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At Least 26 Deaths Blamed On Brutal Winter Storm; Christmas Travel Woes Continue After 3K-Plus Flights Canceled On Saturday; Republicans Take Control Of House On January 3rd. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired December 25, 2022 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARZENA STASIELUK, BOTH HAD LIVER DISEASE AND KIDNEY FAILURE: I'll be forever grateful.
ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Grateful for more time, and her daughter's double sacrifice.
JENNIFER STASIELUK, DONATED TWO ORGANS TO MOTHER: So I have a picture here of me leaving Mayo Clinic. Leaving here feels like Oprah, you get an organ, you get an organ, and you get an organ. Just kidding. They all go to my mom.
MARZENA STASIELUK: I don't want them -- the kids and my grandkids to lose me.
BROADDUS: And now, they won't. I mean, at some point, they will, but not anytime soon.
MAN: Not today.
BROADDUS: Not today.
BROADDUS: Adrienne Broaddus, CNN, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[15:00:33]
PAULA REID, CNN HOST: Merry Christmas.
You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Paul Reid in Washington.
A ferocious freeze complicating rescue and recovery efforts after a deadly winter storm pummeled parts of the US. Right now, Freeze Warnings remain in effect across several States, an arctic blast bringing snow and sheets of ice. That winter storm now being blamed for at least 26 deaths, roads impassable in parts of Upstate New York following a monstrous blizzard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK POLONCARZ, ERIE COUNTY, NEW YORK EXECUTIVE: For nearly 12 hours, it was almost impossible to go anywhere in the vast majority of the community. This is an area that has approximately half a million residents between the City of Buffalo and some of our suburbs. It was such that we had to pull emergency rescue vehicles off the roads.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Meanwhile, the bitter cold icing over the Christmas celebrations in the Midwest, East Coast, and Southeast this morning. Parts of the South seeing their coldest Christmas in decades and the cold conditions making a mess of Holiday travel.
More than 1,800 flights canceled again today following days of disruptions. We have a team covering this, all tracking the latest winter weather developments. But let's begin in Buffalo New York.
CNN's Polo Sandoval is there.
Polo, we've been checking in with you all day. Last time we spoke, we did see some trucks on the road. What's the latest there?
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. We showed you in the last hour those plow trucks, there definitely is more of that activity today. That's because that snowfall has finally held up.
It does kind of change when that snow band slowly shifts northward over Lake Erie, but it's still certainly not compared to what we experienced Friday and Saturday with the blinding conditions, those whiteout conditions.
But now, this is what many of the streets look like in and around downtown Buffalo. It's the suburban areas outside of the city that officials are really focusing on, sending those Public Work crews, too, so that they can begin to help folks basically leave their homes.
You see there are many people that have been stuck there since Friday, Paula, and there perhaps, we can call them the lucky ones. You still have folks who have been stranded in cars for the last two days, according to officials here on the ground that they're trying to get to.
Off in the distance, you can kind of see the overpass, let's get to some video that our colleague Tom Jurich (ph) actually was able to capture earlier. You can actually see what the situation looks like right now from overhead, and I have to tell you, it is good to see very few vehicles out there on the road right now.
The few vehicles that we have seen, mostly, have been either emergency responders or essential personnel. You see that driving ban, those restrictions, those are still in place right now. They are hopeful that they could perhaps reassess the situation tomorrow, but priority number one right now is to get aid to some of those folks who are stranded in vehicles and really see who needs help in their homes, especially with tens of thousands of power outages already recorded, and at least seven deaths confirmed here in Erie County alone. Back to you.
REID: Polo Sandoval, thank you for your reporting this Holiday weekend. And earlier, I spoke with New York Governor Kathy Hochul about the
rescue and recovery efforts underway in her State and the danger many are still facing.
Here is some of what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. KATHY HOCHUL (D-NY) (via phone): Well, I'm a lifelong Buffalonian. I've lived through every main blizzard of the last six years, and for a city with the reputation for epic snowstorms, this is the worst of the worst and there are many reasons, we'll analyze the impact of climate change but what we're seeing is extreme weather getting even extremer, flooding from Lake Erie, the frost and the freeze that came out so quickly, the amount of snow.
Literally, five weeks ago we had a least a four or five-day event where we had record amount of snow, the most amount of snow ever to fall in the State of New York in a 24-hour period had hit one month ago. It seems like every month we're having to break a new record, so it is extreme. It is dangerous and it is deadly.
REID: What is the biggest challenge that you are facing right now in this area?
HOCHUL: Two major problems. One is, we have hundreds of National Guardsmen and women ready to come in. We have 200 on the ground now, I need several hundred more. They get stuck themselves.
[15:05:09]
HOCHUL: We've had to have rescues for the National Guard and our ambulances and our fire trucks and our State Police, they also fall prey to the zero visibility, the blowing snow drifts, and it is dangerous for anyone to be on the road. So, we are -- we've overcome a great deal. We've had hundreds of rescues of people from vehicles.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Cold whether or not, Christians in Upstate New York are still celebrating the Christmas season. The Catholic Diocese of Buffalo celebrating a virtual mass this morning. The local Bishop urged parishioners not to travel as the roads remain treacherous there from the ice and snow.
Instead the church live streamed the mass for all of those still wishing to attend.
So how long will this frigid air hang over the US? For that we go to CNN meteorologist, Britley Ritz. All right Britley, is warm up -- is it on the way?
BRITLEY RITZ, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it is and we're starting to notice it now. It's not as drastic as we'd like it to be or as quick as we'd like it to be, but it's on the way. Three degrees right now, at least we're above zero in Minneapolis
although it doesn't feel like it. When you factor in the wind, it feels like 10 below, that's your wind chill. Fourteen degrees in Columbus, finally. Getting closer to freezing in Atlanta, we've made it to 36 degrees just over freezing.
But the winds, when all of that is factored in, you get what it feels like and we have wind gusts up in Watertown, New York of 43 miles per hour. Down in the south, where we still have freeze warnings -- hard freeze warnings in effect for parts of Southern Georgia, as well as Alabama back into the Florida Panhandle, temperatures are expected to drop back into the upper 20s later tonight and tomorrow morning. But for now, since we picked up some sunshine today, Jacksonville at 47 degrees at the moment.
High temperatures today, all across the Ohio Valley back into the Tennessee Valley below freezing, but we get down into the south where we've had some sun and where of course, it is always a little bit warmer; Dallas we are at 50 degrees.
It's cold. We have that northerly wind pushing down from Canada, but we're waiting for that warm front and that is what is going to bring us above average moving into Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and temperatures are expected to climb back up into the 60s in places like Atlanta. But again, we are still dealing with the snowfall across the Great Lakes as the cold air rushes over the warmer waters.
This is Watertown, New York where Blizzard Warnings are still in effect -- Paula.
REID: All right, Britley Ritz, thank you.
Let's check in with CNN's Carlos Suarez. He is at Atlanta's Hartsfield Jackson International Airport.
Carlos, we have checked in with you a few times. Is it still a not so Merry Christmas down there in Atlanta?
CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, that's an understatement. There is a mix of frustration and at this point, just desperation for a lot of passengers out here and you can get a good sense of that.
There have been 228 flights that have been canceled out of Hartsfield Jackson International Airport. The busiest line at this hour is the rebooking counter. Here at the Delta terminal, hundreds of passengers have been lined up for hours now trying to see just when they might be able to get onto another flight.
At this point, everyone has all but given up hope that they're going to be home for any of the Christmas Holiday. They're just trying to see if they're going to be able to get onto a flight at this point, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.
Now when we're talking about the overall number of canceled flights across the US, well, that number is quite high. We are looking at several thousand flights and nearly 5,000 delays across the US because of this bad weather. We caught up with one passenger who told us at this point, he is so desperate to get home, he is going airline by airline just to see when he might be able to get rebooked.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK BLUMSTEIN, TRAVELER: We were supposed to fly out of Denver this morning on Frontier, the flight was canceled. Now, we're trying to go to every airline counter possible to see if we can get out.
Today is supposed to be an easy travel day. It turned out not to be so.
SUAREZ: What's your backup plan?
BLUMSTEIN: Stay in Atlanta, unfortunately.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SUAREZ: Just a difficult day for folks out of this airport. Atlanta right now is leading the country with the number of total canceled flights again, 228 flights out of Atlanta have been canceled and well over 1,800 across the US as this cold weather has not only moved in, set in, but now of course, the airlines are trying to work through the backlog of all of these passengers -- Paula.
REID: Carlos Suarez, thank you so much.
Let's face it, if you're traveling on this Holiday weekend, you're likely under some stress. So let's get some advice from an expert on how to avoid a Holiday travel nightmare as this winter storm continues.
With me now, Clint Henderson, Managing Editor at The Points Guy.
all right, Clint, first I want to get your reaction to this giant travel mess. When can we expect this to begin to clear up?
[15:10:09]
CLINT HENDERSON, MANAGING EDITOR, THE POINTS GUY: So Mother Nature gave us a really bad blow this Christmas. We do not like the present that was under the tree, which was this huge storm. The good news is it looks like it's starting to get better the next couple of days.
So, you know, the worst of the cancellations and delays were actually a couple of days ago and it has gotten slightly better since then. That said, this is the biggest meltdown we've seen since the summer. In some places, it was much worse than this summer. So, that just tells you the scale of what we see what we've seen this week for Christmas, a lot of people spending the night in airports.
REID: Today's pictures of these poor folks trying to catch some Z's at the airport, what are some things you can do if you're already at the airport and you see your flight is canceled?
HENDERSON: So you should go to the airport with a backup plan, so know what other airlines operate your route. One of the people that you've talked to earlier said he was going airline to airline to see if he can get rebooked, and that's sort of what you have to do. But there are tricks that you can do to minimize that.
First of all, have the airline app installed on your phone. Sometimes you can rebook yourself using the airline app. Follow them on social media so you want to make sure you can direct message them. Sometimes they'll answer you that way, when they don't pick up the phones, like when it's a big meltdown, like we're seeing right now.
Run to the lounge. If you have lounge access, this is the time to use that. Sometimes those agents are empowered to help you. Some airports even have little minute suites where you can get a few winks of sleep if you're stuck there. So check all those things out.
But go in with a backup plan. You really need to know what are the carriers up in your route, if you can take a train, if there are hotels in the area, you could potentially stay at if you get stuck. So have the plans in your back pocket.
REID: And some airlines are offering waivers, so what is a waiver? And what do people need to know about these before accepting them?
HENDERSON: Yeah, I will say the airlines have gotten much more proactive in offering weather waivers. That basically means that they will put you on a competitor's flight. They will let you rebook yourself for days in the future with no charge fees, no change fees, no change of ticket fees. So that's the good news.
The bad news is if it's a weather waiver, that means the airline is saying it's an act of God and they're not required to compensate you. They're not required to put you up at a hotel or give you a food voucher.
Now you can always ask, and this is where if you have Elite Status, that sometimes helps you. It never hurts to ask, but just realize that the airlines don't necessarily have to compensate you. But if you booked with the right credit card, sometimes the credit card will reimburse you for those charges.
So be sure you're booking your trips with a credit card that has those kind of insurance benefits.
REID: It's a great point.
Now, we've seen these insane lines at the airport for days. What's your best advice for not getting trapped in one of those lines?
HENDERSON: So you want to have the airline app installed on your phone. As I mentioned, direct message them on Twitter or Instagram, but another thing that you can do is try to find the toll-free number for an overseas division of the airline. Sometimes you can get through to the Australia call center, for example, if the call centers in the United States are overwhelmed, so that's my little hack there.
REID: That's a great little hack. Clint Henderson, thank you so much.
HENDERSON: Merry Christmas.
REID: In just a matter of days, Republicans will take control of the House, and they're already out with some of their plans, setting the stage for tense clashes in a divided Congress, what you can expect next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:16:21]
REID: The New Year will bring a new Congress to Capitol Hill.
Just over a week from now, on January 3rd, Republicans will take control of the House. That is the first day of the new Congress and also when lawmakers will decide who will be Speaker of the House.
CNN political commentator and Republican strategist, Alice Stewart joins us now.
Alice, thank you for joining us on Christmas.
Let me know, will the GOP's Kevin McCarthy be able to pull off a win outright to become Speaker? Or do you predict a floor fight?
ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, Paula, that's the great question. And right now, it looks as though he is going to have more of a challenge than he initially thought. He is still trying to garner support to get the necessary 218 votes, which is critical.
But there is a very vocal group of Republicans in the House that are really making their desires known to him and are not afraid to speak out publicly. And one of the key provisions they would like to see added to the provisions is the opportunity for them to allow the Speaker to vacate when it suits their purposes. It looks as though that might be a provision that he's going to have to concede in order to get their support.
And the bad thing is, these people are really doing a lot of disservice to the Republican Party. Republicans across the country rally together to get control in the House, and now, it's like the dog that chased the car, we've got the car and they're not really ready to drive the car down the road in a successful way, and this is harmful for a lot of reasons there.
Without a designated Speaker, it makes it much more difficult to hire staff and form Committees, so many very strong conservative voices are critical of the naysayers saying that they are really harming the process.
So hopefully, they will get on board behind Kevin McCarthy so he can move forward with a strong commitment he has to the American people in his commitment to America, which I think is a great way to get off on the right foot for Republicans and in his commitment to America, he has really outlined his priorities, which is to get America's economy in order, really address inflation, as well as making sure that our communities are safe, making sure that Americans have freedom and also a government that is more accountable.
So Kevin McCarthy is committed to that and I would like to see Republicans get behind him, have him be Speaker so he can really follow through with that promise.
REID: Well, as Republicans have said for a while now, that they will launch investigations specifically in to the President's son, Hunter Biden and his business dealings.
What do you think Republicans stand to gain out of those investigations?
STEWART: Well, a lot of that is just vendettas that a lot of Republicans have. Look, Republicans need to go into the New Year and legislate and not investigate. Many have voiced concerns about the former President Biden's son, and we will look into that. There is no question about that.
There are also some real valid oversight that they plan to look at and that is investigating the DOJ as well as the FBI. And this is, I think, important because this is not just Republicans saying let's look into these agencies. They are getting many, many whistleblower complaints from people within these agencies that have raised some serious concerns that do need to be looked into, and that is part of the oversight process.
And look, oversight is one of the key functions and responsibilities of Congress and specifically the House in power, but I'm just hoping that they spend more time on legislation for the American people as opposed to investigations, but at the same time, I know they can walk and chew gum at the same time and deliver the results for the American people while they are also looking into issues that they think are important.
[15:20:05]
REID: Well, the incoming House Oversight Chair, James Comer is seeking testimony from Twitter employees who oversaw how "The New York Post" Hunter Biden laptop story played out on their platform. But as you said, is this where the party should be focused considering issues like inflation and immigration policy? Or should they be focusing more on legislating?
STEWART: The absolutely should be focusing more on legislating. But look, there are different Committees and different assignments for the various different Members of Congress and certainly a large group and consensus of Republicans can look into Twitter, can look into Hunter Biden, can look into the FBI and the DOJ, but the majority of Republicans, the ones I'm speaking with, the rational, commonsense, Republicans are really eager to roll up their sleeves and really address the economy, inflation, crime that is rampant across the country, and delivering on the promises that they were elected to do. People elected them to address the economy and financial issues that
are plaguing the American people and many that I'm speaking with, Paula, are looking forward to the opportunity to be in the majority and address those pressing issues.
REID: Also, I want to talk to you about something else we saw here in DC last night. A CNN crew watched more migrants being dropped off outside the Vice President's residence last night. It was bitterly cold here on Christmas Eve. Some of these people were just in t- shirts. What is your reaction to this?
STEWART: It is heartbreaking. It is a true humanitarian crisis that is now spilling over into the cities and States across the country, and this is what border states and border Towns have been dealing with for months, and it is a time for action. It is a time to first and foremost secure the border and also enforce our existing immigration laws.
And look, we're hearing from border state Governors, the Mayor of El Paso, who are saying, enough is enough. We need help. The Mayor of El Paso has asked for Federal assistance to help him.
Look, I'm not saying that dumping people out in the middle of the street in a freezing cold night is the answer. It is certainly not, but it does raise awareness to the crisis that many of these areas across the border deal with day in and day out, and the Customs and Border Patrol have reported record number of migrant encounters over the last several years, and something needs to be done. And first and foremost, securing the border is important.
And as Americans, as we look at these images that we're seeing these people put out across the country, I encourage people to look at the faith-based organizations and Red Cross that is offering the humanitarian assistance to these people and make sure that their short term needs are met with regard to making sure they have clothes and food.
And as you know, Paul, there are little kids out there and they are missing Christmas because of this. And I think, the more Americans can rally behind this from a humanitarian standpoint, to address the short-term needs is important. But ultimately, it's up to Congress to work together -- Republicans and Democrats -- to look at long term solutions to securing the border and addressing this humanitarian crisis of immigration at the border.
REID: Alice Stewart, thank you.
STEWART: Thanks, Paula. Merry Christmas.
REID: And thousands of migrants are gathering on the US-Mexico border where conditions are going from bad to worse amid the dangerously cold temperatures. CNN talks to one couple about their journey and why they are so determined to enter the US legally -- that's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) REID: Migrants in El Paso, Texas will see a cold Christmas day and
night. Without proper documentation, hundreds of migrants will not be allowed to make use of government-run shelters and will once again be forced to sleep on the streets in brutal temperatures.
CNN's Camila Bernal is following the story for us in El Paso.
Camila, many of the people spent the last night sleeping in below freezing temperatures. How are they doing today? What options did they have for shelter?
CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Paula. It is really not easy because a lot of them are having to sleep out on the street with as many blankets as possible using cardboard boxes to block out the wind. So very, very difficult circumstances.
But we're also seeing very happy children today on Christmas Day and that is thanks to the generosity of the people of El Paso. There was a Santa Claus that came around earlier in the morning and even just regular people from El Paso who decided that they wanted to bring toys. So many of the children just receiving a number of toys and are able to play with them as we speak.
They got soccer balls and basketballs and they're bouncing them around, kicking them around. The girls got doll, and the girls just playing together with their stuffed animals or their dolls. And all of that is thanks to the people of El Paso.
A lot of the mothers here telling me, look, we would have never been able to give our children this for Christmas in our countries, in Venezuela, for example. I spoke to a father who told me instead of going up to Santa to ask for presents, I asked for a selfie because his child is still in Venezuela and he said, I took that picture with Santa and sent it to my seven-year-old in Venezuela telling him that Santa was in the US. So Santa may take a little bit longer to get to Venezuela.
He promised a bike and said that when he gets a job here in the US, he is going to get his son that bike.
So unfortunately, a lot of these stories and you see it out in the street, you see the desperation. You see how difficult their days are. They say they don't want to stay here. They don't want to be sleeping out on the street. They want a future in this country. That's what many of them will tell you when you talk to them.
But of course, the resources here are running out. The shelter here doing everything they can to house as many people as possible, especially at night, because a lot of these people don't have the proper documentation to go to the city-run shelters and so their only option is this, a nonprofit and thankfully, they are receiving a lot of that help from the locals -- Paula.
REID: Camila Bernal, thank you for your reporting on this Christmas. We appreciate it.
For the migrants who are waiting in line, this is the final step in a very long, very dangerous ordeal.
CNN's David Culver spoke to some Venezuelan migrants who are stuck the Southern border.
[15:30:02]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): There are those who cross illegally, streams of people, every day, every hour and then there are those who watch, wait, and face the unknown here.
Here in Ciudad Juarez, this is what the US looks like for Ulexi Fernandez (ph) and Lucy Bastillas (ph).
(WOMEN speaking in foreign language.)
CULVER (voice over): "We're not criminals. We are good people," they stress.
The two met while serving in the Venezuelan military. In October, they started their trek North fleeing political turmoil. Hiking through jungles, rafting murky waters, riding a train from on top.
So close to their final destination until policy and this halt their journey.
Before Sunrise Tuesday, we watch as Texas law enforcement mobilize sealing off this popular access point to American soil. One of the State's efforts to stop the flow of migrants. But it only reroutes them a short distance down river creating a new bottleneck of illegal crossings, and a tense standoff.
The setting sun ushers in freezing temperatures. By nightfall, migrants settle in on the US side of the river building campfires to keep warm. Hours later, some rush another border entry point about a mile away.
Under Title 42, they can still be immediately expelled on the grounds of COVID prevention. Lucy and you Ulexi determined to enter legally.
(ULEXI FERNANDEZ speaking in foreign language.)
CULVER (voice over): She wants to do it the right way, she tells me, and knows exactly where she wants to go.
(ULEXI FERNANDEZ speaking in foreign language.)
CULVER (voice over): Far from their Big Apple dreams, unable to return home, stuck in international purgatory.
"I'm here with my partner," she says. Discriminated against they say because they are migrants, they are women and they are a couple. To be safe, they avoid public displays of affection and travel in groups.
Another reason they want to get to the other side -- (ULEXI FERNANDEZ speaking foreign language.)
CULVER (voice over): "When we're there, we are going to help all of our family," she says.
The very mention of family triggers emotions Lucy has carried since leaving Venezuela. Lucy missing her mom and siblings. Ulexi, her 10- year-old daughter.
We hurry across traffic about a half mile from where we first met the couple and arrive at this local shelter. With nowhere else to go, families line up hoping to escape the freezing cold.
(DAVID CULVER speaking in foreign language.)
CULVER (voice over): Lucy and Ulexi among the fortunate. This is home, at least for now. They meet some of their new friends, fellow migrants from all backgrounds.
(WOMAN speaking in foreign language.)
TRANSLATION: Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, Haitians.
CULVER (on camera): And how many people altogether are usually in here at night?
ELIAS RODRIGUEZ, DIRECTOR, HOPE CENTER SHELTER: Altogether, 135 has been our greatest number. We don't have the capacity for the demand.
CULVER (voice over): The church group that runs this shelter bolstered by locals donating their time and food and much like border cities in the US, Ciudad Juarez is feeling the strain from this migration surge.
(THOR SALAYANDIA speaking in foreign language.)
CULVER (voice over): "The city has always been very generous to migrants, but in this case with so many people, it is difficult. The city isn't prepared for this influx," he says.
Back in the shelter --
(ULEXI FERNANDEZ speaking in foreign language.)
CULVER (voice over): Ulexi struggles with having left her daughter behind, telling me, "I don't know when I can give her my love again because right now I'm just trying to provide for her."
(LUCY BASTILLAS speaking in foreign language.)
CULVER (voice over): Lucy saying, the hardest part in this moment right now is being so close and not being able to cross.
But echoing from their phone, a familiar song that chronicles a migrant's journey brings back smiles and hope.
(ULEXI FERNANDEZ AND LUCY BASTILLAS singing in foreign language.) TRANSLATION: Here I come. After a dream that I haven't achieved yet
that I haven't achieved yet.
(LUCY BASTILLAS speaking in foreign language.)
CULVER (voice over): "We're going to make it. We are going to make it," she says.
CULVER (on camera): And it's precisely because of Title 42 That Ulexi and Lucy want to avoid doing what the migrants you see behind me are doing, thousands of them turning themselves into US Customs Border Patrol so as to seek asylum, officially. But the problem that they would face under Title 42 is that as soon as they enter, they risk being deported to places much farther and much more dangerous.
David Culver, CNN, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
REID: David Culver, thank you.
And from incredible potentially life-saving discoveries to an outbreak of a virus this country hasn't seen in years, it has been an unbelievable year in health. We'll bring you the top stories from 2022, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:37:37]
REID: While coronavirus is no longer dominating all the headlines, 2022 brought new health challenges and achievements to the forefront.
CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta looks back at the Top 10 Health Stories this year.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: 2022 was a year where we began to really see the ripple effects of living through a pandemic. So while it's clear that COVID-19 is here to stay, other health issues began to take the spotlight once again. And some of it is very good news, starting with number 10 of our Top Health story.
More people are surviving cancer than ever before in the United States. In the past three years, the number of cancer survivors increased by more than a million. The big reasons why, a continued decline in smoking, and we are catching and treating cancer earlier as well, but there is still more to be done.
DR. WILLIAM DALNUT, CHIEF SCIENTIFIC OFFICER AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY: To know that nearly half the cancer deaths in the world could be prevented is just astounding.
GUPTA: A global study found that preventable risk factors like smoking, like drinking too much alcohol, high body mass index contributed to 44 percent of all cancer deaths in 2019.
Number nine, a new experimental Alzheimer's drug called Lecanemab appears to be one of the first to slow the progression of cognitive decline. Now the MAB stands for monoclonal antibody.
Lecanemab works by removing amyloid plaques from the brain. The buildup of this naturally occurring protein can block neural pathways, making it a hallmark of Alzheimer's. Researchers found that the drug eventually help reduce amyloid levels and slowed cognitive decline by 27 percent.
DR. BABAK TOUSI, CHIEF SCIENTIFIC OFFICER, AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY: That's maybe the first medication we have that has such a positive results so far, but we have to be cautious about it.
GUPTA: While the data is encouraging there, there were also some serious safety concerns in the Phase Three trial -- brain swelling and brain bleeding. Those are certainly things the FDA is going to evaluate if the drug comes up for approval.
Number eight: Mental health. In a CNN KFF poll this summer, 90 percent of adults said they believe there is a mental health crisis in the United States. In another survey, it found nearly one in four adults aged 18 to 44 were treated for mental health in 2021, reflecting an increased anxiety and depression during the pandemic.
[15:40:14]
GUPTA: Continuing concerns over mental health prompted the launch of a new three-digit National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Number, which is 9-8-8.
DR. CHRISTINE YU MOUTIER, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION: It really treats mental health on par with physical health, just like we have 9-1-1.
GUPTA: Number seven --
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: So we have big news today that is going to benefit as many as 30 million Americans.
GUPTA: Thanks to a long awaited rule change by the FDA, you can now buy over-the-counter hearing aids to help with mild to moderate hearing loss. Some doctors estimate that 90 percent of the population with hearing loss could benefit from these over the counter devices, and this move could also make them more affordable.
Number six: Between supply chain issues and investigation into bacterial contamination at a major manufacturing facility, parents around the country were frustrated as the baby formula shortage went on month after month.
COURTNEY HOUSTON, MOTHER: It is terrifying when that is the only true source of nutrition that your baby gets because it gets to the point where you go to a store and you almost cry. GUPTA: To help fill the empty shelves, the Biden administration
enacted Operation Fly Formula to bring in supplies from other countries. The FDA has also been working with foreign formula manufacturers to allow them to permanently sell their products in the United States.
Number five: A case of polio was identified this year in Rockland County outside of New York City, sparking major public health concerns.
DR. JOSE ROMERO, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL CENTER FOR IMMUNIZATION AND RESPIRATORY DISEASES: Finding polio in a country where we've had high levels of vaccination haven't seen polio cases for over 40 years is significant.
GUPTA: Additional polio virus was found in wastewater samples in two local counties in New York City, suggesting there was local circulation of the virus. Polio was considered eliminated in the United States, thanks to massive vaccination campaigns and the highly more than 99 percent effective vaccine.
The New York case was in an unvaccinated person and resulted in paralysis, which is a rare, but severe outcome of the disease.
Number four, life expectancy in the United States continue to drop. It went from 77 years to 76.4 years, which is the lowest it's been since 1996. COVID-19 was a driving factor, as well as drug overdoses, which were deadlier than ever.
ANNE MILGAM, DEA ADMINISTRATOR: It is being driven by fentanyl, which is the most deadly and addictive drug that is widespread in the United States right now.
GUPTA: Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids made up about two-thirds of overdose deaths, which claimed more than 106,000 lives.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's one of the last pictures of him. That's actually the shirt he died in.
GUPTA: Number three --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It started off with just a few lesions.
GUPTA: An outbreak of monkey pox later renamed M-pox put the US on its heels this year, prompting another public health emergency on top of COVID-19. Even though it doesn't spread as easily or as stealthily as COVID, cases of the disease climbed to almost 30,000, and the fact that it was spreading mostly among men who have sex with men meant public health officials had to battle stigma in addition to the virus itself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They do associate it with being a gay man's disease or a bisexual man's disease, which I think is not a great way to approach it because any disease can be anybody's disease.
GUPTA: While the vaccination campaign for M-pox got off to a frustrating start, it did eventually help get the outbreak under control.
Number two, the overturning of Roe v. Wade made reproductive healthcare in the United States complicated for patients and their providers.
DR. JILL GIBSON, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, PLANNED PARENTHOOD ARIZONA: When I signed up to become an obstetrician/gynecologist, it never occurred to me that there would be a possibility that I wasn't able to take care of my patients in the way I'm trying to do so.
GUPTA: The decision not only affected access to abortion, but to other medications and procedures as well.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: When a woman is walking around with a dead fetus for weeks because she can't get a surgical procedure, what's the danger to her?
DR. LILLIAN SCHAPIRO, OBSTETRICIAN-GYNECOLOGIST IN ATLANTA: She can develop an infection that can make her sterile and never able to have children again.
GUPTA: Public health agencies and medical groups worldwide spoke out against the ruling.
And number one --
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": This Holiday season, the best gift is truly a good health, a trifecta of viruses are spreading through the population.
GUPTA: COVID-19, the flu, and RSV -- three respiratory viruses all simultaneously circulating creating a triple threat.
The measures that help keep us safe from COVID-19 in the past two and a half years also did keep other viruses at bay, but this means that some people, especially the young children did not build up immunity to those viruses and that means they are getting hit harder this year.
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DR. PAUL OFFIT, VACCINE EDUCATION CENTER, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: I think now you may be seeing the result of that for all those winter respiratory viruses.
GUPTA: Hospitals are fuller than they have been throughout the entire pandemic. Public health officials are reminding people that the tools to fight COVID-19 like masks and washing, ventilation, can also help prevent other respiratory diseases as well.
But the most important message when it comes to vaccinations is the one that has remained.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: My final message maybe the final message I give you from this podium, is that please, for your own safety, for that of your family, get your updated COVID-19 shot as soon as you're eligible to protect yourself, your family, and your community.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
REID: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Thank you.
It's been an unpredictable and tumultuous year for Twitter. What's next for the company riddled with controversies and mounting scrutiny? That's next.
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REID: It has been a tumultuous year for Twitter to say the least. After much back and forth, Elon Musk bought the company, laid off thousands of employees and reframed how Twitter would do business.
Now, Twitter is trying to navigate its way through the firings of its Deputy General Counsel, and how it handled a Hunter Biden story during the 2020 election campaign. At the heart of the controversy is Twitter's decision in October 2020 to block users from sharing a "New York Post" story containing material from a laptop belonging to Hunter Biden.
Molly Jong-Fast joins me now. She is a special correspondent for "Vanity Fair." All right, Molly, thanks for being with us this Christmas. Tell me, did Elon Musk find a smoking gun when he looked into Twitter's files on how the Hunter Biden story was handled?
MOLLY JONG-FAST, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT, "VANITY FAIR": I mean, I think that Twitter sort of admitted they mishandled it. I mean, I think there was a lot of regret. Again, I'm not sure that the story of the son of the President's laptop is so explosive, but I do think that Elon has spent a lot of time on it, right?
He had a bunch of different writers release threads and threads and threads and a lot of writing on it. There were a lot of -- it was set up in a very salacious way. So, there was a lot of attention paid to it.
I didn't see anything that was so shocking. I mean, towards the end of these revelations about the FBI and perhaps, you know, there is a lot of like, very murky stuff that could have -- that may have been bad, and again, you know, the sort of military stuff. And, you know, again, I would say it was not the -- I mean, I'm curious to know all the other stuff, like I wondered about the other things we haven't seen that weren't released.
REID: And with the release of documents, so Twitter has recently fired. Deputy General Counsel, James Baker, of course, the former top FBI attorney was in regular contact with his former colleagues at the FBI. Is that part of what is fueling the conspiracies amid the company's critics?
JONG-FAST: I mean, it's not so unusual to have people from the government go and work in private companies. I'm not defending the FBI by any stretch of the imagination here. I think that the way it's set up, it's very salacious, the way they've been releasing the documents. But I'm curious to know, like, what was Twitter's relationship with all these authoritarian governments?
I mean, what were -- you know, what other things had they done? You know, I'm a little curious about the story. But I'm curious about everything else. Like if you're going to release all of Twitter's documents, why not release them all?
You know, I'm sure there's a lot of stuff there that doesn't pass the smell test. And so I would say I think it hurts him in a way because this is so clearly very partisan and I would be curious about, you know, even in some of the other threads, the writers will say, you know, well, there was -- this happened with both campaigns. So, I'd be curious to know what else they had.
REID: Yes, because of course, if you think back to 2016 and disinformation campaigns by foreign adversaries. These documents show Twitter was trying to root out foreign disinformation during the 2020 election. With Elon Musk now running the company, do you think that Twitter is more or less susceptible to these kinds of foreign disinformation campaigns?
JONG-FAST: I mean, I think we're going to have to see. Look, you know, this is not a great situation, I think, because he is so -- he seems very -- I think, he seems to have a horse in this race, right? You really want to see who just cares about getting information out there that is legitimate, you know, that doesn't let foreign actors get involved, that makes sure, you know, things that are trending are actually, like you know, pieces of news that are verified and not conspiracy theories.
I think it is really too soon to see, but he certainly has his finger on the scale and he has a political point of view, and I'm not sure that helps with the larger problems of content moderation.
REID: Well, I also want to ask you about an interview you did recently with Vice President Kamala Harris. What was your impression of how she navigated what was a very challenging year for this administration?
JONG-FAST: Well, I was interested in this that she was tasked with these root causes of migration from South America, which is a job that actually Biden had had had when he was Vice President. And so I was interested, we talked a lot about that and these three countries where most of the immigrants are coming from right now and the sort of climate crisis that these countries have had and how it has affected their farming.
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JONG-FAST: You know, these people are really desperate people and they are coming here because they don't have food. And so you know, trying to get to the bottom of these causes of migration is really quite an interesting and important job. I mean, you know, I think it's a work in progress.
REID: Molly Jong-Fast, thank you so much.
We'll be right back.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dionne Warwick, one of the great female singers of all time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dionne was the first African-American woman to win a Grammy in the pop category.
DIONNE WARWICK, SINGER: The music I was singing, there is nothing like anything that any of them were singing.
The legacy of my family -- music.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Dionne Warwick: Don't Make Me Over" premieres New Year's Day at nine on CNN.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: In his first Christmas message as reigning monarch, King Charles remembered his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth.
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KING CHARLES, UNITED KINGDOM: Christmas is a particularly poignant time for all of us who have lost loved ones. We feel their absence at every familiar turn of the season, and remember them in each cherished tradition.
In the much loved carol, "The Little Town of Bethlehem," we sing of how in thine dark street shineth the everlasting light.
My mother's belief in the power of that light was an essential part of her faith in God, but also her faith in people and it is one, which I share with my whole heart.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: The King went on to explain the both he and the Queen believe all people have the ability to express goodness and compassion to others. The King's Christmas message coming as the Royal family spends Christmas at Sandringham House for first time since 2019.
Today, they greeted well-wishers after attending Christmas Day church service.
I'm Paul Reid in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Thanks so much for joining me today. Have a very Merry Christmas.
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