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Connect the World
Chinese Government: Virus May Have Originated In Frozen Food; UNICEF Coordinating Covax Vaccine Distribution Initiative; Anthony Blinken: Iran Inching Closer To Becoming Nuclear Power; Families Look For Closure After Losing Loved Ones; Saving Rwanda's Cranes From Illegal Pet Trade; White House Holds Briefing Ahead Of Biden's State Department Visit. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired February 04, 2021 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN, Abu Dhabi. This is "Connect the World" with Becky Anderson.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: This hour, some countries considering mixing and matching vaccines while billions of people still
can't get their hands on any of them. We are connecting world scientifically brilliant, but morally, falling short. Hello and welcome.
You are watching "Contact the World."
For the past year, it's not the world to its knees. A microscopic virus equipped with the perfect storm of genetic material needed to launch a
global pandemic. But where and how did the novel Coronavirus come into existence?
Well, this week a team of experts from the World Health Organization is in Wuhan in China, the presumed origin of the outbreak looking for answers.
Their long-awaited much scrutinized mission is aimed at preventing a similar pandemic from ever happening again.
Well, outside observers are questioning the level of access granted to the W.H.O. by China's government and, in one case, a team member's previous
ties to a top Chinese scientist. CNN's David Culver spoke to that team member about what he saw in a lab that's a key part of this investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A caravan of vehicles pulling into the Wuhan Institute of Virology on board, international experts
representing the World Health Organization their mission to find the origin of COVID-19.
DR. PETER DASZAK, W.H.O. MISSION EXPERT: What we're trying to do right now, at this stage is keep an open mind about every possibility.
CULVER (voice-over): CNN connected with Zoologist Peter Daszak, he is part of the source tracing assignment here in China. Speaking to us from his
hotel room in Wuhan he had just visited the highly the Virology Institute highly secured and highly controversial lab. It's from here that Former
U.S. President Donald Trump and his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have alleged, without any evidence, the virus originated.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I think they made a horrible mistake, and they didn't want to admit it.
CULVER (voice-over): China has rejected the claim.
DR. DASZAK: It was good to see the lab and you confirmed your suspicions that it's an incredibly well built, well-designed, well-managed lab.
CULVER (voice-over): Members of the scientific community have said that Daszak has a conflict of interest due to his close ties to the Wuhan
Institute of Virology and its leading scientist, Xi Jung Lee.
In this video, shot in 2014, shows the pair inside the institute examining Coronavirus samples collected from bats. They've jointly published several
scientific research papers.
DR. DASZAK: She speaks very openly and quite directly and often goes counter to the sort of political trend.
CULVER (voice-over): Xi Jung Lee is known as bat-woman in China. She's reached celebrity status. Since the SARS outbreak in 2003, she has focused
her research on bats and the various Coronaviruses they carry. But after COVID-19 was first detected in Wuhan, less than ten miles from where her
lab is located speculation surfaced the virus leaked from her facility.
MIKE POMPEO, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I've seen evidence that this likely came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
CULVER (voice-over): The Trump Administration provided no evidence to support those claims.
CULVER (on camera): Do you think it's possible this virus was engineered within that lab and leaked?
DR. DASZAK: There's no evidence of that at all. But it is something that we talked about with people at Wuhan lab. Got really honest and frank and
good, informative answers to because they themselves brought this up. Conspiracies around lab leaks that they feel strongly have no grounds.
CULVER (voice-over): Swarmed by media throughout their site visits, the W.H.O. field team also inspected the hospitals where the early COVID-19
patients were treated along with the now-infamous seafood market.
CULVER (on camera): This place had a lot of attention over the past 12 months paid to it. There was a lot of concern that perhaps the virus was
still festering in spots. So the Chinese authorities essentially wiped it clean.
CULVER (voice-over): Daszak and other experts agree it's most likely that the virus originated from wildlife, though, without ruling it out, he
stopped short of concluding it started in the market or even in Wuhan. CNN obtained these images from December 2019. They show a variety of caged
creatures inside the now-shuttered seafood market.
DR. DASZAK: We're still piecing together evidence. So we're looking at the animal evidence. What was sold at the market? Where did it come from? What
types of animals? Are they the ones that could carry Coronaviruses?
CULVER (voice-over): China's state media has also suggested without evidence the virus might have been imported into the city on frozen foods,
a claim leading health experts have dismissed as completely groundless, but it is an origin theory Daszak is not ruling out. The team's field study
expected to continue into next week.
CULVER (on camera); How restricted is it? How much freedom do you have?
DR. DASZAK: We're not running rogue here. We're talking to our hosts. We're in a foreign country.
[11:05:00]
DR. DASZAK: We are guests of China right now. So this is a good collaborative, scientific approach to understanding more about the origins
of COVID.
CULVER (voice-over): A virus that is both up ended and taken millions of lives around the globe the source a mystery. Likely to remain unsolved for
years. David Culver, CNN, Shanghai.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: While we search for the origins of the virus is happening as vaccines roll out across some parts of the world. But just who is getting
those vaccines and how many of them is spotlighting the problem of vaccine inequality?
It is a fact that many of the world's richer nations are buying far more doses per capita than smaller or poorer nations in some cases, effectively,
hoarding them as they come off the supply chain. Well, the global vaccine initiative known as Covax is trying to address that inequality.
Yesterday on this show we broke the news that Covax plans to deliver 337 million vaccine doses to 145 developing nations during the first half of
this year. That number covering just 3.3 percent of those nations' populations.
Now Covax hopes to deliver two billion doses by year end, enough to vaccine 1 out of every 5 people in its member nations. Well, UNICEF is leading what
will be the largest vaccine procurement and supply operation.
The man coordinating that is Gian Gandhi. He joins me from London, fresh off UNICEF announcing a deal with India's Serum Institute that will provide
more than a billion vaccine doses to the world's poorest countries.
And so thank you for joining us. Let's start with that big number. 337 million vaccine doses to be delivered to countries in most need a success
for Covax in your opinion?
GIAN GANDHI, UNICEF COVID-19 VACCINE COORDINATOR: This is, of course, a first step as you said. The 336 million is the - really just covering the
first quarter of this year and so Covax is expecting to hit that 2 billion over the whole year. So yes, first step and a great first step.
ANDERSON: Right, OK. And let's applaud the effort to date, but it will only cover 3.3 percent of the total population of the 145 participant or member
countries. That's according to the International Red Cross.
And they say around 70 percent of the total vaccine doses administered globally have been in the 50 wealthiest countries, member countries,
compared to only 0.1 percent in the 50 poorest countries. What does that tell you and us about solidarity in our global world today?
GANDHI: Yes, it's a great question. Solidarity, you know, is really the foundation of Covax for mutual gain. So vaccine nationalism really flies in
the face of that. We've seen the studies from the International Chamber of Commerce that demonstrates the economic value of solidarity and of ensuring
everyone has access.
We've seen the global public health messages that demonstrate that they're really vaccinating, just the 20 percent of those at highest risk of
exposure and those at highest risk of death the elderly for example will of course save 90 percent, 99 percent of the deaths that we're seeing and of
course there's the moral argument.
So we know that there's more to do. I will say this, that the first 3 percent, on average, represents, in most countries, a health care worker
population, social workers, those frontline workers. So - and they are highest risk of exposure. So this is a great first step but there's a long
way to go.
ANDERSON: The Head of the W.H.O. has warned that the world faces a catastrophic moral failure if it doesn't address this inequality in vaccine
provision. This is the - do you agree with him, by the way, sorry, before I move on?
GANDHI: Yes, I mean, vaccine nationalism is something that really flies in the face of everything that we're all doing here. And, you know, UNICEF has
been guided by a principle of reducing inequities. In our case for children and families, but that's why we're really stepping up and using our
procurement efforts.
ANDERSON: Right.
GANDHI: Last year, about half of the world's children received a vaccine that we purchased and delivered. So we feel that we can really sort of add
to this. But no doubt, you know, there are underlying issues that we want to see everyone leaning in and addressing.
[11:10:00]
GANDHI: I think one thing that needs to happen here is that the money needs to keep flowing, both to Covax to keep signing the deals that you mentioned
already but also to help countries to prepare.
We estimate - UNICEF estimates that there's around a $2 billion need to really help countries incrementally prepare, whether that's for training of
health care workers or, you know, building the systems they'll need to deliver these vaccines. So we need that money to come to really overwrite
that nationalism.
ANDERSON: Yes. And that's a decent message that we need to get out there. UNICEF announcing this new deal with the Serum Institute of India to access
1.1 billion doses of AstraZeneca and Novavax vaccines at approximately $3 a dose for the poorest countries.
I want to talk about how you will sort out the logistics on these deliveries because in some countries, of course, in this region of the
Middle East, such as Yemen, they've got a lot of political entities controlling different parts of the country that make distributing vaccines
very complicated. How do you overcome that?
GANDHI: Yes, I mean, just to put this all in context, last year delivering those vaccines around the world to around 100 countries, non-COVID
vaccines, we delivered around 2 billion doses. And so Covax is looking to double that.
So from a logistics standpoint, we're talking about potentially up to 850 tons of vaccine moving each month. Again, that's equivalent to, you know,
the weight of four Statues of Liberty every month being shipped in vaccines. And so there's a lot that needs to be done.
UNICEF has been doing this year in, year out for other vaccines. Along with, I should say, our procurement partners, including the Pan-American
Health Organization for the Americas, and I think so we have the expertise to do this, but it's no doubt it's going to be complex. And it's going to
take continued planning and continued resourcing.
ANDERSON: Just this week, of course, UNICEF and the ports operator here in the UAE, DP world, announcing a global partnership to support the provision
of vaccines and related supplies for poorer and lower, middle income countries.
Dubai of course currently uses a strategic hub for your organization. This is the sort of partnership that will be so important going forward,
correct?
GANDHI: Yes, absolutely. I probably should have said this earlier, but, of course, the entirety of Covax is built on a partnership, whether it's
between GAVI that's already creating the funding W.H.O. for regulatory and program advice and allocation.
And, of course as mentioned, our role on the procurement and delivery side but also within countries, helping countries to prepare their programs. And
then, of course, as you highlight, there's the private sector.
And no less than the logistics, third party logistics providers and air carriers on whom we'll rely to help deliver these vaccines. So, yes,
absolutely, that partnership with private sector companies is just critical to make this happen and vaccine manufacturers, of course.
ANDERSON: Sure. I spoke to the Editor of "The Lancet" Richard Horton yesterday at length. We discussed vaccine nationalism. This is what he told
me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD HORTON, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THE LANCET: Vaccine nationalism is the dirty secret of this, the dark side of the whole vaccine story. This me
first approach which we've seen many countries adopt and it's a false perspective. We're only going to be safe when all of us are safe. And that
means that we do need to get all countries fully - have full access to one of the vaccines that are currently available.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: So, you know, on a scale of 1 to 10, just how successful are we at this point? We are in a sort of phase whereby, you know, vaccines are
rolling out in lots of countries in the developed world lots of places where governments have had a real problem in actually devising policy for
this pandemic.
And they're in lockdown and they're out and in lockdown and they're out, but the vaccine rollout is beginning with earnest. On a global basis, just
how well are we doing, on a scale of 1 to 10?
GANDHI: Yes, look, I mean, and probably not best place to grade overall, but what I can say is, you know, as you mentioned at the start, solidarity
for mutual gain is the kind of basis of the entire response, whether it's about the vaccines or access to personal protective equipment and sharing
of information.
[11:15:00]
GANDHI: And this is coming, you know, at a time when we're just seeing essentially a real move towards individualism and nationalism in the
broader world. And so, no doubt, the solution requires a kind of almost reversal of a lot of what we've seen over the last few years.
And I think, you know, overall, in terms of where we are today, it's worth remembering, we're kind of rightly wringing our hands that there aren't
vaccines yet in low and middle income countries on the scale that we're seeing them in the wealthier nations around the world.
We're talking about probably days and weeks before the first deliveries through Covax start to materialize. And that will be, you know, when you
compare that to, say, the average childhood vaccine where we're often waiting years for access to those vaccines. I think it will be a success if
we're days and weeks behind those high-income countries.
ANDERSON: It's the international day of human fraternity, which we will be celebrating towards the end of this show. The U.N. designating February the
4th going forward as the international day of human fraternity and on a day like today, this is a story that we should be fleshing out to ensure that
people understand there is some need for some support and understanding for the lower and lower middle income countries around the world when it comes
to vaccine distribution.
I just want you and our viewers to hear the CEO of GAVI, who is co-leading this Covax initiative on the announcement. Let's have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SETH BERKLEY, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, GAVI: We hope that you agree that today is a positive day as we think about this equity agenda that we've
been talking about for a long now, less than two months since the first mass vaccination in a nonclinical setting anywhere in the world.
At this point soon we'll be able to start delivering life-saving vaccines globally. An outcome we know is essential if we're to have any chance of
being able to beat this pandemic, as well as deal with the new scientific challenges such as the new variants.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: How concerned are you about these new variants and vaccines not working on them potentially?
GANDHI: That's probably a question for our colleagues in the World Health Organization and the other kind of key partner in the Covax facility, the
Coalition for Academic Preparedness and Innovation, CEPI probably not for me to answer.
ANDERSON: Well, let me ask--
GANDHI: But I think what it means is that we need, you know, continued doses. The 2 billion we're securing, we need to make sure those work
against the variants, and we need to continue securing those doses.
ANDERSON: Can I just ask you, Covax announcing it will distribute nearly 2 million vaccines to North Korea. Now that country claims to not have had a
single COVID case since the start of the pandemic. Can you just explain as you understand it then why they are included in this distribution effort?
GANDHI: Yes, so the distribution plans for the 336-odd million doses that you mentioned is indicative allocation. So each country can see if they
wish to access those doses, how many they would get, roughly when they will be coming?
That will help them to then do the kind of local planning that they need to receive those doses. So every country will, of course, be able to define
exactly when they want those vaccines and if they want them at the time that the vaccines materialize.
But at this point in time, we're still waiting, of course, on the W.H.O. to give an emergency use listing approval for the - for most of those vaccines
in that plan.
ANDERSON: Sir, thank you. Good to have you on. Good luck.
GANDHI: Pleasure. Thanks.
ANDERSON: Well, as the pandemic takes its toll on our mental health. I'll be speaking to someone whose job it is to bring us just a little bit of
calm. That's after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:20:00]
ANDERSON: U.S. President Joe Biden heads to the State Department in a couple of hours. He's not expected to talk much about China, North Korea or
Cybersecurity threats in his first major foreign policy message.
The President and Secretary of State Antony Blinken quite frankly aim to shore up cooperation with longtime allies. Many stung by the America first
era of Donald Trump. Well, another goal is to restore morale for the state department's workforce.
For four years of the Trump Administration, the diplomatic corps was repeatedly mocked and maligned as part of the deep state. Well, few U.S.
Governors have the foreign policy insight of my next guest.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy served as U.S. Ambassador to Germany during the Obama Administration. He's also been dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak,
of course, in his state. Governor Murphy, a Democrat, joining us now from Newark.
And I do want to talk about the COVID situation in your state and indeed in United States, but first let's just talk about Joe Biden's upcoming speech.
What do you think his messaging and indeed his priority should be with regards the foreign file?
GOV. PHIL MURPHY (D-NJ): Good to be with you, Becky. I think the overarching message is America is back. That's a message to members of the
State Department, the diplomatic community around the world, where morale as you pointed out has got very low in the last administration.
And to the world, to our allies, that we'll once again be the America that they have come to know over the post-war, World War II period. Respect for
alliances, whether they be multilateral or bilateral. And that's not just because we're nice people who I think we are, but because that's in our
cold-blooded national interest. Joe Biden gets that as much as any American literally I think in the most war era and I think that will be his theme.
ANDERSON: By America is back, I wonder just what you mean by that. This show broadcasts from the UAE, for example. We are here in the Gulf and deal
on a regular basis and report on a regular basis, as we should, on issues of the Middle East.
A big foreign policy issue, for example, is Iran, and rejoining the Iran Nuclear Deal. Let's have a listen to what Secretary of State Antony Blinken
said on NBC earlier this week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: --online is they are getting closer to the point where they would be either a threshold nuclear power or
actually a nuclear power.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: What a lot of people in this region are concerned about, or certainly have had some worries about is that by suggesting America is
back, this new Biden Administration could be described as Obama is back, and his experience with regard to foreign policy in this region not
applauded by everybody by any stretch of the imagination, your thoughts?
MURPHY: Well, first of all, President Biden is his own man. He's been in public service, elected office for almost 50 years. A lot of that in the
foreign policy realm and certainly that include his eight years as vice president.
When I say America is back, I mean as a reliable, credible partner, again whether it's a bilateral relationship, the one between the Federal Republic
of Germany and the U.S. is the one that I know the best, but with other of our allies.
[11:25:00]
MURPHY: Our role in the multilateral organizations, like NATO, the World Health Organization, but also an America that is very clear-eyed and cold-
blooded about who our friends are and who our adversaries are and that your policies flow from that reality.
And we're stronger as it relates to our own national interests if we do things with alliances and with allies that if we go on our own. That's the
sort of America that I know that in foreign policy rather that President Biden believes in and that's what he's developed in his own personal global
perspective all these decades. And I fully expect that's the foreign policy posture that his administration will have.
ANDERSON: We wait to see what Biden says, Joe Biden says today, and we'll certainly watch the development of the new foreign policy under this new
administration, and we will report on it as it is revealed.
You announced yesterday and thank you for your thoughts, that you will ease New Jersey's indoor gathering limits and lift the 10:00 pm curfew for
restaurants, citing decreasing hospitalizations and lower rate of COVID-19 spread.
Are you confident cases won't tick back up, especially with this new highly transmissible variant or variants lingering around? I know that New Jersey
has some 11 cases of the U.K. sequenced variant, possibly more. Does that concern you?
MURPHY: Well, it clearly concerns us. We have been very slow, but steady, in our policies, particularly as it relates to indoor activity and that
includes dining. So I think we were the last American state to actually open up for indoor dining during the pandemic.
We opened up on September 4. I think we're the only American state since then that's kept it exactly where it was on September 4th which is 25
percent of capacity. As you rightfully point out, Becky, we announced, as of tomorrow, we're going to raise that 25 percent to 35 percent.
Are we concerned about the variants? Absolutely, we're watching them like a hawk. I think put differently, if the variants weren't among us, my guess
is we would be opening up even further. So we're going to do this as we have all along slowly, cautiously, steadily, basing it on the science, the
data and the facts.
ANDERSON: Sir, good luck. None of this is easy leadership not just in the states but around the world struggling with the dilemma of how to reopen
economies while at the same time ensuring that their populations are safe? We appreciate your time, sir, thank you.
MURPHY: Thank you.
ANDERSON: Still to come--
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRISH SKINNER, DAUGHTER OF COVID-19 VICTIM: Interaction physically, and that's the biggest thing that's missing during this terrible time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Even grief is being made more difficult by this deadly pandemic. A look at how some families must now find closure that is coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:30:00]
ANDERSON: Worry, anger and sadness, all emotions being felt in abundance during this cruel and unforgiving pandemic. But grief, most of all, with
more than 2 million lives lost to COVID-19. Families must come to terms with the heartbreaking fact their loved ones are gone.
But for those left behind who are unable to grieve properly, things are really tough. This virus is so contagious. Now they must find other ways to
gain closure. Here's CNN's Phil Black.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Like all of us now, Trish and Peter Skinner find comfort in family video calls. Here they are connecting
to dozens of people across England and the U.S.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your boys are so grown up.
BLACK (voice-over): For a brief moment, there's joy, seeing all those loving faces. But the feeling is quickly crushed as the screen shows why
they've come together. They are watching live images from a gray, windy cemetery near England's Southern Coast where Trisha's father is being
buried.
Herbert John Tait died from COVID-19. He was almost 104 remembered as the strong-willed patriot who held his family together for generations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was granddad and I loved him.
BLACK (voice-over): The pandemic means only a small number of young people can be there to mourn them. Trish can only watch and listen from home. A
shaky image on a small screen is a limited window to the ceremony honoring her father's long, meaningful life. And then it's over.
SKINNER: --really lovely.
BLACK (voice-over): But for a grieving daughter who longs to be with family, it's not enough.
SKINNER: The saddest thing now is that we're all going to leave.
BLACK (voice-over): Grief in the time of COVID is made worse by loneliness.
SKINNER: --possibly be the same. There's no interaction physically, and that's the biggest thing that's missing during this terrible time.
EDWINA FITZPATRICK, WIFE OF COVID-19 VICTIM: He was like my best friend.
BLACK (voice-over): Edwina Fitzpatrick also knows that pain. She and her husband Nick Devlin (ph) both caught the virus. Nick deteriorated quickly.
FITZPATRICK: I wheeled him through - to the hospital and we went in. And that's the last I saw of him waving through window - of each other.
BLACK (voice-over): Edwina was abruptly alone with her grief locked down in the home that they shared, surrounded by evidence of their life together.
BLACK (on camera): How dark did it get for you?
FITZPATRICK: Oh, I did think very strongly and seriously about committing suicide that first weekend.
BLACK (voice-over): Instead, Edwina chose to live to ensure Nick's first novel was published and to help others. She set up COVID Speak Easy, video
support groups for those experiencing the pandemic's unique power to inflict trauma through grief and isolation.
FITZPATRICK: We don't want to tell people just how terrible we're failing, but physically and mentally.
SAMIE MILLER, DAUGHTER OF COVID-19 VICTIM: I've never felt pain like it because I can't be with them. I can't hold him. I couldn't - sorry. I
couldn't say bye to him. I mean it--
BLACK (voice-over): Samie Miller is describing what it was like losing her father to COVID-19.
MILLER: Happy birthday to you.
BLACK (voice-over): This was David Miller only a few months before he died 66 and healthy, loving and loved. Samie says everything about grieving him
is harder because of the pandemic.
MILLER: Went in for bereavement counseling because - how to live without my dad?
[11:35:00]
BLACK (voice-over): To find closure, she turned to London's St. Paul's Cathedral for centuries a building focused on remembering loss and
sacrifice. Samie added her father's image to the Cathedral's Permanent Online Memorial, a project to help people cope with the specific challenges
of confronting grief in the time of COVID.
MILLER: I just think it's a beautiful thing that St. Paul's Cathedral has done and I just want to keep his memory alive.
BLACK (on camera): He's not just a number?
MILLER: He's not just a number. He was my dad.
BLACK (voice-over): David Miller, Nick Devlin and John Tait just three among the millions lost a tiny sample from the pandemic's infinite pool of
grief. Phil Black, CNN, London.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, as we've seen, COVID-19 has left so much devastation and heartbreak in its wake. Now with the pandemic in its second year and new
fast-spreading variants threatening to drag it out even further, governments have been forced to clamp down with lockdowns and restrictions
once again and people are facing isolation.
They're facing loneliness and they're facing stress on a daily basis. While there are many visible scars of the pandemic, these are quite frankly the
less visible consequences. This pandemic is taking a toll on so many people's mental health.
My next guest spends her day focusing on that. You may recognize her voice. She brings meditation to the masses through the Calm App. Just have a look
at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAMARA LEVITT, CALM APP NARRATOR AND HEAD OF MINDFULNESS: Gratitude is like a love letter to your life. And you've got to write one each day. We spend
so much of our time in a fog of dissatisfaction.
Our culture tells us that we never have enough. We never are enough. And our minds are wired to focus on the negative. But when we cultivate
gratitude, we're creating new circuitry in our thinking and emotions. So that appreciation becomes second nature.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, it's a preview of Tamara Levitt's master class on mindfulness and gratitude. She's also got a knack for sending people off to
sleep Narrator and Head of Mindfulness at the Calm App. Tamara joining me now from Toronto.
And it occurred to me that the sort of almost industry of mindfulness and well-being have become very fashionable before the pandemic and was doing
an awful lot of people a lot of favors in their daily, very stressful lives.
This pandemic struck, and sort of mindfulness, it now, you know, seems is so much more important to so many more people. 150 million people have
dozed off to a sleep story with you narrating it on the Calm App.
I know LeBron James for example famously said he can't sleep anymore without the Calm App. I just wonder how that makes you feel and why you
felt this was such an important career for you?
LEVITT: I mean, first of all, it's an incredibly meaningful to know that the content that I'm creating and that calm is creating is helping people
through this time. These are unprecedented times. We're dealing with more stress and anxiety than we've ever dealt with before.
And, yes, I would say more than anything, I feel grateful that I can support people through this as they navigate this time of uncertainty.
ANDERSON: How do you help? What's your message?
LEVITT: Well, Mindfulness is really about awareness and presence. And as we gain awareness of what's happening in our thoughts and in our emotions,
we're able to respond to what's happening in our world more skillfully.
So many of us live on autopilot, we're dealing with stress, we're dealing with anxiety. We're responding by falling into maladaptive coping habits or
falling into overwhelm, without really taking care of ourselves.
So Mindfulness allows us to notice what is happening in our mind. What do we need? Is our heart racing? Are we stressed? Are we anxious? Do we need
to pause? Do we need to take a breath? Do we need to change something in our lives?
[11:40:00]
LEVITT: And so we can change our relationship with what's happening and we can just cope more skillfully, really. That's one of the biggest ways I
think we're helping people right now.
ANDERSON: It would be really useful to get some tips from you given what so many people, all of us, are going through at this time. Some tips on
staying calm and mindful during this period.
LEVITT: Yes, absolutely. So, you know, again coming back to awareness. One of the most important things is just noticing, you know, many of us want to
be informed so we're watching the news. We're on social media.
We're glued to our screens and we're not recognizing the fact that's exasperating our stress and anxiety. So being mindful and monitoring the
amount of news consumption that we're in taking. And creating nurturing and grounding activities that we can lean on when we're feeling overwhelmed as
well.
Going for a walk, meditating, reading, dancing, gardening anything that helps ground us as we face this uncertainty. You know, one of the easiest
things to do when we're dealing with anxiety is to lean into the breath. The breath is always with us. And it's a great informer as to what's going
on with us.
If our breath is rapid and if it's irregular, we'll often find that we are overwhelmed or anxious. And if we can do the simplest exercise, inhaling
really slowly and exhaling really slowly, it triggers our parasympathetic nervous system and we're able to relax our cellular nervous system. It can
be extremely helpful. Those are a few of the ways for sure.
And gratitude, of course, you know, started with a clip from our gratitude master class. Right now we're focusing so much on lack; we're focusing on
what's wrong with our lives. Our lives have been uprooted. And we're dealing with more change than we've ever experienced.
So we're focusing on what we don't have, what we want, what we're missing and it's creating an immense amount of negativity. So by actively focusing
on what we're grateful for, it can be incredibly supportive.
ANDERSON: Tamara, we've got about 25 seconds. So I'm going to give those 25 seconds to you. You talked about breathing. Just take us through a
technique if you will.
LEVITT: Sure, yes. A really simple one is to close your eyes relax your body; relax your facial muscles and your neck and shoulders. And place one
hand on your heart and one on your belly. And just feel your hands grounding on your body and take some long, slow breaths so inhaling nice
and slow.
And as you breathe out, feel your body fully relax. And just feel you settle. Your hand connected to your chest comforting yourself, self-
soothing. Your bottom hand feeling your belly rise and fall and just staying in this moment to help ground us and connect us with this moment.
ANDERSON: Thank you. My producer said in my ear, has been using your technique and he is now super chill, he tells me. Thank you very much
indeed.
LEVITT: I'm so happy to hear that. Thank you.
ANDRESON: If you are struggling with - thank you. If you are struggling with mental health issues or know anyone who is, please know that you can
find several resources on our webpage from a list of suicide warning signs to look for in loved ones or even reaching out for professional help for
yourself all that and much more at cnn.com/impact. We're going to take a short break back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:45:00]
ANDERSON: "Call to Earth" is a call to action for the environment, to share solutions to critical issues that we face in this world today, like global
warming or plastic waste. This week it's all about endangered species and the people working to protect them for a number of really good reports this
week.
And today we head to Rwanda where dwindling populations of the great - crane are making a miraculous recovery thanks to Conservationists Olivier
Nsengimana.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is not your typical love story. But in the lush grasses of this Rwandan Nature Reserve, romance is in the air.
OLIVIER NSENGIMANA, FOUNDER, THE RWANDAN WILFLIFE CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION: --is a process like - they will date, dance for each other, and if they
like each other, they will stay together for sometimes for life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Gray crowned cranes are an endangered species facing threats from an illegal pet trade, and the destruction of
their wetland habitat for agriculture. To help protect these birds, in 2014, the Rwandan government set up an amnesty program for pet cranes kept
in captivity with the help of this man, Olivier Nsengimana.
NSENGIMANA: We've lost about 80 percent of the population, and in 2012 we were estimating the population to be around 300 remaining in the wild. I
told myself, someone has got to do something about it. We can listen to their briefing and--
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Trained as a vet, Nsengimana is the Founder of the Rwandan Wildlife Conservation Association.
NSENGIMANA: Looks like he will have like a little injury on the toenail.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): His organization has rescued over 200 cranes from captivity and more are bred in their facilities, like this
juvenile.
NSENGIMANA: These are - they are really in good shape.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): But many kept as pets have had their wings broken to prevent their escape and are unable to survive in the wild
finding sanctuary at the organization's Nature Reserve at - village.
NSENGIMANA: Cranes in Rwanda they are seen as a symbol of wealth and longevity. So what we've done is really to educate people, tell them hey,
I'm actually can still love them but have them in their natural environment. But if we keep taking them, our kids and our grandkids might
not be able to see them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Nsengimana remembers his own childhood in a rural village was filled with cranes.
NSENGIMANA: We didn't have TV, we didn't have like toys. So everywhere we go, we would see like animals. And one of the biggest was crane. It really
took time to watch them, wanting to fly like them. Growing up as a young boy, I had that love for nature.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): A love he's shared through his work with schools and local community groups since 2014. Educating and inspiring
others to protect their environment, he wants Rwandans to feel like the countries wildlife belongs to them.
NSENGIMANA: We come from this community. We have that kind of power to really connect with them and re-create that kind of love and ownership and
pride that people have in the animals.
[11:50:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): That love has taken flight. Nsengimana says there are now over 800 cranes estimated to be in the wild in Rwanda but in
the country's most romantic bird on the path to recovery.
NSENGIMANA: This is really a huge success story that we share with all - that if we work together, if we can bring everyone on board, we can achieve
the unachievable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: We'll continue to showcasing inspirational stories like this as part of the initiative at CNN. Let us know what you are doing to answer the
call with the #calltoearth. You're watching "Connect the World." I'm Becky Anderson. We have a few minutes left on the show. We'll be right back after
this short break. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Well, I want to get you to the White House now where the U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan is taking questions ahead of his
boss Joe Biden laying out his world vision just a few hours from now. Let's listen in.
JAKE SULLIVAN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I think we can work with the Congress on a package of sanctions to impose consequences in response to
this coup. We will also be working with allies and partners around the world. Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just wanted to follow up quickly on Burma. The top generals there have already been sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act and the
State Department has said that the - wants to avoid any action that could negatively impact the Burmese people.
So what options specifically in terms of sanctions is the administration considering, and does it include declaring like a new national emergency
via an executive order to impose sanctions on war generals or the military or government as a whole?
SULLIVAN: Without getting too far ahead of ourselves, we're reviewing the possibility of a new executive order, and we are also looking at specific
targeted sanctions, both on individuals and on entities controlled by the military that enriched the military.
So we believe we have plenty of space to be able to find the types of sanctions targets necessary to sharpen the choice for the Burmese military,
yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On Monday, Iran proposed allowing the European Union to negotiate a simultaneous return to the Iran Nuclear Deal. The idea
being, you know, the U.S. dropped sanctions in exchange for Iran coming into compliance. Is that proposal at all being considered?
SULLIVAN: We're actively engaged with the European Union right now particularly the three members of the P5 plus 1, Germany, the U.K. and
France. We are talking to them at various levels of our government. Those consultations, I think, will produce a unified front when it comes to our
strategy towards Iran and towards dealing with diplomacy around the nuclear file. And I just don't want to get ahead of where that's going to end up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can take one or two more here.
SULLIVAN: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. Will the president announce that he's naming a new envoy for Yemen when he's at the State Department this
afternoon?
SULLIVAN: Yes, he will. You know, as I said in my remarks today, he is going to announce an end to American support for offensive operations in
Yemen. That is a promise that he made in the campaign that he will be following through on.
But he'll go further. He'll talk about the United States playing a more active and engaged role in the diplomacy to bring an end to the conflict
Yemen, and that will include the naming of a special envoy which will happen today.
[11:55:00]
SULLIVAN: Last question, yes.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Can you first just real quick on Yemen, follow up, can you explain more in detail what an end to
American support for offensive operations entails, and does that extend to actions against AQAP in that region and has President Biden informed the
leaders of Saudi Arabia and the UAE already?
SULLIVAN: So it does not extend to actions against AQAP which are actions that we undertake in service of protecting the homeland and protecting
American interest in the region and our allies and partners. It extends to the types of offensive operations that have perpetuated a civil war in
Yemen that has led to a humanitarian crisis.
Types of examples include two arms sales of precision guided munitions the president has halted that were moving forward at the end of the last
administration. We have spoken with both senior officials in the UAE and senior officials in Saudi Arabia.
We have consulted with them. We are pursuing a policy of no surprises when it comes to these types of actions. So they understand that this is
happening. And they understand our reasoning and rationale for it.
DIAMOND: And just one more broadly one with an added question. You guys have announced that you're reviewing a number of maligned actions carried
out by other countries whether it's Russia or China or other countries.
Does President Biden feel a responsibility to impose consequences for actions undertaken by other countries in the last several years where
President Trump gave those countries a pass? And if so, how far back does that extend?
SULLIVAN: I think the way that President Biden looks at this is it doesn't matter who the occupant of the Oval Office is, if this country gets
attacked, if our elections get attacked, if our critical infrastructure gets attacked, if our troops are threatened by foreign actors.
He's going to respond to establish deterrence and to impose consequences. So he doesn't have a particular time or date from when that starts. And he
certainly will look at actions undertaken during the Trump Administration as attacks not on President Trump but as attacks on the United States of
America. Thank you, guys.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Jake.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: OK, just a couple of other things I just wanted to go through. President Biden delivered an address about faith
and unity at the national prayer breakfast this morning I should say it was via a video.
This event was entirely virtual this year because of COVID with all speakers delivering taped remarks. Alongside President Biden, four living
former presidents sent messages to the breakfast. President Biden is committed to the prayer breakfast tradition of reflection and fellowship,
especially at this difficult time in our nation's history.
And a little piece of history for all of you, every president has attended the breakfast since Dwight D. Eisenhower made his first appearance in 1954.
Well, truly a pure dinner table. OK, a couple of other updates.
The president and his administration, all of us, are continuing their close engagement today on the American rescue plan a top priority for him and all
of us at this moment, including outreach to lawmakers and stakeholders as well as our continuing work to make the case directly to the American
people.
We're heartened that Congress is moving quickly on this. Over the next several days, committees will have a chance to review the legislation. As
you know that's kind of the next step in the process next week after the Vote-o-Rama tonight. It's very Washington term, but that's literally what
it's called.
And Republicans will have additional opportunities to provide input and help improve the final product. That's how the process is supposed to work,
and we're encouraged that there's agreement on the need to move swiftly and the goal of making this bipartisan bill and package.
There are a couple of questions that many of you have asked us and others have asked us over the course of our effort on the American rescue plan. So
I just wanted to address some of those here.
First, why do we need a package of this size? Will we be fine with the status quo? Obviously, this is a good question that's asked as economic
data comes out. So I just wanted to highlight a couple of pieces for all of you.
A CBO report found that without any additional stimulus, our economy wouldn't reach pre-pandemic levels until 2025 and it would take just as
long to get back to full employment. This week was the 46th consecutive week that jobless claims have exceeded the pre-pandemic record high.
Kevin Hassett, President Trump's top economic adviser said "We need to be risk averse" and that without a major stimulus, we could have a, "Negative
spiral for the economy". This is a grim picture, but analysis after analysis shows us that the rescue plan would make a huge difference.
Moody's Analytics found it would get us to full employment a year faster, Brookings predicts it would get us back to pre-pandemic levels by the end
of the year and over 90 percent of economists surveyed by Reuters find it would dry of substantial growth.
The second question, we often get another good question is when we will see bipartisan support for this bill? The reality is we see it every single
day.
END
