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COVID Surge Sparks Testing Scramble Before Busy Holiday Week; Senator Joe Manchin Says No To Build Back Better Plan; European Countries Reimpose Restrictions Amid Omicron Surge; Senator Elizabeth Warren Tests Positive For COVID-19; On MLK Day Weekend, King Family To Rally For Voting Rights. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired December 19, 2021 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:31]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

It's not just another COVID wave, it's a tsunami. That is how one expert describes the threat heading for the U.S. as the Delta variant continues to fuel new cases and hospitalizations. And the Omicron variant spreads as quickly as any virus since the measles. We are already seeing the impact as long lines for COVID tests are forming across New York City, these people lining up to be tested at a mobile testing van all before the van even arrived.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, CHIEF MEDICAL ADVISER TO PRESIDENT BIDEN: We really need to flood the system with testing. We need to have tests available for anyone who wants them, particularly when we're in a situation right now where people are going to be gathering even though they are vaccinated and boosted, it is going to be a tough few weeks to months as we get deeper into the winter.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Millions were set to celebrate the holidays without major COVID concerns, but now it's beginning to look a lot like 2020. The NBA has just announced postponement to five games due to COVID-19 issues with several teams. Last night's "Saturday Night Live" wasn't exactly live.

It was pre-taped sketches without a live audience. Businesses are delaying back to the office plans, and now Stanford University, Harvard, and Yale are shifting back to remote learning, all creating a dreaded sense of deja vu at a time when the public seems to be worn out by the virus.

Let's begin in New York with CNN's Polo Sandoval and Nadia Romero in Atlanta.

Polo, you're at the Barclays Center, home to the NBA's Brooklyn Nets. But the lines that you're seeing right now are not for the game. Tell us about it. POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Certainly no ticketholders at

this site, not today. But everybody here really to get those tests. And this is in response to that recommendation that we've heard by health officials the last couple of days to get vaccinated, to get boosted, and also in addition to that get tested especially if you'll be gathering with family and friends.

Here in downtown Brooklyn, as you mentioned, we have been seeing just large crowds gathering at two mobile sites. Most people here, they want to get tested. There are some that need to get tested because of travel requirements. But most of these individuals are folks who wanted to get tested especially after New York set a single-day record for positive COVID cases, not just one day but two days in a row, 22,000 positive cases that were reported yesterday. And that's certainly a reason for people to take this step.

We heard from Mayor Bill de Blasio earlier today announcing that they are certainly increasing those opportunities for people to get tested. But, at the same time, when you hear from him, he also points out something really important here which is, though it may feel like deja vu when compared to maybe what we experienced about a year ago, it's not.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK: From everything that I've heard from our healthcare leadership, again, this is a very temporary phenomenon. It's going to be a challenging one but a temporary one. And there's a big difference if you're someone who is vulnerable versus someone who is less vulnerable.

The bottom line, though, is vaccination is what is the center of this discussion. It's important to not think we are back in the spring of 2020 or even the winter of 2020 going into 2021. We're in an entirely different reality because this is a very highly vaccinated city.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Yes, a little over 70 percent of New Yorkers fully vaccinated right now, that's obviously a good number here. So there's some optimism coming from the mayor, but, at the same time, when you hear from people, they share in that, but they are certainly aware that this is a really important step to make sure that they continue to stay safe -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Polo.

And Nadia, tell us more about this decision by the NBA to postpone five games. I mean, it sounds like it could be just the beginning, my goodness.

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim, I mean, you know, this is the time of year where we can all be enjoying so many sporting activities. Right? You've got collegiate sports and football and basketball. You got the NBA, the NHL, the NFL all happening all at once. But it feels like we're in the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic when things are being canceled left and right.

And so you mentioned it, Jim, the NBA announcing today postponing five games, three that were supposed to happen today, two that were supposed to happen in the coming days. And there's a link there with the Brooklyn Nets, notably superstars. Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving out on COVID-19 because of the virus, either testing positive or being exposed to it. That's big for the NBA.

It's not just professional basketball, though, but it's also happening at the collegiate level. In the NCAA some 20 men's games have been postponed or canceled this year, 36 women's games. So we're seeing that happen on both sides of the ball.

[16:05:03]

That's happening on the collegiate level as well. And if we go from the basketball court now to the gridiron, the NFL, we were supposed to have this double-header on Saturday, but it turned into a single showdown because the Cleveland Browns-Raiders game was cancelled, postponed for another day. They're supposed to pick up that game again on Monday.

And we're seeing so many players, take a look, I mean, double digits, more than 20 players on the Cleveland Browns, on the Rams, on the Washington football team, out because of COVID-19. We're also seeing these same issues with the NHL. So if we move over to the ice now, we have five teams that are shut down. They will not have games until after the Christmas holiday.

And interesting to note here, Jim, three of those teams in Canada because they're seeing a rise in COVID-19 cases in those provinces. So it's not just happening in the U.S., but we're seeing this impact of COVID-19 surging again during the holiday season, impacting all of these different sports leagues -- Jim.

ACOSTA: And certainly the case. And I offered my services as quarterback for the Washington football team. I did not get a call back about that.

ROMERO: No way.

ACOSTA: I know.

ROMERO: I wanted to be a linebacker. They said no thanks.

ACOSTA: I know. Hard to believe. Maybe next time.

All right, Polo Sandoval and Nadia Romero, we'll take it in stride. Thank you so much.

And joining me now is CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner. He's a professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University.

Dr. Reiner, I am not ready to go back to the days of sweatpants and "Tiger King." But here we are. Last night you warned a COVID tsunami was about to hit our country, particularly for the unvaccinated. And as you know, President Biden is set to address the nation on Tuesday bracing Americans for this coming wave. Let's revisit what he said on July 4th. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today we are closer than ever to declaring our independence from a deadly virus. That's not to say the battle against COVID-19 is over. We've got a lot more work to do. Thanks to our heroic vaccine effort, we've gained the upper hand against this virus. We can live our lives. Our kids can go back to school. Our economy is roaring back.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: I mean, truth be told, that was not exactly a George W. Bush mission accomplished type of a moment, but, I mean, it does go to show that, you know, predictions that we've turned the corner and that we're out of the woods on this thing, I mean, they can just come back to haunt you. I mean, we -- until we get this country a lot more vaccinated than where we are right now, we're just, we're stuck in this.

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: We're stuck in this because the virus keeps changing faster than we change. We're stuck in this because, astonishingly, 30 percent of American adults just simply refuse to get vaccinated. And that accounts for about 50 million people in this country. So there's a lot of dry kindling for this fire to ignite. And until we all get our act together this is going to continue.

There also have been missteps I think, you know, regrettable missteps from the administration. We were very slow to boost. We have almost hard-to-understand, lack of easy accessibility to testing. There were all kinds of things that we could have done to be in a better position for this new very transmissible variant. But here we are now, and it's going to be a tough probably three to four weeks going forward.

ACOSTA: Yes. And, Dr. Reiner, we just have some new data in from the CDC. And it says that unvaccinated people face a 10 times greater risk of testing positive and 20 times greater risk of dying from COVID-19 than fully vaccinated people who've also received a booster. This is according to new data published -- or data published recently by the CDC. I mean, that is astonishing information.

And, you know, how do we get that information across to a large segment of the population that doesn't want to hear it?

REINER: Well, we saw a little bit of this get through to folks, particularly in parts of the south during the last surge when I think, unfortunately, people started to see people that they love get sick and tragically die. And that's going to happen again. And unless you're living alone in a shack in the woods somewhere, if you are unvaccinated with this variant, you are going to get infected. It's just math. It's just a matter of time.

And then it's not up to you. Then it's up to the virus. So it's not too late, it's not too late to get vaccinated and for Americans who have, you know, done the right thing who have had two MRNA shots or one J&J shot, you need to know that that's not fully vaccinated anymore.

[16:10:00]

And again, the CDC needs to say this. The administration needs to say this. I hope the president says this on Tuesday. You're not fully vaccinated anymore, you're very vulnerable to getting infected by the variant, you need to be boosted and you need to do that now.

ACOSTA: Yes. They almost need giant signs at the president's speech on Tuesday that say 20 times greater risk of dying than people who have been boosted.

REINER: Right.

ACOSTA: Let's talk about Dr. Francis Collins who has just been such a tireless and committed, you know, professional expert throughout all of this. This is his last day on the job. He took the opportunity to talk about how he had to ignore pressure from Trump to push questionable COVID remedies last year. Let's listen to what he had to say and talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. FRANCIS COLLINS, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: I got into a difficult place and got a bit of a talking to by the president of the United States about this, but I stuck my ground.

RITA BRAVER, CBS ANCHOR: Would you have resigned if it had come to the White House trying to get you to do something you didn't want to do?

COLLINS: Yes. I was not going to compromise scientific principles to just hold onto the job.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: That interview with Rita Braver, with CBS, great interview. Collins also talked about this pressure to fire Dr. Anthony Fauci coming from Republicans. Let's watch that also just real fast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Can you imagine a circumstance where the director of the NIH, somebody who believes in science, would submit to political pressures and fire the greatest expert in infectious disease that the world has known just to satisfy political concern?

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Dr. Reiner, what do you make of all of that pressure that Dr. Collins was under? You know, unbeknownst to all of us. I mean, we sensed it, I sensed it covering it over at the White House, but just unbelievable pressure he was under. REINER: You know, they say that the first casualty of war is the

truth, and the first casualty of the war on this pandemic was the truth. The American people were repeatedly lied to by the prior administration. On February 25th of 2020, Nancy Messonier, very bravely, she was the head of the CDC's Immunization and Respiratory Disease branch.

She very bravely, with only 15 known cases in the United States at a press conference told the American people that this pandemic was coming and that they needed to prepare for shutdowns, for at-home school, for working from home. And when the president learned about that, he was in India that day on his way back, he called Alex Azar and basically had her not quite fired, but you never heard from her again.

ACOSTA: Right.

REINER: And she was silenced. And the president did that over and over again with people who were trying to tell the truth. That same day, the president told the public we only have 15 cases and those 15 cases are going down to zero. That was his response. He knew what was coming. He had been briefed on what was coming, and he lied to the public.

John Barry in his great book about the 1918 influenza pandemic said that at the beginning of a pandemic, the government is going to have to tell people to do hard things, to stay home, not to travel, to wear masks, and compliance requires trust, and trust requires truth telling. And the American people were repeatedly lied to. And now you have, you know, 30 percent of adults who don't believe this is so bad, that this is all going to go away, that the vaccines aren't for them. It's hard to take that back.

ACOSTA: And an untold number of Americans have died because of that, because of that dishonesty.

REINER: Right.

ACOSTA: Relentless dishonestly. Dr. Jonathan Reiner, thank you so much. Such an important point to make there at the end of this segment. We appreciate it, as always. Thank you so much.

REINER: Thank you, Jim.

ACOSTA: And coming up next, Senator Joe Manchin delivering a death blow to President Biden's social safety net package. The White House is now responding and the gloves have come off.

You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:18:17]

ACOSTA: Democratic Senator Joe Manchin may have just dealt a fatal blow to the signature piece of President Biden's domestic agenda, a large social safety net bill known as Build Back Better that included money from everything, from universal pre-K to paid family leave.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation. I just can't. I've tried everything humanly possible. I can't get there.

BRIAN KILMEADE, FOX NEWS HOST: You're done, this is a no?

MANCHIN: This is a no. On this legislation. I have tried everything I know to do.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: With the Senate evenly divided and Republicans united in their opposition, Democrats needed every last vote to get this bill across the finish line. So where does it go from here?

CNN's senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns is at the White House. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is up on Capitol Hill.

Suzanne, my goodness, the angry reaction was swift. It came in quickly, didn't it?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I mean, it was fast and furious, Jim, when you think about it. They're all on recess for the holiday but we heard mostly via Twitter this kind of response. And I want to point out it was Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California who really kind of summed up what many of her colleagues felt, the progressives, when she said she was infuriated, she was disappointed. And she said those were losing out were the caregivers, primarily black and brown women, children, the poor, the homeless, as well as the climate because of the provisions that were lost in that.

We also saw tweets from Senator John Thune and John Cornyn saying that this was an early Christmas gift, that it was reckless and costly, this legislation. But, Jim, we've been watching for months now and even just this past week this intensity build up, trying to convince Senator Manchin, his colleagues, that he needed to be on board with this.

[16:20:03]

This had started off as a $6 trillion plan. It was whittled down to just less than about $2 trillion or so. The latest complaint that he had was the child tax credit extension. He said, well, if it's not just one year, perhaps 10, it would cost a lot more money, and the CBO has scored it as such. And the Democrats came back and said, look, this is the bill you have in front of you, it is not a 10-year extension, it does not include any kind of revenue-generating mechanisms that would kick in if it was 10 years.

And so that it was all kind of a false assessment and analysis in the end. And what they are saying today is that they don't believe that Manchin even acted in negotiating in good faith.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): I would hope we would have had 50 Democrats, but if that is the case, then I hope that we will bring a strong bill to the floor of the Senate as soon as we can and let Mr. Manchin explain to the people of West Virginia why he doesn't have the guts to stand up to powerful special interests.

We've been dealing with Mr. Manchin for month after month after month. But if he doesn't have the courage to do the right thing for the working families of West Virginia in America, let him vote no in front of the whole world.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Jim, I spoke with Senator Dick Durbin before the recess, and he said, well, if they go home for eggnog and fruit cake, maybe they'll come back with better attitudes. He was optimistic that there would be some sort of deal going into the new year. I asked him why, and he said because the American people need this. Well, obviously that argument was not convincing enough to Manchin.

And the question now becomes whether or not they can do something piecemeal, something very specific that perhaps Manchin and even some Republicans can get on board with -- Jim.

ACOSTA: That's right, Suzanne. And, Joe, it seems like back to the drawing board. We have new reporting that the White House tried to reach Manchin today before he announced his no vote. What happened with that?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there was a little bit of palace intrigue there. But I mean, the background on this is pretty simple. They got this statement out today, a lot of shock and surprise, the fact of the matter is the president and everybody else knew these negotiations were not going well.

But what they may have been shocked about is the timing because the White House announced earlier today that the senator had brought his own proposal and they're going to work their way through that when he pulled the plug, and it was really sort of dramatic and abrupt about 30 to 40 minutes before he went on TV to make the statement that he made.

He sent an aide to relay the message to the White House that he was going to do this. The White House in turn tries to reach him and can't get him on the phone, he won't take their call. So that's the situation. We also have the statement that came out, very stark language from the press secretary referring to a powerful Democratic senator.

Listen to this. "Senator Manchin's comments this morning are at odds with these discussions this week with the president, with White House staff, with his own public utterances. Weeks ago, Senator Manchin committed to the president at his home in Wilmington to support the Build Back Better framework that the president then subsequently announced. Senator Manchin pledged repeatedly to negotiate on finalizing that framework in good faith."

So clearly the White House thought they had something to negotiate with going into the new year, and it turns out that's not going to happen. They really needed a win, Jim, and it doesn't look like they're going to get it here.

ACOSTA: No, it does not. All right, Joe Johns, Suzanne Malveaux, thank you so much to both of you. We appreciate it.

And joining me now is senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and former FOX News politics editor Chris Stirewalt and CNN political analyst and Washington bureau chief for TheGrio, April Ryan.

April, when you hear Jen Psaki say the fight for Build Back Better is too important to give up, we will find a way to move forward next year, I mean, it sounds great, I suppose it's a rallying cry, they're trying to keep their chins up over there at the White House. But what reasonable path forward does the White House have at this point? I mean, it sounds like Joe Manchin didn't put coal in the president's stocking, he put a whole West Virginia coal mine.

APRIL RYAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, that's a very good analogy, but for the White House it seems like Joe Manchin is also the Grinch who lied before Christmas as well, as Joe Johns just said. What he had been saying with the president was at odds.

Now, moving forward, what they have in their back pocket to possibly pull out to make a win for this Build Back Better plan is the fact that they're thinking hopefully that Joe Manchin may be trying to pull this as a negotiation tactic. Then there is also the piece where when they come back, especially as it relates to the child tax credit, that they can make this a stand-alone bill, that they could try to push this through as a stand-alone, but it will take the administration and Senate Democrats to move forward on this. And that's the piece to move forward on.

[16:25:05]

And we had been asking Jen Psaki what have the conversations been with Joe Manchin and the president? And she, you know, said we don't want to talk about what they're talking about, let them negotiate amongst themselves. But this statement from Jen Psaki today is very transparent about what Joe Manchin had been promising, what Joe Manchin had delivered to the president, and he also said in that statement, according to Jen, that he was working in good faith for this framework. Again, as I've said, Joe Manchin seems to be the Grinch who lied before Christmas.

ACOSTA: My goodness. And, Chris, and nobody got to carve the roast beast, I guess. But, Chris, let me go to you. Did Manchin do the GOP a huge favor here? I mean, I suppose he might've delivered Christmas to them because now they don't have to vote against all of the popular elements in this bill, things like paid family leave, things like universal pre-K, they're off the hook now.

CHRIS STIREWALT, SENIOR FELLOW, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: Well, and Democrats are off the hook for having to vote for the things that are unpopular in the bill. So, look, this was no news to anybody. In talking to members of the Senate, Democrat, Republican staffers this last session staying in session has been a little bit of kabuki theater because everybody knew that this was -- that what had passed the House could it by no means pass the Senate.

And the reason is simple, the way that they passed it in the House was that progressive members accepted a massive tax cut for the wealthiest Americans on state local tax exemptions. That was how they put their coalition together in the House. That coalition doesn't exist in the Senate because the moderates in the Senate are from low tax or from poor states. So it was just never going to match up the right way, but they had to play out this dance in order to satisfy everybody's constituencies.

ACOSTA: Yes. And, April, let's talk about the January 6th Committee and their investigation. New documents show the same people whitewashing the January 6th insurrection pleaded for former president Donald Trump's help stop the riot as they happened. That included texts from some FOX News anchors. We've been talking about this for some time now but it bears repeating. Laura Ingraham, "This is hurting all of us. He's destroying our legacy," or his legacy. Brian Kilmeade, "Please get him on TV." Sean Hannity, "Ask people to leave the Capitol."

But here's how they were reacting over at FOX News. Let's play that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: I want you to know something. I have the record. I have over 1200 text messages, private ones, released publicly. I have more than you. I just, I'm in the lead right now, but you're catching up.

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: Well, what I am going to address a little later on in my show is what this really is all about. I mean, what's really going on with Liz Cheney and the media, the diminutive media?

HANNITY: I want hard text messages. Liz, release yours. Let us look at your text messages.

INGRAHAM: I actually don't -- I actually don't care to read any of their text messages.

HANNITY: Neither do I.

INGRAHAM: Because they're all so aggressively boring.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: They try to put on a brave face there, April. But I mean, it's pretty remarkable considering what we've seen over the last year the way they've downplayed the insurrection, blamed it on Antifa, everything else. And then it turns out they knew darn well that Donald Trump had the ability to control those insurrectionists or at least appeal to them to get them to stop it much, much sooner than he did.

RYAN: This once again goes to show that FOX News, particularly certain shows, are entertainment value, for entertainment value. Them to want to compare this over that deadly day, a day that Lonnie Bunch, the nation's historian, the secretary of the Smithsonian, says was a day that will go down in infamy. It was a day that people who followed Donald Trump made a gallows and called for the hanging of the vice president and they're laughing and joking, that's what they think of the democracy and that's what they think of the American people.

It's a joke. This situation that's happening on the hill, this January 6th Committee, they are moving forward exposing truth. And the question is in the light of day, how will those hosts and that whole network stand once more information is released?

ACOSTA: And, Chris, I talked to a source familiar with what's going on with that committee's investigation, and this source said that they have a lot of evidence that it has not come out yet. And that they're very confident into what that evidence is showing at this point. But here's what Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell said about the committee. And I thought the remarks were very interesting. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): Fact-finding is interesting. We're all going to be watching it. It was a horrendous event, and I think what they're seeking to find out is something that the public needs to know.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: What did you think of that, Chris? I thought that was a fascinating remark.

STIREWALT: Well, he couldn't get enough support inside the Republican --

[16:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY) MINORITY LEADER: -- is out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: What did you think of that, Chris? I thought that was a fascinating remark.

STIREWALT: Well, he couldn't get enough support inside the Republican conference in the Senate to add a special committee, right? Remember, we remember the original idea was there was going to be a 9/11 style commission, there was going to be bipartisan and break it down.

He couldn't get enough of the Republican conference in the Senate to go along for that. But he knows something and every smart Republican knows something. This stuff has to be gone through and gotten through those who move to try to diminish or dismiss the severity of this historic event.

One of the worst things this century that we have seen. Those Republicans who tried to skip over this are making the problem worse for their party and the people who advise them to try to downplay this or ignore this or giving interest advice it might be in the interest of ratings might be in short term interest, but he's not in the interest of either their party or the United States.

ACOSTA: Very interesting. All right, Chris Stirewalt, love that Christmas tree behind you. Happy holidays to you. Happy Holidays to you April as well. I'm sure yours is beautiful April, I'm -- yours. I'm sure yours is just amazing. I can't wait to see it. Thanks to both of you. We appreciate it.

RYAN: I have two or three of them. I have three of them.

ACOSTA: I figured as much I figured as much. All right, April and Chris, thanks so much.

RYAN: Happy holidays.

ACOSTA: Happy holidays. Thanks, guys. All right, a stark reminder that this is a global COVID pandemic. Many countries in Europe reimposing restrictions aimed at limiting the spread of COVID. Live reports of London and Rome next. You're live in the CNN Newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:36:00]

ACOSTA: As the nation faces a surge in cover cases, it's also seeing a surge in air travel. The TSA screen more than 2 million passengers at U.S. airports on Saturday for the third day in a row. The number of travellers over the past few days is nearly the same as pre pandemic levels, suggesting that Americans are not cancelling their holiday travelling plans amid this COVID surge.

And how is the world handling this surge in cities across Europe thousands of people are protesting stricter COVID protocols in Paris. Crowds came out against France, banning large outdoor events on New Year's Eve the annual fireworks over the Champs-Elysees have also been cancelled.

Meantime, in Germany, high case numbers there have led the government to reimpose strict health restrictions in some regions, including barring unvaccinated people from restaurants, cinemas and other nonessential facilities.

Let's get a check on some other cities over Europe. CNN's Barbie Nadeau is in Rome. And let's begin though with CNN's Scott McLean in London, where cases of the Omicron variant are on the rise. What's happening there, Scott?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Jim, yes, UK just put a record number of shots into arms yesterday, but the Omicron variant is moving at a faster pace than the booster shot rollout program ever could. The daily number of new infections lately officially have been around 80- 90,000. But scientists agree that the true number of infections is several times higher than that.

Omicron is now easily the dominant strain of the virus in England. It is also about four out of every five new infections here in London. It is also taking a serious toll on healthcare workers. The head of the health service in England says that the expectation is that by Christmas Day, as many as one out of every five healthcare staff could be calling in sick because they have the virus themselves.

Now the government's own scientific advisors are urging them to take new restrictions to try to avoid a situation where hospital admissions peak near a record high. The government though, Jim, is still very much in wait and see mode, waiting to see more data on how severe an illness Omicron actually causes.

And if the government does go ahead and try to pursue new restrictions, well, they have to put it past Parliament first. And there is no doubt that the Prime Minister Boris Johnson will have a heck of a time trying to get a substantial part of his own party to go along with him.

ACOSTA: Yes, no question about that, Scott. That'll be tough. Barbie, let me go to you in Rome. You know, Italy had one of the most restrictive lockdowns at the start of the pandemic. My goodness, are they heading in that direction again? I really hope not. But what's the latest there?

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, it is pretty grim here. We don't see the same sort of numbers that they're seeing up in the UK. And we're still dealing with Delta variant here in continental Europe. But you've got to think about Italy was the first episode outside of China in those early days of the pandemic.

And the ceiling is pretty low here when it comes to restrictions. We have had an indoor mask mandate since March 2020. That's never been lifted. So what they're thinking about doing is adding a restriction to that, maybe having people required to put masks and face coverings on outside.

We've had a very strict vaccine mandate. You can't go to restaurants, cinemas, theatres, events without a proof of a vaccine. Now they're looking at saying even vaccinated people may have to prove a negative COVID test before they can do anything, let's say enjoyable.

We'll look -- we're looking at non -- like sort of lockdown we had an early days but Christmas is not going to be what people want it to be, Jim.

ACOSTA: Certainly not the case. My goodness. All right, well, Scott McLean, Barbie Nadeau, hope both of you stay healthy and safe. Thanks so much. We appreciate it.

And still to come the family of Martin Luther King Jr. says no celebration of MLK Day without movement on Federal voting rights legislation. Martin Luther King, Martin Luther King III joins me live next. He'll have that important message coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:44:29]

ACOSTA: Breaking news in the CNN. Senator Elizabeth Warren tweeted she has COVID. The Massachusetts senator wrote in a statement just in the CNN, I regularly test for COVID and while I tested negative earlier this week, today I tested positive with a breakthrough case. Thankfully, I am only experiencing mild symptoms and I'm grateful for the protection provided against serious illness that comes from being vaccinated and boosted. So that from Elizabeth Warren testing positive she says for COVID.

The family of Martin Luther King Jr. is planning to use MLK Day coming up January to push President Biden and Congress to pass stalled voting rights legislation, Martin Luther King III, no celebration without legislation on January 17. Join me to honor my father and the MLK legacy, as we call on Congress and the White House to eliminate the Jim Crow filibuster, and pass voting rights to protect millions of black and brown voters.

[16:45:23]

And Martin Luther King III joins me now. Hey, thank you so much for joining us during this busy holiday season. We appreciate it so much. Martin, what was the moment when you decided that you were going to issue this call for action instead of celebration? I, you know, I -- it sounds like something that could that could pay dividends here.

MARTIN LUTHER KING III, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS LEADER: Well, as you may remember, in August -- on August 28, the anniversary of the March in Washington, we had over 100 demonstrations in 41 states. And since that time, we also created a pack called Give Us the Ballot, which has raised money for organizations on the ground, that are actually helping to get people registered education and as well as turnout when elections take place.

I would say about a month ago, when we saw no progress, we came up with a conclusion that we need to use the King holiday as a day of activism. And we're going to be on a bridge in Phoenix. And we're going to be on a bridge in Washington DC, on January 15, the actual birthday of dad and Phoenix because the President and Congress came together and did infrastructure, which is great. But what has not been done is protecting preserving and expanding the right to vote of American citizens, which helps to save our democracy, I believe.

ACOSTA: And you announced this a few days ago. Have you heard from the Biden administration or any lawmakers on this just yet?

KING: We've not actually directly, indirectly we have had conversations, but not directly. The issue for us is we saw the President use the full force of the White House and working with Congress to get infrastructure done. As I said, that's great. But voting rights, in my judgment are equally important.

We did see a couple of days ago, Senator Schumer talk about we're going to focus a little bit on voting rights. So while that gives us some level of something to be optimistic about until legislation is done, we've got to continue to exert pressure because over 63 percent of Americans want voting rights protected.

ACOSTA: And what's your message to Republican senators on this? They have stalled two voting rights bills. In the past, as you and I both know, anybody who understands voting rights legislation, you know, in the Congress, for the last couple of decades, few decades of votes on this issue have attracted bipartisan support. So what is your message now, you know, to this, you know, paralysis that we're seeing right now?

KING: Well, you know, as it relates to those on the Republican end, I think that people across America who represent these districts -- in these districts need to be calling their senators to encourage them to support this legislation, to support the John Lewis bill, to support the Freedom to Vote Act, all of those are going to help move our nation forward and hopefully bring our nation together.

And so we, you know, the fact of the matter is, you're right, they -- they've supported voting rights over the years, why now. In fact, since January, they have been over 19 states and 33 bills that have been put in place to make it harder to vote, and most of those are Republican lead states. So it seems to me that many of them want to look in a different direction. And we got to bring the focus back to what the people want.

All right, we'll be watching it very closely. Martin Luther King III, thank you so much. We appreciate it. Happy holidays. Love the Christmas tree behind.

KING: Same to you. Thank you.

ACOSTA: We appreciate your time.

KING: Thank you.

ACOSTA: Thank you, sir. All right, have a good night. And we'll be right back.

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[16:53:45]

ACOSTA: Golf legend Tiger Woods and his son Charlie coming in an impressive second place at the PNC Championship. Let's take it out to the Lynx (ph). Woods returning to tournament play for the first time after that horrific car crash in February that shattered is like. The father-son duo get this also broke a tournament record 11 birdies in a row, the longest at the PNC.

Today the two sported the signature of Tiger Woods' Sunday red. Tiger has been using a golf cart to get around the course while he recovers from his injuries. Looks like a before and after photo there. Just amazing.

In this season of giving, we want to show you how you can help our 21 Top 10 CNN Heroes continue their important work and have your donations matched dollar for dollar. Here's Anderson.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: I'm Anderson Cooper. Each of this year's top 10 CNN Heroes proves that one person really can make a difference. And again, this year we'll making it easy for you to support their great work. Just go to CNNHeroes.com, click Donate beneath any 2021 Top 10 CNN Hero to make a direct contribution to that heroes fundraiser on GoFundMe. You'll receive an email confirming your donation which is tax deductible in the United States. No matter the amount you can make a big difference in helping our heroes continue their life changing work.

[16:55:06]

Right now through January 3, your donations will be matched dollar for dollar up to a total of $500,000.

CNN is proud to offer you the simple way to support each cause and celebrate all these everyday people changing the world. You can donate from your laptop, your tablet or your phone, just go to CNNHeroes.com. Your donation in any amount will help them help others. Thank you.

ACOSTA: And nominations for 2022 are open right now at CNNHeroes.com.

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