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The U.S. Just Hit A Record Average Of Daily New COVID-19 Cases; Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Dies At 82; Legendary NFL Coach, Broadcaster John Madden Dies At 85. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired December 29, 2021 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:03]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. Thank you for joining us. An Omicron driven increase in new infections was always predicted. But what has been truly stunning is the incredible speed of transmission, driving the number of confirmed cases to record highs in many countries. Our experts believe that daily records will continue to be set for possibly weeks to come.
The United States averaging more than 265,000 data cases over the past week. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the Omicron variant accounts for nearly 60 percent of all new cases.
The number of children admitted to hospitals with COVID nearing a new record, with the CDC reporting and almost 50 percent jump in just the past week.
And the Food and Drug Administration taking a closer look at the effectiveness of ad home antigen tests, which may not be as effective in detecting the Omicron variant. Dr. Anthony Fauci though, says the tests are still beneficial.
Our reporters are covering all of these COVID developments from London to Beijing. CNN Tom Foreman has a lead story reporting in from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nationwide hospitalizations of children with COVID are up on average nearly 50 percent in just one week. New York City as seen pediatric admissions jumped to five times what they were. In Washington DC, half the kids coming to Children's National Hospital are testing positive. All told an average of more than 300 children are being hospitalized each day. That's not because current variants are uniquely targeting them. But because --
DR. PAUL OFFIT, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: We see children who are hospitalized because of the COVID are in the ICU because of COVID. They're all in vaccinated. They're unvaccinated. The parents are unvaccinated, the siblings are unvaccinated.
FOREMAN: Others fear the return to school next week could be even worse.
DR. ALLISON MESSINA, JOHNS HOPKINS ALL CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: I think that what we're going to see is once children go back to school within a week or two of schools opening is when we're going to see our highest numbers.
FOREMAN: Amid the winter weather the pandemic is roaring across the country with over a quarter million new cases now diagnosed daily. That's a record.
DR. PETER HOTEZ, DEAN OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: This Omicron variant is such a game changer in terms of its high, high transmissibility, it's like this big virus Blizzard.
FOREMAN: Hospitalizations are only about half of what they were last winter. But some states are seeing peaks there too. And more vaccinated medical workers are experiencing breakthrough cases and being sent home just when demand for their expertise is soaring.
DR. MEGAN RANNY, ACADEMIC DEAN OF PUBLIC HEALTH, BROWN UNIVERSITY: That's still an impossible strain on an already strained healthcare system. So I understand the pressure to get workers back earlier.
FOREMAN: The virus is spreading so fast the impact is now going far beyond the widely reported holiday travel problems. In New York City, Apple has closed all its stores to browsing shoppers. In Maryland, courts are cutting back their winter schedules. And everywhere health officials are fretting over the long lines for testing.
MESSINA: So I think that that's going to be a significant challenge. And if we can overcome that supply challenge and also the cost challenge, I think that will help us tremendously.
FOREMAN (on camera): Some health officials think the CDC's new recommendation of a five day isolation period for some people who are infected might help with all these challenges just by getting more people back on the job. But others fear this is so daunting. There's little we can do except watch the numbers climb for a while. Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
VAUSE: Dr. Peter Chin-Hong is an infectious disease specialist at the University of California. He joins us this hour from San Francisco. Thank you for being with us.
DR. PETER CHIN-HONG, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: My pleasure, John, thanks for having me on.
VAUSE: OK, so the one thing we can say with any certainty here is that with Omicron a lot more people will be infected. And I want you to listen to Dr. Ashish Jha, he's from a Brown University School of Public Health, this is what he expects. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: People should just brace themselves for a month where last people are going to get infected. Unfortunately, a lot of vaccinate -- unvaccinated people or people who have not gotten a vaccine are going to end up getting pretty sick. And it's going to be pretty disruptive.
My hope is as we get into February, and certainly by the time we get into March, infection numbers will come way down. And it also started getting spring and the weather will start getting better and that will also help. That combination means to me late winter early spring should be much, much better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The here and now is it seems that with this loss of hospitalization, right because the Omicron compared to Delta, we're in the calm before the storm. Right. So what are you expecting?
CHIN-HONG: Well, John, some people think we're already in the middle of the storm. The question is how long the storm will last? And will the winds pick up? It's like you're in the middle of a hurricane and trying to fix the roof. In some parts of the country like the East Coast, the roof is already leaking. In the west coast where hospitalization is relatively lower.
[01:05:02]
So far, we're trying to brace ourselves. I think the anxiety that I have is not necessarily about lots of sick people going to the hospital. And certainly we'll see that, but probably more for the workforce that are going to get infected. And even with a shortened isolation time of five days, we're looking at places like Quebec, where they're already saying, if you're positive as a healthcare worker, you should show up under certain circumstances. So I think all of that is possible in the United States.
VAUSE: And your main concern was sending healthcare workers back even if they're positive.
CHIN-HONG: I'm concerned. You know, there's several reasons why I'm concerned. I'm concerned, obviously, for potential infection risk of vulnerable patients, even though you're masked (ph). I'm concerned mainly, as well, for the morale. I mean, the health care workforce has been decimated with moral injury for the last 20 months. And this could be the end, you know, 40 percent of nurses already declared that they're going to leave the job. 20 percent of MDs say that they leave the job within a year, that's really unprecedented.
VAUSE: The medical team in South Africa, which first identify the Omicron variant, now reporting that, you know, a study of a small number of patients infected with Omicron, not only had an immune response against Omicron, but according to a tweet, we also saw that same people, especially those who were vaccinated develop enhanced immunity to the Delta variant.
In their research paper, they say this is consistent with Omicron displacing the Delta variant. They go on to reach this conclusion. If so, then the incidence of COVID-19 severe disease will be reduced and the infection may shift, become less disruptive to individuals and society. It sounds to me like they're saying, you know, this is increasingly looking like how the pandemic might come to an end.
CHIN-HONG: Possibly, John, and that's certainly an optimistic end to the story. But, you know, I think there's a lot of biological plausibility from that finding that if you develop antibodies to Omicron, you could find yourself and protect yourself well against, you know, the more dastardly Delta, but that's really speaking about the now.
I think what's not really clear is whether or not the next variant, which by natural selection, you will expect to be more evasive to Omicron antibodies would also, you know, be milder as well.
If you look at the 1918 influenza pandemic, it ended because of two reasons, increasing immunity in a population with waves and infection, but also a milder variant or milder flu. So that's what we can hope for and I'm crossing my fingers.
At the end of the day, I think maybe we may be faced with a situation where you get a variant seasonally once a year, some people get infected. Some people have some antibodies, the next year you got another variant. We will see this over and over again until enough of the world is immunized. Right now there's so many inequities and immunization, which protects so well against serious disease, hospitalization and death, regardless of the variants that, you know, I'm pessimistic that it will come to an end that quickly.
VAUSE: Just want to have some hear from these comments from Sir John Bell. He's a professor of medicine at Oxford University. He's the UK government's life science adviser. And the Guardian newspaper is reporting that this is not the same disease we were seeing a year ago. He was talking in terms of death and hospitalization, but that seems to apply to his symptoms -- symptoms as well. Omicron symptoms of all like a cold or flu. Here's how it's described by one patient who recently tested positive. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HUGH JACKMAN, ACTOR: Hey, good morning. So I just want you to hear for me that I tested positive this morning for COVID. My symptoms are like a cold over scratchy throat and a bit of a runny nose. But I'm fine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: If you couldn't guess that was actually Hugh Jackman. But all of this, the similar symptoms to cold and flu, it's like adding to another layer of confusion. And this is coming at a time when there's shortage of the one thing which could end much of the confusion, who's home testing kits? CHIN-HONG: Exactly, I think even though President Biden has promised half a billion home testing kits for free, I think that sounds like a lot, but certainly it's not here and right now. And also the U.S. has 330 million people. So you know, one and a half test for person isn't enough if we expect somebody to do testing as frequently as brushing your teeth once a day.
I think that, you know, a shortage of tests is not only going to help or mitigate, you know, events and possibly prevent more of a surge happening, but they also keep kids in school. So, the availability of rapid testing can't really be under emphasized, and I'm worried also about flu.
[01:10:03]
You know, again, these symptoms could be influenza, it could be something else, it could be COVID. And some estimates of flu are in the order of 100,000 to 400,000 additional hospitalizations. We haven't even peak with influenza yet. And so that confusion is really going to send us potentially into a tailspin.
But there is a silver lining which is, you know, we are going to have oral agents for COVID soon. Molnupiravir is already here. PAXLOVID, I think that could add together with you know, Tamiflu for influenza. But keeping viral load in the community down and potentially helping people even unvaccinated people avoid hospitalization.
VAUSE: Two steps forward, two steps back at scenes. Peter, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it.
CHIN-HONG: Thanks so much, John.
VAUSE: When we come back, he was a boxer turned policeman who later took on the mob and eventually became one of the most powerful leaders in Washington. The life and legacy of the late Harry Reid.
Also the sports world, paying respects to a larger than life NFL coach and veteran broadcaster, tributes to the John Madden.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:15:00]
VAUSE: Was being remembered as the scrappy political street fighter, a champion of old school Washington, dealmaking. Nevada Democrat Harry Reid was one of the longest serving leaders of the U.S. Senate. And on Tuesday word came he lost a four-year long battle with pancreatic cancer. CNN's Dana Bash looks back on his life.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He led Democrats in the Senate for a decade but Harry Reid called one of his proudest accomplishments, the impact he had on presidential history, encouraging Barack Obama to run. HARRY REID, FMR. U.S. SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: Calling in my office and thought we should take a look at him. He was stunned that sighs the first one that ever suggested that to me. When he was reelected, that was one of the most moving phone calls I've ever received because he said, you know, you're the reason I'm here.
BASH: He spearheaded epic legislative battles like Obamacare with a scrappy style he learned during his impoverished childhood.
Reid was born shaped and scarred in search light Nevada, essentially a truck stop outside Las Vegas. He grew up in a shack with no running water where this trailer now sits. He took us there in 2006. His mother did laundry for the local brothels. His dad always looking for work as a minor both drank heavily.
During that 2006 visit to searchlight he casually pointed out where his father took his own life at 58 years old.
REID: This house right here. That last room, bedroom that's where he killed himself.
BASH: He fought his way out of poverty as a boxer. As a politician, he was never afraid to punch below the belt. He even took on the mob as a young politician in Las Vegas.
(on camera): A wide variety of adjectives have been written about you.
REID: Some good, some bad.
BASH: Some good some bad. Let me just read a few scrappy, tough, blunt, canny behind the scenes mastermind, ruthless. All those fair?
REID: Well, that's what people think and that's what they think they're entitled to their opinion.
BASH (voice-over): As Senate Democratic Leader, Reid was a polarizing figure. Republicans argued a lot of congressional gridlock stemmed from his hardball tactics.
REID: Being the turning of the tide --
BASH: But he reveled in playing the political bad guy calling then President George W. Bush a loser and a liar well before politicians use those L words.
REID: I don't really care. I don't want to be somebody I'm not.
BASH: During the Trump presidency, however, Reid changed his tune about Bush.
REID: In hindsight, I wish every day for a George Bush again. I think that I had our differences. But no one ever questioned his patriotism. There's no question in my mind that George Bush would be Babe Ruth in this league that he's in with Donald Trump. Donald Trump wouldn't make the team.
BASH: In 2012, he used the Senate floor to accuse Mitt Romney of not paying his taxes, even though he had no evidence.
REID: He's refused to release his tax returns, as we know, let him prove that he has paid taxes because he hasn't.
No, I don't regret that at all.
BASH: (on camera): Some people have even called it McCarthy-ite.
REID: Well, they call it whatever they want. Only then when did he.
BASH: Years later, Reid did ask to meet with Romney to make amends.
REID: Chuck Townsend (ph), but shabbiness.
BASH: Why was it so important for you to tie up that loose end?
REID: I tried to do that with everybody.
BASH (voice-over): Reid also inspired fierce loyalty from many of his longtime aides as well as fellow senators. Not all out of fear, but affection. He often told colleagues, he loved them, even in public.
REID: I love you, John Kerry.
BASH: He had a storybook romance with wife Landra, his high school sweetheart. The two converted to Mormonism together when they married.
REID: She had a pair of Levi's yesterday, and I said, Man, she just looks so good.
BASH: That's amazing.
REID: But is true.
BASH: In January 2015, Reid a workout addict who ran numerous marathons had a brutal exercise accident that left him severely bruised and blind in one eye. It cemented his decision to retire. A few years later, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The effects of chemo made it hard for him to walk. We went to see him in Las Vegas.
REID: That's one of my keepsakes from Donald Trump.
BASH: Never any complaints.
REID: I'm doing fine. I'm busy. I work quite hard.
BASH: Reid was an unlikely political leader and today's media age soft spoken and gaffe prone. But he played the inside game like no one could.
REID: I didn't make it in life because my athletic prowess. I didn't make it because of my good looks. I didn't make it because I'm a genius. I made it because I worked hard.
One of the things that I hope that people look back at me and say if Harry Reid could make it, I can.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
[01:20:07]
VAUSE: And the world of American football is mourning the loss of veteran NFL broadcaster, the face of a hugely successful video game, as well as a Hall of Fame coach, John Madden loomed large over the NFL for decades, and unforgettable boisterous style, which was loved by lifelong fans and casual viewers alike. He lent his name and image to a video game becoming the namesake of the hugely successful Madden series.
National Football League's Commissioner Roger Goodell is honoring Madden saying, quote, Nobody loved football more than coach, he was football. He was an incredible sounding board to me and so many others. There will never be another John Madden, and we will forever be indebted to him for all he did to make football and the NFL what it is today.
There was this tribute from the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The entire Pro Football Hall of Fame family mourns the party and coach Madden. Few, in any, if any have had as great an impact on the sport of professional football on so many different levels, it's Coach Madden. He was first and foremost a coach. It was a coach on the field, a coach in the broadcast booth and a coach in life.
We'll take a short break. When we come back at coming new year, we'll likely bring old pandemic restrictions for many parts of Europe. The last line of defense against the overcrowding variant. And coping with Omicron how healthcare workers in South Africa now adapting to this new variant of concern, which is a glimpse into the future for many countries.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. You're watching CNN Newsroom. I'm John Vause. Well, very latest out on that lead story.
[01:25:00]
COVID infections once again soaring across most of the United States fueled by the highly contagious Omicron, with a national average of more than 265,000 new cases a day, a record breaking high.
The CDC estimates Omicron accounts for nearly 60 percent of those new infections.
More children in the U.S. are being hospitalized with COVID. Admissions were up almost 50 percent in the past week.
Meantime, the FDA is taking a closer look at the effectiveness of at- home antigen tests which could be less sensitive to detecting the Omicron variant. But experts say that should not discourage anyone from actually using the tests. A similar story in many parts of Europe, Spain reporting nearly 100,000 new cases on Tuesday alone. The highest one day totals since the pandemic began, double the previous record set just last week. Not just Spain, the countries in dark red on this map have seen cases rise by 50 percent or more in the past week compared to the week before. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz reports now from London.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER (on camera): More travel disruption and chaos, thousands of flights cancelled or delayed in recent days has left some passengers stranded and airports across the globe. Airlines are facing dropping consumer demand due to the fear around the Omicron variant and at the same time staff shortages, some airline staff of course calling out sick themselves.
It comes as the Omicron variant spread continues at record rates both France and the UK, finding record breaking infection rates driven largely again by the Omicron variant, but each country taking a different approach as to how to handle the search.
Here in the UK, three of the four nations have imposed some restrictions ahead of New Year's Eve. But Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his health secretary say for now, England does not need tougher measures. This is what the health secretary had to say.
SAJID JAVID, BRITISH HEALTH SECRETARY: Well, of course, we look at the data on a daily basis that hasn't changed over the Christmas period. But there will be no further measures before the new year. We won't be taking any further measures of course people should remain cautious as we approach New Year celebrations.
And you know, take a lateral flow that makes sense, celebrate outside if you can, have some ventilation indoors, if you can. Please remain cautious. And when we get into the new year, of course, we will see then whether we do need to take any further measures but nothing more until then at least.
ABDELAZIZ: The French government will also not be putting in place any lock downs or curfews ahead of New Year's Eve. There are tougher restrictions expected in the new year but again the authorities warning everyone there to be cautious.
And multiple European cities are cancelling their New Year's Eve celebrations. Here in London the Trafalgar Square fireworks are cancelled this year, Paris following suit, Berlin, other cities, Rome as well cancelling their traditional fireworks celebrations this year as the surge of Omicron cases, of course, continues.
There's also been backlash against some of the restrictions with protesting in recent days in Germany against tougher measures those who don't want to see tough rules come into place with the Omicron variant, yet another New Year's Eve that's going to be spent in the shadow of a COVID variant. Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.
(END VIDEO TAPE) VAUSE: To China now where authorities may soon tightened restrictions on day six of an already brutal lockdown on the city of Xi'an. 13 million people under a stay at home order right now. CNN's Steven Jiang joins us live from Beijing.
OK, so this is one of the toughest second tier towers (ph) but still pretty tough levels of lockdown. And now there's this issue of access to basic supplies is becoming harder. And that's driving a lot of anger and frustration in the city.
STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: That's right, John. This is almost a deja vu of what we saw in Wuhan two years ago. There's a growing amount of frustration and anger being vented online by users in Xi'an saying they have growing challenge getting a fresh produce. And that of course is in sharp contrast to what officials and state media have been portraying in terms of orderly and smooth delivery of daily necessity items throughout the city since the lockdown began last week.
Now, the situation has been made worse because last week they were still allowing each household to send out one representative every other day to do grocery shopping. But that quote, unquote privilege has been suspended starting this week as the authorities there tried to further restrict the movement of people to curb the community spread of this virus because of the Beijing leadership's insistence on this zero COVID policy, especially ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics, which is less than 40 days away.
Now, of course, from their perspective, this policy has been working well with officials pointing to the fast spread of Omicron outside of Chinese borders, and that's why you see government officials in Xi'an really doubling down on their strategy not only mass testing and mass quarantine but also harsher lockdown measures as well.
And the numbers from the city still pretty grim by China standard (ph), a 151 new local cases recorded on Tuesday but officials say as this lockdown for -- with that lockdown firmly in place, they are going to bring this outbreak to an end within a month or so and the numbers will be stabilizing soon, they say, and start decreasing.
And this is, of course, what they are saying for awhile and they have just started the sixth round of city-wide testing for 13 million residents. And they say, you know, things will get better soon.
But this kind of assessment and remarks obviously, very cold comfort for millions of residents trying to survive under this brutal lockdown, John.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: And there's no declared end when this thing is actually going to be over. It's just going to keep going and going and going I guess until they get this under control, which who knows when that will be.
Steven, thank you. Steven Jiang live for us in Beijing.
Well, around the world the highly contagious omicron outbreak is bringing new fears and uncertainty over what is yet to come. But in South Africa, where the variant was first detected, new infections are falling and there's good reason to believe the worst may have passed.
CNN's David McKenzie has the view from health care workers who have been on the front lines of each wave -- each new wave of this pandemic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Dispatched south of Johannesburg, paramedic Mohammed Rasool says omicron is nothing like delta.
MOHAMMED RASOOL, PARAMEDIC PULSATE EMERGENCY: During then, it was only COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID and nothing else.
Will you be able to walk sir?
MCKENZIE: We were with them during the chaos, when the delta wave of COVID-19 ripped through South Africa.
Severe patients crashed quickly. Rasool's team spent hours looking for hospital beds. Charities like Gift of the Givers rushed to set up field clinics, scrambled to distribute oxygen concentrators to save lives. With omicron, they say they haven't sent out a single one.
RASOOL: A patient that's complaining of tightness in chest.
MCKENZIE: Rasool says their call-outs now are for less severe patients, like this 46-year-old who tested negative but is still suspected of having COVID.
RASOOL: -- test after five minutes, check the chest.
MCKENZIE (on camera): So there's been a surge of cases of COVID-19 with omicron, but there hasn't been a surge in severity of hospitalization. This kind of callout is pretty typical.
What advice do you have for other countries that are facing an omicron wave?
NICHOLAS CRISP, ACTING DIRECTOR-GENERAL, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: Don't panic. This is -- you will ride the wave, far less use of oxygen, far fewer people being admitted despite the high numbers of cases. Very high transmission of people getting mild illness, not even getting diagnosed at home.
MCKENZIE (voice over): It's still unclear why it's seemingly milder or whether that will translate globally. Scientists here believe up to 80 percent of the population in South Africa may have had COVID-19 before, likely providing a shield of immunity against severe infection. Vaccine coverage also plays a major part.
CRISP: This would have been an absolute nightmare if it was delta. So, I think we can just be very grateful that it has not been as devastating as it could have been. MCKENZIE (on camera): but there's still reason to be cautious, it
seems?
CRISP: Yes. Well, we've learned with COVID generally, you never let your guard down.
MCKENZIE (voice over): for a brief moment, though, Rasool dares to hope.
RASOOL: Severity of the illness was a lot better than it was. So I'm actually quite optimistic about it.
MCKENZIE: David McKenzie, CNN -- Johannesburg.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: That hope, though, may be tempered by a recent study from Columbia University, which warned the omicron variant can evade immune protection from both vaccines and infection, which is why they say new vaccines and treatments are crucial. So too anticipating the evolutionary path of the virus.
The report warns "It is not too farfetched to think that SARS-CoV-2 is now only a mutation or two away from being completely resistant to current antibodies either the monoclonal antibodies used as therapy or the antibody generated by vaccination or infection with previous variants.
Anne Rimoin is a professor with the Department of Epidemiology at UCLA's Fielding School of Public Health. Anne, thanks for being with us.
ANNE RIMOIN, PROFESSOR OF EPIDEMIOLOGY, UCLA FIELD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: It's nice to be here. Thanks for having me.
VAUSE: Ok. So here's a little more from Dr. David Ho. He was behind that research in Columbia. And it sounds like it's in the context of antibodies, which the variants have been able to resist up until now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. DAVID HO, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: It turns out that previous variants only resisted two major classes of antibody. But omicron resisted now all the classes of antibodies directed to the spike of this virus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: I know this is kind of in the weeds here, but you know, what does he actually mean here and why is it so concerning?
[01:34:49]
RIMOIN: Well, this study really is a confirmation of what scientists were warning about from the beginning when they first discovered omicron and saw so many mutations ON the spike protein -- around the spike protein. And that's that this virus could potentially evade vaccines.
And that's exactly what we're seeing play out in real time. We're seeing all of these breakthrough infections globally. And also reinfections, which is something that they warned about in this particular report, as well.
So, what they did was, they did a series of studies to really confirm this fear that we all had that there was going to be immune evasion.
Now, the other thing that they did, they also tested the -- to look to see if the monoclonal antibodies that are being used to be able to -- early on in infection, are able to actually work against omicron and they found that was something that was particularly disturbing I thought in this report was that many of those monoclonal antibodies, in fact, all of the monoclonal antibodies showed a reduced effectiveness when tested against this new variant. So, I think this is just a very important warning, it's a confirmation of what we already know, but also a warning sign that, you know, in future, we could see variants emerge that will have even more immune escape.
Right now, these vaccines are doing a very good job of protecting us from severe disease, hospitalizations and death. That's really an excellent sign. However, what we are seeing is that with this -- with this trend of immune escape, we could see something that would be more dangerous in the future.
VAUSE: This is, I guess, the doomsday variant, I guess, which is what so many people have talked about. And this study makes the point that right now, we're way behind in knowing the evolutionary track of the virus. We need to get in front of it. How do we do that?
RIMOIN: Well, John, we've talked about this before. And what we need to do is we need to get vaccines distributed globally. We need to be able to ensure that we are all vaccinated and that we don't give this virus the opportunity to spread further.
That's always the thing that we worry about. When this virus has an opportunity to spread, it has an opportunity to mutate. When it has an opportunity to mutate, it will have the opportunity to develop into a new variant like the one that we're seeing right now.
So, the answer is vaccine equity. Getting vaccines in arms globally. Being able to increase the amount of immunity we have and not let this virus spread further.
VAUSE: Are we at the point where each mutation seems to be like a roll of the dice? It could either end up being -- this is how the pandemic ends with some kind of, you know, cold-like coronavirus with very mild symptoms or we could be heading towards that doomsday variant, which we have no protection from?
RIMOIN: We really don't know where this is going to go. So, we can't predict. What we just need to do is make sure that we get as many vaccines in arms, get vaccines out globally and make sure that we don't give this virus an opportunity to spread. VAUSE: There's also the mystery of where omicron came from. One
possibility reported by Stat News, the theory goes that some type of animal, potentially rodents, were infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus some time in mid 2020. In this new species, the virus evolved accumulating roughly 50 mutations on the spike protein before spilling back over into people.
Can we get in front of this strain of the coronavirus if we don't know where it came from?
RIMOIN: Well, I don't think that the issue is where it actually came from. I think we know that there are multiple scenarios here. We don't have an answer at this point and it really doesn't matter, from where we stand right now.
But the theories are it could have spilled over from an animal, so we could have had the original variant go back into an animal and then pass back into humans.
It could have come from somebody who is immunocompromised, because when you have immunocompromised individuals, they will be able to harbor the virus for a lengthy period of time and that gives the opportunity for this virus to mutate.
You know, there are multiple theories that are in place, and so you know, we -- it could have been the third one, we could have been just circulating and eventually picked up more and more mutations over time.
We don't know which one it is. So, we can't worry too much about where it came from. What we can worry about is how do we get in front of it? And that goes back to the question that you just asked me which is how do we -- how do we get in front of it. We vaccinate the world.
VAUSE: It seems to be the same story every day, but it changes but it's the same answer to all of this. We know what the answer is, we know what to do, we just have to do it. Anne, thank you. Good to see you.
RIMOIN: My pleasure.
VAUSE: Well, it will be a socially-distanced and quiet New Year's Eve with many cities around the world canceling or restricting celebrations because of a surging number of COVID infections.
Strict contact restrictions will be in effect December 28th in Germany. New Year's Eve celebrations of ten or more people are forbidden. Berlin's fireworks celebration canceled. In London, the annual event in Trafalgar Square also canceled.
India announced a ban on all social, cultural and political gatherings in Delhi. Bars and restaurants are allowed to operate but at 50 percent capacity.
And the celebration concert in Rio de Janeiro canceled. Its annual fireworks display will go on. [01:39:54]
VAUSE: Spain, on the other hand, one of the few European countries where celebrations will take place. Madrid will hold an event in the Plaza (ph) del Sol Square with up to 7,000 people. Good luck.
Just ahead, Hong Kong police raid a pro democracy news outlet. Six people tied to the company have been arrested so far. We are live in Hong Kong with the very latest.
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VAUSE: In Bolivia, dozens stranded by massive flooding have been air lifted to safety. At least 55 municipalities saw heavy downpours leaving at least 13 people dead. One defense official describes the situation right now as critical, with more rain in the forecast and rivers continuing to break their banks.
Hong Kong police have arrested at least six staff and associates of the pro democracy outlet Stand News. Officials say they're suspected in conspiracy to publish seditious material, which is a blanket charge which has been used to cut down on press freedoms in Hong Kong.
Police also visited the home of a seventh employee, led away by officers, but according to the Hong Kong Journalist Association, the Stand confirms he was not arrested.
The company's offices have also been raided by police who say they've collected at least 30 boxes filled with evidence.
CNN's Ivan Watson joins now live from outside the offices that were raided. So Ivan, what's the latest? What have they got? What have they taken away?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, as of now, I think certainly the journalistic community here in Hong Kong is still reeling from the arrest of these six individuals from the raids that took place in the top floor of this industrial building here of Stand News, which was one of the last remaining kind of independent media voices left in this former British colony.
With the new national security department and the police saying that the six people who were arrested, this was under charges of, quote, "conspiracy to publish seditious publications".
[01:44:54]
WATSON: And also that they were authorized under their guidelines to search and seize relevant journalistic materials. Among the six people arrested is a pop star from Hong Kong, a woman named Denise Ho, who is an outspoken critic of the Hong Kong government and the Chinese government in mainland China.
She was detained, as well, and had kind of coproduced to some degree a concert in September with Stand News. Now, the Hong Kong Journalist Association has come out with a statement, expressing concern about this, saying, quote, "The Hong Kong Journalist Association is deeply concerned that the police have repeatedly arrested senior members of the media and searched the offices of news organizations containing large quantities of journalistic materials within a year. And it urges the government to respect press freedom under Hong Kong's basic law.
Now, one of the people who wasn't formally arrested but detained at his home at 6:00 in the morning is one of the editors of Stand News, a man named Bronson Chan, who also happens to be the head of the Hong Kong Journalist Association.
And just last night, that association had a dinner for its members and he kind of had this almost, you know, sad plea about what many perceived to be the diminishing space for dissent and press freedom in the city. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRONSON CHAN, EDITOR, STAND NEWS (through translator): Hong Kong will always need the truth, as well as journalists. No matter how difficult the road ahead will be, the association will strive to never fail.
Facing an uncertain path before us, we have nothing else to ask but for our friends and partners of the association to continue to support us. This is our tiniest hope for you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: Now, Bronson Chan has since been released by the police, though some of his personal effects -- phones, laptops, iPads, have been taken by police. He has visited briefly the offices here.
If you take the position of the Hong Kong government and Beijing, by extension, they would argue that the arrests that they've conducted over the course of the last year -- and we can talk about that further, John -- are part of an effort to bring the city under control since the widespread street protests against the government of 2019.
And, in fact, just a few days before Christmas, Hong Kong's top official, Carrie Lam, met with Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, and both basically patted each other on the back, for, as they described it, getting Hong Kong under control. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
XI JINPING, CHINESE PRESIDENT (through translator): Over the past year, Hong Kong's situation has continued to consolidate from chaos to under control and that the situation has continued to improve.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: so, the government argues this is getting this city under control. Activists, press freedom, journalists, would argue this is taking away freedom.
Back to you, John. VAUSE: Yes, certainly sounds like it, Ivan. (INAUDIBLE) those
independent agency where you left. Ivan Watson live for us in Hong Kong.
Well, when we come back, officials in Virginia have opened a second time capsule. What was inside?
We'll tell you.
[01:48:25]
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VAUSE: Egyptian scientists are peeling back another layer of history with new information on Pharaoh Amenhotep I. Using non invasive digital scanning, they managed to glimpse beneath the face mask and bandages. Experts are too nervous to expose the remains of the mummy because you know, it's fragile and 3,500 years old.
There were no signs of injuries, which may have indicated a cause of death, but hieroglyphics suggest the mummy may have been repaired by priests and embalmers after being damaged by tomb raiders.
In Virginia, state officials are now delicately cataloguing and preserving the contents of a time capsule, the second one to be opened.
This was probably the opposite of the opening of Al Capone's vault, some items dating all the way back to the American Civil War.
CNN's Randi Kaye has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It wasn't easy, but conservators in Richmond, Virginia meticulously drilled their way into this time capsule that's more than 100 years old.
We're going to cut down one side of the box where we can see that I probably won't hit anything to help release some of this pressure.
KAYE: The capsule was discovered Monday beneath the base of the Robert E. Lee statue, months after this historic moment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There he goes.
KAYE: The 134-year-old time capsule is made of copper. And according to the "Richmond Dispatch" newspaper from 1887, is supposed to contain at least 60 items.
This x-ray taken after its discovery offered the first images. Items inside were said to include a battle flag, compass, 12 copper coins, confederate buttons, even a picture of former President Lincoln lying in his coffin.
Only one photo of the casket still exists and the conditions inside the capsule aren't exactly ideal.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, there was a huge drop of water that just squeezed out of it. Maybe a little more wet than we hoped for.
KAYE: One of the first items pulled out, a coin.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The coin says 1883. Appears to be silver. United States.
KAYE: As conservation experts dug deeper --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, what we're seeing is Richmond: A guide, 1881 by Daniel Murphy. The Constitution and Bylaws of Virginia (INAUDIBLE) Institute, 1887.
KAYE: Also a masonic flag carved out of wood. And this 1884 commemorative ribbon featuring Robert E. Lee. Many of the items inside were stuck together, especially the books, making them difficult to identify and extract without ruining them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Even though we've managed to clear out a section of this, they're still all stuck together.
[01:54:53]
KAYE: When this capsule was found on Monday, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam proudly tweeted "They found it." Trouble is, they thought they found it a week and a half ago when construction crews pulled a different time capsule from the Lee monument's base.
After hours of tedious work opening that one, they quickly realized that time capsule was not the one they'd been looking for. It was made of lead, not copper, and only contained a handful of items, including a few books, an envelope and a coin.
In this latest capsule, there was at least one bullet, newspapers, books and --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Button has a naval symbol on it. This coin says 1853.
KAYE: Conservators are still documenting the items and comparing them to the list published in that 1887 newspaper, but so far, no picture of Abraham Lincoln in his casket. They did find a photo from Harper's Weekly, though, of someone weeping at Lincoln's grave.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was perhaps taken from a photograph but it is an engraving in a newspaper. So the newspaper was from 1865, from what we can tell, unless it was a reprint, which has happened. So -- there's really -- there was no photograph per se.
KAYE: Randi Kaye, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Second time's a charm. Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.
CNN NEWSROOM continues after a very short break with my colleague and friend Miss Paula Newton.
I'll see you back here tomorrow.
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[01:59:55]
PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world.
I'm Paula Newton.
Ahead right here on CNN NEWSROOM: daily U.S. COVID cases hit an all- time high as the omicron variant fuels yet another wave.
