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Omicron Spike Forces Cancellation Of Hundreds Of Christmas Eve Flights; White House to Lift Travel Restrictions on 8 African Countries; CDC Shortens Isolation Time Asymptomatic Health Care Workers; Kim Potter Guilty Of Manslaughter In Killing Of Daunte Wright; Biden Bans Import Of Products From China's Xinjiang Region. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired December 24, 2021 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:01:01]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow. So glad you're with us on this Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas Eve to those who celebrate it.

However, it is sadly, another COVID Christmas and right now the omicron variant is disrupting the holiday season in more ways than one. Cases are up dramatically as millions travel to visit friends and family.

This morning, more than 400 flights have been canceled due to staffing shortages. In New York, new infections were up 34 percent in just one day forcing officials to scale back New York City's New Year's Eve celebration.

And all week, all across the country, we have seen hours-long lines for tests, but here's what's different from last year. This is really important. We know so much more about this virus and hospitalizations are not surging. Vaccines would protect from severe illness and death and many hospitalizations are readily available.

And just this week, the FDA authorized new treatments for those infected with COVID. Our aviation correspondent Pete Muntean starts us off this hour. He is live at Reagan national in Arlington, Virginia. And also, our correspondent Shimon Prokupecz joins us in Times Square.

Pete, let me start with you. Four hundred-plus flights canceled so far?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: I just checked the latest numbers, Poppy, 468 in the United States. Airlines say as these omicron cases went up, their staffing levels went down a little which is why they're cancelling flights now. Here's the latest from FlightAware, 170 consolations at United Airlines, about 140 at Delta Air Lines.

Last night, we obtained a memo from united airlines to its staff saying this is impacting its flight crews and also those who run the operation. We have received a statement from United Airlines which says we unfortunately had to cancel some flights and are notifying impacted customers in advance of coming to the airport. United says we're sorry for the disruption and are working hard to rebook as many people as possible and get them on their way for the holidays.

This is coming as we've seen long lines at airports across the country. The TSA just screened 2.19 million people at airports nationwide yesterday. That is the highest number we've seen at the holiday rush seeing day after day for about a week of numbers at or near 2 million people each day. Just the start, Poppy. The TSA says they'll screen another 20 million people between now and January 3rd when everybody begins coming home all at once.

And we also got this news, the Biden administration says that it is cancelling travel restrictions for those coming into the United States from South Africa and seven other countries. They e put those restrictions in place last month because of the omicron variant. They all end December 31st now -- Poppy.

HARLOW: A lot of big headlines. Thank you, Pete. I wish every one of those people on the 468-some flights that are canceled, that they get another flight and get to their loved ones. Thanks for the reporting.

And, Shimon, you are in Times Square. It's going to be a little less packed this New Year's Eve?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, but the party will go on. It just won't be as crowded or as many people. This was a big thing for the city to try and get done despite obviously the spread of the omicron virus. A big concern here for the mayor.

But this was important to make sure this happens to sort of send a signal as well that the city is open, that people can get together and do so safely. Usually what happens in Times Square is you get about 60,000 people to gather in viewing areas, several across Times Square on Broadway, 7th Avenue, people would be standing behind me. This year they're significantly decreasing that because they want people to social distance, so it will be about 15,000 people in each of the viewing areas.

Still a significant number of people will be able to gather here in Times Square if they're lucky enough to get in. People really wait all day, all hours of the day to try and get in on New Year's Eve. This year, though, they can't start gathering and getting into the viewing areas until 3:00.

[10:05:02]

So, the city making some changes. People will have to be vaccinated, and you will have to wear a mask. So, really what it means is just less people.

Also, if you've ever done this, when people gather in these so, if you've ever done this, when people gather in these viewing areas, it's an all-day type of party. People get together and celebrate. They also are able to keep warm. You have a lot of body heat.

So a lot less body heat. But nonetheless, the party will go on with less people. I think it's good news for a lot of people visiting the city and also for many people who live here and come. Look, last year, much different. We couldn't have any people here except some of the essential workers and first responders. This year, though, they are going to be allowing many more people but obviously less than normal.

HARLOW: I hear that it's a great new year's eve show, Shimon, right here on CNN with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen. So there's always that if you decide to stay home.

PROKUPECZ: That's right.

HARLOW: Thank you, Shimon.

All right. The FDA says only one of the monoclonal antibody treatments currently on the market actually works gen the omicron variant.

Let's go to our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. She's following it. Only one? Which one?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Only one, and it's made by GSK. Two others don't seem to work as well. Let's look at the whole list. So with the FDA and the Department of Health and Human Services saying, Poppy, is that this one monoclonal antibody is expected to be effective, again, called sotrovimab.

However, there are monoclonal antibodies by Regeneron and Lilly that are unlikely to be effective in treating omicron. Now, in a slightly different category, there is a drug called Evusheld that is different because it prevents COVID-19, prevents it, and that does seem to have neutralizing activity against omicron.

So, unfortunately, losing two potential treatments for people with COVID-19, that's obviously not good. Those companies have gone back to the lab to try to find a version of their drugs that will work against this new highly transmissible variant -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Okay. Before you go, Elizabeth, the CDC made a really important rule change in the last 24 hours that affects health care workers. What is it?

COHEN: It is. So, they shortened the isolation period. Perhaps more importantly, they really put the power in the hands of hospitals and medical centers to make decisions about how long people stay out.

So, Poppy, we're talking about people who are infected, who do have COVID-19, but they have mild symptoms or maybe completely asymptomatic. You don't want to keep those doctors and nurses and other health care workers out for too long because, well, we need them.

So, here's what the CDC did. They said if a health care worker is asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic and on the mend, they only have to be isolated for seven days, not ten, as long as they have a negative test at the end of that seven days. But they said if the hospital puts themselves in a contingency plan, if the hospital says, wow, we are short and we are really getting overrun with patients, actually that can be shortened to five days and you don't need a test at the end of it.

If it's a crisis situation, again, it's the hospital that gets to decide that, if it's a crisis situation, there's no restrictions. The hospital can decide if they're going to be doing any isolation of health care workers who test positive for COVID-19.

HARLOW: Wow.

COHEN: And, Poppy, it will be interesting to see, this is just health care workers, delta air lines also asking to have the rules changed because they want to keep their planes up in the air, something we were hearing from Pete a minute ago. It will be interesting to see if the CDC changes the rules for other industries as well -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Absolutely. Elizabeth, thank you. Happy holidays.

All right. Let me bring in --

COHEN: Thanks. Happy holidays.

HARLOW: Thank you -- chief clinical officer for Providence Health System, Dr. Amy Compton-Phillip.

Good to have you, Doctor. Thank you so, so much.

So, let's get to Elizabeth's first good news and that is that only one of three monoclonal antibodies on the market seems to work against omicron. My first thought goes to, well, what if they don't work against whatever the next variant might be?

DR. AMY COMPTON-PHILLIPS, CHIEF CLINICAL OFFICER, PROVIDENCE HEALTH SYSTEM: You know, the way these monoclonal antibodies are made are very targeted to the specific germ they're fighting, so the fact that omicron is so different than the alpha or even delta makings it so that it's not unexpected that the antibodies won't work. And the manufacturers do realize this and are constantly seeking ways to update the drugs so they fit better to the antibodies.

But the great news is we're not only dependent on these anymore. We now have other drugs as well to help treat the germ that's less specific to the individual type.

HARLOW: The CDC change in rules for health care workers that Elizabeth just laid out is fascinating and really critically important to keeping hospitals up and fully functioning right now.

[10:10:00]

Do you think the CDC -- it would be prudent for the CDC to apply it more broadly to industries like the airline industry?

COMPTON-PHILLIPS: Well, I think what's happening is the CDC is starting to treat COVID more like it does other endemic illnesses. Think about the flu, for example, if a pilot or doctor is exposed to the flu, we don't ask them to stay home. Now that we have vaccines and now we have treatments, we're starting to see the CDC treat this less like a pandemic illness that's going to run like wildfire through the population more like we do other diseases.

HARLOW: The surge, you've said that the winter of 2021, now, is very different from the winter of last year. Obviously, you know, you've got vaccine available to everyone, you have booster available to everyone in this country, you've got successful treatments, now two pills approved by the FDA this week.

The question becomes, though, when does it actually become treated more like the flu as you said?

COMPTON-PHILLIPS: You know, I don't think there's a switch that we flip. It doesn't go from pandemic to endemic. It's slow gradation. And we're definitely somewhere on that gradation.

Last winter we had very few percentage of the population with immunity of any type, whether it's from having the disease or having the vaccine to COVID. This winter, we have a much larger percentage of the population, and it's when people have antibodies to this to at least some form, some variation of COVID, is when we start really talking about it being endemic rather than being pandemic.

HARLOW: The French medical regulator this morning recommended shortening the interval between your last COVID-19 vaccine shot and boosters to three months versus six here in the U.S. if you're dealing with someone who got Moderna or Pfizer at the beginning. Should the U.S. be considering the same?

COMPTON-PHILLIPS: I think we're going to be learning over time how long immunity lasts and when boosters should happen. By the way, how many boosters we'll eventually need. We know right now it's probably a minimum of three shots to be vaccinated. It might be four. It might be some later.

But I wish I could -- it's kind of like Elizabeth predicting inflation, like how do I predict. I can't until we get the data to see.

HARLOW: We're all very fortunate to even have access to these vaccines and access to boosters when some people around the world don't have access to any.

Let's remember that. Dr. Compton-Phillips, thanks very much.

COMPTON-PHILLIPS: Thanks so much. Happy holidays.

HARLOW: Next, former Minnesota police officer Kim Potter is facing years in prison after being convicted on two counts of manslaughter in the killing death of Daunte Wright. Are we seeing a shift in how juries see these cases against police?

Also, after years of delays and setbacks, some exciting news. NASA is set to launch a $10 billion telescope into space. It is the most powerful ever. We'll speak to an expert about why this is a game changer.

And we're tracking Santa. of course, on Christmas Eve. There he is for any of you children watching. Make sure you're being very good. He's on his way to your house right now. He is flying over Brunei and has already delivered 1.3 billion gifts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:17:43]

HARLOW: Welcome -- welcome back.

Former Minnesota police officer Kimberly Potter is now facing several years in prison, at least after being found guilty on two counts of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright. Potter claims she had confused her gun for her Taser when she killed the 20-year-old in a traffic stop near Minneapolis back in April.

Daunte Wright's mother told CNN this morning the guilty verdict is not justice but it is accountability. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATIE BRYANT, MOTHER OF DAUNTE WRIGHT: I'm still going to always stand on accountability. I think, again, justice would be Daunte being home. Justice would be no more names being yelled in our streets. Until that happens and we don't have to fight anymore, that's when true justice will be. But right now, we're going to accept accountability. No amount of time going to be justice for us, but I am -- I'm optimistic that they're going to do the right thing and give her a fair sentence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Joining me now is Anne Bremner, criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor.

Anne, thanks very much for joining us.

ANNE BREMNER, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Thank you.

HARLOW: You've handled your fair share of these cases and expected a conviction in this case, which many different from the start. You say there's been a paradigm shift.

BREMNER: Definitely. There's been a sea change in police misconduct cases. I handled those after I was a prosecutor for many years including accidental discharge, mistaking a cell phone for a gun, a beer can for a gun, tripping and shooting, cases like that for police officers in Seattle, Portland, and elsewhere, but didn't see criminal courtrooms. Yet now in Minneapolis, in Minnesota, we've now seen two very high-profile cases where we see more police accountability, charging of officers. It's a paradigm shift, it's a sea change.

HARLOW: To be fair, it's not always the case, right, even now. I think of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor was shot and killed during that botched police raid at her apartment in Louisville, that was March of 2020. None of the officers were charged directly in her death.

[10:20:00] One officer will stand trial next year but that's on wanton endangerment charges.

BREMNER: Right.

HARLOW: And then you saw what the grand jury did in Rochester, New York, the grand jury did not indict the officers in the death of a black man who died after he was pinned to the ground by police also in 2020.

So, I wonder what you say to those families who look at those cases and say, no, I don't see the paradigm shift?

BREMNER: Right.

Well, sometimes these changes are slow in their progress, and I can tell you that I think we can all see that there has been a real change in terms of criminal charging of police officers. It was relatively unheard of before, and now we're seeing it more and more often. Justice can be slow. Justice delayed is not always justice denied. Police officers say they want to be held accountable and make sure everyone feels there's not just accountability but true justice in our system.

HARLOW: The prosecution in the case of Kim Potter is pushing for a longer sentence than would be typical with a conviction like this because of aggravating factors. They say her actions caused a greater than normal danger to human life given her experience on the force, her years of training. They were successful in the Blakely argument against Derek Chauvin. Will they be successful on that in this case, do you think?

BREMNER: I think they will. This is like a redo of the Chauvin case in terms of aggravation arguments. The best argument they made in this case is that accidents can be crimes. The defense was this was an accident, it was a mistake. But that's not a defense. That's a crime. And the jury agreed.

And the judge will sentence within a standard sentencing range to begin with in Minnesota. They have kind of grids that are like math. But they can depart from that range and go higher. Her maximum sentence is going to be 15 years on the greater charge of manslaughter one, but also the fact she was in a position of trust is truly a potential aggravating likely factor which the judge can consider.

And finally, look at what the judge did, poppy. She had her remanded immediately to custody and said I'm not treating this case any differently than any other case.

HARLOW: I was struck, as well. I mean, after the, you know, the request from the defense team, both defense attorneys, the judge said, you know, I hear you, but no. She's going directly to prison to await sentencing.

Anne Bremner, thank you very much.

BREMNER: Thank you.

HARLOW: Officials in Los Angeles, this is a tragic story, officials in Los Angeles are promising transparency after a 14-year-old girl was shot and killed by a stray bullet fired it appears by an LAPD officer. This happened on Thursday. Police were responding to reports of a possible shooting at a department store.

The officer shot and killed a man suspected of attacking a woman, but they later found the bullet had gone through the wall of a dressing room, hitting that 14-year-old girl, who was in dressing room with her mother. The LAPD says it's investigating and they will release the body camera video on Monday as well as the 911 calls.

President Biden is sending a clear message to China over accusations of genocide against the Uyghur population there. My next guest says the U.S. has to stay tough on China into the New Year.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:28:05]

HARLOW: China showing their outrage this morning after President Biden signed a law banning imports from China's Xinjiang Province. That is home to the country's ethnic Muslim Uyghur population. Both the Biden and Trump administrations have accused the Chinese government of carrying out genocide against the Uighur.

Washington says that they have been subject to forced labor, extreme human rights abuses for years, and the Chinese government denies that. They are strongly opposed to this import ban.

But it's a big deal. The question is what impact will it have?

Joining me is "Washington Post" columnist and CNN political analyst Josh Rogin.

You've been all over this and you make the important point that, you know, we shouldn't be looking for China to be happy, right, about any of this. But you write in your piece that I was struck by, China wants to encourage fears among some in the West who believe that standing up to Beijing will ultimately lead to conflict.

Does this move the needle, Josh, a law like this, especially when you have so many U.S. companies, powerful companies, not willing, not brave enough to stand up to the Chinese regime?

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think it's a really good question, Poppy, because the U.S./China relationship is complex and there is a risk of a situation we could get into a situation where we have a conflict. At the same time, you know, the fact that both chambers of Congress passed this bill unanimously and the president signed it shows that in America, we still have a line that we don't want to cross, and that line is being complicit in mass human rights atrocities. That's what's going on in Xinjiang and other places in China. You know, the law says we can't import products that are made with

forced labor. All this new law says is that in Xinjiang that's what's going on. You can read the data, interview the survivors. The evidence is just overwhelming.

You know, the Chinese government is not supposed to like it. At the same time, if they don't like it, they have a very simple out here. All they have to do is stop the genocide, you know, closed down forced labor factories, release the Uighurs from the concentration camps. It's a quick fix, actually. But it doesn't seem they're going to do that.

HARLOW: Yeah. And, remember, both administrations, Trump and Biden, agreeing on this, both State Departments saying this is genocide.