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January 6 Committee Subpoenas Trump; China's Xi Expected to Get Third Term; Russian Troops Mined Major River Dam in Ukraine; Biden Touts Deficit Reduction; Georgia's U.S. Senate Candidates Make Final Push; Iran Teachers' Union Calls for Nationwide Strike. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired October 22, 2022 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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LAILA HARRAK, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Laila Harrak.
Ahead this hour on CNN NEWSROOM, in its most aggressive move yet, the House January 6 six committee officially serves former U.S. President Donald Trump with a subpoena for documents and testimony about the insurrection.
Russia's alleged use of drones to attack Ukraine as some Western nations are calling for an investigation on the suppliers. We will tell you all about Moscow's cooperation with Tehran.
Also in Iran, a teachers' union is calling for a nationwide strike over the recent deaths and detention of students around the country, adding to what has been more than a month of women-led protests against Iran's violent crackdown.
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HARRAK: Former U.S. President Donald Trump has now been officially served with a subpoena to testify before the January 6 committee. In a series of high-profile hearings this year, the committee documented Mr. Trump's failed quest to overturn his election defeat, culminating in the violent and deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The committee has set a November 4th deadline to receive the documents it has requested, with November 14th as the date for Mr. Trump's deposition to begin. It is widely expected that Mr. Trump will challenge a subpoena in court or even ignore it. We get the latest now from CNN's Sara Murray.
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REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): We are obligated to seek answers directly from the man who set this all in motion.
SARA MURRAY, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That man, Donald Trump, now issued a formal subpoena from the House select committee investigating the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol. Looking ...
CHENEY: Both for his testimony under oath as well as for documents.
MURRAY: The committee writing, in short, "You are at the center of the first and only effort by any U.S. president to overturn an election and obstruct the peaceful transition of power. The evidence demonstrates that you knew this activity was illegal and unconstitutional and also knew that your assertions of fraud were false."
And laying out Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, including pressuring Justice Department officials, touting false allegations of voter fraud and firing off this tweet, attacking Mike Pence during the riot, which the committee says incited further violence by publicly condemning your vice president.
The committee calling for Trump to hand over documents by November 4th and appear for testimony November 14th.
They're calling for a broad range of records, including calls made by Trump or at his direction on January 6th, calls to members of Congress; documents related to the Proud Boys or Oath Keepers; communications about blocking the certification of the election and anything on destroying materials or contacting witnesses.
But it's unclear if Trump will comply.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They really want to damage me so I can no longer go back to work for you. And I Don't think that's going to happen.
MURRAY: The former president tapping two lawyers to take the lead on responding to the subpoena and risking possible contempt of Congress if he ignores it.
REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): U.S. law is, if you are subpoenaed by Congress, you are expected to come in and speak to us.
MURRAY: Meanwhile, Trump and the Justice Department still battling over documents seized from Mar-a-Lago.
TRUMP: They should give me immediately back everything they've taken from me because it's mine.
MURRAY: But "The Washington Post" now reporting, among those documents seized include some of the most sensitive information the U.S. has on two of the biggest threats on the global stage, Iran and China.
According to "The Post," at least one of the documents describes Iran's missile program. And others detail highly sensitive intelligence work aimed at Beijing. Trump arguing, whatever the FBI seized from his Florida estate belongs to him.
According to court filings, among the documents Trump kept from his presidency are six clemency requests and a couple papers related to immigration and border controls.
Prosecutors say those are federal records that belong to the government, offering a glimpse at how Trump lawyers and DOJ are locking horns as they sift through thousands of documents.
TRUMP: They took it from me in the raid. They broke into my house.
MURRAY: Attorneys for Trump have now responded to the subpoena from the January 6 committee. They accused the committee of flouting norms by releasing that subpoena publicly --
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MURRAY: -- but said that they will respond as appropriate to this unprecedented action -- Sara Murray, CNN, Washington.
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HARRAK: Mr. Trump's subpoena came hours after his advisor Steve Bannon was sentenced to four months in prison for defying his own subpoena to appear before the January 6 committee.
The contempt of Congress conviction also carried a fine of $6,500. A federal judge says Mr. Bannon can stay out of prison for now while his conviction is appealed.
And the U.S. appeals court has temporarily blocked the president's student loan forgiveness program while it considers a challenge to it. It comes as Joe Biden has been touting his initiative to younger voters ahead of the midterm elections.
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Republican members of Congress and Republican governors are doing everything they can to deny this relief, even to their own constituents.
As soon as I announced my administration's plans on student debt, they started attacking it, saying all kinds of things. Their outrage is wrong, and it is hypocritical. But you know we're not letting them get away with it. You know, they've been fighting this in the courts.
But just yesterday, state court and the Supreme Court said, no, we are on Biden's side.
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HARRAK: During his remarks, Mr. Biden also took credit for a drop in the federal deficit, even though the loan forgiveness program is said to completely wipe out the government's modest deficit savings.
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HARRAK: Britain's Conservative Party is moving quickly to choose a new leader and prime minister by next week with as little drama as possible. Liz Truss abruptly resigned on Thursday amid the fallout of a
disastrous economic policy. Well, now three candidates are leading the pack to replace her: former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak has already reached the 100-nomination threshold while House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt is the first MP to confirm she is running.
And British media reports say former prime minister Boris Johnson has indicated he plans to join the race. CNN Salma Abdelaziz is live for you in London and she joins us now.
Salma, still no signs of a general election?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, that is not what is going to be taking place here. What we're going to see is a lightning speed process for the Conservative Party to choose their own leader, who, will in turn, of course, also be prime minister of the country.
To give you an idea of how quick this is happening, Laila, the last leadership contests that brought Liz Truss to power, that took about three months. This is all going to take place in about one week's time.
This weekend, that leadership race is absolutely heating up. You mentioned the three top contenders there. What they need to do is get 100 Conservative MPs to back them by 2 pm Monday.
That is when nominations close. After that we will see a vote that happens in the House of Commons. That is going to happen Monday afternoon, turning that around very quickly between those three nominations, those three nominees, if that's what it comes down to.
On Monday that will be whittled down to two in that vote. And then there will be a second indicative vote. That is to allow Conservative Party members to get a sense of what MPs want.
And there is also a hope there that it might whittle down, might force someone to step down from their nomination, leaving only one person, one nominee, the person who would take office.
If that doesn't happen, the last two nominees would go back to Conservative Party members. That's roughly 200,000 people, a tiny group of people, who will get to select the next prime minister of this country, the third prime minister this year.
That's why you hear so many people, Laila, upset about how this is taking place, demanding a general election, saying that the Conservative Party has simply lost the public support, the public will to carry on, that they need to get back to mandate.
But again, under British rules, you do not have to have a general election. This is up to the Conservative Party. And whoever does win this nomination, Laila, will have a massive task ahead of them.
First of all, they have to unite the Conservative Party. It is a party that is deeply divided right now, bruised, broken, hurt by so many political rivalries over the course of the last year that has been hemorrhaging public trust and confidence and sliding in the polls.
And then, of course, there is leading the country, you've had this disastrous economic plan, you have to lead the U.K. out of this economic turmoil, this economic impasse through a period that is post- Brexit while a war happens on European soil, rather. It is a huge task, Laila.
HARRAK: Huge task indeed. Salma Abdelaziz reporting for you, thank you so much, Salma.
The Communist Party in China has wrapped up its weeklong national congress with Xi Jinping set to be named on Sunday to a third term as general secretary of the party.
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HARRAK: It is the most powerful position in China because the leader of the only ruling party also controls the government and the military. And in a sign of his tightening grip, he could also be given a new title.
There was also a surprise in the final session. Let's bring in CNN's Beijing chief Steven Jiang.
Let's start with that, what happened?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER, BEIJING BUREAU: Laila, in a bit of high drama by Chinese standards, during the closing ceremony, former Chinese top leader Hu Jintao was seen led out of the room accompanied by two male staff members.
Now in videos captured by foreign media outlets, including CNN, we could see Mr. Hu actually talking to the male members, the staff members, briefly and then being led out, at least initially appearing to be reluctantly on his way out.
He also appeared to have had a brief exchange of words with Mr. Xi and patted on the shoulder of the premier Li Keqiang. And both men seem to have nodded in acknowledgment.
Because of the opaque nature of Chinese politics, we really don't know for sure the circumstances surrounding this unusual moment in this otherwise choreographed moment.
As soon as we start talking about this moment, the Chinese censors blocked CNN's signal and the state media here has not reported this at all.
Other than this moment of surprise, the proceedings seem to have largely gone according to plan. And the delegates on Saturday selected a new central committee and that is the party leadership group, comprising 205 members.
And in another signal that Xi Jinping is tightening his grip, Li Keqiang as well as the number four party leader, Huan Yung (ph), they are both out, losing their party position, meaning really, even though they may keep their government titles for a while, they are no longer at the center of the party's power structure.
If we could show our viewers the hierarchy of the Chinese Communist Party, these newly selected committee members will meet on Sunday to select the innermost circle of power in the party. That is the 25 member politburo.
And from that bureau they will select the seven man politburo standing committee. And another convention Mr. Xi has been breaking is he is now no longer the first among equals; he is the one man whose decision that matters. He is really the man who is calling all the shots. Laila.
HARRAK: CNN's Steven Jiang, reporting from Beijing, thank you very much.
Ukraine is warning about a possible man-made catastrophe looming in its south. Still ahead an alleged Russian plan to blow up a major dam and cause massive damage.
Plus, a deeper look at the drone attacks in Ukraine. Why three countries are calling for a U.N. investigation into the matter.
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HARRAK: We're monitoring events in Ukraine where air raid sirens have been activated across the country at this hour. We're getting reports that rockets have been seen flying over the southern city of Mykolaiv and a number of other cities have seen explosions and power outages.
All that is happening as Ukraine is raising the alarm over an alleged Russian plot to blow up a major river dam. If the Nova Kakhovka is destroyed, that would cause not only major flooding downstream but also possible safety risks at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant. Clare Sebastian is monitoring those developments and she joins us from London.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This morning, we are seeing more of the same from what we have seen in previous reports, more of a barrage style attack. This is targeting mainly Western regions of Ukraine.
Residents in some parts have managed to stay in shelters, conserve water. This is something that we have seen over the past couple of weeks from Russia as an attempt to test the resolve of Ukraine going into winter by destroying parts of its energy grid.
Clearly this is impacting the civilian population, leading to blackouts. And those are ongoing this morning.
But as you say there is a very serious situation unfolding in the south as Ukraine in the Kherson region where this dam, according to President Zelenskyy and his defense intelligence, warning that Russia has been mining parts of the dam.
Zelenskyy also saying that they have been mining units of the nearby hydroelectric power plant there as well and the defense intelligence unit saying that they have not only been mining elements of the dam but have driven onto the dam, two military tented vehicles, loaded with explosives.
Now if anything was to happen to this dam, the fallout would be extremely widespread. President Zelenskyy has warned that 80 settlements could face flooding. Not only that but the hydroelectric plant is part of the power grid in Ukraine and continues to face hits. That would be another blow to that.
Plus, of course, the water from this dam is used in part to cool the reactors at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, which has been occupied by Russian forces since the very early days of this conflict.
So a very dangerous situation.
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SEBASTIAN: Russian officials in this region saying that it is nonsense that they're trying to mine the dam. And the permanent representative of Russia to the U.N. according to Tass reversed the accusations back on Ukraine, saying that they are trying to hit that dam and calling for the U.N. to stop them.
HARRAK: Clare, President Zelenskyy also blaming Russia for slowing down grain shipments to the Black Sea.
SEBASTIAN: Yes, President Zelenskyy in his nightly address coming out and accusing Russia of attempting to go back on what really was the only military -- diplomatic step forward in this conflict. He said that they are trying to slow this down and this could have a significant impact. Take a listen to what he had to say.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): As of today, more than 150 vessels are in a waiting line to fulfill their contractual obligations concerning delivery of our agricultural products. This is an artificial queue. It only arose because Russia is deliberately delaying the passage of the ships.
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SEBASTIAN: He said that the object of this was for Russia to sort of further impinge on the global food supply, which we saw happening up until this grain deal came into force; 150 ships, more than half of the number that had already sailed as of October 7.
So a very significant number. Meanwhile this grain deal is expected to expire by the end of next month. The Ukrainians want to keep it going; U.N. efforts to salvage it continue, Laila. HARRAK: Clare Sebastian reporting live from London, thank you.
The United Nations says the war continues to take a tremendous toll on civilian lives in Ukraine. More than 6,,300 civilians have been killed since the war began. According to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
More than 9,000 others have been injured but the office says these are only the victims it was able to verify. The real numbers are probably far higher.
The U.K., France and Germany are urging the U.N. to investigate Russia's alleged use of Iranian drones in Ukraine. Diplomats from the three countries say Iran may have violated a U.N. Security Council resolution by supplying drones to Moscow.
Tehran denies the claim. But France wants the U.N. to probe the matter by going to Ukraine and collecting the remains of the drones. They say that Russia has been using them to attack Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure.
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ADM. JOHN KIRBY (RET.), COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: Iran did sell drones to Russia. Those drones are being used inside Ukraine.
And the third thing that we declassified and talked about yesterday was the fact that we know there are Iranian individuals in Crimea right now that are providing technical support and training to Russian operators to use those drones.
So it is a bald fact; it's out there and Iran can say what they want and so can Russia. But it is true. They are on the ground there, using -- they're using their capabilities to help the Russians kill more Ukrainians and destroy Ukrainian infrastructure.
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HARRAK: Earlier I spoke about the drone attacks with Sam Bendett, an adviser with the Center for Naval Analyses, where he researches Russian defense and technology. I asked him why Russia appears to be turning to Iran for support in Ukraine.
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SAM BENDETT, CENTER FOR NAVAL ANALYSES: It basically tells us that Russia looked to its partner nation to fill a very key capability gap. It probably speaks a lot to some of the issues in the Russian own defense industrial sector and the inability to manufacture a certain key technology that Russia needed for the war.
But it also speaks a lot to the fact that Russia was able to get that technology relatively quickly from a willing partner like Iran.
HARRAK: Why is Iran helping Russia, what is in it for Tehran? BENDETT: Well, both countries are allies on many issues. They look to each other for international support. And as the war intensified and continued and as Russia became more isolated internationally, Russia looked for willing partners, for political, economic and military support.
And for Iran, of course, Russia has been a reliable, long term partner on many issues in the Middle East and around the world as well. Russia was able to lend support to the Iranian policymaking on specific issues.
So this is a mutually reinforcing decision as both nations are drawn ever closer now when it comes to military technical cooperation and possibly longterm alignment on many political goals.
HARRAK: Let's talk a little bit more about the drones that are being used. The U.S. controversially pioneered the use of killer drones for its global war on terror.
How are these cheap (ph) drones different, what are the challenges that they pose?
BENDETT: You hit on a very important point today. They are very cheap drones.
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BENDETT: They can cost anywhere from $20,000 to $30,000 each, which is a very big difference from the more sophisticated drones that the United States, Israel and a handful of other nations are also firing right now.
So Russia can procure many hundreds, perhaps even thousands of these drones and send them in waves against Ukrainian targets, to stress Ukrainian defenses, to overwhelm Ukrainian defenses and to cause a number of military as well as a multitude of civilian casualties.
These are very cheap drones. They could be manufactured rather quickly. A lot of them have civilian components. Certainly Iranian drones used by Russia in Ukraine have a lot of civilian components which are easily acquired on the regular civilian market.
And so these are really cheap, available technologies that could be acquired, not just by Russia but many other nations.
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HARRAK: And that was Sam Bendett from the Center for Naval Analyses, speaking with me earlier.
Five weeks after the death of an Iranian woman in custody of the country's morality police, outrage among protesters only seems to be growing. And now a hardline cleric is calling for even tougher actions against demonstrators. Details next.
Plus as the U.S. midterm elections draw closer, early voters are setting records as candidates in the hotly contested Senate race in Georgia make a big push for voters, that is after the break.
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HARRAK: Welcome back to our viewers all around the world, I'm Laila Harrak. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Ahead of the U.S. midterm elections, President Biden is predicting the tide will turn on the economy, especially as he touts his student loan forgiveness program to young voters. CNN's Phil Mattingly reports.
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PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: There were remarks that were supposed to be about the deficit, the deficit reduction over the course of the last fiscal year. But President Biden was willing to make a prediction, to lay out some dynamics in the political landscape that perhaps he hasn't been as candid about before.
Take a listen.
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The polls have been all over the place. I think that we're going to see one more shift back to our side in the closing days.
And let me tell you why I think that. We're starting to see some of the good news on the economy.
It's mega MAGA trickle-down, mega MAGA trickle-down -- the kind of policies that have failed the country before and will fail it again.
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MATTINGLY: The president's references there were critical for a couple of reasons. First, an acknowledgment that, as seemed clear by public polling over the course of the last couple of weeks, momentum is swinging back toward Republicans with just 18 days until the midterm elections.
The president predicting it will come back toward Democrats, something we saw in the summer in large part because of the economy, something that has been a primary vulnerability for many Democrats running in their districts or states over the last several weeks.
Implicit in that comment was a reality that gas prices have started to tick down. They see a clear correlation between the president's approval, Democratic prospects in the midterms, really the mood of the country when it comes to the prices at the pump. The president also making clear something else that, in his view, this
is not necessarily a referendum on his administration or on Democrats in power; it is a choice, a choice between Republicans and Democrats.
The president, as he has held smaller, not major campaign rallies but smaller, policy driven events over the course of the last several wreaks, has been trying to make the point that they have delivered on a lot of the things the president campaigned on.
On Friday that was talking about student loan cancellation: over 22 million borrowers have already applied for cancellation of up to $10,000 in student debt. That is young voters, young Black voters. We talked about abortion earlier in the week; that's women, independents.
You're seeing the White House very carefully calibrate events. They will be expanding those events, larger campaign events, in the closing days leading up to the midterm elections.
It is still very much anyone's guess how things are going to end. And Republicans have made it very clear they feel good about the current direction of things. The president, however, saying publicly he thinks it is going to swing back their way -- Phil Mattingly, CNN, the White House.
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HARRAK: Early voting in midterm elections have already begun. Officials say nearly 6 million ballots have been cast across 39 states. Georgia is reporting record turnout with more than half a million people voting since Monday.
Candidates in Georgia's U.S. Senate race are making a final push for votes in a contest that could affect the Senate's balance of power. CNN's Eva McKend has more.
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EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: At a campaign rally here in Peachtree City, Senator Raphael Warnock spending much of his remarks to voters talking about health care, touting a provision in the Inflation Reduction Act that he offered, aimed to reduce the cost of insulin.
Meanwhile, Herschel Walker campaigning in south Georgia, making his case to voters in America and Columbus.
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HERSCHEL WALKER (R), GEORGIA U.S. SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: Want to ask me why I'm running?
A lot of people are campaigning for you. They are telling you lies. They have been telling you this is a new normal. I will tell you this is not the new normal. What we need right now, we don't need politicians.
We need warriors, warriors that are ready to go to Washington and tell people that, right now, you are not going to separate my people.
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WALKER: You're not going to tell us because you're Black, white, that you know this or that. Because I remember Dr. King. He's trying to say that because of the color of your skin you are no good, you are an oppressor or a victim. I'm here to tell you, you are victorious.
SEN. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-GA): My work in the Senate really is an extension of that lifelong commitment to service, fighting for health care, which is why I'm glad that I was able to get something done on that front.
You know what?
I believe in health care so much I got arrested a couple of times, fighting for health care.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good trouble, good trouble.
WARNOCK: I got arrested in the governor's office, I got arrested in the United States Capitol, in the Rotunda, fighting for health care. Now I pass through that Rotunda nowadays on my way to my office, where I write the Medicaid legislation.
MCKEND: Peachtree City, a unique city, where many residents travel by golf car because so much of the city is accessible by cart. It is in Fayette County that has become competitive over recent years. Democrats here feel good about their chances. They believe they can flip this county blue -- Eva McKend, CNN, Peachtree City, Georgia.
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HARRAK: U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham has asked the Supreme Court to block a subpoena from a Georgia special grand jury, which is investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
The Republican lawmaker filed the request after an appellate court ruled that the grand jury could seek testimony from him and that his efforts to absolve Georgia elections officials are not constantly protected as he has claimed.
Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets in southwestern Iran on Friday, many of them chanting "death to the dictator" outside a police station. The protest comes three weeks after dozens were killed during what has become known as the bloody Friday demonstrations.
The protests in Iran and outside the country have been sparked by the death last month of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. She died in the custody of Iran's morality police, who accused her of not wearing her head scarf properly. Nada Bashir is following the story for you from London.
Nada, a staggering number of people have been arrested in Iran since these protests erupted some five weeks ago. Now at least one hardline cleric is calling for even harsher actions against these demonstrators.
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is the concern, Laila, that this crackdown from the Iranian regime could continue to intensify. We have seen these hardline tactics being put throughout the last few weeks over the course of these demonstrations.
According to one human rights organization in Iran, which has been telling death tolls since the beginning of these demonstrations, more than 200 people have been killed so far amidst these protests, although it is impossible for CNN to independently verify that toll.
As you laid out, we are seeing those mass detentions of demonstrators, protesters many of them of course, peaceful protesters who have now faced the oppression of the Iranian regime.
Iran says it believes in its estimate that tens of thousands of people have been arrested by the security forces over the course of these protests. But it is difficult to ascertain the clear picture of how many people have been detained.
Numerous human rights organizations have detailed the detention of peaceful protesters, of journalists, lawyers, political actors, human rights activists in Iran. This is something we have seen in the past. But it appears to be picking up as these protests continue to gain momentum.
While these figures are staggering, what is perhaps the most concerning right now is the conditions and the situation being faced by those being detained amid these protests.
We have heard reports from human rights organization of protesters being detained without a warrant, arbitrarily, by security officers in disguise, some even in hospitals, clinics, targeting those protesters coming in for treatment following a crackdown by the Iranian security forces.
Of course, once they are in detention, where there's further concern because many of them are unable to speak to their lawyers, to their family members, relatives, some family members have described they aren't able to know where their loved ones have been held for weeks.
So there is growing concern. We have heard those reports from human rights groups, from Amnesty International, other human rights organization of the excessive and lethal force being used by the Iranian security forces.
And there have been concerns raised about the treatment of those protesters who have been detained, possible ill treatment, torture even. And some have reportedly been killed. Real concerns but these protests are continuing, despite that crackdown.
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BASHIR: And they are still gaining momentum. Laila.
HARRAK: Nada Bashir reporting, thank you so much. A common respiratory virus is filling up U.S. hospitals and worrying
parents. Coming up, the latest on the RSV outbreak and what do you can do to help keep your child safe.
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HARRAK: Health officials in the U.S. are concerned about an unprecedented case surge of a respiratory virus known as RSV. The rapid spread of the disease is reaching new levels and overwhelming pediatric hospitals.
Children's Health Care of Atlanta, as you see here, has had to set up tents to accommodate the increase. CNN medical correspondent Dr. Tara Narula has more on this latest viral threat.
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DR. TARA NARULA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: We are seeing an uptick in RSV nationwide and in particular when it comes to kids having to go to the hospital we're seeing hospitals in many parts of the country being overwhelmed with the number of kids being admitted and diagnosed with RSV.
We know that RSV is a very common lower tract respiratory illness. And kids, usually under the age of 1 and on average causes about 58,000 hospitalizations in year in kids under 5.
Typically we treat it symptomatically and most kids do well, even when they are hospitalized with supportive care. We think we are seeing this uptick in part because of COVID mitigation strategies, which prevented kids in many parts of the country from being exposed at the time that they normally would.
We know most individuals have RSV before they reach the age of 2 but here we have a population of children who never really had the ability to develop immunity because of those mitigation strategies.
Also moms who may not have passed along immunity to their babies because of decreased exposure to moms over the last two years.
In terms of what parents need to know, we want to make sure that they pay attention to things like runny nose, sneeze, cough, fever, wheezing or, in young infants, decreased activity or irritability or difficulty breathing.
If any of those things get worse or your child is unable to stay hydrated, looks like they're having respiratory difficulties, it is important to get to the emergency room. Pediatricians have tests to help differentiate this from COVID and the flu. So that is another important thing to note. And finally keeping kids safe: this is transmitted basically in similar ways, with cough and sneezing and viral particles that can land on surfaces and live there for several hours.
So it is important to cover coughs, wash hands, disinfect clean surfaces, avoid contact with people who maybe sick, particularly paying attention to your younger children and keeping them away from anyone who may be exhibiting signs that could be RSV.
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HARRAK: Free COVID vaccinations for some could soon be coming to an end. Pfizer says as government contracts and vaccine doses will be sold for more than $100 a dose, that means once the measures are commercialized, uninsured adults will lose access to free vaccines.
For now the vaccine is still free and the government has renewed its public health emergency declaration for another 90 days. But Congress has yet to act on the Biden administration's request for billions more in funding.
When we come back, there is a new hurricane taking aim on Mexico, getting stronger as it crawls toward popular tourist resorts. We have an update from the CNN Weather Center, up next.
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HARRAK: Hurricane Roslyn is strengthening and getting ready to hit Western Mexico this weekend. The storm is expected to skim past the tourist area of Puerto Vallarta before making landfall.
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HARRAK: NASA has picked 16 people to lead its highly anticipated study on UFOs,. Scientists, former Pentagon officials and veteran astronauts will begin the study on Monday. They will spend nine months looking at unclassified data on so-called unidentified aerial phenomenon.
Then they will recommend how that data can be used to better understand mysterious events in the sky. In short, NASA wants to explain the unexplainable and it says the study could benefit both the national security and air safety. The findings will be made public next year.
That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM I am Laila Harrak. Kim Brunhuber picks up our coverage. I'll see you tomorrow.
