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New Data From South Africa Finds Symptoms Less Severe With Omicron; School Shooting Suspect, Parents Under Suicide Watch; Former GOP Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) to Challenge Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA). Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired December 06, 2021 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NEWSROOM: A very good Monday morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto.

We begin this morning with some encouraging news on what we know with the coronavirus pandemic. First, new findings on the omicron variant preliminary data from South Africa suggests omicron cases are less severe, that is so far, but early indications. Dr. Paul Offit just told last hour vaccines as well still appear to be effective against omicron.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. PAUL OFFIT, DIRECTOR OF THE VACCINE EDUCATION CENTER, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: The early indications is that you are going to be protected against serious illness with two doses of mRNA- containing vaccine. The third dose, the booster dose can arguably increase neutralizing antibodies and decrease sort of more mild or asymptomatic infection. But what you care the most about is protection against serious illness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: There's also this. We're seeing a big jump in the number of vaccinations here in this country. See that spike on the right-hand side of the screen. The CDC says demand is up right now, averaging more than 2.2 million doses per day.

Also new this morning, new coronavirus testing requirements are in effect for all international travelers coming to the U.S., everyone regardless of their nationality or their vaccination status must be tested within one day of departure, had been three days. All of this comes as we are seeing an uptick of new infections here in the U.S., the U.S. averaging more than 100,000 new infections per day. That, the highest level in months.

We should note that that rise is not necessarily because of the omicron variant, early for that to show up in the numbers so far.

There's a lot to get to this morning. Let's begin with our Aviation Correspondent Pete Muntean. He is at Dulles International Airport. So, Pete, had been three days, now it's one day prior to departure. Are you seeing an effect there at the airport?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, we'll have to see how smooth this really goes, Jim. Flights that are in the air right now since these rules took hold at midnight are among the first to have to comply with this. Passengers coming into the U.S. now need to show proof of a negative coronavirus test to their airline, that test needs to be taken within one day of their flight.

The CDC puts the example this way. If your flight is on Monday, you can take the test anytime on Sunday. It's a one-day rule, not a 24- hour rule. This applies to foreign nationals and all U.S. citizens, and it's regardless of your vaccination status. So, this is pretty strict.

And the CDC really wanted this, it said, because of these new concerns over the new omicron variant, it tightened that timeline, as you mentioned, from three days, what it was, to one day for this testing requirement now.

Airlines say that they are going to comply with this, they are going to be checking for those negative coronavirus tests, but they really pushed back on how effective this is really going to be. This is what United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT KIRBY, CEO, UNITED AIRLINES: And the reality is omicron is already out of South Africa, it's already escaped, it is on every continent. COVID is unique. COVID is endemic. We need to learn to live with it. But we're not going to learn to live with it by simply locking down and shutting borders. The right answer is to get everyone vaccinated.

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MUNTEAN: Another big change here when it comes to the federal transportation mask mandate, it was set to expire January 18th. Now, it's been given a two month extension, now expiring March 18, 2022, and that applies on all public forms of transportation, planes, trains, buses, boats. Also here in terminals when we're seeing huge numbers when it comes to air travel, about 2 million people pass through security at America's airports just yesterday, numbers really on par with the Thanksgiving travel period, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Pete Muntean, thanks very much.

The U.S. is seeing a big jump in vaccinations. That is good news. CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins me now with details.

I mean, two pieces to these numbers, it's the overall daily number of shots, but also the portion of that that is the first time shots.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, and that is really what we want to look for. I think Paul Offit was sort of getting this message to you when you spoke to him earlier, Jim, that, yes, boosters are important, but they're not nearly as important as getting that first set of shots, that is what people really need to get. Most of us have, some of us unfortunately haven't.

But perhaps the omicron variant, hearing that news made people move, because let's take a look at a comparison from two weeks, one before Thanksgiving and one after, after the variant -- the news about the variant had come out.

So, if you look at the week ending November 21st and you look at seven-day averages, that week, it was an average of about 527,000 new shots, new shots, per day, people getting their first shots.

[10:05:08]

Now, if you look at the week ending December 5th after the omicron news came out, there were nearly 619,000 shots per day. So, that is a significant difference. Let's hope that that keeps up.

If we look overall right now, 75 percent of the eligible U.S. population, that means everyone age five and above, has been vaccinated. That is a good number. But if we really want to nip this in the bud, it does need to be higher. Jim?

SCIUTTO: That's right, still tens of millions who haven't had a single shot in this country. Elizabeth Cohen, thanks very much.

COHEN: That's right.

SCIUTTO: Joining us now, Dr. Adam Brown, he's the COVID task force chair at Envision Healthcare. Dr. Brown, great to have you on this morning.

DR. ADAM BROWN, COVID-19 TASK FORCE CHAIR, ENVISION HEALTHCARE: Thanks for having me.

SCIUTTO: It is an uptick, I would like to accentuate the positive here. Is that significant enough uptick to make a difference in where the pandemic stands in this country?

BROWN: Well, we'll take it. I think it is a good move that we're starting to see more people vaccinated. One of the things that I am a little concerned about is our capacity for vaccinating people, as we do see an uptick in also people that are wanting to get their boosters. But that is a good thing because more than 41 percent or 40 percent of our population are not fully vaccinated and a large portion are not boosted. So, that gives us a lot of opportunity there but also gives the virus a lot of opportunity for spreading.

SCIUTTO: And I notice, I mean, it is hard to get appointments. Trying to get the second shot for our daughter, the pharmacies seem somewhat overwhelmed.

Okay. On, efficacy, because that is key, and at the worst point, and that is only going back eight or nine days ago, folks are like, wait a second, are existing vaccines going to withstand omicron? It is early, like all the data, so I want to note that. But we do have the CEO of Moderna telling CNN that -- as well as the CEO of Pfizer in some public comments, saying early indications are at least in preventing severe illness the signs are positive.

BROWN: Well, what is what we really care about. We do care about preventing severe illness and hospitalizations. But, remember, we also want to prevent transmission. And so it would be really nice to see that those vaccines are very efficacious against preventing disease in the first place.

But I want to remind people of something. 99 percent of the cases here in the United States here today and for the next few weeks are going to be delta. So, when you are with your family over the holidays, when you are with your friends at parties, the most likely disease that your friend or family member could be carrying or you could be giving to them is delta. And we know what the vaccines do to prevent that disease. So, that is really where a lot of our focus needs to be while we also look at omicron as well.

SCIUTTO: And so the guidance has remained the same throughout. I've noticed that every doctor come on the air, yourself included, get shots, get boosted, that's your best protection.

Looking at the data, Dr. Fauci has expressed some optimism with the proviso, it's early, Dr. Paul Offit expressed some optimism about what we know so far about omicron. What is your view?

BROWN: So, I am encouraged to see that it appears that it may be a little less severe. And so that is a good thing. But I also want to say this is early and we are seeing that this is a disease that is highly transmissible. Remember, delta was much more transmissible than the original forms of the virus. It appears that this may be more transmissible than delta.

And so if we have a large portion of the population that is exposed, we have a lot of the people that are undervaccinated or not vaccinated at all, we have the potential also of having severe disease and also overwhelming our health care system. So, while I'm encouraged by this news, we are early in this because it has only been about a week-and- a-half as we're getting information out of South Africa.

SCIUTTO: No question, the country has experienced another increase in infections too, even in the midst, and that is prior to omicron contributing.

Okay. Another piece of information that is encouraging, and that is that research shows that teens and young adults who had developed a type of heart inflammation known as myocarditis after getting their COVID-19 vaccines, that they had mild symptoms only, none died, and most recovered quickly. I mean, this is key because this had been a reason for vaccine hesitancy for some parents and young people. How important are these findings?

BROWN: Well, I think that that is a really good finding, because what we do know is that COVID-19 can cause myocarditis. And so the chances of getting the disease, COVID, first is very high, especially in an unvaccinated individual. We also know that there is a relative risk of getting myocarditis. So, I think hearing more and more evidence coming out that the vaccine causes very mild if very infrequent cases of myocarditis, that is a good thing, and reaffirms the reason why we should get kids vaccinated.

SCIUTTO: Yes, we hope the word gets out. Dr. Adam Brown, thank you so much for joining us.

BROWN: Thanks so much for having me today.

SCIUTTO: Still to come this hour, the parents of a Michigan teen who was accused killing four classmates, injuring several others, are now in custody. The prosecutor in the case says there could be additional charges coming.

Plus, Georgia's elections will once again be thrust into the national spotlight, as former Republican senator and Trump ally David Perdue has announced he is entering the governor's race to challenge, who, incumbent Republican Brian Kemp, a frequent target of Trump's.

[10:10:09]

Later also, one of the top generals at U.S. Space Force says that China is advancing their space capabilities at twice the rate of the U.S. What that means for U.S. national security, that is coming up.

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SCIUTTO: There are new details this morning from the fallout of yet another tragic and deadly school shooting.

[10:15:05]

The person who authorities say helped the parents of the suspected shooter Ethan Crumbley, as they attempted to evade police, has now come forward through his attorney, Andrzej Sikora, says he was roped into letting James and Jennifer Crumbley use his Detroit workspace for hours over the weekend and that Sikora did not know they had arrest warrants out on them. As of yesterday afternoon, Sikora himself has not been charged and is cooperating with police, this as the district superintendent where this shooting occurred has requested and independent third party investigation into the shooting that claimed the lives of four teenage students. Later today, a visitation will be held for one of those students. There he is, 16-year-old Tate Myre, he has been credited with saving lives by confronting the shooter in the midst of this.

CNN National Correspondent Athena Jones is live in Oxford, Michigan this morning. Athena, I'm curious what the school is saying in the wake of this tragedy.

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Jim. Well, since the very day of the shooting, there have been a lot of questions raised about the school's handling of Ethan Crumbley, and now we're hearing more about the school's version of events, and they're detailing how they responded on Monday and Tuesday when two separate teachers raised concerns about the behavior of Ethan Crumbley.

On Monday, it was because they saw him viewing images of ammunition on his cell phone, and on Tuesday, it was because they saw a disturbing drawing that Crumbley had made depicting a semiautomatic gun, a body with bullet holes and appeared to be bleeding, a bullet and words like blood everywhere.

And, ultimately, they say -- the superintendent says in this letter to the community that school counselors and school staff decided that based on Ethan Curmbley's answers and his demeanor and the answers they Crumbley's parents when they're called in on Tuesday, they concluded that he was not likely to inflict harm on himself or on others.

Now, they note that they told the parents that they have to get counseling for Ethan Crumbley within 48 hours or be reported at Child Protective Services. And they note that they told the Crumbleys to take Ethan out of the school but that they flatly refused and left the school without their son apparently to return to work, according to the superintendent. But because Ethan Crumbley had no prior disciplinary infractions because of his demeanor, as I mentioned, he was allowed to return to class.

One interesting thing brought up in the school superintendent's letter is that the Crumbleys did not tell the school district about the fact that they had bought a firearm for Ethan, that he had access to a firearm. It is not clear if the school asked directly the Crumbleys about Ethan's access to a weapon.

Now, listen to Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald talking about possible charges against school officials. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAREN MCDONALD, OAKLAND COUNTY PROSECUTOR: It is under investigation, so, no, we haven't ruled out charging anyone.

But our first priority is keeping the community safe and holding the people accountable who could have prevented this. And right now, the Crumbleys are those two people. None of this should have happened. A 15 1/2-year-old should not be sitting in jail facing life in prison. These children who were terrorized and killed and shot, none of it should have happened. And it could have been prevented.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: So, there, you hear the prosecutor saying no decision yet on charges. Some legal experts saying it's civil suits against the school are much more likely than criminal charges. But the sheriff Oakland County, Michael Bouchard, has said over and over again in the last several days that they would like to have been looped in on these reports from teachers, their concerns because they could have acted. And he gave examples of times in the past when school officials have alerted law enforcement and they have been able to handle the situation and avoid this kind of carnage. Jim?

SCIUTTO: Athena Jones, thanks so much.

Joining us now, Anthony Barksdale, he's the former acting commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department. Good to have you back, sir.

I want to ask you a couple of questions about your impression of missed warning signs here starting with the school. The school, even as it was having conversations with the parents, there was a conversation with the parents that very morning, the morning of the shooting, did not, according to the sheriff, ever alert local law enforcement to the possibility of a threat here.

I know schools have to make judgment calls. Was that mistake in your view? Was it negligent in your view?

ANTHONY BARKSDALE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Jim, it was a negligent, deadly mistake by the school. I believe this could have been prevented if the school resource officer, if law enforcement, was made aware immediately when the first teacher saw what he was writing on the pad.

SCIUTTO: Let's talk about the parents here, possibility of criminal charges. I don't want to turn you into a lawyer here, but you talk about not sharing information. As our reporter, Athena Jones, was mentioning there, they, even in the midst of warnings being raised, it seems, didn't tell the school that they had given him a gun.

[10:20:07]

Is that negligent?

BARKSDALE: We can see that these parents aren't the best parents. These parents were basically in it with the kid. And that's going to be something that, of course, prosecutors have to prove.

But imagine this, Jim, imagine if as soon as they saw it, the resource officer was pulled, the law enforcement officer was pulled into the room with the parents, with the administration, and said, you know what, we're going to check your son right now based on what we see.

All they needed was reasonable suspicion, not probable cause, two entirely different things. But they had the reasonable suspicion based on what the first teacher had seen. They had it. And he should have been searched. His bag should have been searched. If he didn't have the gun in the bag, then you check his person. Reasonable suspicion, they had it and they missed it.

SCIUTTO: Here is a question for you. Do you, in the midst of this -- and, clearly, there is a lot of blame to go around here. By the way, four students are dead, right? And others are still fighting for their lives. The big issue is the access to the weapon itself, right? I mean, bad parenting exists in this country, always had, sadly, always will. Schools can't easily at least police their entire student body, you know, be both mental health care professional, legal adviser, right, policeman or woman in these cases.

I mean, you are an officer of the law. You served in Baltimore, a city with its own gun violence problem. Is essential issue here the access to the weapons?

BARKSDALE: It is not only access to the weapons, that is part of this, but that failure to communicate. It is one thing that I always try to stress in dealing with any crimes, any issues. I go back to the first rule of CompStat, accurate timely intelligence clearly disseminated to all. How in the world do you have a kid drawing this stuff in class, ammo, blood everywhere, the thoughts won't stop, whatever it was, they had it but didn't talk to, didn't communicate to the police?

So, we have mistakes across the board here. My concern is will these mistakes impact a trial. We need to get the kids justice, we need to get their families justice, we need that community restored after this tragedy. So, it is all a mess, Jim, but it looks like the sheriff, the prosecutor are getting their acts together to make this a prosecutable case, and I hope they do.

SCIUTTO: You mentioned CompStat there. For folks at home who don't know, it's basically a way of collecting data so police can act on it and sort of get to the places where they need to be. They had a big effect in New York with the NYPD.

Anthony Barksdale, always good to draw on your experience.

BARKSDALE: Thanks, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Coming up next, a well-known Trump ally throwing his hat into the Georgia governor's race. David Perdue just released a video explaining why he is challenging the Republican incumbent, Brian Kemp, who you may remember angered Trump because he would not aid him in overturning election results in Georgia.

We'll have more coming up.

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SCIUTTO: Former GOP Senator David Perdue has officially entered the race now for governor in Georgia. A few minutes ago, Perdue announced a Republican primary challenge against the incumbent Republican governor, Brian Kemp. A spokesperson for Donald Trump has confirmed to CNN the former president will endorse, not surprisingly, Perdue.

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DAVID PERDUE (R), GEORGIA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: I like Brian. This isn't personal. It is simple. He has failed all of us and cannot win in November. Instead of protecting our elections, he caved to Abrams and cost us two Senate seats, the Senate majority and gave Joe Biden free rein. Think about how different it would be if Kemp had fought Abrams first instead of fighting Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Well, remember, Trump said the election was stolen there, which it wasn't, and that's why Trump going against Kemp.

Perdue is hoping to make a comeback after the one-term senator lost to Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff and a key Senate runoff race last year helped give Democrats a very thin majority.

Joining me now to discuss, Greg Bluestein, he is a political reporter from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

So, first to the obvious question here, Trump endorsing Senator Perdue. He doesn't like Kemp because Kemp wouldn't do what he wanted with the Georgia election.

GREG BLUESTEIN, POLITICAL REPORTER, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: Yes, you're exactly right. And it actually goes back a little further than that. They fought over coronavirus restrictions, the former president didn't like when the governor reopened the state's economy in an aggressive manner and didn't like that he picked Kelly Loeffler, at least initially, for that open U.S. Senate seat without giving him more consultation.

So, there's a history there but, really, it really kind of blew open last year when the governor refused to call a legislative special session that would have overturned the election results and led to a wave litigation and distract that attention away from those Senate runoffs.

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SCIUTTO: It was notable to me that Perdue --