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Millions of Travelers Heading Home from Holiday Weekend; Experimental Treatment Targets Long COVID "Brain Fog"; Biden Marks Labor Day with Speech in Milwaukee. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired September 05, 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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[13:30:59]
ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: If you're traveling today, you have company, a lot of it.
CNN aviation correspondent, Pete Muntean, joins us from Reagan National Airport.
Pete, how are things going so far?
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: So far, so good, Ana. I just checked FlightAware, 1,300 delays nationwide, but only 65 cancellations.
And that is good for passengers, especially when you consider the totality of all of the cancelations or the summer and airlines struggling with these staffing issues.
And 45,000 flight cancellations nationwide since the first of June. Also really only one FAA-imposed delay to speak of right now in Boston because of low cloud ceilings and bad weather there.
You know, passengers and airlines really need a win right now. They've been facing this pressure from passengers but also not only from the federal government and also their workers.
In fact, members of the Airline Pilots Association protested at airports across the country just this past week to insist that airline staffing issues are really the creation of the airlines themselves.
So far, this weekend, it's not been all that bad. Yesterday, cancellations peaked at 210 nationwide. Consider that's only about a quarter of what we saw on the worst day of last week when 800 flights were canceled on Tuesday, mostly because of bad weather.
And the numbers show that passengers are pretty undaunted by all the cancellations news. And 2.3 million people screened across airports on Thursday.
What's so significant about that number, Ana, that's 200,000 people higher than the same day back in 2019 before the pandemic. So a lot of people rushing out for this last push of travel they can get in this summer.
So many people just want to try to get out. The whole notion of revenge travel. This is the last chance they can get away. Airlines are trying, too.
CABRERA: We all want an escape. It's back to school tomorrow. This has gone too fast.
Pete Muntean, thank you.
MUNTEAN: You're welcome.
CABRERA: The first doses of the latest COVID vaccine boosters are now going into arms. And the new shots target the two Omicron COVID strains that are overwhelmingly dominant here in the U.S.
And it comes as researchers look for what new ways there could be to treat long COVID symptoms that are believed to be affecting millions, millions of COVID patients.
CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, reports on an experimental treatment for the brain fog that often comes with long COVID.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA VANMETER NIVENS, LONG COVID PATIENT: I went home on oxygen for 500 days. I had physical therapy, had a nurse that came every day.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Was there a point when you said, OK, these symptoms are not going away?
VANMETER NIVENS: Yes. Four weeks after I left the hospital, I couldn't understand why I still felt so bad, why everything hurt. I was on a walker. I was crying.
My PCP had in my hand and she said, Barbara, you have long COVID.
GUPTA (voice-over): That was September 2020. Barbara VanMeter Nivens' life was turned upside down. Fourteen years as a retail manager leading and coaching a staff of more than 20 was no more, now exchanged for a life of alarms, reminders, and pills.
VANMETER NIVENS: Have this list, alarms set for things that I need to do daily.
GUPTA: In the years to come, there will be textbooks written about long COVID. But what is increasingly clear now is that, for too many people, the symptoms come and then they stay, persisting for weeks, months. And for Barbara, even years.
VANMETER NIVENS: I feel like there's a virus in my brain. And it's changing things in my brain. Because I can't think, I can't remember.
[13:35:00] DR. JAMES JACKSON, PSYCHOLOGIST, ICU RECOVERY CENTER, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY: One of the first things that I noticed was that people were complaining of really striking cognitive problems.
GUPTA: Often called brain fog. However, that is elusive, hard to define.
But as psychologist, James Jackson, started to see more of these patients, he also saw something more specific, something so-called brain fog patients seem to share in common. They had lost the ability to attend, to simply pay attention.
JACKSON: With other chronic illnesses, the cognitive deficits we see seem to focus on attentional problems, problems with processing speed, often memory complaints.
But when you dig down, you find that really, the problem is attention, you know that they're not attending. And functionally, they experienced that as a deficit in memory.
GUPTA: With that in mind, he decided to try a treatment for long COVID that might surprise you, a video game.
(on camera): Just like practicing sports or music, a tough challenge will help you improve.
I think I'm doing pretty good.
JACKSON: As you do better, it gets harder. Then as you do worse, it gets easier. It's very dynamic.
GUPTA (voice-over): There is even a dose that they prescribe in the trial, 25 minutes a day, five days a week, eight weeks.
JACKSON: Is it going to translate into, are you being able to do your taxes? Are you going to be able to be organized? Are you going to be able to be driving?
And when you stop the game? Do all those benefits stop? And that's a good question.
I think the literature and the science that has emerged is you don't need to be playing the game for the rest of your life to accrue the benefit. But that is certainly something that critics have raised.
GUPTA: The question is, can it help heal the changes sometimes seen in the brains of long COVID patients, like this? Loss of gray matter in the frontal cortex, tissue damage over here, and an overall shrinking of the brain.
None of this is easy. And to be sure, a video game won't be a panacea for Barbara. But at this point, anything seems to help.
(on camera): How did it help you?
VANMETER NIVENS: Attention to detail, paying attention, focusing, sub- memory.
GUPTA: How are you thinking about the future? Are you optimistic?
VANMETER NIVENS: I take it day by day right now. Because if you try to take it month by month, it's really hard to try to think that far out.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CABRERA: Our thanks to Dr. Sanjay Gupta for that reporting.
President Biden moments from now going to speak live in Milwaukee. These are images. You can see he's on hand. So as soon as he steps forward -- in fact, it's happening now. Let's listen in live.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hello, Milwaukee!
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: My name is Joe Biden. I'm Jill Biden's husband.
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: And I want to start by saying any child under 12 years of age deserves a little extra ice cream or something for doing this.
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: This has got to be the most boring thing in the world for you honey.
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: But we're going to work something out for you, I promise.
Folks, if you have a seat, don't hesitate to take them.
Thank you, man.
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: Well, you know, I think this is getting to be a pretty good year for a Labor Day.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Eduardo, thank you for the introduction.
It's great to have Governor Evers, Representative Gwen Moore.
Where's Gwen. There you go, Gwen. I love you, kid. You've been there every step of
the way when I've needed help as president. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: And Mayor Johnson, where's the mayor?
There you go. He's got those two beautiful girls on his side. I'll tell you what.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: I'll tell, you girls, you've got to be patient with your dad. We're hard to raise. We're hard to raise.
Where's the county executive?
Stand up, big guy.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: I think these two guys spend all their time in the gymnasium. They look like they're in too good a shape.
And I want to thank Tammy. She couldn't be here today. A champion of working for people. Always there.
The same goes for Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes, who couldn't be here. But --
(CHEERING)
[13:40:02]
BIDEN: -- he's going to be your next United States Senator.
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: Oh, he is.
I want to thank Liz for her fearless leadership.
And thanks to Pam, for your leadership here in Milwaukee. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: Where is she?
Back there.
OK, there you are, Pam, OK.
And ow about actually having a union guy as the secretary of labor?
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: I'll tell you what. If you're going to be in a foxhole, you want Maury in there with you. He may have trouble understanding when he talks carbines and things. He talks kind of funny, but he knows what he's talking about.
I promised to be the most pro-union president in American history and Maury's keeping me to make that promise.
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: By the way, the reason for that -- and I've had that conversation with the business roundtable and all the major Chambers of Commerce.
It's not just that I think it's important that people get a shot. Look, the reason why businesses should be hiring labor folks is simple. You are the single greatest technicians in the world. You're the best labor in the -- you build the best product.
No, non, I'm not just joking. I'm not just saying that. But people forget a lot of the trades, they forget, if you go to four, five years of school, you're an apprenticeship. It's like going back to college. It's not like you just step in.
You build a better product, it lasts longer, and it's cheaper for the business, and it's better for the country.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Look, folks, Labor Day is a special day in the country and here in Milwaukee. This is one of the biggest Labor Day events in America you all have here.
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: It's a special day for me as well because the fact of the matter is I wouldn't be here without unions, unions.
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: Electricians, ironworkers, letter carriers, teamsters, laborers, brick layers, transit workers, plumbers, pipefitters, steel workers.
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: I wouldn't be here without cops, firefighters, teachers, nurses.
(CHEERING) BIDEN: I wouldn't be here without painters, pilots, autoworkers, custodians, carpenters, grocery store workers, steel metal workers, and so many others. That's not a joke. That's not a joke.
I got elected when I was 29 years old to the United States Senate for the state and went right to work. You know why? Because union labor endorsed me and fought for me.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: So the bad news for you all is I'm here because of you.
Look, the middle class-built America. Everybody knows that. But unions built the middle class!
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: That's a fact. That's a fact.
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: Look, folks, I believe we're at an inflection point in American history. I really mean. That there comes a point every five or six generations you'll reflect where one of those moments where everything is changing. Everything is changing.
And we're going to have to ask do we want to be in a country that moves forward or backward? Are we going to build a future or are we going to obsess about the past?
I've said many times we're the only country in the world that's come out of any crisis we ever faced stronger than when we went in it. No other nation has done that.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: And we do it because we've been a nation of unity, of hope, of optimism. Not as nations of division and violence and hated that's being preached by some others.
I want to be very clear up front. Not everyone Republican is a MAGA Republican. Not every Republican embraces that extreme ideology. I know because I've been able to work with mainstream Republicans my whole career.
But the extreme MAGA Republicans in Congress have chosen to go backward, full of anger, violence, hate, and division. But together, we can and we must choose a different path forward.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE) BIDEN: No, I really mean it. We have to.
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: A future of unity, of hope, of optimism. We're going to choose to build a better America, a better America.
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: There's no question it's been a hard few years. But we've come a long way.
Today, COVID no longer controls our lives. More Americans are working than any time in all of American history. Last year, more people applied to start a small business than any year in history.
[13:45:00]
But it didn't just happen. We never gave up. We never gave in. And we're delivering for working- and middle-class Americans now, now.
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: Building 10 million new jobs. More jobs that have ever been created at this point than in any time in history. Wages are up. Unemployment remains near a 50-year low.
The big reason for all of this is the American Rescue Plan that I signed into law shortly after taking office.
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: With the help of your Democratic members of Congress. That's how we got it done. Not one single Republican vote.
The plan took an America economic crisis to an economic recovery.
Here in Wisconsin, your governor and mayor of Milwaukee used that money like it's supposed to be used, keeping city workers on the job in the face of rising costs, keeping streets safe by fixing streetlights, training 120 new firefighters, helping to hire close to 200 more police officers.
Not a single Republican voted for that, not one single one. Every single Republican in Congress in this state voted against that funding.
So let me remind you --
(BOOING)
BIDEN: No, I really mean it.
Let me remind you of what else came out of the American Rescue Plan. Think of the Butch Lewis Act.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Look, for too long, millions didn't know what that means.
Those of you who have been driving trucks from factories to stores, bagging our groceries, building our bridges, roads, so much more. And with each paycheck you earn, employees put money into that pension plan.
But some companies didn't set aside enough money to pay for the plans and, as a result, hundreds of pensions, two million to three million workers and retirees were going insolvent. Millions of retirees were at risk of losing their retirement security through no fault of your own.
So in the American Rescue Plan, we passed the Butch Lewis Act to protect pensions that all of you worked so damn hard for.
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: Pensions you sacrificed for. And retirement, it would be like losing your Social Security and Medicare.
It's one of those significant achievements for human workers and retirees in over 50 years.
I'll say it again. Not a single Republican congressman voted to protect your pensions, not one.
(BOOING)
BIDEN: And by the way, I know a lot of them who wanted to vote for it. But they're afraid of losing primaries in this new Republican Party.
They also passed once-in-a-generation investment in our nation's roads, highways, bridges, railways, ports, water systems, high-speed Internet. Folks, your governor has already repaired 5,000 miles, 1,500 bridges in Wisconsin alone just to start.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: We will, when this is over, have the best infrastructure, not a joke, in the entire world.
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: The single best in the world.
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: And that means jobs. No, that means jobs. That means we continue to lead the world. You can't do it without the best ports. You can't do it without the
best airports. You can't do it -- I'm not going to go on. But the point is you can't do it.
Right here in Milwaukee, it's estimated 48 percent of the homes still have lead in their water because of the pipes. Because of the infrastructure law, this city is receiving millions of dollars to replace those lead pipes.
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: To make sure your families have safe drinking water.
Your child shouldn't have to worry about turning on the faucet or going to school, going to the water fountain and worried about any kind of lead in the water.
Look, it's the biggest investment in America since President Eisenhower's Interstate the Highway Act.
We made sure an infrastructure law included significant labor protections. For example, the majority of the funds in law are subject to Davis Bacon.
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: And it's not just because I wanted to help unions. It's simple. You're the best in the world. That's not hyperbole. No, you're really -- it's not a joke. You really genuinely are.
You just don't decide you want to be a pipefitter or an electrician. It takes you four to five years of hard work. The apprenticeship, like going to college. You are the best trained workers in the world. And you deserve to be treated that way.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: By the way, those who know me, no one ever doubts I mean what I say. The problem is I sometimes say all that I mean. I made the same comments to the business roundtable, to the Chambers of Commerce. They don't want to pay it. They understand it, though, because it's true.
[13:50:01]
I also signed the CHIPS and Science Act, a groundbreaking law. We'll once again manufacture semiconductor chips that power everyday everything, our smartphones, our dishwashers, automobiles, national security stuff, right here in America.
Guess what? We invented it here.
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: We invented it here, in America. (APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: By the way, the reason why last time out, last year inflation was so high, you know the biggest reason? The cost of automobiles. You know why they cost so much? They didn't have the computer chips to make the automobiles.
Folks, here in Wisconsin, Senator Baldwin made clear that you're ready to take advantage of this law, with world class universities and a workforce that knows how to manufacture projects here in Wisconsin.
This law is going to create tens of thousands of jobs in America, bringing billions of dollars of investments here in America, well over a billion of investments in America, revitalizing American manufacturing.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Where is it written, where is it written that says America can't lead the world in manufacturing? Where does it say that? We've exported too damn much.
In fact, next week, I'm going to Ohio for the groundbreaking of a multibillion semiconductor manufacturing plant.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: The company is Intel. It's one of the largest investments of its kind ever. They're putting $20 billion in as a start.
It's going to create thousands of jobs, thousands, 7,000 construction jobs just building the facilities, 5,000 permanent jobs for blue- collar workers who will make $125,000 a year in those jobs.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: And, by the way, if you take a look, manufacturers all over the world are coming to the United States from Korea, from Japan, from all over the world.
Why? You know why the head of the outfit out of Korea told me they're coming here? Because we have the safest environment and the best workers in the world.
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: That's a fact. We do.
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: I'm not just saying this. This is real.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Look, folks, it means we're going to build the future in America, with American workers, in American factories, using American- made products.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Look, something most people don't know, but you guys out there in this audience know, 15 percent of our military veterans become union workers when they leave the military, 15 percent.
How many veterans out there? Holler out.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: You've got it.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: In my State of the Union address, I put forward what I called a unity agenda that included taking care of our veterans. Look, we have a lot of responsibility but only one sacred responsibility, not a joke.
And I mean this from the bottom of my heart and I've said it from the first day I've entered politics. We have an obligation to equip them and care for them when they come home. Both their families.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Especially our veterans who have been exposed to toxic burn pits like my son. Those pits, the size of football fields, eight, nine, 10 feet deep in Afghanistan and Iraq.
I was in and out of those countries over 35 times in the middle of wars as vice president. That incinerate the waste of war, tires, poisons, chemicals, jet fuel, so much more.
A lot of people like my son were just 300, 500 yards from those pits. You could smell it. You could inhale it.
Well, guess what? These poisonous fumes, people came home with headaches, numbness, dizziness, cancer.
I just signed what's called the PACT Act to take care of these veterans -- (CHEERING)
BIDEN: -- who need medical assistance..
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: And to provide for their families when they are gone.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: For god's sake, it's the least we can do. It's the least -
(SHOUTING)
BIDEN: Well, I love you, too, kiddo, I tell you.
(CHEERING)
[13:55:01]
Look, like I said, I believe we have a lot of obligations. We have a lot of obligations. But only one sacred obligation. That's to take care of those vets we send overseas and when they come home.
(SHOUTING)
BIDEN: No, I know. But I really mean it.
And as I said, I just signed into law an historic Inflation Reduction Act.
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: It wasn't easy
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: -- to take on big drug companies, but we did. I've been fighting them since I got in Congress 180 years ago.
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: You know, we pay more for prescription drugs in the United States of America than any major country in the world, here in the United States, OK? There's no reason for it.
For the last several decades, many of us have been trying to fix the problem. But for decades, Big Pharma tried to block giving lower drug prices for those on Medicare or anywhere else.
For decades, Big Pharma won, year in, year out, because they own chunks of the Congress. Because they had help, like your senior Senator, Ron Johnson, who said -
(BOOING)
BIDEN: No, I --
(BOOING)
BIDEN: -- I want to say what he said. He said he opposed lowering drug costs because it would result in punishing the pharmaceutical industry.
Bless me, father, for I have sinned.
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: I mean, come on, man.
Not this year! We beat pharma this year!
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: We beat pharma this year!
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: And it mattered. We're going to change people's lives. Finally beat pharma.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Now Medicare will have the power to negotiate lower prescription drug prices.
We can guarantee no senior, no senior will have to pay more than $2,000 out of pocket for their drugs for the entire year, no matter whether the bill is $50,000. No more than $2,000, period.
(CHEERING)
CABRERA: You've been watching the president addressing union workers in Milwaukee on this Labor Day, saying he promises to be the most pro- union president in American history and crediting union workers for putting him into office.
We're going to take a quick break. The news continues with Alisyn Camerota right after this.
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