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Brazil Begins Three Days Of Mourning In Memory Of Soccer Legend Pele; Italy Urging E.U. To Enforce COVID Restrictions On Travelers From China; How To Fix Your Personal Finances In The New Year. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired December 30, 2022 - 6:30   ET

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

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POPPY HARLOW, CNN HOST: Welcome back to CNN THIS MORNING. Coming up for us, what is driving health experts real concerns this morning that new COVID variants could be developing in China.

Also ahead, we'll take a closer look at the factors inside of Southwest Airlines meltdown.

Plus, some tips to fix your personal finances in the New Year.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: Also today, tributes are pouring in for the global face of soccer, Pele, Brazil's native son lost his battle with colon cancer yesterday at the age of 82. Brazil is observing a three- day period of national mourning leading up to his funeral that's expected to be next week.

Pele played in four World Cups. He's the only player in history to win three of them. But his legacy, as many of you know, stretches far beyond his trophy hall and remarkable goal scoring record. CNN's Julia Vargas Jones is live this morning for CNN.

Julia, I mean, this is just -- it's hard to really overstate his legacy. He was just the global face of soccer.

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN FIELD PRODUCER: He was, Kaitlan, and he was so much more than a soccer player, he was so much more than an athlete. He transcended sport. He was a towering figure in Brazil, a founding father of Brazilian identity. He was the first example that the country really had of Brazilian excellency. He showed all of Brazilians what we could strive to be and the recognition that we could get. And more than anything as a black man in the 1960s. Think about that.

The kind of example that he set to young, poor black children, looking up to him as a role model and thinking this is what I could one day become. And that is his true legacy. That is the most valuable part of his legacy is the reason why so many Brazilians are so sad, and are mourning his loss. COLLINS: Yes. He was such an inspiration. The New York Times had this great quote about how, you know, how he could -- everyone could identify with him essentially, if you were poor, if you were rich, if you lived in Brazil, if you weren't, he just had such -- this transcendent reach to so many people.

JONES: He really did. And, you know, he loved being in the limelight. He loved being that person. He loved paying attention to all of his fans. He was truly a natural in that role. And that's part of why I think he inspired so many people, and why so many people came out to say his goodbyes here at the hospital.

And it was so special, Kaitlan, to have his family share the last few moments of his life also being shared with the public. You know, it was a very public display, a very intimate moments over the last month that he's been here at hospital, Albert Einstein in some Sao Paulo, one of the best hospitals in the country.

We've been able to follow along. And his family was able to come from different parts of the country and even from abroad, over the span of the last the last 30 days, to spend the last few days with him in the hospital and even watch his last World Cup that even though Brazil did not end up winning, we did see the kind of emotion and commotion, that rawness that the sport can bring out in people.

We saw the celebrations in Argentina, right? That kind of emotion, that's what we expect to see here in Brazil in the next coming -- in the coming days, culminating on Monday morning with a public wake at his beloved Santos FC club in the stadium, a funeral fit for a king. Kaitlan.

COLLINS: Of course. Julia Vargas Jones, live in Sao Paulo. Thank you so much.

Up next, we're going to talk about a new warning that's coming from the CDC this morning about diabetes and how it could affect and have a surge among young people.

HARLOW: We are also live in South Korea this morning as the country restricts travelers from China because of the latest COVID surge there.

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HARLOW: Welcome back to CNN THIS MORNING. So Italy is urging members of the European Union to follow its lead and mandate COVID testing for all passengers from China. This after half of the passengers on two flights from China to Milan tested positive for the COVID virus. Half of them.

But some countries in the E.U. are rejecting that recommendation like Germany and France, Spain, those supports it. Paula Hancock joins us from Seoul this morning in South Korea.

So there's a ban there now, and China, as I understand, it is issuing a new response. Is that right?

PAULA HANCOCK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Yes, Poppy. We've had a couple of comments from Chinese officials today. And they are hitting back at all these restrictions that we see popping up around the world saying that they are transparent with data than they shouldn't. Health Commission saying they're truthful, open, and transparent.

The top epidemiologist in Beijing, as well, saying that there is no secrecy pointing out that they have been doing genome tracing and sequencing. And they see that they have nine strains of Omicron. The same as is swirling around the world at this point and say that they're sharing this information with the World Health Organization. It's not something that many countries including the United States, necessarily adhere to. They don't necessarily believe there is enough transparency in the data coming out.

[6:40:04]

We did hear though from the global virus database, GISAID, that they have been seeing more genome tracing being uploaded by China. And as of now, what is swirling around in China appears to be from the information they have the same variants that are around the world, Poppy.

HARLOW: Can you speak to the level of concern among people in Seoul right now given sort of this really surprising, opening up of China and the amount of COVID spread out of the country?

HANCOCK: Well, if you take yourself back to February 2020, South Korea was one of the first and the hardest hit after China.

HARLOW: Right.

HANCOCK: So there is a lot of concern. And in fact, the government put more restrictions in place just today saying not only would they do the testing that many countries around the world, including the U.S. are signing up to, but they've gone one step further. They have said that they will stop issuing short-term visas in their consulates in China, at least until the end of January.

So not only are they trying to make sure whoever comes into South Korea is tested before and after arrival, technically, and effectively, they're trying to stop some people even coming here, Poppy.

HARLOW: Paula, thank you for the reporting from Seoul. Kaitlan.

COLLINS: Well, as we head into the New Year, public health and infectious disease experts here in the United States are monitoring the global landscape for new COVID variants. The concern is growing as cases have been surging in China, as Paula was just noting. It has drastically eased those strict COVID rules.

There have been no reports of a new variant to date, a variant of significant concern, I should note, but China has long been accused of not being forthcoming about the virus. That's what's prompting this concern.

As you all know, it was just a year ago, the Omicron variant was taking off. So let's talk about this with CNN's senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen.

Elizabeth, what are officials watching for and just how concerned they are about seeing another Omicron, or another variant like that that's highly contagious, that maybe could develop in China, go to other countries, or of course, wherever we could see it on this global landscape?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So, Kaitlan, here's the worry. The worry is that you have this very large population in China, where they really tried to limit exposure for, you know, a very long time. They had a vaccination program, but the vaccine they used there is of questionable efficacy, and then all of a sudden, you lift those restrictions.

So what happens? Viruses love a population like this, they can go crazy in a population like this. They can multiply, multiply, and multiply among people who haven't naturally been exposed to COVID. And that's when you get variants. Is that definitely going to happen? Are we going to get some horrific variants out of this situation? Who knows? The key here is surveillance. It's so important. We heard Paula talking about it just now.

Let's take a look at the number of sequences that have been shared by three different countries, because the way this works is countries do their own surveillance. And they say, hey, we have this variant that variants, and we're going to post this on this public, you know, website that everybody can see.

So the U.S. in the past six months has posted more than 576,000 sequences to say, hey, here's what we're seeing, world, we're sharing it with you. The U.K. has posted more than 123,000. China has posted 412. And China is bigger than either of those two countries. So that is the concern, is that there's not enough surveillance and something could pop up and the world would not have enough warning.

COLLINS: Yes.

COHEN: Kaitlan, Poppy?

HARLOW: And in order to tweak a vaccine to address a new variant, you have to know there's a new variant, right? I mean, that's also part of it.

I'm just interested, the U.S. now, the requirement is that you test 48 hours before getting on a plane from China to come here, right? But, but what about what happens in those 48 hours --

COHEN: That's right.

HARLOW: -- and that starting and on the plane?

COHEN: Right. So that's what starting January 5th, is that all passengers from China, even if you're a U.S. citizen, you've got to have a negative PCR or antigen test within. And that test has to be within two days before your departure.

But you're right, Poppy, it is not foolproof. If you took that test two days before and on a day before you get exposed and infected, that's a problem. If you get infected on the plane, that's not going to be picked up.

So what the CDC is doing is at several airports in the U.S., they're saying, hey, voluntarily, when you land, will you come in and be sequence? Like, well, what can we swab you to see if you have COVID? And if so, what variants you might have. It's voluntary, but that's sort of the second step here. But you're right, this is not foolproof at all.

COLLINS: Yes, voluntary. We'll see how many people do it. How many people actually want to do that.

Elizabeth, also the CDC is saying this morning on a topic that's really important. There is new research about the threat of diabetes to young people something that, you know, I think a lot of young people don't think is something they have to be worried about. But the CDC says this should be a wakeup call. What are they -- what are they warning about?

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COHEN: Kaitlan, when you see these numbers, you'll see exactly what they're worrying about. These numbers are really quite stunning, so the CDC did a forecast looking at, well, how many cases of diabetes they expect to see?

So let's go backward first. In 2017, there were 213,000 cases of diabetes approximately in the United States, among people under the age of 20. What the forecast of the prognosis is 526,000 in the year 2060. That is, obviously, a huge jump. It is largely driven by type 2 diabetes, not by type 1.

And so the concern here is that things are going to get worse. And, of course, when you have diabetes, you're much more prone to complications from other diseases such as heart disease. And a largely this is a concern about obesity in the United States, because that, of course, makes you more vulnerable to type 2 diabetes. So the plan here is that something needs to be done so that these numbers don't come true, essentially. Kaitlan, Poppy.

HARLOW: And it comes up that news we were talking about earlier this week about Ozempic. Something used to treat now in short supply as well.

Elizabeth, thanks very much.

This morning, House Democrats are set to release former President Trump's federal income tax returns. What can you expect? That's ahead.

COLLINS: We're also getting tips on how to reset your finances in the New Year. This is your New Year's resolution. The editor-in-chief of investopedia.com, Caleb Silver, is going to join us with some, hopefully, very helpful tips.

HARLOW: And there's Fig [ph], our producer.

COLLINS: Fig's getting to chat him up.

HARLOW: Fig's getting tips in advance.

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COLLINS: Your New Year's Eve celebrations might not go as planned as rain is expected on both the East and West coast. Our meteorologist Chad Myers is in the weather center. Chad, if you're going out for New Year's, you're going to need an umbrella?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm afraid so. New York and L.A. and probably Las Vegas as well. You'll need some skis or snow shovels up in Park City, but temperatures really are mild compared to what I've seen here across some of these areas for New Year's Eve even 51 with rain showers in New York.

Yes, take the poncho, you can take an umbrella. Even for L.A., we are going to see showers. We are going to see good snow though in the Sierra. Also, good snow Park City. And in Aspen could see 6 to 10 inches of new snow for your Sunday skiing.

So, yes, it's going to be wet. And, yes, we're going to see this rain across parts of New York by Saturday, 6:00 o'clock, it's raining. And even at midnight, I think Andy and Anderson will probably be getting wet in New York.

Back out to the West though, I think L.A. by about 10:00 o'clock at night, your rain begins to taper off. Now there's going to be a lot of rain, one to two inches of rain, and probably five to six inches of, in fact, snow in parts of the Rockies and five or six feet of snow in the Sierra.

But at least it's all blue and not white, which means we aren't going to see any snow across parts of the Northeast that obviously has been very mild from Buffalo to New York and even in Boston. Rain showers in 50. OK. I think that's better than a blizzard in, you know, and 10 for New York City.

COLLINS: Yes. I guess so. We'll see how all those umbrellas fit in Times Square tomorrow night.

HARLOW: Yes. But I bet Andy and Anderson have like very fashionable raincoats.

COLLINS: Of course, they probably have the best rain coats.

HARLOW: Like silver, like you're awesome skirt.

COLLINS: I'll lend it to them. Chad Myers, thank you so much for that update.

HARLOW: So thanks, Chad.

2022 difficult year for many people for many reasons, but especially on the economic front inflation, rising interest rates possible looming recession. But we have help from our next guests and key steps you can take to prepare your finances in the New Year.

We're so happy to have Caleb Silver, editor-in-chief of Investopedia with us. Good morning.

CALEB SILVER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, INVESTOPEDIA.COM: Good to be with you.

HARLOW: Debut on CNN THIS MORNING.

SILVER: Nice to be here. Thank you.

HARLOW: Welcome back to the fam.

SILVER: Good to be here.

HARLOW: So, I think people do think like, oh, like we talked about the price of eggs all the time. They're so expensive to talk about.

COLLINS: It's all I heard about when I was in for Christmas.

HARLOW: In Alabama, same in Minnesota. I feel it in Brooklyn. We feel like we can't do anything and we're just doomed with what's going on, but we're not.

SILVER: We're not, but inflation at a 40-year high. Not easy for anyone, especially lower income folks. And we're going to have inflation this year in 2023. It's going to come down a little bit. When we've had that, and we've had rising interest rates. Very new dynamic for people that haven't experienced this for investors.

A very challenging year. Here we are the final trading day of the year. We're down about 20 percent. That's a bear market. We were down as much as 25 percent as that has taken a hit to people's 401(ks), people have felt it across their own personal economies.

COLLINS: Yes, and I think one thing people do around this time of year is they're making New Year's resolutions. I want Poppy to tell me hers later, is kind of assess their finances and their inventory and what that looks like.

What do you think are like the top three things that people should be looking at if their New Year's resolution is to get a better hold and grip on their economic and their finances?

SILVER: You have to take that inventory. We don't think you should do it once a year, but you might as well do it now with your family. Where's the money coming in from? Where is it going out? Where are you paying too much money for? Can you cancel some subscriptions? Do you have enough cash reserves? Maybe a recession coming our way in 2023. A lot of folks feel like we've been in one since 2020, especially lower income folks, but you got to prepare for that and that means canceling all those subscriptions.

You don't need paying down that high interest debt in --

COLLINS: I just did that on my iPhone.

SILVER: You got to reset yourself for the New Year because it's going to be challenging.

HARLOW: What is -- OK. I know it's different like enough cash for a family like with little kids, like, we have -- you have teenagers now, is different than someone who's single. But what is enough cash on hand? What do you mean?

SILVER: We used to say three months of savings. Now, we say at least six months of savings, potentially, especially going into a year where we may have a real economic downturn. I see unemployment rise, so we'd like to see people holding a little bit more cash going into the year.

But the good news, with all these rising interest rates, you're finally getting a little bit money from the banks. You're getting money out of C.D.s, money market funds, a little bit more in savings.

HARLOW: Certificates of deposit.

SILVER: Their boring is back and these are finally giving into you.

HARLOW: Boring is back, didn't they -- we hear brick and mortar is back. What else did we hear, open and said print is back.

COLLINS: I'm paying for it. I go to stores and I heard it on news all the time. OK. So when you say six months of savings, what does that look like? Those are all the things you must pay each month and you have six months of that stockpiled?

SILVER: Yes. There -- in case you potentially lose your job or you to lose some source of income or a family member loses it, you want to have that money for any emergency medical expenses, but we still have inflation hovering around a 40-year high so prices are going to keep going up. We'd like to see people have a little bit of a cash cushion.

[6:55:12]

But more importantly, because interest rates are going to keep rising, pay down that high interest debt if you can, especially those credit card. Credit card APRs, those have gone up to about 20 percent. Now, on average, the highest number on record for credit card APRs. And debt is about $9,000 per borrower

HARLOW: Before you go, quickly, the kicker -- the terms that the people are searching most on Investopedia.

SILVER: Yes. We've had a crazy year where people have been looking up all kinds of things in the economy. So we had the top 10 from poison pill. Thank you, Elon Musk, when he tried to take on Twitter.

COLLINS: Poison pill?

SILVER: Poison pill. Top term of the year recession, that's going to be a factor next year, hostile takeover. There's the list there. But there have been some incredible terms. People have been looking at the federal funds rate, really getting into the personal economy trying to understand not just inflation, but core inflation, capitulation, that's when you just throw in the towel, a very fascinating list. And 2023 is going to be fascinating as well.

HARLOW: What's petrodollars?

SILVER: Petrodollars is company -- countries like Ukraine and Russia that deal in fossil fuels. Petrodollars is really the oil economy, and the countries that participate in and people were looking that up when Russia invaded Ukraine. Remember, oil prices were up over $125 a barrel back in February of last year.

COLLINS: What's not on there?

HARLOW: Bitcoin or crypto.

COLLINS: Oh, that's interesting.

SILVER: No. A lot of people stopped thinking about it or didn't want to think about it. And the big question for 2023, is trust going to be restored to cryptocurrency? We'll have to see.

HARLOW: Not sure. Thank you, Caleb.

SILVER: Thank you.

COLLINS: Thanks.

HARLOW: Anderson and Andy are back for another global celebration. Join them New Year's Eve live from Time Square starting 6:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. Don will join them on the show as well. They'll be live from New Orleans.

COLLINS: All right. Also this morning on the global front. Ukrainian officials say that they have shot down more than a dozen Iranian made drones that are being launched by Russia. We have New York Times reporting on how the United States is stepping in.

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COLLINS: Some people are going to be celebrating New Year's Eve tomorrow, but for the rest of us, it's a big weekend for college football as the college football playoff is finally upon us. I didn't even know that this was happening this year. I kind of thought we just postponed the whole thing and --

COY WIRE: I wonder why.

COLLINS: It was just like everyone's go home, we'll see you in the fall of 2023, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes. Kaitlan. Happy New Year's Eve to you. We talked a little football. The college football playoff semifinal happening tomorrow without Alabama, a big 10 -- big 12 showdown at four Eastern in the Fiesta Bowl with number two Michigan facing number three TCU. The Wolverines looking for their first national title since 1997. Their ground and pound powerhouse averaging more than 240 yards per game rushing. They go along with a top five brick wall defense that has to -- have they're going have to stop Heisman finalist quarterback, Max Duggan, for TCU. They're playing in their first-ever college football playoff appearance.