Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

CDC Concludes NY Polio Case Likely from Community Spread; Jill Biden Tests Positive for COVID-19; Drought Forcing Massive Cuts in Water Consumption for Southwest; 10-Year-Old Boy Loses Part of Leg in Shark Attack. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired August 16, 2022 - 13:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:30:48]

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN HOST: Welcome back. This just in, the CDC has released new details about the first U.S. case of polio in nearly a decade.

This is what we've learned. The patient is an unvaccinated young adult who lives in Rockland County, New York. They went to the E.R. after experiencing a low-grade fever, neck stiffness, abdominal pain and leg weakness.

And yet the polio virus was detected in local wastewater at least 25 days, almost a full month before the patient's symptoms began, meaning that this case was likely caused by community spread.

To discuss all this, let's bring in CNN medical analyst, Dr. Leana Wen.

Dr. Wen, thank you so much for being with us today.

What stands out to you in these new details from the CDC?

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: I think there's a lot that we already knew, including that the fact that this individual is unvaccinated.

We know the polio vaccines that we have are extremely effective and they probably confer lifelong immunity. So they're at least 99 percent effective. So individuals who are vaccinated already should not be worried.

I think it's notable that, because this is a case of paralytic polio, and that is a severe manifestation of polio, that suggests that there are probably a lot of other people who have mild illness, that were just -- that was just not picked up on.

And in Rockland County, where this case was found, the vaccination rate is low, at 60 percent. There are some areas in Rockland County where the vaccination rate is below 40 percent. And I think this is a call to action to everyone who is unvaccinated

or who has not yet finished their vaccination series for polio to do so as soon as possible.

MARQUARDT: As you said, it is a very effective time-tested vaccine.

I want to ask you about the other major health concern in this country. The Department of Health and Human Services now making more than 400,000 doses of the monkeypox vaccine available.

There have been a total of 11,890 confirmed monkeypox cases here in the United States since the outbreak began. That was back in May.

Do you believe that this is enough to stop the spread, to stop this from becoming an endemic disease in this country, or does more need to be done?

WEN: A lot more needs to be done. The CDC is estimating that we have more than a million and a half people who are at high risk for contracting monkeypox.

We have to get a lot more vaccines out there and bring vaccines to the highest risk groups. Not just have them come to us and make appointments but also to bring the vaccines directly to those individuals.

And we have to get out the word to clinicians and patients to be on the lookout for less typical symptoMs. Not everyone with monkeypox first gets a fever. We now know this.

We also know that the rash that is seen could only be one rash, one blister, or it could be a sore in the mouth or genital area. So people need to be on the lookout for that and get tested as soon as possible.

And while waiting, people should try to reduce their risky behaviors, including having multiple or anonymous sex partners.

MARQUARDT: There's some discussion, some debate about whether to call this a sexually transmitted disease, and STD. What are your thoughts on that?

WEN: Well, right now, we know that 94, 95 percent of the cases of monkeypox in the U.S. and worldwide are associated with sexual activity.

But it's not only a sexually transmitted disease. And so I don't think we should call it an STD because that implies that you can only get it through sexual activity when it's transmitted also through direct prolonged intimate contact with individuals.

So I think we need to be accurate with the description, say that the vast majority of cases are associated with sexual activity, but also be clear that there are other ways of transmission.

Just as we need to be clear that the vast majority of cases right now, 99 percent of the U.S., are in gay, bisexual men who have sex with men, but that doesn't mean that it's only limited to that community.

Monkeypox, like other diseases, don't discriminate. We could all potentially contract it. And that's why we have to be part of the answer in preventing it, too.

MARQUARDT: Dr. Wen, we only have a few seconds left, but I can't let you go without asking you about another major medical headline. The first lady, Jill Biden, has tested positive for COVID. We know she's double vaccinated, double boosted.

[13:35:02]

How concerned are you about her health?

WEN: Chances are that she's going to do very well, just as with the vast majority of Americans who are vaccinated and boosted.

And this should remind us that COVID is all around us. So have a plan for what happens if you have COVID. Know which treatments you are eligible for and make sure you're optimally protected through vaccines and boosters.

MARQUARDT: Dr. Leana Wen, thank you so much for being with us today. Appreciate your time.

Heads-up, if your kids drink Capri Sun, the company says that a cleaning solution for food processing equipment got into some of their product. Thousands of cases of the wild cherry flavor are being recalled.

Check the best by date to see if the juice you bought is part of that recall. If the date is June 25th, 2023, best to toss it out or give it back to the store for a refund.

Seven states are being forced to cut back on water usage as a devastating drought grips the western part of this country. If they don't, the federal government will do it for them. The impacts of this will be huge and could affect so much of this country.

Bill Weir is up next from what's left of Lake Mead. One of the nation's largest reservoirs. That's coming up. Stay with us.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Alex. Look at this. This marina used to be a quarter mile up that way. But now this bank of American life is dwindling to dangerous levels.

A new report just out, some states will have to cut back more than others. We'll have details for you right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:41:26]

MARQUARDT: States in the American southwest are facing new and huge cuts in how much water they can use. An announcement made just a short time ago details how the extraordinary drought in the west is choking the Colorado River and drying up Lake Mead and Lake Powell.

The federal government is going to be implementing steep new cuts from the river. That starts in January.

Some 40 million people rely on it for their drinking water. And it also supplies water to $15 billion worth of agriculture, which supplies 90 percent of this country's winter vegetables.

CNN chief climate correspondent, Bill Weir, is at Lake Mead.

Bill, Lake Mead has become so synonymous with this water crisis, how bad is it getting?

WEIR: It's really bad. You can see it in the bathtub ring. You can see it in the marina that used to be a quarter mile that way until that lake receded.

It was 95 percent full about 20 years ago. Now it's down to a quarter, 26, 27 percent. It's low enough that they're going to again restrict water flows to the lower basin states in another unprecedented year.

They say it's low enough to trigger level Tier 2-A restrictions. That means it will be Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico that will have to cut back the most in this coming year.

Because it didn't get into a Tier 2-B in which California would have faced their first mandatory cuts.

This is a real point of contention ever since the Colorado River compact was written almost exactly 100 years ago. It was written after one of the wettest years ever.

So all of this water was overallocated for the lower basin states, down in Arizona, California. And as a result, there's been this tension with Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, the upper basin states, where all that snowpack has been diminishing.

That was the water table for the western United States and now it's gone. We're in the 23rd year of this worst drought in 1,200 years now.

And so now, what the government, federal government and those water managers are saying, it is everybody, incumbent on everybody, the tribes, the farmers, the city dwellers, to conserve in ways they never have before.

In Nevada, they've been paying homeowners for a long time to rip up their lawns. Any sort of ornamental grass is gone.

That has to make its way to southern California culturally as well. The governor of California last week was in front of a desalination plant. He's talking about doubling down on desalination, trying to harvest storm water that's coming down in the rivers.

If you could catch that water, store it somewhere, underground, that could help through the drought as well. There's a ton of ideas. Even some wild ones. People say you should

pipe water from the Mississippi or drag glaciers down from Alaska and melt them and use the water. They've been having these kinds of conversations for a hundred years out here.

But ultimately, this is a slow-motion manmade disaster in real time. You're seeing it right now. And the predictions for the coming years just get worse and worse with no relief in sight.

MARQUARDT: Manmade, with such dire consequences. And we can't forget the knock-on effects. As you noted, people as far away as Mexico are going to be affected by this.

Bill Weir, thank you so much for all your incredible reporting.

Now to Miami where a 10-year-old boy has lost part of his leg after a shark attack.

Jameson Reeder's family said he was snorkeling along a reef in the Florida Keys when what they believe was a bull shark bit the young boy, biting his leg just below the knee.

What happened next can only be described as sheer luck, even a miracle.

Let's go to CNN's Leyla Santiago in Miami.

[13:45:00]

Leyla, it's -- this is incredible that young Jameson even survived this.

LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's an incredible sequence of events to how we got to where we are today. He's here at this hospital. We're told he's in good spirits.

But let's back up to Saturday afternoon where we're told by his family that they were on vacation. He was snorkeling just off the key and that is when the shark bite took place.

The family used a pool noodle to pull him back in. We're told by his uncle that, at some point, he said, "It's OK, Jesus will save me."

They were able to pull him back onto the boat, apply a tourniquet.

And then -- and this is quite incredible -- they flagged down another boat. On that boat was a nurse. That nurse was able to treat 10-year- old Jameson until they got back to shore.

He was airlifted here. And this is where the family says doctors had to amputate his leg. So an incredible sequence of events here.

But a little bit of context, I was able to speak to two shark experts to ask them about this. They told us that, yes, this is reason to be vigilant. This is reason to be careful but not terrified because this still remains quite rare. MARQUARDT: Yes, we don't want to scare people, of course. We should

note this is the third attack in the Florida Keys in just under two months.

So tell us more about how rare is it?

SANTIAGO: Sure. One of the scientists we spoke to is out of the University of Florida where they have the International Shark Attack File.

Yes, he did say, on a local level, you may see those headlines that may make it feel as if there's somewhat of an increase.

But they're actually, on a global level, when they look at all of the bites that they keep track on, they said it's not much of an increase. There's not an increase at all when it comes to shark bites off the coast.

MARQUARDT: Very important to keep in mind.

Leyla Santiago, in Miami, thank you so much.

We're also learning more about a deadly alligator attack this time at a retirement community in South Carolina. Hilton Head officials are saying that 88-year-old Nancy Becker was gardening near a pond when she slipped and fell in.

When officers arrived at the scene, they found an alligator appearing to guard her body.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. ANGELA VIENS, BEAUFORT COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: When we responded, that's what we observed as well, is that the alligator was basically holding her hostage, I guess -- I don't know what the appropriate term would be -- but was guarding her and did not want people close by.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Holding her hostage. We're told that the alligator has sent been euthanized.

Ukraine says that the town next to Europe's largest nuclear power plant is under attack. We'll have the latest from Ukraine. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:52:18]

MARQUARDT: U.S. Air Force says it tested a nuclear-capable long-range missile earlier today. It's called a Minuteman 3. And it was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. It landed more than 4,000 miles away near the Marshall Islands.

The tests had been postponed over China's angry response to Speaker Nancy Pelosi's recent visit to Taiwan. The Air Force says the test was to demonstrate the readiness of nuclear forces but added that the tests are routine.

Let's turn to Ukraine where authorities say the area near the Russian- occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has again come under rocket fire from Russian forces. This time, it's the town across the river from that plant that is being targeted.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy today warned of the grave consequences of not acting.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): If now the world lacks the strength and determination to protect one nuclear power plant, it means that the world will lose to terrorists, yield to nuclear blackmail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: CNN's David McKenzie is live in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

David, concern has been growing for quite some time over the safety of this plant, which the Russians have occupied for the past few months. The International Atomic Energy Agency, they've been trying to send a team in.

Where do things stand?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So far, Alex, that team hasn't managed to get in. As you've said, there's been firing across the River Dnipro today. And the dangers of a possible fallout or leak of some kind remains.

The Russians have occupied that site since March. The U.N. Has said it will be able to help those inspectors get in. But so far, no negotiated settlement from the Russians or Ukrainians to make that happen -- Alex?

MARQUARDT: And, David, what about the accusations by both sides, each side, I should say, that they are -- that it's the Russians that are attacking it or the Ukrainians that are attacking it?

It seems very clear that these are Russians carrying out these strikes.

MCKENZIE: Well, at this stage, it actually is pretty murky. Both sides accusing the other, Alex, of striking near that site and around that site.

But the fact remains, it is still very dangerous, and a very dicey situation for the region and the world.

Also today, you had these dramatic pictures coming from northern Russian-occupied Crimea. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(EXPLOSIONS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKENZIE: These are bystanders who saw these series of explosions.

The Ukrainians aren't commenting on it directly, though one official said it shows demilitarization in action. It comes just a week after similar kinds of explosions in another part of Russian-occupied Crimea.

[13:55:08]

So Alex, that really indicates potentially that the Ukrainian military is able to strike deep into territory controlled by the Russians.

What impact it has on the war? We don't know at this point. But an important psychological blow, I think, for Russians in that area and the Russian military -- Alex?

MARQUARDT: It really does. It is worth emphasizing that that is far behind enemy lines.

David McKenzie, in Kyiv, thank you very much.

And that does it for me. I'll see you back here tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time.

The news continues right after this.

Have a great day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)