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New Storms Threaten Rescue Efforts In Eastern Kentucky; NBA Great Bill Russell Dies At The Age Of 88; Authorities Release Footage After Woman Dies Following Patrol Car Fall; Protesters Slam GOP Lawmakers Over Blocking Burn Pit Bill; Joe Manchin Surprises Washington With $739 Billion Deal; Biden Isolating After Testing Positive For COVID Again; Mykolaiv Hit With Massive Shelling. Aired 2- 3p ET

Aired July 31, 2022 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:28]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Sunday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin this hour with breaking news, sad news. One of the greatest NBA champions of all time, Bill Russell has passed away. His family confirming that the longtime Boston Celtic and five-time NBA MVP passed away peacefully today at the age of 88. His wife Janine was by his side.

Russell is considered not just a champion on the court, but also a champion of civil rights.

CNN's Andy Scholes takes a look back at Russell's incredible career.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL RUSSELL, NBA LEGEND: I took basic skills and egotistically speaking, I think I had the best command of all the basic skills of basketball, that's the package, of anyone who's ever played.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: A champion of champions, Bill Russell won more NBA titles than any player in history and he always had one thing on his mind -- winning.

RUSSELL: Well, one thing that I would love to do would be back on defense by myself, and have a three-on-one fast break coming to me. I actually loved that. Because over half the time I could stop it.

I brought defense to a level where it was as important or more important than offense, but my defense was part of the offense.

SCHOLES: The 12-time all-star for the Boston Celtics revolutionized the game with his shot-blocking ability, but Russell put great value on victories than individual numbers.

RUSSELL: If I'm really going to be a good team player, I have to be willing to disappear sometimes. Be out there without you knowing I'm out there.

SCHOLES: Russell wasn't always such a force on the court. He took the only scholarship he was offered to the University of San Francisco. In the span of one year, Russell won an NCAA championship, Olympic gold medal and NBA title. And he credits much of his success in life to his parents.

RUSSELL: The first thing I remember is my mother and father loved me. She said, you must always be willing to fight for yourself. Never be a victim.

And that is the way I have conducted my life is that I have avoided as much as possible ever being a victim.

SCHOLES: Russell was a private person who wanted little to do with stirring trouble, but given the racial tensions, trouble was all around him whether he liked it or not. And he used his fame to become an outspoken backer of the civil rights movement.

RUSSELL: I contributed a great deal to the game, and the game contributed as much to my life as I did to it, and probably maybe a little more. I came here and I lived and I died. That's what happened. I had a good time

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Oh, forever a legend. Bill Russell was 88 years old. CNN's coverage of his life and legacy will continue throughout this day.

All right. Now we turn to the devastating flooding in Kentucky. Right now, the area is bracing for even more rain just days after deadly floods swept through the region, rescuers are still scouring the area for survivors.

New storms threatening to frustrate recovery efforts. The death toll rising again today. At least 26 people are now confirmed dead after floods washed away homes and roads last week.

And today, Kentucky's governor warned the full extent of this disaster could take weeks to comprehend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): With the level of water, we are going to be finding bodies for weeks, many of them swept hundreds of yards, maybe a quarter mile plus from where they were lost.

Water a big problem with some of these areas. Power and even when we get over the rain, it is going to be really hot in this next week. So we are still in an emergency phase

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Evan McMorris Santoro is live for us there in Eastern Kentucky and meteorologist Tom Sater is monitoring conditions from the CNN Weather Center. Good to see both of you gentlemen. So Evan, you first, what is the situation?

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Fred, just to give you a handle on how the sheer size of devastation out here. The rain fell first on Thursday night. And this is the first day it's been safe enough for the governor to come out and take a tour of this region out here. We've been around with him as he's been going around the various sites.

[14:04:53]

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: Here at the Knott County Sportsplex, a place that usually hosts, you know, basketball games and batting cages and arcade games and things like that, it is now a relief center full of water and food and other supplies that people will need as they lost everything in these giant floods.

You mentioned that the saddest number, the death toll has ticked up, but some other numbers in recent days have started to come down the governor said. He said that the numbers of without power has dropped from about 22,000 to about 12,000. Some people who have been without water have seen that water start to come back on.

But the real problem is as you have mentioned there is some more rain coming. We have seen some already today. There might be more coming later tonight. And then after that rain, even more for these people to deal with.

The governor mentioned it at a press conference earlier today in Hazard -- one of the hardest hit areas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BESHEAR: I hope the message to everyone suffering here is we love you. We are praying for you, but we are also working.

A couple of things that we are doing right now, that are of critical importance is we're getting Buckhorn open. That is the state park where we will be able to house a number of people. We recognize that the hotels and motels here are full. The shelters are full. The people are sleeping in their cars and trucks and we don't need that.

And with the upcoming heat that we're going to see Tuesday or Wednesday, we have got to get people stabilize the best we can in these next couple of days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: So really, Fred, a race against time here. They are trying to get things back together as best they can. They're going to be really messed up for a very, very long time, but together as best they can to try and prevent more damage from a heat wave expected to come in on Tuesday or around that day.

So it really is just an ongoing crisis here in eastern Kentucky, and the scale of which is almost unimaginable, Fred. WHITFIELD: Yes. It is an ongoing onslaught. And yesterday when we

talked you it was dry. Today it is damp again.

And Tom Sater, there's more on the way. Help us understand what this new front might bring.

TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, Fredricka, first of all, the governor is right in many ways. Some bodies may not be found for weeks because there is so much debris. When you have these streams and rivers rise rapidly, a one in 1,000-year event, you have so much force when those stream increase going to larger tributaries.

Think of all the debris. It's not just home debris and automobiles. Driftwood, trees and he's right. Some of these victims may not be found for a half mile, maybe a mile and there's so much that the Army Corps of Engineers has ahead of them. It's going to take years.

This is not what we do not want to see, a flood watch. And this is not just southeast Kentucky, and it extends off to the west, and I would not doubt that Tennessee gets involved in this a little later, parts of West Virginia, North Carolina, this mountainous area.

Last thing we want to see a level 3 out of 4 in the exact area. Breathitt County, Knott County, Floyd County, Perry County alone has over two dozen bridges washed out. So just think of the efforts that they have to go through for, you know, multi terrain vehicles, you know, trying to get through all of these hills. And again, more rainfall down to south McCreery County, Whitley Count. We're starting to see that training -- one thunderstorm after another.

So these watches are in effect, Fredricka, unfortunately it's going to continue.

And then the governor was right again, that heat picks up as we get into Tuesday and Wednesday there in the 90s. Some areas don't even have cell service. We're going to watch this area closely. The front just continues to meander around. And then big storm comes in through.

WHITFIELD: Oh my God. Misery, even more miserable upcoming.

All right. Thanks so much. Tom Sater, Evan McMorris-Santoro. We'll check back with both of you momentarily.

All right. Here now to talk more about all of this, a member of FEMA's National Urban Search and Rescue task force and chief of the Roseville, California fired department Rick Bartee. So good to see you Chief.

So more rain in the forecast, flash flooding warnings. How do you anticipate that might impact the ongoing search and rescue efforts?

RICK BARTEE, FEMA'S NATIONAL URBAN SEARCH AND RESCUE TASK FORCE: We're currently working with all of the teams and the local teams right now in those areas where that could be impacted again. But we are definitely prepared for the water that still may come and be prepared to do rescues now and as we continue with the recovery, to bring people, victims, back home, and the families be reunited.

So we are prepared for that. We have teams that are satisfied just to be able to respond, and just like 911 call would be. And if something goes and someone needs to taken care of, we'll be able to respond to that real quickly.

WHITFIELD: And since arriving, what has been your observation?

BARTEE: Our observation is that all the devastation that was talked about a few minutes ago, homes have been washed out -- all the debris has been washed down into the water, and the water has been raising and lowering which makes it a little bit harder for us to be able to get in the water or whether we're going to block the rivers to make those recoveries as we can find folk.

So it's been there's been pretty much like it has been described. With more rain coming, we expect the water to rise up even higher. So we'll have to back off a little bit, and get the boats into the water, and then do some recovery if there's any more of that comes this way.

[14:09:53]

WHITFIELD: Oh my goodness. So the forecast, as well as dozens of bridges and roads out. What are some of the other challenges that you are facing?

BARTEE: Some of the challenges you just mentioned, you know. Folks need to be aware that with the humidity and the heat that is coming, just walking around and doing the normal things that they would think they can do as far as going to start their recovery and looking at their homes and, of course, they also may become injured just by the heat alone in itself.

Folks just need to be careful about, you know, driving over bridges that still maybe washed out or driving through streams that are flooded at this time. It only takes a little bit of water to move a car and move it down downstream. So stay out of the flooded areas until the local authorities tell you it is safe to come in there.

WHITFIELD: And of course, cell phone service has been an obstacle for people who want to be located and for search and rescue teams. And so how -- what kind of adjustments are you having to make, because that continues to be a problem?

BARTEE: Most definitely. Folks are able to call the number here in Kentucky and talk about whether they family members have not been contacted or maybe missing and give us those areas for us to go look and to explore, see if we can find them for them.

So those lists are being made, and we're making those challenges that are -- taking care of those challenges by going there ourselves. And we have the ability to work off of the radios and satellites to be able to communicate with those searches down.

WHITFIELD: Chief Rick Bartee, thank you so much. All the best in your continued efforts. BARTEE: Thank you very much.

WHITFIELD: All right. Still ahead, a Georgia woman experiencing what her family called a mental health crisis dies after what investigators described as a fall out of a police car. Authorities just released the body camera footage, details on that next.

[14:11:39]

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WHITFIELD: Welcome back.

There are new questions about the death of a Georgia woman who investigators say was fatally injured after falling out of a police cruiser. Authorities have now released body camera footage of the incident.

CNN's Nadia Romero is following this story for us and joins mew with the latest. So walk us through what we know thus far.

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this video that was newly released was something that the family had been asking for, not only released to them but to the public as well.

So 28-year-old Brianna Grier was experiencing a mental health episode on July 15th, her family says. When her mother called 911 for assistance. The family had made similar calls before and they said normally an ambulance would come, but this time it was the Hancock County sheriff's deputies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARVIN GRIER, FATHER OF BRIANNA GRIER: Brianna was having an episode, and we called 911 for assistance to get our daughter some help, but if we knew what we know now, we would not have called them. She wouldn't be, and we wouldn't be dealing with what we are going on with her as long as she was been here.

It is a bad situation that our daughter left here in good shape, and then ended up with death.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMERO: It is heartbreaking, and the family's attorney civil rights lawyer, Benjamin Crump said that Hancock County sheriff's deputies came in to the home, handcuffed Brianna Grier, placed her in the back of the patrol car to take her into custody for allegedly resisting arrest.

Now, a newly released body cam video by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, you can hear Grier tell police repeatedly that she is not drunk and she would harm herself, she would hang herself if they put her in the police car. Sheriff's deputies then lifted up Grier and put her into the back of the patrol car. The body cam video fails to show if officers opened, closed or had any interaction with the rear passenger side door.

You are about to see video of Grier and sheriff's deputies. And we want to warn you this video is disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you got her on the other side?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMERO: You heard it there off camera, you hear one of the officers ask if the door on the other side is closed which the officer replies, yes. Now Sheriff's deputies left the scene and drove a short distance before Grier fell out of the moving car, according to the statement from the GBI.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. We have that call.

(INAUDIBLE) says you drove that vehicle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Passenger fell out of the vehicle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They take the cuffs off of her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMERO: And so the video ends with Grier on the ground while police wait for paramedics. GBI investigators concluded Wednesday that the rear passenger side of the patrol car near where she Grier was sitting was never closed according to a news release.

Brianna Grier's family and attorney Ben Crump allege the deputies did not secure Grier in a seatbelt when she was handcuffed in the back of the police car. And as a result when the car started moving she somehow fell out of the car, landed on her head, cracked her skull and then went into a coma for six days before dying because of her injuries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRIER: We need more answers. We need answers. We want to know the truth. We want to know how did she get out of the car for her to be not here no more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMERO: CNN has reached out to the Hancock County Sheriff's Department for comment, but they have yet to respond.

WHITFIELD: All right. Keep us posted.

Thanks so much, Nadia Romero.

All right. Coming up, outrage on Capitol Hill. Protesters demonstrate on the Capitol steps today over Senate Republicans blocking a bill that would help millions of veterans. A live report from the Hill straight ahead.

[14:19:49]

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kennedy?

CROWD: Coward.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Marshall.

CROWD: Coward.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: McConnell.

CROWD: Coward.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Portman.

CROWD: Coward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Protesters on the steps of the U.S. Capitol today calling out the names of Republicans who blocked a bill to help veterans impacted by toxic burn pits.

25 GOP senators who previously supported the legislation voted against it last week. This is how one of them defended his vote this morning on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION".

[14:24:46]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR PAT TOOMEY (R-PA): This is the oldest trick in Washington. People take a sympathetic group of Americans -- and it could be children with an illness, it could be victims of crime, it could be veterans who've been exposed to toxic chemicals -- craft a bill to address their problems and then sneak in something completely unrelated that they know could never pass on its own and dare Republicans to do anything about it because they know they'll unleash their allies in the media and maybe a pseudo celebrity to make up false accusations to try to get us to just swallow what shouldn't be there.

That's what's happening here, Jake. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is live for us on the Capitol now where protests are still under way, Sunlen.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fred. The protests are under way and this is a small but sustained group outside of the U.S. Capitol. These protesters are at the steps right in front of the Senate and they -- many of them have been here for many, many hours. In fact, many of them slept overnight on the steps outside here to protest the failure of the burn pit legislation, specifically many of them are targeting and calling out specifically the Republicans that once voted for this, and most recently last week voted against this legislation. And we are hearing powerful testimonies from veterans and veteran families.

In fact, earlier today, we heard from a widow of a man who died, a man who likely would have been helped by legislation like this. Here's what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIELLE ROBINSON, WIDOW OF SERGEANT FIRST CLASS HEATH ROBINSON: This has to be a bipartisan passage. This is a patriotic and American bill. It does not involve Republicans and Democrats and their separation of parties.

I need all of them to look at Arlington Cemetery as they're coming in to D.C. on Monday and remember why those men and women are laying in the ground in that cemetery.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: Now, certainly powerful words by that woman there, of course, commemorating her husband in his death by saying their story, and how this legislation could have potentially helped them.

Now this effort, of course, has received the help of comedian and advocate Jon Stewart who has been all over. He was up here on the Hill on Thursday when that vote failed. And he intends to come back later this week.

He has called the Republicans cowards. He has called the failure of that legislation last week a gut punch. He of course, has been a well documented advocate for veterans right, fighting for those who helped in the aftermath of 9/11 at ground zero. And this an effort that he wants to see through to the end. We know that he is supposed to be back up here on the Hill this week.

And this group intends to keep protesting. They want to keep a sustained presence out here on the steps of the capital until the legislation goes through. And we now know according to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer that he will likely to hold the next procedural step as soon as Wednesday evening in the Senate.

So Fred, this group intends to stay out here and keep their numbers up.

WHITFIELD: All right. Sunlen Serfaty, thanks so much.

Also on the Hill, Senator Joe Manchin once again sending shock waves through Washington this time striking a breakthrough deal that could revive President Biden's agenda.

What's really happening behind the scenes. We will talk to someone uniquely familiar with Senator Manchin's thinking next.

[14:28:10]

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[14:32:16]

WHITFIELD: Democratic Senator Joe Manchin is defending his support of a massive new climate and health care package. Manchin surprised Democrats and outraged Republicans this week after announcing he and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer agreed on a $739 billion plan to tackle the climate crisis, high drug prices and reducing the deficit. Well, today on CNN, Manchin touted the benefits of the bill and dismissed Republican claims that the bill will make inflation worse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): There is nothing inflammatory in this bill, even though there's some naysayers, I'm sure you will always hear that, but there is nothing in that. We're paying down debt, $300 billion, we're increasing production as far as if you want to get the gasoline down, produce more energy and produce it here in America. That's what we're doing, and we're investing in the technologies for the future industry.

So we're doing everything to bring manufacturing back, keep people working, and I think it's a great piece of legislation and on normal times, my Republican colleagues would be for something such at this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Democrats are hoping to pass the bill before the Senate leaves for its scheduled August recess at the end of this week.

All right, joining me right now to talk further, Christopher Regan. He is the former vice chair of the West Virginia Democratic Party, and someone who knows Senator Manchin pretty well from when Manchin served as the state's governor.

Christopher, we talk to you a lot of times about, you know, Manchin style so we thought of, you know, who's better than you to talk about, you know, is this typical Manchin on display here? So glad you could be with us.

So the senator shocked a lot of people in Washington when, you know, he seemingly out of the blue agreed on this bill, but now we know he and, you know, Schumer have been working on this quietly. Did it surprise you or is this his style?

CHRISTOPHER J. REGAN, FORMER VICE CHAIR, WEST VIRGINIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY: Well, my heart especially goes out to the Republicans who were surprised by something Joe Manchin did that seemed like a reversal because, you know, the Democrats have been facing quite a bit of that, and now they seem to have gotten a taste of what it's really like. But, no, I mean, I think this is very consistent with what Joe Manchin is like, and what we have talked about I think it must be six or seven months ago now.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

REGAN: That, you know, there always had to be a deal. There had to be a deal for a couple of reasons. One is that something has to pass for Joe to get what he wants. You know, nothing in his parts of the bill can't be in there if there is no bill, but also because he likes to deliver a big compromise to his voters. That's something that he has pegged his reputation on for years now. And his tour of the morning shows today really showed that where he says, oh, there's things in here for Republicans, there's things in here for Democrats, everybody should love this deal.

[14:35:01]

WHITFIELD: So you said this, you know, this is consistent with his reputation meaning seemingly he is going it alone, he seems like he is working on his own kind of plan. It may be inconsistent with the party's plan, but then come to find out, he is collaborative, he is willing to make compromise, and that is on display right now, you see?

REGAN: Well, I mean, he didn't make as many compromises certainly as I was hoping for. I mean, things like the child tax credit and dental coverage becoming part of Medicare, I mean, those are things that are just desperately needed and particularly in West Virginia, and he did not allow those to be a part of the bill which is disappointing, and when he says in the audio that you showed, when he says, inflammatory, what he means is inflationary.

And he just continues to insist that those things are inflationary. But there are huge Democratic priorities in the bill, from negotiating prescription drug prices in Medicare, the green bank, all of the climate spending, and some corporate minimum tax that I think people had written off, that they were never going to get. But the right people spoke to him. I know he heard from Larry Summers whom he respects, and he heard from Bill Gates whom he respects, and lot of people came to him, which is he likes people come to him, and said we need to get something done.

We need to get something done here before the midterms, and lo and behold, you know, he delivers that deal. That also captures things for him on the back end for fossil fuel companies like expanded permitting and drilling and things that he wanted to have happened.

WHITFIELD: So early this month, you know, when Manchin said he unequivocally would not support the climate or tax provisions of the Democratic economic package, you believe largely before he did consult with, have these conversation with Larry Summers and the like that you just mentioned, and that is what explains the turnaround on this thinking now?

REGAN: Well, certainly I never waver that there was always going to be a deal. There had to be some deal eventually. But what brought it up I think a month into this time, yes, was those conversations. I think Jeff Stein in the "Washington Port" reported on it in great detail, all the people who appealed to him and those appeals I think moved up his timetable. But there was never not going to be a bill. They just -- you know, with Joe Manchin there has to be a bill for him to sell at the end of the rainbow.

WHITFIELD: So as you know, the Democrats need 50 votes to pass this bill and it's still unclear if Arizona Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema is on board, but Manchin says he is hopeful that she will support it once she reads it. Take a listen to his remarks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANCHIN: First of all, Senator Sinema is my dear friend. I agree with her 100 percent we're not going to raise taxes and we don't. And on that I think that basically when looks at the bill and sees the whole spectrum of what we're doing and all of the energy we're bringing and all the reduction of prices and fighting inflation, by bringing prices down by having more energy hopefully she will be positive about it but, you know, she'll make her decision, and I respect that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: He prefaced it by saying, you know, she is a good friend, but do you believe that he will be, you know, be a part of any kind of arm-twisting? Will he be part of that campaign to kind of get her on board, convince her that -- convince her of what he was convinced of as to why he is now supporting it?

REGAN: Well, I think he will try. He will try very hard. I mean, I've spent a lot of time around West Virginia politics and Joe Manchin. I don't know Krysten Sinema. However, I mean, Schumer and Manchin both would be in a position of being humiliated if they don't have a good idea of where Krysten Sinema is at on what they've agreed to and announced to the world and paraded before us for the last several days.

I mean, they could not have been so foolish as to just simply surprise her with it and hope, you know, they'll talk her into it later. They must know where she is on most of it and in particular she has in the past. I do know been very supportive of the climate provision. So to lose all that over the corporate minimum tax, I mean, almost nothing is more popular than corporations should pay a minimum tax instead of no tax.

You know, when we read these stories that, you know, Amazon or some company like that made billions and paid no tax, I mean, it just outrages every American. So who is going to hitch their wagon to no, I would really like for them to continue to pay zero.

WHITFIELD: All right. Christopher Regan, always good to see you. Thanks so much.

REGAN: Thank you very much for having me. I love being here.

WHITFIELD: We love having you. Thanks.

All right, still ahead, President Biden is isolating with a rebound case of COVID after taking Paxlovid. We'll ask a doctor about what people need to know.

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[14:44:14]

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. President Biden is isolating at the White House for a second day after testing positive again for COVID. He appears to have a rebound case after being treated with the antiviral drug Paxlovid. The White House doctor says the president feels well and Biden says he continues to work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hey, folks. Joe Biden here. Tested positive this morning. Going to be working from home for the next couple of days. And I'm feeling fine. Everything's good. But Commander and I got a little work to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: I love how his pooches hanging out with them, too. All right, so by last Wednesday Biden had resumed public appearances after testing negative for the virus so let's talk more about what's at stake and what are we all in for potentially with this COVID wave.

With me now is Dr Jayne Morgan. She's a cardiologist and executive director of the Piedmont Healthcare COVID Task Force.

[14:45:07]

So good to see you. You know I say what we're all in for because I mean if the president gets Paxlovid and seems to be doing well and then he now goes into a negative test. Even though he doesn't seem to be exhibiting any symptoms, it has everyone wondering, OK, so who is the best candidate for Paxlovid or is this normal, this kind of outcome normal for any and all of us?

DR. JAYNE MORGAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PIEDMONT HEALTHCARE COVID TASK FORCE: And so that's such an excellent question. When we look at the Paxlovid trial, it was done between July and December of 2021 so this is really before Omicron came into predominance within the United States. 2,245 participants, all of them unvaccinated, and so here we have a drug that's approved under Emergency Use Authorization but we are in a different era. These variants are moving quickly.

So the drug is being applied during an Omicron surge and mostly in vaccinated people whereas the trials were done in unvaccinated people during a period of time when Omicron was not surging. And those trials ended in December of 2021. There is a 1 percent to 2 percent rebound rate in those trials but that may not be applicable to real-world experience where we are now.

WHITFIELD: So does that mean there might be some -- ultimately some adjustments in Paxlovid just like there are some adjustments being made for the COVID vaccine because of the new variants?

MORGAN: And it really could be that five days is not enough time to really suppress this virus for Paxlovid, certainly not in the midst of this BA-5 surge. It may be that that timeframe needs to be extended more to seven or eight days. Clinical trials tell us that. What we do understand is that the virus is not completely suppressed in a certain percentage of people and we see this resurgence.

Clearly it's probably anecdotally higher than the 1 percent to 2 percent that we saw in clinical trials in the midst of this BA-5 surge.

WHITFIELD: So this whole issue of rebounding, help people understand what does that mean exactly and are they still -- are they contagious?

MORGAN: Right.

WHITFIELD: You know, can they pass it on if they have this kind of recurrence in a negative test like the president is experiencing?

MORGAN: And so absolutely I want to emphasize that people are very contagious during a rebound. That means the virus really has resurged and people have to begin their isolation over again back to five days of quarantine, trying to test afterwards to make certain you have a negative test, so I really can't over emphasize enough that if you rebound, in other words if you had a negative test after taking Paxlovid and now either has a recurrence of your symptoms or a positive Paxlovid test, you must re-isolate. You are contagious again.

WHITFIELD: Would it still be your recommendation that people consider Paxlovid still as a viable option of treatment if you test positive, if you are -- yes, if you test positive and you have symptoms?

MORGAN: You know, I think when we look at the trials that have recently been applied just in the last couple of days to the FDA, this epic HR high-risk SR standard risk, certainly it looks as if there was at least an 84 percent relative risk reduction in hospitalizations and deaths even in lieu of this Omicron surge with this BA-5. What we don't know exactly is what that rebound will be but certainly we see people being kept out of the hospital and certainly we see a mitigation of those symptoms.

And so while we continue to battle these variants as they emerge, Paxlovid still is a very significant part of our armamentarium.

WHITFIELD: OK. Now want to turn now to the monkeypox outbreak and New York City is now the second major city to declare a health emergency over the outbreak. Do you think that there are going to be other cities that follow suit like New York is experiencing and San Francisco? MORGAN: Monkeypox is a great example that we still don't yet

understand the scope, the depth and the breadth of disinfection, how widespread it is. We certainly see it predominately taking hold in the community of men having sex with men and also bisexual men, but surely it will creep into the rest of society. This is where the monkeypox virus has found its foothold mostly because of sexual practices.

But it does not mean that it is only did confined and defined by this community so we really have to get a hold of it. We certainly do not want twin pandemics where we are battling monkeypox virus we're still battling the COVID pandemics.

[14:50:00]

Hopefully lessons learned from COVID can be applied practically to this monkeypox virus. We must do contact surveillance, sometimes difficult on anonymous partners, and make certain that everybody who has access can be vaccinated and not just those people at risk and I think that's what we're seeing in New York as these cases continue to climb.

WHITFIELD: You're a physician here in Atlanta. Is Atlanta ready or are all the tools available to respond to monkeypox here?

MORGAN: And really no place in the world is really ready. We are not ready for these viruses that are coming aboard. We are quickly scrambling. We see laboratories now becoming available where early on we really didn't even have the ability to test for monkeypox reliably. We have certainly gotten that in place. We now have vaccines being ramped up. Previously our stores really were for military and for health care workers who are working laboratories and directly working with the monkeypox virus.

So we are seeing that ramp up is real. Smallpox vaccine can be 80 percent to 85 percent effective in people with monkeypox because they're both a part of this Orthopoxvirus family. And so all of these tools should be at our disposal. The good news is that even though demand is outstripping supply, that's excellent news because people are seeking it and looking for it. And we had such a struggle during our COVID pandemic of having people step up to receive this vaccine such a big campaign. Now we see people asking for it, requesting it and we need to be able to meet that demand but no, we are not there yet.

WHITFIELD: All right. Dr Jayne Morgan, good to see you.

MORGAN: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much.

MORGAN: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up, in Ukraine the key southern city of Mykolaiv hit with heavy shelling overnight. The city's mayor says it is the strongest one since the war started. We'll have a live report from Ukraine next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:51:44]

WHITFIELD: The southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv was hit with massive shelling earlier today. The mayor telling CNN it was the heaviest strike he has seen since the war began.

CNN's Nic Robertson is in Mykolaiv. So, Nic, what are residents there saying about this? What are they doing?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: They're worried. The residents we talked to told us that they had a pretty sleepless night between about 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. in the morning. There were cluster bombs going off. There were heavy missiles detonating in the city. The windows of this building rattled around 5:00 a.m. with some of the destinations and indeed look at us right now.

We're indoors. We weren't indoors last night. There was a very, very strict blackout being enforced here tonight, not quite the same last night. I spoke to the mayor a little earlier. He -- when I asked him, is there going to be more of this, he said yes, it can come at any moment.

I told him as well about the notion that people here talk about, that there are sort of pro-Russian sympathizers here in the city that are then telling Russian authorities when they think they were Ukrainian troops and trying to sort of highlight those as targets but the only people that died in the bombing last night was a Ukrainian business tycoon, hugely popular in this city, well known across the country, own shipbuilding companies, huge net worth.

And he was hiding in the basement with his wife in his mansion when the some of the missiles came in. And the craters around his mansion were huge. I stood in one of them. It was way above me and several yards across. So the impacts there last night we're big. The concerns are there could be more tonight. The reason that the man says he thinks that there's this ramping up with strikes on the city is because he says the Russians are not taking territory on the ground so they're shelling the city. And of course people here are very, very worried -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Incredible and so sad. All right, Nic Robertson, thanks so much.

All right, still ahead, one of the greatest NBA champions of all time Bill Russell has passed away. A look at his incredible career, life and legacy straight ahead.

But first this quick programming note, join CNN as we explore the extremes of Patagonia's far south where the land is a wind blasted tundra but the sea is teeming with life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Flying against the wind, the drone's battery is running out of juice. If the whale doesn't surface soon they'll have to give up. One last chance. Got it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Incredible. "PATAGONIA LIFE ON THE EDGE OF THE WORLD" tonight at 9:00 p.m. right here on CNN.