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Airlines Tweak Plans to Offer Meals, Hotels for Canceled Flights; Southwest Pilot Threatens to End Flight After Someone Airdrops Nude Pics; Serena Willliams Advances to 3rd Round at U.S. Open; Soon, CDC Advisers Expected to OK Updated COVID Boosters; Pandemic Leads to Big Declines in Kids' Math, Reading Scores; IAEA Inspectors Make High-Stakes Visit to Ukrainian Nuclear Plant. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired September 01, 2022 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:34:28]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Typo in your tweet? You'll soon be able to fix that. Twitter says it's finally testing an edit button. A feature that's been long awaited but also controversial.

The company made an announcement where else but in a tweet. Writing "This is happening and you'll be OK."

Twitter says edited tweets will be clearly marked and changes can only be made for about 30 minutes after a tweet is first posted. So they're testing this out right now.

And cha-cha-cha-changes. Amid a summer plagued by delayed and canceled flights and under pressure from the Biden administration, U.S. airlines are tweaking their policies outlining when customers are eligible for free meals and hotels.

[13:35:09]

United, for example, will offer a meal voucher if a flight is delayed for more than three hours. Previously, it was four. They'll also comp customers up to $200 for a hotel room if a cancellation that's within the airline's control leads to an overnight stay.

American, Southwest, JetBlue, all have similar policies.

Delta says its policy already aligned with what the Biden administration was asking for but that it has also updated its language to make it more clear.

Meanwhile, like a frustrated dad dealing with a car full of rowdy kids, a Southwest pilot had to deal with a mischievous passenger. That mystery person -- get this -- started airdropping nude photos to shocked fellow travelers.

Here's the pilot issuing his warning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED SOUTHWEST PILOT: If this continues while we're on the ground, I'm going to have to pull back to the gate. Everybody's going to have to get off. We're going to have to get security involved. And this vacation is going to be ruined.

So you folks, whatever that airdrop thing is, quit sending naked pictures. Let's get yourselves to Cabo.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

CABRERA: It was such like an easy, serious tone.

CNN's Erica Hill has more.

ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ana, clearly, a little bit of a "don't make me turn this plane around" moment from the pilot.

Let me take you back through what happened. This was last Wednesday. A flight, a Southwest flight going from Houston to Cabo San Lucas.

Now, the woman who shot that video the passenger tells us she boarded the plane with a couple of her girlfriends ready to go for their trip to Mexico. And all of a sudden, she got an airdrop request. Well, she declined that request.

But turns out other people didn't. In fact, two women in front of her accepted that airdropped file and it turned out to be a naked picture of a man who had sent it to the entire plane, is what the passenger told us, or at least tried to airdrop it to anybody who would accept it.

Another passenger on the plane was pretty upset by it, and perhaps understandably, alerted a flight attendant who then told the pilot what had happened. And that's where we get the announcement.

Now, the plane was able to take off. The pilot did not have to turn the plane around. And the rest of the flight went smoothly. The passenger telling us she thinks the pilot handled it really well.

In response to all of this, Southwest telling CNN the, quote, "safety, security and well-being of customers and employees is the Southwest team's highest priority at all times. We were made aware of a potential problem. Our employees address issues to support the comfort of those traveling with us."

One would think that comfort would include not being sent naked pictures on your flight.

Another pro tip here, if you have an iPhone, if you know all about airdrop, you probably know that you can set it to be available to everybody, which means any random guy on your plane who wants to show you a picture can airdrop it.

Or contacts only. You may want to change that to contacts only.

There you go, Ana. Never know what you'll find on a plane these days.

CABRERA: Oh, I'm just going to leave that one there.

OK. Thank you, Erica.

She played like it was 1999 again. And now the GOAT, the queen, Serena Williams, is still in the running to win this year's U.S. Open.

And CNN's Carolyn Manno was there as the almost 41-year-old phenom defeated the number-two player in the world.

How electrifying, Carolyn? Just another remarkable moment in Serena's remarkable career.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: It was. It was electric at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Ana.

And you do have to give Anett Kontaveit a little bit of credit. It was a very difficult situation there. I feel like every single card that could have been stacked against her was stacked against her.

It was a new record for attendance. I imagine it was a new record for home viewership. Close to two million people watched the match on Monday night.

It was incredible. When we got here this afternoon, I mean, to understand the fever that is just around this entire tournament with both Serena and Venus set to play later on tonight in primetime, in doubles on Arthur Ashe.

There was a line that extended I want to say maybe half a mile just to get in around noon this afternoon. It's been that crazy. It's the toughest ticket in town.

She was a 50-1 underdog to wing the singles tournament coming into this. The GOAT, as you put it, the queen, the greatest player of all time.

But you don't become the greatest player of all time unless you're incredibly competitive.

Take a listen to what she said after the match.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERENA WILLIAMS, PRO TENNIS PLAYER: Well, I'm a pretty good player.

(LAUGHTER)

(CHEERING)

WILLIAMS: You know, this is what I do best. I love a challenge. And I'm rising to the challenge. Yes, I haven't played many matches but I've been practicing really

well. And my last few matches is it just wasn't coming together. I'm like, but this isn't me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: So maybe a subtle little jab there at the critics. She has silenced the critics. And she's really spoken to the dreamers throughout the duration of this so far.

[13:40:03]

So gritty, so resilient. It was very inspiring to watch her play.

And she's just playing with this freedom, Ana, that has come with letting go of that pressure and the expectation to win that's been on her for nearly three decades. It's just been remarkable to see.

CABRERA: Who doesn't love a good storybook ending? We'll see what happens in that third-round match tomorrow.

Thank you, Carolyn Manno.

And soon, a team of CDC advisers is expected to give the green light for new COVID boosters. These are updated boosters. So how will this batch be different? And should you consider getting the new shot? We'll discuss with the former head of the CDC, Dr. Richard Besser, who will join us next.

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[13:45:30]

CABRERA: Updated COVID-19 booster shots could start going into the arms of Americans this week, as in tomorrow.

CDC vaccine advisers are meeting right now, and they are expected to vote today on these new boosters that target the original coronavirus strain as well as the Omicron subvariants.

The final sign-off still has to come from CDC director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky.

Joining us now is former acting CDC director, Dr. Richard Besser.

Thanks for being here. It's nice to see you again, Dr. Besser.

These updated vaccines were authorized based on animal data tested in mice rather than full trials with people. Any concerns there? What do you say to someone who might be worried about their safety?

DR. RICHARD BESSER, FORMER ACTING CDC DIRECTOR: Yes, thanks for having me, Ana.

When you think about vaccine safety, it's important that you have a deep belief and understanding that no corners were cut. And here, when we're looking at these new boosters that are coming

from both Moderna and Pfizer, the FDA took a different approach than they took with previous vaccine approvals.

And what they said was these companies are making a very small change in these vaccines. They're changing slightly the strain of COVID that's being covered but the rest of the vaccine is all the same.

And because it's so important to have these vaccines available quickly when we are expecting to see an increase in transmission as people come together, we are going to move forward with these vaccines without first doing human trials.

That's not something that is new. That's what's done each year for influenza. But it is something that is being done for the first time for COVID.

So I'll be interested to see what the CDC advisory committee has to say. And I do think it will impact to some extent some people's willingness and desire to get vaccinated.

I'm an infectious disease expert and a pediatrician, and I'm comfortable with this. But I think, for a lot of people, they want to make sure that there are no issues with these new formulations.

CABRERA: Right. As it stands, only 30 percent of eligible Americans have gotten any booster.

Who can and who should get this one, assuming it is approved or authorized?

BESSER: You know, as a nation, I think there are so many of us who want COVID to be something in their rearview mirror, want this to be over.

And a lot of people just don't even want to think about it. They don't want to think about boosters. They don't want to think about doing things to protect their health. They just want to get on to doing the things they loved to do before COVID.

But the pandemic continues. And more than 400 people are dying every day. People are experiencing long COVID symptoms.

And people's risk varies. Not everyone has the same risk. There are individuals, elderly individuals, individuals with disabilities that put them at risk of having severe COVID.

For those groups in particular, I think it's really important to not ignore the fact that we're still in this pandemic.

Talk to your health care providers. Get your questions answered. Because that group of individuals is the group that needs to be targeted the most.

And it's really important that the government have resources to meet people in every community. What we've seen with boosters so far, new study out from CDC, is that

black Americans, Latino Americans have received boosters at lower rates than white Americans. We saw that with initial vaccination.

But efforts by the government, reaching out to people in the communities with trusted voices, reaching people where they are, making sure that the fact that so many people don't have time off work to see their doctor, so many people don't have sick leave.

Making sure that vaccines were where people were got those vaccination rates up. And you want to see that happening with boosters as well.

CABRERA: And of course, it's back-to-school time. You're a pediatrician. As you mentioned, COVID hasn't only impacted kids' health. In fact, the CDC today said four out of five kids is their estimate have already had COVID.

[13:49:56]

But we also know it's impacted education. Math and reading scores for 9-year-olds in the U.S. fell dramatically between 2020 and 2022, one of the largest declines on record according to the National Assessment of Educational Process.

Can that learning setback be made up? And what's your advice to parents on this?

BESSER: Well, I think it can be made up. It's going to take resources. It's going to take tutoring. And it's going to take a commitment to not let any child be left behind.

But what it says to me as well is that what we think about COVID, when you think about the times we're in, we can't just look at what's going on from a lens of, well, how many cases of COVID are there? How many cases can we prevent?

Because the -- there are costs in children staying at home. There are costs in terms of education, as you were lifting up those scores.

But there's also costs in terms of socialization, in terms of development. You want kids to be able to be together and play and to be children and experience what children need to experience.

You also want to make sure you're doing that in a way that makes sure that children who have disabilities, children who are at increased risk, are also protected.

Holding those two things as true at the same time is very challenging. But we have to be able to do that so that no child is left behind. And we're not just focused on number of COVID cases, but also on the full development of a child.

CABRERA: Thank you so much, Dr. Richard Besser, for being with us and bringing us your expertise and that perspective. Thank you. The threat is real, and it's not over. What a team of international

inspectors is saying about today's visit to the nuclear power plant in a Ukrainian war zone.

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[13:55:08]

CABRERA: A short time ago, the head of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency said his inspectors were able to see the critical things they needed to see at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant in Ukraine. But ongoing shelling forced yet another reactor to be shut down today.

CNN's Melissa Bell is in Kyiv.

Melissa, what more have we learned about this inspection?

MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, just getting there was difficult enough. As you say, this renewed shelling this morning. The most ferocious that town in which the Zaporizhzhia power plant has seen, according to its mayor, since the occupation began last march.

It was through that shelling that Rafael Grossi and his team made their way to the plant to inspect the damage.

As you say, that fifth reactor, number five, one of the two last functioning ones, now not working.

And yet, Rafael Grossi spent a few hours there and he saw three or four key areas, had this to say when he got back to Ukrainian-held land.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAFAEL GROSSI, DIRECTOR GENERAL, IAEA: It is obvious that the plant and the physical integrity of the plant has been violated several times by chance, by deliberation. We don't have the elements to assess that.

But this is a reality that we have to recognize. And this is something that cannot continue to happen.

Whatever you stay, wherever your stand, whatever you think about this war, this is something that cannot happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BELL: And that, Ana, is why Rafael Grossi is leaving five members of his team behind through the weekend to try and carry out that more detailed inspection, And beyond that, hoping to get a permanent IAEA mission there.

He said he spoke to so many of the workers there who found it so hard to function these last few months. Mmany saying they're scared to do their job. He say he looked them in the eye and told them, the IAEA is here to

stay, and that he intends to make good on that word -- Ana?

CABRERA: I know you said you spoke to somebody who said they feel like they're being held hostage, those workers at this plant.

Melissa Bell, thank you for your reporting.

That's going to do it for us today. Thank you so much for joining us. Let's end the week together tomorrow, same time, same place. Until then, you can join me on Twitter, @AnaCabrera.

The news continues right after this with Alisyn and Victor.

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