Return to Transcripts main page
Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
90,000+ Americans Hospitalized, 17th Straight Day With New Record; Trump: "Certainly I Will" Leave The White House If Biden Is Certified; College Students Forced To Return Home When Campuses Close. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired November 27, 2020 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:31:15]
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, this is EARLY START. I'm Boris Sanchez in for Christine Romans.
LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Laura Jarrett. It's about 31 minutes past the hour here in New York.
And this would normally be a day filled with leftovers, family, maybe some sleep, maybe some Black Friday shopping. Instead, for the 17th straight day, a new record number of Americans are suffering with coronavirus, not in the comfort of their own homes but in a hospital. The number of Americans fighting for their lives in a hospital right now, over 90,000 for the first time. That's up by more than a third in just two weeks and we're not even through the worst of it yet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. PETER HOTEZ, DEAN, NATIONAL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE: What we're seeing is the entire midsection of the country screaming high levels. And unfortunately, now, 2,000 deaths per day is going to be the new normal. We'll probably head to 3,000 deaths per day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Air travel on Wednesday breaking the pandemic-era record. More than a million people deciding to fly, along with the more than six million who decided to travel by air before the holiday. Most travelers are expected to return home all at once on Sunday and that only compounds the potential for spreading the virus.
Also, it appears we don't yet have a full picture of just how many cases there are in the U.S. A CDC study suggests that we are vastly undercounting. The data indicating that only one in eight COVID cases in the United States may have been counted so far. And for all those missed cases are mistransmissions, which increases the spread everywhere.
JARRETT: At the same time, key pandemic relief programs are set to expire at the end of the year. So what does that include? Expanded unemployment benefits, eviction protection, extra paid family leave, and a pause on student loan payments.
Already, more than 50 million Americans are facing food insecurity right now. America's food banks being stretched to their limits.
The same way it's possible to have enough ICU beds but not enough doctors to staff them -- well, soup kitchens and charities may have the food but not the volunteers. A mainstay of those places, older volunteers at risk from COVID, of course, they're staying home. And some other volunteers -- well, they're suddenly in need themselves.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLAIRE BABINEAUX-FONTENOT, CEO, FEEDING AMERICA: About 40 percent of the people who, right now, are turning to food banks for help around the country are who -- people who never before relied upon the charitable food system.
What was really shocking was how often sometimes we did recognize them because they used to be volunteers in the food bank and they found themselves in need of our services when they used to be the ones helping their neighbors.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: And now, some proceeds from an Emmy-winning documentary will go to help the nation's hungry. The greatest of all time, Michael Jordan, an inspiration on the court and off, donating $2 million from his series "The Last Dance" to feeding America's food banks in the Carolinas and Chicago.
Jordan says in a year of unimaginable difficulty, it's more important than ever to pause and give thanks.
JARRETT: It's the type of thing you might expect to hear from the leader of the free world, but the pandemic and the struggles of Americans were not the focus for President Trump yesterday as he took questions for the first time since losing the election.
He says he plans to go to Georgia to campaign for two Republican senators facing runoffs in January. Those two races will, of course, determine control of the Senate with huge ramifications for the next two years.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Speaking of Georgia, I'll be going there.
REPORTER: When?
TRUMP: I spoke with the two great senators -- they're great senators. We're looking for a site. We're going to have a tremendous turnout. And maybe I'll go twice.
It's very important that we win those races. These are two great people. (END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Also for the first time, the president saying that he will leave the White House if the Electoral College declares Biden the winner of the election. But then, in the very next breath, he said that it would be a mistake.
[05:35:02]
He took time to repeat more baseless, false, nonsensical claims about the election, never wasting a chance to gin up his supporters with conspiracies as long as he still has a platform to do so.
CNN's Kaitlan Collins has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Yes, Boris and Laura, the president has not taken a question in over three weeks, since the day of the election, and he broke that streak on Thanksgiving, finally taking questions from reporters after he held a call with members of the military.
And as he spoke to us he repeated his accusations of widespread fraud in the election, something his attorneys have been saying, without evidence, for weeks now.
Also saying that if the Electoral College certifies Joe Biden's win in a matter of weeks, as they are scheduled to do -- one thing he did say is that he would leave the White House. He said of course, I would -- of course, should January come and push comes to shove. Because there have been these theories about whether or not he'd actually leave the White House.
REPORTER: If the Electoral College does elect President-elect Joe Biden are you not going to leave this building?
TRUMP: Just so you -- certainly, I will. Certainly, I will, and you know that. But I think that there will be a lot of things happening between now and the 20th of January -- a lot of things.
It's going to be a very hard thing to concede because we know there was massive fraud.
COLLINS (on camera): He also criticized that Biden is moving ahead with transitioning to the presidency by picking people who are going to be in his cabinet.
And he wouldn't say whether or not he's going to attend Biden's inauguration as, of course, is the precedent for past presidents, in January.
And it's just really notable -- I can't stress enough the president has had such a quiet period in his presidency where he has not taken questions. And, of course, now after three weeks he broke that streak and we'll see if that continues with these baseless allegations about fraud.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JARRETT: Kaitlan Collins at the White House. Thank you for that.
Well, the president's decision to campaign for those two Republican senators in Georgia amplifying the focus on those two crucial runoffs. The president's baseless claims about fraud put the GOP candidates in a tight spot.
Ryan Nobles is on the ground in Atlanta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN NOBLES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Boris and Laura, there's no doubt the stakes of these runoff races here in Georgia are big. The winners are going to determine who holds the majority in the United States Senate.
But there are many Republicans here who are Trump supporters that are still focused on the election that took place in November. They want President Trump to continue on with this unfounded effort to try and undo the results of the election, not just here in Georgia but across the country.
Where -- we were at an event with David Perdue earlier this week where a Trump supporter interrupted his speech to demand that he and Kelly Loeffler, the other Republican running in this runoff, need to do more to support President Trump's effort.
Now, this has put them in an awkward position. They'd rather be talking about these stakes -- the difference between Republicans and Democrats controlling the majority. But instead, they're forced to answer questions about President Trump and show support for him because they need those Trump supporters to show up on January fifth and vote for them in this runoff election.
But right now, it's just a difficult tightrope that the Republican candidates find themselves walking. They want the focus to be on them but President Trump and his presence still looms large -- Boris and Laura.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JARRETT: Ryan, thank you so much.
You know, it's interesting, Boris. I wonder how much the president's presence in Georgia is actually helpful to these two Republicans -- to have him banging on about voter fraud when there's no evidence of that. They want to obviously move forward.
But at the same time, they think that they need his energy. They think that they need his enthusiasm to bring out crowds and to bring out votes for them.
SANCHEZ: You're right, and it runs the risk of sapping the energy of supporters who believe that the --
JARRETT: Right.
SANCHEZ: -- election is fraudulent. Of course, a false claim from the president.
We were just talking during the break. This is also a tacited mission from the president that he's not going to be in office come January 21st because these races in Georgia would not be that consequential. They wouldn't be as important as he says that they are had Joe Biden not won the election.
JARRETT: Right.
SANCHEZ: Because Joe Biden won and Kamala Harris now gets the tiebreaking vote in the Senate, that's why the Senate is in play.
So it's really disingenuous, we have to point out, that the president is putting this out there -- this idea that there was a fraudulent election.
Fundraising off of it, as we've reported, sending out hundreds of e- mails asking for money for his legal fund. It's not actually even going to his legal fund and that's something that I think more people -- more Trump supporters should really be aware of.
JARRETT: Yes, so many good points there, but the big one being he knows he lost.
SANCHEZ: Right, exactly, yes.
So from the current president to the president-elect. Ahead of his first highly classified presidential daily briefing on Monday and announcements about his economic team next week, Joe Biden spent part of his Thanksgiving holiday speaking virtually to frontline workers. He called it an honor to speak to some of the hero nurses and firefighters who have sacrificed so much to keep us safe.
MJ Lee is with the Biden transition team in Delaware and filed this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MJ LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Hey, Laura and Boris.
[05:40:00]
Well, yesterday was obviously a very challenging Thanksgiving for so many families across the country who couldn't travel, who had to skip some of their usual traditions around the holidays, couldn't be with the family members that they would have wanted to be with.
And the same was the case for the president-elect and his family. Joe Biden and his wife staying back here in Delaware, whereas in past years they would have gotten together with their extended family and traveled out of state.
And we've heard Biden talk in the last couple of days a lot about the sacrifices that people are making across the country and that he really understands what these folks are going through.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT: I know this isn't the way many of us hoped we'd spend our holiday. We know that a small act of staying home is a gift to our fellow Americans. Yes, it's a personal sacrifice that each of our families can make and should make to save somebody else's life, but it's also a shared sacrifice for the whole country. The statement of common purpose that says we care about one another and we're all in this together.
LEE (on camera): An important message that we've been hearing from Biden over and over again is just urging people to act responsibly, saying we could be so close to turning a corner, particularly as we get closer and closer to vaccine distribution happening across the country. So this has been a consistent message on the coronavirus pandemic from the future president.
Laura and Boris, back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JARRETT: MJ, thank you so much.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:45:40]
SANCHEZ: The holiday weekend will bring storms to the Gulf Coast. Karen Maginnis has your forecast.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST (on camera): Boris and Laura, I hope you both had a great Thanksgiving.
This weather report brought to you by Ninja Foodi. Be proud of what you make.
All right, a couple of big problem areas. Let's start with the Gulf Coast. You're going to see some heavy rainfall here. You could see the risk or the threat of some severe weather, mostly heavy rainfall that could produce some hail and some high winds.
But this extends from Laredo towards Corpus Christie, then to Houston. Houston needs the rainfall. Lake Charles is really recovering from just being battered by back-to-back hurricane systems.
All right, this is the forecast radar. There you can see it across south Texas, then towards the Gulf Coast, then towards New Orleans, and extending into southwestern portions of Mississippi. All right, the main threats, as I mentioned, we've got some potential for damaging winds and also the potential for some hail.
All right, these pink-shaded areas, red flag alerts. That's Ventura County, Los Angeles County, Santa Clarita County, and then extending from around Lake Mead all the down towards Havasu City. Could see wind gusts up around 60 to 70 miles per hour, especially through those passes.
Salt Lake, 40 degrees. Denver, 45. Atlanta, 71. New York City, 59. Enjoy it while it lasts.
Back to you guys.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JARRETT: Fifty-nine, I will take that. Thank you, Karen Maginnis.
Well, health experts fear a lack of transparency and general confusion has now clouded promising vaccine news from AstraZeneca. The drugmaker announced its coronavirus vaccine is 70 percent effective on average. It's also less expensive and easier to store.
But a lack of clarity surrounding the data has raised concerns that could delay authorization in the U.S. and Europe.
SANCHEZ: Yes. AstraZeneca says the trial participants were given two different courses of the vaccine and the size of one group was significantly smaller than the other one. Now, vaccine developers say an error that was measuring the doses during manufacturing gave the drugmaker wildly different results between these trial groups.
A top AstraZeneca official tells "The Wall Street Journal" that the error is irrelevant and insists the vaccine meets thresholds for approval.
JARRETT: Well, Africa has been able to keep coronavirus more contained than better-developed parts of the world. But the head of Africa's CDC says the continent is often neglected when it comes to getting drugs. So how long will countries in Africa have to wait for a COVID vaccine?
CNN's David McKenzie is live in Johannesburg for us. Nice to see you, David. What more are you learning?
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Laura, that's right. The head of Africa's CDC saying there could be a delay compared to some countries in the northern hemisphere to access these vaccines. He says potentially, the middle of next year, in fact, is a realistic deadline to try and roll out vaccines across the African continent in a meaningful way.
Now, he did say one of the issues facing many countries is logistical. That these -- two of the promising vaccines -- the Moderna vaccine, the Pfizer vaccine -- really have to be stored in low temperatures.
But, you know, my experience on the continent, traveling to places, even in remote areas they are able to form that cold chain and get vaccines all the way to the people. But in this case, it's going to be an order of magnitude in logistics so much greater than they've experienced before on the continent.
There are vaccines being tested here in South Africa perhaps to try and get earlier access to that. And the Oxford vaccine and others in the pipeline do not need those very cold temperatures.
One of the issues will be the cost of vaccines. The World Health Organization warns that it would cost more than $5 billion to get access to vaccines. But already, there are negotiations going on with the World Bank to get money into the pipeline to get that logistics ready.
And while Africa hasn't been hit as hard, as you say, many countries will want to get those vaccines quickly to really allow Africa and Africans to access the rest of the world because of those restrictions that will possibly be in place for travelers going forward -- Laura.
JARRETT: Yes, the logistical challenges of this are just so immense. But it's so important to have this conversation now and hopefully, get on top of the situation.
[05:50:02]
All right, David, thank you.
SANCHEZ: Six million people traveled by air in the United States ahead of Thanksgiving. Many of them were college students forced to leave school because campuses closed due to the pandemic. Now, families are being forced to figure out how to navigate that situation.
CNN's Bianna Golodryga has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST (voice-over): University of Michigan sophomore Elliot Boz took an extra test before leaving campus and reuniting with his family in San Mateo, California for Thanksgiving -- a negative COVID test.
We first met Elliot on campus last week.
ELLIOT BOZ, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN STUDENT: My family is at home and grandparents are back, so I want to make sure that I'm cleared before I come back home.
GOLODRYGA (voice-over): Despite a late plea from the CDC advising people to stay put, he's one of the hundreds of thousands of college students who traveled home for the holiday because staying put wasn't an option.
The University of Michigan and many other universities nationwide ended all in-person classes for the semester this week.
E. BOZ: But I think everybody's kind of in the same situation. I'm not unique in any way in that sense. It's just an extra level of thoughtfulness. So I had to go out of my way to get the test and be diligent about wearing a mask, washing my hands, and so on.
GOLODRYGA (voice-over): These are the scenes health experts desperately wanted to avoid. Some 4.8 million travelers passing through TSA checkpoints since the CDC guidance came out last week.
E. BOZ: It's pretty tough because I think -- I think students kind of around the country are -- might be thinking differently about this and everybody wants to see their family. So I think in terms of travel, everybody's trying to do their best about how to travel safely.
GOLODRYGA (voice-over): Universities across the country set their own COVID testing protocol before students left campus. There are no federal guidelines in place, leaving health officials frustrated.
A. DAVID PALTIEL, PUBLIC HEALTH PROFESSOR, YALE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Young, asymptomatic individuals -- the so-called silent spreaders -- are fueling the epidemic in this country. And so, colleges have a responsibility to ensure that they don't unwittingly unleash ticking time bombs into the nation's airports, train stations, and Thanksgiving dining tables.
GOLODRYGA (voice-over): Elliot's dad, Mike, says the family is comfortable with his son's decision to come home.
MIKE BOZ, FATHER OF ELLIOT BOZ: He is a responsible kid and he -- so he got tested and so, that alleviates the concerns. So, you know, overall, like there's always a risk but the risk is minimized as much as possible.
GOLODRYGA (voice-over): Elliot's parents and his 81-year-old grandparents will be together this Thanksgiving. But his older brother, Shurre (ph), a college senior in Los Angeles, is not coming home from school.
GOLODRYGA (on camera): So what is this Thanksgiving going to be like for you? I bet a little bittersweet having your younger son home but obviously, the full family can't be together.
M. BOZ: It's going to be kind of a partial family. We've had other family members who were planning to come and they're not coming anymore because of the spike in COVID. And so, it's not just my older son, it's other family members.
GOLODRYGA (voice-over): It's exactly the kind of holiday precautions Dr. Fauci and other experts are pleading with Americans to make.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: To the extent possible, keep the gatherings -- the indoor gatherings as small as you possibly can. We all know how difficult that is because this is such a beautiful traditional holiday, but by making that sacrifice you're going to prevent people from getting infected.
GOLODRYGA (voice-over): Sound advice that will extend far beyond Thanksgiving for families with college students home for the rest of the year.
E. BOZ: In terms of the grandparents, it's really being thoughtful about when I see them and how I see them. Talking with them sitting apart. Or when I'm giving them a hug just being thoughtful.
GOLODRYGA (voice-over): Bianna Golodryga, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JARRETT: For a final word this morning, we turn to Alex Trebek. The beloved late host of "JEOPARDY!" prerecorded a message of gratitude and encouragement for his audience just weeks before he passed away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEX TREBEK, HOST, "JEOPARDY!": Happy Thanksgiving, ladies and gentlemen. You know, in spite of what America and the rest of the world is experiencing right now, there are many reasons to be thankful. There are more and more people extending helpful hands to do a kindness to their neighbors and that's a good thing.
Keep the faith. We're going to get through all of this and we will be a better society because of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: So well put. Well, Trebek died at the age of 80 years old from pancreatic cancer earlier this month.
Well, Boris, thank you so much for being in the chair with me all week.
SANCHEZ: Oh, of course.
JARRETT: Even from a distance, it's always great to have you.
SANCHEZ: Thank you so much, Laura. It was a pleasure, as always.
Thank you so much for joining us as well. I'm Boris Sanchez in for Christine Romans.
[05:55:00]
JARRETT: Have a great weekend, everyone. I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: COVID-19 cases in the United States is surging. The hospitals around the country are getting tested.
HOTEZ: Unfortunately now, 2,000 deaths per day is going to be the new normal. We'll probably head to 3,000 deaths per day. KATHRYN, ICU NURSE: I can't believe that so much is being asked of
healthcare workers with so little resources. We are not some superhuman invincible force.
TRUMP: It's going to be a very hard.
