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CNN This Morning
Segun Oduolowu is Interviewed about the Awards; Ukrainian Military Destroys Attack Drones; Dr. Chris T. Pernell is Interviewed about a New Drug-Resistant Bacteria. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired February 27, 2023 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:00]
SEGUN ODUOLOWU, HOST, "BOSTON GLOBE TODAY": That for these actors, these actresses, and said, we don't need to conform to what has been offered us in the past. We will do dynamic roles and you're going to love it.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Segun, let's switch gears and talk about the NAACP Awards and the president award specifically given to Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union. And they took this moment in the spotlight to speak out about equality, to speak out about their daughter, Zaya, who just recently got her name changed, legally approved by a judge in California.
I want you to listen to what Gabrielle said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DWAYNE WADE, FORMER NBA PLAYER: Zaya, as your father, all I've wanted to do was get it right.
I admire how you've handled the ignorance in our world. I'm proud that I was chosen to stand in place as your father.
GABRIELLE UNION, ACTRESS: And now stands with us again, at the foot of a very new era of activism, a new era that demands our collective answer to one simple question, will we fight for some, or will we fight for all of our people?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: And I -- it reminded me of -- go ahead. Go ahead.
ODUOLOWU: No, I'm clapping because every time I hear that speech, I love it.
HARLOW: Yes.
ODUOLOWU: I'm a parent. I have a three-year-old daughter. And what it spoke to me were the two -- the two not polar opposite sides, but the two sides that need to come together when you are a parent.
Dwyane Wade spoke as a dad who is proud of the strength that his daughter has demonstrated to be herself, right? And he just wants to get it right. He wants to be an advocate for his daughter and learn and listen and do what his daughter needs.
But Gabrielle Union took a different tone. Hers was a call to action. And it needs to be a call to action. And I believe she was speaking directly to the NAACP, which stands for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. And that's all colored people. And LGBTQ Plus, especially transgender youth that are of color, face an uphill battle, they face death, they face persecution at a rate higher than their white counterparts. And when she says, are we going to stand for some or are we going to stand for all, it is the difference that -- it's the difference between saying, hey, we're going to push this agenda, you all stay over there in the corner.
And for me, as a dad, like, my job as a parent is to create a world where my daughter can sit at all tables, any table she wants to with her head held high. And I loved what Gabrielle Union said because that militant tone is what parents feel, especially parents of color, because there is a war going on outside and we have to fight it every day for our children so our daughters can parade these streets and I will be darned if anybody else is going to rain on them. My daughter is my sunshine, but I promise you, I will be that sunshine to shine away the clouds of anyone who says anything about my daughter whom environment she chooses to be. I love what Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union said.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: A model for all parents in supporting their children, especially members of the LGBTQ community and trans as well.
Listen, it shouldn't go unnoticed that Will Smith won the NAACP Award - Image Award over the weekend for "Emancipation." That's his first major award since, you know, the whole Oscar thing. What do you think this means to you? Is it a turning point? Have people forgiven him? What do you think?
ODUOLOWU: I think it was a powerful moment that lost a little bit of steam. I wish Will had been there to accept the award because he was receiving it from his community, right? The character of Will Smith, whatever you may feel about it, is immaterial to the character that he played on screen. OK, whipped (ph) Peter and the pictures that circulate of his mutilated and scarred back, right, changed the way a lot of America saw what slavery was. And so playing this character is important because it's - it's no a story that's told in the history books. And a lot of people didn't know it. So, you know, thank you, Will, for doing that.
Winning this award, like I said, had he been there, I believe he would have gotten a standing ovation because it would have been the first domino to say, regardless of what the rest of the world thinks about you, your community supports you because, think what you will, Will Smith is still a fantastic actor. He is a - he is a star, has been an a-list actor for a long time. He did his thing in this movie. And, yes, I just wish he had been there to receive the applause from people who are saying, we see you. You made a mistake. And maybe it's time for, you know, bygones to be bygones.
Chris isn't pressing charges. Him and Chris seem to have come to their own level of understanding. It will be up to the viewing audience to see if they are ready to, you know, forgive him as well.
[06:35:01]
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: That's a good point.
Segun, we love having you here in person. It's OK having you remotely. We'll see you soon, though. But thank you so much for joining us.
ODUOLOWU: All right. See you soon.
COLLINS: All right, also overnight, we're tracking what's happening in Ukraine. The Ukrainian air force there has shot down 11 Russian attack drones. Alex Marquardt is covering this for us live on the ground.
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Yes, coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, we are live here in eastern Ukraine with the latest of waves of Russian drone attacks that left at least two people dead overnight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: All right, welcome back.
Overnight, Ukrainian forces shot down 11 Russian attack drones, including nine in the airspace around Kyiv. At least two people have been killed and four others injured in a drone attack in Kaymalinski (ph), a city that's about 200 miles southwest of Kyiv. These attacks are coming as President Zelenskyy said in recent days he does still believe Ukraine can win the war this year as long as its allies remain united and continuing delivering weapons to Ukraine.
[06:40:11]
CNN's Alex Marquardt is live in eastern Ukraine, on the ground, tracking these attacks.
Alex, what are we seeing that's happening overnight and on the ground?
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Kaitlan.
Well, these 14 drones were these Iranian-made Kamikaze drones that were flown at two different cities in Ukraine overnight, Kaymalinski, which you mentioned. That's where at least two people died in a so- called double tap attack. They were first responders, responding to another drone strike when they were killed, three others were injured. Eleven of these drones were fired at Kyiv. At least nine of them shot down by air defenses.
But the sirens wailed for some five and a half hours because this was a multi wave attack. That is not normal. Normally these sirens go for a couple minutes, then are turned off. And it really speaks to the fact that in cities like this, where people are living relatively normal lives, they live under constant fear of these attacks. And it really does highlight the major security concerns around President Biden's trip to Kyiv last Monday.
COLLINS: Yes. And, of course, the fact that those are the Iranian made drones comes as we're having the broader discussion about maybe China potentially providing weapons to Russia.
Also, Alex, you know, we're hearing from Republican lawmakers who are being very critical of the White House because they have not sent the F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. President Biden actually weighed in on this to ABC News, and this is what he said about the idea of sending them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID MUIR, ABC NEWS: President Zelenskyy continues to say what he really needs are F-16s. Will you send F-16s?
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Look, we're sending him what our seasoned military thinks he needs now. He needs tanks. He needs artillery. He needs air defense, including another HIMARS. There's things he needs now.
MUIR: You don't think he needs F-16s now?
BIDEN: No, he doesn't need F-16s now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Alex, that's just something that Ukrainian officials flatly disagree with.
MARQUARDT: This is kind of like the debate over tanks, Kaitlan, where the U.S. said that Ukraine doesn't need M1 Abrams tanks but they decide to give them to Ukraine in the end so that the Germans would release those Leopard II tanks. The U.S. standing firmly behind that line of President Biden, that right now, in this fight, Ukraine does not need fighter jets. That right now the priority should be on artillery, on longer range rockets, on tanks. That fighter jets are not necessary for this fight. They're not ideologically opposed to sending fighter jets. In fact, I've been told that they wouldn't - it wouldn't bother them if other countries sent their fighter jets.
But, right now, the U.S. priority is on the ground fighting. That is a priority. Getting them stuff very quickly. And we are starting to see those shipments coming in. A major sticking point right now is over the ATACMS. Kaitlan, as you know, those are the longer range rockets that fly some 200 miles or 300 kilometers. Ukrainians saying they need those right now to hit Russian targets, to hit command posts, to hit ammunitions depots, supply lines, targets in Crimea. The U.S. has only sent rockets that go as far as 100 miles or 150 kilometers because there is a real American fear about provocation, about the fact that Russia would see those longer range rockets as an escalation.
Now, Ukraine, of course, disagrees. So that is a major sticking point between the U.S. and Ukraine.
Kaitlan.
COLLINS: Yes, certainly a point of contention.
Alex Marquardt, thank you. HARLOW: One of the things I thought was so interesting over the
weekend is how dismayed some in Congress were on both sides. Mike McCaul, on the Republican side. That the U.S. isn't even going as far as starting to train pilots on these F-16s. You remember that general told us it takes a year to learn.
COLLINS: Yes. I talked to a White House official about this and they said the idea that if they do train them on them, that basically that means they're going to give them to them because it's like, you're not going to train them on them and then say you're not going to give them the F-16 jets.
But, I mean, the other point, you know, to what Alex was saying is that the Ukrainian officials have said, you know, they believe they know better what they need and what they want, obviously.
COLLINS: They - they would know better is - is the -- is their position. And, you're right, what they say they need versus what the White House says they need is very different right now.
All right, let's take you and talk about SpaceX because they just scrubbed their launch to the ISS, the International Space Station, at the last minute. It was set to make history. This was a four person crew, including the first person from the UAE assigned to a long duration mission aboard the ISS. With about two minutes left on the clock, called off due to a problem with the ignition fluid, which is used to ignite the Falcon 9's rocket engines at liftoff. As long as they get this fixed, they will take off on March 2nd.
LEMON: Straight ahead, the new warning from the CDC about a bacteria that is resistant to drugs. Dr. Chris Pernell standing by with everything you need to know.
COLLINS: We're also tracking live pictures out of Norman, Oklahoma, one of my favorite places, this morning after at least one tornado touched down in the state.
[06:45:03]
We're going to have more on the devastating storm, what it looks like ahead there on the ground. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: That is our -- you just saw our office with the sun coming up behind us here in New York City. Welcome back to CNN THIS MORNING.
And listen to this, because there's a new and important warning from the CDC. An increase in infections with a drug resistant bacteria called Shigella. It can cause fever, abdominal cramping, even other severe gastrointestinal issues.
Let's talk about this with regent at large for the American College of Preventative Medicine, Dr. Chris Pernell.
Doctor, good morning. DR. CHRIS T. PERNELL, REGENT-AT-LARGE, AMERICAN COLLEGE OF PREVENTIVE
MEDICINE: Good morning.
HARLOW: I was just trying to ask you everything about this in the break. Like, does it affect kids? What does it mean? No antibiotic works.
[06:50:01]
What's going on?
PERNELL: Yes. So, Shigellosis, which is an infection with Shigella, typically infects children from the ages of one to four. But if you are an adult, which is a part of a vulnerable population, meaning you're living with HIV, you're immune compromised, you live in a close contact setting or you're a person experiencing homelessness, you have a higher risk of being infected by Shigella, and, in particular, with this extensively drug resistant version or strain that we're seeing right now.
HARLOW: Yikes.
LEMON: Shigella is nothing new.
PERNELL: No. No.
LEMON: I mean especially for people who are concerned about HIV and all of that. It's nothing new. But this is just a one that is more drug resistant, correct?
PERNELL: Definitely.
LEMON: Which is -
PERNELL: Which is very concerning, right?
LEMON: Yes.
PERNELL: Because in 2015, zero (ph) percent (ph) of Shigella infections were due to XDR, or extensively drug resistant Shigella. Now we see that with an uptick about 5 percent of those infections are due to this drug resistant form.
And with this drug resistant form, you have such antimicrobial resistance that we have no clear recommendation around a treatment paradigm that would effectively prevent if you had severe complications. Otherwise, it's usually a self-limited infection and you just do oral rehydration.
COLLINS: The other thing we wanted to ask you about this is in this new at-home test that's for flu and Covid, which is a thing that we've seen seeing people testing for, especially now that people are back out, you're not seeing as much mask wearing, people are traveling and what not.
PERNELL: Yes. COLLINS: How -- the FDA has authorized this at-home test now. How accurate do they seem to be?
PERNELL: So, these tests are pretty accurate, Kaitlan. The best way for people to understand it, if it's testing for influenza type A, it's nearly 99 percent effective at identifying a negative result, it's 90 percent effective at identifying a positive result. If it's looking at the Covid-19 samples, that effectiveness is about 100 percent effective at identifying a negative result and 88 percent effective at identifying a positive result. So, that's good.
So, think about that. You're at home. You can purchase this test over- the-counter. Where during the flu season you have these upper respiratory systems. You don't know if it's Covid or you don't know if it's the flu. This is a great way for a person to be able to tell.
COLLINS: But they're pretty expensive right now, right?
PERNELL: Yes, they are, right, and so that's the concern around accessibility. It's good that something is over -
COLLINS: What, $72.
PERNELL: Yes. It's good that something's over-the-counter, but if it's out of your price range, then effectively it's not available to you.
LEMON: Only from the manufacturer's website to -
PERNELL: Yes.
LEMON: It's - look, I take a test almost every day and so I - oh, great, I'm good, I don't - but it could be -
HARLOW: But we thank you for that.
LEMON: But it could be flu.
PERNELL: Yes.
HARLOW: Yes.
LEMON: It could be -- you could have strep. You could have a number of different things that you don't test for.
PERNELL: Right. It could be the common cold, right?
LEMON: Right.
PERNELL: So, that's what I also tell -
LEMON: It usually is, right?
PERNELL: That's what I also tell people. What's really good about this, Don, though, if you have this test and you're able to say, OK, this is flu, then you can get appropriate treatment for flu, or you can help to prevent the spread of flu, as opposed to, if it is Covid, you can get appropriate treatment for Covid and go into quarantine or isolation. So that's why it's important for us, in the United States, to have more at home rapid tests, such as these available. In Europe, can you test the difference between RSV, flu or Covid. So, we're a little bit behind the game in this. So, this is a good milestone for us.
LEMON: I wonder how doctors feel about this, though, because you don't have to go in, Doctor.
PERNELL: Well, I'm a preventative medicine physician, so I'm in favor of health promotion and prevention.
LEMON: You know what I mean, right? You don't go into your doctor's office -
PERNELL: I know exactly what you mean. Oh, we have to shift that paradigm.
LEMON: Yes.
PERNELL: It's important to understand it through a public health lens -
LEMON: Yes.
PERNELL: And not just a traditional, clinical health care lens.
HARLOW: Yes.
PERNELL: So this is - this is good.
LEMON: Yes.
COLLINS: Doctor, thank you so much.
PERNELL: Thank you.
COLLINS: As always for all of your valuable insight.
LEMON: And straight ahead, why hundreds of newspaper across the country are now dropping the long running comic strip "Dilbert."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:58:16]
LEMON: The men's swim and dive team from Howard University celebrating its first historic conference championship in 34 years.
(VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: The Howard Bison team has the only all black college swim team in the country. Over the weekend, in Geneva, Ohio, they won it all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And 1.5 percent of African Americans are represented in college swimming. There could be a lot more representation in college swimming. So, with us, you know, making a statement, what we did this weekend, I feel like we could get more.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We firmly believe, if you can see it, then you can achieve it. And these young men and women work super hard day in and day out just because of that, because they know that there's very little representation out there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: The Howard men broke 16 records and the women broke 15. So, congratulations to the entire team. I love it, they were getting down.
HARLOW: (INAUDIBLE) -
COLLINS: They had the most energetic swim meets all season. It's amazing.
LEMON: That's how it should be.
HARLOW: Really?
COLLINS: Yes.
LEMON: Yes.
HARLOW: This is the first I've seen, but I like it.
LEMON: It reminded me - I don't know if you guys remember that movie "Pride" that was a 2007 movie.
HARLOW: Yes.
LEMON: Terrance Howard, Bernie Mac, about this, you know -
HARLOW: Yes.
LEMON: They opened up - the janitor opened up this pool and that they were competing. It was great. Anyway. Really good.
HARLOW: Congrats.
COLLINS: Yes, congrats.
HARLOW: We should have them on the show.
LEMON: We should. All of them. They should be dancing in the studio.
HARLOW: Producers. Yes.
LEMON: Or make we can go down and get in the pool.
HARLOW: They're going to work on it. COLLINS: We'll see what we can do.
HARLOW: That's what they tell me.
LEMON: Yes.
COLLINS: All right, thanks for staying with us. And CNN THIS MORNING continues right now.
[07:00:01]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AARON JAYJACK, EXTREME STORM CHASER: This was quite an early wakeup call for people living in the southern plains. You know, the great plains are, I guess, are ready to start producing tornadoes.
