states to activate the emergency brake on travel from countries in southern Africa.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): But even without clear answers, the world is shutting its doors. Countries all across the globe, rapidly banning travelers from parts of Africa, they say to curb the spread of the variant.

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MCKENZIE (voice-over): Now thousands are likely stranded.

In Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, hundreds of passengers from South Africa forced to sit on the tarmac for hours after landing, then crowding in a COVID testing site after the Netherlands bands traveled from South Africa.

The International Air Transport Association saying, "Restrictions are not a long-term solution."

They've already lost billions to the pandemic.

And anger in South Africa, where officials called the bans "draconian knee-jerk measures."

RICHARD LESSELLS, INFECTIOUS DISEASES SPECIALIST, UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL: What I found so disgusting and really, really distressing, actually from here was not just the travel ban being implemented by the U.K. and Europe.

But that was the only reaction or the strongest reaction. And there was no word of the support that they're going to offer to African countries to help us control the pandemic

MCKENZIE (voice-over): Countries in Africa, now Israel, Hong Kong and Belgium have so far confirmed cases of the variant -- David McKenzie, CNN, Johannesburg.

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NEWTON: And so a closer look now at the new travel restrictions being implemented by the U.S. on those southern African nations. CNN's Arlette Saenz has more from Nantucket, Massachusetts, where President Joe Biden is spending his Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Biden described his decision to announce new travel restrictions on South Africa and seven other African countries as "a cautious one," as concerns are growing about the new coronavirus variant known as Omicron.

The president spoke to reporters here on his Nantucket vacation, saying that he had a 30-minute conversation with his top medical advisers, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, and they arrived at the conclusion that these restrictions were necessary. But he also acknowledged that there is still much to be learned about the variant. Take a listen.

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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I decided that we're going to be cautious. We don't know a lot about the variant except that it is a great concern and it seems that it spread rapidly. And I've spent about a half hour this morning with my COVID team, led by Dr. Fauci. So that was the decision that we made.

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SAENZ: The new travel restrictions will not impact American citizens and legal permanent residents. And the ban is set to go into effect on Monday.

Officials say they need that time in order to put all of the proper protocols in place to implement this; that includes offering directives to the TSA and working directly with airlines that will be impacted.

But ultimately, officials believe that they are working as quickly as possible. And they are hoping that these new restrictions will give the administration more time to learn more about the variant.

The president also stressed that now is the time for the unvaccinated to go out and get their vaccine shots and for those who have already been vaccinated to get boosters in order to protect themselves against the coronavirus currently in the U.S. and any other variants that may come here -- Arlette Saenz, CNN, traveling with the president in Nantucket, Massachusetts.

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NEWTON: Those travel restrictions limit who can enter the U.S. but don't require flights to be halted. Delta and the United Airlines both say that they have no plans to stop service to and from South Africa.

And an airline group says that it has many unanswered questions about the new measures.

Now the Omicron variant is also rattling as you can imagine global markets. Wall Street fell sharply, with the Dow suffering its worst day in more than a year. And the price of oil followed the slide. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, and U.S. oil have both fallen, with U.S. crude plunging 13 percent.

Richard Quest has more on what is behind the drop.

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RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST: Markets love certainty and they have just been given an enormous dose of the opposite, great worries about what is likely to happen next with the Omicron variant. The market fall started in Asia and went rapidly through Europe and

into the United States. To be fair, it was a shortened trading session, the day after Thanksgiving. And it was thin markets. So volatility was to be expected.

But that shouldn't deny the underlying concern that there is.

Will there need to be more restrictions, more lockdowns, more measures as a result of Omicron, which could stifle the recoveries underway?

So far, travel restrictions from various African countries have been put into place, even though the WHO says that that is counterproductive. But it is easy to see why Western politicians are more concerned with appearing to do the right thing and shut the door rather than whether it will actually be effective -- Richard Quest, CNN, New York.

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NEWTON: So if it seems like you are seeing help wanted signs everywhere you look, of course, you are right. Millions of Americans have called it quits during the pandemic. Ahead, what prompted the great resignation and how it is affecting the labor market.

Plus Canada's westernmost province is still recovering from catastrophic flooding last month. Here is the thing though, a new system is threatening even more rain.

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NEWTON: So as the holiday season gets started here in the United States, many Americans are looking forward to have some vacation time, right, to try to spend quality time with those families.

But for others, taking time off isn't really a thing anymore because they are among the millions of Americans who have actually quit their jobs during this pandemic. Vanessa Yurkevich has more on the great resignation.

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VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): A simple task: Kate Santangelo picks up her 7-year-old daughter, Grace, from school, something she's waited years to do.

Do you recall how often you were able to pick your daughter up from school?

KATE SANTANGELO, RETIRED SALES EMPLOYEE: Oh, my gosh, never.

YURKEVICH: But all that changed in April. She quit her 15-year career in sales to be home full-time with her kids. SANTANGELO: I was working endless hours and traveling a lot.

YURKEVICH: If COVID didn't happen, do you think that you still would have quit your job?

SANTANGELO: No. No, I think I'd still be there, yes, without a doubt.

YURKEVICH: She's one of millions quitting the work force in recent months, a record 4.4 million quits in September. It's being called the great resignation.

SANTANGELO: We have had so much time that we had to be sitting in our homes and spending time with, you know, people we live with and just shifting priorities.

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YURKEVICH (voice-over): And she's one of 4.7 million business applications filed from January through October of this year, a 34 percent increase from the same time the period in 2019. She founded Monmouth Moms, a resource guide for parents.

SANTANGELO: It allows me to take off if I need to bring, you know, my kids to the doctor or, you know, offer more flexibility in terms of when I can even schedule appointments for them.

YURKEVICH: It's not just moms leaving the workforce. Americans are retiring in greater numbers too.

What am I looking at behind you guys right now?

SCOTT BANKS, EARLY RETIREE: That's our RV. Yes, that's our RV we have got in the background.

YURKEVICH: Scott and Mary Banks retired early this September at 57 and 59 respectively and are road tripping across the country.

S. BANKS: Packed up, strapped down, ready to head down the road.

YURKEVICH: Scott quit his finance job. Mary left real estate.

S. BANKS: I said what, would you think if we did it now instead of waiting three more years?

MARY BANKS, EARLY RETIREE: And I'm like I pushed all my chips in. I'm all in.

YURKEVICH: 1.5 million Americans were on pace to retire during the pandemic. Instead that number more than doubled to 3.6 million.

S. BANKS: It was just that thought of, gosh, wouldn't it be a tragedy if we spent all this time working for our retirement and then right near the finish line you catch a horrible disease and die and never get to enjoy your retirement?

YURKEVICH: So they capitalized on the hot housing market, sold their home and hit the road.

How is life on the road compared to the jobs that you left behind?

S. BANKS: Gosh, I wish I could say it was tough but no, it's great. I do not miss at all working right now.

YURKEVICH: The industries with some of the highest quit rates are transportation, education and leisure and hospitality. These are industries that were suffering from labor shortages before the pandemic and now they are feeling them much more acutely.

Americans that we spoke to who quit those industries say that they now are looking for better wages and more flexibility at work, just clearly showing how much this pandemic has transformed the way Americans are willing to work and what they are willing to do -- back to you.

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NEWTON: More great work from Vanessa Yurkevich.

American taxpayers are not getting their fair share from oil and gas companies that drill on federal lands and waters. So says a review of the federal leasing program by the Interior Department. It is urging the government to consider raising the fees for those companies to help fight climate change.

President Joe Biden ordered the review as part of his effort to tackle the climate crisis. But some lawmakers and environmental groups say the proposal doesn't go far enough.

Environment Canada has issued its first red alert for British Columbia as another dangerous weather system rolls in. Earlier this month, the western province was slammed by catastrophic floods and mudslides that forced evacuations and wreaked havoc for homeowners.

And look at the roads. Now three atmospheric rivers are threatening to dump more heavy rain. Justin Trudeau visited the affected area on Friday, as authorities work proactively to now close sections of the highways.

Steven Sondheim was a master of words and music on the American stage. But now he has died at the age of 91. The life and career of one of Broadway's greats -- when we return.

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NEWTON: The lights of Broadway are burning a little less brightly with the news that Stephen Sondheim has died at the age of 91. It seemed any musical he touched became a smash success. And he did that with show after show after show for more than seven decades -- seven. Stephanie Elam looks back at his extraordinary career.

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STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Stephen Sondheim was one of musical theater's most prolific and successful writers, winning eight Tony Awards, eight Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, a Pulitzer Prize for drama and in 2015, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Sondheim was born on March 22nd, 1930, in New York City. His parents divorced in 1942 and he moved to Pennsylvania with his mother.

In Pennsylvania, he became friends with James Hammerstein, the son of lyricist Oscar Hammerstein. Throughout his teen years, his relationship with his mother deteriorated and eventually the two became estranged.

But Oscar Hammerstein was a constant figure, encouraging Sondheim's musical talents throughout high school and college.

STEPHEN SONDHEIM, BROADWAY COMPOSER: If it hadn't been for the Hammersteins, I really don't know where I would be, if I would even be alive.

ELAM: Sondheim's big break came when he wrote the lyrics for the Broadway show "West Side Story" in 1957.

Then in 1962, he expended his repertoire and, for the first time, he wrote the lyrics and composed the music for "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum."

In 1970, Sondheim began a collaboration with theater producer Hal Prince that lasted more than a decade. Their 1973 play, "A Little Night Music," was composed mostly in waltz time and became one of their biggest commercial successes. It featured the hit "Send in the Clowns," one of Sondheim's best known songs.

In 1979, Sondheim wrote what was probably Broadway's first musical thriller, "Sweeney Todd," the story of an English barber and serial killer.

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SONDHEIM: What is great about the theater is the living organism, whereas movies and television are as if in amber. It is not that they are dead, but they are only alive in one shape, form and tone. Every time you see a movie, they are giving the same performance as they did the last time you saw them. Not true of a show.

ELAM: Inspiration was everywhere for Sondheim. And in 1984, moved by a famous painting by George Seurat, he penned the lyrics for "Sunday in the Park with George." For that inventive stagecraft, he won the Pulitzer Prize for drama.

In 1987, he wrote the Broadway hit "Into the Woods," based on the fables of the Brothers Grimm. Late in Sondheim's career, Lin-Manuel Miranda approached him with something he was working on, a musical then called "The Hamilton Mixtape." Sondheim mentored Miranda just as Hammerstein had done for him.

From waltzes to rap, inspired by everything from serial killers to fairy tales, Sondheim's impact on American musical theater spanned decades and created some of the world's most popular musicals.

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NEWTON: Stephen Sondheim there and our thanks to Stephanie Elam.

I'm Paula Newton. Kim Brunhuber will be next.