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U.S. Breaks New Covid Record; Pediatric Hospitalizations Up Nearly 50 Percent in a Week; Former U.S. Senate Majority Lead Harry Reid Dead at 82; Legendary NFL Coach and Broadcaster Dead at 85; Omicron Driving Up Case Counts in Parts of Europe; China Tightens Xi'an Lockdown Amid Local Outbreak. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired December 29, 2021 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Max Foster in London. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nearly two years into a pandemic, it is the last place anyone hoped to be.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we're probably a couple weeks, maybe three weeks out from peak.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But if you have a lot more infections, you're going to have a lot more kids hospitalized.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: The U.S. shatters a record for positive COVID cases as Omicron fuels rising child hospitalizations worldwide -- nationwide, rather.
Spearheading legislation in Congress for three decades, we look back at the legacy of one of America's post powerful politicians, Senator Harry Reid.
And they promised to protect women's rights. But a new Taliban law restricts them even more.
ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster.
FOSTER: It's Wednesday, December the 29th. There are new worries of the Omicron surge could make for some difficult weeks ahead for hospitals and healthcare workers across the United States. A former advisor to President Joe Biden's COVID team says the country is in for a tough January.
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ANDY SLAVITT, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER, BIDEN ADMINISTRATION COVID RESPONSE TEAM: I suspect by the end of January things will peak, and there's no question that January will be filled with a lot of short- term challenges, hospital beds, staffing, shortages of tests, shortages of almost everything. It's tough for the system to handle this many cases at once. But I think if there's a silver lining, it's that when it comes out fast it's likely to go down even more quickly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, the U.S. is averaging more than 265,000 cases a day over the past week. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Omicron variant accounts for nearly 60 percent of new cases. The Food and Drug Administration is taking a closer look at the effectiveness of at-home antigen tests which may be less sensitive to picking up the Omicron variant. Dr. Anthony Fauci says the tests are still beneficial, though.
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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, U.S. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: The tests are still worthwhile. Don't let anybody think that the FDA was saying the tests are no longer good. They say they're less sensitive now -- they never were 100 percent sensitive, the antigen test. Everybody knew that. What the FDA is saying today is that when you look at Omicron and its ability to detect Omicron, some of the tests have a diminution further of the sensitivity, but they still say the tests are useful and should be used.
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FOSTER: Well, the CDC reports the number of Americans getting their boosters has fallen off, but still many people are getting their boosters than are finishing their initial round of vaccinations. U.S. health officials are facing criticism for cutting the isolation time meanwhile for people recovering from COVID from ten days to five. But President Biden's chief medical adviser is trying to ease concerns.
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FAUCI: There is the danger that there will be so many people who are being isolated who are asymptomatic for the full ten days, that you could have a major negative impact on our ability to keep society running. So, the decision was made, although it's not completely risk- free, of saying, let's get that cut in half so that we can have 50 percent, namely, half of the ten days, and 50 percent of that time people can actually be out with a mask in society. The reason the CDC gives is not because there's a shortage of tests.
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FOSTER: Well, there's really no part of the U.S. that is being spared from the Omicron surge. Florida's health department says cases quadrupled last week, and according to the CDC, Christmas Eve marked a new record with more than 32,000 new infections. More people are testing positive for the virus in New York City. The health department reports close to 20 percent of all tests are coming back positive on average over the past week. Public schools in the city are scheduled to reopen on January 3rd, but one expert says with the screaming level of transmission, New York should push that back by at least two weeks. The Omicron surge is taking a harsh toll on children across the U.S.
pushing hospital admissions to near record levels. CNN's Elizabeth Cohen has that story.
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ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: The number of children in the hospital with COVID-19 has gone up dramatically recently. The numbers are still small, but there is a sharp increase. So much so that we're near the record peak of pediatric hospitalizations for the pandemic. Let's take a look at the numbers.
The week of December 20th, 305 children were admitted to the hospital on average per day. That's very close to the pandemic record which was the week of August 29th when 342 children were being admitted per day.
Now, there is a lot we don't know about Omicron, but right now it doesn't seem like this variant is any more dangerous to children than any of the other variants, like Delta. But here's the problem. Omicron is so transmissible, such a large number of children are getting infected, a certain percentage of them are going to end up in the hospital and a small percentage of a large number can still be a significant number.
And here's what's really causing this problem. If you look at children ages 5 to 11, only 14 percent of them are fully vaccinated and they've been eligible for vaccination for two months now. If you look at adolescents ages 12 to 17, 53 percent of them are fully vaccinated. So as the number of childhood hospitalizations for COVID-19 is going up, all the more reason the parents really need to get their children vaccinated. Back to you.
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FOSTER: Ahead of the U.S. Vaccine Education Center in Philadelphia says not getting kids immunized against COVID is like playing Russian roulette. Doctors and medical experts agree vaccines are a very effective way to protect children. And when parents wait until their kids get sick, it can be too late.
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DR. ROBERTA DEBIASI, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL, WASHINGTON DC: And if you look at the children that need to be -- are sick enough that they need to come into the hospital, the vast majority of them are either partially vaccinated, unvaccinated, or have an immunocompromising condition even though they did the best they could and got their vaccine. So, the same rules that are apply to adults where you're much more likely to be very sick apply to children.
DR. LARRY KOCIOLEK, PEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST: And what we are seeing is real-time evidence of how effective vaccines are. We've so far only seen -- since we started vaccinating children, one child who was fully vaccinated admitted to the hospital and that was a patient with multiple co-morbidities and risk factors for severity. And so, about 75 percent of our cases and 50 percent of our hospitalizations currently are children under the age of 5. And so, children that aren't even eligible to be vaccinated yet.
DR. PAUL OFFIT, DIRECTOR, VACCINE EDUCATION CENTER: This was hard enough last year when we didn't have a vaccine. Now we have a vaccine that can prevent all this suffering and hospitalization and ICU admissions. And so, we should do it. You know, the job of the parent is to put their children in the safest position possible. That's what these vaccines do.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: COVID cases are on the rise right around the globe, we'll head live to Paris and to Beijing later this hour for you. Today, though, we are also looking back on the lives of two renowned Americans. Legendary coach and iconic broadcaster John Madden died on Tuesday. Madden was beloved for his gregarious style. For many his voice and personality redefined sports commentary. We'll hear from one of Madden's colleagues, Bob Costas in a moment about his legacy.
And in politics, tributes are pouring in for a titan of the U.S. Senate. Former Democratic majority leader and Senator from Nevada Harry Reid died on Tuesday at the age of 82 following a bout of pancreatic cancer. Now famous for his bluntness, Reid once told "The New York Times," as soon as you discover you have something on your pancreas, you're dead. But he went into remission and lived for a few more years. CNN's Dana Bash looks back at his life and his legacy.
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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.
FMR. SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV): I did call him into my office and tell him he should take a look at it. And he was stunned because I was the first one who had suggested that to him. When he was re-elected, that was one of the most moving phone calls I've ever received because he said you're the reason I'm here.
BASH (voice-over): He spearheaded epic legislative battles like Obamacare with the scrappy style he learned during his impoverish childhood. Reid was born, shaped, and scarred in Searchlight, 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 miner. 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 is a bedroom. That's where he killed himself. BASH (voice-over): He fought his way out of poverty as a boxer. As a politician, he was never afraid to punch below the belt.
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He even took on the mob as a young politician in Las Vegas.
BASH: A wide variety of adjectives have been written about you.
REID: Some good, some bad.
BASH: They describe you -- some good, some bad. Let me just read a few. Scrappy, tough, blunt, canny behind the scenes, mastermind, ruthless. Are all those fair?
REID: Well, if that's what people think, 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 gridlocks stem from his hard ball tactics.
REID: Seeing the turning of the tide --
BASH (voice-over): But he reveled in playing the political bad guy calling then President George W. Bush a loser and a liar well before politicians used those "L" words.
REID: I don't really care. I don't want to be somebody I'm not.
BASH (voice-over): 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 he and 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 (voice-over): 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 he has paid taxes because he hasn't.
REID: No, I don't regret that at all.
BASH: Some people have even called it McCarthyite.
REID: Well, they can call it whatever they want. Romney didn't win, did he?
BASH (voice-over): Years later, Reid did ask to meet with Romney to make amends.
REID: Shook hands and put stuff behind us. 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 long-time 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 (voice-over): He had a story book 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 and I said, ma'am, you just look so good.
BASH: That's amazing.
REID: That is true.
BASH (voice-over): 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 (voice-over): Never any complaints.
REID: I'm doing fine. I'm busy. I work quite hard.
BASH (voice-over): Reid was an unlikely political leader in 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 ethnic 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.
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FOSTER: Flags at the U.S. Capitol are lowered to half-staff on honor of Reid. Current Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer tweeted that his mentor was tough as nails, strong, but caring and compassionate. He used those boxing instincts to fiercely fight those who were hurting the poor and the middle class. Reid played an immense role during the Obama administration.
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TIMOTHY NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: It was essential for Barack Obama to have Harry Reid as a partner during the debate over the Affordable Care Act. Obamacare would not have happened without the legislative wizardry of Harry Reid. And Barack Obama is not the only president who benefited from Harry Reid. George W. Bush -- and there is no love lost between those men. George W. Bush and Harry Reid worked together to deal with the Great Recession. It was a Democratic Congress that passed the Bush administration's approach to the Great Recession, and Harry Reid was there doing what he felt was necessary for the nation at a very difficult time.
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FOSTER: President Joe Biden called Reid one of the all-time great Senate majority leaders, and for Harry it wasn't about power for power sake. It was about the power to do right for the people.
On Tuesday, Barack Obama shared a recent letter he sent to Reid.
I wouldn't have been president had it not been for your encouragement and support, and I wouldn't have got most of what I got done without your skill and your determination.
And Republican former House Speaker John Boehner said: I am sad, but grateful for the friendship I had with Harry.
[04:15:00]
We disagreed on many things, sometimes famously, but we were always honest with each other.
We are also getting more reaction from the sports world as it mourns the loss of John Madden. The National Football League announced his death on Tuesday at the age of 85. For more than 20 years Madden provided boisterous commentary for four major networks. And won 16 Emmy's along the way as well. And he lent his name to video games, becoming a name sake of the hugely successful Madden series. Long-time sportscaster Bob Costas was just 27 when Madden started as a broadcaster. He says, the larger-than-life Madden became more than a coach or commentator, but a part of American culture.
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BOB COSTAS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: He was utterly unique. Never anybody else like him before, and I guarantee you since. Bill Belichick put it well recently when he said from a mile away, he'd never be confused with anyone else.
Anyone under the age of 50 has no real firsthand recollection of John Madden the coach. But if you said to a 12-year-old kid today, John Madden passed away, that would have an impact on that kid. He or she knows who John Madden is. You know, the word legendary or iconic, those words are thrown around too loosely especially in sports. But they both certainly applied to him.
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FOSTER: Well, NFL 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'll forever be indebted to him for all he did to make football and the NFL what it is today.
Still ahead, the Omicron variant is sending COVID cases soaring in many parts of Europe. How countries are responding to the latest surge.
Plus, 13 million people are under strict stay-at-home orders as China ramps up efforts to contain a local outbreak. A live report from Beijing for you ahead.
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FOSTER: The Omicron variant is fueling a staggering wave of COVID infections in parts of Europe. Take a look at this map. Countries in dark red have seen cases rise by 50 percent or more in the past week compared to the week before. At least five countries, including France and Spain, reported record-high new infections on Tuesday.
And in China, authorities are tightening lockdown rules in the city of Xi'an hoping to contain a local COVID vaccine outbreak. The city's 13 million residents are under strict stay-at-home orders. They can only go out for COVID testing. CNN's Steven Jiang is standing by for us in Beijing with details. First, let's go to Melissa in Paris. These really are frightening numbers. But it's really about the effect on hospitals at this point, isn't it?
MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Max. The World Health Organization is already worried that here in Europe there's massive rises -- and you're quite to use the word staggering. They're quite extraordinary. We haven't seen anything like this in previous waves. Will have an impact on healthcare systems with many of them across the continent, once again being severely tested or even pushed to the brink.
I'm here in a vaccination center in Paris, Max, where they're expecting more, more people. This is a result of some of the measures that were announced on Monday night. The French Prime Minister stopping short of announcing a curfew or a lockdown that would do so much harm to an economy already so severely damaged by all this. But instead, announcing a raft of decisions all aimed at trying to get those numbers down.
Amongst them, reducing length of time, for instance between the second jab and the booster. That's why here they're expecting and seeing over the course of the last few days, greater, greater numbers of people coming in to get vaccinated.
And the figures are astonishing -- 179,000 new cases here in France over a 24-hour period. That is the latest record set only yesterday, smashing the previous record that was only on Saturday, Max, of 100,000 people diagnosed with COVID over the course of a 24-hour period. We simply hadn't seen anything like it before. And it is those staggering increases that are leading across Europe to worries about what that's going to mean for health care systems across the continent, especially with staff getting sick as well -- Max.
FOSTER: Melissa in Paris, thank you.
Steven, very strict lockdown measures in this disinfection program in Xi'an. But it's still spreading. What does that tell us?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: That's right. And also, the situation there really starts to feel like a deja vu from what we saw in Wuhan two years ago, with a growing complaints from residents there about lack of access to food items, for instance. That, of course, is in sharp contrast to state media's portrayal of orderly delivery of daily necessity items to families throughout the city by the government.
The situation has been made worse by tightened regulations in the city actually. Last week each household was still allowed to send out one representative every other day to do grocery shopping. And that, quote, unquote privilege suspended starting this week as the authorities there tried to further restrict the movement of people to stop the community spread of this virus as you refer to. And that, of course, is very much because of the Beijing leadership's insistence on that zero COVID policy. And that's also why authorities there are really doubling down on mass testing, mass quarantine, and now harsher lockdown measures as well.
The numbers there are pretty grim by Chinese standards, reaching -- almost reaching a thousand cases for the past 2 1/2 weeks. And that's why they are starting another round of citywide testing just today, trying to really flush out the remaining cases, if you will. But they say the situation is stabilizing and this outbreak could be ending soon in a month or so. But that obviously is cold comfort for millions of residents who are trying to survive now enduring increasingly hard conditions -- Max.
FOSTER: OK, Steven and Melissa, thank you both.
The U.S. State Department said some citizens overseas can return to the U.S. with expired passports due to the pandemic. However, there are several conditions that apply. Americans who meet those criteria will be allowed to come back to the U.S. or U.S. territory until the end of March 2022. As of Monday, because of obtaining a new U.S. passport went from $110 to $130 for a ten-year document.
Now airlines are continuing to see unruly passengers on U.S. flights.
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A Tennessee woman turned herself in to the FBI on Tuesday after she was accused of assaulting two flight attendants on board a Spirit Airlines flight last month. According to the criminal complaint, she allegedly consumed too much alcohol, became disruptive, was seen vaping on the flight and making inappropriate advances towards other passengers. When flight attendants asked her to switch seats, she allegedly rushed toward the cabin door. It took two flight attendants and another passenger to subdue her till the plane landed.
So far parts of U.S. breaking records and disrupting holiday plans. This video shot by Andrew Spoeth near Lake Tahoe in California. Shows just how heavy the snow has been falling. Breaking a 50-year record. His family was planning to leave the day after Christmas, but the last we heard they were still snowed in. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri has the latest on the winter weather in the U.S.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Max, what a setup across the western United States. Parts of at least 13 states underneath these winter weather alerts. And of course, you expect a lot of snow across the higher elevations in the winter season. We've got that covered. But notice parts of Southern California, southern Arizona, these areas have been in a drought situation, of course, and one of the driest in the nation. They are now the wettest in the nation for the month of December.
In fact, as of 27th of December statewide, the Sierra snowpack over 150 percent for the date -- average to date here, an incredible set up. And you take a look for April 1st, as of the first there of April, about 50 percent of what is normal. So, anywhere you look at it, we're in a surplus for snow in the Sierra which is great news for the drought situation. But really speaks to how dry this region has been. Because drought continues and is still significant by and large across much of southern California.
You'll notice, yes, downtown Los Angeles, a couple of days of rainy weather, you believe it, this area of southern California in L.A. in particular, some 200 percent of the norm for the month of December for rainfall is concerned. And that is pretty good news there as well.
That's the Western U.S. look at the eastern U.S. Look at the record warmth in place there. Temps widespread into the 70s and 80s. You'd expect in the month of April. And in the month of May happening in late December. Atlanta, into Macon, even into Houston Hobby Airport there, temperatures in the middle 80s, well above, of course, 20 degrees above the average for this time of year.
And Galveston, six times in the month of December, Galveston, Texas has exceeded 80 degrees. That almost never happens. That is the all- time warmest temperature occurred on Tuesday with a high at 82 degrees. Now that's for the month of December, of course.
But now notice this. Warmth began to kind of be shunted a little farther toward the east the next couple of days as we usher in the New Year Friday night into Saturday morning. Cooler air and possibly below average temperatures in store here going in towards the eastern half of the U.S.
Before we get there, though, chance for severe weather. Watching portions of the southeast generally it's northern Mississippi, northern Alabama, southern areas of Tennessee. That's a level three on a scale of one to five for severe storms. If you isolated tornadoes. Certainly, some straight-line winds and some large hail possible with these storms into Wednesday -- Max.
FOSTER: Thank you, Pedram.
Amid push back from the Biden administration, the January 6 House Committee is standing down on requests for some documents of the Trump White House. We'll have the details for you from Washington.
And amid Russia's troop movements, the U.S. and Russia will meet to discuss security issues. A live report from Moscow ahead.
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